(Written by Jack Kelley)
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.