JOURNEYS TO UNSEEN REALMS

 Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face And stars fill my dream; I’m a traveler of both time and space To be where I have been; To sit with elders of the gentle race This world has seldom seen;They talk of days for which they sit and wait All will be revealed” ¹

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years,  and a thousand years are like a day. 2Pet 3:8

 

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. [Jer 6:16a]

God’s Topo Maps

We see a map of a country, state, or area, but to go to an exact point, you need exact minute directions. Now when we go hiking into remote areas we switch to topographic maps. These give terrain and elevation contours. This helps to know which direction to go and avoid. Many a “shortcut” is seen in the real light of how far and complex it is to reach that point. For example, In Yosemite National Park, at ten thousand feet at the top of Clouds Rest, Half Dome is three miles away. Yet in reality, this involves a seven, eight-mile hike with a descent down to seven thousand feet, and then back up to almost nine thousand feet!  

While all we need is the Bible, and it is canon or the “rule,” at times it is clearly points to other sources. These sources now available to all with the advent of the internet, now enable one to get the detailed map or even the “topo” of a given topic or context of scripture. Such sources are not replacements to Scripture, any more than detailed maps or topo are to larger source maps. I will be using such sources in this paper. Second Temple and early church fathers of 1st and 2^nd centuries, accepted these sources and also held to these views.

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So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Mt 24:44

Jesus said be ready. Understand all times

Back in the 80’s as a new believer in the Lord Jesus, I saw many Christians were preoccupied with the Last Days theme. At that time I didn’t see any relevance of the topic, when I looked at the world around me. Now about 40 years later I look at the world around me and a lot has changed. A lot of things are converging and pointing to that we are fast approaching the last days. In Matthew 24 The Lord Jesus told us to be ready and aware of the times:

Matt 24 ⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Watch out that no one deceives you!

He referred to birth pains increasing..

¹³ But the one who endures to the end—this person will be saved…²⁵ Behold, I have told you ahead of time!… ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. ³⁷ For just as the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. ²

Notice that the Lord Jesus speaking of His return refers to Genesis 6. Why, because he wants us to understand the time past and present as often history repeats itself.                

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When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, [Gen 6:1,4b]—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them.

Understanding the Times. When is “when”?

You ever look at a word in the Bible and say, “What does that word mean”? When is “when”? The amazing thing about our Genesis fathers was their life spans. Adam lived into his great, great, great, great, great, great grandson’s life. That 8 generations! (What are our lives in comparison?) We also forget that these same antediluvians lived about 25% of all human history to date—about 1600am years till the deluge. Our lives are a drop in the bucket in comparison. We don’t spend enough time in Genesis to soak it in. What does one do during 900 years? It’s a big mistake to try to ignore almost ¼ of human history. What is worse is that we are influenced by science which does not even acknowledge the antediluvian world. Yet according to James Ussher’s chronology, Creation took place in 4004 BCE, dating the Great Deluge to 2348 BCE. ³ A consensus amongst believers who believe in “young earth” is that we are currently at about 6000 years old. So when is it in when? Some interpret vs 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, [NASB] as angelic incursions after the flood. No. 1. It’s referring to Nephilim, not angles, and 2. Since “when” occurred in the days of Jared, a minimum of 600 years before the flood, this is speaking of them continuing to be on the earth after, that is until the flood. We’ve all seen the rapid acceleration of everything in about a 100 year time span, so likewise the Nephilim greatly increased wickedness on the earth in 5-6 centuries until the flood. You may ask, “So how did the Nephilim re-appear after the flood?” That’s for another discussion. I will give one hint. Noah was found righteous in his generation, not the other 7 on the ark!

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And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority … Jude 6a

Days of Jared

The flood was the grand final of what had been going on for years and years. A major event actually occurred about 800 years before, In the days of Enoch’s father Jared, 6^th from Adam. Even his name says this.

3382 [e] vb. come or go down, descend
יֶ֕רֶד    Jared — Qal 1. a. come or go down: from (מִן) a mountain; ⁴

Jubilees 4:15. And in the second week of the tenth jubilee Mahalalel took unto him to wife Dînâh, the daughter of Barâkî’êl the daughter of his father’s brother, and she bare him a son in the third week in the sixth year, and he called his name Jared;157  (449-455 A.M.) for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, 158 those who are named the Watchers, 159 that they should instruct the children of men, 160 and that they should do judgment and uprightness on the earth. ⁵

They were sent with a good purpose to earth but some abandoned these duties [Jude 13] to do judgment and uprightness on the earth.

It is from these generations of humanity that Genesis 6:1 has its context “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them.” Noah doesn’t come into the picture till verse 9 which is a few hundred years later. Finally, the deluge, explained by God in verse 13, is at least 800 years after as that’s when Enoch is taken up to pronounce judgment.. The story doesn’t start at the flood, no more than it does at the great tribulation that has already occurred. No, it ends there. Also, common sense says God didn’t just suddenly one day decide to destroy mankind, rather it was a climax of many centuries of wickedness increasing

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After six days Jesus… led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. [Mat 17:1]

Mount Hermon: the curse

The Rebellion of the Watchers is explained in detail in the synoptic book of 1 Enoch ⁶ 6–11:

The Conspiracy 6:1 When the sons of men had multiplied, in those days, beautiful and comely daughters were born to them. 2 And the watchers, the sons of heaven, saw them and desired them. And they said to one another, “Come, let us choose for ourselves wives from the daughters of men, and let us beget children for ourselves.” 3  And Shemihazah, their chief, said to them, “I fear that you will not want to do this deed, and I alone shall be guilty of a great sin.” 4  And they all answered him and said, “Let us all swear an oath, and let us all bind one another with a curse, that none of us turn back from this counsel until we fulfill it and do this deed.” 5  Then they all swore together and bound one another with a curse. 6/ And they were, all of them, two hundred, who descended in the days of Jared onto the peak of Mount Hermon. And they called the mountain   “Hermon” because they swore and bound one another with a curse on it.

Doug Van Dorn, in his book Giants: Sons of the Gods (p. 60) states, “If Jude is correct and this part of the book of Enoch really does remember historical events, then it tells us when the Nephilim first arose on the earth.   It says it happened in the days of Jared.   There is a word play going on here with “Jared,” which as we have seen means “descend.”  The idea is that his father named him after the incredible events that took place in those days: the descent of the sons of God (also called sons of heaven, angels, and Watchers).   Jared was born a minimum of 800 years before the flood.   This gives plenty of time for the entire earth to become corrupt by the time Noah is called to build the ark through the Nephilim.” ⁷

Ryan Pitterson in his book Judgment Of The Nephilim (p. 66). also states, “So, the invasion of the fallen angels and their seduction of human women started and reached its sinful apex in Jared’s lifetime (which was concurrent with Lamech and his infamous children). The Bible’s timing of the angelic invasion falls directly in line with the record in the Book of Enoch. The Book of Jubilees, the other commonly cited extra-biblical text on the Nephilim, also puts the timing of the angelic invasion during the days of Jared:” ⁸

Author Gary Wayne echos, “Biblical legends clearly attribute the generation of Jared as being depraved, due to the influence of the fallen angels and the Nephilim and the influence of the mystical, state-sponsored religion enforced by giants.” ⁹ Other texts as the Book of Adam & Eve, and Jubilees also give other details to the story. This is seen clearly in the late Bro. Rob Skiba’s chart below.

