Judgment: Wrath of the Lamb

by Brian Godawa

  Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 701–702.

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  CHAPTER 13

  Azazel:

  In Leviticus 16, we read of the sacrificial offering on the Day of Atonement. Among other sacrifices, the high priest would take two goats for atonement of the people. One, he would kill as blood sacrifice on the altar, and the other, he would transfer the sins of the people onto the goat by confession and the laying on of his hands. This action of transferring the bloodguilt onto the “other” is where we got the concept of “scapegoat.”

  But that is not the most fascinating piece of this puzzle. For in verses 8–10 and 26, the priest is told to send the goat “away into the wilderness to Azazel” (v. 10)! You read that right: Azazel.

  Leviticus 16:7-10

  Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

  The name Azazel is not explained anywhere in the Old Testament, but we’ve heard that name before in the book of 1Enoch. Azazel was one of the lead Watchers who led the rebellion of 200 Watchers to mate with the daughters of men. And that Watcher was considered bound in the desert of Dudael.

  The natural question arises whether this is the same sacrifice to goat demons that Yahweh condemns in the very Leviticus and Isaiah passages we already looked at. But a closer look dispels such concerns.

  The first goat was “for Yahweh” and the second “for Azazel” (v. 8). But whereas the first goat was a sacrifice, the second was not. As commentator Jacob Milgrom claims, “In pre-Israelite practice [Azazel] was surely a true demon, perhaps a satyr, who ruled in the wilderness – in the Priestly ritual he is no longer a personality but just a name, designating the place to which impurities and sins are banished.”

  Milgrom then explains that in the ancient world, purgation and elimination rites went together. The sending out of the scapegoat to Azazel in the wilderness was a way of banishing evil to its place of origin which was described as the netherworld of chaos, where its malevolent powers could no longer do harm to the sender. This wilderness of “tohu and wabohu” or emptiness and wasteland was precisely the chaos that Yahweh pushed back to establish his covenantal order of the heavens and earth, so it was where all demonic entities were considered to reside.

  So Azazel could very well have been considered the father or leader of the goat demons.

  Brian Godawa, When Giants Were Upon the Earth: The Watchers, the Nephilim, and the Biblical Cosmic War of the Seed (Los Angeles, CA: Embedded Pictures Publishing, 2014), 218-219.

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  Ten thousand times ten thousand of his holy ones: The heavenly host of God’s throne.

  Daniel 7:10 (The throne of the Ancient of Days in heaven)

  10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

  Enoch 1:9

  Behold, he will arrive with ten million [ten thousand times ten thousand] of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything that they have done, that which the sinners and the wicked ones committed against him.

  Deuteronomy 33:2–3

  2 He said, “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand. 3 Yes, he loved his people, all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you,

  Deuteronomy 33:2–3 (LXX)

  The Lord is come from Sinai, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has hasted out of the mount of Pharan, with the ten thousands of Cades; on his right hand were his angels with him. 3 And he spared his people, and all his sanctified ones are under thy hands; and they are under thee; and he received of his words 4 the law which Moses charged us

  Psalm 68:17 (Context: Spiritual cosmic mountain comparison of Bashan with Sinai)

  17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

  Hebrews 2:2

  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,

  Jude 14–15

  Enoch…prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

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  This description of the demonic hordes comes from: Revelation 9:7-19.

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  Foes of Israel coming from the Euphrates river and the north: “That they have been held at “the great river Euphrates” evokes the OT prophecy of an army from beyond the Euphrates (from “the north”) whom God will bring to judge sinful Israel (Isa. 5:26–29; 7:20; 8:7–8; 14:29–31; Jer. 1:14–15; 4:6–13; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20; Ezek. 38:6, 15; 39:2; Joel 2:1–11, 20–25) and other ungodly nations around Israel (Isa. 14:31; Jer. 25:9, 26; 46–47; 50:41–42; Ezek. 26:7–11; cf. Assumption of Moses 3:1).”

  G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 506.

