Final Confrontation Read online

  “Surely they realize there is something remarkable about the Lad,” said Serus. “How many boys entertain such thoughts?”

  “Or grown men, for that matter,” said Crispin. “Again, Serus, we angels must remember that Jesus is both God and Man—a splendid blending of humanity and the Divine into a single person. And yet the Boy has acquired His knowledge through study and discipline and grown in favor with both God and men.”

  Serus looked at the Child, who was now looking less the scholar and more the tired little Boy. Such a sweeping and profound thought: God Himself invested as a human. From the prophecy in Eden, to the promise through Abraham; from the pleadings of the prophets to that dramatic night in Bethlehem—somehow a wonderful plan known only to the Lord was unfolding and the Host were the astonished witnesses of it. And yet the question loomed unanswered and nagging…

  “To what end?” asked Serus vacantly.

  Crispin looked at the angel who had once been an enemy and was now an adept fighter for righteousness.

  “To what end?” repeated Crispin.

  “I mean, why must God become a human?”

  “I suppose,” answered Crispin, “because as God He cannot fully do what He must do. Remarkable thought. At least that is what I tell the students at the Academy. Short of that we don’t really know.”

  Serus was not satisfied. He decided to press the scholarly angel.

  “But why?” he continued. “Why must the Most High do all of this? Why doesn’t He simply finish off Lucifer and his followers and be done with it?”

  “Now that is the question,” said Crispin, as the two watched Mary and Joseph enter the court and collect their Son. Jesus disappeared with his parents leaving the priests in their discussion. The angels followed Joseph and Mary out of the courtyard. After leaving the Temple area they asked their Son why He had not returned with them.

  “Mother, father, why were you searching for Me?” Jesus asked. “This is where you’ll find Me…in My Father’s house. I have to be in My Father’s house.”

  Serus watched the parents as Joseph gave Mary a knowing look. They set the Boy upon His donkey and led Him out of the city.

  “I have to be in my Father’s house,” repeated Crispin. “Incredible! Somewhere in that phrase is the answer to your question, Serus. But how it shall unfold is beyond the speculation of mere angels.”

  CHAPTER 5

  “I baptize only with water.”

  “He must be in His Father’s house?” said Kara with an attitude of disdain. “He was in His Father’s house until He came to earth. Better He should have stayed there!”

  The angels laughed at Kara’s remark.

  “Obviously His coming to the Temple is intended to start some enormously important task for the Father,” returned Tinius.

  “Or perhaps to finish one,” said Lucifer, who had just entered the Council with Pellecus and Rugio.

  The Council immediately came to order. Lucifer seemed peculiarly jovial for one who was being increasingly pressured to act in the matter of the young Jesus. He nodded to the assembled group that he was ready for the reports. One by one the angels stressed their loyalty to their chief, and pledged that, come what may, they had confidence their lord would deal with Jesus decisively.

  “Thank you all for your confidence,” he finally said. “But as our young Opponent demonstrated earlier at the Temple, this conflict is becoming less and less carnal and more and more philosophical.” He smiled at the group of angels.

  “Meaning…?” inquired Kara.

  “Meaning this battle will be won or lost in the mind. It has become a contest of wits, now, and is therefore decidedly in our favor.”

  “How so, my lord?” asked Rugio, who favored an all-out bloody conflict rather than what he considered the niceties of a more cerebral war. “You always said it was men who would decide the war in the end.”

  “And so they shall, Rugio,” said Lucifer. “We have shed much blood on this accursed world. We have the blood of millions on our hands. And yet the contest is still in play. I tell you, brothers, this war will indeed be fought in the minds of men—-not on their battlefields.”

  Kara, who had become something of a loyal opposition leader ever since the birth at Bethlehem, stood to question Lucifer on behalf of others who were less bold, or perhaps less wise. Though he would never oppose Lucifer outright, he felt it his duty as a former elder in the Kingdom to propose debate whenever it seemed prudent.

