It was nearly noon before Elder Lane awoke. When he finally became conscious again he saw that sunlight was pouring through the large glass windows of the Diano Tower, filling the communications room with a brilliant white light. The ancient man struggled to wake up. He rubbed his eyes and then tried to focus on the computer console in front of him. That is when he finally saw the warning message.

Terror shot through his whole being as he read the dire message. It multiplied tenfold when he realized that not one, but all of the probes had been destroyed. His fleet – along with his hope of destroying the Artilect – had been utterly vanquished.

As he started at the screen, words failed him. He had never been so frightened in all his life. They know! They surely know that I did it. They must have destroyed the probe and traced the upgrade back here! Maybe they don’t know it was me but they’ll know when they get here. I bet they’re already on their way right now! But what am I going to do? What can I possibly do? I’m going to die – we’re all going to die!

The feeling of terror that was rushing through him was quickly replaced with blind panic. Elder Lane raced out of the room, down the hallway, and up to the elevator. He frantically mashed the down button over and over again. “I don’t have time for this!” he screamed, as the door opened. He then ran inside and pressed the button to return to the lobby.

He was so frantic that he actually hopped up and down, in a futile effort to make the high-speed elevator go faster. It only took a few moments for the elevator to reach the ground floor, but to him it felt like an eternity. Every moment he expected the skies to be filled with starships and the Artilect to pour out his wrath upon Xanthe. It’s only a matter of time – maybe minutes, maybe seconds!

Elder Lane ran toward the vault as fast as his legs could carry him. He soon became winded, but his terror was so great that he pressed on anyway. All he could think about was death.

When he finally reached the vault he ran over to Adrian Garza’s pod and slammed his hand against the activation button. After a few minutes the pod opened and Adrian climbed out of it. Before Adrian could even say a word Elder Lane grabbed him.

“We don’t have time for that!” he shouted. “You’ve got to contact the Artilect immediately and tell them to transport me to his home world. Right now!”

“But why?” Adrian asked, surprised. “I don’t understand.”

Elder Lane shook Adrian. “Look, you fool! I – I told the Nehemiah probes to attack the Artilect. I was hoping they would destroy him so that we wouldn’t have to live under the tyranny of Amanda. It was our only chance at survival! But it didn’t work, Adrian. It didn’t work! The Artilect defeated them. He’ll be here any minute!”

“The Artilect is coming here?”

“He must be! I’m sure he knows that the probes were upgraded and he’ll come here to find out who did it. When he does he’ll see that we did it and he’ll kill us all. That’s why we’ve got to act right now!”

Adrian hesitated. “What do you want me to do?”

“Do I have to keep repeating myself?” Lane screamed. “Tell him to transport me directly to his home world! Tell him that I just found out vital information about the bot swarms that he needs to hear. Tell him that the bots are after me and that I’ve got to get to him for protection. I don’t care what you tell him! Just get me there.”

“But what do you hope to accomplish?”

“I want to kill him,” Lane said feverishly. “I want to kill all of them! I’ve got to; it’s the only way we’ll survive. If they win this war then they’ll enslave all of us. Do you understand? Our survival depends on this! If I can reach the Artilect then I can destroy him. It’s our only hope!”

Lane saw Adrian hesitate. “Don’t go all wobbly on me!” Lane snapped. “You know exactly what you’ve done to the synthetics that live in your virtual world. Don’t think for a moment that these people aren’t going to do the same thing to us. The strong always oppress the weak! You know that as well as I do.”

“But why do you want me to talk to him?” Adrian asked.

“Because they trust you! They know who you are and they’ll believe anything you tell him. I can’t risk them getting suspicious and asking questions! If you tell them to beam me over there then they’ll do it.”

“All right,” Adrian said at last. “All right. Follow me.”

Adrian led him out of the vault and to the building that housed the communications equipment that the Sentinel had left behind. On the way there he struggled with what he was about to do. He felt terrible about betraying what seemed like nice people, but he could not dismiss what Lane had told him. He knew exactly the depths of depravity that he was capable of, and the thought of being put under someone else’s authority frightened him. He had seen the power of these strangers and knew that, to them, he must seem little more than another synthetic. They might mean well now, but that will change in time. They’ll eventually succumb to the temptation of power. The only way to ensure our freedom is to act now. It is distasteful but it must be done.

The two elderly men entered the building and Adrian led him to the room that contained the communication equipment. As Elder Lane watched, Adrian activated it and contacted the Artilect. A connection was quickly established. Adrian could not see the Artilect, however, as the equipment only transmitted voice information.

“How may I be of assistance?” the Artilect asked. “Is something wrong?”

“It is urgent that you transfer Elder Lane directly to your home world!” Adrian said. “He has obtained vital information about the swarms that you must hear immediately.”

“He has?” the Artilect asked, surprised. “How is that possible?”

“Please, there isn’t much time. He can explain everything once he gets there. His life is in great danger! Can you assemble everyone for an immediate meeting?”

“I can. However, I am surprised. Is there–”

“There isn’t time!” Adrian insisted, interrupting. “Just transport him over – I need to stay here for now. He will explain everything once he arrives. This location is not secure.”

“Very well,” the Artilect said. Elder Lane then vanished.

As soon as he disappeared Adrian shut down the communications equipment. He thought about running, but instead he just sank down into a chair and stared at the deactivated screen. I hope I did the right thing, he thought to himself.

Elder Lane appeared in a small drab room. The walls and ceiling were a dull white color, and the floor was covered in some sort of gray tile. In the middle of the room was a conference table that was surrounded by twelve chairs.

When the Artilect had transported Elder Lane from Xanthe and brought him to its home world, it also brought the rest of the group as well. The only beings it did not bring was Amy, who was still extremely upset and refused to come, and the Sentinel, who had gone to comfort her.

“Are we all here?” Elder Lane asked.

“I think so,” Richard said. “Is there something wrong? I wasn’t expecting–”

“But where’s Amanda?” Elder Lane asked.

“She – died,” Richard said, hesitating. “You see–”

“Oh, ok,” Elder Lane said. “Well, you can explain it later. Here, catch.” He removed a small metal sphere from his pocket and tossed it to him. “I knew that carrying that around with me would pay off eventually!”

While the sphere was still in the air it began dividing, and before a second had passed it had turned into a swarm. The humans in the room did not even have time to react before the swarms cut them down with powerful beams of energy. Before their bodies even hit the floor the swarms had consumed them and turned their remains into more bots.

Elder Lane leaned against the wall and laughed as the swarms lashed out against the Artilect and ate through its walls, consuming vital equipment. He knew that the swarms would not hurt him. A sense of elation flooded through him as he realized the plan was working.

“That’s right!” he shouted. “It was me all along! I’m the one that built the swarms, and all of you were too stupid to figure it out!”

The Artilect was caught completely off-guard. When the Nehemiah probes attacked it had deployed its defenses along the edges of its territory, in an attempt to slow their advance. The Artilect was now dissolving the probes to make sure that they could never attack again. It was not expecting an assault against its core processor and had readied no defenses in its inner sanctum. As a result the swarms destroyed vital portions of its interior before it knew what was happening.

