Part 2. SCIENCE YIELDS A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PYRAMID
It really is quite amazing how much spiritual truth is displayed in nature. But this has been God’s own way. In Romans 1 we read, “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that mankind is without excuse.” Simple things like the Pansy. It used to be called the “Trinity Flower”, and a cursory glance at it will reveal why. It’s a shame that the old name has been abandoned for a word that has attracted rather negative connotations these days.
Then there’s the Passion Flower, a most complicated but incredibly fascinating flower, which contains pictorial information about the Cross. And then, what about the Zodiac? The word means “Little Animals”, and refers to the names of the twelve constellations. Astrology is a very doubtful art, employed by fortune tellers, but nevertheless, there was a message contained in these pictures, which when analysed gave the story of man’s redemption. I am quite confident in this conclusion, simply by reading the words the Lord spoke to Job, in 38:31-33. “Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades (the seven sisters), or loose the bands of Orion? Can you bring forth Mazzaroth (the zodiacal signs) in their season? Or can you guide Arcturus and his sons? (the Great Bear)” Hence, before all the corruption began, there was a God-given message in the stars.
And then again, take a look at the life-cycle of the butterfly, and how it so clearly speaks of going down into death and arising in resurrection, not as another caterpillar, but on a completely higher plane of existence – with the glory of God on its wings. I could go on, and produce pages of print on all the wonders that God has given me eyes to see, the fir cones and their magic spirals, the shape of snow flakes, the peculiar properties of water which ensures that ice forms on the top of ponds, and so on.
But in this paper I want to present something that God revealed to me whilst I was teaching physics in the King George V Secondary School, in Hong Kong. I believe it is one of the most intriguing revelations of nature that I have ever had the joy of witnessing, and the most important thing about it is this – unlike the other things I’ve just mentioned, it cannot be seen with the naked eye, it is HIDDEN, and only in this century could it have been known. I mentioned that God revealed it to me. Suddenly I became aware of the truth, having already appreciated the truths contained in the previous paper on this subject, No.80A. However, I do not claim any kudos thereby. Even if “the whisper came to me”, to quote from Kipling’s “The Explorer”, it was not given for me to hold close to my chest, but to share with all the Body of Christ. All good things are first and foremost God’s property, and secondly, for the enjoyment and instruction of all His children.
Let me begin by sharing a few facts of scientific history related to this discovery. In the ancient world, Greek philosophers used to refer to the “four elements”, being EARTH, AIR, FIRE, AND WATER. This was a simplistic analysis of what man sees around him every day. But in more recent times scientists have become aware that matter contains a much larger array of “ELEMENTS”, to give them their proper name. Each of these Elements is distinct from the rest, and it is the work of chemists and physicists to define each one according to its properties. In the 18th century the gases nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and chlorine had all been discovered. Each of these was found to be Elemental, incapable of being reduced to anything simpler. But for many centuries man had been aware of certain metals, such as iron, copper, tin, and lead, as well as mercury and gold. To this list were added in the 18th century, cobalt, platinum, nickel, manganese, tungsten, molybdenum, uranium, titanium, and chromium. And in the first decade of the 19th century no less than fourteen new elements were added to the growing list.
Scentists began to wonder just how many Elements there were. By 1830 the tally reached 55, a long step from the ancient four! But because chemists had begun to classify the properties of the elements that had been found, they became aware that certain elements possessed common properties. The first man to observe this phenomenon was the German chemistDobereiner. In 1829 he noticed that bromine bore similarities to both chlorine and iodine, but in addition, the atomic weight of bromine happened to lie just midway between that of chlorine and iodine. Was this coincidence, or was it opening up a whole new avenue of research into Elemental behaviour? Dobereiner continued his research, and found two other triads having similar properties. The first of these was calcium, strontium, and barium. The second was sulphur, selenium, and tellurium. And in each case, the central one just happened to have an atomic weight midway between the other two. He tried to find further triads, but was unsuccesful. However, the groundwork had been done, and others moved into the work.
It wasn’t until 1864 that the English chemist Newlands presented his findings, in which the then-known elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weight, in vertical columns of seven. This was known as Newland’s law of octaves, because in each case it was the EIGHTH element which bore similarity with the previous one. His analysis showed thatDobereiner’s triads fitted well within the new structure. But again, there was too much dissimilarity for the table of elements to be accepted as a final arrangement.
A much greater degree of understanding was provided in 1869 with the publication of Mendeleev’s work. He was a Russian chemist, and had constructed his Table of Elements according to what is known in chemistry as VALENCY, a word coined to describe the “combining power” of the elements. As Hydrogen has a Valency of 1, and Oxygen a Valency of 2, then water, which is the combination of these two gases, must have a formula of H2O. Mendeleev found that Valencies rose to 4, and fell back again to 1. And he compiled his table according to Valency. This was a great step forward, and although it didn’t provide anything like the simplicity of Newland’s Octaves, it gave a much improved understanding of the way in which Elements behaved. Mendeleev was also able to show that there were MISSING ELEMENTS, which had not yet been found, but should have certain predictable properties when viewed within the structure of Elements. Some of these were found within a short time. Other had to wait for many years. We must now jump ahead to modern times. The “Periodic Table of the Elements” as it is now called, made use of Mendeleev’s original chart, and refined it as more and more information became available.
But instead of there being some simple arrangement, there is an increase in complexity according to the Period. The Lanthanide Series, as it is called, is a group of 15 Elements all of which have to fit into the single space shown on the chart. Similarly the Actinide Series fits below it. There is no simple way of representing all this on a two-dimensional sheet of paper. It is in a manner of speaking a “Student’s Nightmare” when it comes to learning it. Some years ago, a Scientist at London University put out a challenge in the New Scientist magazine to anyone who could present a simplification of the Table, but although there were many ideas, none of them were basically any simpler! Before progressing further, notice how the Actinide Elements are largely those that have been made artificially in this century, all of which are RADIOACTIVE, in other words UNSTABLE, because they fall apart, some more rapidly than others, and give out lethal radiation in so doing. Also, Elements 106 to 118 have not yet been manufactured, and so spaces have been left in the Table. Whether there is any chance of them being made is still uncertain. With each higher member, there is greater difficulty in causing smaller elements to combine in the huge and expensive accelerator machines used for this purpose. However, this need not trouble us in our analysis. The factor of greatest importance is the knowledge that there are 118 Elements in total. (More of this later.)
So much for the history, and the results. Little did I realise, before 1975, that contained within this Periodic Table was the pattern of the New Jerusalem. It was HIDDEN, and yet when understood was quite simple to see. Let me explain how the revelation came to me. It was during the time in which I was required to teach the Periodic Table that this revelation came. I had presented the students with the information in this paper, in other words a little history, and the gradual evolution of the Table to its present-day form. I was sitting in the staff room during the lunch hour, eating my sandwiches, and idly looking at the Periodic Table, when I noticed two things. (A) Periods 2 and 3 were of identical form, so also Periods 4 and 5, and Periods 6 and 7. Periods 3, 5, and 7 were repeats of Periods 2, 4, and 6. Would it not be better to classify Periods 2 and 3 as 2A and 2B? Then 4 and 5 would become 3A and 3B, and Periods 6 and 7 would become 4A and 4B. I saw that there would be sense in doing this, but it didn’t really simplify the structure of the Table. (B) For some reason I counted the number of Elements in Periods 2 and 3 together, and saw that it came to 16, which of course is a “square number”. I wondered what the number would be for Periods 4 and 5. It came out to be 36, which is another “square number”. And the last two Periods contained (or could contain) 64 Elements, yet another “square number”. Was this a coincidence? And did it have some hidden meaning?
Suddenly it struck me! It came as a shaft of light, and the whole Table became simplified and more meaningful. Instead of trying unsuccesfully to arrange the Elements on a flat sheet of paper in TWO DIMENSIONS, one had to present the information in THREE DIMENSIONS, and then it would simplify. There were THREE STAGES, each with a square, the first having 4 X 4, the second 6 X 6, and the last 8 X 8. And then, to my utmost delight, I realised that the model was an exact counterpart of the New Jerusalem as seen by the Chinese children, and presumably by the Apostle John. Even before I had time to construct a cardboard model the pattern was plain enough, and the Capstone was there as well! The first two Elements were Hydrogen and Helium, and although they are assigned to Period 1, they in fact do not fit above the other Elements neatly. Hydrogen is completely unique. Although placed above Group IA, it has no metallic properties but is of course a Gas. Helium takes a better fit in Group VIIIA as one of the “Noble Gases” (as they are called), but some Chemists prefer to assign a separate position for it. So these two together must form the Capstone.
Now this is where we need further examination, because it is easy to assign the position of Hydrogen to the Lord Jesus, as the Capstone, a unique Stone of shape unshared by any other Stone in the building, but what about Helium? How do we account for another Stone being required, and ADDED to the Capstone? If this represents people, then who are they, and why can they have such a prestigious position? The answer to this conundrum is in fact clearly taught by our Lord in the Gospels, though at first sight it may be overlooked. Remember the time when Zebedee’s wife approached the Lord, and said, “Grant that these, my two sons, (i.e. James and John) may sit, one on your right hand, and the other on the left, in your Kingdom.” (Matthew 20:21) And the Lord, in answering, didn’t deny the possibility of such prestigious positions, but said, “To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” And therefore there shall be two such honoured individuals, unknown to us, and probably to all mankind, but known to the Father, and in due course to be bestowed when the Kingdom is being established on earth.
My own feeling about this is that the O.T. prophets had already spoken about these two, and I am referring to Zechariah 4:11-14. Zechariah had seen two Olive Trees standing one on each side of the Golden Candlestick, and he asked the Angel what they signified. “These are the two anointed ones, who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” Two anointed ones, or “sons of oil”, indicating the royal anointing, as with David in the O.T. John the Apostle also spoke about these two individuals, calling them “the two witnesses” in Revelation 11. Their symbolic history is given in advance, and to unravel the meaning of the symbols has given many an interpreter a headache! Usually Moses and Elijah are suggested as contenders. But surely this cannot be the case. How can Moses return to earth and prophesy for 1260 days, and then be killed? He has died once already. Shall the Lord require him to die a second human death? And what about Elijah, who was translated, like Enoch, “not to see death”. Shall he return? Literalists demand that this be so, but there are enormous expositional problems attached, which we cannot enter into in this paper. I believe it is better to assume that we don’t know, and that it is without usefulness to try to identify them, seeing that they are held in the Father’s knowledge as secretly as the day of our Lord’s return.
On the next page I have drawn an “exploded diagram” of the Pyramid of the Elements. Note the thick line that divides the two parts of each of the three “slabs”. This is to show that TWO periods have been included in each slab, as explained in point (A) on the previous page. And by comparing this diagram with the one in the previous paper, it will become even clearer what I meant about the three types of stones. Each of the three slabs has these three different shaped stones. But above them there are two stones that have a unique shape. The “Builders” who rejected the Lord Jesus, (the Hydrogen Capstone) are shown to reject just as forcibly the “Two Witnesses” of Revelation 11, (the Helium stone). The world rejoices at their demise. But like their Master, they will rise and cause the world to pause at what has happened. When this takes place, I am sure we shall be able to rejoice at the outworking of the symbol. There is yet more to grasp from this diagram, and I will reserve it for the next page.
I have here reproduced yet again the three types of stone that make up the Elemental Pyramid. Notice how type A is always found INSIDE the Pyramid, and when complete, is always out of sight.
Type B represents the slant faces of the Pyramid, and may be termed the “Walls”. I believe that John saw these as the Walls of the City, each of the three cities having such walls. But what about type C? What are these? They are of course the four Corners that make up the Walls. I believe they represent the Gates of the City, and you will straightway notice that there are TWELVE SUCH GATE STONES, exactly the number stated by John. He said that there were three facing each of the cardinal points of the compass, and if we assume that the Pyramid is sited with its EDGES facing N,S,E, and W, then the condition is fulfilled perfectly. Furthermore, I give the following corroborative reason for assuming that the Corner Stones are Gates. If we were to take FOUR such Corner Stones, and bring them together, they would make an exact copy of the pair of Capstones. They would be the children of God who would most nearly display His own character, and are therefore to be likened to PEARLS OF GREAT PRICE. In Revelation, each of the Gates is a SINGLE PEARL. And yet another reason may be brought forward. Assuming that there will always be “Blind Builders” who constantly stumble over such Stones, these Corner Stones are far more likely to be discarded than types A and B. In fact type A would probably never be rejected. Type B would be rejected, but not with such vehemence as type C. Hence the Wall Stones are given places of prominence, and are said to be made of Jasper Stone, a green stone with veins running through it, most beautiful in appearance. However, type A stones are all of solid GOLD. Here then is the exposition of the New Jerusalem from Science. I hope you will agree with me that God has truly written His secret work in a secret place. But these secrets are being made known in these last days, so that God’s people may be made more fully aware of what God is doing in the preparation of His great Millennial Kingdom.
O Lord, may Your Kingdom arise! May Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. May the whole earth be at rest, yea, break forth into singing! May the earth be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea. May the nations bow down before You, and say, “Come, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord’s House in Zion, and there learn of His ways.” May all the weapons of war be committed to the fire, thereby to be re-forged as instruments of peace, of agriculture, and home-based industry. Even so come, Lord Jesus!
