INTRODUCTION
‘ESDRAS INSIGHTS’ - is the new edition of one of the first books which I wrote called ‘Ezdras Insights’ which originally came out in 2018. This new edition published in the summer of 2023 contains both of the apocryphal books of 1st and 2nd Esdras, PLUS - ‘4000 Years of Biblical History from Creation to Christ’. The first edition only contained the apocryphal Book of 2nd Esdras. This revised version is much longer version of my book is now called Esdras Insights. These books are based on the Apocryphal books of 1st and 2nd Esdras.
Description of the apocryphal Book of 2nd Esdras
The Book of 2nd ESDRAS is in my opinion, one of the most interesting of the Apocryphal books, that I have had the privilege of studying. For this reason, I have placed 2nd Esdras before the merely historical book of 1st Esdras in this book of ESDRAS INSIGHTS. It Is beautiful to see Ezra’s desperate prayers to God and then the visions that follow.
The book of 2nd Esdras is, in few words, miraculous, supernatural & inspiring! Contrary to what others have stated, I believe that this book is an accurate account given by God to Ezra, through His angel Uriel. It is stated to Ezra by God Himself, that he alone would see the visions and dreams and prophecies that follow.
II Esdras 8.61 “I have not shown this to all men, but only to you and a few like you.”
Enoch 19.3 “And I Enoch alone saw the vision, the ends of all things; and no man shall see as I have seen.”
The Book of II Esdras, was originally written about 2500 years ago, or between the 5th and 6th centuries BC. I propose, that unfortunately in our modern times, many Christians are conditioned by “the traditions of the churches”, only to believe the easy to believe topics, and most people do not embrace the truly miraculous, which used to be much more accepted in the “less enlightened days” of man’s wisdom. I am reminded of the cryptic Bible verse: (1CO.2:14) ‘But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’.
I have heard writers dismiss the ‘Book of II Esdras’, saying that it sounds too much like the New Testament, and wasn’t written by Ezra, but by the Christians in around 90 AD, impersonating Ezra. However, after close scrutiny of the book, one is quickly shown, that that is clearly not the case, and that the Ezra mentioned in the Bible, who lived from circa 550 to 450 BCE, is indeed the same person who wrote II Esdras. This is very often the modern way, that Is to say - skepticism, unbelief and taking things apart, instead of having simple faith.” Another Bible verse comes to mind: “I fear lest by any means, even as Eve was corrupted by the Serpent, through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (Colossians 2.8) Those who write sceptically about the book of II Esdras, obviously have not taken the time, to really study what Ezra was saying. It also takes faith in God to understand it. As mentioned before, it becomes apparent in reading the Book of II Esdras and other Apocryphal books, that most of the information given is most definitely inspired by God. There Is an extensive APPENDIX to the Book of 2nd Esdras in this book of Esdras Insights.
2PE.1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2PE.1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Book of 1st Esdras is a historical book showing the fulfilment of the prayers of Ezra for God to totally deliver Israel from the hands of their conquerors the Babylonian World Empire and the ‘Medes and Persian’ World Empire that followed it. The first book of Esdras or 1st Esdras came after 2nd Esdras and shows the fulfilment of his prayers which you can read later in this book of Esdras Insights. The Book of 1st Esdras clearly shows Ezras’ prayers are answered, and that Ezra himself along with others such as Nehemiah had an integral part in the restoration of Israel as a nation. Ezra ended up living an exceptionally long life and lived to be 120 years old according to Jewish records of the time. There is an extensive Appendix to this book with a lot of info about the time period. There Is a special EXTRA to this book of ESDRAS INSIGHTS with over 30 pages of the ‘4000 years of Biblical History from Creation to Christ’. This book also has an extensive APPENDIX with lots of useful Information contained within It.
THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS The Apocrypha is a selection of books which were published in the original 1611 King James Bible. These apocryphal books were positioned between the Old and New Testament (it also contained maps and genealogies). The Apocrypha was a part of the KJV for 274 years until being removed in 1885 A.D. A portion of these books were called deuterocanonical books by some, such as the Catholic church. Others believe it is valid scripture, and that it should never have been removed- that it was considered part of the Bible for nearly 2,000 years before it was recently removed a little more than 100 years ago. Some say it was removed because of not finding the books in the original Hebrew manuscripts. The word ‘Apocrypha’ ‘’ means ‘hidden.’ Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls dating back to before 70 A.D. contained parts of the Apocrypha books in Hebrew, including, Enoch, Sirach and Tobit. Here is a list of all 15 of the Apocryphal books, which used to be included in the King James Bible until 1885:
1 Esdras; 2 Esdras; Tobit; Judith; Additions to Esther; Wisdom
of Solomon; Ecclesiaticus; Baruch; Letter of Jeremiah; Prayer
of Azariah; Susanna; Bel and the Dragon; Prayer of Manasseh; 1
Maccabees; 2 Maccabees
I am also convinced that certain books were black-listed in the past, because of the content. In the case of the book of II Esdras, it was because it clearly prophesied about JESUS centuries in advance of His ‘1ST Coming’ and also foretold his death. Both of the Books of Enoch, (around 5000 years ago) and the Book of II Esdras (around 2500 years ago), were given in visions and dreams, and brought to firstly Enoch and then Ezra by the same Archangel, or otherwise known as, one of the angels of the Presence of God, called Uriel, or as sometimes called in Jewish writings, Ariel. Studying the Books of both Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible completely confirm this book of ‘II Ezdras’ authenticity and its time period of having been written around the 5th to the 6th centuries BC.
