In today’s installment of the Book of Enoch,
we’ll be taking a look at the events after Enoch has served both the Watchers
and the Nephilim with their sentences. Not only is he seemingly lifted
up into the heavens by the angels, perhaps a reward for his good work, but he is also
shown the more desolate places in the universe including an ominous barren land, a prison for
the angels and of course, the great lake of fire. But before we get stuck into the nitty
gritty of Enoch journey, I’d like to talk to you about the sponsor of today’s video
Call of War - a free online PVP strategy game. In Call of War, you get to play as various
nations in WW2 and do battle against up to 100 other players as you fight to
control territories. In some cases, these real time skirmishes can take up to weeks to
complete as you and your opponents seek to outwit each other in both the mind and the battlefield.
Take command of infantry, tanks, naval vehicles and the air force to outmaneuver your opponent
and enjoy the rush of successfully pulling off a calculated strike into enemy territory. I’ve
really enjoyed the back and forth that the game has to offer and the thrill of constantly being
kept on my toes as I juggle between offence and defense. Personally, I’ve found it most satisfying
to bombard my opposition with airstrikes as I rain hell-fire down upon an unsuspecting patrol.
Use the link in the description below to download the game for free today and you’ll
get an exclusive gift of 13,000 gold and one month of premium subscription. This offer
is only available for a month, so don’t hesitate! After the judgement of both the Watchers and the
Nephilim, we see Enoch rather unceremoniously snatched from the earth, presumably by
the angels under God’s instructions, where he is taken to a place of darkness.
There, he bears witness to a strange set of beings - those who appeared like
flaming fire, but that when they wished, could also appear as men. Unfortunately, he
does not elaborate on what these beings were, nor do the angels who have taken him appear to
explain it to him either. All he tells us is, “And they took and brought me to a place in which
those who were there were like flaming fire, and when they wished, they appeared as men.” With
this, one might speculate that these were spirits, or perhaps, damned spirits given that
they were held in this place of darkness. It might also be suggested
that these were the Seraphim, those who were high ranking angels that
were also dubbed as the ‘fiery ones.’ We had already seen Enoch encounter
a cherub before meeting with God, so it would not be so outlandish to think
that Seraphim were within his reach too. Enoch continues, “And they brought me to the place
of darkness, and to a mountain the point of whose summit reached to heaven. And I saw the places
of the luminaries and the treasuries of the stars and of the thunder and in the uttermost depths,
where were a fiery bow and arrows and their quiver, and a fiery sword and all the lightnings.”
Here, we see that the angels take Enoch to a mountain top, though whether this is in the
mortal plane or a plane beyond our comprehension is not specified. We learn that here, at the
summit of heaven, Enoch sees the luminaries and the treasuries of the stars, which might
be interpreted as the riches of God, those that glistened with such an intensity that they were
comparable to the stars themselves. Alternatively, it might be said Enoch was taken to such a high
altitude, that he really was beholding the stars themselves and was stunned by the intensity
of the light. Interestingly, he also reports seeing a fiery bow and arrow as well as a fiery
sword that appears amongst streaks of lightning. It is unknown here what relevance that these
elements have, though it might be said that given how high Enoch was, that these weapons
belonged to God, or were representations of his power - possessing weapons made of one
of the most destructive elements of fire. We then see Enoch taken to what he describes as
the ‘living waters’ and to the ‘fire of the west’, though these areas are not detailed beyond this.
It might be said that the living waters were in reference to the seven seas, or perhaps an
aquatic area featured in the divine landscape. The ‘fire of the west’ meanwhile, could have
been yet another reference to hell, or perhaps a more direct relation to the sun setting in the
west. He continues, “And I came to a river of fire in which the fire flows like water and discharges
itself into the great sea towards the west.” Yet again, we cannot be sure if Enoch
is being shown a vision of hell, or whether this is merely another
landscape which exists in the realm of God. Many might draw similarities between the river
of fire seen here and the lake of fire as seen in the Book of Revelations, that which we
understand is reserved for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and liars. Revelations further confirms that
this is something of a ‘second death’ given that those sinners will burn for eternity
in the lake that burns fire and sulfur. Enoch continues that, “I saw the great rivers and
came to the great river and to the great darkness, and went to the place where no flesh walks.
I saw mountains of the darkness of winter and the place whence all the waters of the
deep flow. I saw the mouths of all the rivers of the earth and the mouth of the deep.”
