Figure 19
According to the Book of Enoch, 200 Nephilim descended on Mount Hermon in the days of Jared (circa 3500 BC; see Appendix). Enoch described these men as having “privy members like horses”. Figure 19 shows the Egyptian god Min.
By faith, Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death. He could not be found, because God had taken him away.
Book of Hebrews 11:5
The previously-quoted passage from the Book of Enoch appears to be describing this “translation.” The seven archangels seen coming forth from the heavens are named by Enoch in another chapter. Their coming to Earth is in response to the violence and the cry which goes up from the people of the Earth. Three of the seven took Enoch by the hand and removed him to another dimension:
And I saw one of those four who had come forth first, and he seized that first star which had fallen from the heavens, and bound it hand and foot and cast it into an abyss: now that abyss was narrow and deep, and horrible and dark.
And one of them drew a sword, and gave it to those elephants and camels and asses: then they began to smite each other, and the whole Earth quaked because of them.
And as I was beholding in the vision, lo, one of the four who had come forth stoned (them) from Heaven, and gathered and took all the great stars whose privy members were like those of horses, and bound them all hand and foot, and cast them in an abyss of the Earth.
Book of Enoch LXXXVIII 1-3
This is a description of the imprisoning of the fallen angels, the Nephilim, whose orgy of evil and violence precipitated the Flood. These fallen angels are then bound and cast into the Abyss. We are told in the Book of Revelation how, in the future, during the events of the Great Tribulation, the pit of the Abyss will be opened and fearsome-looking locusts – an infernal cherubim – will be released. The ruler over this evil horde is named in the Greek as Apollyon, clearly identifiable as Apollo, who must have been one of these original Nephilim. The Abyss is probably Tartarus, where the risen Messiah went to reveal himself to these imprisoned angels.
Azazel is named in the Book of Enoch as being a leader of the fallen angels. Could Apollo of Greece and Apollyon of the Apocalypse be none other than Azazel, the first of the Nephilim to fall? The name Azazel crops up in Leviticus 16:8, 10 and 26. This name is translated as “scapegoat,” but in the Hebrew it is Azazel, a proper name, and the appendage of the leader of the fallen angels.
Enoch describes the Abyss as being narrow, deep, horrible and dark. This matches the description of Tartarus in Peter as well as Jude: “gloomy dungeons” and “a place of darkness” (Jude 6, 11; Peter 2:4). We are also told by Enoch that this Abyss is an “abyss of the Earth.” This fits in with Scripture as well as with the underworld or Tartarus of Greek mythology and with the abode of the dead described in Egyptian literature. All of these historical accounts seemingly refer to one and the same place.
Enoch also describes how the descendants of the Nephilim, the Titans and gods of Rome and Greece, the heroes of old, began to fight and smite each other. Such was the violence, we are told, that the whole Earth quaked. Again this mirrors the information proffered in Genesis chapter six, where we are told that the entire Earth was filled with violence and the “thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). It is this unbridled evil and violence which prompted Yaweh to destroy all flesh by means of the great Flood. This worldwide deluge is featured in many ancient writings, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, and it ties in also with the Sumerian flood story.69
Marriages between humans and gods are a well-known feature of Ugaritic, Hurrian and Mesopotamian mythology as well as of Greek, Roman and Egyptian historical record. Indeed, the heroic figure of Gilgamesh was held to be derived from just such a divine union, which gave him great physical strength, but not immortality.70
It is worth mentioning that, in Ugaritic literature, the term “sons of God” is used to describe members of the divine pantheon. And the earliest Christian writers, such as Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, as well as Josephus (Ant 1:31), believed that the “sons of God” were indeed angels.71
So the Book of Enoch is emphatic in its testimony of the union between fallen, evil spirit beings and women of the human variety. It also bears out the accounts elsewhere in the Bible of the ensuing immorality and violence perpetrated on the Earth by the offspring of this diabolic union. That this union was wrong is clear from the Old Testament law, which emphatically condemned cross-breeding of species. Similar treatment of crops was also prohibited (Leviticus 19:19), as was copulating with animals, which was a capital offence.
In other profane literature and traditions, unions between divine gods and humans is common, and the Gigantes of Greek mythology were thought to be the product of marriages between divine and earthly beings. In both the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Baruch, which are not commonly held to be part of the canon of Scripture, we find mention of the giants and heroes of the pre-Flood epoch.
And from the beginning also, when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world fleeing to a vessel, which was governed by Thy hand, left to the world seed of generation.
