Mordechai had taught them, direct from the words of Jesus and Paul and Peter, that in the sight of God, all of their sins were now atoned for, washed away, gone forever — not because of their own good works but because of their faith in the blood that Christ had spilled from the cross. God no longer saw them as imperfect or impure. To the Judge of the earth, Bennett and Erin were now pardoned.
Now they didn’t need a Temple or a high priest to approach the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
What an honor, thought Bennett. What an amazing privilege, to know Christ and to be able to enter His presence at any moment of any day. Yet what an honor for him and Erin to be here, too. To be the first to see what men and women had longed to see for centuries. He began to weep, first for himself, for his weakness and his foolishness and his lack of faith, and then for so many souls who so desperately needed what Christ had bought them at Calvary. Beside him, Erin wept as well. They did not talk. They did not touch. They just cried, overcome by the presence of the God they loved and who loved them.
It could have been a few minutes or a few hours. Bennett had no idea. But when his tears had stopped and his heart had calmed, his curiosity began to grow and his eyes began to lift.
There it was, just as the Scriptures described, just as Barak and Natasha had described. It was a rectangular chest about five feet long and three feet high, covered in pure gold and resting on four gold feet. It was fitted with gold rings — two on the side facing him and, he assumed, two more on the other side — through which were resting long poles, again one on each side. On top of the chest was the mercy seat, where the blood was sprinkled by the high priest on Yom Kippur for the forgiveness of men’s sins. And hovering over the mercy seat were two gold cherubim — angel-like creatures with large wings covering their faces, spread upward and almost touching.
Bennett wanted to touch it. He wanted to open it, to see if the rod of Aaron was inside, to see if the jar of manna was there too. But even as the thought crossed his mind, Bennett’s body began to shake. Erin’s did as well, he noticed, for she was looking too. It was as if they were on holy ground, and he again felt incredibly unworthy to be here. He felt like he shouldn’t be here, that it was time to leave. He tapped Erin on the shoulder, and the two of them slowly backed out of the room, not looking at the Ark again.
When they were completely out, they closed the door to the antechamber where the Ark rested and sat down to catch their breath.
Bennett turned to Erin and tried to speak, but he couldn’t. He looked around for Dmitri, or one of the soldiers, but for the moment they were alone. He wanted to explain what they had just witnessed. He wanted to shout it from the rooftops. The Temple would be built. The pressure to construct a house to hold the Ark would be an unstoppable force. He had no idea what their own futures held, but he knew for certain the world they had known was once again about to change forever.
70
A light rain fell over Jerusalem.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. It was colder than it had been for weeks. Bennett stared out the window of Hadassah Hospital, sipping a hot cup of coffee and turning his BlackBerry on for the first time in days. He counted 114 e-mails and 43 phone messages.
“Anything urgent?” Erin asked.
“Salvador Lucente,” Bennett replied. “Glad to hear we’re okay, but he’s still waiting for an answer.”
“What, to work for him? He’s lost his mind.”
“Erin, he is about to become one of the most powerful men in the world.”
“I’m not impressed,” she said. “Besides, didn’t we both promise each other to go through political detox and make a clean start of our lives?”
“That feels like a million years ago.”
“It was only ten days,” Erin reminded him.
Bennett sighed. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I want that life again. Believe me, I don’t.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s just that we keep getting pulled back into the game, and it makes me wonder if there’s something specific God wants us to do with whatever time we have left.”
The room grew quiet. Bennett could see in Erin’s eyes how much she detested the idea of getting back into politics, especially with a man like Salvador Lucente. She had never trusted Lucente as much as he had, and maybe she was right. But that wasn’t the real question. The real question was, how much time did they really have left before the Rapture, and how should they spend it?
Just then, the phone in the room started ringing. Bennett picked it up on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Jon, sweetheart, are you okay?”
He was amazed by how quickly she’d tracked them down.
“Hey, Mom. I’m fine. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.”
“How could you do this to me? I was worried sick. What about Erin? Is she still in surgery? I saw on the news—”
“She’s fine too, Mom,” Bennett assured her. “We’re both good. I’m actually with her right now. She’s eating Jell-O and making faces at me.”
“Someone said she was shot in the back. Is that really true?”
“No, no, in the leg,” he explained, wondering how many other rumors were out there unchecked. “The doctors say they got everything. She’ll be here for a few days, then on crutches or in a wheelchair for a while. But she’ll be fine.”
Ruth Bennett began to cry. “Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. I can’t tell you how worried I was, Jon. I got a call from Helen — you know, the woman from my Bible study, the one I told you about? Anyway, she told me to turn on the news. And, of course, that’s never a good call. But I did, and every network was covering it. They’d cut into all the regular programming. And when I saw the troops massed around the tunnels and people being airlifted out in helicopters, I just knew you and Erin were right in the middle of it.”
“We were,” he said. “But God’s been very gracious to us.”
“I’m just glad you’re all right, Son,” she said. “I remembered you telling me Hadassah Hospital was where they took Dr. Mordechai when he was shot. It took me a while to convince them that I was really your mother. But then I threatened to have President MacPherson call on my behalf.”
Bennett had to smile. “And that shook things loose, huh?”
“They put me right through.”
“You’re tenacious, Mom.”
“No, that was your father,” she said. “Where do you think you got it from? Not from me. I’m just learning in my old age. Well, look, I know you’ve got a lot going on right now. I’m just glad I had a chance to hear your voice and make sure you’re both okay.”
“Thanks. I’ll give you an update as soon as I can.”
“Thanks, sweetheart, I’d like that,” she said. “Oh, just one more question.”
“Sure, what’s that?”
“Is it true?” she asked. “What they’re saying on TV? Did you really find the Ark of the Covenant?”
“Actually, it was Erin,” he confessed. “But I saw it, Mom. I saw it with my own eyes. It was absolutely incredible. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.”
“I can’t wait either,” she said. “What are they going to do with it?”
“Good question. Everything’s been moving so fast. I haven’t heard.”
“Is there anything you need? anything I can do for you before I go?”
“Actually, there is,” he said, wondering why the idea hadn’t occurred to him sooner. “Any chance you could drop everything and come over here?”