The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn Page B

of rubble and fallen brick. The bricks had fallen . They were fragile to begin with, bricks of clay and straw and dried in the midday sun. Any building made of these would be especially vulnerable to destruction. So the pile of fallen brick became the most visible sign of the calamity and of the fact that the nation’s existence now rested on shaky ground. It was now vulnerable and in danger. The breach had been made, and the destruction, though limited, had begun.”
    “So the ruin heap of fallen bricks was a sign,” I said, “not just of what had happened, but of what would happen if the nation didn’t change its course.”
    “Exactly…the sign of collapse, the collapse of a building, the collapse of a kingdom, and then of a civilization.”
    He asked me for the seal, and then, lifting it up, he began to explain its meaning. “The Third Harbinger: Enemies enter the land and cause destruction. The destruction leaves the nation traumatized. But the scope and duration of that destruction are limited. The most visible signs of the attack is the ruin heaps of fallen bricks, stone, and rubble where once had stood a building. ‘The bricks have fallen.’ The Third Harbinger: the Fallen Bricks.”
    “Ground Zero.”
    “As the dust of September 11 settled on New York City, people emerged to survey the damage. The World Trade Center had collapsed into a colossal heap of ruins. As Americans watched on their television sets and computer screens, the image of the colossal ruin heap at Ground Zero became the most visible and identifiable sign of what had happened…a strange image, several stories high, surreal, and haunting. In the days and weeks that followed, the image would be seared into the nation’s collective consciousness—a sign of destruction, though, as with ancient Israel, a destruction limited in scope and duration. And yet, as in the ancient case, the ruin heap would serve as a sign against the nation’s sense of invulnerability. America was now vulnerable. The breach had been made. The stones were coming undone. And the nation’s security was resting on shaky ground.”
    “But the World Trade Center wasn’t made out of clay bricks,” I countered.
    “The effect, though, was the same. The ancient prophecy opens up with the image of collapse—the ruins of fallen buildings. It was the same image of collapse and of the ruins of fallen buildings that confronted America in those first dark days following September 11. The American towers fell with the same suddenness as did the clay bricks and buildings of ancient Israel. In a matter of moments, they had become a heap of ruins. And yet the connection was still more literal.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “The ruin heap of Ground Zero was filled with steel, concrete, and glass, but not only that.”
    “With what?”
    “Bricks.”
    “As in ‘ The bricks have fallen .’”
    “The fallen bricks of ancient Israel comprised a warning concerning the nation’s future. So too the fallen bricks of Ground Zero. The World Trade Center was a symbol of America’s economic power—proud, majestic, towering. But in a matter of moments it had come crashing down to dust…a warning to even the most proud, majestic, and towering of nations that no nation is invulnerable or exempt from the day that its power comes crashing down to earth, even in a moment’s time.”
    “‘ The bricks have fallen ‘; it’s not just about destruction. It’s about a nation’s response to destruction, its vow of defiance. So how did America’s reaction to 9/11 compare to that of ancient Israel?
    “Do you remember the days that followed 9/11?” he asked.
    “Of course,” I answered.
    “No one had to say it. It was as if almost everyone had some sort of sense about it, even if they couldn’t put it into words. It was as if the nation had unconsciously heard a silent voice calling it to be still and to return to the foundation.”
    “The voice of God?”
    “Yes, and for a moment,