Messiah: The First Judgement (Chronicles of Brothers) (15 page)

Michael stared at Lucifer sceptically. ‘This you well know, Lucifer.’

Jether opened a tome. ‘I paraphrase from one of our earlier recorded gatherings.’ He picked up one of the tomes of Eternal Law, his nimble fingers rifled through the pages. ‘A claim was lodged against mankind in the courts of heaven by Lucifer, sovereign ruler of the Race of Men. The aforesaid Lucifer placed the Race of Men on trial. Records from the archives of Perdition were as a result meticulously scrutinized and cross referenced with the Records of the Race of Men registered in the codices of the First Heaven. Every generation of Homo sapiens from the time of Eden was investigated. It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the Race of Men has persistently and without penitence committed desertion and has transgressed Eternal Law. Yehovah cannot judge Lucifer and his fallen angelic host and not mete out the same judgement to the Race of Men. Their transgressions are identical. Both Lucifer and the Race of Men were granted free will. Both Lucifer and the Race of Men have transgressed against Yehovah and Eternal Law as an act of their own volition. Judgement was duly passed.’

Lucifer nodded. ‘Excellent, Jether. Your records are meticulous.’

He raised his hands in exhiliration. ‘Every man’s soul is mine – to be with me in hell and the grave and in Tartarus. And when my judgement comes, they will burn with me in the Lake of Fire!’

‘Yes.’ Michael glared at Lucifer fiercely. ‘The Race of Men will share your fate.’

‘There is no remittance,’ Charsoc said emphatically.

Jether pursed his lips. ‘We have been through this, time and time again.’

Lucifer held up his hand. ‘We must be assured.’

‘There is no remittance,’ Gabriel said softly. ‘Only one with undefiled blood can pay the penalty.’ Gabriel opened a second tome.

‘Conditions of the Race of Men to pay the penalty of judgement according to the tenets of Eternal Law: the life of the soul of the Race of Men is in the blood, as pertaining to the constituents of matter. Therefore without the shedding of undefiled blood, no remission of judgement exists for the Race of Men.’

‘Undefiled blood...’ Lucifer murmured.

‘Tenet 7728891977 of the Code of Eternal Law.’ Jether passed his palm over a second tome, and bluish lightning arced from his palm through the pages of the codex. The modulated voice narrated:

‘If one undefiled from the Race of Men is willing to shed his lifeblood on behalf of the Race of Men and become a substitute for judgement, the said Race of Men, its past, present, and future generations, will be released from eternal judgement by the death of that one. One undefiled soul can be exchanged for the souls of the Race of Men. This is binding Eternal Law.’

‘Humour me. Read the definition of “undefiled”, brother.’ Lucifer studied Gabriel’s face intently as he read.

‘Definition of “undefiled” as pertaining to the Race of Men, as laid down by Eternal Law,’ Gabriel declared. ‘The substitute’s blood must be pure and untainted from the mutation of the fall of man.’

‘Ah – the Nazarene’s blood.’ Lucifer’s eyes moved from Michael to Gabriel, stopping finally on Jether, where they lingered.

‘...Yehovah would not think to use the Nazarene as a substitute, Jether?’

The whole table fell silent.

Lucifer moved from Gabriel to Jether. ‘I have studied the Nazarene’s conception intimately. Yehovah cannot banish my angelic generals to Tartarus for leaving their first estate and cohabiting with the Race of Men and then seek to breach his own Eternal Law by fertilizing the Christos egg.’ Lucifer looked down at Jether. ‘Is this not so, Jether?’

Jether stared ahead, silent for a long moment. Finally he spoke softly. ‘You speak truly. Yehovah cannot breach His own Eternal Law.’ Charsoc smiled triumphantly at the still sneezing Xacheriel, who glared at him darkly.

Lucifer smiled a slow evil smile. ‘Therefore the egg
had
to be fertilized by seed from the Race of Men ... from the father, Joseph, to enable its conception and replication. The Nazarene’s blood is defiled by inherent sin damage; He does not qualify.’ His gaze locked greedily on the great lapis lazuli codex, bound in gold, its pages blazing with a fierce blue fire. ‘Forget the bloodlines!’

