“In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt” (Isaiah 19:19, 20).

Most Bible Students who are readers of this journal are familiar with the spiritual lessons that come out of a study of The Great Pyramid (GP) of Egypt.¹ Its design and the many measurements of its internal and external features provide many spiritual lessons that strongly corroborate the Divine Plan of the Ages. The Bible text that provides a foundation for evaluating the Great Pyramid for spiritual lessons is Isaiah 19:19, 20, cited above.

One measurement seldom remarked upon is thrilling both for its special use in the GP and for the lessons it teaches. Not surprisingly, it reflects some fundamental teachings of the Bible on the recovery of man from sin and death.

One might expect the internal passageways of the GP to be directly on the North­South midline of the structure. But they are not. In fact, nearly all passageways are offset or displaced from the midline by 286 pyramid inches.²

Believing that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid are divinely intended to convey deeper meaning, we expect this eccentricity to be significant, especially when searching for a spiritual application. In the 1880s, Professor Charles Lagrange of the Royal Observatory in Brussels named this measurement of 286 pyramid inches The Displacement Factor.3

All of the passages within the GP align in the north­ south plane with this displacement. The fact that this shift is toward the east gives us a clue for determining the possible symbolic meaning.⁴

In the Bible, there are several instances where an eastward movement appears to signify a departure from God or a rejection from His favor.

• The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden was from the east, where Cherubim were placed to present entrance to the Garden (Genesis 3:24).
• Cain “went out from the presence of Jehovah” to the “east of Eden” (Genesis 4:16).
• Lot chose the Jordan Plain and traveled east to live in the sinful areas of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 13:11).
• The 10­Tribe northern Kingdom of Israel was taken captive by Assyria and relocated to the east (1 Chronicles 5:25,26).
• The southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive by Babylon and exiled to the east (2 Chronicles 36:6,7).

The eastward displacement, as viewed from the front or north face of the GP, would be to the left. The goats of Jesus’ parable of the Sheep and Goats are cursed and placed on the King’s left hand (Matthew 25:33).

By contrast, several instances of westward movement indicate Divine favor.

• God appeared to Abraham and called him out of Ur to the land of Canaan, a westward move (Genesis 12:1).
• The Tabernacle faced east. So when the High Priest of Jehovah served, the way into the Tabernacle was toward the west (Exodus 27:9­18; Numbers 2:1­34).
• Solomon’s Temple also faced east, therefore entry made moving toward the west (Ezekiel 8:16).
• The return of the exiled Jews from Babylon journeyed west to Jerusalem.
• The Wise Men seeking Jesus journeyed westward to find him (Matthew 2:1).
• The Apostle Paul’s Missionary Journeys were all to the west.

Considering these indicators, the displacement of the Great Pyramid passage system towards the east demonstrates that the history of man has been “off­center” under the influence of sin. So this Displacement Factor of 286 pyramid inches represents the sinful and imperfect condition of man and his resulting condemnation to death. It also indicates the need for a corrective factor to make things right or bring them back to “center.”

We know from the Divine Plan, that the corrective factor which will atone for sin is the ransom price paid by the death of Jesus Christ. The Great Pyramid demonstrates this correction using the exact same dimension of 286 pyramid inches. This is called The Rectification Factor.⁵

This Rectification Factor is dramatically shown in the Great Pyramid’s Grand Gallery. The Ascending Passage is, like the Descending Passage, rather cramped for movement being only about four feet high. But it brings one to the Grand Gallery, which abruptly opens upward to a magnificent new height. The additional height of this gallery is of great interest. It is 286 pyramid inches higher than the Ascending Passage! This is the exact distance of the Displacement Factor.

Chronologically speaking, The Grand Gallery begins at the death and resurrection of Jesus in AD 33. This indicates that the resurrected Jesus provided the nece­ssary correction for sin and displacement away from God. In Romans 4:24,25 we read: “But for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.”

The Greek word dikaiosis (G1347), “justification,” has the thought of making right or rectification! This is exactly the symbolic meaning of the 286 pyramid inches.

As the Grand Gallery represents the Gospel Age, we see the church now benefiting from the rectification for sin and its resulting liberation provided by the ransom sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. As 2 Corinthians 3:17 notes: “Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

The liberty that we now have as sons of God will, in due time, also be provided for all of creation. Romans 8:20,21 declares this most beautifully: “For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.”

We can see this significant dimen­sion of 286 pyramid inches once more.

We saw that the passageways in the GP were all offset from the centerline by 286 pyramid inches. Traversing in the Ascending Passage, then, through the Grand Gallery up to the 50th level of the GP, one reaches the Kings Chamber. This chamber contains only one item, The Coffer. It looks like an open sarcophagus, but there is no evidence that it was ever used as such. Symbolically, it represents an open coffin and shows the resurrection of the dead. The level of the Kings Chamber suggests this resurrection is to the Divine Nature. As recipients of the very nature of God, Jesus and the Church will be set up in Kingdom power and will be perfectly suited to correct all of the ills that sin and death have brought to humanity.

The Coffer in the King’s Chamber is to the right of the entry portal by exactly 286 pyramid inches! Consequently, it is set exactly on the North­South centerline of the GP. The full rectification of all things is then seen in the precise location of the coffer.

CONCLUSION

Like the many other dimensions in the design of the Great Pyramid, the 286 pyramid inches is another thrilling parallel to the theme of redemption, so fundamental in the Bible. While the saints at the close of the Gospel Age have been permitted insight into these marvelous architectural details, these lessons may be much more helpful in the Kingdom. At that time mankind will learn how God foresaw and managed all of the details of his wonderful Divine Plan of the Ages. This will build confidence that God, through His Anointed, can and will bring mankind to perfection on the Highway of Holiness. The antitypical glorious Priesthood will teach the world a new language of holiness and purity (Zephaniah 3:9) and prepare them for everlasting life.

In this regard, an item of note is that Levi was the 13th tribe of Israel ⁶ and a type of the antitypical priesthood. The Hebrew language, which contains a portion of the inspired word, contains 22 letters.^7,8 If the Antitypical priest­ hood is to teach a pure language to the world, we multiply these as two factors together and arrive at 286! So, perhaps, taken together, this is why this special number was chosen.

The Apostle Paul describes the ultimate rectification in Ephesians 1:10. “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”

— Br. David Stein

 

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(1) Brother Russell in Volume Three devotes the last chapter of the book to a consideration of these lessons.

(2) The more precise value is 286.1 P inches. See Adam Rutherford’s Pyramidology, Volume II, 1962, page 255.

(3) As reported by Adam Rutherford in Pyramidology, Volume II, 1962, page 236.

(4) It should also be mentioned that placing the entrance of the Great Pyramid off­ center also made its location more difficult to detect by tomb robbers.

(5) The term Rectification Factor was coined by Adam Rutherford. Pyramidology, Volume II, 1962, page 250.

(6) The twelve tribes of Israel, all of which had a land inheritance, are: (1) Judah, (2) Issachar, (3) Zebulun, (4) Reuben, (5) Simeon, (6) Gad, (7) Ephraim, (8) Manasseh, (9) Benjamin, (10) Dan, (11) Asher, (12) Naphtali. The tribe of Levi, which had no inheritance in the land, was the thirteenth tribe in the nation.

(7) The original pure language evidently was proto-­Hebrew, an early form of Hebrew, the language God gave to Adam and Eve and was spoken in the perfection of Eden. See the full presentation of this idea in The Origin of the Speeches by Isaac E. Mozeson, 2005. See also www.edenics.com

(8)It is also noteworthy that there are 22 books in the original Hebrew Scriptures.

 

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