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Naamah and the Daughters of Men.

Genesis 4 describes Tubal-Cain’s sister, Naamah: “…and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah” (Genesis 4:22). Peterson continues “Moses seems to refer to some things that happened near the beginning of the world, as well-known in his time, as in Gen. iv. 22. where he says ‘The Sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah: Naamah in Hebrew means “beauty.” The beauty of the daughters of men is what served as the sinful temptation for the angels who sinned in the first place. They saw that the women were fair (Genesis 6:2).– Satan’s Parody of God’s Kingdom, as printed in The Rainbow, a Magazine of Christian Literature, Vol. XX, 1883, p. 438. Namaah’s brothers were all inventors in arts and sciences. This family experienced an intellectual explosion that is easily explained if heavenly beings delivered this knowledge as compensation for Naamah’s becoming the first wife of an angel and the first mother of the Nephilim.” ¹⁰ Ryan Peterson’s account is great, but he does not quote 1 Enoch or other pseudepigrapha in his book as he says, they are not in the Bible. [Yet, he uses other sources that are not in the Bible!] In the following section, I will show how the pseudepigraphical book of Adam and Eve gives more details as to what happened. Also, the act was not singular with one woman, but plural, “daughters of men”

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The correct Sethite View.

Here is the Genesis 6 connection, which many wish to deny and try to make the Bible rated G only. They say the sons of God are only the sons of Seth. They saw the daughters of Cain were beautiful. “Were the daughters of Seth ugly”? ¹¹ if the Sethites were the good guys right that’s the theory of the Sethite why did they drown in the flood you see all flesh was corrupted according to genesis 6 verse 12. so this idea the Sethite view as it’s called if you start examining it from a textual basis falls apart makes no sense now the inferred godliness of Seth is suspect because who is his son remember see only Enoch and Noah’s eight were spared no one and his three sons there’s four people and they’re four wives eight people in that ark.” ¹² No these were fallen Angels. Many “Church Fathers” refered to 1 Enoch and understood the meaning of “sons of God” meaning. Rob Skiba said with pun, “ How do ‘kissing cousins” produce 30 feet giants?” Another sad distortion of the Sethite view is that the line of Seth was Different from the line of Cain by blood. Such a view accually supports  the serpant seed theory. A major event occurred not only in the line of Seth but rather also in the line of of Cain. Here the “your seed” of Genisis 3 comes into the world and wrecks havoc.

This seed war escalates when the angels of God leave their assigned duties and sin against God, man, and all of created order. The outcome is disastrous.

“The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. [Gen 6:5 NIV]

The real Sethite view (and the real seed of Satan view) comes to light in the Books of Adam and Eve or Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan. In Book 2 Chapters 15-20, when Jared is tricked by a disguised Satan with whom are disguised Watcher angels.

BoA&E 17:3 At the end of these said years, there came unto him this sign. As Jared was standing like a lion before the bodies of his fathers, praying and warning his people, Satan envied him, and wrought a beautiful apparition, because Jared would not let his children do aught without his counsel. 4 Satan then appeared to him with thirty men of his hosts, in the form of handsome men; Satan himself being the elder and tallest among them, with a fine beard.

In summary, these disguised fallen angels/sons of God get Jared to go down to see the sons and daughters of Cain, who then come beautified. A satan and the Watchers, lust and go into illicit sex with them. Jared is shocked and starts to pray. Satan and the Watchers leave. Later the children of Jared are lured down by the sons and daughters of Cain, and start participating in the same wickedness. Thus the Sons of God have sex with the daughters of men.

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Synoptic Genesis

Just as the gospels are synoptic in order and fill in for each other, so there are manuscripts that compliment and fill in for Genesis. The Late Bro. Rob Skiba called them, “synchronized, biblically-endorsed, extra-biblical texts” ¹³ Enoch 6 and 7 also summarize what happened.

6/ And they were, all of them, two hundred, who descended in the days of Jared onto the peak of Mount Hermon. 7:1 These and all the others with them took for themselves wives from among them such as they chose.[22] And they began to go in to them, and to defile themselves through them, and to teach them sorcery and charms, and to reveal to them the cutting of roots and plants. 2          And they conceived from them and bore to them great giants. And the giants begot Nephilim, and to the Nephilim were born †Elioud†. And they were growing in accordance with their greatness. 3          They were devouring the labor of all the sons of men,[23] and men were not able to supply them. 4/ And the giants began to kill men and to devour them. 5/ And 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.

Jubilees 5:1/ When humanity began to multiply on the surface of the entire earth and daughters were born to them, the angels of the Lord—in a certain (year) of this jubilee—saw that they were beautiful to look at. So they married of them whomever they chose. They gave birth to children for them and they were giants. 2/ Wickedness increased on the earth. All animate beings corrupted their way—(everyone of them) from people to cattle, animals, birds, and everything that moves about on the ground. All of them corrupted their way and their prescribed course. They began to devour one another, and wickedness increased on the earth. Every thought of all humanity’s knowledge was evil

The Book of Jasher 4:18  And their judges and rulers went to the daughters of men and took their wives by force from their husbands according to their choice, and the sons of men in those days took from the cattle of the earth, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and taught the mixture of animals of one species with the other, in order therewith to provoke Yehuveh; and Elohim saw the whole earth and it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon earth, all men and all animals.

These books go into great detail filling in the gaps left out by Genesis 6.

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Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. [Gen 5:24 NIV]

1 Enoch 12:1  Before these things, Enoch was taken; and no human being knew where he had been taken, or where he was, or what had happened to him.

Enoch Commissioned (before the year 1000)

The Bible as well as the books of 1 Enoch and Jubilees all indicate that there was an initial (singular) “incursion” of angels, known as Watchers, who landed on Mount Hermon in the days of Jared. They are the ones who participated in The Genesis Six Experiment. 1 Enoch says the first-generation Nephilim offspring were to kill each other off within 500 years. After the children of the Watchers were all killed off, these disobedient angels were judged, bound and buried under the sands of the earth.

When their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations under the hills of the earth, until the day of judgment is accomplished. (Enoch 10:12)

According to the Ethiopian and Eritrean Churches, the Book of Enoch was written by Enoch himself around the year 3300 BC ¹⁴

Now this is the context did of which the Sons of God came down. In the context of a human race that averaged a life span of over 900 years, which itself shows us what remarkable genes they had. It also makes sense to understand that the first giants (Nephilim) were 50% sons of God seed and 50% human. [This first generation was slain before 500 years of age as described in the book of 1 Enoch, which Greek myology ascribes to the Clash of Titans.] Then the hybrid Nephilim children, the Eliud would be 25%  hybrid seed and 75%. Generation by generation the mutation would get lesser in that sense, but still all these generations could not inherit the kingdom of God since they were not fully human. ¹⁵ (Could this hybridization also take place in the last days?) I you follow this diluting from generation to generation, it’s not hard to see that it could have come on the ark in diluted form through one of Noah’s children or wives..