The Artilect desperately tried to find a solution but it was already losing its grasp on sanity. When the bots were in space it was able to deploy starships against them, but those ships could not operate within a planet’s interior. Besides, the ships worked by altering spacetime in ways that would be fatal to the Artilect. In fact, all of its defenses against the swarms involved the utter destruction of the surrounding territory.

It quickly realized that it had to act now, while it was still capable of conscious thought. Summoning all of the energy it still possessed, the Artilect reached out and altered spacetime within his star system, ensuring that the swarms could not escape the area. It then touched its star and destabilized it, turning it into a weapon. In the few seconds that it had before the star exploded the Artilect reached out to Tau Ceti and used an electromagnetic pulse to destroy every last piece of electronic equipment on the planet. If I am to die today, then the swarms will at least die with me, it thought. If there were any bots left on Tau Ceti they are now dead. My star will destroy all the ones that are here.

Elder Lane never knew what killed him. One moment he was watching the swarms eat away at the Artilect’s mind, and the next moment the shockwave hit the planet and vaporized him. In that instant of time the room disappeared and he found himself in a place of utter darkness. Screams filled the air – the horrible, agonizing screams of those who are in torment and have no hope. It took him a moment to realize that he was screaming as well. Something was burning and he was in horrible pain.

“Help!” he screamed. “Somebody, please, help me!”

But there was no help.

Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

This is a very comforting verse! Jesus has “begun a good work” in me: He has started the process of turning me into someone like Him – a holy, blameless, perfect person. The best part is that Jesus is going to finish what He has started.

I am a truly terrible Christian. I fall short all the time; I try and fail and try again, only to fail once more. I am constantly coming up short, and at times it is easy to start thinking that I will always come up short – that there is no real hope of ever being the sort of person God wants me to be. I know that I’ve been declared righteous by virtue of Christ’s sacrifice, and that is a wonderful gift, but I long to truly be free from sin – to cast all of it off and never go back. I don’t want to keep falling into evil over and over again.

Paul echoed this very same sentiment when he said that he found himself continuing to do the very things that he despised, and unable to do the good things that he wanted to do. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Paul then answered his own question, and it is an answer worth remembering: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What I do know is that I won’t always be the person I am now. Nor is there any chance that I will utterly fail. The Lord will finish what He started. He has begun a good work, and He will complete it. Jesus is the one that will ultimately turn me into something I am not – a person remade in His image.

And that is an encouraging thought. It’s not up to me to make it happen. I’m not going to be made perfect by my own efforts, nor will I be abandoned if I’m somehow not “good enough”. God will accomplish it in His time. I may fail regularly, but God never fails.

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #7, The Fight for Uranus. It was one of the books that we originally planned to write and even created a brief plot summary for, but ultimately ended up skipping.

If you would like to read the proposed plot for the book, simply click on the image below to see a higher-resolution scan.

(I do not know who created the cover artwork, but it was not me.)

In Genesis chapters 6 – 8 we find the Biblical account of the Flood. The passage tells us that the Flood was sent because of the overwhelming wickedness of man:

Genesis 6:5: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Today this idea that God sent a Flood to destroy the whole world has been widely attacked, and even many Christians no longer believe it. Some scholars teach that the Flood was simply a minor local event, not a planetary cataclysm that destroyed the entire ancient world. This has caused many people to start wondering what the Bible really teaches. Did God really say that the Flood was global?

Since these questions have become increasingly common I’d like to take some time to show you what the Bible teaches about Noah and the Flood . Believe it or not, the Bible really does teach that the Flood destroyed the entire planet; the evidence against a purely local flood is incredibly strong. For example, in Genesis 6 – 8 there numerous verses that speak of the epic scope of the Flood:

Genesis 6:7: “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air: for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

Genesis 6:13: “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

Genesis 6:17: “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”

Do you see the magnitude of what God had planned? These verses say that the wickedness of mankind had become so great that the Lord decided to destroy “all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven”. All flesh! In verse 17 God emphasized that “every thing that is in the earth shall die.” This is far more than a simple local flood; God is clearly talking about a planetary event. The Lord wanted to destroy all flesh from the entire planet! The only survivors would be those on board the Ark (aside from aquatic life, of course, which would not be affected).

In fact, the whole reason God told Noah to build an Ark was to preserve life. If the Flood was just a local event Noah and his family could have survived by simply leaving town for a few days. The only reason he would need a boat is if the entire planet was under water.

The passage goes on to say that the waters rose above the world’s highest mountains:

Genesis 7:17: “And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.”

This passage could not be more clear: “All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died”. Verse 19 tells us that the water rose above every hill that was under the whole heaven. Every mountain was covered! The only people who survived were those on board the Ark. These verses do not teach that a local flood destroyed a few pockets of local wildlife; instead they report the global destruction of all land creatures. Everything died.

On top of all this, when the Flood ended the Lord gave Noah a promise:

Genesis 9:11: “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and very living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”

The Lord promised Noah that He would never again send another flood like the one that had just occurred. He then gave the rainbow as a sign, reminding everyone that such a terrible event would never happen again. Now if the Flood was just a local event then the Lord has broken His promise hundreds of thousands of times because local floods happen constantly. The only way His promise makes sense is if the Flood was indeed global in scope – which is precisely what the Bible teaches.

You may not realize this, but Genesis is not the only book of the Bible that speaks of the Flood. For example:

Isaiah 54:9: “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”

Here the Lord uses the Flood as an example of His faithfulness, saying that just has He swore that the Flood of Noah would never happen again, so He swears that He would never stop loving the nation of Israel. If the Flood was just a local event then the Lord has broken His promise many, many times. However, we know that the Lord never breaks His word and cannot lie. If (as Genesis teaches) the Flood was a global event then the Lord has kept His word, just as He promised.

Ezekiel also mentions the Flood:

Ezekiel 14:14: “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.”

This isn’t really a reference to the Flood but it’s interesting all the same. When the Lord wanted to give three examples of people who had truly outstanding character He picked Noah, Daniel, and Job. Noah is clearly held in very high esteem by the Lord. If you believe that the Genesis account of the Flood is accurate then that makes sense; after all, Noah was the only righteous person on the entire planet! Hebrews explains that it was Noah’s faith in God that prompted him to act:

Hebrews 11:7: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

This passage raises some great points. If the Flood was just a local flood then why didn’t God just ask Noah to leave the area? After all, if Noah has enough time to build an enormous boat then he surely had enough time to leave town! And how would building a boat “condemn the world” if the flood was confined to his local area? This passage only makes sense if the Flood was a global judgment on all of mankind. By building a boat he saved his family and condemned the world, for the world was offered a chance to repent and escape judgment but refused. As Peter says, the ungodly world rejected God’s offer and as a result only eight people were saved:

I Peter 3:20: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

II Peter 2:5: “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”

II Peter 3:5: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.”

