Chapter 8

Finding the Messiah

The Visions of The Son

Artist depiction of the Ancient of Days and the One Like a Son of Man from the book of Daniel

Although it’s clear that the expectation of a messiah was now both widespread and fervent among the Jews of this era, there was, as noted, no agreement about the form this messiah would take. Would it be an especially devout Jew blessed by God with the ability to perform miracles? Would it be a literal descendant of the ancient King David—who had been promised an eternal dynasty that the messiah would reclaim? Would it be a great hero from the scriptures returned to life? Or perhaps a divine figure from Heaven, like the powerful archangel Michael? Or the “Son of Man” figure from the apocalypse in the book of Daniel?¹

The pouring-over of the scriptures by the Essenes and earliest Christians for clues about the identity of the messiah—and what actions he would take on Earth—shows that even those Jews most obsessed with the imminent arrival of the messiah had little consensus about any particular details related to him. Of course, most Jews awaiting the messiah probably didn’t bother to sweat the details, trusting that God would make it obvious when the messiah finally showed up. As we’ll see, though, it would remain the case that the occasional Jew would believe he himself was the long-awaited messiah.

Artist depiction of an angel bringing a holy vision to the apostle Paul

But searching the scriptures was not the only method used to gather secret information about the messiah. The Jews had a long history of visions and prophecy, and the Essenes were renowned for both.² Jumping forward a bit, The Apostle Paul—whose writings from the 50s CE are the earliest written documents in the New Testament—would adamantly avow that everything he knew about Jesus Christ came through visionary experiences, not from any other humans.³ He also wrote of an apocalyptic vision a colleague of his experienced 14 years earlier. This person visited the third heaven (different levels of Heaven being a hallmark of Jewish apocalypses like those of Enoch). He was, wrote Paul, “caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat”.⁴

From the seven epistles of Paul that are widely considered authentic—and from a host of other early Christian writings—it becomes clear that neither Paul nor any of the other earliest Christians had any notion of a Jesus who had recently lived a life on Earth. Jesus’s words are never quoted; not a single story from his life is related—no virgin birth, no magi, no temptation by Satan; no exorcisms; no baptism; no arguments with Pharisees, scribes, or Sadducees; no mention of Mary, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Herod, or Pontius Pilate; no mention of him having any disciples; no miracles mentioned at all; no parables; no teachings of any sort; and no placing of Jesus in any of the earthly localities associated with him in the later gospels such as Galilee, Nazareth, Jerusalem, the Temple, the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, or Calvary.⁵

Paul and the other earliest Christian writers also notably never refer to a “Second Coming” when they refer to Jesus’s imminent arrival at the End Time. They simply speak of his coming, with no sense that it is a return—again revealing their obliviousness to the idea that Jesus had already and very recently come to Earth.⁶

Many people—even the non-religious—find all this quite shocking or at least a bit hard to believe. The New Testament places the four gospels at the beginning of its collection of writings, then follows them with the book of Acts, and only after all that do readers get to the epistles of Paul which were written decades earlier. Resultantly, the repeated stories in the gospels of a historical Jesus who recently walked the earth are simply assumed to exist in the background of Paul’s epistles. It’s baselessly assumed that Paul knew several people who had known Jesus while he was still alive. But a close reading of Paul’s letters without “gospel blinders” on makes it clear that Paul never gives any indication he believes that his “Christ Jesus” (as he refers to him) had a recent earthly ministry. For Paul, the messiah is purely a heavenly figure who had yet to ever step foot on Earth, but instead would make his first triumphant visit to Earth to battle the forces of darkness at the end of the world—his Christ Jesus is very similar, in that sense, to a figure like the archangel Michael.⁷

Philo and the Son of God

Before we can more firmly put our finger on the moment a new religion came into being, there are two sets of writings to consider whose theological developments at the start of the first century CE are crucial to an adequate understanding of the milieu out of which Christianity came into being.

Born around 20 BCE in Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt, a Jewish man named Philo Judaeus became a very popular and influential philosopher and prolific writer—many of whose works survive to this day. There was by this time a large, well-established population of Jews living in Alexandria who absorbed much of the Greek culture that surrounded them there.⁸

Artist depiction of Philo Judaeus of Alexandria

Philo is best known for representing the pinnacle of a movement aiming to combine Greek philosophy and Jewish religion. He is the first known author to systematically attempt to draw out the allegorical meanings of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Often this took the form of taking passages from the scriptures that were troublesome or disturbing to Greek sensibilities and assigning more palatable—even opposite-meaning interpretations influenced by Pythagoreanism and Stoicism. And because he deemed so much of the scriptures allegorical in nature, Philo held that it was not incumbent upon Jews to follow the literal meaning of the Laws of Moses such as the kosher food laws and circumcision.⁹

