The Oracle Read online

  “But what does all this have to do with the Jubilee of 1917?”

  “We left off with the issuing of the Balfour Declaration. But there was one problem. The British Empire didn’t have the land to give. It was in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. So according to the mystery, something else would have to take place.

  “The chain of events triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand had drawn the two empires into opposite sides of the same war. In the Middle East, British forces were stationed in Egypt. From Egypt the British military hoped to launch a campaign against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine. But after two attempts to take the city of Gaza and two resulting defeats, that hope was looking less and less likely to be fulfilled. But that would soon change.

  “A boy was born into a devout Christian home. From childhood he was immersed in the stories of the Bible and in particular the accounts of the Hebrew Scriptures that his father used to read to him each morning. He learned of the Promised Land, of its heroes, Joshua, David, Elijah. He would remain an avid student of the Bible his entire life. Though he never desired it, because of closed doors and less-than-ideal circumstances he ended up in the army. 1 He would later be known as General Edmund Allenby, another instrument in the outworking of the mystery.

  “In the summer of 1917 Allenby was chosen to replace General Archibald Murray as commander of the British-led forces in Egypt. He spent the remainder of that summer preparing his troops and strategizing for the coming campaign. While Murray had focused on Gaza, Allenby placed his focus on a different city: Beersheba.

  “So in the autumn of that year, British forces began heading to Beersheba with the Australian Light Horsemen. It appeared to be a battle against the odds. But all these things happen against the odds. By that evening the British-led forces had gained Beersheba. News of the victory spread across the world. It was a watershed moment. It was Britain’s first major victory in the Middle East and, some would say, of the war itself. It would also be the breakthrough event that would lead to the restoration of the Jewish people to the land.”

  “It had to be,” I said. “In the year of Jubilee the land has to be restored to its original owner, and it was the British Empire that issued the declaration of restoration. So the British Empire had to be given the land so it could be given back to the Jewish people.”

  “Yes. And just as Beersheba was intrinsic to Israel’s beginning, so it would again be intrinsic to the beginning of Israel’s restoration. As it was the first place in the land to be claimed for Abraham and his children, the first to be taken away by others, and the first to be restored . . . so after two thousand years of exile Beersheba would also be the first place to be reclaimed and returned to Abraham’s children. And it all took place in the year of Jubilee, when what is lost must be restored to the original owner. But now the mystery operates on a global scale.”

  “When exactly was Beersheba regained?” I asked.

  “On October 31, 1917.”

  “Does that date have any significance?”

  “October 31, 1917, was the same day that the British War Cabinet approved the Balfour Declaration. So after two thousand years the promise of the land and the beginning of its transference took place on the exact same day. As for the Sabbath that sealed the week Beersheba was regained, there was an appointed Scripture.”

  “What was it?”

  “It was this:

  Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.” 2

  “On that very week! That very Scripture!”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “the very Scripture that marks the very first time the name Beersheba appears in the Bible or anywhere . . . the account of Abraham’s regaining of Beersheba.”

  “So the word appointed to seal the week of the regaining of Beersheba was the Scripture that spoke of the regaining of Beersheba.”

  “And the words were proclaimed throughout the world. For in the year of Jubilee the right of the original owner to his ancestor’s land must be reaffirmed. So Beersheba constituted the first legal title given to the Jewish people concerning their right to the land.”

  “And it just happened to happen to be appointed for that week.”

  “Appointed long before anyone involved with those events was born . . . the fingerprints of God.”

  “Amazing.”

  “In the Jubilee the ancestral land must be relinquished by the one occupying it. And so it all begins in that year with the relinquishing of Abraham’s city, Beersheba. The victory would lead to the ultimate relinquishing of the ultimate ancestral possession—Jerusalem. And so in the year of Jubilee, with only twenty-two days left in that year, would come the liberation of the Holy City, Jerusalem. The city would be given to the empire that had just issued the declaration decreeing the return of the land to its people. Two days later General Allenby would enter its gates, ascend a platform, and declare a new beginning for the city and the land.”

  “As the ram in my vision entered the gates and ascended the platform.”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “and so the little boy who had read of the heroes of the Promised Land had now become one of them. And the Bible student who never wanted a career as a soldier was now the vessel through which the ancient prophecies would be brought to their fulfillment.”

  “It was not only Jerusalem’s liberation that fulfilled the ancient prophecies but its preservation.”

  “You mean that the city was preserved in the midst of war?”

  “Yes.”

  “And was that part of a mystery?”

  “Yes . . . the mystery of the birds.”

  Chapter 21

  THE BIRDS

  WHEN I RETURNED to the Oracle, I found him sitting on one of the ledges on the mountain rock surrounding the oasis. I joined him there. I had come to ask him about the birds in the vision. And there were now birds circling over our heads. I asked my question.”

