The Great Pyramid of Giza

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The Great Pyramid’s builder knew all the dimensions of Earth and had a command of engineering, astronomy, and mathematics that would be impressive even today. If this guy didn’t have supernatural capability himself, he was certainly assisted by Someone who does. (Note: I first posted this article on Jan 23, 2005. I offer it again as a follow up to last week’s feature article entitled “What’s To Become Of Egypt.”)

In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. (Isaiah 19:19-20)

During a group discussion on the New Jerusalem, a question about its configuration was raised. Revelation 21 only says that it’s 1400 miles square and 1400 miles tall and to me that conjures up an image of a cube. But some see a pyramid, and when you think about it, John could have been describing just that. One thing led to another and pretty soon the subject of the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt came up. Someone asked me to conduct a study on it someday and I agreed. Here goes.

The Great Pyramid

Th Great Pyramid was most likely built in the 22nd century BC. Its construction required 10 years of planning and preparation and then 100,000 men spent 20 years completing it.

It’s different from all the other pyramids in Egypt. For one thing it’s made of stone, not bricks, and is the only one that’s not solid. There’s a series of passageways and several chambers inside.  All of the 80 or so other pyramids came later, are grossly inferior copies, and unlike the Great Pyramid were used as gigantic headstones covering the tombs of the Pharaohs. (The Great Pyramid never served as a tomb.)

Since it’s located both on the border between Upper and Lower Egypt (Giza means border in Arabic) and in the heart of the two Egypts, the Great Pyramid seems to be referenced in the Isaiah passage above. And since the context of the Isaiah passage is the End Times, the connection with the New Jerusalem may not be so far fetched after all.

(Originally two separate kingdoms, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were joined together to become one. Upper Egypt is in the south and is more mountainous. Lower Egypt in the north was comprised mostly of the Nile delta region and the adjacent plains. The Biblical name for Egypt is Mizraim and literally means 2 Egypts since it’s the dual form of its root, Matzor. Mizraim was a son of Ham whose descendants first settled Egypt.)

Some Fascinating Details

The Great Pyramid was built on a 13-acre base made level to within less than 1″.   900 million cubic feet of granite blocks were used in its construction. To this day engineers can’t explain how the workers managed to fit those huge blocks together so carefully in building a monument nearly 500 feet high. Some of the larger ones weighed nearly 80 tons.

It originally had a face of polished white limestone consisting of 115,000 stones finished on all six sides to within .01 inch of perfectly straight. Cut on a bevel, they fit together with seams of less than 1/50th of an inch. They were then cemented together and polished to a high sheen. It’s said that the pyramid shone as if made of light itself and could be seen from over a hundred miles away.

The entire structure rests on 4 foundation stones that fit into sockets cut into the bedrock. These stones are designed to compensate for changes in temperature. They keep the pyramid square and level at all times, and in fact it’s square on every course.

It faces due North more accurately than we can position buildings today so that each side faces the four cardinal points of the compass. Its shadow has predicted equinoxes and solstices.

Originally it was to have a solid gold capstone that was a scale model of the pyramid itself. It was never put in place because the builders rejected it. Only on a pyramid can a capstone also be the head of the corner. (Psalm 118:22 and Matt.21:42)

A single entrance on the North side opens into a passageway that slopes down 150 feet to the base where it descends another 200 feet into the bedrock on a line that’s straight to within 1/4 of an inch over its 350 ft. length. The passageway, several chambers and all the air vents were pre-cut into the stones before they were placed and appeared in their finished form as the stones were fit together.

On one day in history the angle of this passageway looking up from the bottom pointed directly at the north star.  If you could have drawn a line straight up from the pyramid into the sky on that day you would have intersected the exact center of our galaxy. That day was the vernal equinox in 2141 BC. Such an alignment happens only once every 26,000 years. As we’ll see below, the builders apparently knew this in advance and planned their construction accordingly.

The Great Pyramid was also built exactly in the center of Earth’s land mass. Equal amounts of land are contained in each of the quadrants drawn off its 4 corners. Its height of 454 feet is the same as the average height above sea level of all land on earth.

The sides are concave at the bottom. Their curvature conforms to the curvature of the earth’s surface, so if you could draw a circle extended from any two adjacent corners it would equal the circumference of Earth at the Equator.

The Sacred cubit was the unit of measure used in building the Great Pyramid. Unlike the standard and royal cubits referenced in the Bible, its length is 25 pyramid inches, which are about the same as the inch used today in the US. These units of measure were carved into the wall, and can serve to decode the pyramid’s dimensions. For instance, multiplying the sacred cubit times 10 million equals the polar radius of earth. Multiplying the total weight of the Pyramid by 1000 trillion equals the weight of planet Earth.

In Hebrew each letter has a numerical value. The Pyramid’s height in inches equals the sum of all the letters in the Hebrew text of Isaiah 19:19-20 (5449). Air shafts keep the temperature inside at exactly 68 degrees, the same as the mean temperature of Earth. If you could walk up the side of the pyramid you’d rise 9 feet in vertical elevation for every 10 feet you cover.

It contains one piece of furniture, a box the same size as the Ark of the Covenant. It’s located in the King’s Chamber, a room with the same cubic volume as the bronze laver in Solomon’s Temple. It’s just barely too big to fit through the passageway, so it had to have been placed there as pyramid was built, over 1000 years before God gave Moses the Ark’s dimensions.

The main passageway descends at an angle of 26 degrees 18 minutes and 9 seconds. This is called the Christ angle because a line drawn from the Pyramid to Bethlehem is 26 degrees 18 minutes and 9 seconds from true north. At the bottom of the entry passageway is a rough hewn chamber called the bottomless pit. Together the passageway and chamber symbolize the fall of man from Adam’s sin, a gradual descent straight into Hell.