Lucifer raised his arms to the heavens.

‘Long and impatiently have I waited to discover the reason for His
intrusion
on my planet!’

‘And now your wait comes to an end.’ Jether stood. ‘His objective on the planet earth reads simply thus: To proclaim the kingdom of the First Heaven to the Race of Men.’

Lucifer stared at Jether in bewilderment, taken aback.

‘That is it?’

Jether stared at Lucifer grimly. Lucifer ran his fingers through his long unbraided locks, mystified.

‘That is it.’ Jether repeated, his voice hard.

Lucifer surveyed the table, examining his brothers’ faces. Uneasy.

‘He exchanges deity, immortality, divine Kingship ... for wooden tables and saws in a dusty hovel?’

Jether continued his silent staring.

‘We have much sway in the Race of Men, sire,’ Charsoc said, slowly removing his soft white goatskin gloves, methodically finger by finger. ‘They will give no heed to a carpenter from Nazareth...’

He threw his gloves down on the table in disdain.

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. ‘You were shortsighted before, Charsoc, to our ruin.’ He rose. ‘I am not so easily persuaded.’ He circled the table. ‘They will take no heed of a carpenter ...
unless
’ he swung around to Jether, ‘unless the carpenter is not a carpenter – but a sorcerer –
a miracle maker
!’

He leant over Jether until his face was only inches from Jether’s own.

‘He has no right to use His supernatural powers on my planet,’ he whispered. ‘He is a
trespasser
.’

‘His status changes if He passes the test.’

‘Test!
What
test?’ snarled Lucifer. ‘Ah! –
Now
we unveil Yehovah’s scheming strategy.’

‘The test of obedience to Yehovah. The test you put before the first stewards of the Race of Man, namely one Adam and Eve. Eternal Law cannot be broken.’ Jether sat, leaning back in his throne.

‘The Nazarene turns thirty not many moons from now. The day the seal is lifted, He will face you as Eve did in earth’s Eden, in worlds long departed. That is why we are here.’

‘A second Eden,’ Charsoc murmured in wonder. ‘It is expedient for us, master.’

Lucifer walked over to the battlements. His long raven hair blew violently across his face, his ermine cloak flew in the raging tempests at the edge of the Tower.

‘A second Eden.’ He stared far into the distance, over the Eastern plains of Eden to the Hanging Gardens where the two massive trees of Life stood, their fruit glistening gold in the lightning, almost wholly enveloped by swirling white mists. ‘How fortuitous.’ His gaze moved to the north of the two trees where the colossal golden, ruby-encrusted door was embedded into the jacinth walls of the Tower.

‘–but fortuitous for who?’ He stared at the Rubied Door, his expression dark.

‘What does the carpenter gain if he passes my test?’ he whispered, his back to Jether.

‘He secures the right to proclaim the Kingdom of the First Heaven on your planet – no longer a trespasser.’

‘And what of His powers?’

‘If He passes the test, His access to the supernatural powers of the First Heaven is secured. But He will make use of them as one of the Race of Men.’

‘Aha! It is as I presumed – He would entice them with His sorceries,’ Lucifer said as he turned from the battlements. ‘And if He fails?’

‘He suffers the same fate as Adam. He becomes your subject. One of the Race of Men under your control.’ Jether gestured to Lucifer’s sceptre lain on the table.
‘You will be His King.’

Lucifer stared at Michael, a wicked fire in his eyes.

‘I am gratified I attended our little tête-à-tête, Michael. I am surely not disappointed.’ He turned to Jether, asking, ‘And
when
is our contest to be?’

‘When the Nazarene reaches the age of thirty years, as counted in the Race of Men. In but a few moons, the seal of the seventh stone will be lifted. He will face you as one of the Race of Men,’ Jether replied.

Lucifer nodded, a peculiar smile flickering on his lips.

‘And the terms of the Nazarene’s residency rights,’ Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, ‘on
my
territory, Earth?’

He walked over to the table and sat back down on his throne.

‘They are laid out in the White Judgements.’ Jether opened the codex.