  “My prince, we are all indebted to your leadership,” Kara began. “It has taken us far. And true, the ordinary human mind is quite manageable. Our experience with humans since Eden has borne that out. But this Jesus is not an ordinary human. He possesses a superior mind—the mind of God. If it becomes a war of the mind, then we are in grave peril.”

  A few affirming grunts arose from the Council. Kara. Emboldened by this and relishing the attention, he continued.

  “It therefore seems to me the ordinary strategies we have employed will not suffice…”

  As Kara spoke, Lucifer sat silent and listened. Pellecus could only smirk at Kara’s pompous show. Kara ignored the antagonism and continued forcefully.

  “This is no David, who succumbed to Bathsheba in the passion of lust. This is no Solomon who corrupted his wisdom in carnal pursuits. This is no Samson who squandered the Spirit in prideful disregard. This is the Son of God! And we must deal with Him lest we all perish!”

  Some of the Council cheered Kara with hearty agreements, but were quickly subdued under Rugio’s glaring eyes. For his part, Lucifer stood as if in deep thought, as if he had been challenged in a point he had not yet considered. Kara sat down with the others awaiting the response.

  “Wonderful summation of your opinion, Kara,” said Lucifer. “It brings to mind those glorious days when you were one of the twenty-four elders.” His smile quickly vanished. “But those days are long over. This is not Heaven and you are no longer an elder. Stop pretending to be one.”

  Kara sheepishly nodded in compliance. Pellecus beamed.

  “As to your point, I have of course considered that Jesus is indeed no ordinary human. And yet He is still mortal. He must be! And if He is mortal then He is subject to mortal weaknesses.”

  “But He is God,” Tinius complained. “He is not human. He was created by the Spirit of God.”

  “In a human womb,” said Pellecus, whose scholarship held great weight with the Council. “He is both God and Man. Somehow the Most High is calculating that the human side will not tarnish the divine.” Pellecus gave a hint of a smile and added, “Of course, that was the idea in Eden, too.”

  A few heads nodded.

  “You see, the Lord’s plan from the beginning was to embrace these human creatures,” Pellecus continued. “That is where we missed it, I’m afraid. We saw A’dam as merely another beast to inhabit the world—the Lord created him to govern the world in His name. Indeed, He gave the man His own image. He turned everything over to this creature. And still the human propensity to corrupt itself overcame the image of God placed inside of it and rebellion resulted.

  “Yes, yes,” said Kara. “We know all of this. We helped place the propensity within him, don’t you remember? But what is your point?”

  “The point,” said Lucifer, “is that humans have passed that same propensity down through time—all the way through so that every human uses the freedom God has given him in the most hideous ways.”

  He stood now, an imposing figure dominating the room.

  “I propose that Jesus, being human, will have the same propensities—the same potential failings. Right now He is a Child. But give Him a few more years. Let Him grow up in the company of His parents. Let them instill in Him those primitive Hebrew morals. Allow Him to astound the doctrinaires and fascinate the local rabbis like some freakish prodigy.

  “In the end He will grow into a Man—a Man who is tempted like any other. That is when we shall appeal to His human nature. I propose when the time is right we
bribe Him with all that is in our disposal, that we tickle the human side of Him, offering Him the world if we must!”

  “And suppose He refuses your generous offer?” Kara purred. “Suppose the Son of God will not take a bribe?”

  Lucifer looked at Kara with darkened eyes.

  “Then the stakes become much higher.”

  Chronicles of the Host

  Jesus and John

  True to his vow, Lucifer and the others stayed fairly away from the boy Jesus as He grew up in Nazareth. The angels assigned to His young life observed a natural inclination for things of His father, becoming a carpenter like him. Favored by both God and man, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, awaiting the day of fulfillment in the world.

  In a few short years, John, the cousin of Jesus, came to the Jordan River, baptizing men to repentance. This was during the reign of the debauched Emperor Tiberias, who abused his power for the sake of perverse pleasure. And so John, like a prophet of old, demanded the people change their wicked ways and return to the Lord. The religious leaders, many of whom were jealous of his audience, shunned or scorned him, but John carried on as a stalwart minister of the Most High, preaching repentance and baptizing the penitent.