Once more, it is unclear exactly which rivers Enoch is referring to, nor whether
these are rivers found on the earthly realm or the one in heaven. Yet, it could be determined
that he is referring to the rivers that were said to flow from Eden, those which were then separated
into four rivers upon the earth, as told to us in Chapter 2 of Genesis. Here, we understand that
“A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four
headwaters. The name of the first is Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah,
where there is gold. (The Gold of that land; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the
fourth river is the Euphrates.” (Genesis 2:10-14). Given that Enoch tells us he sees the mouths of
all the rivers of the earth and sees the place from whence all the waters of the deep flowed, it
could be suggested that he was taken to Eden.
In chapter 18, he continues on his journey and
tells us that he saw treasuries of all the winds and saw how God had furnished the foundations of
the earth with them. He sees the cornerstone of the earth, those which he deemed were four winds
that bore the earth and the firmament of heaven. It is these very winds, that Enoch describes
as stretching out of the vaults of heaven and are station between the earth and heaven,
forming what we know as the pillars of heaven. He tells us specifically, “I saw
the treasuries of all the winds: I saw how He (God) had furnished with them the
whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth. And I saw the corner-stone of the heaven.
And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven, and have their station between heaven
and earth: these are the pillars of heaven.” These pillars he refers to could
be in reference to the pillars of cloud and fire which are first mentioned in
chapter 13 of the Book of Exodus, after Moses leads the Israelites out of their captivity
in Egypt. In this part of the bible, we are told that the pillar of cloud went ahead
of them by day to guide them on their path, whilst the pillar of fire appeared at night to
give them light. We later see this pillar of cloud sabotage the pursuit by the Pharaoh who was
chasing the Israelites and we see God stand upon both pillars as he looks down to drown Pharaoh
and his men after Moses departs the red sea. However, another idea suggests that these four
winds - or four pillars that Enoch sees - are actually in reference to the four winds as seen
in the bible; these being the East Wind, the West Wind, the North Wind and the South Wind. We see
these winds mentioned in the bible, where they are associated with some rather tremendous events.
For example, we see the winds churn the great sea and we see them decimate and scatter people -
sometimes even empires. In fact, we even see the combined power of the four winds in the Book
of Jeremiah, where the nation of Elam is battered by the winds in an effort to disperse its people.
We even see the four winds channel life back into those who were slain in the book of Ezekiel, when
Ezekiel finds himself in the valley of dry bones. With Enoch seeing these four winds, from
a symbolic point of view, it might be said that he was seeing an indescribable amount of
power or simply, beholding the power of God that could not be put into any other words. It’s
possible that Enoch had no comprehension of what he was actually seeing and simply chalked up his
surroundings to that of the four winds - those which were also interchangeable with the four
corners of earth, or the four corners of heaven. With this, it could be taken to also mean that
Enoch saw the whole earth in all of its entirety. He does continue, “I saw the winds of heaven
which turn and bring the circumference of the sun and all the stars to their setting. I saw
the winds on the earth carrying the clouds: I saw the paths of the angels. I saw at the end
of the earth the firmament of the heaven above.” Believers might get a sense of Enoch’s excitement
in this passage, where he lists so much of what he sees, that it’s almost quite difficult to keep
track, let alone assign much meaning to his words without taking some liberties. As mentioned,
it’s possible Enoch had seen all of earth in all of its entirety, and so it’s not so outlandish
to say that he came to understand how earth worked in terms of its place within the cosmos. He
recognised the role of the sun and the stars and appears to understand the circumventive way
in which planets move in accordance to the sun. He also notes that he sees the clouds being moved,
perhaps hinting another level of understanding in how our ecosystem functions and how the elements
work in tandem with each other, but again it’s hard to say this without speculation. He claims
very briefly that he sees the path of the angels, implying that from where he was and from
the knowledge he gained, he understood the celestials in a way that no man had understood
before and could see them perhaps just as clearly as they could see us. He concludes that he saw
at the end of the earth the firmament of heaven, suggesting that he gained some understanding as
to how the oceans were separated on the earth. He then continues, “And I proceeded and
saw a place which burns day and night, where there are seven mountains of magnificent
stones, three towards the east, and three towards the south. And as for those towards the
east, was of coloured stone, and one of pearl and one of jacinth, and those towards the south
of red stone. But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and
the summit of the throne was of sapphire.” Here Enoch appears to be describing a place
that is constantly illuminated, regardless of the time of day and there in this place, there
were seven mountains made from magnificent stones. The ones in the east however were made of coloured
stone, with one being pearl, one being of jacinth and one being red. In between these mountains,
Enoch describes seeing the middle one reach to the heavens and that it reminded him of the throne
of heaven, where at its apex, was the colour of sapphire. Again, it’s hard to specify exactly
what Enoch is describing without speculation, but mountains in the bible have been considered
to be places that were closest to God and still hold much significance in both Christian and
Jewish cultures. Though, the mountain which Enoch describes here does not seem to be congruent
with any of the mountain mentions in the bible. It is therefore possible that Enoch was seeing
this mountain in another plane of existence, perhaps somewhere between heaven and earth,
especially given that these mountains appear to be made from gems by his descriptions.
