The Most Ancient Holy Teacher

The most ancient teacher from whom we would do well to learn today is one who was active before the earliest pyramids were built, teaching mankind about God and angels and the calendar and the marvels of creation - known from history and extant texts of the Sumerian King Lists and scriptures such as the Epistle of Jude, Genesis, the Book of Hebrews and his own scriptural writings: En-men-dur-ana, also known as Enmenduranki and as Enoch and as Idris. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En-men-dur-ana 

Ask that you may receive

When we are so assured God must surely will something particular that we have no doubt about it then we are in a true position to be able to count on God for it and act in this assuredness – asking or knocking or seeking or commanding it to be sure – whichever fits the situation. Then having done so we have to follow through to receiving or finding or seeing it done. We must learn that we cannot waver and back out as if the victory was in the asking. The victory is in the receiving – on persiating in certainty we can count on God from the outset right through to the outcome. With a goal that God be thanked.

The Need to be Ready

We need to be ready to die. Anyone who has never known faith and the safekeeping of counting on God, who has not loved like God loves and has not had the joy of hopeful prospects given by God has nothing that will be with them throughout death except their own guilt. Death vaporises everything except faith and hope and love so we cannot be ready for it without having those things in our lives. If we have those things then we can be ready. The coming of the Son of Man will be a similar elimination of all but faith and hope and love. Readiness for it requires having them in our lives.

An Important Faith

How important is believing the message of the Book of Enoch about the Son of Man and who He is to our future prospects? The Son of Man is the One with whom Jesus of Nazareth identified Himself. He put an immense emphasis on people believing this.

John 8

23But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

25“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted upa the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30Even as he spoke, many believed in him.


It is the first step but such an important one. John 8 continues

31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

He Did Not Know

When Satan said to Jesus "If You are the Son of God..." it seems logical that he really did not know. I mean, he was not around nor were any angels when God begat His only-begotten Son. Only God and the Son of Man would know it had happened - and the Holy Spirit who searches all things.

Rather Exciting Communication

It is rather exciting, aside from modern day thoughts of aliens from a distant galaxy seeking to communicate with us, to think that people living in the times before the pyramids who were only just coming out of the Stone Age around 3000 BC endeavoured earnestly to communicate with us the vitally important things one of their greatest kings had learned from the true guardians of all the galaxies. We are its target audience so it was vital that Methuselah and Noah ensure the Book of Enoch survived the Flood to warn us living today there is something worse than that Great Flood coming and we are on the brink of it. It tells us, yes us living today, what we need to do to survive in body but more importantly in soul.

A Dream of God

I once had a vivid dream more vision than dream just after pleading with God to show Himself to me like Jesus promised in Gospel of John chapter 14. One like one of those ancient Greek gods you see in films stood there before me in a long robe to His feet and said "I am God". He told me the next day at work a document of sorts with many names on it would be put on my desk in front of me (this would never normally happen because I simply dealt with invoices and they were put in my intray not on my desk)    "Look at it!". The feeling of certainty it was God the Father was great but proof came during the following day. At the end of the day around 4pm with few left in the office a girl brought a card and circulation envelope with many names on the card signing it as a greetings card and on the envelope to go around all the people in the office. I knew it was the dream fulifilled. I barely remembered to look at it closely but when I did I saw a note saying it had to be back to Janet so-and-so by 4pm. I remembered the dream somehow had mentioned her name too but I didn't know her. I rushed it to her. Last minute! she said. It had to be back so she could get it to the man (a marvelous prophetically gifted man who worked next door and wowed us with poetry from time to time) who was getting married and the bank holiday was next day. It saved the day that I got it to her. God saved the day and showed me how important it is to Him to love ordinary folk even in little ways.

The Anointed Son of Man

What makes us call Jesus 'Jesus Christ'? See we humans are naturally scared of spirits - we want flesh and blood born of our own kindred speaking to us and ruling us - but with all the blessing and anointing of God - enter the Son of Man - the Christ. This is why we need to read Enoch's writings to understand that there is and always has been this Son of Man, anointed by God. Then we can better understand who Jesus is. Knowing He was crucified brings it home and makes it personal.

When Did Enoch Write His Book?

In my reckoning the Book of Enoch comprises texts originally written between 3200 and 2750 BC. The Masoretic has Methuselah born 687 years after Adam was created. My own estimate of Adam being created 5893 years ago has Methuselah born about 5200 years ago or around 3200 BC. This is when Enoch told Methuselah he started to write - just before Enoch was married and Methuselah was born (when Enoch was about 60). Enoch was among humans (king over everyone) another 300 years (walking with God - living God's way). Then he went and spent a while in heaven then returned for a year with books to pass on. This would be around 2900 BC. Then another 100 years passed and some of the contents of one the Book of Noah portions of the Book of Enoch took place around 2800 BC when Noah was born and Lamech feared he might be son of an angel but Enoch assured this was not so. Then more dreams of coming Flood and the final parts of the writings of the Book of Enoch are completed originally by Noah it seems in his early years around 2750 BC at the latest. This chronology would have the Flood 600 years after 2700 BC or 2100 BC. (Note: Convention or tradition seems to have the Flood being much earlier around 2500 BC.)

A Social Revolution

Many are putting the Book of Enoch into general awareness as scripture through social media, like printer publishers did with the KJV in the past. According to this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version it was a commercial printer  publisher decision to print KJV Bibles without the Apocrypha books - to make them cheaper. Now that all books of Bible are free online it is up to us through social media to determine which scriptures people choose to read and choose to mention in churches - many churches will be influenced to include what their members want because they will need to compete with social media. We are in a social revolution similar to that of the printing press that led centuries ago to scriptures being read in English and modern languages in churches instead of in Latin. We can lead through social media like publishers led churches of the past centuries more powerfully than church officialdom. Let not the blind lead the blind but let the Holy Spirit lead us all - from the grass roots, as Enoch and Daniel prophesied.

Aramaic Enoch Scroll

https://lnkd.in/e9bb7GZ If this scroll goes public and has the Parables of the Book of Enoch included, so much could then be proven about why Jesus called Himself 'The Son of Man".

Of What Account Were They?

People claim the contents of the Bible is determined by a canon (church laws) and the Book of Enoch is not included, yet how true is that? The main Bible that determined other Bibles' contents seems to have been the King James Version but not in itself controlled by any Church Council regarding which books it included but rarher the scholars of Oxford and Cambridge universities. Of what account were they? 

Who Wrote the Book of Enoch?

Who could have written the Book of Enoch if not those by whom it says it is written? If it wasn't Enoch and Noah and Methuselah who wrote it they must have been the cleverest person in history to have gotten all the historic details of the Calcholithic and Early Bronze Age I and II so correct with such precision and accuracy plus they must have been inspired by a spirit from God to have gotten the Parables section so truthful regarding the Son of Man so anyone with knowledge of such history and real faith must ask whether such a person could make up a fake book. We could believe it now or we could doubt it and simply wait for very ancient fragments to be discovered much older than the Dead Sea Scrolls. I'm done with doubting it personally and will carry on believing it since it leads to truth Jesus said I must believe.

Know the Certainty

The (extant) Instructions of Sharappak begins
[http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr561.htm]
"In those days, in those far remote days, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years, at that time the wise one who knew how to speak in elaborate words lived in the Land; Curuppag, the wise one, who knew how to speak with elaborate words lived in the Land. Curuppag gave instructions to his son; Curuppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu gave instructions to his son Zi-ud-sura: My son, let me give you instructions: you should pay attention! Zi-ud-sura, let me speak a word to you: you should pay attention! Do not neglect my instructions! Do not transgress the words I speak! The instructions of an old man are precious; you should comply with them!"