Book of Wisdom 14:6
The above verse refers to the destruction of the “giants,” to the hope held out of escape from cataclysm via a vessel (the Ark) and to the preservation of the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), here called “seed of generation.”
There were the giants, those renowned men who were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war. The Lord chose them not, nether did they find the way of knowledge, therefore did they perish.
Baruch 3:26,27
After Enoch has recounted the story of the Flood and the exploits of the Nephilim, he then goes on to make a number of prophecies about Israel. He also describes visions of, and journeys to, places and events in future time. Many of these are apocalyptic in nature and they corroborate information found in the Book of Revelation and elsewhere in Scripture. Enoch was born in the year 3382 BC, so the Book of Enoch, written over 5,000 years ago, is one of the most ancient manuscripts to have survived to the present day. Is it not truly extraordinary that these ancient texts, written so long ago, pertain to events which have yet to occur?
The next major event in the schedule of prophecy – one which promises to shake this world to its very foundation – is the appearance of the Messiah, who will save us from the wrath to come.
THE PARALLAX VIEW
Is there intelligent life on other planets? This is a question which arouses much debate and speculation. Because there are billions of stars and planets scattered like dust across the vast plain of infinity, surely the laws of probability suggest that there has to be another world out there with some type of life on it. What sort of life could it be? Are there aliens or weird-looking extraterrestrials out there watching us and waiting for the opportunity to invade our planet and wipe out us humans? Or are we the unwitting guinea pigs of some sort of cosmic experiment carried out by a higher intelligence which is studying us in much the same way as we would watch a goldfish in a bowl?
The answer to the first question is yes, there is indeed intelligent life out there. But it is not of the alien or ET type. There is a sort of parallel universe in existence which is spoken of in Scripture, and I shall attempt to sketch a description of it in this chapter. Many people think of God and heaven in an obscure, ethereal, intangible way. They have no concept of who or what Yaweh is or where He is located. But if we examine the available information carefully, our perspective on this becomes much clearer.
Shortly before his suffering and death, the Messiah endeavoured to comfort his disciples by reassuring them that they would be reunited in the future. At this point in time, his apostles and disciples knew precious little, and understood less, of what he spoke. It was only later on, after the events they experienced at Pentecost, that they put the pieces of the jigsaw together and figured out what was going on. In John 14, the Messiah tells t
hem that he is going to his Father:
In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.
John 14:2,3
The Messiah clearly states that he is going to his Father’s house, where, he says, he will be preparing a place for them, i.e. his apostles and disciples and all who trust in him and follow him. He assures them that this house has many rooms in it to facilitate all the guests who will be arriving there one day. For he says that not only is he going to this house, but that he will return in a future time and take them with him: “That where I am, there may you be also.” (King James Version)
If we take these verses at face value, they clearly state that the Messiah was returning to his Father’s house, there to prepare a place for his people, for whom he would in due course return to Earth. This fits in with the “Rapture” of I Thessalonians 4:15-18, which describes the “catching away” of the believers to be with the Messiah while the events of the Apocalypse are being played out.
So where did the Messiah go? And where is he now? We know that in his new resurrected spiritual body he could accomplish feats which transcended the physical boundaries of flesh and blood. For instance, he could suddenly appear in the midst of his apostles when they were in a locked room. He walked on the road to Emmaus with two of the disciples for eight miles and they did not know him until he sat and broke bread with them. Then, when they knew who he was, he vanished out of their sight. In another passage, in John 21, he appeared on the shore while Peter and some of the other disciples were fishing. After toiling all night, they had caught nothing. But Jesus called to them to let their nets out again and so great was the weight of the fish they caught that they were unable to pull the nets back into the boat.
When they reached the shore, the Messiah already had some fish cooking (he must have had his rod with him), and he asked for a few more fish from their catch. Then he prepared the food and they ate breakfast together. When Doubting Thomas heard that some of the others had met the Messiah, he said that he would not believe until he had put his fingers into the wounds in his hands and his side. Jesus subsequently came to Thomas and invited him to touch him, saying: “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see; a ghost (pneuma: spirit) does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24:39)
So although the Messiah was the same man after the resurrection as he was before, his body had taken on a new spiritual dimension, enabling him to do greater things. We also have been promised such a body in the future. The point is, Jesus was a man. He ate, he drank and he had flesh and bones. And he departed from the Earth physically, through the heavens, to be with his Father.
