by Brian Godawa
Apollyon threw Chaser, Ba’al’s javelin, to Azazel and withdrew the storm god’s war hammer Driver off his back. One mighty swing and the spiritual gates broke open wide with a resounding earthquake in the heavenlies.
In the midst of the melee, Apollyon hadn’t noticed that Zeus and Ares were no longer behind them.
The three Watchers stepped into the Women’s Court. But before Semyaza could make it in, the gates suddenly slammed shut as if by Yahweh’s own hand. Semyaza was locked outside.
The three Watchers turned back. Azazel looked out the gate window and gasped. “My lord, the outer court is filled with heavenly host. They are engaging your throne guardians.”
“What?” complained Apollyon. He’d been sure there was nothing left to defend. He yanked Azazel aside and looked into the outer court.
The Watcher was right. Apollyon’s titans were clashing with Yahweh’s. Griffins, sphinxes, lamassu, and mushussu versus seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim.
Seraphim were serpentine divinities with six powerful wings each that were used as mighty shields and weapons. In Yahweh’s throne room, the wings protected the seraphim from God’s glory in his presence, so their power was devastating against their enemies.215
Cherubim were ugly monstrosities to Apollyon—humanoid in shape but with bronze legs like a bull, four faces, and four wings. The cherubim were accompanied by the ophanim, divine flames with eyes all around. Like the wheels of Ezekiel’s vision, these creatures moved every which way in circular motion as though they were whirling swords. Eden was protected by paired sentinels like these.216
A divine battle of throne guardians had been launched by Yahweh for the obvious purpose of removing Apollyon’s protection. But again, why? He was already in the temple.
When the Watcher turned back to the inner court, he saw the reason why. Seven archangels stood on the top of the steps of the Nicanor Gate glaring down at them. They had Ares and Zeus bound beside them in chains.
Apollyon saw Zeus grinning with hatred at his master.
“So you were the traitor after all,” said Apollyon to the Greek king of the gods. Evidently, he had betrayed Apollyon to help the archangels spring this trap. After all Apollyon’s paranoia of mutiny by the others, it had never crossed his mind that it would be the once-obese Greek buffoon who would stab him in the back.
“I have to thank you,” said Zeus. “It was your mocking of me and utter humiliation of my dignity at the very start of this war that caused me to become disciplined, lose some weight, and plan my ultimate revenge.”
Apollyon said, “There is no forgiveness for you, fool. You’ll still end up in the Lake of Fire.”
Zeus kept grinning. “But I will have the satisfaction of having thwarted you. And that is enough.”
Apollyon, Marduk, and Azazel drew their weapons.
Michael announced, “You fulfilled your purpose, Angel of the Abyss. Now it is time for your banishment.”
So that was why the angels had sprung this trap. Inside the temple was a shaft that led to the Abyss, and Apollyon had previously stolen the key to it. These godlickers wanted to bind him there.
Apollyon spit out, “You want the key back, archangel? Come and get it.”
The archangels pushed their captives into a side chamber and prepared to fight.
CHAPTER 61
Inside the Holy Place, John of Gischala led his hundred loyal body guards through the stairway up to the roof of the temple. Simon knew what his nemesis was doing. He was going to await the supposed visitation of Yahweh to miraculously rescue them.
But that was never going to happen. The madman was leading his followers to their deaths.
Simon ripped down one of the side curtains and laid it out on the floor to start bagging up some of the holy utensils. Maybe he could save some of them before the beast Titus pillaged the house of God.
• • • • •
Gischala stood with his loyal followers on the roof of the temple. The golden-horned edges of the rim glimmered in the sun like a crown of gold around them.
“Pray for the Lord’s deliverance,” Gischala addressed them all. “I have one last task below to ensure his arrival.”
He left them praying and returned to the stairwell. Making his way down to the priest’s chambers, he grabbed a torch.
He then proceeded to light on fire any wood that he could find in the building.