3 Baruch 10 And the angel said to me , “Rightly you ask me . When God made the Flood upon the earth, he drowned every firstling, and he destroyed 104 thousand giants,” and the water rose above the highest mountains 20 cubits above the mountains, and the water entered into the garden, bringing out one shoot from the vine as God withdrew the waters. v 11 And there was dry land, and Noah went out from the ark

Here the angel tells Baruch exactly how many giants perished in the deluge.

And the angel said, “Rightly you ask; when God caused the Flood over the earth and destroyed all flesh and 409,00 0 giants,” and the water rose over the heights 15 cubits, the water entered Paradise and killed every flower, but it removed the sprig of the vine completely and brought it outside.”

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Mt 24:44

Jesus said understand the times.

Mankind has not stopped worshipping the starry host and evil will increase much as in the days of Noah  [Zep 1:5 NIV] those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the LORD and who also swear by Molek, their false god”. Will the wandering stars return? The basis for such an assertion is that in Enoch they were judged but the judgment had a timeframe, 70 weeks. Could some of the angels in Revelation be the same?

[1 Enoch 10:12] And when their sons perish and they see the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and consummation, until the everlasting judgment is consummated.[1]

Again why are they released from the Abyss? To bring destruction to earth, Beings so destruction he had to be bound by God, now being released to bring judgment on earth? That’s a possibility.

[Isa 24:21 NIV] 21 In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.

Appendix A

1 Enoch 11        And to Michael he said, “Go, Michael, bind Shemihazah and the others with him, who have mated with the daughters of men, so that they were defiled by them in their uncleanness. 12        And when their sons perish and they see the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and consummation, until the everlasting judgment is consummated. 13        Then they will be led away to the fiery abyss, and to the torture, and to the prison where they will be confined forever. 14        And everyone who is condemned and destroyed henceforth will be bound together with them until the consummation of their generation. <And at the time of the judgment, which I shall judge, they will perish for all generations.> 15        Destroy all the spirits of the half-breeds and the sons of the watchers, because they have wronged men.

He spoke, and the gods who are givers of good Heard him and cheered, and their hearts yearned for war 670 Even more than before. They joined grim battle again That very day, all of them, male and female alike, The Titans and the gods who were born from Cronos, And the three Zeus sent from the underworld to light, Dread and strong, and arrogant with might. 675 A hundred hands stuck out of their shoulders, Grotesque, and fifty heads grew on each stumpy neck. They stood against the Titans on the line of battle Holding chunks of cliffs in their rugged hands. Opposite them, the Titans tightened their ranks 150 HESIOD 680 Expectantly. Then both sides’ hands flashed with power, And the unfathomable sea shrieked eerily, The earth crashed and rumbled, the vast sky groaned And quavered, and massive Olympos shook from its roots Under the Immortals’ onslaught. A deep tremor of feet 685 Reached misty Tartaros, and a high whistling noise Of insuppressible tumult and heavy missiles That groaned and whined in flight. And the sound Of each side shouting rose to starry heaven, As they collided with a magnificent battle cry715 And the battle turned. Before they had fought Shoulder to shoulder in the crush of battle, But then Cottos, Briareos, and Gyges rallied, Hungry for war, in the front lines of combat, Firing three hundred stones one after the other HESIOD 151 720 From their massive hands, and the stones they shot Overshadowed the

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It would take more effort to ignore the parallel between the judgment upon the fallen angels in the book of 1 Enoch and the Greek mythology of The Theogony. The difference is the book of Enoch gives precise and accurate details. Theogeny has 90% truth while 1 Enoch 1oo%. Theogeny almost covers everything else, save acknowleging the living creator God of 1 Enoch. In Theogony the constant is that every god is having sex and children by whoever they please, and also killing whoever they please. In 1 Enoch this is the sin of the fallen angels and their offspring.

1 Eoch 10:9 And to Gabriel he said, “Go, Gabriel, to the bastards, to the half-breeds, to the sons of miscegenation; and destroy the sons of the watchers from among the sons of men; send them against one another in a war of destruction. Length of days they will not have; 10 and no petition will be (granted) to their fathers in their behalf, that they should expect to live an everlasting life, nor even that each of them should live five hundred years.” Michael Commissioned to Imprison Shemihazah
and his Associates and to Destroy the Giants [36] 11 And to Michael he said, “Go, Michael, bind Shemihazah and the others with him, who have mated with the daughters of men, so that they were defiled by them in their uncleanness. 12        And when their sons perish and they see the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, until the day of their judgment and consummation, until the everlasting judgment is consummated. 13        Then they will be led away to the fiery abyss, and to the torture, and to the prison where they will be confined forever. 14        And everyone who is condemned and destroyed henceforth will be bound together with them until the consummation of their generation.

[Num 13:33 NET] 33 We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them.”

Devastating Angelic Sin

To suggest multiple incursions occurred is to trivialize such a monumental and horrific event. Also one would be ignoring many key points.

The fallen angel and human union was the primary cause of the flood. It was not just people, Genesis says all creature had become sinful.

[Gen 6:12 NET] 12 God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful. What does this mean? 1 Enoch explains that the giants were also committing bestiality and producing I would dare to say, “dinosaurs” and other sinful creatures.

1 Enoch 7:4/ And the giants began to kill men and to devour them. 5/ And 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.

The first generation hybrids were monstrous and were all destroyed within 500 years.

1 Enoch 10:1,9-10, 15     Then the Most High declared, and the Great Holy One spoke. 9 And to Gabriel he said, “Go, Gabriel, to the bastards, to the half-breeds, to the sons of miscegenation; and destroy the sons of the watchers from among the sons of men; send them against one another in a war of destruction. Length of days they will not have; 10 and no petition will be (granted) to their fathers in their behalf, that they should expect to live an everlasting life, nor even that each of them should live five hundred years.” 15        Destroy all the spirits of the half-breeds and the sons of the watchers, because they have wronged men.

They were not allowed to live full lives. Clash of Titans and Mahabharata tell the story. ¹⁶

Nothing in the Bible says, 8 righteous people were on the ark. Then why do we presuppose this? This is so obvious by the behavior of Ham in his fathers tent

[Gen 6:9 NET] Noah was a godly man; he was blameless among his contemporaries. He walked with God.

The line of Canaan is full of giants. I you connect the dots, obviously Noah saw this and cursed him! The giant genes were carried on the ark. This does not take much to see and understand. The late Rob Skiba explained this thoroughly.

