Many would be asking why the Notre Dame Cathedral burned now. There are unsatisfying arguments that there was a lot of old dried timber. Some mention limestone or plastics in the roof area. CBS headline says the cause is a 'mystery'.
"I was stunned by the speed with which the oak in Notre-Dame burned," Mr. Mouton (the architect who oversaw the fire protections) said. "Oak that old can’t burn like a match. It’s absolutely incomprehensible." More so as they had only just implemented a fire detection system, which suffered human failure; failure to spot the then smouldering fire when the first alarm went off.
But, fundamentally, why after 856 years of veneration is it so damaged? Why just before Easter, after Palm Sunday in 'holy week'?
No protection
Let us consider firstly that the God of the Bible promises protection for the longevity of buildings!
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
It was said people were praying - what do they know? They know the God of the Bible is powerful. But He also looks on the hearts, minds and actions, and He only is a shield those who seek Him.
The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. (Psalm 33:13-20)
So why was the Cathedral exposed and all the roof, the protection, taken away so remarkably?
The Symbol
Wikipedia notes that before the period of Christianity in France, a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter stood on the site of Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame de Paris means 'Our Lady of Paris' and is for the virgin Mary. The site had a church since the fourth century, which is the beginning of the growth of the Catholic Church. Professor Karen Carr notes “The Merovingian king Childebert built a “magnificent church” (according to Gregory of Tours) in 528 AD. Childebert dedicated his to Saint Stephen. (St. Etienne) quatr.us Wikipedia notes that four churches succeeded the Roman temple before Notre-Dame. Heraclius of Caesarea called for the Third Crusade in 1185 from the still-incomplete cathedral. The current cathedral was conceived in 1160, begun in 1163 and mostly finished about 100 years later. We cannot find it ever had a fire before 2019, or was so seriously damaged.
Algorithms on YouTube associated the fire with 9/11. People gathered about to watch it burn and prayed, cried, wailed and sang. "Emotion in the whole nation. Thoughts for all Catholics and for all French," President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. The Vatican said: "The Holy See has seen with shock and sadness the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame, symbol of Christianity in France and in the world."
It has even been claimed as 'a symbol of Western Culture'. Whereas that may be disputed, it is a symbol and cultural icon of Catholicism. The fire fits the whole feeling of this age in France, of the protests, which often result in fires in Paris, the political global rise of (militant) Islam in France and other Catholic areas and the consequent global loss of power to Catholicism: France the daughter of the church, the symbol of the whole, burnt out from within by many mistakes, sins and failures.
A Jewish Factor in why
Abraham Chicheportiche of France writing about the Jewish reaction to the fire, notes some interesting things:
These statues, known as "Ecclesia" and "Sinagoga", represent the Christian theological doctrine of "Verus Israel" according to which the Jewish people are fallen and replaced by the "new Israel" represented here by a woman who stands with her head crowned facing the other woman represented who has her head bowed, blindfolded by a snake and holding in her hands the tables of the Law ...you know, the Jewish people's Torah.
The Catholic Church became the official state religion of France at the conversion to Christianity of Clovis I, leading to France being called "the eldest daughter of the Church."
In 1240, in Paris, it was the same Catholic Church which had built the cathedral that held the famous Paris controversy in which the Talmud was tried for blasphemy against the church. There was no way the Jewish rabbis debating the Christians could win. Held at the instigation of Nicolas Donin, an apostate Jew converted to Christianity, he and clerics debated four rabbis, led by Rabbi Yehiel of Paris in the presence of King Louis IX of France. The trial ended with the decree ordering seizure of all copies of the Talmud, that is tens of wagonloads, at least 10,000 handwritten voumes of holy texts and then burning them on nearby Place de Greve in 1242. Two of the rabbis, Rabbi Shmuel of Falaise and the Maharam Rottenberg, who participated in the debate are well known to us today through the prayers they composed and the elegies about the burning of the holy books which are still part of our liturgy on the 9th of Av fast.