  And then on that incredible day, Jesus came to Jordan to be baptized by John! It was the beginning of the Liberation! John baptized Jesus, and the Lord Himself spoke from Heaven, sending His Spirit down in the form of a dove to put His seal upon it all! How could we have known then that such a glorious beginning at a river’s edge would end so tragically on a bloody hill outside of Jerusalem?

  30 A.D.

  “Quite a stir our young evangelist is causing,” said Kara, as they observed John baptizing a woman in the Jordan. Along the shores there were many others who were either waiting to be baptized, or who had already been baptized by John. “As if the water can wash away the crimes of humanity,” he sneered.

  Kara was among a group of angels who had been assigned to keep watch on John’s activities. Now that Jesus had been presented, it was obvious there would be a shift in priority. John still represented a threat as long as he continued to encourage repentance among the people. But the larger threat was his willingness to decrease among the people and allow Jesus to increase.

  “It’s so indecent of him,” barked Tinius. “Most men would become jealous of their successor. But this John is bent on handing authority over to Him—even willingly!”

  “It is astounding,” agreed Pellecus, who with Rugio and Berenius made up the group who would lead the effort for the destruction of both Jesus and John. “John is unfortunately a rarity among humans—a man of true albeit ridiculous conviction.”

  “We’ll see how conviction measures up against persecution,” said Kara, looking at the group of ever-present priests and Pharisees who had been sent by the Temple.

  “True, Kara,” said Lucifer, who had joined the group after placing Rugio and a complement of angels to watch Jesus. The others looked back upon Lucifer, who was gazing at the arriving holy men. “The priests of this land represent possibly the greatest weapon we can manage against the Most High—the religious fervency of selfish men.”

  A shout of praise went up from the crowd as another person was baptized. Lucifer looked at John with scorn, and then scanned over to the priests. An angel, one of Kara’s most competent agents, stood among them.

  “I see Berenius is keeping our sanctified friends interested,” he said.

  “Yes,” said Kara. “Berenius has become quite accomplished at…shall we say… stirring the pot a bit.” He smiled. “He will definitely keep things quite interesting.”

  “However it is done, we must destroy both these men,” said Tinius, who was eager to see John dispatched. He was fearful of these native religious movements that inspired men to seek the Living God. “The crowds have been increasing.”

  “Don’t worry my nervous friend,” said Lucifer. “We will eliminate both of these threats—beginning with John. Perhaps when Jesus sees His vaunted herald brought down He will realize His efforts are futile.”

  “As you said, my prince, the key will be finding humans willing to destroy them for us,” said Pellecus. “And in that regard the religious authorities in this rotten nation will become useful accomplices…as always.”

  “Agreed,” said Lucifer, looking once more at the priests. “For now we’ll content ourselves with watching from a distance to allow the poison to set in. Observe.”

  Lucifer gave a signal to Berenius, who nodded and moved over to the leader of the group of priests standing nearby.

  “Just a little something I arranged with Berenius,” said Lucifer, as Kara and the others watched, perplexed. Kara felt a tinge of hurt that Lucifer had conspired with Berenius without his consultation.

  Berenius began to speak into the mind of Zairus, a delegate from the Sanhedrin. The man looked at the others and then moved closer to the river bank. John looked at the man, splendid in his black priestly garb, who obviously was about to address him.

  “You there, Baptist!” he shouted. “My name is Zairus. I have been sent, along with this delegation, to inquire as to your purposes here. What might I report?”

  John looked up at the man who addressed him. The crowd had fallen quiet and only the sound of the river could be heard. One of Zairus’ fellow priests, Aziah, joined him on the side of the river.

  “Do you think you are Elijah or something?” Aziah asked with a sarcastic tone. “That is what some have said.” He indicated the throng mingling on the river bank. “Who are you to be baptizing these poor people and telling them to repent?”

