spread salvation to the ends of the earth. And only once in human history did this ever take place. Only once did the word of God go forth from Jerusalem to all the earth. Only once and only in the name of this one called Messiah. This was Israel’s calling and inheritance . . . the nation’s spiritual possession.”
“So what happened?”
“After the first century the Jewish apostles, disciples, and believers began disappearing. And their disappearance would seal the separation between the Jewish people and their Messiah. And it would all happen at the time of the other separation, the separation of the Jewish people from their land.
And in the ages to come the children of Israel would become estranged from the land of Israel. It became foreign to them and the possession of strangers. Yet it was their homeland. In the same way, in the days of separation they became estranged from their Messiah. He became as foreign to them and as the possession of strangers. And yet he was in reality their Messiah . . . their ancestral possession.”
“But the Jubilee,” I said, “is about ending the separation. And if the separation from the land is already ending, then what about the spiritual separation? Shouldn’t it likewise be coming to an end? And if so, when?”
“At the time of the return,” he said, “at the time of the end.”
“There’s a missing piece . . . ”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “actually more than one . . . Find them . . . and you’ll complete the puzzle.”
“The puzzle, as in the entire mystery?”
“Yes. Find them . . . and the mystery will be finished.”
“So what was the next revelation?”
“One of the missing pieces of the puzzle . . . And it was all there from the beginning.”
“From the beginning?”
“In the prophecy of Moses. I just didn’t see it until then. It was the other side of the mystery.”
“And how was it revealed?”
“Through the church of the rabbi.”
Chapter 57
THE OLIVE TREE RESURRECTION
WHEN I RETURNED to the Oracle’s tent, it was midday. The curtains of its entrance were ajar. I looked inside. He was sleeping. I was determined not to make a sound. But it was as if he sensed my presence. He opened his eyes, sat up, and motioned for me to come in. I sat down on one of the embroidered pillows by his feet. He handed me a small wicker basket of figs. I took one and asked my question.”
“What I witnessed in the cathedral, the bones, the resurrection, and the man who looked like an ancient rabbi . . . what did it mean?”
“Do you remember what I shared with you in our last meeting, what was ordained in the law of Israel concerning the connection of the physical realm to the spiritual realm?”
“Yes,” I replied, “that if the nation of Israel departs from its land, it would have to be connected to some kind of spiritual departure.”
“Yes, then if they return to the land . . . ”
“It would have to be connected to some kind of spiritual return.”
“Yes.”
“So which comes first,” I asked, “the physical return or the spiritual?”
“The Scriptures speak of both,” he replied. “On the one hand, it is prophesied that there would have to be a spiritual return among the Jewish people before a physical return to the land could begin. On the other hand, it is also prophesied that after they return to the land, there will come a spiritual return, Israel’s complete, national, and final return to God at the end of the age. So then it would come in stages: first an initial spiritual return involving a remnant, or portion, of the nation. This would then set in motion the physical return to the land. And after that physical return would come Israel’s final and national return to God. It was all there at the beginning of your visions, in Moses’ last words to Israel.”
“In the Book of Deuteronomy?”
“Yes, it was there, right after the prophecy of the stranger’s visit to the land.”
“Which was fulfilled in the Jubilee of 1867.”
“Just one chapter later comes the first prophecy ever given of the regathering of the Jewish people to their land. But listen carefully to what it says:
Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you . . . and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God. . . that the