Louis IX (1226-1270), grandson of Philip Augustus and King of France, was a knight, religious, ascetic and hostile to the Jews. In spite of the fact that this opposition worked to its own disadvantage, he opposed the lending activity of his Jewish subjects; he decreed laws against them and even finally ordered their expulsion. Known today as St. Louis, he was very anxious to convert the Jews. There is reason to believe that Louis took no action to protect the Jews persecuted by so-called crusaders in 1236 in several provinces Anjou, Poitou, Mançois, Touraine, Berry. When, in 1239, Pope Gregory IX asked the kings of France and Portugal to order the seizure of Jewish books for examination, Louis was the quickest and most zealous to obey. So 24 loads of Jewish books were burned in 1242. The Talmud's trial, also called the Talmud's Burning, Paris Dispute or Talmud Controversy1 (Hebrew: ויכוח פריז Vikouah Pariz) is a major event in the history of the Jews and their relationship to Christianity
Saint Louis was a persecutor of the Jews to the point of imposing on them, in 1269, the wearing of the rouelle (a piece of red felt or cloth cut in the form of a wheel, four fingers in circumference, which had to be attached to the outer garment at the chest and back), advocated by the Church which took this decision at the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215. israelnationalnews
Further:
On the left, the frieze shows Anne and Joachim’s wedding and is a seemingly faithful reproduction of a medieval French synagogue. The rabbi conducting the ceremony is wrapped in a tallit. Nearby is an ark containing the Torah, a pile of books and a ner tamid, the lamp that remains eternally lit in synagogues. On the right, the frieze depicts Anne and Joachim bringing an offering to a synagogue; the artist even carved a Torah scroll resting on a bima. Nearby is the likeness of two medieval Jews, deep in conversation in the synagogue. At the time this frieze was being carved, Jews were relentlessly persecuted in Paris and elsewhere in Europe ..These irreplaceable artistic treasures depicting the history of Jews in France seem to have been saved.timesofisrael
The Church founded literally in the place of Roman Paganism, seeks to take over from Judaism and has at its font door a monument to this boast. The Church steals the Passover feast to make it into the pagan Easter Ishtar, and the premier cathedral of the 'Daughter of the church' with this boast of replacement carved in stone suffers fire at this time of year of Passover. This is unlikely to be chance. Passover is about Yahweh Elohim of Israel demanding that his 'son' Israel be released from slavery. Is France yet ready to let its Jews go that they may serve Yahweh Elohim in Israel – in Jerusalem?
1260 years
The building is associated with the number 1260 in that it is said it was complete in the year 1260AD. 1260 years ago Pepin was successful in the Siege of Narbonne which took place between 752 and 759 led by Pepin the Short against the Umayyad stronghold and as a result the Iberian Muslims were driven out to Hispania. Thus the 1260 bookends Islamic influences in France, as the growth and strength of Islam in France is now beyond the point of no return.
But there is another 1260 era that was fulfilled in the life of the Churches on the site, which fulfills the 1260 era in Revelation 11 (see here). After the Roman Temple to Jupiter, the line of Frankish kings that culminate in Charlemagne, builds a Church there in 528. From that date it is exactly 1260 years to 1788 the year that events triggered the French Revolution which Wikipedia notes in 1789 August 23: The Assembly proclaims freedom of religious opinions. August 24: The Assembly proclaims freedom of speech. October 19: The National Assembly holds its first meeting in Paris, in the chapel of the archbishop's residence next to Notre Dame Cathedral.
In proclaiming freedom of religion and speech, the National Assembly broke the power of the Church to persecute.
Napoleon
The building therefore in many ways is the symbol of the Catholic Church in its great political power to persecute. Some also say Notre-Dame is the symbol of France because of Napoleon. Stephanie Pappas headlines the conversation “Napoleon and Now Fire: What Paris' Iconic Notre Dame Cathedral Has Endured” French Revolution was even more devastating. According to the cathedral’s official history, revolutionaries tore down 28 statues of kings housed in Notre Dame, driven by anti-monarchist fervor. They also destroyed many other statues with the exception of one of the Virgin Mary, and tore down the original spire of the church, erected in the 13th century. Revolutionaries renamed Notre Dame the Temple to the Goddess Reason, according to the Foundation Napoleon, and later converted it into a wine warehouse.
