EXTREME WARNINGS:
EZRA
The Second Witness is Ezra
(From the book of 2 Esdras (Ezra)
Concerning the coming “separation” and “eternal division” of all Mankind, let’s now hear from a second witness (whose book is not part of today’s Bible) concerning this matter.
As we first read the testimony of Enoch (who we called “pre-Old Testament”) whose ancient writings warn of a coming separation of all Mankind by God which appears to agree perfectly with the Bible, we will now read the testimony of our second witness Ezra (who we would call ancient Jewish).
The book “2 Esdras (Ezra)” was originally included in the King James 1611 Bible. The author represents himself as Ezra who wrote the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (Jewish Tanakh).
No copies have yet been found in the original Hebrew, and, like the book of Enoch, it is now considered an “apocryphal” book and not considered part of the Bible.
However, some of the prophecies found in the book of 2 Ezra (Esdras) were fulfilled many years after the earliest known copies which have been dated to around 200 AD, which gives it credibility from a Biblical perspective.
Author Dr. Ken Johnson has published a book and commentary, “The Ancient Apocalypse of Ezra” which provides Biblical and prophetic insight into this ancient book.
Here we will find these ancient writings clearly warn of the coming (and terrible) separation of all Mankind by God, which also appears to perfectly agree with the Bible’s teachings and warnings that only a “few” will be saved.
“When the Most High
Made the World and Adam
And all those who came from him,
He first prepared the Judgment
and the things that pertain
to the Judgment.”
(2 Esdras 7:70)
EZRA’S WARNINGS
Chapter 7
“When I had finished speaking these words,
the angel which had been sent to me
the nights before was sent to me.
2 He said to me,
“Rise, Esdras (Ezra), and hear the words
that I have come to tell you.”
3 I said, “Speak on, my Lord”…
“O sovereign Lord, behold,
You have ordained in Your Law
that the righteous will inherit these things,
but that the ungodly will perish.
18 The righteous therefore will suffer difficult things,
and hope for easier things,
but those who have done wickedly
have suffered the difficult things,
and yet will not see the easier things.”
19 He said to me, “You are not a judge above God,
neither do you have more understanding than the Most High.
20 Yes, let many perish who now live,
rather than that the Law of God
which is set before them be despised.
21 For God strictly commanded those who came,
even as they came, what they should do to live,
and what they should observe to avoid punishment.
22 Nevertheless, they weren’t obedient to him,
but spoke against him and imagined for themselves vain things.
23 They made cunning plans of wickedness,
and said moreover of the Most High that He doesn’t exist,
and they didn’t know His Ways.
24 They despised His Law and denied His Covenants.
They haven’t been faithful to His statutes,
and haven’t performed His works.
25 Therefore, Esdras,
for the empty are empty things,
and for the full are the full things.
26 For behold, the time will come,
and it will be, when these signs
of which I told you before will come to pass, (before the coming Apocalypse)
that the Bride (of Christ) will appear,
even the City (see Revelation 21:2) coming forth,
and she will be seen
who now is withdrawn from the Earth.
27 Whoever is delivered from the foretold evils
will see My wonders.
28 For my Son Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew)
will be revealed with those who are with Him,
and those who remain will rejoice four hundred years.
29 After these years my Son the Messiah (Christ) will die,
along with all of those who have the breath of life.
30 Then the World will be turned into
the old silence seven days,
(The last 7 years … then the “7th Day”)
like as in the first beginning,
so that no human will remain.
31 After seven days the World that is not yet awake
will be raised up, and what is corruptible will die.
32 The Earth will restore those
who are asleep in it, (Resurrection)
and the dust those who dwell in it in silence,
and the secret places will deliver those souls
that were committed to them.
33 The Most High will be revealed on the Judgment seat,
(the Great White Throne Judgment)
and compassion will pass away,
and patience will be withdrawn.
34 Only judgment will remain.
(Tremble … you don’t want to be part of this Judgment)
Truth will stand. Faith will grow strong.
35 Recompense will follow.
The reward will be shown.
Good deeds will awake, and wicked deeds won’t sleep.
