Final Confrontation Read online

  Lucifer looked at Kara.

  “I would agree with you, Kara,” he began. “This is certainly a people from whom prophets spring forth constantly. This is different. The circumstances of His birth, the description of His form, even the mentioning of the city in which He shall be born—these and many other prophecies are too detailed not to have the Lord’s sanction.”

  He looked dramatically at the council as he continued.

  “And remember Jesus was not the only one who was prophesied over.”

  “John,” muttered Kara.

  “Exactly,” said Lucifer. “Recall that Zacharias, upon the news of the coming birth of John, was told his son would be the herald of the Messiah, that he would preach repentance to all the people and pave the way for the coming King.”

  “Then this John must die as well,” said Rugio.

  “Patience, Rugio,” said Lucifer. “The one thing we can count on in this land gripped by unscrupulous people like Herod, is that there will be many who will receive neither Jesus nor His prophet. When the right moment arrives, we can count—as always—on those who believe they understand the Most High best, to do their worst.”

  Rugio nodded in agreement, looking at his warrior aides.

  “As for Jesus, He represents another problem,” Lucifer continued.

  “How then is He to be treated?” asked Rugio. “The woman is under constant guard by the strongest warriors among the Host.”

  “Then this is really it,” said Tinius, grimly. The others looked at him. “I mean, the girl Mary and all. She truly carries the Seed of Eve. After all this waiting it is finally happening.”

  “Yes,” snapped Lucifer. “Such a subtle plan. So marvelous and yet so simple. The Seed of Eve emerges from a virgin womb, retakes the throne of David and establishes the Lord’s Kingdom on earth. It is nothing short of a brilliant invasion. Quiet, subtle, but brilliant!”

  “Through Mary,” grumbled Tinius, still in disbelief.

  “Yes,” said Lucifer, barely able to contain his growing contempt for the girl. “Recall also that the prophet spoke of a virgin giving birth. Mary is betrothed and has never known a man. Gabriel made it quite clear that she was to conceive—and she did.”

  “But how?” asked Kara. “If indeed she is a virgin, how then can she conceive? Humans are marvelous creatures, but when it comes to reproducing themselves they are as carnal as any other beast.”

  “By the Holy Spirit of the Lord,” said Pellecus. “He created life in her womb. The same Spirit that gives life to every woman has given extraordinary life to Mary.”

  “And thus we must take extraordinary measures to deal with the situation,” said Lucifer. “Through measures just as thoughtful and subtle as those which we are facing.”

  “How shall we attack her?” asked Rugio, ready to strike.

  Lucifer smiled at his warrior chief.

  “I suggest we begin our attack elsewhere,” he said. “Mary will never be swerved from her conviction. She is convinced God has indeed favored her, which of course He has.” He smiled. “But Joseph presents an interesting possibility. The innocent, unsuspecting betrothed. Who knows what might enter into the mind of a suspicious lover? We have seen it all too often among humans. There is nothing so fierce as the jealousy and rage of one who has been the victim of unfaithful behavior. Should he expose her, she would be stoned according to their bloody law. And the Child would die with her.”

  He looked at Kara.

  “I believe Berenius is suited to this task.”

  “I will see to it at once,” said Kara, who vanished.

  Lucifer laughed.

  “I had always believed one day we would carry the war back to Heaven.” His eyes became vacant for a moment. “Instead, the Lord is carrying the war to us.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

  Joseph was busy with the accounts from his business. One of the best and busiest carpenters in Nazareth, Joseph was taking advantage of a rare lull in his work to balance his financial affairs. He was doing very well—and this was important for a man about to be married.

  He thought of Mary, and how beautiful she looked when they were betrothed. He could hardly wait until the day of their wedding. The place that he was preparing for her was going to make her very happy. He continued working a while longer, hoping Mary was enjoying her visit with her elderly cousin, Elizabeth. He began to pray for her.