After the revolution, an agreement called the Concordat of 1801 returned Notre Dame to the Catholic Church. Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general and eventual emperor, chose the damaged cathedral as the site of his 1804 coronation. Bonaparte's people draped fabrics over the Gothic architecture of Notre Dame to make it look like a Greek temple, according to Fondation Napoleon. From then on, the building was used for imperial ceremonies, but remained in disarray until the Romantic movement of the 1800s, according to the Fondation Napoleon. Victor Hugo’s famous novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame," published in 1831, reinvigorated interest in the crumbling building in the middle of Paris. livescience
More detail is added as to the effects of the French Revolution,
As the iconoclasm swept through the city, the interior of the cathedral was gutted: all religious images, statues, effigies, reliquaries and symbols were stripped out until all that remained was a bare shell of masonry and timber.
The crescendo of the revolutionary campaign of “dechristianisation” came on November 10, 1793 when Notre Dame – renamed the “Temple of Reason” – played host to a secular, atheist festival to the triumph of human reason over religion and superstition. The French Revolution left a legacy of cultural and political division between, on the one hand, the Republic, the secular and visions of a democratic, rights-based order, and, on the other hand, the Church. Napoleon Bonaparte papered over the chasm in 1801 by signing a Concordat – an agreement with the Pope, whereby he pragmatically recognised Catholicism as the religion of the “great majority of French citizens”. This was a clever formula that was both a statement of fact and left room for other faiths. In return, the Pope accepted many of the reforms of the Revolution and Notre Dame was returned to the Church in April 1802.
Notre Dame would be restored in the 19th century by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, whose work included the replacement spire that fell so tragically in flames on April 15.
In 1905, the republicans finally triumphed, formally separating church and state, thereby tearing up Napoleon’s Concordat. Notre Dame itself, along with other ecclesiastical property, was taken over by the government (in 1907 as an aside note the state owns but also has to maintain the churches). theconversation
Revelation 16 details the events that followed the “great earthquake” of Revelation 11:13, which was the French Revolution. A great voice commands the seven angels to commence the work of judgement and to prepare to pour out the “vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.” These judgements of God will culminate in the war known as Armageddon. The 'vial' can also be translated as 'phial'. It is a remarkable fact that Napoleon was known for carrying a phial of opium into battle and this section of the book of Revelation highlights the role of Napoleon in the changes brought about following the French Revolution and their impact on the modern world.
For more detail see our article https://biblefocus.net/files/RevelationE.pdf
The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. (Revelation 16:3-11)
Napoleon reduced the power of the Catholic Church so that in that window of time, while the Church's political power was weak, Israel could be reborn as a nation.
How remarkable is it then that we see so many all over the world who cried when they saw the smoke of the symbol of Catholicism burning. How remarkable that we see again the Catholic Church seeking to form relationships with all nations, to sacrifice every principle to be thought well of, and seeking to rise again, hoping not to be thought a 'desolate widow'!
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. (Revelation 18:3-7)
We see her, the Notre Dame 'Our Lady', given sorrow and also many comforters. We see a sign at Passover time: Jews and those of faith are called to come out..lest they suffer also the judgement on the great evil of a system which goes beyond sexual immorality – Judgement which is called a fire. When we see the fire in the roof that destroyed the symbol, we ponder the fire of judgement that was Napoleon, and the sign of the nearness of coming judgement. The French Revolution and the judgement of Napoleon on the Church and the Holy Roman Empire was the harbinger of the beginning of the end times set out in Revelation 16, which culminates in the Judgement of the Last Day
They cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. .. thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. (Rev 18:18-24)
The Judgement of the last day, that the Apostle Paul spoke of, where all the earth is to be judged clearly approaches.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent: Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31)
For more detail see our article https://biblefocus.net/files/RevelationE.pdf