Like many of the Greek philosophers of the time, Philo characterized God as entirely transcendent, universal, unchanging, and largely ineffable. This refined theology stood in stark contrast to the presentation of God in the Jewish scriptures which, at every turn, plainly describe Yahweh as being active in the material world in a very direct way, showing favor and blessings to some, while cursing and smiting entire nations. The various religions that posit this sort of unknowable God—so distant from humankind as to be unreachable—tend to rely on the belief in some sort of intermediary figure(s) to bridge this otherwise uncrossable gap so that believers are not entirely cut off from their creator.¹⁰

In Philo’s view, it isn’t that God made a choice not to interact with humans, it’s that such contact is simply impossible. Being composed of ultimate divine goodness or “perfect matter”, God’s nature is completely incompatible with the material world and its inherent wickedness (“imperfect matter”). Like several “gnostic” religions that would arise in his wake, Philo solved this conundrum by positing that God’s divine attributes, while still a part of God, could act independently within the material world as a sort of shadow, reflection, or extension of God himself. Expanding on passages of the scriptures that seem to treat “God’s word” as acting semi-independently of God, Philo called this intermediary being the Logos (“word”)—a term borrowed from Greek philosophy.¹¹

Artist depiction of the ineffable God and his intermediary Son

This Logos, Philo posited, has existed with God since time immemorial. God’s creation of the world was carried out through the Logos who then created the four primal elements out of primordial chaos. This Logos is also described as acting as a sort of bond or glue holding all of creation together. Philo at times uses other names and descriptors for the Logos. These include the “eldest angel”, “second to God”, the “archangel of many names”, “heavenly man” (or “heavenly Adam” since “Adam” means “man”), the “high priest”, and “the firstborn Son of God”.

Despite the obvious and strong influence of Greek thought on Philo’s conceptions, his views were widely revered and influential among Jews, and almost certainly contributed directly to the origin of Christianity by way of the Essenes and their related ascetic communities in Egypt known as the Therapeutae, both of whom Philo praises in his works. This latter group is described as existing in communities all around the world, but largely concentrated near Alexandria. Leading secluded, contemplative lives, they (like Philo and the Essenes) study the scriptures to discover their hidden allegorical meanings. These Therapeutae, though they clearly had existed for several decades BCE if not longer, would later be considered by a Church historian of the 300s named Eusebius to have been the first Christian monks. ¹²

A first century CE Jewish historian also later described a people from the time of Philo he calls the Maghariya (“People of the Caves”) who stored their sacred writings in the caves of the hills of Judah and its environs, and may have lived in these caves as well. The sect is said to have believed that God was too sublime to mingle with matter, and that therefore a great angel acted as an intermediary power. They are also said to have composed their own peculiar commentaries of the books of Hebrew scripture, and used their own calendar which aligns with that found in the book of Jubilees.¹³ All of these are clear markers of the Essene communities and the cave dwellings also known to house zealous anti-Roman fighters.

The Ascension of Isaiah

Artist depiction of the prophet Isaiah having an ecstatic vision

The prophet Isaiah was one of the most popular scriptural figures among the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. A fascinating document survives from this era known as The Ascension of Isaiah, and although it was not found among the Scrolls, its unique worldview and particular obsessions clearly mark it as being Essene in origin. Modern scholars have been perplexed by the Ascension—which has come down to us only in a form obviously altered in parts by later Christians. But scholars recognize that it is easy enough to bracket out these later additions, and when one does, what remains may be the closest we’ll ever get to the original Essene vision that birthed Christianity.¹⁴

Artist depiction of Isaiah ascending to heaven

The story presented in The Ascension of Isaiah is set in the 600s BCE, when Judah was under the rule of King Hezekiah. One day the prophet Isaiah comes to visit the king, and while “speaking in the Holy Spirit”, he has an extended trance-like vision in which an angel of indescribable glory comes to him from the seventh heaven and lifts him up into the firmament—the area of materiality believed to exist between the Earth and the Moon. Here Isaiah sees Sammael—a top-ranked demon featured in The Book of Watchers—who is here equated with Satan. His great host of demons fill the sky and are all fighting one another out of envy. The angel explains that this war among them has been going on since the world began, and will continue until “he that you shall see will come and destroy them.”¹⁵

Artist depiction of the ancient worldview of a firmament filled with demons

Leaving the firmament behind, Isaiah and the angel ascend to the first heaven. Here the prophet sees multitudes of angels of two different ranks, all of whom are singing praises. The angel informs Isaiah that the praises are directed toward “he who sits on the throne in the seventh heaven”, and also to “His Beloved”—adding that the latter figure is the reason the angel has been sent to Isaiah.¹⁶