Ziudsura = Noah
Curuppag = Lamech
Ubaratutu = Methuselah

The (extant) Sumerian King Lists show Udaratutu as successor to the king who ascended to the angels to be taught by them (Enmendurana = Enoch]

Jesus is God's life's work

The Oldest Holy Scriptures

Book of Enoch, to a believer, survives as arguably the oldest scripture existing today. It is recorded (Jasher) that Enoch living in the Sumerian Copper-Stone Age around 3000 BC was first to learn how to write testimonial prose at a time when cuneiform was limited to lists and numbers. Archaeologists date the start of the Fara Period when writing prose books started to around the 25th century BC. Enoch, the first to write like this, using a form of writing that could record speech and thought, said to his son (Biblical Methuselah) that he started writing before his marriage. This would be around the 30th century BC. Sumerian history records that he ascended with angels to where the throne of God is. The Bible says this was in his 365th year which would put it in the 28th century BC. The majority of the Book of Enoch consists of writings which report to be from this time. Clearly he had been writing before then (as recorded in the account of his first prophetic dream). It appears Adam was created in the 38th century BC and the Bible says Enoch was born over 600 years later in the 32nd or 31st century BC. So writing characteristic of the Fara Period may have existed as early as the 31st century BC and some of the Book of Enoch texts existed in the 28th century BC.

God's Masterplan

The Book of Enoch tells us the great plan of God to deal with wickedness - make a new righteous people and do away with the wicked and ungodly. Within this plan emerges His even greater plan from before the beginning of everything - make a human Son begotten of Himself and keep this person pure by hiding Him from all the rest of creation while grooming Him to be the new boss to sit on God's throne. Then to make the righteous replacement people to replace the wicked, send this Son of Man for a little while before bringing Him back into hiding until the time comes to judge and remove the wicked from among the righteous.

The Law of Christ

The Law of Christ: What is that? A sequence of steps: "Stop sinning", "Believe that I am", "Hold to My teaching", "Stop sinning all the more as truth sets you free", "Hold to My teaching", "Now you are friends", "Receive the Holy Spirit", "I will come to him and the Father will come to him, and dwell with him", "Hold to My teaching", "Bear much fruit", "Remain in Me and let My words remain in you", "Live forever - and I will raise him up on the Last Day"

Brightest Lights of the Fara Period

How did the writings we have today in the Book of Enoch survive the 'Noah's Flood'? Well another book surviving the flood might give a clue - this book got written down again not long after the flood by a scribal priest and two copies from that time - extant copies - still survive in museums in Oxford and Chicago - The Instructions of Sharappak - written record of proverbs passed on from Lamech to Noah - so either Noah remembered them or copies survived the flood - perhaps the cities from before the flood like Methuselah's capital Shurappak were excavated when being rebuilt after the flood (the city of Sharappak site Tel Fara shows the flood layer and rebuilding on top of it and Sumerian history backs this up) - Noah would have known this city well and that it held libraries of books from before the flood (it is still famous for them and this gave that period the characteristics of first book writing so the period is now known as the Fara Period).

The Nature of the Son

Jesus agreed He could rightly be called a god in the same way other great leaders can. And He can rightly be called Lord because He is a great lord and powerful master. But He is and in some mysterious spirit way always has been human. Unlike God. Hence He is the Son of Man. And God has made Him truly Lord by raising Him from the dead after He was crucified. Because His being first of all God's makings He is before time and is not changed in His nature at all by time because He is Lord over time. This is how He is like God the Father but God the Father is greater.

The Son of Man was always human

If Jesus is God then we need a normal human who isn't God to intercede with Him and represent normal humans with Him - someone like a pope say - hence there are many who love such doctrine - Truth is, Jesus was always human and normal from before time but hidden from sin until He was sent. This is why He is called the Son of Man. That is why, as Enoch explained, He was hidden by God - he was hidden away from corrupting influences and events in the world so He would be perfect to be born into the world - Jesus Christ. He was the Son of Man before His coming in Bethlehem so this means He was always human even in heaven before He came and for this reason God hides Him away to spare Him the constant temptation a human suffers -yet for a few decades He did suffer the temptations we suffer so He knows what it is like and this is what is so important about Him being the Son of Man. 

Jude quoting Noah

The Bible's Epistle of Jude quotes not just one verse from the Book of Enoch but two - from the beginning and again from the middle. The first is quoting Enoch the prophet himself writing by the Holy Spirit. This is chapter 1 verse 9. The second quote in the same verses of Jude is a quoting Noah (Noah's Flood Noah) who contributed part of the texts combined together in what is called the Book of Enoch. This is from chapter 60 verse 8 (in R H Charles' chapter/verse numbering) which states that Enoch was seventh from Adam. It reads "But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named Dûidâin, on the east of the garden where the elect and righteous dwell, where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord of Spirits created." This "seventh from Adam" is supported by modern archaeology which found the Sumerian King List regarding kings of the first civilisation Sumer before the Flood which states that Adam (it calls him Alulim) was first king and was created by God having no earthly parents and that Enoch (called Enmenduranki or Enmendurana) was seventh king after Adam. Seventh from Adam. Noah's writing might also have been referring to Enoch being seventh generation after Adam, as later genealogies show.

Believing the Apocalypse

I always kept an open mind about Revelation, The Apocalypse, knowing it says dire things, yet never hearing anyone back it up or express certainty about it, so I admitted to God I was not certain it was authentic - not that I refused to believe it - I just did not have it in me to be certain. After all it is dire what it says in 21:8. And there is weird stuff all through it. I needed to be sure and asked God about it. A friend pointed out the similarity between Rev 13 and Daniel 7 - the Beast in Rev and empires prophesied in Daniel and I suddenly saw what they meant and just knew in my heart the same Spirit inspiring Daniel with the dream (and we know it came true with Babylon followed by Persia then Greece) was the inspirer of Jesus showing John what would take place yet still. The continuity was there. I believed it - after decades of reading it I was sure. Then to see Enoch reflected in it too - it is so profound it could only be God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit behind it as behind Enoch and then Daniel too.

I used to be trinitarian

I was brought up to be a trinitarian pastor like my father and his father - I taught trinitarian teachings dutifully but hated not being true to the scriptures in spirit and truth - but I asked to know God by visitation - for God to show Himself as Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Well God showed Himself to me in a real dream with signs following and said "I am God" - weeks later Jesus came to me as I walked near my home and later gave me proof it had been Him - and later the Holy Spirit visited me in a church service - and then I was shown the Book of Enoch and got a better view of Father and Son from it - God and the Son of Man who God calls His Son - then what really did it was a man online telling me to look up where in the scriptures it says "God the Son" - I was stunned not to find it anywhere - so I repented - though breaking the old habit of saying "God the Son" took a long time. I still need deprogramming with trinitarian concepts well embedded in my psyche. Preaching this helps. I came across Arians too and that helped. Many are persuaded of Soccininan teachings but after struggling with such teachings I'm convinced of the pre-existence of Christ. Just that He came from the Father before time began as a Son by birth - the only one. The only-begotten Son.

He that liveth for ever

I once went to a pentecostal church because a friend promised I would witness the true Holy Spirit there and took me along. The message I heard spoken in tongues of angels became English in my mind as it was spoken (maybe this is gift of interpretation) and the words were clear "Look at the trees how they put forth buds and leaves. They do so by the authority of the name of Lord Jesus Christ" and it continued about planets but I have forgotten the words. Weeks later I read the Book of Enoch for the first time browsing in a church bookshop. I opened it and read almost the exact words of that message in tongues - yet the words were written five thousand years ago! Thank God it has been so well preserved and translated over and over without losing its original inspired message from the Holy Spirit. It says in chapter 5:1-2 "Observe ye how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit - wherefore give ye heed and know with regard to all His works and recognise how He that liveth for ever hath made them so and all His works go on thus from year to year." This is not anywhere in the Bible scriptures so I had never heard it before and the speaker in tongues was church leader but did not believe in any scriptures outside the Bible (he later strongly rebuked me for even mentioning the Book of Enoch and told me not to return to that church - for this and other reasons). So the Holy Spirit Himself was using the Book of Enoch together with His gifts to tell me even now that Jesus is He who lives for ever and is this Lord spoken of in the prophecies.

The Truth worth dying for

The Gospel of John chapter 18 verse 37 '"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."'
He died testifying to something true and died knowingly. It was for you, for me. So what truth could be so important and so potentially beneficial to His hearers and to us that it was worth dying to reveal? Surely the greatest revelation uniquely associated with the coming and life on Earth of Jesus Christ: His resurrection. God in love and power was and is and ever will be so dependable that Jesus could die depending on Him to raise Him from the dead; and God did just that. God raised His obedient and much loved Son to live forever. That love and power and dependability of God is the truth Jesus put out there and died to do so.

