5: What did Enoch, Early Christians Say | Biblestudy4Starters Chapters

End Times: Great Tribulation

Chapter 5. What Did Enoch Say? What Did the Early Christians Say?

What Did Enoch Say?

Abstract

What Did Enoch Say?

Enoch walked 300 years in an intimate relationship with God and pleased God in every way possible.
This man of God in Enoch 1 states, “The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the days of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed.”
Enoch clearly declares that the Elect and Righteous will be going through the time of the Great Tribulation, as he adds that this will happen when the rebellious will be removed from earth and that is undoubtedly at the end of times when King Jesus comes with His holy ones to judge the ungodly sinners.

Genesis 5:21-24

“Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah.

After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."

Hebrews 11:5

"By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

Jude 1:14-15

"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Enoch is not just anyone, he was and is very special in God's sight, as he walked 300 years in close and intimate fellowship with and obedience to God. He pleased God in every way possible.
God revealed to him many mysteries; even though his Book is not included in all Canonical Books* of the Bible, the short book of Jude, right before the book of Revelation, quotes from the Book of Enoch, while other passages in the New Testament also seem to be paraphrased from the Book of Enoch.
*The Biblical Canon are the 66 Books of the Old and New Testament of the Holy Scriptures recognized as Divinely inspired. The Protestant and Catholic Canon have respectively 66 and 74 Books, while the Ethiopian Orthodox Canon has 81 Books, which include the Hebrew and Septuagint books together with -among others- the Book of Enoch.

Enoch 1:1-4,9

"The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the days of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed.

And Enoch, a righteous man whose eyes were opened by God took up his parable and said, "I 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 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, and the eternal God will tread upon the earth, even on Mount Sinai and will appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens.

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.”

Enoch clearly states that the "elect and righteous" will be going through the Great Tribulation, as he adds that this will happen when the rebellious will be removed from earth and that is undoubtedly at the end of times when King Jesus comes with His holy ones to judge the ungodly sinners.
As we continue studying this topic in the Holy Bible we will see that Enoch's statement about the Great Tribulation corresponds and aligns with what the other Apostles have stated and what Jesus Himself says on this topic. Read the following Chapters.
The latter is an important criterion to test whether Enoch's message is aligned with the Truth revealed in the Scriptures.
Let us now continue with what the Early Christians taught and to see, if they believed in an easy road for the born-again Christians.

What Did the Early Christians Say?

Abstract

What Did the Early Christians Say?

“But you that suffer for the Name's sake ought to glorify God, because God deemed you worthy that you should bear this name”, a quotation from martyr Hermas (A.D. 150).
“… those holy martyrs of Christ, at the very time when they suffered such torments, were absent from the body, or rather, that the Lord then stood by them, and communed with them.”, according to martyr Polycarp (A.D. 156).
Whatever come, but that I may attain unto Jesus Christ!
“In love to the Lord, he/she will most gladly depart from this life”, said martyr Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195).

Our Prayer

Heavenly Father God, thank You for granting us Your grace and mercy to be faithful to You all the days of our lives, in whatever trial or tribulation that comes our way, by the power of Your Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Almighty Name.

Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans (A.D. 35-105), Chapter 4:

“And why then have I delivered myself over to death, unto fire, unto sword, unto wild beasts? But near to the sword, near to God; in company with wild beasts, in company with God. Only let it be in the name of Jesus Christ, so that we may suffer together with Him.”

Ignatius to the Romans (A.D. 35-105), Chapter 5:

“May naught of things visible and things invisible envy me; that I may attain unto Jesus Christ. Come fire and cross and grappling with wild beasts, [cuttings and mangling,] wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushing of my whole body, come cruel tortures of the devil to assail me. Only be it mine to attain unto Jesus Christ.”

Barnabas (A.D. 70-130), Chapter 4:

“The final stumbling-block (or source of danger) approaches, concerning which it is written, as Enoch says, "For this end the Lord has cut short the times and the days, that His Beloved may hasten; and He will come to the inheritance."
And the prophet also speaks thus: "Ten kingdoms shall reign upon the earth, and a little king shall rise up after them, who shall subdue under one three of the kings.

In like manner Daniel says concerning the same, "And I beheld the fourth beast, wicked and powerful, and more savage than all the beasts of the earth, and how from it sprang up ten horns, and out of them a little budding horn, and how it subdued under one three of the great horns."

Hermas (A.D. 150), Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2, page 52:

“But you that suffer for the Name's sake ought to glorify God, because God deemed you worthy that you should bear this name, and that all your sins should be healed. Reckon yourselves blessed therefore; yea, rather think that you have done a great work, if any of you shall suffer for God's sake. The Lord bestows life upon you, and you perceived it not; for your sins weighed you down, and if you had not suffered for the Name [of the Lord], you had died unto God by reason of your sins."

Hermas (A.D. 150), Chapter 13:

“What did they suffer?" say I. "Listen," said she. "Stripes, imprisonments, great tribulations, crosses, wild beasts, for the Name's sake. Therefore, to them belongs the right side of the Holiness - to them, and to all who shall suffer for the Name.
But for the rest is the left side. Howbeit, to both, to them that sit on the right, and to them that sit on the left, are the same gifts, and the same promises, only they sit on the right and have a certain glory.”

Martyrdom of Polycarp (A.D. 156), Chapter 2:

“But they reached such a pitch of magnanimity [big soul, elevated in character and spirit], that not one of them let a sigh or a groan escape them; thus, proving to us all that those holy martyrs of Christ, at the very time when they suffered such torments, were absent from the body, or rather, that the Lord then stood by them, and communed with them. And, looking to the grace of Christ, they despised all the torments of this world, redeeming themselves from eternal punishment by [the suffering of] a single hour.

For this reason, the fire of their savage executioners appeared cool to them. For they kept before their view escape from that fire which is eternal and never shall be quenched, and looked forward with the eyes of their heart to those good things which are laid up for such as endure; things "which ear has not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man," but were revealed by the Lord to them, inasmuch as they were no longer men, but had already become angels."

Ante-Nicene Fathers (A.D. 180), Volume 1, page 557:

“Let no one imagine that he performs these wonders by divine power, but by the working of magic. And we must not be surprised if, since the demons and apostate spirits are at his service, he through their means performs wonders, by which he leads the inhabitants of the earth astray.

John says further: "And he shall order an image of the beast to be made, and he shall give breath to the image, so that the image shall speak; and he shall cause those to be slain who will not adore it."

He says also: "And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six," that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years."

Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, page 411:

“He then avoids denying Christ through fear by reason of the command; nor does he sell his faith in the hope of the gifts prepared, but in love to the Lord he will most gladly depart from this life; perhaps giving thanks both to him who afforded the cause of his departure hence, and to him who laid the plot against him, for receiving an honorable reason which he himself furnished not, for showing what he is, to him by his patience, and to the Lord in love, by which even before his birth he was manifested to the Lord, who knew the martyr's choice."

Commodianus (A.D. 200), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 215:

“Even now, if you have conquered by good deeds, you are a martyr in Him. You, therefore, who seek to extol martyrdom with your word, in peace clothe yourself with good deeds, and be secure."

by Dennis V. Dare

All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.