“NEPHILIM PUNNET SQUARES (by Rob Skiba)

I’ve been building a case for why I believe the women on the ark may have had “tainted genes.” Assuming all three of Noah’s sons were as genetically pure as he and his wife were, if we were to do some simple Punnett square-like examples, we’d see that the “bad” X chromosomes (let’s refer to them as NX) would be passed along to the offspring of the post-Flood population as follows:

X-Y Normal Male + NX-X Tainted Female = Four possibilities:

• NX-X = Nephilim female
• NX-Y = Nephilim male
• XX = Normal female
• YX = Normal male

Here we see a 50/50 ratio of possible outcomes, both male and female…. I believe the Female Nephilim Punnet Square illustrates the most likely scenario, which is one mankind could easily survive. Any other scenario would spell certain doom for the human race, which only reinforces my belief that the Multiple Incursions Theory is the most absurd of possibilities in terms of what we may think God allowed to happen during and after the Flood. Thinking He allowed fallen angel seed to be continually reintroduced into the human gene-pool is infinitely more absurd than allowing tainted genetics to pass through the female line, which could still lead to a 50/50 chance that normal children could be produced in the wake of all flesh having previously become corrupted. ¹⁷

1. Led Zepplin: Kashmir ↩︎
2. All Scripture NIV unless otherwise stated ↩︎
3. The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament: from A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, based on the lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius. ↩︎
4. R. H. Charles. The Book of Jubilees (Kindle Locations 943-946). Global Grey ebooks. Kindle Edition. ↩︎
5. All 1 Enoch quotes from Nickelsburg, George W.E.; VanderKam, James C.. 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation ↩︎
6. Van Dorn, Douglas. Giants: Sons of the Gods (p. 60). Waters of Creation. Kindle Edition.  ↩︎
7. Pitterson, Ryan. Judgment Of The Nephilim (p. 66). Days of Noe Publishing. Kindle Edition ↩︎
8. Wayne, Gary (2014-12-10T22:58:59). The Genesis 6 Conspiracy: How Secret Societies and the Descendants of Giants Plan to Enslave Humankind . Trusted Books. . ↩︎
9. Pitterson, Ryan. Judgment Of The Nephilim (pp. 58-59. Days of Noe Publishing. Kindle Edition ↩︎
10. Chuck  Missler ↩︎
11. See The Church Father on 1 Enoch ↩︎
12. Skiba, Rob (Genesis and the Synchronized, Biblically Endorsed, Extra-Biblical Texts. ↩︎
13. Defense of ancient Enoch authorship – Christianity Stack Exchange ↩︎
14. See Apendix A ↩︎
15. Similarities between the Greek and Indian Epics – Mahabharata, Rama ↩︎
16. http://www.babylonrisingblog.com/Nephilim4.html ↩︎

1. The Food and the Fall

The fact that food played a major part in the fall is seldom looked at. We only see that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and overlook how they were tempted by their basic appetites. These appetites, coupled with deception, led to their fall. Food was an important factor utilized in the fall. The evil serpent who chose not to feed on God’s goodness now wanted the same for humanity.

• [Gen 3:6 ^[2]] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

It was their appetites that were manipulated and tempted. It is these same appetites that keep us from experiencing the real fullness of God. The flesh cannot satisfy the spirit or please God. [Rom 8:8] Even amongst Christians, the spiritual life is seldom demonstrated in word and deed. Only the Lord Jesus did so perfectly when he was on earth. Only he truly did God’s will.

• [Jhn 4:34] “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

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2. Feeding the Israelites

When they were in the wilderness, the Israelites were fed directly by God. They ate manna[4] for forty years. Being human, it was not always palatable to them. The late Keith Green once sang, “And in the morning it’s manna hotcakes, we snack on manna all day, and we sure had a winner last night for dinner, flaming manna soufflé.”^[5] They had free food forty years, and their clothes did not wear out.

photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/Vj1cSA

• [Psa 78: 25] Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.
• [Jhn 6:31]  Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
• [Deu 8:4] Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

…“I will rain down bread from heaven for you. [Exo 16:4] “Bread from heaven” not “bread from outer space” nor “bread on asteroids”; rather it fits Biblical three-tier cosmology. So where is Heaven then? Bible says it’s above us.  [Exo 20:4; Deu 4:39; Deu 5:8; Jos 2:11; 1Ki 8:23]

The Israelites were in the school of God, even if they did not like it. God humbled them to teach them to depend on him alone and not grumble, as some did. “Well we once complained for something new to munch, the ground opened up and had some of us for lunch.” ^[6] [Num 16:32]

• [Num 11:6] But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

The care and nurturing of Israel was God’s priority for forty years because he loved them.

• [Neh 9:20] You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.
• [Isa 63:9b] In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

It was kept in the Ark of the Covenant as a testimony to God’s faithfulness.

• [Heb 9:4] …This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

The Lord wanted full dependence on him for their own good, and obtaining this was a process- it did not happen overnight. We live in a presumptuous age of instant and pseudo-spirituality, of only being right with God, having all the answers, which equals doctrinal arrogance. We need to learn that we have not arrived and that we are in the process.

• [Deu 8:3,] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

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3. Heavenly to Earthly Bread

There is a paradoxical element of the manna. While it is heavenly, it is not. Coming from heaven to earth, it translates. That which is of heaven is not of earth, and that which is of the earth is not heavenly. It does not stay in the same heavenly state, yet it is. “Moreover, the paradisal dew motif is noteworthy since it is present in another pseudepigraphal account of celestial nourishment attested in Joseph and Aseneth

16:14, in which the angels’ food is said to be made from the dew from the paradise of God: ‘For this comb is (full of the) spirit of life. And the bees of the paradise of delight have made this from the dew of the roses of life that are in the paradise of God. And all the angels of God eat of it and all the chosen of God and all the sons of the Most High, because this is a comb of life, and everyone who eats of it will not die for ever (and) ever’.” ^[8]

•  [Psa 78:24] he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.
• [Exo 16:31] The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

The bread of angels became the bread of the Israelites. They had to feed on it continually. Just enough was given daily, not less, not more, and no one lacked! Is it not like that with us that the Lord gives us just enough? 

photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/Vj1cSA

• [Exo 16:18b] Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

This trust had to be built up, it was a process. The needs of the Israelites varied according to family size, etc. Today also we depend on the Lord to supply our needs according to our varying situations. It is not “cookie cutter Christianity.” The Lord graciously always gives just enough. “Give us today our daily bread.^[9] Not weekly, not monthly, but do we look for it daily? Unlike us, there is no favoritism with God. “Thank God, He doesn’t measure out grace in teaspoons.”[10]  However, there were limitations to the bread of angels. It only lasted a day or two. It did not give eternal life. It was still heavenly bread, but not as it was when it left heaven. The earthly realm brings decay. Blessings are specific in purpose, take them when they come. Or are we not satisfied but complain about what he gives us?