Abraham, in Old Testament times, also looked forward to a place where he would abide in the future:
For he (Abraham) was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:10
All the prophets and men of God mentioned in the Scriptures told of their hope of a better life in the future. The verse quoted above from Hebrews speaks of a future city with foundations whose designer or architect is Yaweh himself.
Similarly, there is a passage in II Corinthians which tells of a heavenly abode:
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
II Corinthians 5:1
The term “building” here is oikodome in the Greek, which means an edifice. So both these verses describe a city with foundations and a house in heaven which was not built by human hands, meaning that it was built by God. But where is heaven and where are these edifices located? Technically speaking, anywhere above the Earth is heaven. Also, the expanse which we refer to as space, which houses all the celestial bodies, is heaven. When the Messiah ascended from the Mount of Olives, it is said that he was taken up into heaven:
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Book of Acts 1:10,11
This is corroborated in the Book of Hebrews, where it is stated that he has gone through the “heavens” (plural).
Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Hebrews 4:14
As was the case with the original “sons of God” who traversed space to fall to Earth in the early days of Jared, Enoch and Noah, the Messiah made a return journey to the celestial city and house of his Father. How could he do this with a body which was composed of both flesh and bone, as he demonstrated to the doubting Thomas? We cannot be expected to be able to comprehend this, since it has not been fully explained to us. But spirit beings are outside the ordinary physical constraints of flesh and blood. And while the first fallen spirit beings left their original abode and came into physical manifestation on this Earth, as told in Genesis 6, the Messiah surpassed their feat by returning to this heavenly city.
We mentioned earlier that the Scriptures seem to indicate the location of this city containing the House of Yaweh. The first hint is given in the account of the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah 14, where he [Lucifer] is quoted as saying: “I will exalt my throne above the stars of Yaweh . . . in the sides of the North” (Isaiah 14:13). We are provided with further information as to the dwelling place of Yaweh and His Son in Psalm 75:6:
For promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South.
Therefore it comes from the North, the celestial approach to Yaweh’s house or mansion, the place to which Satan aspires.72 So it is safe to assume that the direction in which the Messiah departed when he left this wordly sphere was northward. The North Star is the only star in the sky which remains constant and unmoving. So the next time you look up at the starry sky, cast your eyes northward and know that it will be from this direction that the Messiah will once again traverse space and time to initiate the Rapture.
Right now, as you read this, the Messiah is residing in this heavenly mansion, seated at the right hand of the Most High, Yaweh. Earlier in this book, we recounted how Yaweh made man in His own image. The Messiah at one time said that anyone who had seen him had seen his Father. So if you can envisage the Messiah seated at the right hand of the throne of Yaweh, then perhaps you can imagine the fatherly figure, too. John describes what he saw of this heavenly abode in chapter 4 of the Apocalypse:
. . . there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it . . .
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four Elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
Book of Revelation 4:2,4
Who the 24 Elders are we do not know, so we will not speculate. These Elders are mentioned several times in the Apocalypse. Besides this grouping of Elders and the Messiah and Yaweh, we are told that an innumerable complement of angels, messengers or spirit-men inhabit and minister in this place called “heaven.” This is the picture which is painted for us regarding the City of God and the house where the Messiah has gone to prepare a place for us. It has to be a vast place, for not only does it house these millions of spirit beings and their Lords, it also has to be big enough to take in all those who will be gathered together at the Rapture. This will be a lot of people considering all the millions who have put their trust and faith in the Messiah down through the last 2,000 years.
At present, there are estimated to be about 70 million Christians in the United States alone, and their numbers are all the time increasing in China, Africa, South America and other parts of the
world. So there will be quite an amount of people vanishing off this Earth “in the twinkling of an eye” (I Corinthians 15:52) when the Messiah returns briefly to take those who believe in him to this place he is preparing for us. We will be there for only a relatively short period of time. The Great Tribulation is set to last for seven years, beginning when the Antichrist signs a peace deal with Israel, and ending with the Battle of Armageddon. There may be an interval between the Rapture and the start of the seven years of Tribulation. We do not know. But, at the end of the seven years, we will be returning with the Messiah to this Earth for the beginning of the millennial reign. During this 1,000 years, Israel will be apportioned the Promised Land, which will be divided up between the 12 tribes. At the end of the 1,000 years, there will be another, final rebellion, when Satan is released for a brief sojourn. After this rebellion is quashed, the Earth will be totally destroyed by fire. This is recorded in II Peter:
By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men . . .
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar.
The elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
The Nephilim and Pyramid of Apocalypse Page 21