  “Lord God, grant Mary a safe journey from her cousin’s house and bring her back to me. And thank you O Lord, for giving me such a wonderful wife!”

  “And a faithful wife, too,” entered a thought.

  Yes indeed, Mary would not only be a beautiful wife and bear him many sons, but she would be a faithful wife as well.

  “A woman who can be trusted…”

  Joseph wondered why he was thinking such things, but again, yes, Mary was indeed a trustworthy woman.

  “So beautiful a woman must be very desirable to many men…”

  Joseph thought for a moment of how often he had seen other men looking at her and admiring her beauty. Yes, she was quite pretty.

  “Of course she would never be unfaithful to her betrothed…”

  Joseph was finding himself becoming increasingly agitated. His mind was running wild at a fever pitch and he wasn’t sure why. Finally he responded, “Mary will always be true to me!”

  He stormed away from the yard.

  “Well done, Berenius,” said Kara. “But not too much, too soon. We must ease him along in this until the thoughts become his own.”

  Berenius nodded in agreement as they watched Joseph disappear down the street.

  The home in the hill country in which Elizabeth and Zacharias lived had become a place of quiet joy. It was joyful because Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy. It was quiet because Zacharias still could not speak! The elderly couple had become quite adept at communicating, and Elizabeth understood the vision that her husband had seen in the Temple. She knew her son would not be her own—that he was dedicated to the Lord. Such an honor!

  “Eat,” she said, as she sat a bowl of stew in front of Zacharias.

  Zacharias looked up from the table and nodded a gruff thank you.

  “The baby is becoming more and more active,” she said. “I can feel him kicking like he wants to—”

  “Elizabeth!”

  She stopped and looked toward the door of their little home.

  “Mary?” she said. “Mary!”

  Elizabeth rushed to the door and hugged her cousin whom she had not seen for some time. “Child, what brings you here?”

  Mary looked into her cousin Elizabeth’s eyes and allowed her gaze to shift downward.

  “Then it’s true,” she said. “Just as the angel said!”

  Elizabeth was suddenly overcome with the Spirit of the Lord. Zacharias stood and watched as his wife began to prophesy.

  “Blessed are you among women, Mary!” She reached out and touched her cousin’s abdomen. “And blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

  Mary was shocked to realize Elizabeth knew that she was indeed pregnant. Elizabeth sat down with a puzzled look on her face.

  “But Mary, why are you here? Why should the mother of my Lord honor me so?”

  “What do you mean, Elizabeth?” asked Mary. She walked over and put her hand on her cousin’s shoulder. Elizabeth reached down and cradled her tummy.

  “When you called my name the child inside of me leapt with joy. Blessed are you because you have believed the things told to you by the angel. Imagine, Mary, we have both been blessed of the Lord!”

  “My soul magnifies the Lord!” Mary rejoiced.

  She began crying out in a joyous hymn of praise to the Lord. Elizabeth and Zacharias watched as Mary sang a beautiful psalm to God. “Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,” she said. “He has done great things for me, and Holy is His Name!”

  “Thus Mary became a part of the greatest event our Lo
rd has ever wrought on earth,” continued Gabriel. “Mary was to give birth to the Son of God!”

  The angels sat in quiet contemplation of the marvelous story of God’s unfolding grace. God Himself born of a woman! It was astounding to think about—and yet it had happened. But to what end? Why would God enter the world under such humble circumstances when surely He might have chosen a more glorious route?

  Anticipating their questions, Crispin stepped back into the conversation. “Now, we cannot fully comprehend why the Lord is doing this. It makes sense if the Seed of the woman must be human yet the task He is to perform against the serpent is superhuman, then it follows that the combination of the two is both logical and lethal.”

  “The Most High cloaked in humanity,” added Michael. “A fragile Child who will one day…overcome the shame of Eden.”

  “But how?” asked Vargas, a worship angel. “Why must the Lord go through all of this rather than simply vanquish Lucifer once and for all?”