CHRIST DIED FOR YOU

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)

Oh that we could forget the darkness people remind us we have within - God is light and in Him is no darkness - this takes precedence - just for a bit let's ignore darkness in others and in ourselves and focus on the God of light in whom is no darkness at all.
CHRIST DIED FOR YOU
The Holy Spirit is never a liar and is always full of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

He is the Word of God

Hebrews explains very nicely indeed why the Son of God is called the Word of God. Hebrews chapter 1 begins (American King James Version) "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
He is the "express image of God" so not an inanimate image like a mountain reflected in a lake or a door reflected in a mirror - not an incidental reflection of God - not even a family likeness of God - but an image EXPRESSED by God - so like God spoke everything that Jesus is as a kind of autobiography of Himself - God expressed what He Himself is like by making His Son so much like Himself - yet human from the start and then eventually not just human or humanlike but real human flesh like us.

Earliest Scripture

The earliest scriptural writings we have I believe are in the Book of Enoch but it is preserved through the ages and retranslated over and over. Another writer of scripture-like writings around the time of Enoch was Cainan (the Book of Jasher records). The earliest ‘scriptures’ found actually surviving intact from when they were written come from the descendants of Enoch. The Instructions of Sharappak is the best example we have preserved as extant text and it starts: "In those days, in those far remote days, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years, at that time the wise one who knew how to speak in elaborate words lived in the Land; Sharappak [biblical name Lamech], the wise one, who knew how to speak with elaborate words lived in the Land. Sharappak gave instructions to his son; Sharappak, the son of Ubara-Tutu [Methuselah] gave instructions to his son Zi-ud-sura [Noah]: My son, let me give you instructions: you should pay attention! Zi-ud-sura, let me speak a word to you: you should pay attention! ..." -- translation of the 'Instructions of Sharappak', 3rd Mill BC. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr561.htm . * Note: Methuselah [Ubara-Tutu] was son of Enoch [En-men-dur-anki] who was son of Jared who was son of Mahalalel who was son of Kainan (a teacher of righteousness) who was son of Enos who was son of Seth who was son of Adam [Sumerian name Alulim] who was first king of Sumer and ruled from Eridu the first city, who had no earthly parents because he was created by God. We find these people listed in the Sumerian King List, another extant document from later after the Flood ( http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm ), and in Genesis and in the Book of Jasher too. The latter tells that Methuselah succeeded Enoch as king of Sumer and was last king before the Flood came in Noah's time. Noah was Methuselah's grandson and Noah's father Lamech did not become king: both Jasher and Sumerian King List agree on this. Jasher tells us that Lamech (Shurappak) did not follow God as closely as Enoch and Methuselah and Noah. Yet his 'Instructions of Sharappak' writings of proverbs for his son Noah are reminiscent of scriptural proverbs in Bible scripture.

Essential

It is essential to being free from mortal sin in this life to believe that not only is Jesus the Son of Man but He has precedence over time itself because He was before time began - hence He said "Before Abraham was born, I am". (See John 8)

Believe This

God was there before the things in the universe that work in time and form what we call time existed. It was in this arche - this beginning - when only the primary things - God and from God His Word, His Son, His Son of Man, existed - these were necessarily preceding all things because all things submit the the authority of what precedes them - arche - beginning. The Son is that arche (Rev 3:14) http://biblehub.com/text/revelation/3-14.htm and time itself owes homage to Him who preceded time: "Before Abraham was, I am" - His "I am" shows He is greater than time itself because He precedes time. Believe this and you will live. If not, if you never believe it you will die in your sins. (John 8)

A Likely Future

My reading of prophecies like Revelation 11 suggests to me Jerusalem decades from now could be as bad as Sodom - temple rebuilt in it - decadent - like Egypt meaning believers have very tough time there - High Priest using power wickedly - 'Wicked Priest' - 'Man of Lies' - 'Man of Lawlessness' - meanwhile 'Beast' empire world power rising - occupies Jerusalem to some extent (or agents are there or influence) - sheep are unfaithful because they do not sanctify God or the temple - sheep are blind (Enoch's dream) - possibly a sheep becomes warlike - Enoch's dream's 'ram' (dabela) - world tries to prevent it gaining power - two witmesses appear and prophesy frustrating things and bring God's judgments like Elijah did - people vexed - Beast agents kill the witnesses - world events cataclysmic as end approaching - witnesses resurrected and ascend - Wicked Priest frustrated by the witnesses ascending - all a sign of the coming demise of Wicked Priest and the Beast at the coming of Christ - terrible earthqiake splits Jerusalem into three - terrible judgments commence on Beast empire but it continues to rise - it instigates reign of oppression of believers - Second Beast rises - 666 not far away - tribulation times for believers but wicked dying constantly in apocalyptic plagues and judgments as God starts their massive scale removal - all could be by 2060 AD - leading up to return of Christ - ram sheep under great pressure but is saved as Christ returns - resurrection - Beast and Wicked Priest destroyed by word of Christ at His return - start of a thousand years of judgments by Christ on whole earth - all happening probably by 2200 AD.

Powers of the Coming Age

Tasting the powers of the coming age:

"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." (Hebrews 6:4-6)

The ability to command nature - storms that are stilled, wild animals that obey, speaking with tongues of angels, justice and victory in governing, judging like Samson of old, heard alwaya by God, working alongside angels - all these "powers of the coming age" can be tasted now - but we must forever live up to it once we receive the foretaste.

The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God

"The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God"
http://biblehub.com/revelation/3-14.htm

The Apostle John knew and believed that Jesus pre-existed before all things and that is why Jesus is over all things. He received this from John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit. In his gospel he wrote: 'John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.'"'

The 'beginning' of God's creation is the 'ruler' of God's creation.

Strongs 746 http://biblehub.com/greek/746.htm

746 arxḗ – properly, from the beginning (temporal sense), i.e. "the initial (starting) point"; (figuratively) what comes first and therefore is chief (foremost), i.e. has the priority because ahead of the rest ("preeminent").

The Noah's Ark Flood

The Flood: Global or local? What does the Book of Enoch say?

Book of Enoch Chapter 89

And one of those four went to othat white bull and instructed him in a secret, without his being terrified: he was born a bull and became a man, and built for himself a great vessel and dwelt thereon; and three bulls dwelt with him in that vessel and they were covered in. And again I raised mine eyes towards heaven and saw a lofty roof, with seven water torrents thereon, and those torrents flowed with much water into an enclosure. And I saw again, and behold fountains were opened on the surface of that great enclosure, and that water began to swell and rise upon the surface, and I saw that enclosure till all its surface was covered with water. And the water, the darkness, and mist increased upon it; and as I looked at the height of that water, that water had risen above the height of that enclosure, and was streaming over that enclosure, and it stood upon the earth. And all the cattle of that enclosure were gathered together until I saw how they sank and were swallowed up and perished in that water. But that vessel floated on the water, while all the oxen and elephants and camels and asses sank to the bottom with all the animals, so that I could no longer see them, and they were not able to escape, (but) perished and sank into the depths. And again I saw in the vision till those water torrents were removed from that high roof, and the chasms of the earth were levelled up and other abysses were opened. Then the water began to run down into these, till the earth became visible; but that vessel settled on the earth, and the darkness retired and light appeared. But that white bull which had become a man came out of that vessel, and the three bulls with him, and one of those three was white like that bull, and one of them was red as blood, and one black: and that white bull departed from them.

"... And all the cattle of that enclosure were gathered together until I saw how they sank and were swallowed up and perished in that water. ..,"

If this is translated coreectly, and it is unlikely a dream like this would be distorted, then the obvious meaning,  given by very momentous prophetic foretelling to Enoch, is that all humans were within the bounds of an area surrounded by higher ground that kept in the flood waters until that high ground itself overflowed to the surrounding land. Looking at Sumer and its cities (apart from Shush - Susa) they were in a flood plain surrounded by higher ground. So only this flood plain needed to be flooded to kill them. Others had been killed already in surrounding areas before this flood.

"And again I raised mine eyes towards heaven and saw a lofty roof, with seven water torrents thereon, and those torrents flowed with much water into an enclosure. And I saw again, and behold fountains were opened on the surface of that great enclosure, and that water began to swell and rise upon the surface, and I saw that enclosure till all its surface was covered with water. And the water, the darkness, and mist increased upon it; and as I looked at the height of that water, that water had risen above the height of that enclosure, and was streaming over that enclosure, and it stood upon the earth."