  “Not only is the Euphrates Israel’s ideal northern border, but it is also the extent of the power of Israel’s two most powerful kings, David (2Sa 8:3; 1Ch 18:3) and Solomon (2Ch 9:26). Because it is an important marker of the northern border of Israel, Beale (506) notes that in the Old Testament the Euphrates long serves as an apocalyptic image of God’s threatened judgment upon his covenant people by means of invading forces (Isa 7:20; 8:7–8; 27:12; Jer 1:14–15; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20; Eze 38:6, 15; 39:2; Joel 2:20-25). This is because historically “from the River Euphrates had come Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, destroyers of Samaria and Jerusalem; by now the Euphrates has become a mere symbol for the quarter from which judgment is to come on Jerusalem” (Carrington 165).”

  Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation Vol. 1 (Dallas, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2016), 758-759.

  “The Bible often uses north as a designation for a geographical area that includes the north as well as the northeast. For example, Babylon was mostly east of Israel, but Jeremiah 4:6 warns that the disaster that came upon Judah would arrive “from the north,” a reference to Babylon (Jer. 1:13–15; 3:18; 6:1, 22; 10:22; Zech. 2:6–7). Notice that “all the families of the kingdoms of the north will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land” (Jer. 1:15). Charles Dyer, who teaches that Ezekiel 38 and 39 are describing a future battle,5 makes the point that “from the north land” and “remote parts of the earth” (Jer. 6:22) are “an apt description of the Babylonians (cf. Hab. 1:6–11)”6 and their invasion of Israel in the sixth century B.C. If Babylon is said to invade Israel from the north when it is actually mostly east of Israel, and north is the “remote parts of the earth,”7 then “far north” can have a similar meaning in Ezekiel (38:6, 15; 39:2).

  “The same is also the case when Israel was overrun by the Assyrians (Zeph. 2:13) and Persians (Isa. 41:25; Jer. 50:3). Consider this description of a northern invasion that was on the prophetic horizon, a battle fought with bows and arrows and javelins: “Behold, a people is coming from the north, and a great nation and many kings will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth” (Jer. 50:41). The “remote parts
of the earth” seems like a description far beyond the then-known world, but it wasn’t. Jeremiah was describing the judgment of Babylon (50:42). Is the Bible mistaken? Not at all. The language is typical of prophetic/poetry passages, and it’s no different from the way Ezekiel uses the “remote parts of the north.” As Timothy Daily concludes, “From the perspective of the Holy Land, the invaders came down from the north, even if their place of origin was actually to the east. Ezekiel is giving the direction of the invasion, not the place of the invader’s origin.”

  “Archeologist Barry Beitzel confirms this analysis when he states that “the Bible’s use of the expression ‘north’ denotes the direction from which a foe would normally approach and not the location of its homeland.” 9 The same holds true for any invading army that was north and east of Israel. They, too, would have to bring a land army into Israel from the north since the Mediterranean Sea is directly west of Israel. Tanner concludes: “‘North’ refers not so much to the precise geographical direction from Israel, but rather to the direction of advance and attack upon Israel (armies came against Israel from the north). This is how Jeremiah viewed Babylonia, though Babylonia was technically to the east.”

  Gary DeMar, The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance, (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision Inc., 2016), 90-91.

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  CHAPTER 14

  The haste of leaving Egypt:

  Exodus 12:33–34

  33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.

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  This is quoted from: Psalm 74:13–17

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  Covenant described as Creation:

  From Brian Godawa, End Times Bible Prophecy: It’s Not What They Told You (Los Angeles, CA: Embedded Pictures Publishing, 2017), 45-46.

  When God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1, he was creating order out of the chaos of Genesis 1:2, the formlessness and emptiness of creation. Part of that created order was the sun, moon, and stars. They were to separate light and dark and be for signs and seasons (1:14-15). In ancient Near Eastern religions, people pictured the gods fighting the sea (a symbol of chaos) as an expression of their rule and power to illustrate their creation of order out of chaos. The Hebrew scriptures do the same thing, only in a way that says Yahweh is the true God. He is the one who created his covenant order within the chaos of the world.