He continues, “And I saw flaming fire. And beyond these mountains is a region at the end of the
great earth: there the heavens were completed.” It’s unfortunate here that Enoch doesn’t go into
more detail as to what he is seeing given that whilst we know enough from biblical accounts as to
how the earth was created, we seldom see much into how the heavens were created. What we understand
from this is that beyond the mountain that Enoch sees, there was a region somewhere in what he
calls ‘the end of the earth’ and it was here that he declares that heaven was created, implying
on some level that God had built heaven on earth. But things take a sudden dark turn when Enoch
tells us about the place he is taken next. He declares, “And I saw a deep abyss, with columns
of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike
towards the height and towards the depth.” This place - this deep abyss - is certainly
not somewhere you’d wish to find yourself, especially considering that Enoch tells us
he sees the columns of heavenly fire fall. These columns of fire might again be likened
to the pillar of fire as seen by Moses and the Israealites - that which served them as a
night-light in their escape from Egypt. With this pillar falling, it would imply that this
was a godless place and that the light of God did not reach this particular area, or perhaps
more likely, that God refused to illuminate it. For whatever reason, it could be reasoned that
this, bleak as it seems, is merely a staging area to a region that is far more desolate. Enoch
continues, ‘And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above,
and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds,
but it was a waste and horrible place.” This stark and barren land appears to be yet
another location that gives Enoch the creeps, and with good reason too when we
consider what this place actually is. You see, Enoch does notice seven stars
burning like great mountains in the distance, perhaps the only signs of life here, but he cannot
make sense of them. So with this, he turns to the angel who had been accompanying him through his
adventure and asks him exactly what this place is. The angel, which as we learn is archangel Uriel,
tells him - “This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars
and the host of heaven. And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the
commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their
appointed times. And he was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should
be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.” Unfortunately, Uriel does not give Enoch a
specific answer either, but his words can be interpreted to mean a dark reality. You see, the
stars were considered by some to be the fallen angels themselves and in this context, could have
been the Watchers. In this ‘prison of the stars’, it could be said that Enoch was actually standing
in the custodial quarters of those very angels who had turned against God, by defiling the mortal
women, teaching men the secrets of heaven and fathering the Nephilim. It might also be said
that this prison of these fallen angels was the ‘Duadel’ that was mentioned in the previous
chapters that Archangel Raphael binds Azazel to. This underground void that was thought to have
been located in East Jerusalem and certainly seems like the type of place that one may
consider a ‘prison of the angels’ to look like and given the forsaken environment, definitely
reflects the disdain that God held for them. Yet another idea proposes that the angels who
revolted with Lucifer fell from the heavens like falling stars and with this metaphor, it might be
suggested that these very angels also resided here in this dark and sterile land, agonisingly
awaiting their date with the lake of fire. However, given that Uriel also refers to
this place being the dwelling for the ‘Host of Heaven’, it could be argued that this
was merely reserved for the angelic army, or the ‘lesser angels’, who had a much less
diverse impact in the world and the greater plan. I only mention this because in the next
few chapters (and in the next episode), we’ll be looking at yet another prison of
the angels, one that is constantly emblazoned by pillars of fire and one that Uriel tells
Enoch, traps rogue angels forever and ever.
As always guys, if you’ve enjoyed today’s
episode of the Book of Enoch, then don’t forget to give it a thumbs up and don’t forget
to subscribe for more content just like this. Once again, I’d like to thank Call
of War for sponsoring today’s video. Don’t forget to click the link in the
description box below to check out the ultimate WW2 strategy game and get
your 13,000 gold and month of premium. Until next time
