The general belief of Christians is that, since the resurrection of Christ, the souls of the just who are free from sin are admitted immediately after death into heaven, where their chief joy consists in an unclouded vision of God known as the beatific vision. Their bliss is eternal, but at the general resurrection their souls are to be reunited to their perfected, or glorified, bodies. Enoch survive in Greek, Latin, and Aramaic, the last discovered at Qumrân, in Jordan. The book consists of seven sections. The first section (chapters 1-5) introduces the underlying theme of the book, God's coming judgment. The second section (chapters 6-36) recounts the plight of the fallen angels and Enoch's journeys to the places of final punishment and reward. The third section (chapters 37-71) predicts the coming of the Messiah, who will pronounce judgment on all angels and humans. It also describes the future heavenly kingdom of God. The fourth section (chapters 72-82) contains revelations about the heavenly bodies-for example, the disorders that will occur among them when the last evil days are at hand. The fifth section (chapters 83-90) contains Enoch's visions of a flood sent to punish the world for its wickedness and of the establishment afterward of the messianic kingdom. The sixth section (chapters 91-105) consoles the righteous, admonishing them to remain faithful, and condemns the unjust, predicting their end. In this section, all human history is divided by Enoch into ten unequal weeks (symbolizing ten epochs), each one characterized by a special person or event-for example, the fourth week is typified by Moses; the seventh week, by a universal degeneration. In the tenth, and culminating, week, the old heaven is to be replaced by a new and eternal one. The final section (chapters 106-7) speaks again of the flood, of the recurrence afterward of wickedness, and of the punishments and rewards to come when the Messiah establishes his reign. The early Christians esteemed the Book of Enoch highly; it is quoted in the book of Jude, verses 14 and 15. Except for these infrequent references to it, however, little was known about the work until three complete manuscripts in Ethiopic were discovered in northeastern Africa in the late 18th century. Like other apocalyptic writings, the Book of Enoch describes the vindication of the persecuted righteous by divine judgment; the primordial rebellion of the angels (chapters 6 to 36) is reflected in the oppression of the poor by the rich and mighty (chapters 91 to 105). This emphasis on the distinction between the righteous and the sinners suggests that the book originated with the Qumrân community, although certain characteristic traits of the Qumrân writings-references to the Jerusalem temple, a pronounced dualism, and use of the term elect-are all absent. In the book of Matthew, Jesus speaks about Heaven in parables, and when he is asked by the disciples why he speaks in this manner to the people, Jesus answers, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given" (13:11). Included in this discourse are the parables of the sower (13:18-23), the weeds (13:24-30), and the mustard seed (13:31-32
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