The Pyramids
According to common perception they were built, with the begrudging help of great armies of slaves, by the ancient pharaohs of Egypt as tombs for preserving their royal bodies. Pyramids were meant to be monuments to the pharaoh's greatness, filled with great treasures for the afterlife. To construct these massive shrines, the pharaoh's copied the oldest and largest pyramid of all, the Great Pyramid of Giza.
But the Great Pyramid itself contains no pharaoh's body, no treasure chamber, and no treasures. Who, then, designed it and built it? What was its purpose? Let us begin our tour by considering a few basic facts about the Great Pyramid.
The Last "Wonder of the World"
Thirty times larger than the Empire State Building, the Pyramid's features are so large they can be seen from the Moon.
Its base covers 13.6 acres (equal to seven midtown Manhatten city blocks), each side being greater than five acres in area.
A highway lane eight feet wide and four inches thick could be built from San Francisco to New York and put inside the Great Pyramid.
The oldest structure in existence, having been started 4,617 years ago, it is the sole remnant of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Only a solid stone mountain could endure the Pyramid's immense weight. And indeed, a flat solid granite mountain happens to be located just beneath the surface of the ground directly under the Pyramid.
It is built to face true North.
The Pyramid is located at the exact center of the Earth's land mass. That is, its East-West axis corresponds to the longest land parallel across the Earth, passing through Africa, Asia, and America. Similarly, the longest land meridian on Earth, through Asia, Africa, Europa, and Antarctica, also passes right through the Pyramid. Since the Earth has enough land area to provide 3 billion possible building sites for the Pyramid, the odds of it's having been built where it is are 1 in 3 billion.
Construction Unequaled by Modern Technology
Like 20th century bridge designs, the Pyramid's cornerstones have balls and sockets built into them. Several football fields long, the Pyramid is subject to expansion and contraction movements from heat and cold, as well as earthquakes, settling, and other such phenomena. After 4,600 years it's structure would have been significantly damaged without such construction.
While the bulk of the Pyramid's core was constructed of 4,000- to 40,000-pound blocks of soft limestone, the outer layer of the Pyramid was made of a beautifully bright, protective layer of polished stone. These outer "casing stones" are missing today because about 600 years ago they were stolen by Arabs, (This accounts for the very worn appearance of the Pyramid today, since the inner limestone blocks are not immune to attack by the elements-wind, rain, and sandstrom.) This protective covering was made up of 100-inch-thick, 20-ton block of hard, white limestone, similar to marble but superior in hardness and in durability against the elements.
The Great Pyramid did not always look as "rough" as it does today. Originally it was encased with a layer of tight-fitting, highly polished 20-ton stone slabs.
The casing stones, 144,000 in all, were so brilliant that they could literally be seen from the mountains of Israel hundreds of miles away. On bright mornings and late afternoons, sunlight reflected by this vast mirrored surface of 5-1/4 acres distinguished the Pyramid as being visible from the moon. (Note: For those interested in possible symbolic significance, in Bible prophecy 144,000 is the number of people-12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel-who are supposed to evangelize the world at the endtime.)
The people of the area had viewed the Pyramid and its polished stones with awe for centuries. But when a 13th century earthquake loosened some of these casing stones, the Arabs recognized a great quarry of precut stones that could be used to finish off palaces and mosques. For instance, the casing stones were used to rebuild the new city of El Kaherah plus Cairo mosques and palaces, including the Mosque of Sultan Hasan.
Amazingly, the outside surface stones are cut within 0.01 (1/100th) inch of perfectly straight and at nearly perfect right angles for all six sides. And they were placed together with an intentional gap between them of 0.02 inch. Modern technology cannot place such 20-ton stones with greater accuracy than those in the Pyramid.
Even more amazing is that the 0.02-inch gap was designed to allow space for glue to seal and hold the stones together. A white cement that connected the casing stones and made them watertight is still intact and stronger than the blocks that it joins.
Let's pause from our tour for a moment's rest and reflection. Whoever built the Pyramid used a technologly that we still do not possess today to cut, move, and cement stones. Whoever built it also had some knowledge of the Earth, because it was built in the right spot-one of the few places that would support such a great weight. The builder also knew where the greatest land mass of the Earth was in both the North-South and East-West directions.
Amazing. But we had better keep going. And joining us on the leg of our tour will be none other than Sir Issac Newton...
The Cosmic Yardstick
The Great Pyramid is one of the most comprehensively surveyed buildings in the World. Scientists over the centuries have taken thousands of measurements in their quest to find out more about its mysteries.