So the water rose over the height of mountains or higher ground surrounding the plains of Iraq (Sumer) until it flowed beyond those mountains and hills and "stood upon the Earth". Ararat is where the ark settled but that is not necessarily the modern Mount Ararat but maybe the Mountains of Armenia and East of there in Iran the Zagros mountains "East of Shinar". So at least the Flood reached this far so the basin ("enclosure") it filled might be Zagros Mountains in East and Armenian Mountains in North and Palestine Hills in West and Saudi Arabia mountains in South. Then over all these mountains to beyond them a tsunami might have gushed to hit Susa in Iran and Egypt and Africa and Turkey and Georgia and Russia. So this wide area would have been rendered devoid of animal life by the greatest tsunami in human history. So to repopulate it the animals of the ark could be let disperse again and humans gradually follow after their scattering following the confusing of languages of Babel. But not necessarily global. Historic and true though. Just not fanciful.

Build the Temple

After earnest prayer one day in 1994 I suddenly got a vision of a building sand bucket being tipped out and the words "Build the temple!". I asked for confirmation three-fold and went to a church that evening where three girls in sunday school sang a song they wrote "build build build the temple; build build build the temple" then two speakers in turn spoke about building the temple - one about David being told his son would do it and David was gobsmacked and said to God "What am I and what is my family that You would give me this honor!". 

Who do people say the Holy Spirit is?

Some think and say that the Holy Spirit is the sum of certain qualities of God the Father and some that He is the spirit of Jesus but to me the Holy Spirit comes as a person distinct from God the Father (indeed like water flowing from God's throne) - once He gave me a vision message that changed my life and another time years later He (almost but not quite audibly) literally whispered in my ear the answer to a question I was pondering (using a wise way to prove He was not my imagination) - this was not God the Father visiting me personally. There is obvious logic which says He is like a many branching stream and agent of God - just consider millions of churches around the world where visitation by the Holy Spirit is experienced frequently in meetings - think of just one Sunday (or Saturday, Sabbath) and at any time thousands or millions might be experiencing His visitation manifested in gifts of the Spirit - these visitations are from the kind of person who can be in many places at once - saying different things through different people - while God is maybe at that moment seated on His throne in glory.

Enoch's Writings in Sumerian Times

Scholars and archaeologists study cuneiform writings from the time of Enoch and often unintentional verification details in The Book of Enoch improves as more and more cuneiform is analysed and studied and more digs take place and further libraries and other artefacts are discovered. Actual extant texts from just centuries after the time of Enoch do exist. The Instructions of Shurappak is a surviving extant text translating earlier texts or oral traditions actually dating from Enoch's time and his son and grandson's time when his great grandson was growing up. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak .

How did these Sumerian texts found today as parts of the Book of Enoch and Instructions of Sharappak survive the Flood around 2200 BC so that after it around 2100 to 2000 BC scribes were writing copies of some of it? The Instructions of Sharappak presumably survived because they were proverbs given by Noah's father to Noah. It seems Noah might have either passed them on in oral form or in written form to those who later made them into the texts of which we have two actual surviving copies today. If this happened to the Instructions of Sharappak then it seems plausible the same could have happened to the writings we have passed down and translated over and over in the Book of Enoch (found too among the Dead Sea Scrolls).

The Sixth Seal

Revelation chapter 6:
"I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, 'Come!'"
...
"I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."
What is a seal? A document sealed is one that cannot open until the breaking of the seal. The things sealed are things NOT allowed to happen in any circumstance until an appointed time. Only one person could open that Rev set of seals so nobody else could bring about those kinds of events spoken of in the sealed document, and the one worthy only opens it in God's time. So the events can never be allowed to happen until the seal is broken. There is a saying "So and so will stop at nothing if ..." but God does not behave as one who will stop at nothing - He stops from allowing the kinds of events like the Revelation 6 sixth seal but eventually even those events will be allowed. I think soon this sixth seal will be broken by Lord Jesus if it hasn't be broken by Him already. This does not mean immediately the apocalyptic events will happen, in my understanding, but that once that seal is broken they are no longer ruled out - and eventually (Revelation chapter 16 shows) they will happen.
So once that sixth seal is broken by Jesus Christ a whole load of things are suddenly on that table that were kept off it before.

Emanuel

What does Emanuel mean? What does "God is with us" mean? How is its meaning to be applied to the coming of Jesus? It means by the work of Jesus God would dwell with those who love Jesus and keep and obey His teachings and Jesus too dwells with them. John 14: 23-24 'Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."'

"Express image"

If people think Jesus is God Himself they lose the meaning of many verses including that great verse in Hebrews 1:3 that says the Son is the express image of God. If the Son is God then He is simply and vainly an image of Himself which makes that verse and the belief the verse expresses simply meaningless.

It is all in line with prevailing philosphies among the Greeks when the scriptures of John and the epistle to Hebrews were written, such as Plato's theory of forms ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms ) - we see the Moon and sometimes it is larger than other times but the Moon itself is neither changing in size nor changing much in distance away but rather a projected image of the Moon through the lens of the atmosphere is what really changes in size - so there is the physical Moon (its substance or 'physis') but also the 'form' which that 'physis' produces and the form is 'in' the physis. This kind of thinking must have prevailed in new testament scripture times because it is evident in how scripture writers described the relationship between Father and Son and also in later writings like Tertulian's. Yet it is the Holy Spirit really behind it all.

I think misunderatanding is often caused by wanting to interpret certain verses to fit with favoured dogmas rather than the other way around - there might be 1000 verses saying Jesus Son of God clearly then one or three that are opache but could be interpreted to suggest what demoniatuonal church dogma says but this is enough, fools think, to outweigh the 1000.

Why the fuss about all this? The fuss is because a person will die in their sins unless they realise properly who Jesus is and believe it and follow Him by holding to His sayings (John 8).

We all need setting free and taking it to heart that the Messiah actually did die for you and I encourages us that the God of Jesus must be able and willing to help.

You need to believe The Son of Man was alive and well before even Abraham was born. This is how you can also believe He will be alive and well forever so He can make you a child of God forever and intercede and bring you grace and truth to keep you that way. "I am He that lives and was dead and see I am alive forever," He says.

An Inspired Ancient Book

In 1995 I sought a church where the Holy Spirit was manifested with gifts of the Spirit. A local church and government leader told me to come with him to a church where I would certainly witness this. A man there spoke a message in tongues that sounded angelic and each sentence became English in my head. "Consider the trees how they put forth buds and leaves - they do this by the authority of the name of Lord Jesus Christ" was what I heard. Then the speaker himself said those very words in English. A little later I was in a bookshop and came across the Book of Enoch. I opened it and read:  [Enoch 5:1-4] "Observe how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give heed and know with regard to all His works, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so. And all His works go on thus from year to year for ever, and all the tasks which they accomplish for Him, and their tasks change not, but according as God hath ordained so is it done. And behold how the sea and the rivers in like manner accomplish and change not their tasks from His commandments. But ye -- ye have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, But ye have turned away and spoken proud and hard words With your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace." It was clear this book had the same inspirer who inspired the interpretation of tongues earlier - the Holy Spirit.

Some Alive Today Might Never Die

By my reckoning it is plausible that some alive today could be among the ones who will be alive at the start of Christ's reign - see Enoch 91 http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe097.htm , the tenth week is the last 700 years of the seven thousand years that started with Adam being made. The judgement of the living (by Christ) starts in the ninth week. The final judgment of dead and living by God starts not at the end of the tenth week (7000 AM) but in its seventh part (compare Enoch was born in the seventh part of the first week and his birth works out from other scripture to be around 650 AM) so that could be 6950 AM approximately. So from other scripture we get the time of judgment by Christ being a thousand years (which fits with starting in the ninth week) so it might start around 5950 AM which could be just decades or even less away. It also says in Revelation Satan will start a war at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ so that could mean it ends around 6940 AM and starts with the return of Christ a thousand years before that so around 5940 AM. So it is all the more plausible that people alive today could live to see it and those who believe and are alive to see would be caught up with Christ in the air and so never actually die.

