“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
_____________
#####
The Days of Noah
The Book of Enoch
Enoch lived before the Great Flood. He was Jared’s son, Methuselah’s father, and Noah’s great-grandfather.
Enoch has the distinction of never having died, because Yahweh “took him”. Elijah is the only other person who holds that distinction:
18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch. 19 Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. 20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch walked with Elohim three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with Elohim; and he was not, for Elohim took him. (Genesis 5: 18-24)
The Book of Enoch is not in the Bible. It is part of The Apocrypha. Enoch is referred to 3 times in the New Testament. In Jude, the Book of Enoch is quoted verbatim:
- Luke 3: 37: …the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan….
- Hebrews 11: 5: By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because Elohim had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased Elohim.
- Jude 1: 14-15: Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, Yahweh is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Noah must have taken the Book of Enoch with him on the ark. That’s why it was known about and written about after the Great Flood.
The Book of Enoch Chapter 1
Below is the first chapter of the Book of Enoch:
1 The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be 2 living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And he took up his parable and spoke – Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by Elohim, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is 3 for to come. Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them:
The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling, 4 and the eternal Elohim will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai, [and appear from His camp] and appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens. 5 And all shall be smitten with fear and the Watchers shall quake, and great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth.
6 And the high mountains shall be shaken, and the high hills shall be made low, and shall melt like wax before the flame 7 and the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder, and all that is upon the earth shall perish, and there shall be a judgement upon all (men). 8 But with the righteous He will make peace and will protect the elect, and mercy shall be upon them. And they shall all belong to Elohim, and they shall be prospered, and they shall all be blessed. And He will help them all, and light shall appear unto them, and He will make peace with them.
9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgement upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
The Book of Enoch was written long before the exodus. The mention in chapter 1 of Mount Sinai refers to Yahweh’s appearance at the end of the Great Tribulation that is discussed in Daniel and in the New Testament.
The Great Tribulation in Daniel 9
24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (Daniel 9: 24-27)
Daniel lived during the Babylonian Captivity. The Book of Daniel was written about 500 years before the Messiah’s first appearance.
At the time of the Messiah’s birth, Jewish religious leaders expected His arrival and they were looking for Him, but they expected a warrior/king, not a Messiah who would suffer the death penalty for His faithful followers’ sins. Their misunderstanding of the Messiah’s role contributed to their hatred of Him. To this day, Jewish religious leaders do not comprehend who the Messiah is, what He came to do, and what He will do when He returns.
For details, see His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition. Pay particular attention to the discussion about the Messiah ben David and the Messiah ben Joseph.
The Great Tribulation in Matthew 24
The Great Tribulation is a prelude to the Messiah’s return. The Messiah talked about it in Matthew 24:
1 Y’shua left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” He asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Y’shua was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Y’shua answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My Name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation [ethnic group] will rise against nation [ethnic group], and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me. 10 At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom [the good news about the Messiah] will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ a spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand — 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again.”
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.”
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’” b
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth c will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” d
31 “And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it e is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, f but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.”
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” (Matthew 24: 1-44)
Yahweh’s Two Witnesses
John discussed Yahweh’s two witnesses in Revelation 11. The beginning of their prophesying will mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Their deaths will mark the midpoint of the Great Tribulation:
1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of Elohim and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” a
5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city — which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt — where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath b of life from Elohim entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the Elohim of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. (Revelation 11: 1-14)
The Days of Noah
These are not normal times. Sodom and Gomorrah were not any more wicked than the world is today, and Yahweh destroyed them completely.
We are living in the Days of Noah that the Messiah discussed in Matthew 24. Things are going to get a lot worse. Evil will abound as people’s love grows colder and colder. So far, the tip of the iceberg is all we have seen.
Fasten your seatbelts. It will be a rough ride. As the Messiah said, “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Hold onto your faith tightly. Isaiah said that only a remnant will be saved:
“For though your people, O Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return; a destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.” (Romans 10: 22)
#####
_____________
#####
#####
_____________
#####
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17: 22-24