Notice how clearly these passages state that only eight people survived the Flood. Everyone else in the world died! These verses emphasize the fact that the entire world perished (as it says in II Peter 3:6). II Peter 2:5 does not say “And spared not Noah’s village”, or “And spared not Noah’s country”. No, it says it spared not the world.

Jesus also spoke of the Flood:

Matthew 24:37: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark;
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

Luke 17:26: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”

The Lord Jesus Christ compared His Second Coming to the Flood of Noah, which He clearly believed was a real event. Jesus did not speak of the Flood as if it were a myth or merely a local disturbance; instead He taught that the Flood “destroyed them all” and “took them all away”. The scope and suddenness of His Second Coming is likened to the scope and suddenness of the Flood. The Second Coming is never depicted as a small, local event that only impacts a few people; the Bible speaks of it as the culmination of time itself – a terrible time in which God’s judgment will be poured out on the entire world.

As you can see, the Bible quite clearly teaches that the Flood was a global event that killed every last person on Earth except for the eight people that were on board the Ark. In those days the word was full of wickedness and violence, and one day the Flood came and destroyed them all. Noah and his family were saved because they believed God and accepted His offer of grace. The rest of the world ignored Noah’s cries that destruction was coming, and when it came it caught them completely by surprise.

The Second Coming will be just like that. Today the world is full of wickedness and violence. People are sounding the alarm that Jesus’ Second Coming is at hand, but they are ignored. One day soon Jesus will return, and those who accepted His offer of grace will be saved – but the rest will be caught completely off guard and will face judgment and destruction.

Only eight people survived the Flood. I wonder – how many people this time will accept God’s grace and be saved from the wrath to come?

Looks like someone has taken clowning around to great heights!

“What do we do?” Amanda asked. She was terrified. The panic that was surging through her made it impossible to think clearly.

“Can you still communicate with the Artilect?”

“Not anymore,” she replied sadly. “I could for a while, after the attack happened, but space is just too broken now. It’s almost like something is eating it. I know that doesn’t make sense. It’s just that the disorder is rapidly increasing. The longer we’re here the more stuck we become.”

“How much time do we have?”

“I’m – um, I’m not sure. I don’t know! I can’t see into deep space anymore. Everything is getting fuzzy. I guess we might have a few minutes, maybe.” Amanda looked at the preacher. “This is it, isn’t it? We’re going to die here, aren’t we?”

“Oh no!” Reverend Knight said, shaking his head. “That’s not the way it works, you know. The Lord was quite clear that all those who repent and believe in Him will never die. We will never see death because Christ tasted death for each of us. Our debt has been paid, so we will not die. But we are about to leave this place and go home.”

“I don’t really understand what that means,” Amanda said.

“It means that you and I are going to leave this world for a better one – one that is located beyond the farthest star. It means that you will soon be reunited with not just your brother, but with the One who died for you and who loves you with a surpassing intensity. It means that our part in this is over and the responsibility has passed on to others.”

“This is all my fault,” Amanda said bitterly. “I should have built the bots on a different planet. We should have left as soon as they were launched. I should have–”

“You did well,” the preacher said. “You saved the lives of your family and you preserved the Artilect from destruction. This attack was not your fault, and in preventing it you did what few other people could. You handled yourself with courage and wisdom.”

“But–”

Amanda started to say something but she was interrupted. On the horizon she saw the sun briefly flare up and then disappear. The world around them disappeared as well, replaced with a vast green field. Above them was a cloudless blue sky and in front of them was a short hill, with a golden path leading up to its crest. They could see figures waiting on top of the hill.

The girl opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped. A feeling of intense joy washed over her. Something inside told her that she was finally in the place she was created for. No, there was more to it than that; she was in the presence of the Person she was created to spend eternity with. The joy – the all-encompassing joy that banished every last piece of darkness, and every fear and pain – came not from being in a place, but from being near her Lord. All of her sorrows melted away and she felt an overwhelming peace. She was finally home, and she knew it.

Reverend Knight nudged her. “I think there are some people up there that want to meet us. Are you ready?”

“Oh yes,” Amanda replied eagerly. “I feel like I’ve waited all my life for this moment – even when I didn’t realize it.”
“Then let’s be off!” Reverend Knight took her by the hand and the two began walking up the hill.

“I don’t understand,” Richard said. He was filled with despair and agony as he stared at the holoscreen. “We won, didn’t we?”

The Sentinel paused before responding. “Your daughter did destroy all of the probes, and in this she was entirely successful. However, one of the probes apparently set a trap for her that was triggered by its destruction.”

“Is she really gone?” Laura asked. “You didn’t save her?”

“The star has been destroyed,” the Artilect replied. “The shockwave has reached the planet and put an end to it. I am deeply sorry.”

“Couldn’t you do something?” Captain Max demanded. “I thought you were supposed to protect her! Why did you just leave her to die?”

“I did everything in my power, captain, but there was not enough time. I was unable to penetrate the barrier and retrieve her before the shockwave hit the planet. There was nothing I could do.”

“So you just stood there and watched while she gave her life to save you,” Captain Max said bitterly.

“She died for all of us,” Jones said. “This is not the Artilect’s fault. We knew there was a risk when we let her go, but if she had stayed here we would all be dead. I know that doesn’t make this any easier to take, but we had no other choice. In all honesty I am surprised that she is the only one that died. I thought that time was up for all of us.”

“What do you mean?” the Richard asked. “Did you expect her to fail?”

“It’s not that, sir. I’ve just had a feeling the past few days that our journey was over and we’d done what we were sent here to accomplish. I thought all of us would be going home, not just Amanda. It’s just – well, usually when I get these feelings they’re pretty straightforward. I’ve never known one to be wrong before.”

Amy was sitting in the floor, crying. She was still in holographic form. At this point she was beyond caring about her isolation. All she knew was that her twin sister was gone. “I could have saved her,” she kept saying, over and over. “You should have let me go with her! Why didn’t you let me go?”

“If the Artilect couldn’t–” the Sentinel began.

“It’s ok,” Richard said, interrupting. “Just let her be. Reason and logic are not the right approaches to take right now. What she needs is comfort, and right now there is none to be had.”

No one really knew what else to say. The victory over the probes had been swallowed up in sadness. A terrible weight had descended upon the group. They all knew that their lives would never be the same again.

“I’m sorry,” Sergeant Howell said at last. “I wish things had gone differently.”

“We all do,” Captain Max replied.

The Sentinel spoke up. “Should I notify the citizens of Tau Ceti that the threat has been eliminated?”

“I never told them they were in danger,” the Artilect replied. “There is no reason to disturb them now. This does not need to involve them.”

The Sentinel nodded. “Let me know if my services are required.” He then vanished.

“Where did he go?” Sergeant Howell asked.

“To comfort Amy,” the Artilect replied.

