Can you kindly inform who are the "ten thousands of saints" who came (or are coming?) with the Lord as prophesied in the following verses of the Bible:
"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." … (Jude 1:14-15)
Such is their importance and significance in the eyes of God, I would say that if you do not know who these ten thousand saints/holy ones are, then this would certainly imply that you also would really not know who the Lord is.
Like most numbers in the Bible, 10,000 is a mystical number. It is not to be taken literally. Numbers which are meant to be taken literally as well as mystically are historical numbers, like the twelve Apostles: there were really twelve of them (historical) and the number twelve signifies the twelve tribes of Isreal (mystical).
Now the number ten means perfection and the number thousand means indefinite, so ten thousand would mean all of the saints, who are too numerous to count. So who will come with the Lord? All of His saints, whom were so numerous that the Prophet could not even count them.
The vision would clearly be read as the Judgment Day by Jews, when God deals out the eternal desserts to all: those who love Him are given eternal life, while those who reject Him are given eternal death. There is a hint of the resurrection of the dead in the vision, in that the saints have come with the Lord to receive their bodies again - their souls being reunited with their bodies, which God has made incorrupt and glorious.
The saints of the Lord are all the righteous souls, all those who have done His Will. Just as the saints coming with the Lord to receive their bodies hints at the general resurrection, so too it hints at the New Israel, for the ten thousand significes Israel has been universalized and their coming is like the coming of a bride with the groom or the coming of a queen with the king. So the saints are those souls who are righteous, and, most especially, the New Israel.
Visions are always symbolic, never to be taken literally, and the mountain shows this. A mountain significes many things to the Prophet: the throne of God, Mount Siani where Israel received the commandments, Mount Carmel where God proved He was God. Not all of these things would come to the Prophet’s mind, I’m sure, but God is eternal and so too His Word: the Lord always speaks to us in the past, present, and future, gently leading us along to a deeper revelation of Himself and His work and His relationship with His creations. Now, it would be ironic, indeed, that the mountain signifies Mount Siani, for God has come with His New Israel, with new commandments. It would also be a perfect image of Judgment Day: when man is worshipping idols, ignoring God’s Law and Prophet, here comes the Lord suddenly to pass judgment. The mountain signifying the throne which God sits on, and the the throne itself signifying God (whereby the mountain would signify God), is another great image of the Day of Judgment, one which many Jews in later times held in fact. The mountain signifying Mount Carmel, however, is the one that immediately jumps to one’s mind and seems to be the perfect interpretation (thought not the only interpretion) of the vision: God has come to show He is who He is and to judge those who slander and blasmphy Him. For the enemies of Judaism who use this vision to justify their claims, this would be the most ironic meaning of the vision, because they would be interpreting their own judgment.
EDIT: I mixed up the vision as described by Enoch and another vision of the Prophet Isaiah where the Lord appears on the mountain. Nevertheless, I’m not going to delete the mountain part, because I think it helps one better understand Enoch’s vision.
By the way, the Book of Enoch is not a part of the Canon of the Scriptures, neither the Christian nor the Jewish Bible, and this is why some Jews are a little uneasy about Christianity, because the Apostle is quoting a book which is not scriptural. Just thought I’d let you know.
It’s also amazing how you keep quoting from a “corrupt” book to “validate” Muhammad’s claims!