• • • • •
In the Court of Gentiles, Titus led his cavalry to plow through the Jewish defenses. They hacked and trampled their way toward the inner temple structure.
Thousands of legionaries and Zealots faced off with sword and shield. The stone pavement at their feet became soaked with blood.
The discipline and order of the Roman legions was well practiced and pushed the less orderly Jewish forces back.
But the Jews were fighting for their survival and their religion. The Romans were defiling their most holy space, the very house of God. The defenders held the line with their zeal and passion.
But the bodies began to pile up.
Unseen and unheard by the humans, the spiritual battle around them also raged. Throne guardians collided with each other in a fierce battle of wings, talons, claws, and fangs. The roar of lamassu and the screeching of griffins filled the air.
The front line of lamassu and sphinxes clashed with cherubim. The pagan leonine creatures launched at their holy enemies with feral savagery. The cherubim wrestled with them like Samsons with lions.
Mushussu assaulted ophanim with dragon power and writhing serpent tails.
Up above, griffins and seraphim engaged in aerial combat. The seven-fold advantage of seraphim wings was countered by the agility and speed of the griffins. But even more so, lions were the king of animals, and eagles were expert serpent hunters. Griffins were a divine hybrid of both.
• • • • •
In the Court of Women, the Watchers and angels faced off against each other. It would have been a simple task for seven archangels to subdue three Watchers, but the gods had weapons that levelled the odds. Apollyon swung Driver, the mighty war hammer of Ba’al that crushed everything in its wake. Azazel had Chaser, Ba’al’s javelin of lightning. Marduk carried the weapons he’d used to take down the titanic dragon Tiamat: his bow, his mace, his battle net of the four winds, and his mighty cleaver with which he split the heavens and earth.217
Azazel held Chaser in the air. A bolt of lightning fired from the heavens and filled him with power. The heavenly skies above matched the earthly turmoil below with a swirling ferocity.
Apollyon taunted his adversaries, “So, here we are again, angels. Though I recall, it did not go well for Gabriel last time.” At the beginning of the revolt, the angels had tried to ambush Apollyon in the temple, but he had managed to crush Gabriel with Driver. That was when he had stolen the key to the Abyss from the foundation stone in the Holy of Holies. It was the worst injury Gabriel had ever experienced.
Gabriel unfurled his whip sword Rahab, ten feet of flexible heavenly metal that could cut through anything. He said, “This time, serpent, you’re the one going down.”
“Into the Abyss,” added Uriel, who drew his two swords and swirled them through the air with lethal expertise.
The other archangels drew their swords as well, and Michael gave a war cry that resounded through the unseen realm. The angels leapt down the stairs to meet the Watchers weapon for weapon.
• • • • •
Inside the Holy Place, Simon tried to gather as many priestly instruments as he could. The menorah was too large, but he planned to draw up the utensils in the curtain and maybe drag the censers and table of shewbread out one at a time.
“There you are, Simon bar Giora. Pilfering my house.”
The voice drew his attention to the side chamber where Gischala stood with flaming torch in his hand, still wearing the garments of the high priest.
Simon retorted, “This is not your temple.”
Gischa
la pulled off his miter hat and set it down. He pulled off the ephod and breastplate. Then he drew his weapon. “I hope you’ve gotten better with a sword since we last faced off. Or you are in trouble.”
When Simon and Gischala had been in the temple guard together years ago, Gischala had been a superior fighter. In fact, he had taught Simon some of his own technique. But Simon had lived a hard life of survival in the wilderness for the past six years. He drew his sword and inched cautiously toward his opponent.
Gischala touched the torch to the curtains and made his way to the veil of the Holy of Holies.
Simon demanded, “You would burn the holy temple of God?”
“Only to hasten the coming of Yahweh to Zion to save us.” Gischala looked at the temple treasures Simon had been trying to gather together. “I must say, Simon, it is good to see you believe in something again. Or are you just a petty thief?”
Simon froze with shock as Gischala lit the veil on fire as well. The flame climbed the beautiful blue tapestry, consuming the images of cherubim and stars in its raging fury.