Among those intrigued by the incredible accuracy of the Pyramid's construction was the great scientist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton. Attemping to formulate his famous law of gravity, Newton needed to know the diameter of the Earth. However, in the 1600's no measurement was accurate enough, especially since Newton theorized that the Earth's spin would cause an equatorial bulge. Having heard legends claiming that knowledge of the Earth, the past, and the future were contained in the Pyramid, Newton set out to investigate.
After studying the detailed measurements made by the investigators before him, Newton recognized that many key measurements would be in round numbers if the standard unit of measure was just 0.001 (1/1,000) inch larger than the British inch-which just happens to be the Sacred Jewish Inch. (The Sacred Jewish Inch, 1/25 of a cubit, equals 1.00106 British inches.) This discovery allowed the secrets of the Pyramid to be unlocked and revealed unmistakable and mathematical relationships. For instance:
We know from geometry that there is a universal relationship between the diameter of a circle and its circumference. Consider this: The height of the Pyramid's apex is 5,812.98 inches, and each side is 9,131 inches from corner to corner (in a straight line). If the circumference of the Pyramid is divided by twice its height (the diameter of a circle is twice the radius), the result is 3.14159, which just happens to be pi. Incredibly, this calculation is accurate to six digits. So the Pyramid is a square circle, and thus pi was designed into it 4,600 years ago. Pi is demonstrated many times throughout the Pyramid.
Other numbers are also repeated throughout. Each of the Pyramids four walls, when measured as a straight line, are 9,131 inches, for a total of 36,524 inches. At first glance, this number may not seem significant, but move the decimal point over and you get 365.24. Modern science has shown us that the exact length of the solar year is 365.24 days.
All of the evidence in the Great Pyramid shows that 4,600 years ago somebody knew a great deal about the Earth. But it gets better, much better:
The average height of land above sea level (Miami being low and the Himalayas being high), as can be measured only by modern-day satellites and computers, happens to be 5,449 inches. That is the exact height of the Pyramid.
All four sides of the Pyramid are very slightly and evenly bowed in, or concave. This effect, which cannot be detected by looking at the Pyramid from the ground, was discovered around 1940 by a pilot taking aerial photos to check certain measurements. As measured by today's laser instruments, all of these perfectly cut and intentionally bowed stone blocks duplicate exactly the curvature of the earth. The radius of this bow is equal to the radius of the Earth. This radius of curvature is what Newton had long been seeking.
Clearly, whoever built the Pyramid had access to information beyond that which earthlings possessed at the time, at least earthlings as we know them. Now, one can argue that we were visited by scientifically advanced beings from outer space who taught us their technology. That is possible from the evidence presented, perhaps even likely. If so, these advanced beings had the paramount goal of leaving behind a message that would endure for eons.
Suppose these beings decided to leave a message. The message would have to be universal yet simple. It would have to survive the centuries and be understandable by all the Earth's inhabitants despite language and cultural differences. The message would have to be understood by many languages that would not come into existence for centuries after the message was written.
So far the message indicates that whoever built the Pyramid knew the Earth well: the length of the year, the radius of curvature, the standard measurement techniques, the average height of the continents, and the center of the land mass. They were able to consruct something that we still cannot construct today, and they were able to tie all these things together in this single structure. Were they extraterrestrial, or perhaps even supernatural? The answer is not yet clear. However, thus far we have examined only the outside of the Pyramid.
CAN'T BE REPRODUCED
A few years ago, the Japanese reportedly tried to duplicate the 4,600-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza at 1/4 scale, employing today's technology and knowledge. They could'nt do it. Indeed, the Great Pyramid seems to resist all efforts to comprehend how it was built, by whom, and for what purpose.
Last page, with physicist John Zajac at our side, we explored the outside of this amazing and ancient structure. On this page, we conclude our examination by venturing inside the Pyramid for a fascinating guided tour through its mysterious chambers and passageways. What lies within leads to an other worldly conclusion about the Pyramid's orgin, purpose, and meaning.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Well aware of the fabulous treasures found in other Egyptian Pyramids, the Arab Al Manun, in 820 A.D., forced his way into the Great Pyramid of Giza. Finding chisels to be of little value against such a large mass of limestone his men used the heat of fires and the thermal shock of pouring vinegar over the rock to fracture the stones. Large battering rams were used to break the fractured stones into removable pieces.
Al Manun started his tunneling at the approximate center of the North face, where legend said a passage was hidden. To keep his workers motivated, Al Manun told stories of treasure, but his real interest was the legend claiming that the Pyramid contained the past and future history of the world.