Philippians 1:29: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”

Suffering for the sake of Christ is a blessing, not a curse, although it is often painful and may cost us everything we have. This is a necessary part of the Christian walk. It won’t always be this way, but the same world that hated Jesus also hates His servants. We cannot expect to be treated well when our Master was despised.

Christ is greatly honored when we suffer for His name. It is also a powerful testimony to the lost, and the Lord often uses it to bring many to salvation. It is also a test for us – is our love for God real? Will we have faith in the Lord even in our darkest moments? Do we love Him even unto death? Just how far does our love and commitment really go? Will we sacrifice everything rather than deny Jesus, or are we willing to abandon Him in order to save our skin?

Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

This is such an important thing to remember! Our enemies are not other people, but forces of darkness – what the Bible calls “spiritual wickedness in high places”. That could also be translated as spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Satan has not yet been kicked out of Heaven; he still goes before the Lord and (as in the days of Job) tries to get us into trouble. He is still the accuser – the adversary. In ancient times the devil sought to destroy Peter, and now he seeks to destroy us. He is still a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

That is what we are fighting against. Modern man may no longer believe in the devil, but he has not gone away. If anything, this disbelief has only made it easier for Satan to work. After all, how can you effectively fight something that you don’t even believe in?

Over the past few hours Amanda’s dead planet had undergone radical changes. The frothing gray metal had morphed itself into millions of small, round spheres. Each sphere was roughly six inches in diameter and made of a rough, dull metal. Countless spheres hovered in the atmosphere, with more joining them every second.

“How are things coming along?” Reverend Knight asked.

“I’m almost done,” Amanda replied, her eyes still closed. “I’ve got most of them ready but I don’t quite have enough yet, and I want to build a number of extra bots in case something goes wrong. What makes this so hard is that I have to deactivate all of the probes at exactly the same moment. If I do just a few at a time the probes might figure it out and try to stop it. I don’t know how smart they are but I don’t want to take any chances. I doubt we’ll get a second chance to do this.”

“It is a wise precaution,” he agreed. “I take it the Artilect has been able to keep the probes at bay?”

“I wish,” Amanda replied. “The problem is that his defenses are failing – the probes are getting much better at finding loopholes. They’re already halfway to his home system and they could advance the rest of the way at any moment. We’re about out of time.”

“What about Tonina?” the preacher asked, concerned. “It sounds like–”

“Tonina has never been in any danger,” Amanda said, interrupting him. “I don’t know why, but the probes never went near it. It’s possible that they don’t know where we’re at and are targeting the Artilect specifically. I guess they’ll hunt us down after he can no longer protect us.”

“I hope we never find out,” Reverend Knight replied.

“Me too.”

There was silence for a few moments. “I take it our friendly neighborhood probe has left as well?” Reverend Knight asked.

“No, it’s still there.”

“Really? That is strange. Why has that probe not advanced with the rest of the fleet?”

“I really don’t know,” Amanda said. “He doesn’t appear to be doing any harm, though. It’s just orbiting the sun as if nothing was going on. It’s probably defective or something.”

“It’s hard to believe that one of those probes can be defective!”

Amanda opened her eyes and shrugged. “I know what you mean. But what other explanation is there? The probe certainly hasn’t attacked us. It could have wiped out this entire planet, but it hasn’t. It just sits there, as if it’s waiting for something to happen. Andy told me that it’s the only holdout in the entire fleet. Is it really hard to believe that one probe out of twelve million might be broken?”

“Perhaps not,” he said. “You may be right.”

“Wait a minute! You have the gift of discernment, right? What does it tell you?”

“It doesn’t tell me anything, I’m afraid. You see, what the gift means is that I cannot be lied to. If someone presents me with a falsehood then I will immediately know the truth of the matter. However, in this case no one has lied to us. I have been presented with no false information. That is why I do not know what is going on or who is behind this attack. If we had found someone and they had lied to us then I would know the truth. But I simply have no information to act upon.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Amanda said.

The girl looked off into the distance and stared at the millions of bots that were hovering in mid-air. She focused on them intensely for a moment, and then nodded. “They’re ready,” she said at last.

Reverend Knight noticed that Amanda was just standing there, staring at the probes. “Is there anything else that needs to be done?”

“No,” she replied. “It’s just – well, I don’t know what will happen when we do this.”

“We’ll never know until we try,” the preacher said quietly. “You’ve done all you can, Amanda. I think it’s time. This isn’t all up to you, you know. The Lord brought you to this point in history for a reason. I don’t think any of this is an accident.”

She nodded and then looked intensely at the bots. For a brief moment each one glowed with a radiant blue energy. Then, all at once, the entire swarm vanished.

There was silence for a few minutes. The sun had begun to climb up over the horizon, signaling the arrival of early morning. Overhead the sky was still black, lit by only a handful of dim stars. Amanda had used a large portion of the planet’s crust to create the bots and there was now a sizable crater in the ground.

“Is it over?” Reverend Knight asked.

Amanda shook her head. “Not yet. The bots need some time to board the ship, get through the airlock, and then send the command. That will take just a little bit longer.”

The preacher nodded. They both waited, standing on a tall cliff that overlooked utter desolation. Reverend Knight gazed off into the distance and watched the sun rise. Amanda stared at something only she could see, watching.

“Yes!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Oh yes! Did you see that? Did you see it? Sorry – no, of course you didn’t see it. But it worked! It worked! The probes are dead – every last one of them! The invasion is over. We’ve won!”

Reverend Knight expected to feel a surge of joy, but it didn’t happen. Instead he felt his insides tighten with dread. It was as if a dark shadow had suddenly passed over him. Something was wrong.

“Are you – are you sure?” he said at last. “Are you quite sure that they are all gone?”

“Oh definitely!” Amanda replied enthusiastically. “Andy has confirmed it. Every single probe is destroyed, their drives burnt out. The battle is over!”

“No,” Reverend Knight said uncertainly. “No, it’s not over. Something’s wrong. I think we’ve made a mistake, Amanda. We’re in terrible danger.”

Amanda looked at him, confused. “Are you sure? I mean, how is that even possible? There’s nothing left out there that can hurt us! Why, even that broken probe is dead.”

“That’s it!” the preacher said suddenly. “That’s why we’re in danger! That probe wasn’t broken; it was keeping something from happening. Now that it’s gone we’re in terrible danger. We have to leave this world immediately!”

Amanda looked up at the sky for a few minutes. She frowned. A look of vague concern appeared on her face. “Oh, I see what you mean. That star has become unstable. In fact, it looks like it’s about to detonate. I guess the probe messed with its chemistry somehow.”

“Can we get out of here?”

“I think we’ll have to,” she said. “I wish I could fix the star but I just don’t know how. That’s probably something only the probes could do anyway. Well, that’s fine. Our work on here is done, so let’s go home!”

But nothing happened. The two people remained on the planet.

“Is something wrong?” the preacher finally asked.

“I can’t move,” Amanda replied, startled. “Do you hear me? I can’t move! It’s all wrong. It’s – it’s just wrong!”

“What is wrong?”