  “In my vision I saw a flock of giant birds heading to a battlefield and transforming into airplanes. What did it signify?”

  “The Holy Land,” he said, “is the most contested piece of property on earth, and Jerusalem, the most fought-over city. But in 1917 something appeared over the land and the city that would mark and separate that war from all the wars that had ever been waged over that soil.

  “Soon after Allenby arrived in Egypt, he sent word to the British War Cabinet that he needed a revitalized air corps, new planes, better planes, and many more planes. When Allenby took up his command, the skies of the Holy Land were dominated by enemy forces. German airmen, supporting Ottoman troops, had attained total supremacy in the air. 1 If the British were to successfully take the land and the city of Jerusalem, they had to change that. They had to overtake their enemies in the air.

  “In the summer of 1917 the revitalization of the British air corps was well underway. New brigades and squadrons were formed; new planes, deployed; new pilots, commissioned. The tide began to turn. The British soon gained supremacy of the skies over the Holy Land. The planes proved to be critical to Allenby’s campaign. The British pilots flew reconnaissance missions and would report on enemy strength, enemy movement, and enemy strategy. It was the enemy who was most familiar with the land, not the British. But the intelligence that the air force provided changed all that. But it wasn’t just the intelligence. The planes would also provide cover for British troops on the ground in the midst of battle. They would wage war, bombing enemy positions and strongholds. Allenby’s integration of air and land forces would become a model for future warfare and would be critical in his success.

  “But it wasn’t just what Allenby’s air force did but what it stopped from happening. It prevented the enemy aircraft from going on bombing missions, from providing cover for enemy troops, and from providing reconnaissance intelligence to enemy headquarters. The British pilots in effect drove the enemy out of the sky. The end result was that the Ottoman and German soldiers were forced to fight blindly. And by this Al
lenby’s forces were able to maximize the element of surprise. All these factors helped enable the British-led forces to ultimately drive the Ottoman Empire out of the land.

  “But Allenby’s air force played a part as well in a more specific objective, the liberation and protection of Jerusalem. The last thing the British War Cabinet wanted was for Jerusalem to end up in ruins. But by driving the enemy from the skies, the chance of the city suffering massive destruction was greatly minimized. And on December 9, the central day of Jerusalem’s liberation, even in bad weather the No. 14 Squadron managed to take the air to patrol the skies and run missions against the enemy. 2 Even after the British entered Jerusalem, Ottoman forces were ready to fight to take it back. So there remained a danger that Jerusalem would again become a battle zone.

  Allenby’s air force would perform a critical function in helping to defeat the Ottoman army in the days following Jerusalem’s liberation as well. Thus, in the end, for a site so zealously contested, more than any other in the world, Jerusalem emerged from the war largely unscathed.

  “There is a Scripture,” he said, “that prophesies of Jerusalem’s being kept safe, preserved, and delivered on a day of war. The immediate context of the Scripture is that of a war involving the Assyrian Empire. But the word of God is such that one Scripture can hold several levels of meaning and application, and God can work and act in modern times according to biblical patterns and templates.”

  “So the prophecy, or the biblical template, speaks of Jerusalem being preserved intact in the midst of war . . . which happened in the war of its liberation by the British.”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “but it’s more than that. The Scripture mentions the means by which Jerusalem would be protected and preserved. It would come about this way:

  As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.” 3

  “As birds flying,” I repeated.

  “He could have given those words to speak of the protection of a mother bird to her nest, to give assurance to that generation. But God’s knowledge stretches forth to all ages, to every event, every situation, every danger, and every war yet to come. He would certainly know that after two thousand years of hostile occupation Jerusalem would be delivered in that war.

  “Beyond that is the prophecy’s unique imagery, ‘as birds flying.’ God’s preserving and deliverance of Jerusalem will come ‘as birds flying.’ In all the ages of its long history Jerusalem had seen countless armies, swords, chariots, horses and horsemen, archers, siegeworks, and warriors—but never a war in which vessels appeared in the skies ‘as birds flying’ to help bring about its preservation and deliverance . . . until the war of 1917.

  “You know of the parashas,” said the Oracle, “the appointed words read from the scrolls on the Sabbath day. But there are other appointed words, other appointed Scriptures. And they aren’t found in scrolls but in a book—The Book of Common Prayer. The book was originally written in the sixteenth century for the Anglican Church. It contains Scriptures appointed not only for each week but for every day, every morning, and every night. So for whom were those Scriptures appointed?”

  “For those of the Anglican Church, I would assume.”

  “And which army would be filled with those of the Anglican Church?” he asked.

  “The army of General Allenby, the British army.”

  “Exactly. And undoubtedly many of the soldiers in that army would open up that book every morning to read the appointed Scripture. It was December 8, 1917, the last full day of fighting in the battle for Jerusalem. When the fighting was over, Jerusalem would be preserved and delivered. There was a Scripture in The Book of Common Prayer appointed hundreds of years earlier to be read on the last day before Jerusalem’s deliverance. Do you know what it was?”

  “What was it?”

  “It was this:

  As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.” 4

  “The deliverance of Jerusalem,” I said, “as birds flying, appointed for that very day!”

  “And read that day throughout the British Empire, all over the world, and by the British soldiers who were about to deliver Jerusalem.”

  “A Jubilee of wings.”

  “And those who flew over the Holy Land at the time of its deliverance were of the No. 14 Squadron. The squadron had a motto. Do you know what it was?”

  “No.”

  “It was:

  I spread my wings and keep my promise. 5

  “And yet there’s more,” said the Oracle. “On December 9, 1917, the day of Jerusalem’s liberation, there was another word appointed in The Book of Common Prayer.”

  “What was it?”

  “It was a prophecy that speaks of a day when distress will come to Jerusalem, when the city will be threatened with warfare. But the prophecy foretells that Israel’s enemies will be defeated. They will flee the land. Jerusalem will be delivered. And His people will dwell there, inside its walls, in peace. On the day it was appointed to be read, Jerusalem was delivered, the Ottoman Empire was defeated, the Ottoman soldiers would flee the city, and God’s people would dwell inside the walls in peace. The appointed word included this verse:

  Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem . . . 6

  “Zion is another name for Jerusalem. The word speaks of seeing Jerusalem. So on the morning of the appointed word British soldiers in the land of Israel opened up The Book of Common Prayer to find the appointed word telling them to look upon the city of Jerusalem. And it was on that day that it would come true. They would enter its gates for the first time and behold the city.

  “The next day, December 10, was a day of rejoicing and comfort, not only for Jerusalem’s liberation but for the fact that Jerusalem’s warfare had ended. The word appointed for that day was an ancient prophecy from the Book of Isaiah, words that foretold a day of God’s comforting His people and His city when Jerusalem’s warfare has come to its end . . .

  “Comfort. . . comfort my people!” says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her that her warfare is ended.” 7

  “And so it was appointed to be read on the very day that Jerusalem’s warfare had ended.”

  “When I saw the Oracle again, he would reveal to me the number of the end.”

  “The end of . . . ?”

  “The end of an age.”

  “Did it come from the prophets?”

  “Yes, but it would be given to those who had never read the prophets.”

  “How?”

  “Through a coin.”

  Chapter 22

  THE NUMBER OF THE END

  I RETURNED TO the Oracle to ask him for the meaning of the angel who stood by the river with the coin.”

  “The prophet Daniel,” he said, “was also taken to the bank of a river, where he saw a man much like the one who appeared in your vision. The man told him of things yet to come and of that which concerned the end. And he gave him a number, actually more than one number, but it is the final number that concerns us here.”

  “A number having to do with what?” I asked.

  “The time that the Temple Mount would be given into the hands of strangers, the time that God’s purposes would be obstructed.”

  “The time until that which obstructs is taken away,” I said. “The strangers would be occupiers. And if they have the Temple Mount, they would also have Jerusalem. And if they have Jerusalem, they would also have the land. So it also had to do with the time that Jerusalem and the Holy Land would be occupied by enemy forces. Did it come true?”

  “Centuries after Daniel was given that prophecy, foreigners invaded the land. They took possession of Jerusalem. They prevented the Jewish people from worshipping on the Temple Mount.”

  “So it was fulfilled?”

  “Yes and no,” he replied. “Some parts of the prop
hecy were fulfilled in ancient times. Other parts were reserved for the future. So Daniel was given a prophetic number:

  Blessed is the one who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days."1

  “1,335. The number in my vision.”

  “1,335 is the number signifying the end of the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.”

  “And blessed is the one who waits for that day, because that’s when that which holds back the purposes of God is removed.”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “when hostile powers must leave the Holy City and God’s people can return. It’s the number of restoration.”

  “And what does it have to do with the mystery?”

  “As the end of the Ottoman occupation of Jerusalem drew near, a sign began appearing.”

  “A sign . . . ?”

  “The number that signifies the end of the occupation—1,335. The number 1,335 began manifesting in the Middle East.”

  “Where in the Middle East?” I asked.

  “In the land of Egypt, the place where Allenby started the campaign that would drive the Ottoman Empire out of the Holy Land, the campaign that would end the occupation. The number appeared on an Egyptian coin.”

  “As in my vision. So when did it begin appearing?”

  “Just as the year 1917 was approaching and then throughout that year.”

  “So it appeared in the year of Jubilee,” I said. “The number that signified the end of the occupation appeared in the Jubilee, the year that the one occupying the land has to relinquish it.”

  “Yes.”

  “How did they come up with that particular number?”