“You are possessed by a demon,” said Simon.
“Or the Spirit of the Lord,” said Gischala. “It depends on which side you are standing.”
Simon gritted his teeth in preparation for battle. “I stand on the side of the temple.”
“Well, I suppose that means you won’t be joining me.” Gischala threw the torch to the other side of the chamber. It struck the side curtains there, which began to catch aflame.
Distracted by the move, Simon wasn’t prepared for Gischala’s attack.
• • • • •
Outside in the Court of Gentiles, Titus’s unit of horsemen met a cohort of Jews guarding the Beautiful Gate that led to the inner temple. Roman cavalry was usually an unstoppable force against infantry, but these Jews were like heavenly throne guardians protecting their most sacred house with everything in them and more.
The defenders also cleverly used captured Roman shields to arrange a testudo formation. The Romans were forced to fight against their own battle tactic, only to discover why it worked so effectively.
In the unseen realm, the heavenly host of Yahweh began to overcome Apollyon’s spiritual forces. Griffins could not break through the powerful shielding of seraphim wings, which were also used to cut through the wings and bodies of their pagan enemies. Their holiness was impenetrable and razor-sharp. The Greek hybrids fell from the sky like swatted flies.
On the ground, ophanim cut off the serpent tails and dragon heads of the mushussu. Their reptilian enemies could not keep up with the superior agility of ophanim on the battlefield. They were like wheels within wheels, capable of moving in any direction with instant speed and power. Long dragon necks presented easy targets for the whirling swords of flame.
Cherubs wrestled sphinxes and lamassu, breaking their necks and using their swords with deadly accuracy on their hybrid feline opponents.
What had begun as a contest of throne guardians had descended into a bloodbath of holy victory for Yahweh.
It had been Apollyon’s gamble, and he was losing the bet. His guardians would no longer be guarding him.
• • • • •
Inside the Court of Women, Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel faced off against Apollyon. Uriel and Remiel fought Marduk while Saraqel and Raguel took on Azazel.
Apollyon pummeled the ground with his war hammer. This set off a massive earthquake in the spiritual realm that caused the foundation of the inner temple to shake, throwing the angels to the ground.
Marduk released a stream of arrows at Uriel and Remiel with supernatural speed. The angels used their swords like windmill blades to block the missiles from hitting their targets.
Azazel was the first to take down his enemies. His lightning javelin launched a blast of energy at Saraqel and Raguel that they could not withstand. They crashed into the pillars of the portico, and the roof collapsed, burying them in the rubble.
• • • • •
In the Holy Place, Simon exchanged sword blows with Gischala. Around them, the curtains burned like funeral pyres. Flames traveled upward, catching the ceiling beams on fire. The temple structure was marble and stone, but there was enough wood in the building for the arson to do devastating damage. And to kill them both in a furnace of fire.
Simon was stronger than Gischala, but he had been weakened by several days in prison with little food and water. He felt his strength lessening with each jarring hit.
Gischala pushed him back up against a pillar. “You cannot kill me, Simon.”
Rather than respond to his messianic delusion, Simon focused on one last burst of energy against Gischala.
He swung with every ounce of strength in his body. His sword hit Gischala’s with clang after clang. Gischala moved backward, countering and parrying.
But then Simon’s strength ran out.
• • • • •
Outside in the Court of Gentiles, the few surviving throne guardians of Apollyon fled the battlefield to return to the four corners of their origins. Seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim finished mopping up their adversaries. They beheaded the wounded griffins, sphinxes, lamassu, and mushussu. The blood of divine creatures mixed with that of humans in this cosmic war of mountains, the battleground of Armageddon.
The heavenly host then left the temple mount, their strategic objective completed. Apollyon had no guardians left to protect him.
CHAPTER 62
Titus and his Roman forces shattered the ranks of their Jewish combatants at the temple entrance. A line of fifty legionaries pushed open the Beautiful Gate, and Titus entered with his horsemen.