“Space! Space is wrong. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s as if someone took space and broke it, and I can’t find a way through. But – how? Why? Why was this done?”

“As a precaution,” the preacher said suddenly. “The supposedly ‘broken’ probe saw you disable its friend and it became concerned that something was going wrong. It was not allowed to attack without provocation so it instead set itself up as a dead man’s switch. As long as it was still operational nothing would happen, but if you launched an attack against it the star would explode and wipe out the planet, which it believed contained the source of the problem. It took the further precaution of modifying spacetime in order to prevent the infection from leaving and spreading to other probes.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Amanda said, horrified. “Do you mean–”

“The probe learned how to modify spacetime by watching the Artilect erect defenses,” the preacher continued. “It noticed that the Artilect was attempting to alter spacetime in ways that did no permanent damage. Therefore, in order to form a more effective trap the probe did something that it hoped could not be undone.”

“But – if Andy can’t fix this, then – you don’t understand! I’m not nearly as powerful as he is. If he can’t do it then I can’t either! And that means–”

“It’s ok,” the preacher said. “Just–”

“It’s not ok!” Amanda shouted, panicking. “Don’t you see? That star has already exploded! The shockwave is racing here at the speed of light, and when it hits us it will obliterate the planet entirely. And we can’t get off the planet! We’re trapped here!”

Reverend Knight looked at the horizon. The sun was still there, giving off the same faint light it always had. “But the star–”

Amanda interrupted him. “It takes a while for the sunlight to get here. Right now it looks like it’s fine, but it’s not. We won’t be able to see the change with our own eyes until a second before the shockwave kills us.”

The preacher started at the sun. He knew that it no longer existed and that death was racing toward him at the speed of light, but it was almost hard to believe. The world looked so peaceful. It did not realize that the end was coming, but its lack of knowledge would change nothing. The shockwave would hit it all the same and it would leave nothing untouched.

Ephesians 2:7: “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

This verse offers us an astounding hope – one that is far too easily overlooked. Do you see what this verse is saying? God is eagerly looking forward to showering us with “the exceeding riches of His grace” for all of “the ages to come”. That covers a very long timespan – in fact, it covers all of eternity!

Stop and think about that! Right now we are living in the Church Age, which is a bitter time of hostility and pain (especially for Christians who live outside the United States). Life often seems full of angry people who are blinded by greed and given over to evil, seeking only their own welfare and caring nothing for others. It is a dark and cold time and it may seem like there is little kindness to be found.

But God has promised to show us kindness in the ages to come. The future is not dark, but bright – He speaks of “the exceeding riches of his grace”. We don’t yet know what that looks like, but it will be a good future. A future that is empty of the pains of this life, and filled with joys that we can only dimly imagine now.

What we have to do now is be patient and wait for it. Waiting is a hard thing. However, when impatience strikes it’s important to remember that waiting is very rewarding. It will pay off. We’re not waiting on something that will never happen. God always keeps His promises, and this one will be no exception.

The future may seem bleak, but God has given us a hope that outshines even the darkest days. This life, with its trials and problems and issues, doesn’t last forever; once our work is done the Lord will bring us home. The real life – our real existence – will start in “the ages to come”, and it will be well worth waiting for.

God never promised us a problem-free existence. In fact, Jesus plainly told His disciples that their lives would be filled with problems and that the world would hate them. He was quite clear that we would suffer, and we would be tried, and things would not go well. But He also promised us that beyond all of this was a better tomorrow.

This is a mocked-up cover for the unwritten book Starman #5, Operation Luna. It was one of the books that we originally planned to write and even created a brief plot summary for, but ultimately ended up skipping.

If you would like to read the proposed plot for the book, simply click on the image below to see a higher-resolution scan.

(I do not know who created the cover artwork, but it was not me.)

As one might imagine, the sacrificial system was a key component of the Mosaic Law. Entire chapters of the Bible are dedicated to the regulations that surround sacrifices, and they played a key role in the day-to-day life of ancient Israel. Today, however, many Christians are ignorant of the sacrificial system. Since we no longer have to offer lambs and goats in our quest for holiness we have come to ignore this entire facet of the Scriptures.

This is actually a problem because if one does not understand the sacrificial system then it becomes much harder to understand portions of the Old Testament. Many people assume that sacrifices all meant the same thing, but that is actually not the case. Once you understand the significance of the various sacrifices it becomes much easier to understand what the Bible is saying. In fact, entire passages will suddenly take on new meaning. It is vital for Christians to understand this system – and the more we understand it the better we will understand the sacrifice that Christ made for us.

Rather than go into great detail about every sacrifice I’m instead going to give a high-level overview of the different types of sacrifices that we find in the Mosaic Law. As it turns out there are six basic types of offerings mentioned in the Old Testament. Despite what you might think, only two of these dealt with sin and forgiveness. All six, however, deal with one’s relationship with God.

The major categories are:

Offerings of commitment: burnt offering, meat offering, drink offering.

Offerings of communion: peace offering.

Offerings of cleansing: sin offering, guilt offering.

I will briefly discuss each one.
 
 

Commitment Offerings

One of the three basic types of offerings mentioned in the Old Testament are the commitment offerings. These offerings were focused on expressing one’s commitment and dedication to God. They were not designed to obtain forgiveness for sins. If you sinned you were supposed to offer a cleansing offering, not a commitment offering. (Cleansing offerings will be discussed later.)

The first type of commitment offering was the burnt offering, which focused on the sacrifice of an animal as a sign of one’s dedication to God. These offerings were given voluntarily, not as a repayment for sin. There are several different regulations surrounding the burnt offering that varied depending on the animal that was being offered. These are the regulations that governing the offering of a bull:

Leviticus 1:2: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.
4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
5 And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
6 And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.
7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:
8 And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:
9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.”

In the burnt offering one could offer a bull, a sheep, a goat, or a bird. Different regulations governed the sacrifice of each type of animal but they all had to be male and without a blemish of any kind. To perform the offering the person bringing the animal killed it and the priest sprinkled its blood around the altar. The person then cut it into pieces and the priests took those pieces and placed them into the fire to be consumed. The ashes were then taken to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp; they were not thrown away because they were too holy.

It is important to emphasize that the offering was between the person making the offering and the Lord. The priests had to place the animal in the fire because the common people were not holy enough to offer sacrifices on their own behalf, but the offering was still done unto the Lord. The priests were merely facilitators.

In the ritual of the burnt offering the person making the sacrifice was commanded to place his hand on the head of the animal. This was to make it clear that the animal symbolically represented them, and it transferred their sin and guilt to the animal (even though this was not a sin or guilt offering). By doing this they were telling God that just as the animal was completely consumed in the fire, so were they giving themselves completely over to Him.

The fire in which offerings were burnt was to be kept burning continually. It is possible that the original spark that started the fire was provided by God Himself.

One striking example of a burnt offering can be found in 2 Chronicles:

2 Chronicles 1:1: “And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.
2 Then Solomon spake unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every governor in all Israel, the chief of the fathers.
3 So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. …
6 And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.
7 In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.”