How Jesus Alluded to Enoch

Jesus identified with the Son of Man in the prophecy of Enoch chapter 62, well read in Jesus' time. He clearly alludes to or quotes it when He speaks of people seeing the Son of Man sitting at God's right hand and coming in the clouds of heaven - paralleling "see the Son of Man sitting on the throne of His glory" in Enoch 62.
Enoch chapter 62

And thus the Lord commanded the kings and the mighty and the exalted, and those who dwell on the earth, and said: 'Open your eyes and lift up your horns if ye are able to recognize the Elect One.'

And the Lord of Spirits seated him on the throne of His glory,
And the spirit of righteousness was poured out upon him,
And the word of his mouth slays all the sinners,
And all the unrighteous are destroyed from before his face.
And there shall stand up in that day all the kings and the mighty,
And the exalted and those who hold the earth,
And they shall see and recognize How he sits on the throne of his glory,
And righteousness is judged before him,
And no lying word is spoken before him.

Then shall pain come upon them as on a woman in travail,
[And she has pain in bringing forth]
When her child enters the mouth of the womb,
And she has pain in bringing forth.

And one portion of them shall look on the other,
And they shall be terrified,
And they shall be downcast of countenance,
And pain shall seize them,
When they see that Son of Man Sitting on the throne of his glory.

And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden.

For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden,
And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might,
And revealed him to the elect.

And the congregation of the elect and holy shall be sown,
And all the elect shall stand before him on that day.

And all the kings and the mighty and the exalted and those who rule the earth
Shall fall down before him on their faces,
And worship and set their hope upon that Son of Man,
And petition him and supplicate for mercy at his hands.

Nevertheless that Lord of Spirits will so press them
That they shall hastily go forth from His presence,
And their faces shall be filled with shame,
And the darkness grow deeper on their faces.
And He will deliver them to the angels for punishment,
To execute vengeance on them because they have oppressed His children and His elect
And they shall be a spectacle for the righteous and for His elect:
They shall rejoice over them,
Because the wrath of the Lord of Spirits resteth upon them,
And His sword is drunk with their blood.
And the righteous and elect shall be saved on that day,
And they shall never thenceforward see the face of the sinners and unrighteous.

And the Lord of Spirits will abide over them,
And with that Son of Man shall they eat
And lie down and rise up for ever and ever.

And the righteous and elect shall have risen from the earth,
And ceased to be of downcast countenance.

And they shall have been clothed with garments of glory,
And these shall be the garments of life from the Lord of Spirits:
And your garments shall not grow old,
Nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits.

The Writer of Revelation Believed Jesus Pre-existed

Compare these two passages (and allow for translation differences but it is an obvious comparison even allowing for translations): Daniel 10v5-7 and Revelation 1v12-16. See the description of the Son of Man and see how John's description deliberately copies Daniel's and in the exact same order except the description of His 'face' which is at the end in John's description. (For the full passages see at bottom, below.)

* a man (translation of Son of Man?) / one like a Son of Man
* dressed in fine linen / a robe
* around waste - golden belt / golden sash
* face like lightning / sun shining
* eyes like flaming torches / blazing fire
* voice like the sound of multitude / rushing waters

Clearly John is saying something here.

Daniel 10v5-7 "I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves."

Revelation 1v12-16 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

Glorification

Glorification is a mystery - how a human contemplating God's glory is glorified like Moses with a shining face and like the Son of Man with unfading glory seen by John in his Revelation vision - and such glory is passed on when such a person's glory is in turn contemplated "we who with unvelied faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is Spirit" wrote Paul. Yet we do not cease to be human. Neither is the glorified Son of Man any less a human being. 

Logos

The Word, I believe, was the spoken word of God by which the Son of Man was begotten by God as the Only-begotten Son of God. This Son of Man was the elect anointed one through whom the Father, God, made all things. Then after they made flesh and after many centuries the Son of Man, still that Word of God, became flesh. This is Jesus. Still though He is both Son of Man and Word of God and both Lord and Christ risen from the dead after the cross. He will always be this Son of Man and Word of God and always human - for us.

Black Holes

oOften in scripture it mentions God stretching out the heavens - and like when you stretch out fabric you pin it in place so it doesn't spring back. Maybe black holes are those pins.

Uncertain Future

We face an uncertain future - uncertain for us but not for God. The times are changing and the planet too. The prayer of Enoch as he prophetically saw ahead a great flood about to sweep civilisation is light for us to live by so we might escape what is coming. Enoch 83:6-8 (Enoch's prayer) "Now then, O God, Lord and mighty King, I entreat thee, and beseech thee to grant my prayer, that a posterity may be left to me on earth, and that the whole human race may not perish; that the earth may not be left destitute, and destruction take place for ever. O my Lord, let the race perish from off the earth which has offended thee, but a righteous and upright race establish for a posterity for ever. Hide not thy face, O Lord, from the prayer of thy servant."

John the Baptist believed Jesus Pre-existed

(John 1:29-31) 'The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”'

John the Baptist believed Jesus his cousin pre-existed. John was concieved before Jesus was concieved yet he is on record saying Jesus existed before he did. So John the Baptist did not pre-exist before Jesus and neither did we. But Jesus did exist even before He, Jesus, was concieved: This is the testimony of John the Baptist.

All About Spirit

It is all about what comes from Spirit from God Himself and since it is only God Himself that existed before anything was created the very beginning of Jesus (before time) was only from God Himself and only by Spirit. The Son of Man was created and begotten only from Spirit and only from and by God Himself so He was entirely spirit since only spirit existed before all things were created. So He more than anyone is the Son of God. Then aeons later in our time and space in this created universe He was made again by being made flesh and again it was by God and by Spirit.

He is

"I am He that lives and was dead and behold I am alive forever"

When you see Jesus after His resurrection as described by John at the end of his gospel - Jesus standing plainly on the shore asking His disciples fishing if they caught anything then giving a sign it is Him by giving them a great catch - Jesus just stood there, risen, calm, victorious, work of the cross done and dusted - He just is - He is truly now simply "I am".

We can even experience Him like this today if we love Him and keep His words - He is the same. The Master.

Reasonable?

It seems reasonable to me that the Son would come forth out of God in some way, before Creation, such that He was first part of God then became an individual being - so at first actually being God then as God produced Him from Himself He becomes the Son. 

Who He is

I feel sure that as recorded in John 8, when Jesus said several times in different ways "I am" He is alluding to the authority He came with to speak to Israel being like that of Moses, except in this case God did not just send Him but was in Him. And as Jesus sends any of us, or simply as we experientially know Him, in turn He is in us. And as we know Jesus experientially, so by proxy we are knowing God because He know God fully. So when Jesus says 'I am' it is because He is full of the experiential knowledge of God, of who God is.

Compare these two scriptures

Compare these two passages of scripture, one (Daniel 10) from centuries BC, the other (Revelation 1) from first century AD.

Daniel 10v5-7 "I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves."

Revelation 1v12-16 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

Jesus is Lord

Some say Jesus is God. That can be confusing or a sign of confusion. He is Lord. Only God is greater. All Nature obeys Him. He is Lord in the very nature of what He is. He has complete mastery over our innermost being and all the atoms in our bodies and the processes of our minds and physical nature. Yet God is greater than He is.

We Have Testimony

We have testimony from Jesus that disciples can have Him speaking and acting through them so we can believe He Himself was in John as John revealed truths about Jesus so Jesus was revealing truths about Himself through John. Two great truths are revealed by Jesus about Himself through John. Firstly that He is the incarnation of the Logos and here through John Jesus uses a clear reference back to sayings of Heraclitus about the Logos that is effectively the objective truth about all things that might or might not be known or acknowledged by humans but even so is nevertheless true. This is of course found in the prologue of John's gospel. Secondly, Jesus showed John Himself at the start of His revelation recorded in the Book of Revelation as identical with the one like a son of man seen by Daniel and through John, Jesus had it recorded how He looked such that the description is a match with the description Daniel gave of this mysterious being. So Jesus identified Himself through John as a mysterious being who interacted caringly with Daniel hundreds of years before Jesus was born. So we can put these two together and in these verses Jesus is showing Himself to be a mysterious and seldom seen being like a human but angelic who was with God in times long before His birth on earth and was the actual truth about all things manifested as a human-like being. This Jesus still is even though He was born a real actual human and died and rose again to live forever. It is Jesus who reveals all this about Himself through John His beloved disciple.

The Righteous Plant

It is remarkable that Abraham was chosen, foreknown and predestined to be the 'root of the plant of righteousness' when you would expect that Noah had already been that. It seems possible but still problematic that it required a particular course of life which Noah had not taken but Abraham took. There was something about Abraham that was not true of Noah, but I know not what. Mysterious. Abraham was born to a more pagan father perhaps than Noah had been - Terah maybe had a more idolatrous past from which Abraham would make a clean break by the power of pure faith alone. Lamech had not walked in the righteous ways of Enoch like his father Methuselah had done but he is not recorded in history as a pagan idolater. Maybe this clean break from parental pagan tradition is what made Abraham special in God's plan. Establishing the example of righteousness started by faith alone.

Ain't that the truth?!

There is a philosophical insight by an ancient Greek sage named Heraclitus which described a common truth awareness existing in the Universe that is manifest to each of us as a flash inspirational realisation of background truth from time to time that can be transitory in our minds then disappear like a forgotten dream as our thoughts take over - he called it the Logos. Later it was compared to something like a ledger of the universe - a tangible existence of common truth. We could nowadays call it objective truth. Later after Jesus of Nazareth appeared preaching in Galilee and Judea the disciple John seems to have identified Jesus as the physical incarnation in flesh of the Logos. So it seems that irrespective of whether people exist who know a truth, it is still true - because one being always exists who knows all things who strangely enough has created a person in which to embody all He knows - the Logos. Stranger still is that this Logos came in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth.

The Ties that Bind

Our lives are bound together by faith not dogma. It is faith that in each of us finds unity with others as we hold to what we believe - faith and not some organised religious hierarchy and creed. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe064.htm This faith is given by God in specific measures to each of us and is what the Apostle Paul meant by the one who prophesies speaking according to the measure of faith we have each received. Faith is living and edifies the church of God as each one does their work.

The Transfiguration

Who stood with Jesus as He was transfigured - Moses and Elijah. Moses was the one man who had met with God repeatedy such that it made his face shine. Elijah had been with God in heaven in the flesh for centuries (like Enoch too) after he ascended without ever dying. These showed a tremandous potential there is for being with God in the flesh. Jesus had been a kind of angelic human being before becoming flesh and had been like that with God since before time began (pre-existent) long before becoming a flesh and blood normal human by virgin birth. These three show the potential that exists for human fellowship with God and a shining appearance is a sign of it. Nowadays some saintly believers after death can become like angels by God making them that way such that they can do things angels do but yet they are still human - "spirits of just men made perfect". That could be us one day. Then there will be resurrection like Jesus' resurrection too but we haven't got to that bit.

Christ Really Did Die and Rise from the Dead

Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, preached "Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life".

Christ is no hypocrite - His mesage could never be "Be faithful unto death" if He Himself had not done that very thing.

Christ has said "Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life" so believing this and believing He is no hypocrite is to believe He has died and risen.

Jesus Christ came out to meet me (on Blackswarth Road in Bristol, UK in January 1995) on the basis He died for my sins and yours and I would preach it for Him.

Decades away - or less

From the Book of Enoch chapter 93: "And Enoch began to recount from the books and said: 'I was born the seventh in the first week, While judgement and righteousness still endured. And after me there shall arise in the second week great wickedness, And deceit shall have sprung up; And in it there shall be the first end. ...'"
Enoch was born around 620 Anno Mundi (AM, years from the creation of Adam) - 'seventh in the first week' - can be understood as being born in the seventh part of the first week so a 'week ' = 700 yrs. The account of subsequent week is consistent with this where the close of a 'week' is around 50 years into the last century of the week of seven centuries. Later in the chapter:
"And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, There shall be the great eternal judgement, In which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels. And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear, And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light. And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever, And all shall be in goodness and righteousness, And sin shall no more be mentioned for ever."
So the Final Judgement at close of tenth week will be around 6950 AM. This means the final Millennium starts around 5900 - 5950 AM. Reckonings of how this translates into years AD vary but it could be as little as one or two decades away or more or less.

Pre-existence of the Christ

Why and how do I believe that the Son of God existed before His birth? I know with certainty that it is given by the Holy Spirit (who never lies) that "the trees put forth their buds and leaves by the authority of the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ". These words from the Holy Spirit came by tongues and interpretation. I take these words on board because the Holy Spirit does not lie and shuns lies, I know. I therefore cannot think of any reasonable alternative to the name of Lord Jesus Christ preceding the trees as long as there have been trees. Obviously this utterance of the mystery does not only apply to trees but to Nature in general and the utterance went on to include stars and planets in their orbits. So the name of Lord Jesus Christ clearly preceded all of Nature because always it worked by this name's power. So for the name of the Son of God always to have existed in such power the Son of God Himself must have existed since before any Nature existed. This is clear to me.

Who was Enoch?

The Book of Enoch starts: "The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed." So who was Enoch? Sumerians recorded in their Sumerian King Lists that the seventh king in succession from the first man (who we call Adam) was called Enmenduranki also known as En-men-dur-ana (meaning 'ruler bridging between heaven and earth) and was first king of Sippar in Mesopotamia and was taken into heaven to be taught by angels. In historic terms he ruled Sumeria in what archaeologists call the Early Dynastic Period; more specifically just before the start of the Fara Period (perhaps around 2700 BC). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En-men-dur-ana 

Suffering

Suffering is important in teachings Enoch received from holy angels. (Enoch 108 R H Charles translation) "... those who have afflicted their bodies, and been recompensed by God; and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men: Who love God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things which are in the world, but gave over their bodies to torture. Who, since they came into being, longed not after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tried them much, and their spirits were found pure so that they should bless His name. And all the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And he hath assigned them their recompense, because they have been found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trodden under foot of wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me."

Keep it Real

How real is our well-doing? Looking at Jesus' teachings (Luke 12) we should feel convicted and in the future take steps to keep it real: 'One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’ Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”'

A Holy Book for Our Time

Chapter 104 of the Book of Enoch (R H Charles translation) shows how important it will be as the tribulation approaches to keep these words of Enoch

"And now I show unto you that light and darkness, day and night, see all your sins. Be not godless in your hearts, and lie not and alter not the words of uprightness, nor charge with lying the words of the Holy Great One, nor take account of your idols; for all your lying and all your godlessness issue not in righteousness but in great sin. And now I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and pervert the words of righteousness in many ways, and will speak wicked words, and lie, and practice great deceits, and write books concerning their words. But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or minish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully--all that I first testified concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom.  And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefrom all the paths of uprightness be recompensed."

and the next chapter promises those who take these words to others this blessing of fellowship with God and His Son

"In those days the Lord bade (them) to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show (it) unto them; for ye are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth. For I and My son will be united with them for ever in the paths of uprightness in their lives; and ye shall have peace: rejoice, ye children of uprightness. Amen."

Why does the Bible exclude the Book of Enoch?

Why is the Book of Enoch not included in the English Bible? Book of Enoch 1:1 reads: "The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed." So presumably those who put together the list of scriptures that decided which are in the Bible did not get blessing from the Book of Enoch so maybe that was because they either didn't know about it or never read it or simply were not its intended audience: Maybe they were neither righteous nor elect.

The Nature of the Holy Spirit

John 16:12-15 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
The Holy Spirit takes from what is the Son's and gives it to believers. All that the Father has is the Son's too. So the Holy Spirit takes from what is the Father's but indirectly by taking it from the Son. Identifying Him only as the Spirit of the Father as if He is simply part of the Father is wrong because makes a nonsense of these words and these words are a light of truth we need to receive about the Spirit of truth.

The Nature of the Unity

In what sense is God one with the Son of God? John 17:20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." In what sense are believers to be one? Philippians 2:2 "... make my joy complete by being of one mind, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose" The unity is a unity in spirit and purpose - the same kind of unity as there is between the Father and the Son - not unity of entity and identity - not unity of substance. What did those verses do mean in the minds of the apostles? The apostles considered unity to be about spirit and purpose. Believers should imitate that faith. Believers can have unity with God too as well as with each other - and clearly such unity with God is not a unity of equals.

