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opening of the new temple. At another banquet of fresh fruit and steaming, buttery vegetables, he discussed this with Chaim and Tsion and Irene and several others. “Will Jesus explain it all?” Rayford said.
    Chaim and Tsion nodded. “Think of Jesus Himself as
the
government, Rayford,” Tsion said. “He will put in place princes and governors under His authority, but obviously, everything and everybody will report to Him. Any munitions left over from anywhere on the earth will be dismantled and eliminated. The temple will be full of priests, and the nations will be called to worship and sacrifice there.”
    “But you taught me that Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb who rendered the sacrifices obsolete. With Him here and in charge, what is the need for a temple, and especially for sacrifices?”
    Suddenly there came a long, loud blast from a sheep’s horn, and all at the table stood as one and hurried out.
    “You are about to get your answer from the ultimate authority,” Chaim said, hurrying along.
    As on the day of the sheep-and-goats judgment, Rayford could tell that the others knew instinctively that they were being called to assemble. They knew by whom and they knew where. It was merely their obligation to go.
    From all over the region, people streamed from their dwellings, many piling into vehicles, others walking toward the new temple site. Rayford headed for the eighteen-mile causeway to take in all of Jesus’ creativity along the way. As far as he could see, happy people were eager to see Jesus—not to mention His latest project.
    The seventy-five days since the sheep-and-goats judgment had flown so quickly that Rayford wondered at God’s economy of time. It wasn’t as if now, here on earth, a thousand years was as a day and a day a thousand years. But clearly that was true for God.
    Now, as Rayford and his friends and loved ones were passed by rolling caravans of people on their way to the new temple, the last thing on his mind was hitching a ride. A brisk walk of several miles was just what he needed.
    Paths and walkways that just days before had been sandy and dusty and desolate now teemed with lush green growth. Animals of every size and kind frolicked. Children ran and laughed.
    “What is that glorious smell?” Rayford said.
    Chaim pointed to the mountains and hills in the distance. “It smells like what it looks like,” he said.
    “Do we have time for a detour?” Rayford said.
    They left the route to the causeway, and many followed them to the foothills, where the streams had become pure white milk. Having only half finished his meal, Rayford knelt and cupped both hands in the white cascade, the icy flow hitting his taste buds like nectar.
    He rinsed his hands in the pure springwater of a nearby brook. “But milk is not what I smell,” he told Chaim. “I smell wine.”
    Again Chaim pointed, this time past the new foothills and to the rocky elevations that surrounded the city. There, gushing down the mountainsides were deep purple channels, collecting in great, beautiful pools below. “Do you believe this, Chaim?” Rayford said.
    The older man stood staring, then quietly quoted: “ ’And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water.’ ”
    Rayford closed his eyes and lifted his hands toward the temple, gleaming in the sun on the vast, elevated plain. “Hallelujah!” he cried. “We’re
living
the Bible!”
    He and Chaim turned back to the route that would take them to the causeway and eventually to Jesus, and all around them people shouted, “ ’Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel!’ ”
    When finally Rayford reached the northern end of the causeway, the millions pouring from the pavement to surround the seemingly endless temple stopped hundreds of feet below it