As they slowly battered into the Pyramid, a stone was heard to fall to the left of their forced tunnel. They dug to the source of the sound, which led them to a descending passage and the entrance door on its far end. What did they find on the other side of that door?
ENTERING THE KING'S CHAMBER
The entrance to the Great Pyramid is at one end of a 3 1/2 foot wide, 4 foot high Descending Passage (see illustration). At the lower end of the passageway is what has been called the Bottomless pit. The falling rock that the Arabs heard was a stone of concealment; had it not fallen, they would never have located the hidden Ascending Passage. The Ascending Passage rises at the same angle, 26.3 degrees, as the angle of decline of the Descending Passage. Fascinating, but what does it mean? Let's keep going.
The Ascending Passage departs from the Descending Passage and joins with the Grand Gallery at the entrance of a room finished in unblemished limestone with gabled ceiling called Queen's Chamber. The Grand Gallery also connects with a much larger room finished in highly polished granite having a flat ceiling known as the King's Chamber. The King's Chamber, 17 by 34 ft. by about 19 ft. high, is covered by five layers of large, 70-ton stone beams, each one the equivalent weight of a modern railroad locomotive! These beams hold the Pyramid up above the King's Chamber. Amazingly, air ducts in the main chambers keep the year-round temperature comfortable at precisely 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
A crude, steep, twisting crawl space called the Well Shaft connects the lower Grand Gallery with the lower Descending Passage.
A three-stone plug, wedged in place at the entrance to the Ascending Passage during the building of the Pyramid, is composed of a rare type of red granite identical with that of Mt. Horeb--the mountain on which Moses is alleged to have received the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments. The only way to go beyond the plug was to cut through the softer limestone and bypass the plug.
For those on our tour who are hyperventilating from excitement, let's stop and sit down as we consider the significance of these structures.
The Descending Passage lines up with the Pole Star. With the door opening so small and the length of the passage 334 feet long, the angle of view is only + or - 1/3 of a degree. Because of the slow motion of the stars, the passage lines up precisely to a Pole Star only once every several thousand years. Stars move, and the Pole Star, Alpha Draconis (Dragon Star) has not been in direct alignment with the Descending Passage for thousands of years. However, a new Pole Star will finally become aligned within the next few years; this heavenly body is known as the North Star, or "Polaris".
Each year the North Star shines further down the Descending Passage. It will illuminate the entrance to the Well Shaft (sometimes called the Point of Last Escape) in 1997. The North Star will shine on the floor of the Subterranean Passage seven years later in 2004. What is the significance of these events? (Some people speculate they may be related to "the signs in the stars" that the Bible mentions with regard to the Second Coming of Christ).
DECIPHERING THE CODE
The sacred Jewish inch (explained on Page I or in Feb. 1995 After Dark issue) has meaning beyond measurement of distances. The Bible often employs substitutions, such as days for years. If we consider the representation of years by inches, the Pyramid takes on an entirely new meaning. As a means to record time, the Pyramid used stone inches to measure time in years, where one inch equals one year.
The only scribings in the Pyramid, which are in the Descending Passage, depict the year 2141 B.C., the year that the last Pole Star was aligned with the Descending Passage. The Pyramid was built 4,517 years ago in 2623 B.C. (Since there was never a year zero, an additional year must be subtracted). From the point representing the building of the Pyramid to the point where the Descending Passage meets the Ascending Passage is 1,170 inches, which exactly marks the year of the Jewish exodus from Egypt in 1453 B.C. (See illustration)
CHRONOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS
When years are substituted for inches, the Great Pyramid becomes a prophetic calender. Dates shown include the alignment of the last Pole Star Draconis (Dragon Star) in 2141 B.C., the start of the Pyramid's contruction in 2623 B.C., the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in 1453 B.C., the death of the Messiah in 33 A.D., and the start of World War I in 1914. From the beginning of the Ascending Passage to the beginning of the Main Gallery is 1,485 inches. If 1,584 is added to the date of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt (start of the Ascending Passage), the result (if fractions of an inch are taken into account) is April 3, 33 A.D., the execution of the Messiah and the start of the Main Gallery.
The intersection of the Queen's Chamber floor with the floor of the Ascending Passage at its opening into the Grand Gallery creates a triangle. The triangle's length along the Ascending Passage of 33,512 Jewish inches places the intersection of the Queen's Chamber floor and the Ascending Passage at September 29, 2 B.C., the date of the birth of Yahshua. (Our calandar contains a two-year error. When historians originally attempted to count backward to the birth of Yahshua, they did so by accounting for the Reign of Kings. One of the kings counted was actually ruler of his country twice, the second time under a different name for a period of two years. When the years of rule were counted, this king's reign was mistakenly counted twice).