If you’re not familiar with the sacrificial system then it’s easy to read this passage and think “Oh, Israel gathered together to confess their sins.” However, verse 6 tells us that Solomon offered burnt offerings. The burnt offering was an offering of dedication, not an offering for sin. What Solomon actually did was gather the entire nation together (including all of the leadership) and then offer sacrifices that expressed their dedication to God. What Solomon was doing was telling God that all of Israel was going to follow Him. They were wholly committing themselves to following the Lord – and after they did that God appeared to Solomon.

Do you see how important it is to understand the sacrificial system? Once you realize the significance behind burnt offerings the entire passage comes into focus. When reading the Old Testament it is very important to remember that burnt offering are offerings of dedication. If you keep that fact in mind you’ll be surprised at how many passages it illuminates.
 
 

The meal offering was another type of commitment offering, but instead of an animal some type of flour was offered. This offering could never be given by itself but had to be accompanied by a sacrifice that involved an animal. While this may seem strange it actually makes sense, if you think about it. After all, if your sin hasn’t been atoned for then anything else you might offer God will not be accepted. Once your sin has been forgiven you can then approach God and offer your gifts.

There are several different types of meal offerings, depending on the ingredients of the offering. One type of offering is described here:

Leviticus 2:1: “And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon:
2 And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord:
3 And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons‘: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.”

This offering is treated differently from the burnt offering. In the burnt offering the entire animal was burnt and its ashes were taken outside the camp and placed in a designated area. In the meal offering, however, the priests only burn a handful of flour (the memorial portion for the Lord). The rest of it was given to the priests, who were commanded to eat it in the holy place of the tabernacle.

There is a great deal of symbolism in the meal offering. The frankincense that is burned represents prayer:

Psalms 141:2: “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

Revelation 5:8: “And when he had taken the book, the four breasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.”

It’s also worth nothing that Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life, the very thing that was being offered in the meal offering:

John 6:35: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

The meal offering had to be accompanied by oil (either poured on it or mingled with it) and had to include salt, both of which can be seen as representing portions of Christ’s work. Christians, after all, were called to be the salt of the earth, and in the Bible oil is always symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

Leaven and honey could not be included in the meal offering (Lev. 2:11). This may seem strange, but in the Bible leaven always represents sin. You would certainly not want to include sin in your offering to the Lord!
 
 

There is also the drink offering, which is very similar to the meal offering except that it consisted of wine instead of flour. While the meat offering was consumed by the priests it is important to note that the priests did not drink the wine. Instead the entire amount was poured out onto the altar. Like the other commitment offerings, this offering symbolized being poured out in dedication to the Lord:

Psalms 22:14: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”

Isaiah 53:12: “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

2 Timothy 4:6: “For I [Paul] am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”

Communion Offerings

The only communion offering is the fellowship or peace offering. The peace offering is quite different from the other offerings: for example, the animal could be female and it did not always have to be without blemish (Lev. 22:23). Also, instead of being completely burned it was supposed to be shared between the priest and the worshiper.

Peace offerings could consist of either animals or bread. One example of the regulations surrounding peace offerings can be found in this passage:

Leviticus 7:11: “And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord.
12 If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and the unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.
13 Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings.
14 And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for a heave offering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings.
15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.
16 But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:
17 But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.
18 And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.
19 And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof.
20 But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.
21 Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.”

As was pointed out earlier, you can see that the offering was not entirely consumed by the fire. A large portion of the offering went to the priest and the rest went to the family of the one that had offered it. The offering was to be eaten that day except in the case of vows, where the remainder could be eaten the next day. Anything that still remained on the third day could not be eaten.

Also, no one who was unclean could eat of this offering. If any part of the offering touched something that was unclean the entire offering had to be burnt instead of eaten. The penalty for taking part in a peace offering while you were unclean was very severe.

Some points of interest about the peace offerings:

• When the first temple was built Solomon offered 142,000 peace offerings. The Israelites feasted on them for two weeks (1 Kings 8:62-66).
• The Jews did not often eat their animals because they were too valuable. Eating a dinner of meat (which, of course, you would do when you offered a peace offering) would have been a special occasion for them.
• In the Middle East, having dinner with someone meant the ending of hostilities. It made the person you were dining with your friend and demonstrated unity.
• The peace offering was a way of giving thanks to God – perhaps for an unexpected blessing, or in repayment of a vow.
• The blood and fat of all offerings was always given to God. It was never eaten.

Cleansing Offerings

There were two types of offerings in the levitical system that dealt with being cleansed from sin: the guilt offering (also known as the trespass offering) and the sin offering. The trespass offering focused on individual sin that affected people and property and for which restitution could be made; it emphasized the damage done to others. The sin offering focused on an accidental violation of the law; it emphasized the offender’s guilt before God. When some sort of cleansing offering was required the priest would examine the offense in order to determine which sacrifice was needed.

It is very important to realize that both of these offerings dealt with accidental violations. Neither of these sacrifices were able to forgive someone who had intentionally and knowingly sinned (as, for instance, was the case with David and Bathsheba). There was no sacrifice for such an act. An accidental violation was a situation where the person was aware of the law but did not realize that they had broken it. This is not talking about people unaware of the law.

The sin offering is described in this passage:

Leviticus 4:2: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering.
4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the Lord.
5 And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:
6 And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary.
7 And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
8 And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
9 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away,
10 As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering.
11 And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,
12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.”

The section above deals with the regulations surrounding the sin of a priest; there are separate regulations for the sin of the congregation, and the sin of a ruler. A few points about the sin offerings:

• The amount of the offering varied depending on the offender’s position in society: the higher a person’s position in society, the more expensive the sacrifice. The high priest was to bring a young bullock, the whole congregation had to bring a bullock, the ruler had to bring a male kid of the goats, and a common person was to bring a female kid of the goats or a female lamb. A poor person could bring a dove or a pigeon, and a very poor person could bring fine flour.
• The person making the offering had to identify with it by laying his hands on it. (When the whole nation had sinned the elders of the land did this.)
• After the animal was slain its blood was presented to God. In the case of the high priest and the nation, part of the blood was sprinkled before the veil and the horns of the altar of incense in the holy place, while the rest was poured out at the base of the altar. In the case of leaders and the common people, the blood was applied to the horns of the brazen altar at the door of the tabernacle.
• The fat was burned on the altar, but the rest of the sacrifice was burned at a clean place outside the camp. This was quite different from the burnt offering, where the animal was burned at the temple and only the ashes were disposed of outside the camp. It is worth noting that Hebrews 13:12-13 says this: “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.”
• The result of this sacrifice was forgiveness.

The trespass offering is described in this passage:

Leviticus 5:15: “If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering;
16 And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.
17 And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.
18 And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.
19 It is a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the Lord.”