Markers carved into the wall in advance are keyed to the vernal equinox in 2141 BC, the only day in history when the stars lined up with the pyramid as described above. Whoever did the carving knew ahead of time that this would happen and designed the lengths of the various passageways to serve as time lines to predict significant future events. For example, the distance from the starting marker to the place where a steep, low ceiling passageway up to the King’s Chamber intersects the down sloping entry passageway foretells the date when the Law was given at Mt. Sinai. It symbolizes the opening of another path for man, this one a difficult climb leading him back to God. Part way up to the King’s chamber another short passageway leads off to another room called the Queen’s chamber. The distance to that passageway converts to the year Jesus was crucified and symbolizes the relief from the hard way of the Law that was purchased at the cross.

So it appears that the Queen’s chamber represents the Church. The Grand Gallery just before the King’s Chamber consists of 7 levels of polished pink granite and symbolizes the Millennium. And the King’s Chamber represents eternity. Pyramid buffs see many other significant dates in Christianity foretold in the lengths of the various passageways and chambers, but so far the date of the 2nd Coming has eluded them.

Who Built The Great Pyramid?

The identity of the architect is unknown, but three candidates come to the top of most lists:

1. Eusibius quotes an Egyptian historian named Manetheo who attributes construction to the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings who came from Arabia, conquered Egypt without a battle, destroyed their pagan temples and converted Egypt to monotheism. They built the Great Pyramid and then left for Judea. Job, after whom a book of the Bible is named, might have been part of this group. A generation later the Egyptians reverted to paganism.

2. Some say Enoch, making the Pyramid a pre-flood monument like the nearby Sphinx. If you measure a side from corner to corner in sacred cubits it equals 365.242, the number of days in our year and Enoch’s age when he was raptured. (Because of their concave nature there are three ways to measure a side. One way equals the solar year, as above. The second way equals the sidereal year, slightly longer at 365.256, and the third equals the anomalistic year of 365.259 days. The last two are used mostly in astronomy. If that isn’t astonishing enough for you, keep in mind that none of these measurements would apply until 1300 years later when the length of the Earth’s orbit increased by 5.25 days.)

3. Most popular is Shem, son of Noah. Though born before the Great Flood, Shem outlived 8 of the first 9 generations that followed it, and even outlived Abraham. Some believe Shem was the priest called Melchizedek in Genesis 14.

No matter which of these options appeals to you, the facts remain that the builder knew all the dimensions of Earth and had a command of engineering, astronomy, and mathematics that would be impressive even today. Think of it. This guy knew the weight and curvature of the Earth, the irregularity of that curvature at the poles, the location and size of every land mass and its height above sea level, Earth’s mean temperature, its latitude and longitude scales, the exact direction of true north, the locations of the stars, and the fact that 1300 years later the Earth’s orbit would change, increasing by 5.24 days.

He knew how to make things absolutely level, straight, and square, and how to pre-cut and position gigantic pieces of stone so that when in place they fit so perfectly that every course is level and square even today. He knew how to calculate the coefficients of expansion and contraction and compensate for them. The list goes on. If this guy didn’t have supernatural capability himself, he was certainly assisted by Someone who does.

Belief By Evidence

Like Noah’s Ark, the Sphinx and others, the Great Pyramid may be evidence for generations yet future to us. It’s obvious supernatural design and construction make it a unique witness to the Glory of God.

In Old Testament times people gained and maintained their belief in God through the evidence of His existence. God caused earthquakes, dried up rivers and seas, made city walls fall down, and sent fire and hail on His enemies. And anyone could come to Jerusalem to witness His presence first hand.  Fire from Heaven consumed the sacrifices on the altar. No matter from what direction or with what velocity the wind blew, smoke from the altar always rose straight up into heaven.

According to Jewish tradition, each fall on Yom Kippur the scapegoat was brought before the High Priest and the sins of the nation were transferred to it. While the people watched, a scarlet ribbon was tied from one of the goat’s horns to a door of the Temple. As the goat was led into the wilderness this ribbon was snipped leaving some hanging on the door and some on the goat’s horn. At a designated place the goat was pushed off a cliff to its death. At the moment of the goat’s death the piece of ribbon on the Temple door changed color from scarlet to white fulfilling Isaiah 1:18. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” All these things were plainly visible, irrefutable evidence of God’s presence.

Belief By Faith

When the Lord Jesus came, all that changed. No more great and fearful events to prove God’s existence. The greatest of all had happened. He had come to dwell among us. Following His death the ribbon never changed colors again.

On Resurrection Sunday He rose from the grave having conquered sin and death. That evening He appeared to His disciples in the Upper Room. Thomas was absent and refused to believe the others. The following Sunday He appeared again and this time Thomas was there. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”(John 20:26-29)

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. He was speaking of His Church and the incredible blessings that would accrue to our benefit. The age of belief by faith alone had arrived.

Soon the Church will disappear and the Lord told us that as the end approaches, people on Earth will again see much evidence of His existence. It’ll be like Old Testament times again. Obvious miracles, huge natural disasters, uncontrollable weather, until finally the skies will open and like flashes of lightning that are visible from the East to the West, every eye will behold His Glorious Appearing.

During the time leading up to His return, I believe Noah’s Ark will reappear, and the true origins of monuments like Stonehenge, Easter Island and others will become known as evidence of God’s existence. And one day the Great Pyramid will be restored and once again stand in Egypt as the monument and witness to the Lord that Isaiah prophesied, bringing salvation to the people there. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. (Isaiah 19:20)

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:23-25)  02-19-11