36 The Pit of Torment (Hell) will appear,
and near it will be the Place of Rest.
(The Kingdom of Heaven)
The Furnace of Hell (Gehenna) will be shown,
and near it the Paradise of Delight (Heaven).
37 Then the Most High will say to the nations
that are raised from the dead,
‘Look and understand Whom you have denied,
Whom you have not served,
Whose commandments you have despised.
38 Look on this side and on that.
Here is delight and rest,
and there fire and torments.’
Thus He (God) will speak to them
in the Day of Judgment.
39 This is a day that has neither
Sun, nor Moon, nor stars,
40 neither cloud, nor thunder,
nor lightning, neither wind, nor water, nor air,
neither darkness, nor evening, nor morning,
41 neither summer, nor spring, nor heat,
nor winter, neither frost, nor cold,
nor hail, nor rain, nor dew,
42 neither noon, nor night, nor dawn,
neither shining, nor brightness, nor light, except
only the splendor of the glory of the Most High,
by which all will see the things that are set before them.
43 It will endure as though it were a week of years.
44 This is My Judgment and its prescribed order;
but I have only shown these things to you.”
45 I answered, “I said then, O Lord, and I say now:
Blessed are those who are now alive
and keep your commandments!
46 But what about those for whom I prayed?
For who is there of those who are alive
who has not sinned, and who of the children of men
hasn’t transgressed your Covenant?
47 Now I see that the World to come
will bring delight to few, but torments to many.
48 For an evil heart has grown up in us,
which has led us astray from these commandments
and has brought us into corruption
and into the ways of death.
It has shown us the paths of perdition
and removed us far from life—
and that, not a few only,
but nearly all who have been created.”
49 He answered me,
“Listen to me, and I will instruct you.
I will admonish you yet again.
50 For this reason,
the Most High has not made one world, but two.
51 For because you have said that
the just are not many, but few, and the ungodly abound,
hear the explanation.
52 If you have just a few precious stones,
will you add them to lead and clay?”
53 I said, “Lord, how could that be?”
54 He said to me,
“Not only that, but ask the Earth, and she will tell you.
Defer to her, and she will declare it to you.
55 Say to her, ‘You produce gold, silver, and brass,
and also iron, lead, and clay;
56 but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver,
and iron than brass, and lead than iron, and clay than lead.’
57 Judge therefore which things are precious and to be desired,
what is abundant or what is rare?”
58 I said, “O sovereign Lord,
that which is plentiful is of less worth,
for that which is more rare is more precious.”
59 He answered me,
“Weigh within yourself the things that you have thought,
for he who has what is hard to get
rejoices over him who has what is plentiful.
60 So also is the judgment which I have promised;
for I will rejoice over the few that will be saved,
because these are those who have made My glory to prevail now,
and through them, My Name is now honored.
61 I won’t grieve over the multitude of those who perish;
for these are those who are now like mist,
and have become like flame and smoke;
They are set on fire and burn hotly, and are extinguished.”
62 I answered, “O Earth, why have you produced,
if the mind is made out of dust, like all other created things?
63 For it would have been better
that the dust itself had been unborn,
so that the mind might not have been made from it.
64 But now the mind grows with us,
and because of this we are tormented,
because we perish and we know it.
65 Let the race of men lament
and the animals of the field be glad.
Let all who are born lament,
but let the four-footed animals and the livestock rejoice.
66 For it is far better with them than with us;
For they don’t look forward to judgment,
neither do they know of torments
or of salvation promised to them after death.
67 For what does it profit us,
that we will be preserved alive,
but yet be afflicted with torment?
68 For all who are born are defiled with iniquities,
and are full of sins and laden with transgressions.
69 If after death we were not to come into judgment,
perhaps it would have been better for us.”
70 He answered me,
“When the Most High made the World
and Adam and all those who came from him,
he first prepared the Judgment
and the things that pertain to the Judgment.
71 Now understand from your own words,
for you have said that the mind grows with us.
72 They therefore who dwell on the Earth
will be tormented for this reason,
that having understanding they have committed iniquity,
and receiving commandments have not kept them,
and having obtained a Law
they dealt unfaithfully with that which they received.