  Psalm 74 is a good example of this creation and covenant motif out of the chaos of the sea. Read this passage and notice how God had power over the chaos of the sea when he established his covenant through Moses. But then read on and you will see the language of creation connected to that covenant.

  Psalm 74:13–17

  You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. 15 You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. 16 Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. 17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth.

  The creation language of the sun, moon, and stars separating day and night is part of God fixing or establishing the boundaries of the earth. God’s covenant with Israel is described in the language of creation of the universe. It is poetic metaphor, an image that stands for something else.

  Isaiah also wrote about the Mosaic covenant beginning when God conquered the chaos of the Red Sea. Creating God’s people, Zion, is expressed in terms of Genesis 1, establishing the heavens and earth.

  Isaiah 51:15–16

  I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the LORD of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”

  So we see that God described his covenantal relationship in the cosmic terms of creation, including the sun, moon, and stars. He created order out of chaos with his covenantal rule. Creating his covenantal order with his people was spiritually likened to the creation of the heavens and the earth.

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  Temple destruction as decreation/return to chaos:

  “In a passage filled with striking imagery, the judgment that is to fall on Judah takes on the aspect of a cosmic conflagration. Jeremiah experiences a dramatic glimpse into the outpouring of divine anger upon Judah. The earth and the heavens (v. 23), the mountains and the hills (v. 24), humanity and the birds (v. 25), the fields and the cities (v. 26), all were to feel the weight of Yahweh’s wrath. To a degree the language is Oriental hyperbole, but Jeremiah uses imagery and phraseology which his predecessors used in their references to the divine judgment (cf. Isa. 2:12ff.; Hos. 4:3). The range of disturbance was thus so great that it seemed to represent a return to primeval chaos. Little wonder that Jeremiah was filled with anguish and amazement. None of the other contemporary prophets spoke of the coming doom in such powerful terms.

  “23 Jeremiah made use of a phrase known from Gen. 1:2 tōhû wāḇōhû, “without form and void” (AV), that is, primeval chaos, the formless void that existed before God began to work on the newly created earth. The picture is of a reversal of the story of Gen. 1. Men, beasts, plants have all gone, the mountains reeled, the hills rocked to and fro, light vanished from the heavens, farm lands reverted to desert, towns were levelled to the ground. It was as if the earth had been “uncreated” and reverted to its erstwhile primeval chaos. Order seemed to return to confusion. Imagery something like this, referring to the Day of the Lord, is known elsewhere in the prophets (cf. Joel 2:1–11; Amos 8:9–10; Nah. 1:2–8; Zeph. 1:2–3).”

  J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), 229–230.

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  Unleavened Bread fulfillment:

  “Unleavened bread (matzah) is a symbol of Passover. Leaven represents sin (Luke 12:1; 1 Cor. 5:7–8). Matzah stands for “without sin” and is a picture of Jesus, the only human without sin. Jesus said that the “bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” and that he (Jesus) is the “bread of life,” the “bread that came down from heaven,” “the living bread” which a person may eat and not die (John 6:32, 35, 41, 48). While leaven is a symbol of sin, the Messiah is “unleavened” or sinless. He conquers the grave with his resurrection because he is not a sinner under the curse of death. Jesus was scourged and pierced at his crucifixion. As the prophet Isaiah proclaims, “By his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5 KJV). All of the festivals instituted by God, including Passover and Unleavened Bread, are “shadows of things to come” (Col. 2:17).

  Feasts and Holidays of the Bible (Rose Publishing, 2004, 2013), 7.

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  Hebrews 2:5-6.

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  New heavens and earth of Isaiah 65:

  “Isaiah 65:17–25. In that glorious scene Isaiah presents a dramatic image of the gospel economy’s historical impact. This economy will develop through “a multi-stage process that culminates at the final judgment.”98 This redemptive economy will gradually transform the world ethically and spiritually, so that it appears as a “new heavens and a new earth” of which “the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isa 65:17).

  “Isaiah’s vision is the background of Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:17, which refers to contemporary spiritual realities: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”99 According to New Testament theology, the Second Adam, Christ, stands at the head of a new creation (Ro 5:14; 1Co 15:22, 45).