There were a hundred Jewish guards in the temple area, but they were quickly dispatched with or ran away at the confrontation.
The Romans had become an unstoppable tidal wave of force that continued to roll through the Nicanor Gate into the Court of Priests and up to the entrance of the very temple itself.
They brought a large log carried by fifty soldiers and began to hammer the huge doors.
• • • • •
Inside the Court of Women, Apollyon and his Watchers pushed the archangels up into the Court of Priests. The heavens above them were black with violent turbulence. Lightning and thunder charged Azazel’s mighty javelin.
Marduk swung his battle net and threw it upon Uriel as its winds whipped around him with fury. But the angel had seen it coming and had performed his signature move. With swords out, one on each side, he spun in a tight circle like his own tornado. The whirlwind of blades cut the net into pieces at Uriel’s feet. When he came to a stop, he steadied himself, steely glare forward and swords ready for more.
Marduk pulled out his massive cleaver.
But the Babylonian deity had so focused on Uriel that he had lost sight of the other angel, Remiel, who was now on the monster’s back, arms around his muscle-thick neck. Marduk ignored the gadfly as if he was a minor annoyance and swung his cleaver at Uriel.
Michael and Gabriel battled Apollyon and Azazel as Raphael tried to free his brothers from the ruins.
Apollyon swung Driver at Michael, but the angel dodged each strike. If that warhead connected with angelic flesh, it would pulverize him like clay.
Michael and Raphael dove out of the way, and the war hammer hit the huge altar behind them. The stone structure exploded into a thousand rocks and pieces.
Gabriel cracked Rahab at Azazel, backing him up against the bronze sea. The Watcher raised his javelin to receive a new surge of power from above.
But as the flash of lightning charged the weapon with flaming fire, Gabriel’s whip sword wrapped around Azazel’s arm and sliced it from his body. The Watcher screamed in agony as his arm fell to the ground. The javelin rolled away from him on the pavement.
Out of nowhere, Raphael tackled Azazel.
• • • • •
Inside the Holy Place, Simon felt the pounding on the temple entrance as if it were battering his own soul.
Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.
Gischala yelled, “That’s Titus at the door. Your time is up, Simon.”
Gischala pushed him up against the pillar again. But this time Simon had no energy left to counter. He had been pushed to his limit and had exhausted his strength. He had one strategic move left. Gischala had taught it to him years ago, but Simon was counting on his opponent’s lack of memory.
Simon turned his sword in on the handle of Gischala’s and made a circular spinning move that caught the blade, yanking it out of Gischala’s hands and away from him into the air. It clattered on the pavement yards away.
Gischala stood stunned, Simon’s blade to his throat.
The wild-eyed Galilean grinned, his delusion unaltered. “I regret teaching you that move.”
Simon said, “You’ll have more to regret before God this day.”
Gischala raised his eyebrows. “And you?”
The accusation reverberated through Simon like the pounding on the door behind them.
“Behold, the abomination of desolation!” Gischala muttered.
At that moment, the door to the temple cracked beneath the weight of the battering ram. The sound drew Simon’s attention to the entrance, where he saw Titus Caesar march in surrounded by a company of legionaries. The Roman general stood tall like a god, the daylight shining behind him like Apollo in the rays of the sun.
When Simon turned back, Gischala was gone.
• • • • •
In the Court of Priests, Azazel was bound by Raphael and Gabriel.
Marduk swung his cleaver at Uriel, demolishing everything he hit. The bronze sea was cleft in two like the heavens and earth, and its water poured out like a flood upon the earth.
But Marduk had not been paying attention to the angel on his back, whose unbreakable grasp around the Watcher’s neck slowly cut off his air. Marduk suddenly collapsed into unconsciousness, a worthless heap of brawn and muscle.
Apollyon swung wide with Driver at Michael and Raphael. He shattered the stone altar into pieces, smashed the slaughter tables into splinters, and destroyed a dozen colonnades in the court, collapsing them into piles of rubble. But now he stood alone, surrounded by seven archangels.
