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asking.”
    “How long have you been here?”
    “Long enough,” he answered. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”
    “The clue on the seal, it’s a tower, right?”
    “It is a tower.”
    “Then I have it right this time. It’s the Empire State Building.”
    “No,” he replied. “You’ve gotten it wrong again.”
    “What do you mean? It’s a tower…the largest tower…and you’re here.”
    “The image on the seal is a tower. But the Empire State Building is just the place of our meeting.”
    “But you said it was the largest one.”
    “The largest of the Harbingers .”
    “Then the Fourth Harbinger isn’t a tower?”
    “I didn’t say that. But it isn’t this tower. How many towers do you see out there?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “Many. And to which one do you think the seal points?” Just then he looked up from the telescope. His time was up. He turned to me.
    “Do you need some change?” I asked, half-facetiously.
    “I’m OK,” he answered. He began walking along the deck. I walked alongside him. He turned again to take in the view. I did likewise. So we both stood there in the wind, looking out at the vast expanse of skyscrapers, more and more of them now dotted with yellow lights and set against the deep red and blue background of the sunset sky.

    “And where were you now on the deck?” she asked.
    “Still on the south side, facing lower Manhattan.”

    “Nouriel,” he asked, “where are we in the prophecy, in Isaiah 9:10?”
    “‘ The bricks have fallen ,’” I replied.
    “That revealed the First Harbinger. But where are we now? What comes next?”
    “’ The bricks have fallen,’ but…”
    “‘ But we will rebuild ,’” he said, completing the sentence. “That’s the key to the Fourth Harbinger.”
    “It doesn’t sound very revealing.”
    “Remember, it’s not just the words but the context surrounding them and the spirit behind them. The problem wasn’t the rebuilding. The problem was the spirit and the motive behind the rebuilding. They had just been given a critical warning. But they respond with defiance: ‘ But we will rebuild ’ is the first declaration of that defiance, from which will come their judgment.”
    “It doesn’t only say, ‘ We will rebuild ,’ I added. “It says, ‘ We will rebuild with hewn stone .’ Hewn stone…what’s that about? What’s the significance?”
    “The fallen bricks were made of clay and straw. They were brittle and flimsy. They would be replaced, but not with more clay bricks, but with something much stronger—hewn stone.”
    “So a building made of stone would be much more resistant to any future attack.”
    “Exactly, and it could rise to greater heights.”
    “So the hewn stone signifies their intent to come out of the attack stronger than they were before it.”
    “Yes…again…all about defiance. Instead of being humbled by the calamity, they become emboldened by it. They vow to build bigger, better, stronger, and higher than before. Not only will they continue on their course of apostasy—now they’ll do it with a vengeance, with defiance. So instead of bowing their heads before heaven, they raise their fists against it.”
    “So what happened?” I asked
    “They clear away the heaps of fallen brick and rubble and begin the reconstruction on the ground of their devastation. The project is filled with symbolic meaning. It represents the nation’s rebuilding of itself and its rise from the ashes. The vow would become reality. New buildings, stronger, taller, bigger, and better, would rise up in place of those destroyed in the attack. So the new construction would become a concrete manifestation and witness of the nation’s defiance of God’s call.”
    Taking the seal in his right hand and lifting it up, he began to explain. “The Fourth Harbinger: In the wake of the calamity, the nation responds without repentance, humility, or reflection, but with pride and defiance. Their leaders vow, ‘