A few points about the trespass offering:

• This offering is for those who have sinned through ignorance – they knew the law but violated it accidentally, without knowing what they had done. It is worth noting that even though the sin was in ignorance the person was still guilty before God and must offer a sacrifice in order to be forgiven. Sinning through ignorance was no defense: a sacrifice had to be made. The Lord never simply overlooks sin – all sin, accidental or otherwise, must be paid for.
• The ritual involved confessing the sin, making restitution for the damage, paying a 20% fine on top of that, and offering a ram to the Lord. The priest valued the ram in order to verify its value. The restitution and fine were first given to the priest so that the priest could verify everything was in order and it was permissible to offer the sacrifice.
• If the offended party wasn’t available to receive the restitution then it could be paid to a relative. If there were no relatives then it remained with the priest.
• The trespass offering emphasized the fact that it was a very costly thing for people to sin and for God to cleanse it. Forgiveness comes only by the death of an innocent substitute.

In conclusion, I think this quote sums it up well:

“Jesus provides all that we need. He is our burnt offering, and we must yield ourselves wholly to Him. He is our meal offering, the seed crushed and put through the fire, that we might have the bread of life; and we must feed upon Him. He is our drink offering who poured Himself out in sacrifice and service, and we must pour ourselves out for Him and for others. He is our fellowship offering, making life a joyful feast instead of a painful famine. He is our sin offering and our guilt offering, for He bore our sins on His body and paid the full price for our sins.

“The nation of Israel had to offer six different sacrifices in order to have a right relationship with God, but Jesus Christ ‘offered one sacrifice for sins forever’ and took care of our sin problem completely.” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Holy, pg. 29)

A cat in the box – there’s no doubt about it!

Amanda Stryker and Reverend Knight reappeared on the top of a rocky cliff. The girl had selected a vantage point that overlooked an enormous, barren plain. Off into the distance, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but a dark, uneven surface that was littered with black rocks. The ground beneath their fleet was made of a hard, gray stone. Overhead was a black sky. A faint sun hovered on the horizon, offering just enough light to see but providing no warmth. There was no wind or clouds. After a moment the preacher realized that he could see stars, even though it was daytime.

“This place seems rather dead,” he remarked. “I don’t see any signs of life at all.”

Amanda was standing beside him. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be concentrating. “That’s because there isn’t any life here. This is one of the countless dead worlds that are outside the network. There isn’t even an atmosphere! It’s just a rocky planet about a billion miles away from its star. There’s nothing interesting here.”

“You mean there’s no air?” he replied, surprised. “Then what are we breathing?”

Amanda smiled. “The nanites in your bloodstream may not be as powerful as the ones in mine, but they’re still capable of keeping you alive even in the harshest environments. You’re not in any danger – at least, not from that, anyway.”

He nodded. “I understand. I don’t mean to disturb you, miss, but is there a reason for our being out here?”

“I’m trying to learn about the Nehemiah probes. There’s one just a few million miles away from here that I’m exploring. I can see it with my mind – it’s huge! Now I just need to find a way to get inside. The Sentinel was right – it really does block wormhole travel. This is going to be tricky.”

“Very good,” he replied. Then there was silence. The preacher stared off into the distance, quietly praying.

Minutes ticked by, and still Amanda said nothing. By the look on her face it was clear that she was working hard, but the preacher could see no obvious results. Reverend Knight continued standing on the deserted cliff, gazing across a world that had never known life. He suddenly realized that they were probably the first human beings to ever stand there in all of history. In fact, we may be the only people that ever visit this world, he thought. In all the ages of eternity we may be the only life forms that this planet ever sees. No wonder the Artilect spent thousands of years looking for human beings! This is a lonely, empty age.

Amanda at last opened her eyes. “Well, that’s not going to work. I was hoping to find some flaw in the probe’s barrier that we could exploit, but it can’t be done – or at least, I can’t do it. We’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

“The hard way?” Reverend Knight asked. “Do you mean–”

“Yup! We’ll have to go up, knock on the door, and hope someone opens.”

“Really?” he asked in surprise. “That’s our plan?”

“That’s the plan,” Amanda affirmed. “Are you ready to go?”

The preacher paused, then nodded. “Absolutely.”

It took Amanda only a moment to transport them from the unnamed, empty planet to the hull of the Nehemiah IV probe. She had already learned how to interact with the dampening field that the Artilect was generating, so she did not have any trouble transporting to the probe itself. What did startle her was the sheer size of the probe. Even though she had seen it in her mind, actually being there somehow impressed her in a way that her mental picture hadn’t. This is staggering! she thought. No wonder the Artilect can’t fight them. I just hope I can find a way to turn it off.

Reverend Knight was surprised to see that they were actually standing on top of the probe, right in front of a small circular hatch. The bulk of the vessel stretched out in front of them for miles. Amanda could feel it shaking beneath her feet, as if it was straining against some giant chain. It wants to be free, she thought. It knows something is holding it here and it is angry. It was an unnerving thought.

Amanda dropped to her knees and placed her hand on a square panel beside the hatch. To her immense relief the panel glowed to life, and a moment later the hatch opened.

“That’s a good sign!” Amanda commented. She climbed down the ladder into the probe, and Reverend Knight followed close behind her. After they were inside the airlock Amanda pressed a button on the wall. The hatch above them slid closed and the doors opened.

Beyond the open doors was a large, circular room that was approximately a hundred feet in diameter. They were surprised to see that there were no chairs, computer consoles, or other objects in the room. It was entirely empty, save for the silver material that covered its walls, floor, and ceiling.

“Well that’s a bit unexpected,” Reverend Knight remarked. “Is there something wrong?”

“I don’t think so, but let’s find out,” Amanda replied. She walked into the middle of the room and made a motion with her hands. Instantly the walls faded to black and an array of holographic displays appeared.

“Oh, I see!” the preacher replied. “It’s all virtual.”

“Exactly! It’s more configurable that way, I guess. Now let me see if I can figure out how to work this interface.”

“Do you think we should let the others know that we are here?”

“They already know. I’ve been in constant communication with Andy ever since we got here. He’s keeping them informed.”

“Thank you – I appreciate that. I just don’t want them to worry about us.”

“Right,” Amanda muttered, distracted. “Boy, it’s been a long time since I’ve worked with one of these interfaces. I see the probes have been upgraded quite a bit from the time my brother designed them.”

“You mean you’ve done this before?” the preacher asked, surprised.

“Kind of. Amy and I were the original beta testers for the probe interface, before the first probe was even launched. Of course, that was five thousand years ago, and it wasn’t a Nehemiah-class probe. I guess there have been a few upgrades since then.”

Amanda continued to study the intricate holographic display, working her way through its complicated system of menus and interfaces. Occasionally she would whisper something to herself, but the preacher could not understand what she was saying. She’s probably talking to the Artilect, he thought. It’s best if I just let her work.

It was nearly twenty minutes before Amanda spoke up again. “I think that might work. It’s worth a try, I guess.”

“Did you find something?”