• [Ex 16:20] However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
• [Phl 4:12b] I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

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4. Wisdom of Solomon ^[11]

Here another facet is given. Did the manna still maintain some dynamic element? “The writer of the book of Wisdom clearly respects the Hebrew biblical tradition. However, he moves forward and from the idea of manna as the bread from heaven and nourishment of the angels he introduces some new ideas into the biblical tradition, for instance, that manna is the food of immortality… [ambrosia ]. This concept is new for the Hebrew Bible but is not new for other Jewish and Christian sources. The other new idea introduced in the book of Wisdom is the miracle of taste. It consists of the flexibility and mutability of the taste of manna, which, actually, can adapt itself to every taste. Until then, manna was understood as food given to satisfy people. Only in the Book of Wisdom, however, the manna is described as a dynamic element capable of modifying itself, and it is stated that the miracle of the taste does not come from the subjective sensation of the receiver, yet the objective quality of the gift, which underlines the sweetness, tenderness of the giver – God.”^[12]

Wisdom of Solomon 16:20 “Instead of these things, you gave your people angels’ food to eat, and you provided ready-to-eat bread for them from heaven without toil, having the virtue of every pleasant flavor, and agreeable to every taste. 17:25 Therefore at that time also, converting itself into all forms, it ministered to your all-nourishing bounty, according to the desire of those who had need, 26 that your children, whom you loved, O Lord, might learn that it is not the growth of crops that nourishes a man, but that your word preserves those who trust you. 19:21 On the contrary, flames didn’t consume flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them, neither did they melt the crystalline grains of ambrosial food that were melted easily.” It makes sense that for the Israelites to eat the same food for forty years it would have some versatility to it. Taste buds varied, even as do ours. It was a massive undertaking, yet the Lord took care of them even at an individual level.

•  [Deu 32:9, 13] For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. …. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag,

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“I know a man in Christ who….was caught up to the third heaven.” ^[13]

5. Enoch Raptured

We know Enoch to have walked with God, who took him. Is it not to walk with God also to sit and dine with him? Sure, Enoch did that too and more. We are naïve to imagine that God took him just to play the harp. He was the first to ascend to heaven and the book of 1 Enoch reveals why he was taken and his assignment from God.

• [Gen 5:24] Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. …..1 Enoch 12:1  Before these things, Enoch was taken;
• [Heb 11:5]  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.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

He was no more, on earth that is, but he still existed.  To be “like the angels” [Mat 22:30] as Christ said takes transformation. “From 2 Enoch, one learns that the light proceeding from the divine Face causes dramatic changes in Enoch’s appearance. His body endures irreversible transformations as it becomes covered with the divine light. In this account, the luminous body of a newly born celestial citizen is literally “nourished” by the luminosity of the divine form.”^[14] This is the transforming power of the presence of God, the bread of angels in its purest sense. Enoch’s calling was very special, again “he did not experience death.”

2 Enoch 22 “…And the LORD said to Michael, “Go, and extract Enoch from |his| earthly clothing. And anoint him with my delightful oil, and put him into the clothes of my glory.” •And so Michael did, just as the LORD had said to him. He anointed me and clothed me. And the appearance of that oil is greater than the greatest light, and its ointment is like sweet dew, and its fragrance myrrh; and it is like the rays of the glittering sun. •And I looked at myself, and I had become like one of his glorious ones, and there was no observable difference.”

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[photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/9304183235]

Upon a secret journey, I met a holy man^[15]

6, A Taste of Heaven

In contrast to the Israelites, we find that when Moses (with Joshua Exo 24:13) went up to the holy mountain (Horeb aka Sinai) he didn’t eat. Why? Because he didn’t need to as he was sustained by the very presence of God and his glory. The hidden manna of heaven. He was so sustained that he did not eat or drink earthly food, which is humanly impossible.

• [Deu 9:9] When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.

Notice there’s no mention that he was hungry or weak when he came down with the tablets. I mean how heavy were they?

• [Deu 10:5a] Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made…

The divine sustenance of the presence and glory of God is the bread of angels. The leaders, like Moses, were nourished by this. They did not need to eat food or drink water because they were nourished by God’s presence. They “ate and drank” of God.

• [Exo 24:9-11] Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

They were sustained for the duration of time they were allowed in God’s presence, with Moses who was with God on the mountain forty days and forty nights, and this “mountain top experience” stayed with him even after he came back down.

Exodus Rabbah 3:1 attests “Thou wilt not eat nor drink, but wilt feast on the splendor of the Shekinah, as it is said: and Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams (Ex. XXXIV, 29). But Nadab and Abihu uncovered their heads and fed their eyes on the lustre of the Shechinah, as it is said: And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand; and they beheld God, and did eat and drink (ib. XXIV, 11).”^[16]

• [Exo 34:35a] they saw that his face was radiant.

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“And when you’ve made your secret journey, you will be a holy man” ^[17]

7. Elijah’s Journey

I have been fortunate to be able to do some great hikes in my life, from some trekking in the “hills” of Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh in India, to my backyard favorite, Yosemite. I have hiked up to Half Dome multiple times (4000-foot incline, 16 miles in about 11 hours). I would pack some nuts, health bars, and maybe a sandwich. Then I would take a few Gatorades. On my way up I would hide one or two of the drinks so I did not have extra weight going up, and I would have them when I needed them coming down. All this fuss for a one-day hike. In 1 Kings Elijah takes a forty-day hike! How much food and water did he carry? None!

• [1Ki 19:5-9] Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The heavenly manna was given to Elijah by the angel, who brought some for this special occasion. (Do angels always have it?) It says he traveled forty days and nights to Mount Horeb, about 6,500ft per Christian tradition (the same mountain Moses went up to). Surely the Shekinah was sustaining him on such a long journey. Humanly it would not be possible to do this otherwise without food and water. What a journey that must have been, yes much more than a hike.

How can this be you ask? Do we dismiss real spiritual elements in our “theology”? Especially the angelic realm and ministry gets overlooked at times. That many a man of God came into close contact with angels and even fellowshipped with them is overlooked. There are plenty of verses referring us to such but we take little interest or ignore the subject for the most part. It is fascinating, and much is to be learned there.

• [Heb 13:2] Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Now let’s look at one of the greatest to host angels, even our father in faith.

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8. Abraham Friend of Angels

Abraham hosted angels and knew their fellowship [Gen 18:1-5] Was he returning a previous favor near the great trees of Mamre?! The Apocalypse of Abraham ^[19] includes a synoptic version of the story of Gen 15:10-18that goes into great detail. One interesting similarity here to the story of Moses and Elijah is the traveling to Mount Horeb, and fasting forty days and nights with divine sustenance.  In the following passage, Abraham is nurtured by the angel.

Apocalypse of Abraham 12:1 And we went, the two of us alone together, forty days and nights. 12:2 And I ate no bread and drank no water because [my] food was to see the angel who was with me, and his speech with me was my drink. 12:3 And we came to the glorious God’s mountains—Horeb. 12:4 And I said to the angel, “Singer of the Eternal One, behold, I have no sacrifice with me, nor do I know a place for an altar on the mountain, so how shall I make the sacrifice?” 12:5 And he said, “Look behind you.” 12:6 And I looked behind me. And behold, all the prescribed sacrifices were following us: the calf, the she-goat, the ram, the turtledove, and the pigeon. 12:7 And the angel said to me, “Abraham!” And I said, “Here am I!” 12:8 And he said to me, “Slaughter and cut all this, putting together the two halves, one against the other. But do not cut the birds. 12:9 And give them [halves] to the two men whom I shall show you standing beside you, since they are the altar on the mountain, to offer sacrifice to the Eternal One. 12:10 The turtledove and the pigeon you will give me, and I shall ascend in order to show to you [the inhabited world] on the wings of two birds, in heaven and on the earth: the sea, and the abysses, and the depths, and the garden of Eden, and its rivers and the fullness of the inhabited world and round about it you will see everything.”13:1 And I did everything according to the angel’s command. And I gave to the angels who had come to us the divided parts of the animals. And the angel took the two birds. 13:2 And I waited for [the time of] the evening offering. 13:3 And an impure bird flew down on the carcasses, and I drove it away.

There are many spiritual dimensions to this. Abraham is fed and carried along by the angel yet he also enters into spiritual warfare but stood fast and the covenant was made of which we are all beneficiaries.  The Apocalypse further elaborates on this spiritual battle. Was this the darkness that came over him?

• [Gen 15:12] As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

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But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. [Mat 19:30]

9. Scapegoat Reversal

13:4 And the impure bird spoke to me and said, “What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy heights, where no one eats or drinks, nor is there upon them food of men. But these will all be consumed by fire and they will burn you up. 13:5 Leave the man who is with you and flee! Since if you ascend to the height, they will destroy you.” 13:6 And it came to pass when I saw the bird speaking I said to the angel, “What is this, my lord?” And he said, “This is iniquity, this is Azazel!” 13:7 And he said to him,  “Reproach is on you, Azazel! Since Abraham’s portion is in heaven, and yours is on earth, 13:8 Since you have chosen it and desired it to be the dwelling place of your impurity. Therefore the Eternal Lord, the Mighty One, has made you a dweller on earth. 13:9 And because of you [there is] the wholly-evil spirit of the lie, and because of you [there are] wrath and trials on the generations of impious men. 13:10 Since the Eternal Mighty God did not send the righteous, in their bodies, to be in your hand, in order to affirm through them the righteous life and the destruction of impiety. 13:11 Hear, adviser! Be shamed by me, since you have been appointed to tempt not to all the righteous! 13:12 Depart from this man! 13:13 You cannot deceive him, because he is the enemy of you and of those who follow you and who love what you desire. 13:14 For behold, the garment which in heaven was formerly yours has been set aside for him, and the corruption which was on him has gone over to you.”

The principle of the Kingdom of Christ is being applied here is the great reversal; that the exalted will be humbled, the first will be last, the least will be the greatest, the humble exalted, the proud humbled; Luke 18:14; Mat 19:30; Luke 22:26. Note: the biblical connection to Azazel is found in Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26. The Hebrew word is 5799 [e] la·‘ă·zā·zêl.  (Translated: the scapegoat). Do you see the “Bible canon” or “rule” pointed? He is also one of the chiefs of the fallen Angels in 1 Enoch 1–36, also called The Book of the Watchers. In fact, he may be the main protagonist of the fall of the angels and the fall of man. The malnourishment of these gods is the nourishment of the saints. Azazel was too “a wicked and lazy servant….

• [Mat 25:28, 30 NASB] ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ … 30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…    

Outer darkness is also referred to in 1 Enoch 10:4 To Raphael he said, “Go, Raphael, and bind Azazel) hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness; And make an opening in the wilderness that is in Doudael. 5 Throw him there, and lay beneath him sharp and jagged stones. And cover him with darkness, and let him dwell there for an exceedingly long time. Cover up his face, and let him not see the light. ^[20] This is the place of Azazel and all the gods who followed him. In the end, they lose. They will starve.

• [Zep 2:11 NASB] The LORD will be terrifying to them, for He will starve all the gods of the earth; and all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to Him, everyone from his [own] place.
• [Eze 28:18-19] By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’ “
• [Pro 10:3]  The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

The “angels who sinned”^[21] of  2 Pet 2:4 will be judged. They gave up heaven to displace God, but it all backfired on them. “After God cast Uzza and Azazel down from their holy place, they went astray after the womenfolk and seduced the world also. It may seem strange that being angels they were able to abide upon the earth. The truth is, however, that when they were cast down the celestial light which used to sustain them left them and they were changed to another grade through the influence of the air of this world. Similarly, the manna which came down for the Israelites in the wilderness originated in the celestial dew from the most recondite spot, and at first, its light would radiate to all worlds and the “field of apples,” and the heavenly angels drew sustenance from it, but when it approached the earth it became materialized through the influence of the air of this world and lost its brightness, becoming only like “coriander seed.” —Zohar III.208a

• [Num 11:7] The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.

In chapters, 15-18 Abraham is taken by the angels to the very throne room of God through the very sacrifice he prepared. 15:1 And it came to pass that when the sun was setting, and behold, a smoke like that of a furnace, and the angels who had the divided parts of the sacrifice ascended from the top of the furnace of smoke. 15:2 And the angel took me with his right hand and set me on the right-wing of the pigeon and he himself sat on the left-wing of the turtledove since they both were neither slaughtered nor divided. 15:3 And he carried me up to the edge of the fiery flame. 15:4 And we ascended like great winds to the heaven which was fixed on the expanses….

• [Gen 15:17-18a] When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants, I give this land…

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For I was hungry and you (Lord) gave me something to eat, ^[22]

10, True Nourishment in the Lord Jesus Christ

In contrast to Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, the Lord Jesus did not go to a mountain but a desolate place, and was physically hungry (though he probably drank water) while his Spirit was nourished. Satan tested him, angels ministered to him.

• [Mar 1:13] and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels nourished him spiritually.

The marvel of the humility of the Lord Jesus to go hungry, yet he feeds us. When he came it was fully realized the bread that comes down from heaven. The absolute Shekinah glory, veiled on earth. The Lord humbled himself from all self-sustaining to a simple man. He brought us the fullness of heavenly bread to earth. “The manna was given to the Israelites, when they were least concerned about the blessings of God, and put a greater value on the good things of Egypt, and had again tempted God. Christ came into the world when it was most corrupted, and offered his spiritual blessings, at a time when the very best could scarce ascend above earthly and carnal things.—Israel did not know the manna when it was first given, though promised by Moses. Though Christ was so often promised by Moses and all the holy prophets and described to the life, yet when he came into the world, the world knew him not, John 1:10.” ^[23]

• [Jhn 6:32, 35] Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. … 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (See also 1Co 10:3-4)

The Lord sought to break bread with his disciples one last time and waits when he can do so again in his kingdom.

• [Luk 22:15-16] And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 … I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

Do we long to sit with him? The bread of life and the spring of water welling up to eternal life [John 4]. We must revive that desire. He only can fill our spiritual hunger and thirst. This is available to us all at this present time. Those of us who have partaken of Christ sometimes still hunger and thirst, and our sin nature tries to fulfill but fails miserably. Only Christ can do that and will do so in all his fullness one day. The hidden manna is now available for all.