73 What then will they have to say in the Judgment,
or how will they answer in the last times?
74 For how long a time
has the Most High been patient with those
who inhabit the World,
and not for their sakes,
but because of the times which he has foreordained!”
75 I answered, “If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord,
show this also to your servant,
whether after death, even now
when every one of us gives up his soul,
we will be kept in rest until those times come,
in which you renew the Creation,
or whether we will be tormented immediately.”
76 He answered me, “I will show you this also;
but don’t join yourself with those who are scorners,
nor count yourself with those who are tormented.
77 For you have a treasure of works
laid up with the Most High,
but it won’t be shown you until the last times …
78 For concerning death the teaching is:
When the decisive sentence
has gone out from the Most High that a man shall die,
as the spirit leaves the body
to return again to Him who gave it,
it adores the glory of the Most High first of all.
79 And if it is one of those who have been scorners
and have not kept the Way of the Most High,
and that have despised His Law,
and who hate those who fear God,
80 these spirits won’t enter into habitations,
but will wander and be in torments immediately,
ever grieving and sad, in seven ways . . .
102 I answered, “If I have found favor in your sight,
show further to me Your servant
whether in the day of Judgment
the just will be able to intercede for the ungodly
or to entreat the Most High for them,
103 whether fathers for children, or children for parents,
or kindred for kindred, or kinsfolk for their next of kin,
or friends for those who are most dear.”
104 He answered me,
“Since you have found favor in my sight,
I will show you this also.
The Day of Judgment is a day of decision,
and displays to all the seal of truth.
Even as now a father doesn’t send his son,
or a son his father, or a master his slave,
or a friend him that is most dear,
that in his place he may understand,
or sleep, or eat, or be healed,
105 so no one will ever pray for another in that day,
neither will one lay a burden on another,
for then everyone will each bear
his own righteousness or unrighteousness.”
106 I answered, “How do we now find
that first Abraham prayed for the people of Sodom,
and Moses for the ancestors who sinned in the wilderness,
107 and Joshua after him for Israel in the days of Achan,
108 and Samuel in the days of Saul,
and David for the plague,
and Solomon for those who would worship in the Sanctuary,
109 and Elijah for those that received rain,
and for the dead, that he might live,
110 and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib,
and many others prayed for many?
111 If therefore now, when corruption has grown
and unrighteousness increased,
the righteous have prayed for the ungodly,
why will it not be so then also?”
112 He answered me,
“This present World is not the end.
The full glory doesn’t remain in it.
Therefore those who were able prayed for the weak.
113 But the Day of Judgment will be the end of this Age,
and the beginning of the immortality to come,
in which corruption has passed away,
114 intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off,
but righteousness has grown, and truth has sprung up.
115 Then no one will be able to have mercy
on him who is condemned in judgment,
nor to harm someone who is victorious.”
116 I answered then,
“This is my first and last saying,
that it would have been better if the Earth
had not produced Adam, or else,
when it had produced him,
to have restrained him from sinning.
117 For what profit is it for all
who are in this present time to live in heaviness,
and after death to look for punishment?
118 O Adam, what have you done?
For though it was you who sinned,
the evil hasn’t fallen on you alone,
but on all of us who come from you.
119 For what profit is it to us,
if an immortal time is promised to us,
but we have done deeds that bring death?
120 And that there is promised us an everlasting hope,
but we have most miserably failed?
121 And that there are reserved
habitations of health and safety,
but we have lived wickedly?
122 And that the glory of the Most High
will defend those who have led a pure life,
but we have walked in the most wicked ways of all?
123 And that a Paradise will be revealed,
whose fruit endures without decay,
in which is abundance and healing,
but we won’t enter into it,
124 for we have lived in perverse ways?
125 And that the faces of those
who have practiced self-control
will shine more than the stars,
but our faces will be blacker than darkness?
126 For while we lived and committed iniquity,
we didn’t consider what
we would have to suffer after death.”
