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Peter gives this warning in II Pet. 2:; so also does Jude whose citation of Enoch's
prophecy we are studying. He says:
"There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation, ungodly men . . . . . woe unto them! they have gone in the way of Cain
. . . . . Enoch . . . . . prophesied of these . . . . ." (Jude 4, 11, 14).
Scripture has given us warning that the teaching concerning the Coming of the Lord
will not escape corruption.
"Ten thousands of His saints"--These words are used by Moses in the blessing of
Israel:
"The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from
Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right hand went a fiery
law for them" (Deut. 33: 2).
There can be no doubt as to the meaning of the word `saints' here. The law of Sinai
we know from various Scriptures was mediated by `angels' (Acts 7: 53; Gal. 3: 19;
Heb. 2: 2).
"The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is
among them as in Sinai" (Psa. 68: 17).
"A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him; thousand thousands
ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him"
(Dan. 7: 10).
"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels"
(Matt. 16: 27; 25: 31).
"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels" (II Thess. 1: 7).
These quotations are sufficient to prove that the `saints' or `holy ones' of Enoch's
prophecy are `angels' and not the redeemed. This also is the meaning of Zech 14: 5,
"And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee", and of Joel 3: 11,
"thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord", also of I Thess. 3: 13, "The
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints".
COMING "FOR" AND "WITH" HIS SAINTS
There is a school of prophetic thought that stresses the coming of the Lord `for' and
the coming of the Lord `with' His saints. Supposing for the purpose of argument we
accept this view, how does it stand examination? The Thessalonians were waiting for
God's Son from heaven (I Thess. 1: 10), and exercising the patience of hope (1: 3). They
were told that their loved ones who had died would not meet the Lord earlier or later
than those living at the time, but that both living and dead would be caught up together
to meet the Lord in the air (I Thess. 4: 15, 16). Well, then, what are we to make of
I Thess. 3: 13:
"To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even
our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."