“I think so. Well, yes and no. The probe doesn’t seem to have an off switch – at least, if it does I haven’t found it. But I can access the power plant, and the Artilect has suggested a series of settings that should burn it out. Without power the probe won’t be able to actually do anything. It would be the equivalent of shutting it down, if it actually works.”

“What happens if it doesn’t work?” the preacher asked.

“I’m not sure,” the girl said nervously. “The probe might reject the settings, or it might just do nothing. It might even decide it’s under attack and retaliate somehow. I really don’t know. It doesn’t look like there’s any way to tell.”

The preacher nodded. “So what are you going to do?”

Amanda paused. “Well, I don’t like it, but I guess it’s either try this or go home. So, then, here goes nothing…”

Amanda reached out and gingerly pressed a holographic button. Immediately the entire ship shuddered. The lights flickered and then went out, plunging the room into total darkness. A long, low whine could be heard, so loud and deep that it could be felt. After a minute it went silent.

The preacher was startled when a soft, white glow filled the room. “Did you do that?” he asked.

“Yes. After all, it was kind of dark in here! I guess that’s good news, though – it means the probe is really dead.”

“You don’t seem very excited about it,” Reverend Knight commented. “Is something wrong?”

“Kind of. I mean, sure, this probe is dead. That’s great! But there are about twelve million other probes out there that aren’t dead. I can’t go to each one and shut them down manually! That’s just not practical. It would take forever to do that!”

“But you have found a way to disable them,” the preacher pointed out. “That is an excellent start! Now all you need is a way to distribute that to other ships.”

“That’s the problem! I can’t send the new configurations to other probes – they’re not receiving communications. Disabling one probe is kind of useless. It really doesn’t make a difference.”

“What does the Artilect think? I assume that you’re still in communication with him. Does he have a suggestion?”

“Let me see,” she said quietly. She frowned for a few minutes, concentrating on a voice that Reverend Knight could not hear. He waited patiently, watching her but saying nothing.

At last she opened her eyes. “All right. The group has come up with an idea. Follow me.”

Amanda and Reverend Knight suddenly disappeared. They reappeared on the empty, dead planet that they had been on just a few minutes earlier.

“Woah!” Reverend Knight exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you said we couldn’t jump in and out of probes!”

“We couldn’t while the probe was operational, but it’s dead now. Dead probes are a different story.”

“I can understand that. But why have we returned to this place? What do you hope to accomplish?”

“Give me just a moment to get the chain started and I’ll explain,” Amanda replied. She once more closed her eyes and concentrated. At first nothing happened, but then Reverend Knight noticed that the ground beneath his feet was starting to shake. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the plain that stretched out into the distance was starting to change. It looked as if the ground had turned into some sort of molten gray metal. There was a buzz of activity going on, but from this distance he couldn’t quite see what it was.

Amanda at last opened her eyes. “All right – sorry about that! This part is going to take some time and I wanted to get it started as soon as possible. Anyway, about the plan. What everyone realized was that the only way to turn off the probes was to actually visit them in person. Therefore, that’s what we decided to do.”

“But I thought you said that was impractical!” Reverend Knight exclaimed, surprised.

“Oh, it is! It would take far too long for me to do it myself. That’s why I’m building an army of bots to do it for me. It turns out that the security system on the Nehemiah IV probes is pretty pathetic. All it does is scan my DNA and then grants access based on the DNA that it finds. The Artilect showed me how to build a bot that can fool the probes into thinking that it’s me. It won’t look anything like me at all, but when the probe scans it it will find my DNA. Then the bot will send the termination signal and the probes will destroy themselves.”

“That’s amazing!” Reverend Knight said. “It’s quite elegant, and I think it just might work. But, if I might ask, why can’t the Artilect do this? It would seem that our work here is done!”

“Well, Andy is kind of busy right now. It’s going to take several hours to manufacture the 12 million bots that we need, and he really needs to stay focused on fighting the probes in order to buy us time. Besides, I can manufacture the probes without his help. This is a great place to build them, too; it’s outside the network and far away from the war zone.”

“It is? But I thought the probe we were just on was part of the front line! Has something happened?”

“The front line shifted, I’m afraid,” Amy explained. “It’s now about a thousand light-years closer to the Artilect than it was before.”

“That sounds ominous! I hope he can find the strength to keep them at bay for at least a few more hours.”

“I do too,” Amy agreed. “But that’s why he needs to focus on what he’s doing while I focus on building the bots. All I need to do now is build and deploy them. Then – if all goes well! – we can go home.”

“Do you need to actually be on this planet to build them?” Reverend Knight asked.

Amanda laughed. “I’m not like Andy, you know – I can’t be everywhere at once! I sort of need to be at the construction site. Besides, this is a very safe place to be. Aside from one straggler there aren’t any active probes in the area at all. If anything, we’re actually safer here than we would be if we were inside the network.”

“There is a straggler?” Reverend Knight asked, surprised. “Why has it remained behind?”

“Who knows?” Amanda said. “There are actually two probes in this system – the one that we boarded, which is now dead, and another one that’s closer to the sun. Maybe it’s broken or maybe it’s being held in reserve. I have no idea. But it’s certainly not doing anything threatening.”

“I hope that continues to be the case,” Reverend Knight remarked.

In the Diano Building on the planet Xanthe, an alarm began flashing on a computer console. For the first time in history a Nehemiah IV probe had been destroyed. The console urgently requested further instructions. What action should be taken? Does the user want the operation to be aborted? Should the probes regroup and examine the situation? Is an operational change required?

The console asked in vain, for there was no one there who could respond to it. Elder Lane was still in the room but he had finally succumbed to sleep. His robots had left hours ago, once they realized that Lane’s quest had been successful and he no longer needed them. The man was very much alone, with no one to warn him that something had begun to go wrong with his plan.

The warning message flashed for hours, but no one heeded its cry for help.

Ephesians 1:18: “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”

As Christians, do we really believe that the Lord has blessed us with great riches and glory? There is no doubt that God has promised us this, but do we believe it? In this life it so often seems that the nice guy finishes last, and that the liars and thieves are the ones that amass great fortunes and power, which they use to oppress the weak. Meanwhile, the meek are robbed and assaulted and killed. Christians are the laughingstock of the world, and in countries all over the planet they are hunted down and killed – either by the state or by angry mobs.

Yet God tells us that we are rich; that we are destined for glory; that we are a race of kings; that one day we will inherit the world and delight ourselves in peace. The question is, do we believe the promise of God? Are we living by faith, or by what we can see?

In other words, do we really believe that we are going to live forever? Do we honestly believe that one day God will put a final end to all of the evil that is going on, and that we will live lives of peace? When the Lord says that our reward is great in Heaven, do we actually believe that? Or do we doubt?

Doubt is a deadly thing, for it robs us of the ability to be grateful. It’s hard to be thankful for something you’re not sure you’re ever going to get. Yet, God has always fulfilled every one of His promises. I am afraid, however, that it is all too easy for us to become distracted by our lives and lose sight of the amazing things that God has promised us.