Next is a section from Enoch XXVII 11 to XIX 3, in which he describes places of an other-worldly nature. In relation to
Tartarus
and a future destiny facing the wicked angels and their associates, he describes what he saw:
And I saw a deep abyss, with columns of heavenly fire.
I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them, the angel said: “This place is the end of Heaven and Earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of Heaven. And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times. And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.” And Uriel said to me: “Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits, assuming many different forms, are defiling mankind, and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons till the day of the great judgment in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of. And the women also of the angels who went astray shall become sirens.”
And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things: and no man shall see as I have seen.
Book of Enoch XVIII 11 to XIX 3
Here we are told of women angels who went astray. In Egypt,
Isis
was a leading goddess, as were
Athena
and
Aphrodite
in Greece.
Enoch was, or rather is, a very enigmatic entity insofar as we are given very little information about him. He is only mentioned in a couple of verses in Genesis 5, telling us who his father was and that he “walked with God.” We are also told that he was “translated” and did not experience death. That is, he was taken up by Yaweh and never died, as was Elijah (see
2 Kings 2:11
). The name Enoch means
“tuition, initiation or teaching,”
yet we find no tuition from him in the Scriptures. Many Biblical scholars might dismiss the Book of Enoch because it is not part of the canon. However, the fact that Jude, the half-brother of the Messiah, quotes directly from the Book of Enoch gives its author much credence. In his own writings, Enoch is referred to as a “scribe of righteousness.”
The overriding fact that the apostles and disciples knew of Enoch's writings and quoted them gives gravitas to this book and suggests that we should be aware of its contents and take notice.
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The revelations of the Book of Enoch substantiate the evidence advanced in this hypothesis thus far. In discussing the pyramids and other ancient monuments, many profess to believe that aliens or extra-terrestrials came to Earth from afar and were responsible for these buildings. The theory advanced here would support this supposition. The only difference is that the Scriptures do not label these beings as “aliens” or “extra-terrestrials,” but refer to them as “fallen angels,” “sons of God” or the “
Nephilim
.” Enoch calls them “stars,” “spiritual beings” and the “Watchers.”
These beings left their spiritual abode in the heavens, came to Earth and materialised in the realm of the senses. Here they bred with humans and produced a hybrid of human and spirit people. These beings were great in size and, because of their genetic make-up, were wicked beyond redemption. During a period of several hundred years on the Earth, they spread their corruption and infected all of mankind save for eight souls. The mastermind behind this worldwide irruption of the
Nephilim
was Satan and his
raison d'être
was to totally destroy the entire human race so that the line of the Messiah would be broken and his birth aborted. In this way Satan hoped to nullify the prophecy of Yaweh, given in Genesis 3:15, which stated that the “seed of the woman” would crush the head of the serpent.
But his plan failed. Noah and his family were the only souls left on this Earth whose lineage was pure and uncontaminated by the
Nephilim
and their offspring. Yaweh destroyed the whole of the population because of their sinful state in a worldwide deluge and preserved Noah and his family. Thus the line of the Messiah was saved and the seed of the woman was perpetuated.
After the Flood, when men began to increase in number again in the Earth, there was a second irruption of these fallen angels and the
Nephilim
roamed once more. By the time Moses led the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, the whole area of Canaan, the Promised Land, was filled with the
Nephilim
and their descendants. Satan again endeavoured to thwart the prophecy of Yaweh and prevent the Israelites from possessing the land by populating the region with giants. But his scheme failed when Joshua and his armies defeated these beings and destroyed the 60 “giant cities of Bashan” and their king, Og
.
The fallen angels who were responsible for the first corruption of the Earth prior to the Flood are imprisoned in a place called
Tartarus
, there to await a future judgment. We are told that the Messiah went and heralded his triumph before these beings after his resurrection in much the same way as the Roman generals of old heralded their victorious conquests before the city of Rome on returning from some far-flung battlefield.
We have no knowledge of what happened to the fallen “sons of God” who caused the second contamination of the Earth after the Flood. Perhaps they are still wandering the Earth, hiding out in some dark, evil forest, wary of the advance and onslaught of man.
But what does all this mean and where is it leading us? In this next section we will discuss the significance of the pyramid shape and introduce a new concept: the
Pyramid of the Apocalypse
.
If the first part of this book seemed like a leisurely cruise down a lazy, meandering river which occasionally threw up interesting sites along the way, then get ready for the rapids. For in this next section the excitement and tension should increase and cause you to hang on to the sides of the boat with white knuckles. But, after the rapids, we will return to the calm of peaceful waters and the security of dry land, figuratively speaking.
The journey continues.
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The next several chapters were already published in my second book,
Apocalypse 2000.
However, these chapters have been amended and updated and are now presented with much new information.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
B
efore examining the predictions of the Book of Revelation, it is important first to understand how prophecy works. About one-third of all Biblical texts are prophetic. That is, they foretell future events before they occur. If the events forecast come to pass, the veracity of the prophecy is borne out. If the event fails to materialise, then the prediction is shown to be false.
