The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

was nailed to the cross. (2) In the year 1615 the House of Israel was called out of Egypt to be the people of God;in the year 33 the House of Israel was cast off. Five days before his death our Lord said, "behold your house isleft unto you deserted." This period then represents the period of the house of Fleshly Israel, the length of thelaw dispensation.Some might say, "well that is true, the house of Israel was cast off in the year 33, but nevertheless the specialfavor did not end until 3 1/2 years later." What special favor? The special favor of the high calling, theinvitation to be joint heirs with Christ, which did not end until 3 1/2 years later. Is that represented in thepyramid? You will find that it is represented beautifully in the pyramid according to its symbolic features, andwe shall discuss that later if we have time.Then again some might say that although the house was cast off in the year 33, nevertheless it was notdestroyed until the year 70 A. D. It was the year 70 that Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation was no more. Isthat represented in the pyramid? It is. Now, dear friends, I am glad that Brother Russell did not discover thispoint in his investigations, because if he had I doubt whether he would have thought of this beautiful plan ofextending the plug, and so we would have missed this other beautiful measurement that we have already givenyou. This measurement I am now going to give you does not require the pulling down of the plug, but measurefrom the floor of the descending passage at the point where it is intersected by the floor of the first ascendingpassage projected downward. But a little explanation is necessary with regard to the upper end first of all.We have already seen that this "well" represents hades, the death state, but you are not to understand that theupper edge of the well is in the middle of the floor, but it is on the right or west side of the floor of the GrandGallery. The middle drawing at the lower part of the chart is simply a little enlargement so as to give themeasurements. This second portion represents what I as telling you. The space between the heavy shadedportion represents the floor of the Grand Gallery at the lower end; and the space between the dotted linesrepresents the floor of the first ascending passage at its upper end. (Turn the chart so that the top is at yourright.) Now as you go up the first ascending passage into the Grand Gallery, you see the mouth of the well onyour right side. Then the lower right hand drawing of the chart also represents it, showing the Grand Gallery asyou go upwards, and the two side walls of the Grand Gallery; so you are looking up the passage now. When youget into the Grand Gallery you see the opening on your right side. But if you go to that opening and jump downyou do not fall straight down the "Well," but simply jump down 27 inches. In order to get to the mouth of theWell, you are required to get down on your hands and knees and creep along this little horizontal passage, only27 inches high; and then if you go far enough you will fall down the well-if you want to.Now we are prepared to understand this time feature. The house of Israel was called out of Egypt in the springtime of 1615 B. C. The house of Israel went into hades, the death state, in the fall of the year A. D. 70. If wemeasure from this point as representing the date of the Exodus, April 1615 B. C., along the floor of theDescending Passage and go up at the rate of a pyramid inch to a year, and then along to the middle of the Well,turn sharp to the right 21 inches and down the 27 inches and along the horizontal passage until we get to theedge of the mouth of the Well at the point where it falls straight down, that point represents the fall of the yearA. D. 70; that is the time when the nation of Israel entered into hades. Now you know that is beautifullyrepresented in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, how the rich man represents the Jewish nation, rich inGod's favor, just as "Uncle Sam" represents the American Nation and "John Bull" represents the EnglishNation; and how a certain time arrived when this rich man died and was buried, and being in hades he wastormented and lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus, typical of those Gentiles who had been begging for thecrumbs of favor from the rich man's table, who died, and was received into Abraham's bosom, the place ofdivine favor. Since the date of October A. D. 70, the nation of Israel has ceased to exist, but the people are stillalivethe people who are the descendants, of course. It is the people who are in torment and have been in tormentever since; even in this day they are suffering torment, as we know. And why are they suffering torment? Whyis it that the Jews in Russia are now being persecuted? The reason is simply because the nation is dead. There is