The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn Page A

planning it makes no difference.”
    “I think you’re just saying all this.”
    “And you’re free to think that,” he replied.
    “So I’m free to think that. I don’t have to think that.”
    “But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t planned,” he added.
    “How could it be both?” I asked.
    “It takes two oars to make a boat go straight.”
    “Meaning it’s both free will and predestination?”
    “Meaning you need to use both oars and focus on keeping the boat straight, so we can make it back to dry land.”

Chapter 11
    The Seventh Harbinger: The Erez Tree

    S HE ROSE FROM her chair. “Nouriel, would you excuse me for a moment before we continue?”
    “Of course,” he answered.
    She walked over to her desk. “Is everyone gone?” she asked, speaking into the phone set.
    “Yes,” replied the voice on the speaker, “Everyone’s gone, and I’ll be leaving soon.”
    “You’ll make sure everything’s turned off?”
    “I will.”
    During the exchange, Nouriel gazed out to the city skyline. It was now early evening. The sun had set. The city was illumined by the deep blues and reds of twilight and the incandescent and fluorescent radiance of its buildings and street lamps.
    “So…” she said, as she returned to the round table, “you were in the boat with the prophet…”
    “We docked, got out of the boat, and began walking through the park. He led me to the fountain on the terrace, the one with the statue of the angel on top.”

    “Do you know what that is, Nouriel?” he asked.
    “An angel,” I replied.
    “This is Bethesda Fountain, and that’s called the Angel of the Waters . It’s from the Gospel of John, the account of a crippled man who waited by the pools of Bethesda in Jerusalem to be healed. And do you know what Bethesda means?”
    “No,” I replied.
    “It comes from the Hebrew word khesed , which means mercy or loving-kindness . Bethesda means the house of mercy or the place of loving-kindness . Khesed …mercy…love. It’s God’s nature, His essence. Don’t forget that, through all this, don’t forget that. Judgment is His necessity, but His nature and essence—His heart—is love. He’s the one always calling out to the lost to be saved.”
    We resumed our walk, passing by others in the park also walking or running or playing chess or just sitting on the park benches doing nothing in particular. We followed the walking path through a lush green landscape of trees and grass, rocks and bridges.
    “So, Nouriel, if the Sycamore is the Sixth Harbinger, then the Seventh Harbinger…”
    “Has to be the cedar. It’s what comes next:
    “The sycamores have been cut down,
    But we will plant cedars in their place .”
    “Correct.”
    “So the tree on the seal is a cedar.”
    “Yes, and what does it mean?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “Their sycamores are fallen. They vow to replace them. But instead of replacing them with other sycamores, they replace them with cedars. Why do you think they would do that?”
    “It would have to be for the same reason they didn’t replace the fallen bricks with other bricks but with quarried stone. The goal wasn’t restoration but defiance. So I’d guess that the cedar was stronger than the sycamore, or as different from the sycamore…”
    “…as quarried stones were from clay bricks. You’re right. The sycamore was a common tree. It was never seen as something of great value. Its grain was coarse, knotty, spongy, and not particularly strong. And though its wood could be used in construction, it was neither the most ideal nor most durable material to build with.”
    “So it was kind of the clay brick of trees.”
    “Exactly. And as the clay bricks were replaced by massive stones, the fallen sycamore would be replaced by the cedar.”
    “So the cedar was stronger than the sycamore?”
    “Much stronger, and much more highly valued. The sycamore grew in the low lands; the cedar grew on mountain heights. The sycamore was common; the