  “Why indeed?” asked Crispin. “Recall that Lucifer managed to deceive humanity in the garden. Now a human form shall make things right. God in the flesh to be sure…but still in the flesh.” He winked at the students. “This will be a lesson to Lucifer in humility as well as justice.”

  “Will it be a spectacular battle?” asked an eager warrior angel. “Like when Michael batted him out of Heaven?”

  Crispin looked at the angel. “I know you warriors are longing for a showdown—something dramatic. What form the final battle will take is not for angels to know. But I’m sure the conflict will be brutal and in the end, bloody.”

  “Lord Gabriel,” inquired another. “What about Joseph? You delivered the news to him as well, didn’t you?”

  Gabriel walked over to the side of the room where the question had been posed. He nodded his head.

  “Yes and no,” he said. “I did indeed speak with Joseph one evening. But the news had already been broken to him about Mary. And the enemy was desperately trying to use it to his advantage.”

  “Then he knows?” asked Kara.

  “Yes,” said Berenius. “A friend of his who lives in the same town as Mary’s cousin Elizabeth told him.” He chuckled. “She couldn’t wait to tell him the news—stupid woman! She thought she was being helpful.”

  “Well-meaning humans are some of our best weapons, Berenius,” said Kara. “They often do more damage in a moment than we can manage in a year!” He looked again at Joseph, who was preparing for bed. “He doesn’t appear upset though.”

  “He hasn’t had time to really think it through,” grinned Berenius. “I am about to give him something to think about.”

  Berenius walked over to the mat where Joseph was lying. The man was wide-eyed, his head resting on his arms. Sleep would be difficult tonight. He deeply loved Mary and wanted more than anything to marry her.

  “A baby!” he groaned aloud.

  To be pregnant before the marriage was one thing. But such a story! Angels and God and a Savior—this was all a bit fantastic. If only she had told him the truth—at least he could forgive her. Berenius approached Joseph, knelt next to him and began speaking into his mind.

  “A baby…some other man’s baby…how could she…?”

  Another man? Would she really? But there was no other explanation. Unless of course the angel story was true. Angels are real. But still…

  “She must be lying…she is trying to cover her sin against you…and her sin against the law…”

  If she was lying she deserved death—at least according to the law. It would serve justice wouldn’t it? His eyes filled with sad, angry tears.

  “Mary, I love you!” he shouted aloud.

  “Of course you love her…but she must never have truly loved you…she took your love and mocked you with another man…ANOTHER MAN!”

  “Another man,” Joseph whispered. “Another man.”

  “She deserves death…” “The law requires it,” Joseph mumbled. “Yet perhaps I can handle this discreetly. Perhaps if I put her away privately…”

  Berenius looked up at Kara.

  “The fool still believes he is in love with her,” Kara said. “Demand her life. The law requires it!”

  Before Berenius could turn back to Joseph a blinding light pierced the room. Joseph was unaware of the new presence, but Kara and Berenius jumped away from Joseph with a shriek. It was Gabriel.

  “Out of here!” he demanded of the two deceiving angels.

  “The Child will die one way or another,” snorted Kara. “By Joseph’s hand or by ours He will die!”

  “OUT!”

  Kara vanished.

  “We are not finished here, archangel,” said Berenius.

  He then vanished as well.

  Gabriel watched for a moment longer. Once he was certain Kara and Berenius were gone, he turned toward Joseph. The man was now crying quietly. Gabriel placed his hands on Joseph and soon a peace descended upon the room that, even in his fretful state, coaxed him to sleep.

  “Don’t worry Joseph,” Gabriel said soothingly. “The Lord is with you.”

  He then placed his hands gently upon Joseph’s head. Joseph remained asleep as Gabriel began to speak to him. Joseph suddenly found himself dreaming an angel of the Lord stood before him.

  “Joseph, son of David, you must not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.”