This is never the case, however, in Biblical prophecy. For instance, there are 737 distinct prophecies throughout the entirety of the Scriptures.
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Some of these prophecies are mentioned but once or twice. Others are repeated hundreds of times. Of these predictions, 594 have been fulfilled to date, with 100% accuracy every time. Put another way, over 80% of the prophecies have already been fulfilled down to the last letter. The remainder of the prophecies pertain to our future and it is at these that we shall be looking.
No other book ever written, either secular or religious, is as prophetic in its nature as is the Bible. No other books contain such prophecies concerning the future and, if they did, their non-fulfilment would have long since proved them wrong. There are 845 quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament and 333 of these refer to the Messiah.
The Messiah literally fulfilled 109 prophecies relating to himself in his first coming. In the last 24 hours of his life, 25 specific prophecies came to pass, all of which were written into the Old Testament between 500 and 1,000 years before his birth.
64
According to the laws of probability, the chances of 25 specific predictions coming to pass in one 24-hour period of a particular person's lifetime must be billions to one.
We will now recount a few of these prophecies from the Old Testament which were fulfilled in the last 24 hours of the Messiah's life. It was prophesied that:
1.
| The Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
| (Zechariah 11:12)
|
2.
| He would be betrayed by a friend
| (
Psalm 41:9)
|
3.
| He would be forsaken by his disciples
| (Zechariah 13:7)
|
4.
| He would be accused by false witnesses
| (Psalm 35:11)
|
5.
| He would be dumb in the presence of his accusers
| (Isaiah 53:7)
|
6.
| He would be scourged
| (Isaiah 50:6
)
|
7.
| He would have his garments parted
| (Psalm 22:18)
|
8.
| He would be mocked by his enemies
| (Psalm 22:7,8)
|
9.
| He would be given gall and vinegar to drink
| (Psalm 69:21)
|
10.
| Not one bone in his body would be broken
| (Psalm 34:20)
|
11.
| He would die in the presence of malefactors and thieves
| (Isaiah 53:12)
|
12.
| The 30 pieces of silver would be used to buy the potters' field
| (Zechariah 11:13
)
|
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During the course of his lifetime the Messiah prophesied many things himself. On one occasion he told his disciples how it would come to pass that he would have to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the chief priests and be killed. When Peter heard this, he rose up and said to the Messiah in essence: “No way is this going to happen as long as I am around. I will defend you.” But the Messiah rebuked Peter and said: “
Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
(Matthew 26: 69-75)
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Subsequently, during the detention of the Messiah and his subjection to torture, various people accused Peter of being with him. After Peter's third denial, the sun began to rise and the cock crowed. Suddenly Peter remembered what the Messiah had said to him and he wept bitterly.
At another time, the Messiah sat down close to a well to rest. A Samaritan woman came and began to draw out water. The Jews normally would never speak to a Samaritan, as they were considered the lowest form of life, but the Messiah spoke to this woman. He said to her:
“Woman, have you no husband to draw out the water for you?”
She replied:
“Sir, I have no husband.
” And he said to her: “
You had five husbands and the man you have now is not your husband.”
At this she looked at him intently and replied: “
Sir, I perceive you are a prophet” (John 4:19).
At yet another time, close to the end of his ministry, he walked with his disciples as they admired the magnificence of the Great Temple in Jerusalem. As they marvelled at it, he told them: “
Not one stone shall be left upon another.”
Thus he prophesied the destruction of the Temple. Less than 40 years later this prophecy was fulfilled when a Roman general named Titus and his soldiers destroyed the Temple so completely that not one stone was left upon another.
In one study, a scholar named Grant R. Jeffrey (in his book
Armageddon: Appointment with Destiny
)
65
assessed the likelihood of some of these prophecies coming to pass by applying numerical probabilities to them. For instance, in
Micah 5:2
it is prophesied that the Messiah would be born in the village of Bethlehem. Now there were thousands of villages in Israel at that time. So the chances of him being born in Bethlehem, a tiny insignificant hamlet, were actually thousands to one. Jeffrey came up with a conservative estimate of 200 to 1. Then he took another prophecy: that the Messiah would make his entrance into Jerusalem on an ass (
Zechariah 9:9).
Now kings do not ride around on an ass, so Jeffrey put the probability of this coming to pass at 50 to 1.