The Lord Jesus' Sonship

"During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 5). I think the writer of Hebrews describing Jesus learning obedience through experience was possibly applying the 2 Samuel 7 description of sonship God declared to King David, immediately about Solomon but applicable to Jesus too. The application to Jesus requires an issue be handled - that Jesus did not sin. "I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me ; your throne will be established forever.’ "

The God I Know

In 1994 I was told by the Spirit to preach. Preach what? I asked earnestly God to show me Father and Son and Holy Spirit, after searching my soul to be sure I was loving Jesus enough to be obeying Him as far as I could, considering the promise of Jesus of He and the Father showing themselves to the obedient. The answer came quickly over the space of weeks. A dream of God Himself came first where the appearance of God stood there before me saying "I am God" then telling me a sign for the next day and what to do. Weeks or days later, in January 1995 I was learning from scripture that the Lord presides over the floods and these floods come as judgements in the last days and there was a local severe flood in progress and torrential rain was falling. I read "Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has wrought" so I went to a footbridge over the river nearby to see it in flood, standing in awe of God, and on the way back it rained in torrents without relenting. Cars drove past on the road and my huge umbrella kept me dry. A voice came clearly "Put down your umbrella!". I did not hesitate and as soon as I put it down that torrential rain stopped dead and not a spot touched me. "It is the Lord!" I told myself certain it was Jesus. (He came like that on the lake shore to see His disciples after His resurrection.) Later before sleeping I asked for a certain unlikely thing to happen by the morning to show me it was indeed Jesus. Halfway through the night He made it happen and unspeakable peace came over me. Days or weeks later a local preaching leader heard I had asked about any churches where the Holy Spirit was manifested like in the scriptures with gifts of the Spirit. He told me to come with him to an out of town church where I would certainly witness this. The leader there spoke a message in tongues that sounded angelic in beautiful sentences and each sentence became English in my head as I heard it. "Consider the trees how they put forth buds and leaves - they do this by the authority of the name of Lord Jesus Christ" was what I heard. There followed more about planets but I cannot remember it. Then the speaker himself said those very words in English. So now God had shown me Father and Son and Holy Spirit so I can speak to others confidently about what I have seen and heard. Praise God.

The Holy Spirit

Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
Acts 2 "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesa as the Spirit enabled them."
Confusion comes from oversimplification. The facts are known. How we put them together is our weakest point of failure. We know that the Holy Spirit can divide up so that many many individuals all receive His manifestations simultaneously. We know that He comes to each one of many simultaneously as a person in some cases speaking to them with real words and real personality. If that were God directly speaking then God would speak to one at a time. Yet all hear the person of the Holy Spirit at once. If it were the Son of God then again many, many would have to wait their turn. Yet the Holy Spirit means tens or hundreds of millions of believers can be fed at once by His manifestations.

All you need is God

Love is all you need.
"Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. "" John 8:42-43
If we cannot understand Jesus it is probably because we do not love Him. If we do not love Him it is because we do not love His Father. If we do not love His Father it is because His Father is not truly our God. All we need is love. All we need is God.

Jesus and the Law

The Law of Moses commanded tithing. How did Jesus' teaching relate to this?
Mark 12:41-44 - 'Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.”'
... So in saying this, Jesus was putting the spirit of the Law above the letter of the Law.
Taking this approach - spirit of giving and contributing to temple upkeep according to means and out of love for God (which might exceed what is required and max out your ability) - the Apostle Paul continued in this approach by preaching that each should give to the church according to their income and means without specifying a proportion percent.
The Law of the Spirit.

The Bible

Some believers only believe in scriptures. Narrower than that: Only scriptures from the canon they are familiar with - so for many that would be the Bible. There are some of these who only accept quotes from the Bible in discussion of religious topics or Bible teaching. What if every scriptural book in the Bible that quoted or mirrored sources outside the Bible were removed? Then they would have a more consistent canon for their beliefs. But what would it contain?

"Unless you believe that I am ..."

We can have an anointing from God such that God works in us - but the level of sustained working of God in the only-begotten Son of God is such that He can say of Himself 'I am' and we have to believe both the words and their connotations.

The Lamb Slain

"the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world." (Revelation 13:8b)
The plan of the love of God meant from the foundation of the world setting His Heavenly Son on a path to birth as a mortal and death. Then resurrection and eternal life in the power of God. This love meant the Son would one day be flesh and bone and would suffer and die and this would have to be. This Son of Man, as the Son of God in the bosom of God's grace and love would ever be known and, in Heaven among the God's angels, had always been known before time began or stars were born, this Son would be slain one day. This had to be because God so loved the world - even before He made it through His Only-Begotten Son. 

The Apostle Paul and the Law of Moses

When speaking or writing to Jews the Apostles Paul was as a Jew. He persuaded Jews ('The Epistle to the Romans' chapters 1 and 2) that his ministry increased conformance of people to the righteousness found in the Law and did not oppose the Law. When speaking and writing to Gentiles ('The Epistle to the Galatians') he drew lessons from Genesis and historical religious aspects leading up to the Law but hardly mentioned the Law and rebuked judaisation of Gentiles in very strong terms. So he saw a divided attitude to the Law as an essential part of God's plan for salvation - Jews honouring Law and finding the righteousness it proclaims but not imposing Law on Gentiles - and Gentiles honouring the work of God in the patriarchs and Moses and giving of the Law but not trying to become adherents of it other than learning spiritual lessons from it. This is fully in line with the edict of the Jerusalem Apostles of which Paul had been a chief emissary. Peter's warning is that, by misunderstanding this, people distort it to their own agenda but in doing so bring destruction on themselves - yet still people take that risk.

We Need the Book of Enoch

Enoch 48:10b "And there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them: For they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed. The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed."
We need the Book of Enoch prophecies because although we have similar prophetic visions of the Son of Man seen by Daniel recorded in the Book of Daniel it does not have the detailed descriptions of the Son of Man given in Enoch's prophecies. Most of all Daniel does not link the Son of Man with being God's Anointed like Enoch does so from Enoch we have the clarity that the Son of Man "who is born unto righteousness" (70:14) is the Elect One, chosen by God and anointed by God (The Lord of Spirits) and this identifies Him as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
It has to be a man to whom God gives His anointing. The Christ must do anointed things showing all the authority of God but must also bear with human weakness. This was always the plan foreseen by God. His Son would be central to His saving grace. God saves - this name was always going to be bourne by His Son. This human eternal future Jesus would ever have once risen from the dead would be there in all His past showing God's foreknowledge and predestining sovereignty. He was always the Son of Man and will be always and "they will see the Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven".

Who the Son is

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." -- Jesus' words in Matthew's Gospel. All these groups differ on things we barely know - who the Son is as from before time: Arian Orthodox, Trinitarians, Unitarians, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, Oneness Pentecostals, etc.. What matters is to accept the truth that Daniel saw one like a Son of Man together with God and this human being in spiritual form He saw is Son of God and came in flesh and died for our sins and reveals to some the God who is His Father. To know who this Son of Man is may well be beyond our calling as human beings and maybe that is why there are different groups seeking knowledge we cannot know; not in this life.

Solace for a Human Being

As He grew up nobody doubted for a minute Jesus is a man and over and over He emphasised He is the one Daniel called a Son of Man - the human from God - as well as the truth He emphasised that God is truly His Father. These are His main teachings about Himself so take them to heart because in love they are good teachings for us. We needed a man to be between us and God. The Son of God now is that man - yes now. When He comes it will still be the Son of Man from Heaven who comes. What is so profound then is that from before time began God has been the one who has a human Son - even before the Son became flesh it was determined He would forever be the Son of Man so that destiny was seen in Him even when Daniel personally saw Him there and then. The amazing nature of God has always had this about Him - that His Son would eternally be human.

The Man

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19v10)
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people." (1 Timothy 2v5-6) "And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14v62) "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7v13-14)

Now are we destroyers of worlds

Our very ancient forefathers strongly advised that there is good knowledge and bad knowledge - that not all learning is good for us or good for our survival and our planet's survival. After our more recent forefathers spent centuries since the enlightenment rejecting or suspending belief in this counsel and hoarding every kind of learning possible first from the Arab Moors then empirically then by scientific process - finally before we all get wiped out we are starting to appreciate the wisdom of questioning whether some knowledge is better never known, but too late. The pandora's box is open now and cannot be shut. Now are we destroyers of worlds. But no harm in honouring that ancient wisdom we so long ignored and relearning how Enocb looked at things.