Coincidentally, the horizontal base of the triangle in the Pyramid is 30,043 inches, or 3,469 inches short of the execution, which corresponds to the date of October 14, 29 A.D., the date of Yahshua's Mikvah (baptism).
Over 4,600 years ago and over 1,000 years before the first book of the Bible was written, the Ascending Passage exactly depicted in inches (years) and fractions of an inch the exodus of the Jews, and the birth, baptism, and execution of Yahshua. All that was stored in a stone structure with no written message on it.
O' LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
In fact, the angle of the Ascending passage above the horizontal (26 degrees 18 minutes 9.63 seconds) line can be applied to a map of the area so that a line is drawn 26 degrees 18 minutes 9.63 seconds above the horizontal (east-west) line that bisects the Pyramid. That line then depicts the beginning and the end of the exodus of the Jews from where they were delivered from the Egyptians at the Red Sea to the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. This line also passes directly through the town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Yahshua the Messiah. As incredibly precise as this may seem, the Pyramid actually pinpoints Yahshua's birthplace along this line, which could pass through many different villages.
MESSIAH ANGLE: The intersection of the Queen's Chamber floor with the Ascending Passage as it opens to the Grand Gallery creates a triangle depicting the life of Yahshua the Messiah in terms of sacred Jewish inches.
PYRAMID AND BETHLEHEM: When the Christ Angle is superimposed over a map of the Great Pyramid and the Holy Land, the birthplace of Yahshua can be identified.
As shown earlier, the Pyramid has an astronomically fixed date, which corresponds to the only past alignment of a Pole Star to the Descending Passage. This alignment occurred in 2141 B.C. As shown in the Ascending Passage, Yahshua was born in the year 2 B.C. -- an event 2,139 years in the future of the Pole Star alignment. If we continue to recognize the interrelationship of time and distance, and we measure 2,139 furlongs from the Pyramid along the great arc, we would again come to Bethlehem. Thus the birthplace of Yahshua is not just a place depicted by a line, but a precise location pinpointed by the intersection of a direction line and a time line that were cast in stone 2,129 years before the event.
SOLVING A PROPHETIC RIDDLE
There is strong evidence that Isaiah spoke of the Pyramid: "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the Land of Egypt, and a monument at the border thereof to the Lord, and it shall be for a sign, and for a witness unto the Lord of Hosts in the Land of Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19-20). In the Hebrew language, each of the original 30 words has a numerical value because each Hebrew letter is also a number. When the 30 words are added up, the total is 5,449, which is one of the most significant and dominant numbers of the Pyramid. It is the exact height of the Pyramid in sacred Jewish inches.
Although the first books of the Old Testament were written at least 1,000 years after the Pyramid was built, the height of the Pyramid could not have been measured when the book of Isaiah was written, because the geometry required to make such a measurement had not yet been developed. Also, the base of the Pyramid was obscured by shifting sand.
Of course, being located both "in the midst" of Egypt and at the same time "at the border" seems to be a logical impossibility. However, in ancient times before the unification of the country, there was lower Egypt (north) and upper Egypt (south). The borderline between the two Egypts goes right through the Pyramid, thus placing the Pyramid both in the center and at the border of Egypt.
THE GREAT DESIGNER
The Great Pyramid of Giza lives up to its name well. The word Pyramid does not define a three-dimensional triangle, nor is its root even Egyptian. The word pyramid is composed of the Greek word "pyra" meaning fire, light, or visible and the Greek word "midos" meaning measures. So, although we have just started to understand the measurements and messages contained within this structure, the Great Pyramid of Giza has been called "the center of measurement and enlightment (knowledge)" for centuries.
Suppose we ask the question posed initially: Who built the Pyramid? We have to conclude that it was somebody who was very knowledgeable about the Earth and who had technology beyond what we possess today. The Pyramid's designer could also see, and more likely, control, the future. The builder knew when and where the most significant person in history was going to be born and when he was going to die and what impact that would have on the people of the Earth.
Could the builder of the Great Pyramid be a space visitor from another planet? Possibly, if we focus on his advanced knowledge. However, being able to see and/or control the future precisely is what we would recognize as supernatural. Dedication of the interior of the Pyramid to the history of the Jews, prophecy, and especially to the life and death of Yahshua indicates that the Pyramid must have been designed and built with Supernatural help as a prophetic monument able to endure through the ages, despite millennia of natural and man-made assaults against it.