127 Then He answered,
“This is the significance of the battle
which humans born on the Earth will fight:
128 if they are overcome,
they will suffer as you have said,
but if they get the victory,
they will receive the thing that I say.
129 For this is the way that Moses spoke
to the people while he lived, saying,
‘Choose life, that you may live!’
130 Nevertheless they didn’t believe him
or the prophets after him,
not even me who have spoken to them.
131 Therefore there won’t be
such heaviness in their destruction,
as there will be joy over those who are assured of salvation.”
132 Then I answered, “I know, Lord,
that the Most High is now called merciful,
in that He has mercy upon those
who have not yet come into the World;
133 and compassionate,
in that He has compassion
upon those who turn to His Law;
(repent means turn to God and away from sin)
134 and patient, in that He is patient
with those who have sinned,
since they are His creatures;
135 and bountiful, in that He is ready
to give rather than to take away;
136 and very merciful,
in that He multiplies more and more mercies
to those who are present, and who are past,
and also to those who are to come—
137 for if He wasn’t merciful,
the World wouldn’t continue with those who dwell in it—
138 and One who forgives,
for if He didn’t forgive out of His goodness,
that those who have committed iniquities
might be relieved of them,
not even one ten thousandth part of Mankind
would remain living;
139 and a Judge, for if He didn’t pardon those
who were created by His Word,
and blot out the multitude of sins (thru the blood of Christ),
140 there would perhaps be very few left
of an innumerable multitude.”
8
1 He answered me,
“The Most High has made this World for many,
but the World to come for few.
2 Now I will tell you a parable, Esdras.
Just as when you ask the Earth,
it will say to you that it gives
very much clay from which earthen vessels are made,
but little dust that gold comes from.
Even so is the course of the present world.
3 Many have been created,
but few will be saved.”
4 I answered, “Drink your fill of understanding then,
O my soul, and let my heart devour wisdom.
5 For you have come here apart from your will,
and depart against your will,
for you have only been given a short time to live.
6 O Lord over us,
grant to Your servant that we may pray before you,
and give us seed for our heart
and cultivation for our understanding,
that fruit may grow from it,
by which everyone who is corrupt,
who bears the likeness of a man, may live.
7 For You alone exist,
and we all one workmanship of Your hands,
just as You have said.
8 Because You give life to the body
that is now fashioned in the womb, and give it members,
your creature is preserved in fire and water,
and your workmanship endures nine months
as Your creation which is created in it.
9 But that which keeps and that which is kept
will both be kept by Your keeping.
When the womb gives up again what has grown in it,
10 You have commanded that out of the parts of the body,
that is to say, out of the breasts, be given milk,
which is the fruit of the breasts,
11 that the body that is fashioned
may be nourished for a time,
and afterwards You guide it in Your mercy.
12 Yes, you have brought it up in Your righteousness,
nurtured it in Your Law,
and corrected it with Your judgment.
13 You put it to death as Your creation,
and make it live as Your work.
14 If therefore You lightly and suddenly destroy him
which with so great labor
was fashioned by Your commandment,
to what purpose was he made?
15 Now therefore I will speak.
About man in general, you know best,
but about your people for whose sake I am sorry,
16 and for Your inheritance,
for whose cause I mourn, for Israel,
for whom I am heavy, and for the seed of Jacob,
for whose sake I am troubled,
17 therefore I will begin to pray before You
for myself and for them;
for I see the failings of us who
dwell in the land;
18 but I have heard the swiftness of
the Judgment which is to come.
19 Therefore hear my voice,
and understand my saying, and I will speak before you.”
The beginning of the words of Esdras,
before he was taken up. He said,
20 “O Lord, You who remain forever,
whose eyes are exalted, and whose chambers are in the air,
21 whose Throne is beyond measure,
whose glory is beyond comprehension,
before whom the army of angels stand with trembling,
22 at whose bidding they are changed to wind and fire,
whose Word is sure, and sayings constant,
whose ordinance is strong, and commandment fearful,
23 whose look dries up the depths,
and whose indignation makes the mountains to melt away,
and whose truth bears witness—
24 hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servant,
and give ear to the petition of your handiwork.