  John looked at the men.

  “I am simply a voice crying in the wilderness and saying to the world, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!’ I speak the very words Isaiah did.”

  “I see. So you are the prophet!” exclaimed Zairus, hoping to obtain some sort of ridiculous confession from John that he might trap him.

  “I am not the prophet, nor Elijah.”

  Zairus spoke loudly so that all could hear him.

  “Then why are you baptizing?” Zairus asked. “Why are you telling these people they must repent, as if you had the authority of an Elijah or a prophet?”

  “I baptize only with water, Zairus,” said John, motioning for the next person to come and be baptized. “But there is One coming Whom you do not know. He will come after me and is preferred before me. And He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire!”

  He baptized a young man, who walked back, soaked, to his family on the shore. There was no shout of joy among the crowd this time. John looked back at Zairus and pointed to the priests. “You come here to judge my ministry, you who claim the priesthood. You are a generation of vipers! You think because you have Abraham all is well. I tell you that if God so chose He could make sons of Abraham out of the rocks that are around here!”

  Zairus looked at Aziah.

  “Need we hear more?” he whispered. “The man is a religious maniac.”

  Zairus nodded to John and walked away. The priests followed him, leaving the area. John called out after them.

  “You must bring forth true fruits of repentance if you truly wish to escape the coming wrath of the Lord!”

  Berenius looked back at Lucifer and Kara. They nodded to him to continue and he followed the men back to their escort.

  “As I said, these priests will prove our greatest weapon,” said Lucifer. “The very people that the Most High has set apart shall in the end bring about the destruction of John the baptizer. Let John have his moment. In the end it is Jesus with whom we must contend. Recall that John has already agreed that he must decrease while the Christ increases. Perhaps we can help him in his descent.”

  “And Jesus?” asked Kara delicately.

  “Leave Jesus to me,” smiled Lucifer.

  “Here He comes now.”

  The two angels watched as the lone figure sat under a scant amount of shade provided by a rocky outcrop. The reddish desert in southern
Judea was desolate and uninviting, and even the slightest bit of shelter was better than none. He looked tired, hungry and dirty. He also looked resolute, and began to pray.

  “Can we help Him now?” asked Bakka, an aide to Serus who was assigned personally to minister to Jesus.

  Gabriel looked at the angel.

  “Not yet,” he answered. “His time is not yet. He has fasted 40 days in this desert—we shall be able to serve Him soon enough. But not yet.”

  Bakka was puzzled. Why could he not bring refreshment to his Master? Why must they watch Him in the withering heat of day and the cold nights without comforting Him? He looked at the archangel in confusion.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Perhaps I can help you, Bakka,” answered a voice.

  “Well,” said Gabriel, looking at Lucifer, who appeared as a desert holy man in the Edomite fashion. “I was wondering when you would come.”

  “Thank you, Gabriel,” he said. “It has been quite a while since we last spoke. I believe it was at Bethlehem.”

  “What are you doing here,” snorted Bakka.

  “Didn’t you tell him?” asked Lucifer in mock astonishment. “I’m surprised. The war must be going better for me than I realized if Heaven is withholding such basic information.”

  “Tell me what?” asked Bakka, looking at Gabriel.

  Before Gabriel could answer Lucifer continued.

  “Why, my right of accusation, of course,” Lucifer said. “Surely the Academy has taught you such things?” He gave Gabriel a smirk. “The Academy has certainly fallen on hard times since we vacated the Kingdom. Pellecus will be delighted.”

  Bakka was still waiting for an answer.

  “As prince of this world I have the right to tempt and bring accusation of every human,” Lucifer said proudly. “This includes Jesus.”

  “You would tempt your Lord?” asked Bakka, horrified at such a thing.

  “How innocent is the Host,” Lucifer said. “I don’t intend to tempt Jesus the God, you silly angel. I intend to tempt Jesus the Man. I am something of an authority in that regard.”