Gilbert House Fellowship

The Secret Oath The secrets of creation were contained in an oath—and one of the fallen Watchers demanded that Michael reveal to him the "secret name" so that those who heard the oath would quake before it. That's one of the revelations in this week's study of 1 Enoch. Bear in mind, this section of the book was written just before the birth of Jesus so any specifics regarding the names of fallen a...

Dead Gods and Dragons Isaiah’s polemic against the king of Babylon is, in our view, also a condemnation of the entity who led the rebellious sons of God in Genesis 6. We discuss the connections between “Lucifer” and the netherworld, especially the references to the “branch,” which is actually a loan word from Egyptian that means "dead god," and the “dead body trampled underfoot” (Isaiah 14:9). We...

Punishment of Angels and Kings A DAY is coming when fallen angels and evil rulers throughout the centuries will regret their decisions to rebel against God. The chapters we read from the book of 1 Enoch prophesy a time when kings and the mighty plead for a respite from their torment so they might come before the throne and worship God. Sadly, their opportunity to repent has passed. Likewise, punis...

Lucifer is not Satan. In this week study, we dig into the Hebrew name translated Lucifer in the king James Bible, Helel Ben Shachar. Scholar William Gallagher showed in a peer reviewed paper more than 30 years ago that Helel was the West Semitic (i.e., Hebrew) transliteration of the Akkadian deity Ellil. This entity was known by many names in the ancient Near East, including Dagon, Assur, El, and...

Giants Are Coming GIANTS AND WATCHERS will execute God's judgment on the prophesied Day of the Lord.  Isaiah 13 is, on the surface, a prophecy of judgment on Babylon. But there are clues in this chapter that there's more to this prophecy than meets the eye. First, the Hebrew verb translated "consecrated" (as in "consecrated ones," Isaiah 13:3) is based on the same root behind the words “holy one/s...

After 200 years of idolatry, God finally allowed the northern kingdom of Israel to be destroyed and the people carried off by Assyria. Meanwhile, the southern kingdom of Judah was being ruled the young, foolish, idolatrous King Ahaz. After being defeated in battle by the Aramean Kingdom of Damascus, Ahaz decided to worship the gods of Syria rather than turning to God for help. He also sacrificed h...

After several chapters of prophecies of destruction at the hands of the Assyrians, Micah concludes his book with a promise of restoration for the people of Israel. Although there are some differences between the Masoretic text on which the old Testament of our English Bibles is based and the Septuagint, which was translated from Hebrew into Greek by about 200 BC, the overall message is the same: G...

Who is the Assyrian? The Bible foretells a mysterious character called “the Assyrian” who seems to have a role in the end times war against Israel. Who is he? What’s odd is the Hebrew text of Micah 5:5–6 (and Isaiah 14:25, 31:8, and 52:4) lacks the definite article “the.” In other words, there is no "the Assyrian" in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word Assur can referred to Assyria, its capital cit...

Judgment of the Kings and the Mighty The Book of 1 Enoch prophesies a day when evil kings and rulers would be judged by a messianic figure called the Elect One—the Son of Man.  As we’ve mentioned previously, this section of 1 Enoch is the first Jewish text in which “the Son of Man” is used as a title—a title Jesus applied to himself 78 times. We also discuss the differences between “angels” and ch...

Woe to the Oppressors! The ruling elites of ancient Israel were compared to cannibals eating the flesh of those they were supposed to protect. We continue with the prophet Micah's polemic against ancient Israel's ruling class, who apparently took advantage of the poor and downtrodden. For that reason, God told Micah to prophesy a day of judgment that would bring destruction on the rich and powerfu...

The Coming Destruction The prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, prophesied the coming judgment of God on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah at the hand of the Assyrians.  Our chronological reading order brings the book of Micah into the middle of our study of Isaiah. While Isaiah prophesied a day when the kingdom of Judah would declare, "God is my salvation," Micah's prophecy is a warning of God...

A VISION of Noah's was inserted into the Book of 1 Enoch, with interesting references to Leviathan and Behemoth. These are chaos monsters. Leviathan, described as female and from the sea, and Behemoth, male and occupying the wilderness—possibly the same one into which the Watcher Azazel was thrown as punishment for his role in corrupting humanity. We discussed the "already but not yet" prophecies...