God is not a man. Jesus is a man.

The Fara Period

There is a possibility the Fara Period in achaeology and known history was actually a direct result of the ancient prophet-king Enoch being 'translated' into Heaven and being taught syllabic writing by angels then bringing that writing back to humans in Sippar where he had been king and teaching it and what he had written about Heaven and Earth. The site that gives its name to the Fara Period starting around 2700 BC is Tel Fara in Southern Mesopotamia (Iraq) and this was where Enoch's son and successor ruled the kingdom of Sumer in Sumerian times just before the great flood. A library of books unearthed there shows humans were starting to write down their flow of thoughts using cuneiform adapted for this purpose called syllabic text. Yet an equally important site for books of writing and libraries of books is the ancient city of Sippar. Here Enoch ruled around 2800 BC before what is described as his 'translation' when legends and scripture and ancient Sumerian and Akkadian texts say he was taken into Heaven by angels and told to record what he saw in a book and bring it back to teach those on earth. The place from which this seems to have happened is according to the Sumerian King Lists a city he used as his kingdom's capital, Sippar. So to find so much syllabic text written in Sippar is hugely significant yet it was the next capital Shuruppak that gives us the name of this period in history - the Fara Period, after the modern name of the site, Tel Fara. The Book of Enoch written in many languages and translated several times between languages till this day records these events but may be the actial writings of Enoch using the first syllabic writing system to pass on those lessons from Heaven to humans. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe004.htm   

Could Enoch have written scriptures?

Some are utterly wrong in thinking there was no writing in the days of Adam and Enoch. Cuneiform tablets in museums and pyramid texts in pyramids attest to the existence of writing around 3000 BC. Enoch was probably writing between 3000 and 2850 BC and Adam died around 2900 BC - writing reached quote an advanced form around 3000 BC. Enoch was one of the first to master writing and his descendants kept it going before and after the Flood. One period before the Flood was marked by a change of writing from vertical to horizontal called the Jemdet Nasr period around 3100 to 2900 BC - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jemdet_Nasr_period - around the time Enoch was king, around 2900 BC. Enoch was king under the king-name En-men-dur-anna https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En-men-dur-ana . Adam had been king under the name Alulim and died when Enoch was around 300 years old - around 2900 BC. Enoch was translated to Heaven around 60 years after that around 2850 BC and carried on writing and much of the original content of Book of Enoch was written around that time. We have extant texts reporting themselves written by Enoch's grandson Lamech under the king name Shurappak - a city of that name where he ruled is named after him and is very important in archaeology because it still shows the Flood deposits. This writing is for his son Noah - king name Zuisudra - it is found in two museums today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak 

Estimates for Adam's life are from 3800 to 2900 BC: Plus or minus fifty to a hundred years. Writing beginnings are known from archaeology and the archaeology of the Jemdet Nasr period is as good an indicator as any that there was certainly advanced writing by around 2900 BC. Enoch explained writing's introduction by fallen angels especially by Azazel around 3000 BC (in the days of Enoch's father Jared). Enoch was sent by God to inform these fallen angels (sons of God, Watchers) of their impending doom. He wrote about it. Then God sent the angel Uriel a leader in the governance of Nature to instruct Enoch sbout the world and the calendar and Heavenly things, and Enoch saw and learned much about the Son of Man during his learning. Then he was sent back to his subjects and son to teach them all these things and he wrote it down - and his descendants preserved it and the Book of Enoch survives to this day kept in the Geez language by the Ethiopic and Eritrean Orthodox Church. Luckily it is translated by several people into English. Another translation may be coming.

The Book of Jasher records that Cainan was writing on tablets of stone (clay? cuneiform) in his lifetime too - religious writings inspired by God - and he died around 2600 BC. He lived almost a thousand years so he might have started writing at the same time as Enoch around 3000 BC. Noah too was writing centuries before the Flood so around 2500 BC. He was born a couple of centuries before Cainan died and his grandfather was Methuselah to son of Enoch so of course Noah would have been well prepared to write scriptural texts (in cuneiform and on stone). The archaeology shows the main school for writing skills after the Flood was a main institution in the city from which Noah is recorded as having ruled. It was named 'city of the book' if I remember correctly - writing was a major part of these first patriarchs' lives even from within the lifetime of Adam - all attested and enlightened by archaeology in the last few centuries. And ancient historians tecord

it too like Josephus and of course the writers of Jasher. Even China has records of this time.

A good checksum to test the chronology is the Book of Jubilees which bacause of the cunning way it is written (reportedly by Moses with a angel dictating it) is very hard or impossible to corrupt with regard to its dates so an excellent verification on this chronology.
The successors of Enoch moved the kingdom capital to Shuruppak - what is Shurappak famous for - a clue is Tel Fara - this is the modern name of the archaeological site of Shuruppak city of Methuselah and Lamech and begore the Flood Noah - what do we find at Tel Fara - clue - a period of this time in history gets named after it - the Fara Period https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sumer - why give it a special name - because this is the time (around 2700 to 2600 BC) and place when writing first captured the full flow of human thought.

Sippar, the capital city when Enoch was king (under the name Enmendurana) is the city in two parts - probably the city mentioned in scripture from much later in its history as Sepharvaim - but see its significance in Enoch's time (Sumerian periods ED I and ED II) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sippar 

So there is a possibility the Fara Period in achaeology and known history was actually a direct result of Enoch being 'translated' into Heaven and being taught syllabic writing by angels then bringing that writing back to humans in Sippar where he had been king and teaching it and what he had written about Heaven and Earth.

The oldest books known today include the Instructions of Shuruppak a copy (extant) of which is in a museum near where I work so I'd love to see it. It is a copy of earlier works and dates to around 2100 BC. An older copy still is in a museum in Chicago. This was after the Flood but the earlier work was from before the Flood and is a book of proverbs passed on father to son from Lamech to Noah (known by their Sumerian names). translation: http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section5/tr561.htm

Fulness of Divinity

I believe there are characteristics of God the Father which a human can have and these are what are called divinity. Jesus came to show this. He has these characteristics fully. We if we believe can have them too. The key three are faith and hope and love, surprisingly. You would think they would be power but power is made perfect in weakness and power exists best in faith and hope and love of which Christ is the fulness and yet forever a man. These characteristics in the Son of Man survived whatever were the forces and upheavals in creation and can survive the end of creation and the making of all things new as well. Eternal life.

One God One Son

Jesus glorifies God in that even though Jesus has amazing qualifications and glory to not be underestimated in that He commanded nature into existence by God's will and love for Him and all nature carries out all its natural processes according to His authority and name, yet He the true Son of God has commanded us to make the Father alone our one God and worship the Father as God above all others. This is the express will of The Father, who says "I am God". Effectively God says "I am God, and this is My Son".

Who the Son of Man is

Daniel 10v5-7 "I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine goldfrom Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves."

Revelation 1v12-16 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

Excerpts from John's Gospel
So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me."

"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins."

'"Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Jesus asked. "Who is He Lord? Tell me so I can believe in Him," replied the man. "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you," answered Jesus.

Daniel 7v9-10 “As I looked thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." ... v13-14: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."

Excerpt from Book of Enoch "There I beheld the Ancient of days, whose head was like white wool, and with him another, whose countenance resembled that of man. His countenance was full of grace, like that of one of the holy angels. Then I inquired of one of the angels, who went with me, and who showed me every secret thing, concerning this Son of man; who he was; whence he was; and why he accompanied the Ancient of days. He answered and said to me, This is the Son of man, to whom righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has dwelt; and who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed: for the Lord of spirits has chosen him; and his portion has surpassed all before the Lord of spirits in everlasting uprightness."

Those passages show the pre-existent Son of Man and that John believed this (see how he used the same way of describing Him in Revelation as Daniel had used to describe Him). And it shows how Godlike this Son of Man is because Enoch described Him in a similar way to how he described God. In the flesh Jesus referred to Himself in such a way as identifies Himself with this Godlike being seen by Enoch and Daniel in centuries past but still there Jesus is in flesh and blood like any other human (even His closest family did not think Him anything other than a normal family member, a normal man). "The mystery of godliness is great."