  Joseph saw himself in the dream, sitting up in his bed and listening to the angel. An inexplicable peace and reassurance began to flood his troubled heart.

  “Listen! The Child she is carrying is a work of the Holy Spirit of God. He is no ordinary Child. You shall call Him Jesus, because He will be the salvation of His people and will save them from their sins.”

  “Their sins…” Joseph repeated in his sleep.

  “This is a work of the Lord foretold by Isaiah, when he said that a virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son whose name would be Immanuel, ‘God with us.’ So don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife!”

  Joseph awoke with a start. He looked about the room—all was quiet and dark. But something had changed—he suddenly knew that everything was in the Lord’s hands and under His direction. It didn’t matter now—for God was with him in this. Jesus? A Savior of Israel? He suddenly loved Mary even more deeply than he ever had! He didn’t understand what was happening, but he knew the Lord’s hand was upon his beloved—and he could live with that.

  Chronicles of the Host

  The Births

  Just as was foretold and has been recorded in the previous volume of the Chronicles of the Host, as well as the Kingdom Chronicles, the child John was born to Elizabeth and Zacharias. We watched with excitement and joy as Zacharias, finally able to speak, proclaimed the boy must be named John. And then, filled with the Spirit of God, he prophesied the ministry that John would one day take up—to usher in the ministry of the Lamb of God!

  The Host did indeed gather around Bethlehem when Jesus was born to Mary. Such a glorious night was never before seen on earth! The shepherds worshiped and the great star filled the night sky and God became Man!

  We could never suspect what was to take place in this special One’s life, and would never have guessed the greatness of this gift to the world. Only Simeon, a prophet who had awaited the Messiah at the Temple, spoke words indicating a tragic destiny attached to this Child. After praying over the Boy upon His presentation at the Temple, Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her heart…indeed we did not know the same sword would pierce the heart of the Father as well…

  Gabriel and Michael walked alongside Crispin after the class broke up. They had enjoyed being back with their old teacher who had taught them so well. As they walked along they recounted the discussion from the class, taking note of the angels’ curiosity regarding the freedom of humans to rebel against a God who so dearly loved them.

  “I don’t think angels have good memories,” snorted Crispin as they walked along the great street that led away from the Academy and toward the Grand
Square. Several angels noticed Michael and Gabriel as they passed by, nodding to them courteously. “These in Heaven who are about to be assigned to earth—they are all too eager to complain about the willful rebellion of men and forget it was one of their own who began it all in the first place!”

  They came to a place where a garden opened up to the Pavilion of Worship to the Most High, a great domed structure angels frequented in times of praise and worship to the holiness of the Lord. Several groups of angels were moving in and out of the building. Crispin settled down on a large rock near a beautiful grotto. Gabriel and Michael joined him.

  “At least they were eager to learn,” offered Gabriel. “They were certainly interested in the Mary and Joseph visitations.”

  “They are always interested in the dramatic,” said Crispin. “I’m afraid some of our angels simply want the big battles—the final bout with the dragon—that sort of thing. They don’t appreciate that most of the ministry of angels on earth is done in secret.”

  “They’ll have their battles,” said Michael, thinking ahead to the day when they must once more face Lucifer. “Now that the Child has been born, they will do whatever they can to destroy Him.”

  “Foolishness,” said Crispin. “To think they actually believe they can defeat the Lord’s plan. Being human, though, I suppose there is the appearance of vulnerability.”

  Gabriel and Michael looked at each other.

  “You mean the Christ could be killed?” asked Michael. “His life might be taken away from Him?”

  “Yes,” said Crispin. “The Christ could die.”

  “How can God die?” Gabriel asked. “It makes no sense.”

  “You forget this is God in human form,” said Crispin. “Thus, like any human, He could die. However, I see no real chance of that happening. I know Lucifer would like to see the Child destroyed. But why should the One who has come to save the world need to die?”