He Comes With the Myriads of His Holy Ones

Gilbert House Ministries

Media Give App

He Comes With the Myriads of His Holy Ones

1 Enoch 1

August 25, 2024

THE BOOK OF 1 ENOCH has become a source of controversy among Christians. Regardless of your view of the book, it’s undeniable that it was known to the apostles and the early church, who generally had a favorable view of it.

On the one hand, 1 Enoch is not in the Bible. There are good reasons for that; there are internal contradictions and details that are contrary to scripture. We agree with the early church, which, guided by the Holy Spirit, excluded 1 Enoch from the canon of scripture (except in the Ethiopic church).

On the other hand, 1 Enoch had a profound influence on New Testament (i.e., Christian) theology and was even quoted directly (Jude 14–15 is a quote from 1 Enoch 1:9).

So, going forward, we will read from and comment on the Book of 1 Enoch on the last Sunday of each month. This month, we introduce the book and its five sections:

The Book of Watchers (Chapters 1–36) — completed by about 300 BC

The Book of Parables (Chapters 37–71) — completed by about 4 BC

The Book of Luminaries (Chapters 72–82) — completed by about 200 BC

The Book of Dreams (Chapters 83–90) — written during Maccabean period (163–142 BC)

Note: This includes the Animal Apocalypse (Chapters 85–90)

The Epistle of Enoch (Chapters 91–108) — between 170 BC and 100 BC

We discuss the authorship of Enoch, which can be traced to a group of Jews who returned from Babylon in the 5th century BC with a belief that the next phase of history was the construction of the temple prophesied by Ezekiel (Ezekiel chapters 40–42). They encountered resistance from the Zadokite priesthood in Jerusalem who believed that the age of prophecy had ended, and that salvation would come through their faithful adherence to the Law of Moses—keeping the feasts and performing the sacrificial rituals. The Enochians, on the other hand, believed that the world had been so corrupted by rebellious “sons of God”—the sinful angels mentioned by Peter (2 Peter 2:4) and Jude (Jude 6–7)—that only God’s direct intervention would put things right.

That’s the premise of the Book of 1 Enoch. As we go though it, we’ll highlight the concepts that are brought forward in the New Testament.

We are reading from the Hermeneia Translation of 1 Enoch by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam. You can get a copy at Amazon (https://amzn.to/4dRPpkF), or borrow it online from the Internet Archive (https://bit.ly/1enoch).

The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. You can get volumes 1 (covers chapters 1–36) and 2 (chapters 37–71), plus the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch and a DVD interview with Dr. Heiser about the relevance of 1 Enoch today for just $35 plus shipping and handling. Go here: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch.

The Lord Appears to Solomon a Second Time

November 3, 2024 • 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8

YOU’D THINK an appearance by God Himself would be enough to keep even a king on the straight and narrow for the rest of his life. After completing the Temple, God revealed to Solomon the blessings and consequences for obeying His Law or turning aside to worship other gods—which, sadly, we will learn is exactly what Solomon did as an older man. We also discuss the significance of 1 Kings 9:3, where God tells Solomon, “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever.” We’ve discussed “Name theology” in previous episodes, and we encourage you to read Dr. Michael Heiser’s article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: http://www.bit.ly/name-ot

And They Were, All of Them, Two Hundred

October 27, 2024

THE SINS of the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4 are listed in detail in chapters 6 through 8 of the Book of 1 Enoch. Specifically, the rebellious Watchers “defile[d] themselves” by commingling with women and taught humanity things we weren’t supposed to know—the making of weapons, sorcery, beguilement, enticement, and venerating the sun, moon, and the host of heaven. The monstrous offspring produced by these unholy unions became an existential threat to humankind, eating the produce of human labor and, when that was gone, eating humans. Not content to contaminate the human genome, “they began to sin against the birds and beasts and creeping things and the fish, and to devour one another’s flesh. And they drank the blood.” (1 Enoch 7:3–5) In short, the Nephilim were consummate evil. Next month, we’ll discuss the intercession of the archangels Michael, Sariel (or Uriel), Raphael, and Gabriel on behalf of humanity.

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

October 20, 2024 • Psalm 148, Psalm 149, Psalm 134, Psalm 146, Psalm 147

TRUSTING IN other people will usually disappoint. This week’s reading in Psalms is timely, giving that we’re less than three weeks away from electing a new president in the United States. Americans, remember this verse: Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Ps. 146:3 (ESV) “A son of man” in this context refers to a human, not to the New Testament “Son of Man,” a messianic title Jesus applied to himself nearly 80 times. The point is that we need to remember, amidst all the distractions of life, that there is only One who “keeps faith forever,” and that is God. Our questions of the week: How do we apply scripture to our lives, given the way scripture has been “desupernaturalized” since the time of Augustine 1,600 years ago, and do our ancestors become angels when they die, watching over us in our day-to-day lives? Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to http://gilberthouse.org/hopeforsarah.