Concerning other non-canonical books: The fact is that the early Christians all referred to the “Book of Enoch” and the ‘Septuagint’ version of the Old Testament. The Septuagint version of the Old Testament is more revealing and has more details of events than the King James version of the Bible. Who would not want books such as both the ‘Book of II Esdras’, & the ‘Book of Enoch’ available to the public? I would venture to guess those who are not in favour of Christianity. These ancient texts prophesied directly about Jesus, proving that He was in fact the Saviour hundreds, and even thousands of years before he was actually born on earth.
Some facts about the book of ‘2nd Esdras’
There are 16 chapters in the Book of ‘II Esdras’. This book can still be found in the Eastern Orthodox Bible. The content of this intriguing book, is jam-packed with very interesting visions about Zion & The Bride, The Coming Messiah, descriptions of the Wrath of God & a 3 Headed Eagle (Rome). There is even an amazing prophecy in II Esdras, about the birth and death of Jesus the Messiah, 400 years before it even happened! Although even this key information, somebody has deliberately been trying to hide, as you will see when you read this book ‘Esdras Insights’.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BOOK OF 2ND ESDRAS
It Is hard to understand why a 16-chapter book of this caliber with so many visions and dreams and instructions directly from God by the hand of the angel Uriel to Ezra like this, was not placed in the same realm of scripture and placed alongside the Book of Daniel which had just 12 chapters? Ezra even mentions the prophecy of the 7 headed Beast of Daniel 7 and expounds upon this revelation with yet more insights and revelations given to him by the angel Uriel. Why is Ezra placed in the history section of the Bible after 2 Chronicles, instead of among the prophets, and right after Daniel as that was his time period? God reveals a lot of information in this book, and that is most probably the reason why this book has been largely ‘hidden away’ from the sight of most people. Why? Because it reveals too many facts that certain powerful people, do not want the masses to know about or believe in. Another unusual topic is that Chapter 4, as well as some other chapters, strongly allude to the earth being hollow!
Why 2ND ESDRAS could not have been written by some pseudo graphic writer in 200 AD. In words some people don’t believe that it was Ezra who wrote the book of 2nd Esdras in around 445 BCE or even earlier. It isquite clear and easy to prove that it must have been Ezra himself that wrote the book of 2nd Esdras. A pseudo writer could not write about the visions and prophecies as described in the book of 2nd Esdras without being in direct contact with God Himself. Most of the things described were God telling Ezra about the future and in particular in chapter 7 predicting that His Son the Messiah would come in 400 years from the time of Ezra himself. Throughout history and especially now in modern times, it is clear that certain writings have been deliberately side-lined, shelved, hidden or even got rid of as they don’t fit in to the ‘status quo’ of organized religions or politics which tend to be ‘dead’ in spirit and not having a living contact with the ‘living God’ and so they would not understand prophecy anyway. They the modernistic churches write it all off as ambiguous and thus not important. Why would councils of dead churches be making the decisions as to which books of scripture should remain in the Canon and which ones taken out. Only God Himself can make those type of decisions. As the Christian church systems have totally compromised their original convictions and become married to the Great Whore of Babylon we see in modern times that Christianity has become totally watered down and compromised.
Revelation 17.1,6. One of the seven angels who had the seven vials of the Wrath of
God came and told me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the Great Whore,
who sits on many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth have committed adultery,
and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her fornications.”
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of
those who bore testimony to Jesus.
The organised churches in general, no longer have God’s blessing and anointing. Peter the apostle said it well in stating ‘And we are witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to those that obey Him. -Acts 5.32 The organised established church system today is more interested in ‘following the money’ than they are in doing the job that Jesus Himself gave to his followers to: ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature’. In other words, spend your time telling others how that they can get saved by asking Jesus into their hearts. Apparently 70% of church pastors in the USA no longer follow a biblical view!
Mark 16.15 ‘And he said unto them ‘Go Ye into all the world and preach the gospel
unto every creature’.
THE TIME PERIOD of 2ND Esdras 4.24: ‘If I have found favour in your sight.’ This expression used in 2nd Esdras is only found in the Old Testament in the Times of Esther who came to power as queen of Medio-Persia with King Ahasuerus in around 470 BC or during the lifetime of Ezra. It is also found in Genesis in Abraham’s time, but after the time of Esther you won’t find this expression and certainly not in the New Testament times. There are too many specifics in the book of 2ND Esdras for it not to have been written in Ezra’s time, including God talking about His Son the Messiah. The Book of Enoch also does the exact same thing.
The truth is that 15 books were taken out of the KJV of the Bible in 1885 and one of them was 2nd Esdras, which was probably the most informative of all 15 of them. We still have the Apocryphal books available to us and 2nd Esdras is still available in the Catholic Bible and the Orthodox Bible. Why have some books been minimized at different times in history? I think that the answer is plain. Someone in power did not like the content. Satan himself hates prophecies that talk about Jesus the Messiah, even though we can find over 300 prophecies about Christ the Messiah in our Bibles. Satan through his stooges on earth is always trying to ‘hide the truth’ ‘lie about the truth’ ‘cover up the truth’. As the ruling classes of today state ‘Knowledge is power’ and they don’t want the people of the earth to know the truth, and that is that evil is going to be destroyed in the end and those who perpetrate all the evils on this planet are going to held to account by none other than Jesus the Messiah.
Revelation 11.17-18 “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Revelation 18.23-24 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and
the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:
for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all
nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of
all that were slain upon the earth.The great importance of the Apocryphal books:
