Jesus Triumphant (Chronicles of the Nephilim Book 8) (24 page)

As god of this world, Belial was too legally protected to be captured and imprisoned like the others. But ever since the temptation in the desert, he kept his distance, putting forth the other gods, playing the game board with caution.

The stakes had risen. He was being slowly strangled by a spiritual binding that increased its grip on him like a boa constrictor, as the spirits of the Nephilim were cast out of the land. He was losing his grip on the nations. He knew his time had arrived. He must now lead the fight.

The next day, Demas and Gestas followed Jesus and his group as he returned to the Temple. They didn’t want to be noticed by Simon or any of the followers who had gotten to know them up at Caesarea Philippi, so they wore their hoods up and kept their distance. They were spies for Barabbas.

The Sanhedrin had assigned a group of scribes and Pharisees to follow Jesus, in order to keep an eye on his activities and teaching, especially in the temple precinct. Jesus, followed by his disciples, critics, and spies, walked up the broad stairs of the main southern Huldah Gates that led up into the outer court. They passed through the ceilinged Royal Stoa on the way into the court. The columned area was packed with sellers and moneychangers that overflowed into the outer court.

Jesus stepped out onto the marble terrace. All around them, the sounds of marketplace buying and selling filled the morning air. Animals squawked and grunted, baa-ed and bellowed. Worshippers would purchase their animals for sacrifice here and bring them up to the Temple. Because of the distance from which many Jews had traveled, they would have to exchange their currency in order to pay the Temple tax with the standard Tyrian shekel. It was a hive of business, religious business.

Simon and Mary followed behind Jesus and his closest disciples. They saw Jesus stop and look around the cacophony of noises and the bustling of activities. He moved over to a pen of sheep and oxen. He pulled some ropes together to make a handmade whip. He opened the pen and used the whip to drive the animals out of their confinement. They squealed and poured out into the temple area, creating havoc. Jesus snapped his whip to drive them toward the Huldah Gates from which they entered.

The owner of the sheep began yelling at him and cursing him. Jesus pushed him aside and walked up to those selling pigeons for the poor to sacrifice. He crashed open the cages and a flurry of birds escaped into the air. Some women screamed.

Some of the men approached to stop him, but Jesus snapped his homemade whip at them to keep them at bay. Then he snapped at those trying to enter the temple area with vessels in their hands.

The disciples all stood frozen in their tracks, not knowing what to do. They had never seen him act like this before. They didn’t know how to respond.

Had he become delirious with rage because of the ineffectiveness of his teaching? But he had caused an uproar amidst the ruling class already. He had the attention of the authorities. Maybe it had not been enough for him. Maybe he wanted more.

Demas thought he could teach the Nazarene a trick or two about using a whip. He and Gestas noticed the Roman soldiers standing by, watching, doing nothing. They were actually smiling amongst themselves. To them, this was the harmless tomfoolery of a madman Jew. Something for their entertainment, not restraint.

The next thing he did shocked them all.

Jesus walked right up to the tables of the moneychangers and started overturning their tables. Coins went flying everywhere. The men shouted curses.

Jesus shouted back in a voice that outdid his opponents’ anger.

“IT IS WRITTEN, MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS. BUT YOU HAVE MADE IT A CAVE OF BANDITS!”

People cleared away from Jesus. He stood there alone with heaving chest and wild eyes, his hair a tattered mess about his face.

Demas and Gestas looked at each other. They both knew at that moment that this fool was no leader of an insurrection or army of warriors. He was a frustrated backwoods madman with delusions of grandeur who had fooled enough people with his confused babblings and magic tricks, but whose real impotency was now on display before the world.

The fact that he had condemned the temple itself as a “cave of bandits,” the very identity of the Zealots, clearly meant he had no sympathies for their cause. They left to report to Barabbas that they should move ahead with their own plans.

The scribes and Pharisees had enough temerity to speak up and complain to Jesus. One of them stepped forward and said angrily, “You are not the only one here who knows the Scriptures, Rabbi. You quote the prophet Isaiah and you act out this prophecy of yours like Jeremiah acted out his prophecies. But Jeremiah stood in the divine council of Yahweh. By what authority do you perform this theatrical prediction?”

Jesus responded, “I will tell you by what authority I do this if you first tell me if the baptism of John was from heaven or from man?”

Simon and Mary overheard the Pharisees discussing amongst themselves. Jesus had them on the horns of a dilemma. If they said, “from heaven,” then he would say, “Why did you not believe him?” And if they said, “from man,” then the people would stone them because they believed John was a prophet. The lead Pharisee said, “We do not know where it came from.”

Jesus retorted with contemptuous spite, “Then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Another scribe shouted out, “What sign then do you show us for doing these things?”

Jesus looked about and said through clenched teeth, “Destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up.”

The religious authorities looked at one another, surprised at the absurdity. One of the scribes called out, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?”

Jesus shook his head and said nothing.

Another scribe reached down and picked up a denarius from the ground. Simon could see that this one had penetrating, skeptical eyes. He lacked the shock and offense of the others. The scribe noticed some Herodians had gathered around and smirked with satisfaction. He said with a sarcastic tone, “Jesus we know that you are true, and teach the way of Yahweh truthfully. You do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by outward appearances or status.”

Simon scowled. This one reeked with diabolical intentions.

The scribe continued, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

The attempt to trap him did not intimidate Jesus. He said, “Why do you put me to the test, you hypocrites?” Voices of shock and offense went through the gathering crowd of religious leaders.

“Show me the coin for the tax.”

The scribe tossed the coin at Jesus. He caught it, still glaring at the scribe with angry eyes. There was something about the scribe that seemed inhuman, as if he was a creature impersonating a man. Simon knew that creature was trying to trap Jesus into defying Caesar, which was tantamount to treason, and therefore worthy of death.

Jesus slowly approached the scribe, while continuing to stare into his eyes. He raised the coin as he moved, showing it to everyone. “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

Someone shouted out, “Caesar!”

Another said, “Our king!”

Simon and Mary saw that the Roman soldiers had moved closer to listen in, ready to respond to any call for uprising.

Jesus now stood face to face with the scribe. Simon saw the deviant step back just a little, as if in deference.

Jesus spoke to the crowd, while still glaring at the scribe. “Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.” And he tossed the coin away. The crowd murmured. The soldiers looked at one another with uncertainty. Nothing illegal about that. What could they do?

Simon heard Jesus whisper to the scribe, “Leave, Belial.”

The scribe turned in anger and trampled out toward the gates.

Jesus looked around at the accumulation of religious authorities. He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites and actors! You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So, you outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and the lawlessness of Belial.”

The religious authorities around him began to rumble with anger and even shout curses. But Jesus kept going. He pronounced woes upon their pettiness in keeping detailed religious rituals while negating the weightier things of the Law of God, such as justice and mercy and faithfulness.

Someone yelled out, “We have the Law and Prophets!”

“Yes,” replied Jesus. “And you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers! You vipers, you Seed of the Serpent! How are you to escape being sentenced to Gehenna?”

Some of the authorities were so vexed, they left in a huff. Only the hecklers remained. “You blaspheme!” yelled one.

Jesus continued unabated. “I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you kill and crucify, and others you flog and persecute. And because of this, upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this very generation.”

By this point, the scribes and Pharisees had left. Only stragglers and onlookers remained. The disciples had cowered around the pillars, trying not to be noticed.

Then Simon and Mary saw Jesus cry. Mary moved to comfort him, but Simon held her back.

Jesus cried out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate!” He gestured all around him to the temple area.

Now, even the Romans were leaving this madman to his meaningless babbling.

“For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh!”

He finally stopped. He wiped his eyes of tears, and began to walk toward the eastern Shushan Gate.

The disciples followed tenuously. They felt like cowards. They had not moved to support their lord, because they were too shocked and frightened by his words.

Mary turned to Simon and said, “What did he mean by this display? The scribes said he was acting like a prophet. What did that mean?”

Simon explained to her as they followed through the Court of the Gentiles toward the east exit. “The prophet Jeremiah performed many of his prophecies as dramas before the people. Jesus was not trying to fix the problem of temple corruption by throwing over tables and releasing animals. He is but one man. What he was doing was similar to Jeremiah. He was prophesying through dramatic display.”

“What kind of prophesy?”

Simon whispered it to her, “The destruction of the Temple.”

She looked at him with shock. “But the Temple is the heart and soul of our religion. It is the means of atonement for sin. Why would Yahweh want to destroy the Temple?”

“To build a new one, pure and undefiled.”

She tried to follow, “The one he said he would build in three days?”

“Mary, he was referring to his own body with that statement. The temple of his body.”

She could not quite put it all together. Questions were filling her mind like the cacophony of noise around them.

“What did the scribes mean by a prophet standing in the divine council?”

“The authority of the prophets derives from their being called into Yahweh’s throne room before the holy Sons of God. It is like a heavenly court. And the prophets are the prosecutors of Yahweh’s spiritual lawsuits. If you haven’t stood in the divine council, you do not have the authority of a prophet of Yahweh.”

“Has Jesus ever stood before the divine council?”

“He is
one of
the divine council. The unique one-of-a-kind Son of God, uncreated. Remember how he refers to himself as the ‘Son of Man?’”

“Yes. How can he be a Son of Man,
and
the Son of God?”

“Because he is both. Daniel the prophet had a heavenly vision of the Son of Man ascending on the clouds to the very right hand of Yahweh, the Ancient of Days. The right hand of Yahweh is the place of his omnipotent power. The Son of God is the second Yahweh in heaven.”

Simon then quoted the prophet from memory,

“‘And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.’”

Simon was clearly bothered by the ramifications.

He said, “Jesus is prosecuting a heavenly lawsuit against Israel.”