25 Attend to my words, for as long as I live,
I will speak, and as long as I have understanding,
I will answer.
26 Don’t look at the sins of Your people,
but on those who have served You in truth.
27 Don’t regard the doings of those who act wickedly,
but of those who have kept your Covenants in affliction.
28 Don’t think about those
who have lived wickedly before You,
but remember those who have willingly known Your fear.
29 Let it not be Your will
to destroy those who have lived like cattle,
but look at those who have clearly taught Your Law.
30 Don’t be indignant at those
who are deemed worse than animals,
but love those who have always put their trust
in Your glory. 31 For we and our fathers
have ‡passed our lives in ways that bring death,
but You are called merciful
because of us sinners.
32 For if you have a desire to have mercy
upon us who have no works of righteousness,
then You will be called merciful.
33 For the just, which have
many good works laid up with you,
will be rewarded for their own deeds.
34 For what is Man, (Mankind … men and women)
that You should take displeasure at him?
Or what is a corruptible race,
that You should be so bitter toward it?
35 For in truth, there is no man among those who are born
who has not done wickedly, (we’re all sinners)
and among those who have lived,
there is none which have not done wrong.
36 For in this, O Lord, Your righteousness
and your goodness will be declared,
if You are merciful to those
who have no store of good works.”
37 Then answered He me,
“Some things you have spoken rightly,
and it will happen according to your words.
38 For indeed I will not think about the fashioning
of those who have sinned, or about their death,
their judgment, or their destruction;
39 but I will rejoice over the Creation of the righteous
and their pilgrimage, their salvation,
and the reward that they will have.
40 Therefore as I have spoken, so it will be.
41 For as the farmer sows many seeds in the ground,
and plants many trees, and yet not all that is sown
will come up in due season,
neither will all that is planted take root,
even so those who are sown in the world
will not all be saved.”
42 Then I answered, “If I have found favor,
let me speak before You.
43 If the farmer’s seed doesn’t come up
because it hasn’t received your rain in due season,
or if it is ruined by too much rain and perishes,
44 likewise Man, who is formed with Your hands
and is called Your own image,
because he is made like you,
for whose sake You have formed all things,
even him have You made like the farmer’s seed.
45 Don’t be angry with us,
but spare Your people
and have mercy upon Your inheritance,
for You have mercy upon Your own Creation.”
46 Then he answered me,
“Things present are for those who live now,
and things to come for those who will live hereafter.
47 For you come far short
of being able to love My creature more than I.
But you have compared yourself to the unrighteous.
Don’t do that!
48 Yet in this will you be admirable to the Most High,
49 in that you have humbled yourself,
as it becomes you, and have not judged yourself
among the righteous, so as to be much glorified.
50 For many grievous miseries will fall on those
who dwell in the World in the last times,
because they have walked in great pride.
51 But understand for yourself, and for those who
inquire concerning the glory of those like you,
52 because Paradise (Heaven) is opened to you.
The Tree of Life is planted.
The time to come is prepared.
Plenteousness is made ready.
A City is built.
Rest is allowed.
Goodness is perfected, and
Wisdom is perfected beforehand.
53 The root of evil is sealed up from you.
Weakness is done away from you,
and death is hidden.
Hell and corruption have fled into forgetfulness.
54 Sorrows have passed away,
and in the end, the treasure of immortality is shown.
55 Therefore ask no more questions concerning
the multitude of those who perish.
56 For when they had received liberty,
they despised the Most High, scorned His Law,
and forsook His ways.
57 Moreover they have trodden down his righteous,
58 and said in their heart that there is no God —
even knowing that they must die.
59 For as the things I have said will welcome you,
so thirst and pain which are prepared for them.
For the Most High didn’t intend
that men should be destroyed,
60 but those who are created
have themselves defiled the Name of Him who made them,
and were unthankful to Him who prepared life for them.
61 Therefore My Judgment is now at hand,
62 which I have not shown to all men,
but to you, and a few like you.”
Then I answered, 63 “Behold, O Lord,
now have You shown me the multitude of the wonders
which you will do in the last times,
but you haven’t shown me when.”