• [Isa 55:1-2] “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

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When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,                                                                      because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [Mat 9:36]

[picture credit: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/unswb8f2 T he Canaanite (or Syrophoenician) woman asks Christ to cure her possessed daughter; she points to a dog, to which she compares herself. Etching by P. del Po after Annibale Carracci. 1560-1609 ]

The Gentile woman came to be “fed” by Christ the bread of life. She had a huge burden of a demon-possessed daughter; we can only imagine how bad that was. Maybe she heard of the Jewish Christ feeding the multitudes and the healing of the demoniac. “If only I can get to him, surely he will ‘feed’ me too and heal my daughter.” Her grit and determination to reach the only one who could help her were not to be stopped. She had sought cures from others to no avail, even other gods and they had all failed her miserably. Yet now she’s met with unfriendly disciples, and the Lord appears reluctant, but is he? He had spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well and the whole city believed on him, John 4. “(He) has already delivered, in Mark 5:1-20, the Gerasene demoniac in the Gentile region of the Decapolis. In Mark 7:15-19, Jesus declared all foods clean. Which has massive ramifications about the ceremonial law and the distinction between Jews and Gentiles… If you look back in Mark 6, you have the feeding of the 5,000. And if you look ahead in Mark 8, you have the feeding of the 4,000. And Mark 6:51-53 is hugely important… The same thing will happen again in Mark 8:14-21. They had forgotten to take bread. They did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. He was giving orders to them saying, “Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus said, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not understand? Do you have a hardened heart?”  So the story is in between two feedings of thousands, with bread, that the disciples did not understand. ^[25]

• [Mar 7:24a] Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon…

She must have heard the story of the prophet Elijah who was also fed by a poor woman with nothing to give (and he raised her son from the dead! ^[26] 1Ki 17:7-24 )  That woman was also a Gentile from Zarephath^[27] which is the same vicinity Jesus was in. Why was Christ there? You will notice that Elijah went to the woman and she gave out her poverty and despair, and the Lord multiplied for her, her son, and Elijah! She knew she was unworthy too, but obeyed. [1Ki 17:18]

• [1Ki 17:9, 14]  “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” … 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’ “

Now surely the Syrophoenician knew of this and came as a Gentile sinner “dog” before Christ. Yes, she was content for just crumbs from the master’s table, for she knew who she was approaching would not withhold. She said, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” [Mat 15:27] Now this despised Gentile woman, ‘disturbing’ the disciples and the Lord with her stubbornness, wholly won the heart of the Lord. Both were blessed. He purposely shunned, but now praises her. Her daughter was healed. She was fed the bread of life, not crumbs.

• [Mat 15:28] Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
• [Mar 7:29-30] Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

The Lord never shunned the Gentiles or lost, rather he embraced them. (He does not only feed us spiritually, but he is also there for all our needs.) It was the disciples whose hearts were hard toward the woman. Do we still care about a lost world or do we want to send them away as the disciples would her? It’s so easy to forget a hurting world around us. May we not harden our hearts towards people. Even in these uncertain times, we are responsible to the world around us before the Lord. Do we respond or do we fear the cost? While we eat at his table, let’s not forget them. Let’s give them the bread of life to eat, and not make excuses. Jesus said, “Go”! [Mt 28:19] There’s enough for everybody. Never underestimate. He supplies!

• [Mar 6:37] But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

Go! Into the world and tell

All of creation he lives

He lives in the hearts of men

He said, “Go! Into the world and tell

All of creation he lives

He lives in the hearts of men

He’s the Messiah!^[28]

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12. Hunger for God

What an amazing thought of being nourished by the divine. This is what we long for. To put aside the appetites of the flesh and desires of this world. Lord give us hunger for you. I quote from probably my all-time favorite sermon. It dates back to the ’70s. “Don’t delight in other things, Our God is a jealous God, he will not share his glory even with organizations that claim to be Spirit led, He will not share His glory with me. He will not share his glory with any preacher, with any healer, with any movement. That’s what we see in that chapter in John, when Jesus Christ said to the disciples, how can you believe? How can you believe? Which seek honor one of another and not the honor that cometh from God only? [Jhn 5:44 KJV]…In the midst of this dark world, religious confusion abounds. Religious superficiality has blinded the eyes of a multitude; a multitude of theology and theologians, and conventions and books have blinded us, have led us astray, and there’s one remnant in the midst of it all, there are a few who are hungry after God…. The real mark of a disciple, the real thing that is at the core of discipleship, the real thing that gets way beneath anything else I believe we’ve talked about up to now; the core of discipleship, the rock, the base, is hunger for God, the disciple above everything else, more than his loving because most of us as much as we want to, as much as we desire to, find ourselves so often not loving. But down beneath that is this faith factor, about a disciple that marks him as a disciple. He’s hungry for God”! ^[30]

• [Mat 5:6] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

One-upmanship seems to be the mark of modern denominations. “We are more Bible based.” This theologian or that scholar has all the answers. “Only we have it right.” “Do as we do.” Such rigid thinking leads to legalism. Everybody is a know it all, nobody is a disciple who is still learning. To be Bible based is to be Christ rooted in God. To connect with him far outweighs Bible knowledge. Never try to substitute Christ, and fellowship with God. Our faith is not a competition of who knows or does more. A Bible gymnastics competition? Martha was busy while Mary sat with Christ. [Luk 10:38-42] “…only one thing is needed.”Sit at the table with the Lord and “eat and drink.” You will find nourishment at that time, anytime. Don’t let anything keep you from that. Life’s changes, missed opportunities, let downs, and setbacks. Personal sin and failure, or sin and failure of others. Life is full of ups and downs. It does not matter where you are, his table is prepared before you [Psa 23:5]. Humble yourself before him; confess, receive, and praise him.

• [Jas 4:10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

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 [Psa 104:28] When you give it to them, they gather it up;                                                                         when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

13. Hungry Birds

A couple of years ago I was doing some yard work and was going to trim back a Jasmine vine, which hung over a fence. As I started the electric trimmer, suddenly a bird dropped out to the ground and appeared to be saying something to me. I immediately stopped and realized she had a nest there. I said, “Okay, I won’t trim it.” Occasionally I would see “brown bird,” a California Towee,^[31]  so I put out some bread once in a while. I had made a friend. Early last year the fence got knocked over by the wind. I don’t think they were in the same spot, but had moved their nest by then. Now when the Covid-19 lockdown started in mid-March I was home. So I rebuilt the fence and put the vine back up. Brown bird and Mr. Brown bird I would see on a daily basis. I also started going to a park up the hill a couple of miles to run. Now I’m running and walking on the trail when I see these two birds go by me looking so familiar. “Brown bird,” I called, yep it was them. Around April Brown bird’s chicks were born, and she’d regularly come by and collect some bread and take it back to the nest, I suppose. Around June the chicks finally left the nest, but could not fly. So every morning and evening I’d hear them twittering in a happy frenzy. A few weeks later they took to flight. Nowadays Brown Bird has moved on, but I see her “kids” regularly, coming by and picking at the same spots where mom taught them. Yes, I believe I have seen them at the park on occasions too. The Lord takes care of his creatures big and small, and how much more us.

• [Mat 6:26- Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

I know they would’ve eaten regardless, but the most interesting thing is the bond developed by these events. In the same way, we have a bond with the Lord and follow him and look to him to feed us also. The crowds followed the Lord Jesus as he fed the multitudes on multiple occasions. They too were attached, but why? Then the Lord put his finger on it. It was only to get their fill. Is that how we treat the Lord. We “love him” because he gives us all we want?  Big mistake.