‘Christos will be known in the following residency document as Jesus of Nazareth – the Nazarene, one of the Race of Men. At the age of thirty, as predetermined by the Race of Men, Yehovah’s protection – the seal of the seventh stone will be lifted. Jesus of Nazareth is bound by Eternal Law to confront the ultimate challenge of obedience as did the first steward of the planet earth, Adam – as one of the Race of Men. The testing must be conducted in exact like manner to that previously encountered by the aforesaid Adam and Eve. A test of obedience. To Yehovah or to yourself as Sovereign of the Race of Men.’

Jether nodded to Gabriel.

‘As ruler of the Race of Men, you may lay before Him three separate temptations of your creation,’ said Gabriel. ‘If He overcomes these temptations, He secures the right to proclaim the kingdom of the First Heaven among the Race of Men.’

Lucifer leaned back, studying Gabriel in enjoyment.

‘If He fails even one of your tests, according to Eternal Law,’ Gabriel continued, ‘He becomes your subject and forfeits His right to proclaim the kingdom of heaven among the Race of Men. If He fails...’

‘If the Nazarene fails...’
Lucifer echoed Gabriel’s words, toying idly with his sceptre. ‘If He fails ... He will spend the rest of His life in obscurity in Nazareth, making tables for old, fat women in dusty marketplaces.’

Michael glared at the smirking Lucifer.

‘The contest will be between the two contenders,’ continued Gabriel quietly, deliberately ignoring Lucifer’s comment. ‘According to Eternal Law, the tempter must be the self-same one who caused man’s demise in the first place.’ Gabriel closed the tome. ‘Lucifer contended with Adam and Eve; Lucifer will contend with the man Jesus. The contest shall take place in the land of Jesus of Nazareth’s origin. The only ones present shall be the two contenders. Christos in His present form as one of the Race of Men – Jesus of Nazareth, and Lucifer, present ruler of the aforesaid Race of Men.’

‘So – if the Nazarene obeys even just
one
of my commands, He is mine!’ Lucifer snarled. He stood, suddenly bored with the proceedings. ‘I have demands! He is to fast all sustenance. For forty days. Before the contest.’

Jether nodded. ‘Your demands will be duly noted by Eternal Law.’

Lucifer strode towards his chariot, his beautiful features starting to mar. ‘I await the contest eagerly.’ He lashed his stallions. ‘The Nazarene shall rue the day He was born on my planet!’ he cried, then rode high into the shimmering skies of the First Heaven towards Perdition.

Jether stood and smoothed his robes. Grim.

‘The gathering is closed. Let us prepare. I will stay and close the tomes.’

Chapter Fourteen

AD 26

Aretas, still noble and regal, his once jet black hair now greying, was in his sixty-eighth year. ‘Aretas, Lover of his People’ was the name affectionately given him by his subjects. He gazed out upon the vast expanse of Arabian desert, far beyond his formal pavilions and ornamental palace gardens. Then he flung open the portico windows, inhaling the heady perfumes of Nabatean spices. The Nabateans were exceptionally skilled traders, conducting a flourishing commerce between China, India, the Far East, Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. Petra now had a profitable trade with the seaports in frankincense, myrrh and spices, as well as trade with Egypt in bitumen from the Dead Sea, and the silk trade with China. From its origins as a fortress city, Petra had become a wealthy commercial crossroads between the Arabian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures, controlling the routes not only eastward from Petra across the Negev to Gaza, but also northward up the King’s Highway to the outskirts of Damascus.

Over the past thirty years, Aretas had poured his life out as supreme monarch of Arabia, and his people had reached the height of their economic and cultural development. He had built new towns and improved old ones, constructed irrigation systems, and expanded the agricultural base. And the status accorded Nabatean women had been the fodder of Arabian marketplace gossip these past ten years, much to Aretas’ amusement. Their women not only now inherited property but could buy and sell it in their own right. Jotapa would be proud, as would her gracious, long-departed mother, his beloved queen, who had died in childbirth. He smiled, well satisfied. He had ruled his noble people with devotion. With might and with justice.