So the combined odds of both of these prophecies coming to pass regarding one man is 200 x 50 or 10,000 to 1. Jeffrey continued on with 11 other specific prophecies concerning the Messiah. Among the prophecies he tested are the following:
PROBABILITY
|
1.
| The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem
|
(Prophesied in Micah 5:2)
| 1 in 200
|
2.
| He would enter Jerusalem on an ass
|
(Prophesied in Zechariah 9:9)
| 1 in 50
|
3.
| He would be betrayed by a friend
|
(Prophesied in Psalm 41:9)
| 1 in 10
|
PROBABILITY
|
4.
| Have his hands and feet pierced
|
(Prophesied in Psalm 22:16)
| 1 in 100
|
5.
| Be sold for 30 pieces of silver
|
(Prophesied in Zechariah 11:13)
| 1 in 100
|
6.
| Have his betrayal money thrown down in the Temple and exchanged for the potters' field
|
(Prophesied in Zechariah 11:13)
| 1 in 200
|
7.
| Be crucified in the presence of thieves
|
(Prophesied in Isaiah 53:12)
| 1 in 100
|
He continued on in this manner, assigning probabilities to eleven different Old Testament prophecies relating to the Messiah. When he determined the probability of these predictions being fulfilled in the course of the lifetime of one man, the statistical chances worked out at one chance in 10 billion times a billion. Or one chance in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000.
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He equated the possibility of these prophecies coming to pass with this simple analogy:
“Suppose you gave me a ring from your finger. I take this ring and go up in an aeroplane and fly over the seven oceans of the world. Somewhere over one of the oceans, I throw your ring out the window. Then I return to you and I give you a boat and a fishing rod. I tell you to sail over all the oceans of the world. When you feel lucky, you can stop the boat and let down your fishing line, and you have one chance to hook your ring and claim it back.”
For when he calculated the probabilities, based on the numbers given, he deduced that it would be less than one-twentieth of a square inch of the total area of all the combined sea beds of all the oceans in the world. That represents about the size of one printed letter on this page.
Jeffrey took only eleven predictions into consideration. As I have already stated, the Messiah literally fulfilled 109 prophecies from the Old Testament, 25 specific ones in the last 24 hours of his life. Imagine what the statistical probabilities would be of those coming to pass!
Now I know that some people will argue that all these Gospels were written after the death of the Messiah. Others will claim that the authors of the Gospels contrived to deceive in their references to the prophecies of old. But this argument makes no sense.
These were ordinary men doing ordinary work. They were not scribes or priests or religious leaders. Mark was a shepherd, Matthew a reviled tax-collector. Luke was a physician, a doctor. Do you think that they would actually sit down together and try to hatch such a plot and carry it out? Could you persuade four of your friends to sit down and write four different accounts of an incident stretching over 89 chapters and many thousands of words? I think not. As you will discover, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.
To give one example of how prophecy unfolds â which is very pertinent to our study and to the world we live in today â we need only look at Israel. In hundreds of prophecies throughout the Old Testament, it was prophesied that the Israelites would be driven out of Palestine and Jerusalem, that they would be scattered to the four corners of the world (wandering Jews), and that everywhere they would go, they would be persecuted, despised and hated.
In 70 AD this prophecy began to be fulfilled. After he sacked Jerusalem, Titus slaughtered about one million Jews. The rest were scattered to the four corners of the globe. They have been vilified and persecuted everywhere they have gone. This persecution culminated in the gas chambers of the Nazis, where millions of them were murdered. So this particular prophecy, which appears hundreds of times, has literally been fulfilled in one ethnic group.
But wait. In dozens of other prophecies we are told that in the last days Yaweh would gather his people again and establish them in Palestine and in Jerusalem, where they would have their own homeland at last. This would be done to show the rest of the nations that we were living in the last days. Around the turn of the 20th century, a few Jews began resettling in Palestine. Then in May 1948 Israel became a nation once again almost 2,000 years after the dispersal of its people. When next you view images on TV concerning the Jewish people in Israel, you are watching prophecy being fulfilled. About 5½ million Jews now live in Israel and world peace is contingent on what happens there. Even though the Jews possess only one-sixth of 1% of all Arab land, they are nonetheless hated by most Arabs. Why have the Jewish people suffered so much? Why is it that, wherever they have gone, they have been humiliated and persecuted?
With the Crucifixion of the Messiah, the sorrows of the Jewish race began, for when they rejected their Messiah they brought calamity upon their own heads. When they were baying for the blood of the Messiah, they shouted with one voice:
“His blood be on us and on our children.”
Matthew 27:25
Ever since that day the sword has been upon the Jewish people, for Yaweh had promised them that His judgment would fall on them in the future tribulation. But Yaweh first promised to restore his people to Israel and Jerusalem and indicated that, by doing so, this would be a sign to other nations.
And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and assemble
the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of
Judah from the four corners of the Earth.
Isaiah 11: 11,12
Bear in mind that this was written about 650 years before Christ. Yet here we are, over 2,600 years later, and the Jews are celebrating their return to their homeland! This is only one of many Old Testament passages which foretell of the return of the nation of Israel after the worldwide scattering of its people.
So here we are in the 21st century. The Jewish people have been back in Israel for more than 50 years now. This is prophecy coming to pass before our very eyes. And we are also told that in the future this world will perish on the rock which is Jerusalem
(Zechariah 12: 2-4).
Prophecy is history written in advance. Because the Scriptures have been ignored for so long by so many, we do not know or understand how to interpret them. It is clear from the character of the Bible that it is not the work of man, for man could not have written it.
As Clarence Larkin, in his book
Dispensational Truth,
says: