Rebellion

By Kenneth John Marks

Using his strong background in the Scripture mixed with a complex and rich imagination, Kenneth John Marks sets out to tell a dramatic but biblically rooted account of evils origin in the universe. He does this largely through childrens perspectives, which adds a layer of wonder and innocence to the narration that contrasts effectively with some of the less-than-innocent characters and dramatic twists. What starts off as a simple tale deepens into a riveting story of evil versus good, Lucifers followers against Gods, which culminates in an unforgettable battle between Lucifer as a seven-headed dragon and the Destroyer that burns and pierces him. Readers will enjoy the authors skillful story telling and poetic prose, such as the noonday sun reached with bright shining fingers. Even more importantly, many readers will see their faith and life choices mirrored in the characters, inspiring prayerful self-examination and reflection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449743451

Kenneth John Marks

Ken was born in San Francisco California and grew up Hayward California. He attended high school in Hayward, college at the university of California at San Diego where he received a liberal arts degree concentrating in mathematics and the humanities.Ken, a born-again Christian, now lives in Portland, Oregon and is active in his local church. Ken has been a student of biblical history and of the Bible for many years.

Book preview

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

A Few Things the Reader Needs to Know

CHAPTER 1

Two Little Boys Search for the Angel of Death

CHAPTER 2

Ohm Pa Begins a Story

CHAPTER 3

David and Azmaveth Wake

CHAPTER 4

Niri and AnteSo Make Someone’s Acquaintance

CHAPTER 5

David and Azmaveth Are Taken to Ezra’s Home

CHAPTER 6

Someone Has a Few Words with Niri and AnteSo

CHAPTER 7

And Someone Has a Few Words with David

CHAPTER 8

Niri and AnteSo Witness Something Glorious

Chapter 9

A Rebellion Begins in Jerusalem

Chapter 10

Rebellion in Heaven

Chapter 11

And Rebellion on Earth

Chapter 12

Heaven

Epilogue

Phinehas Finishes His Story

For the Glory of God

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

READING AND COMMENTARY

I want to thank Ms. Nichole Joor, Mrs. Kim Smith, and Mrs. Patti Wilson for their valuable help in reading and commenting on this book.

THE COVER

The cover was created in collaboration with Greg Gordon, http://nlemedia.com, using images from the Doré Bible Gallery found on http://catholic-resources.org/Art/Dore.htm. The Doré images were made available on this site by the Reverend Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D., Director of Biblical Education, Loyola Institute for Spirituality, 480 S. Batavia St. Orange, CA 92868-3907, e-mail: [e-mail]. Reverend Just has very kindly given us permission to use this material. Our heartfelt thanks go out to him.

FOREWORD

When I sat down to write this story, its basic themes had been on my mind for a very long time: What did it look like from heaven when God created all things? What did it look like when Lucifer rebelled and was thrown out of heaven? What motivated him?

I’ve also been fascinated by God’s destroying angel, Abaddon, who appears many times in the Bible. I’ve wondered what he must be like. Unlike certain biblical scholars, I do not believe Abaddon is evil. While the book of Revelation mentions that he is the ruler of the abyss, the ultimate ruler of the abyss is God Himself, and God is not evil. Rather, every time Abaddon appears in Scripture, he is doing precisely what God has told him to do. That is how he appears in Revelation 21, unleashing the forces of evil on the earth to bring about mankind’s end, just as God foretold through the prophets.¹

Speaking of evil, this story also deals with its origin. It affirms unequivocally that God created the devil and the demons that live in hell.

How could that be? one of my readers asked. How could a good, righteous, and holy God create these evil beings?

I can’t explain why He did it, but I do know that He did do it, because God Himself unequivocally states this in Scripture. For example, He says in Isaiah 45:6b–7, I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. John 1:3–4 states of Jesus (who is the creator God), Through [Jesus] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made, and again Scripture states in Colossians 1:16, For by [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. Certainly, no evil could possibly have existed before creation, because it would have had to exist in God Himself, and He is absolutely pure.

My reader also commented on how ugly the demons in hell were. How could God create such ugliness? she wondered. One might consider God’s wrath to be ugly and terrifying, and these beings are the exact representation of God’s wrath, which expresses His hatred of sin and of evil.

As for the creation story in chapter 8, I have tried to remain true to the order of events as they are described day by day in Genesis 1. However, there’s a problem in this for those of us mortal beings who believe in the inerrant truth of God’s Word but also believe in the power of human reason to discover a few truths about this great universe God has set us in. Our problem lies in the fact that the Genesis account flies somewhat against the current popular myths (fueled by that same very limited human reason) about how the universe was actually formed.² To deal with such problems, I have applied the following three rules to my interpretation of the biblical creation account (which I believe should govern anyone’s interpretation of God’s Word): first, the Bible is not a science manual; second, God does not tell us everything we might want to know about the nature of His creation; third, and by far most important, if something God says about how the universe operates or came into being conflicts with human reason’s current understanding, God’s Word rules.

My hope is that you might find this book stimulating and enjoyable. I hope it makes you think about your faith. If you are not a person of faith, my hope is that you might consider the future of those who rebel against God, for their future will certainly be the same as Lucifer’s and all of those who follow him.

This is a work of fiction. All characters mentioned in reference to Jerusalem, except for Ezra, Artaxerxes, and Nehemiah are fictional, as are the events surrounding them. Solomon’s palace, referred to here as the administrative center of Judah, is also fictional, since it was destroyed by the Babylonians and there is no record of its having been rebuilt. All words ascribed to Ezra the scribe and priest are fictional except when Ezra himself quotes the Scriptures. Also the characters in heaven in Phinehas’ story of Lucifer’s rebellion—Neahstari, AnteSo, MariSo, and Niri—are fictional devices used by the storyteller to engage his audience. Lucifer and the other angels are taken from God’s Word and drawn according to my understanding of their natures. The rebellion in heaven is certainly not fictional, though Abaddon’s role in defending God’s honor is the product of my imagination. The same can be said of the images of the creation scene in chapter 8.

Finally, all quotations from Scripture or references to Scripture refer to the 1984 edition of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible.

INTRODUCTION

A Few Things the Reader Needs to Know

Phinehas bar Eli was born about seventy-five years before the events of this story, in the seventeenth year of the Persian king Darius and about thirty years after the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon.³ His father Eli, a prophet of God, was sent by the LORD to the Jews in Jerusalem (in the Persian province of Judah during the reign of Darius) to warn them to return to following Him and His holy Law.⁴ Phinehas was married in his eighteenth year to his wife Esther (not the same Esther as in the Bible). Shortly thereafter, Eli was brutally murdered.

About thirty years later, Phinehas and Esther had a daughter, Rachel. At the time, Phinehas and Esther were the personal property of Zebulun bar David, a wealthy and powerful perfumer, who also had a personal and quite friendly relationship with the Persian kings Xerxes and, later, his son Artaxerxes.⁵ Lord Zebulun had saved Phinehas’ and Esther’s lives from Eli’s enemies by allowing Phinehas to sell himself and her to Lord Zebulun. Because they were his property, Zebulun’s wealth, power, and close friendship with the kings of Persia provided protection to Phinehas’ family.

Phinehas had become wealthy in Zebulun’s service, and he and Zebulun were also the closest of friends. Their homes were situated within a few yards of each other in the northwestern quadrant of Jerusalem, and their families shared everything. Phinehas’ wife, Esther, became like a second mother to Zebulun’s sons after his wife died, and she took care of Zebulun’s household as well as her own.

Since his father’s murder, Phinehas had harbored bitterness and anger in his heart. So bitter was Phinehas that he turned against Zebulun. This bitterness also led him to make some awful choices that eventually got his wife killed and his daughter kidnapped and spirited off toward the slave markets in the Persian capital of Susa. But, through the merciful intervention of almighty God, Rachel was saved and, after many months, restored to her father and to her betrothed, Zebulun’s youngest son, Asa.

During this time, an especially vicious governor named Ahab ruled Jerusalem. He was also chief scribe of the temple. He was notorious for murdering his enemies, and a cloud of oppression hung heavily over the people. It was Ahab working with another evil man named Judas who brought this tragedy on Phinehas. The coming of Nehemiah from King Artaxerxes put his rule to an end and freed Phinehas’ family from the threat of annihilation.⁶

Asa and Rachel had grown up together, and it was always Zebulun’s and Phinehas’ desire that Asa and Rachel would marry, which they did in King Artaxerxes’ twenty-first year. At the time of this story, Rachel and Asa have been married about thirteen years and have had many sons and daughters. The reader will meet David, Rachel’s ten-year-old son, in chapter 1.

Now, Zebulun also had three other sons, Daniel, David, and Elias. Daniel, the oldest, married Abigail, daughter of Ezekiel the jeweler, a very wealthy and powerful merchant living in Jerusalem. Daniel and Abigail also had many sons and daughters. Azmaveth, Abigail’s nine-year-old son, will also be introduced in chapter 1.

Living in Judah at this time was the scribe and teacher of the law, Ezra bar Seraiah.⁷ He was a priest who could trace his lineage back to Moses’ brother Aaron. God spoke and worked great works through this wonderful man. He was highly regarded and feared by the Jews in Judah and throughout the empire, as well as by the Persians, who acknowledged Ezra’s God as the God of heaven.⁸

You can read more about these characters in my Prophet’s Son books—Descent to Darkness, Sojourn in the Desert, and Return to Grace—which are currently available in e-book form on the standard platforms, such as Amazon Kindle.

CHAPTER 1

Two Little Boys Search for the Angel of Death

On a bright, hot day in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of King Artaxerses of Persia, two young boys, one ten and the other nine, ran quietly through the narrow streets of Jerusalem that led toward Solomon’s palace, the administrative center of the province of Judah. They ducked out of sight from time to time, hoping not to draw too much attention to themselves. Persian soldiers were everywhere and frightening to behold, their armor gleaming and their bright swords drawn as they cast sharp glances and menacing scowls at everyone who passed.

This was because chaos reigned in the City of God just now. The provincial governor had been assassinated a few months ago, and the Persians were on the rampage. They were claiming Judah’s enemies to the north and east had arranged to have this great patriot murdered and that collaborators among the Jews had aided and abetted their scheme. Everyone knew who these enemies were: the Horonites and the Ammonites; and there were always collaborators among the Jews, or so it was said.

This might have been plausible had persistent rumor not cast doubt on it, citing the arrival shortly before the governor’s death of a particularly powerful Persian general, Imanishs, leading an army of several thousand soldiers. He was said to be a singularly ambitious and particularly brutal man. That, it was also said, was why many had lost their lives over the past few months. The Persian soldiers, loyal to the general, went from home to home, dragging people out into the streets and carrying them off to a certain dreaded room in the palace, from which none of them ever returned. Terrible, frightening rumors circulated concerning Imanishs’ purpose for all this killing in this four-hundred thirtieth year before the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

As the boys made their way stealthily along one of the city’s narrow streets, keeping as close to the sides of the buildings as possible, one of the soldiers turned suddenly and looked directly at them. David, the elder of the two boys, skidded to a stop and ducked behind a large donkey-drawn cart, heavily laden with fruit. But his friend Azmaveth could not stop soon enough. He bumped into David, who then bumped into the cart, causing the hobbled animal to jerk backward suddenly. This tipped the cart, and several oranges fell into the street and rolled toward the soldier. The boys’ breathing stopped, as did their hearts’ beating, or so they thought.

The scowling soldier now moved slowly toward the cart. David, afraid that his young friend might jump up and run, held him tightly and whispered, No, Azi! Don’t. Let’s just be quiet. Here. See? We can go around here, behind the cart. That son of a donkey will never see us. The trembling nine-year-old allowed himself to be led around the side of the cart closest to the building, opposite the approaching soldier.

Shaking mightily as he followed his crawling friend through the dust, Azmaveth hated that he was here. How, he wondered, had he let David talk him into going to the palace to see if Abaddon, the destroyer angel, was really there? David was always getting Azmaveth into trouble, it seemed. Now, with this killing menace stalking them, they might not survive long enough to endure their mothers’ scolding—or at least David’s mom’s wrath, which Azmaveth feared as much as his own mother’s, if not more.

And who was this angel of death, this Uthamel, anyway? David always talked about him as if he were God’s own destroying angel come to earth. Though Azmaveth had heard his name mentioned many times, he never believed he existed. Nobody the boy knew outside of his or David’s family really did. Why, the stories David’s grandfather Phinehas told about him were crazy, though Azmaveth loved the old man’s stories as much as any of his friends did.

Almost to the front of the cart now and seeing the soldier’s boots on the other side, David had just turned to smile a victory smile at his friend when a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and a gruff voice said, Got you, you young scamp! The child looked up into scowling black eyes in a helmeted head. As the point of a gleaming razor-edged sword came down toward him, he shrieked, jumped up, jerked out of the soldier’s grasp, and grabbed his young friend, who had gone stiff with fear. They both scrambled away as fast as they could. As the words Hey! You! Come back here! snapped at his backside, David imagined that the dogs of hell were after him. He thought he heard the scuffling of boots and the clink of armor. He might have breathed a little easier had he looked back. He would have seen two soldiers laughing at their fleeing backs, pointing at the boys, bending over and slapping their thighs.

But he did not dare look as he ran carelessly through the streets for a few seconds, keeping a tight hold on Azmaveth’s hand. He then ducked into an alley and hid behind a pile of boxes. He pulled his friend down beside him, and they both curled up into little balls, their heads together, their eyes closed. Trying to suck in as much air as they could, they could only manage short gasping breaths, deathly afraid that any sound might give them away to the Persians.

But nothing happened.

David uncurled himself slowly and peeked around a box toward the street. No soldiers there; just the pedestrian and animal traffic normal for this time of day. Breathing normally now, he nudged his friend.