• [Jhn 6:26] Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

Don’t just follow for what we get but for who he is, that’s the difference. We love him for who he is and not just for all the benefits. He is the source, the wellspring of all blessings. Let us spend time in praise and worship our great God without pretense. Let us draw near like the Towee or the sparrow.         

• [Psa 84:3]  Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young–a place near your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

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“I had heard the whispered tales of immortality”^[32]

14. Hungry World

We see it everywhere, people looking to satisfy their desires. The artist and the musician continually bring up this longing. Sadly most don’t find it. The lies are still being fed amass to this lost world. There are many substitute truths and fulfillments man has created.

This yearning to be filled by Amrita^[33] or Immortality is found in traditions all over the world. To be filled and satisfied with the divine. The Bhakti (devotion) tradition of Indian Hindu and Muslim Sufi mystics carries over into Sikhism. One major theme is that one is to feed on the divine immortal nectar. Guru Granth Sahib, Pg 31, Line 14 (Gur ke bẖāṇe vicẖ amriṯ hai sėhje pāvai ko▫e.) The Amrit, the Ambrosial Nectar, is in the Guru’s Will. With intuitive ease, it is obtained. Pg 36, Line 14 (Jihvā raṯī sabaḏ sacẖai amriṯ pīvai ras guṇ gā▫e.) The tongue imbued with the True Word of the Shabad drinks in the Amrit with delight, singing His Glorious Praises. Pg 554, Line 9 (Har kā nām amriṯ hai ḏārū ehu lā▫ehu.) The Name of the Lord is Ambrosial Nectar – take this healing medicine! ^[34]  Christians could learn a thing from the Sikhs who have 24/7 Kirtan-Worship in Amristar, Punjab, to a God they don’t know. As sung in a Christian Bhajan, we have the real “Amrit vani teri, amrit vani teri,” (The Amrit, the Ambrosial Nectar, is the flow of your immortal word.)  ^[35] The Lord Jesus Christ has made this nectar available to all through his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.

• [Jhn 6:55,] For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. … [Jhn 4:14a] but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.

Christ is the bread of angels, became the manna of the Israelites. Christ was fed to Moses, Elijah, and Abraham sustaining them forty days and nights. What Christ offers us is food for our soul’s deepest nourishment, by faith now, and for all eternity.  We must “taste and see that the LORD is good” [Psa 34:8a] Sadhu Sundar Singh shares from one of the visions of the Lord he had “The true peace which is born of My presence in the hearts of true believers they are unable to see, but, feeling its power, they become happy in it. Nor can they see that happiness of mind or heart through which they enjoy the peace of My presence. It is the same with the tongue and (a sweet delicacy). The faculty of taste which resides in the tongue and the sweetness it perceives are both invisible. Thus also I give My children life and joy by means of the hidden manna, which the world with all its wisdom knows not nor can know (Rev. ii. 7).”^[36]

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15. The Future Feast

Wherever we are in our spiritual journey we should look to be fed only with true divine nourishment. Imitations will not meet our needs. This can only be fulfilled in the Son of God, Christ Jesus. Look to him at all times. [Psa 34:5]  Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.  Make it your aim to be victorious despite failures, setbacks, etc. through him who loved us with an everlasting love, and that we may partake in the hidden manna and the marriage feast of the lamb. The past manna, our present daily bread, our future hope.

Take time to nurture yourself on God. Spend some time daily meditating on his goodness and love. “Be still and know I am God” [Ps 46:10]. There is no substitute in all the hustle and bustle of life. Feed on him. “But if you don’t get to know God better if you don’t get time with God if you don’t get to know his fellowship, his communion. If you don’t learn to delight in him to go out in the woods or in under your car or somewhere just, be still, just as we say in America, I don’t know you’re allowed to say this here, but I’ll say it anyway; just shut up, and listen. That’s the mark of a disciple. He’s hungry. He’s hungry for God and if you’re hungry if you feel that uneasiness, that desire for more, to know Christ more intimately, to know God more fully, to walk with him to talk with him…unite with us”^[38] We are still on a spiritual battlefield, the enemy is real and would have us starve. Still, we can take one step at a time, one day at a time, taking the time to eat, to drink; what we’ve learned of the goodness of our God through Christ, the bread of life. There is no substitute. [Jhn 6:68] ….”Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Lord feed us today, and evermore.

• [Rev 2:17] Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. …19:9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

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Apendix/ Footnotes

“In this hour of all-but-universal darkness, one cheering gleam appears: Within the fold of conservative Christianity, there are to be found increasing numbers of people whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct “interpretations” of truth. They are thirsty for God, and they will not be satisfied until they have drunk deep at the fountain of living water. This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to detect anywhere on the religious horizon.” A. W Tozer, The Pursuit of God [Intro]

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[1] He Leadeth Me, Joseph H. Gilmore (1862)‎

[2] All bible references NIV unless noted otherwise.

[3] Keith Green – So You Wanna go Back to Egypt?

[4] Manna means: What is it?

[5] Keith Green – So You Wanna go Back to Egypt?

[6] Keith Green – So You Wanna go Back to Egypt?

[7] Dr. Robert J. (Brother Bob) Stamps)

[8] PDF The Nourishment of Azazel | Andrei Orlov – Academia.edu page 6

[9] [Mat 6:11 NIV]

[10] Amy Carmichael

[11] Wisdom of Solomon – Early Jewish Writings

[12] From the Bread of Angels to the Food of Immortality Manna in Wis 16:20-23; 19:21 pg54

[13] [2Co 12:2 NIV] my edit

[14] (PDF) The Nourishment of Azazel | Andrei Orlov – Academia.edu page 6

[15] Secret Journey Song by The Police, Sting

[16] The Nourishment of Azazel | Andrei Orlov – Academia.edu page 6

[17] Secret Journey Song by The Police, Sting

[18] Secret Journey Song by The Police, Sting

[19] The Apocalypse of Abraham 

[20]  Nickelsburg, George W.E.; VanderKam, James C.. 1 Enoch (p. 28).

[21] See Mapping The Fall of Angels

[22] Mat 25:35a

[23] Christ: Our Manna From Heaven

[24] Samuel Wolcott

[25] A Pagan Woman Who Understands Grace

[26] Elijah was fed by Ravens too! 1Ki 17:2-6

[27] Zarephath is located about 8.5 miles (13.5 km) south of Sidon and 14 miles (23 km) north of Tyre.

[28] Bloodgood – The Messiah (Detonation) (Lyric Video)

[29] Peart, Lifeson, Lee; Rush; song Xanadu, band Rush

[30] Hunger for God by George Verwer – Sermon Index

[31] https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/california-towhee

[32] Peart, Lifeson, Lee; Rush; song Xanadu, band Rush

[33] Amrita – Wikipedia

[34] Sri Granth Sahib

[35] Amrit Vani Teri, words and music by Sadhu Nityanand, sound recording 
    and arrangement by Pete Hicks and Chris Hale (Aradhna)

[36] At The Master’s Feet, Sadhu Sundar Singh

[37] Dr. Robert J. (Brother Bob) Stamps

[38] Hunger for God by George Verwer – Sermon Index

[39] The Sands of Time Are Sinking; Samuel Rutherford; Author: A. R. Cousin (1857)