Pentecost Today Is Pentecost, fifty days after Passover. It’s the day the Holy Spirit descended on the followers of Jesus and the day Moses descended Mount Sinai with the Law.  We discussed the similarities and differences between those two events. For example, the fire on Mount Sinai and the tongues of fire over the heads of the followers of Jesus; and the 3,000 saved on Pentecost in Acts chapter...

The LORD Has Chosen Zion The arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem in the time of David is a foreshadowing of the prophesied return of our King to his earthly throne.  This week, we flash back about 250 years to study four psalms we overlooked during the life of David. These Psalms of praise would have been written just after the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, as descri...

The Reign of the Branch The messianic prophecy of the one called "the Branch" is the focus of this week’s study. We explore the “already but not yet” fulfillment of the promises of the restoration of Israel and judgment against Israel's neighbors—which May have already found partial fulfillment in the wars fought by Israel since 1948. We discuss the seven Spirits of Isaiah 11:2 and the references...

ASSUR WAS a name that referred to Assyria, the capital city of Assyria, and the chief deity of Assyria. Knowing which was which means relying on the context in which it's used. In Derek's book The Second Coming of Saturn , he shared research, showing that the word used by the prophet Isaiah for idols, ellilim , derives from the Akkadian name for Assur, Elllil (also known as Enlil, El, Dagon, Molec...

JUDGMENT ON evil kings and fallen angels is a major theme of the section of 1 Enoch called the Book of Parables.  This week, we discuss the vision of a deep valley where “angels of punishment” prepare “instruments of Satan” for kings and mighty men who’ve rebelled against God—and a second valley where “iron chains of immeasurable weight” are “prepared for the hosts of Azazel.” Our reading today en...

I Will Raise Up the Booth of David That is Fallen THE DESTRUCTION of Israel is a theme throughout the book of Amos, but it ends with a prophecy of restoration. The northern kingdom of Israel had engaged in idolatry since the time of Jeroboam, who split the kingdom of Solomon about 200 years before the time of Amos. For this, and for the treatment of the poor by Israel's elites, God decreed the des...

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion PROPHESYING DOOM and destruction during a time of peace and prosperity does not make one popular with the ruling elites.  Amos learned this while declaring God’s judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (reigned 793–753 BC), the time of Israel’s greatest power. The prophet was confronted by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, and told to fl...

Repentance of the Gentiles JOHN THE BAPTIST taught a radical new idea: Forgiveness of sins came through repentance, not ritual—even for Gentiles. And this new doctrine was first introduced in the Book of 1 Enoch.  John’s teaching came from 1 Enoch 50:2–3: He heaped evil upon the sinners; but the righteous ones shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of the Spirits. He will cause the others to...

THE IMMINENT DESTRUCTION of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria was prophesied by Amos.  Israel’s failure to repent despite God’s repeated efforts to get the attention of the people is highlighted in Amos 4, and chapter 5 is a warning of the punishment to come upon Israel and God’s rejection of their feasts and sacrifices.  We also explain why the “cows of Bashan…on the mountain of Samaria”...

AMOS WASN’T a trained prophet, yet his words resonate today, highlighting the injustices and moral decay of society. It’s a stark reminder that the rich must not oppress the poor, a message as relevant now as it was then.  This week, we begin to explore the Book of Amo, focusing on its key messages and relevance today. Amos addressed social injustice and religious corruption in ancient Israel. Amo...

ISAIAH’S PROPHECY of a coming Messiah included foreseeing where Jesus would declare war on the fallen realm.  Chapter 9 of the book of Isaiah picks up where the prophet left off, condemning the people of Israel, for consulting the dead on behalf of the living. His prophecy that a light would shine on those dwelling in a land of deep darkness was cited by Matthew as fulfilled when Jesus moved from...

They Shall Curse by Molech ISAIAH REPEATEDLY condemned the practice of summoning spirits from the netherworld. It’s not always apparent because translators often didn’t have an understanding of the cult of the dead that surrounded ancient Israel, and the impact it had on the Israelites. After prophesying the imminent destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria, the prophet condemned t...

Behold, the Virgin Shall Conceive THE PROPHET ISAIAH lived through turbulent times, with kings of Judah who ranged from the good (Hezekiah, Jotham. Uzziah) to the evil (Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon).  In Isaiah 7, the prophet is sent to Ahaz by God with a word about the invasion of his land by the combined forces of Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel. This was despite the fact that Ahaz “made offeri...