Artist diagram of the seven heavens of ancient cosmology

The third, fourth, and fifth heavens are all full of even higher ranked angels who are also singing praises of the same two figures. At this point Isaiah also takes a moment to offer his praise to “the Only-begotten who dwelleth in the heavens, whose name is not known to any flesh.” The sixth heaven is significantly more glorious still, and its light makes the previous heavens seem like darkness by comparison. Here the angels are explained to be directed by the power of the seventh heaven—by God and “the Elect One, whose name has not been made known, and none of the heavens can learn His name.”¹⁷

In a preview of things to come, the angel lets on that this Elect One will undergo successive transformations until he resembles human form. He tells Isaiah that no one who has visited heaven and returned to Earth has ever been shown what he is being shown. Only he has been permitted to see the Lord. Isaiah then joins those in the sixth heaven in singing praises to “Highest Father, His Beloved the Christ, and the Holy Spirit”. The angel also mentions that His Beloved will be called “Son” by those on Earth.¹⁸

Artist depiction of Adam and Eve in the seventh level of heaven

Finally ascending to the seventh heaven, the angel informs Isaiah that he has been permitted to visit this place by “thy Lord God, the Lord Christ, who will be called ‘Jesus’ in the world”, adding that “His name you cannot hear until you have ascended out of your body.” At this highest level of heaven, Isaiah spots such Biblical heroes as Adam, Abel, Seth, and Enoch. When Isaiah asks why these people have not yet received the crowns and garments of glory, he is told such things will not be received until “the Beloved will descend in the form in which you will see Him descend into the world in the Last Days—the Lord, who will be called Christ.” The angel tells him that Christ will descend and be made into a form like Isaiah, and will be taken to be a man of flesh.¹⁹

His descent will be completely secret, hidden even from those in the heavens, so that no one will realize who he is. When he reaches the firmament, Satan—whom the angel refers to as “the god of that world”—and his demons “will crucify Him on a tree, and will slay Him not knowing who He is”. Though the mechanics of this are left unexplained, this crucifixion will cause Christ to “plunder the angel of death”. After three days he will rise and spend a year and a half in that place—the firmament, that is; there is still no notion of Jesus visiting Earth itself—this particular span of time being a fulfillment of a prophecy from the book of Daniel. He will then then ascend back to heaven and “many of the righteous will ascend with Him”.²⁰

Artist depiction of Lord Christ being crucified in the firmament by Satan and his demons

Isaiah inquires about crowns and garments he sees in the seventh heaven, and is told that they are reserved for those who will believe in That One and believe in His cross. There in the seventh heaven, “the Lord” is described at times as an angel of the highest possible rank. At this point, Isaiah is instructed to worship him. He is then instructed to worship a “second angel” standing with the Lord who is identified as “the angel of the Holy Spirit”. This figure, it is said, will be called the Holy Spirit by all God’s righteous, and he will “rest in His holy ones.” The Lord and the “angel of the Spirit” then offer worship and praise to God.²¹

The Descent of the Lord Christ

Artist depiction of God instructing Lord Jesus concerning his descent to the firmament

The angel has now told Isaiah what Christ’s descent to the firmament will be like, but this is immediately followed by Isaiah witnessing the descent itself as well. He hears “the Most High, the Father of my Lord, as he said to my Lord Christ, who will be called Jesus, ‘Go out and descend through all the heavens. You shall descend through the firmament and through that world as far as the angel who is in the realm of the dead, but you shall not go as far as Hell.’” Lord Christ is instructed by God to transform his appearance to match those of the beings in each of the lower heavens, and then to take on the form of those in the firmament, then like those in the realm of the dead so that none will recognize he is the Lord.²²

Artist depiction of Lord Jesus disguising himself to descend undetected through the heavens

Despite having apparently yielded the firmament to Satan and his demons since the world was created, God takes them to task for saying to each other “We alone are, and there is no one besides us.” Lord Jesus is then instructed to judge and destroy “the princes and the angels and the gods of that world”, and then ascend back to heaven in his full glory to sit at God’s right hand, after which “the princes and the powers of that world will worship you.”²³

The Lord dutifully begins his descent through each of the heavens. At each, he transforms his appearance so as to remain incognito. Between the lower levels of Heaven, there are checkpoints, and The Lord supplies the angelic guards at each with the correct passwords to be granted passage and continue his journey. When he arrives at the firmament “where the prince of this world dwells”, The Lord transforms his appearance again to match the “angels of the air”, and attempts to supply a password for entry, but the demons here are too distracted by arguing and fighting amongst themselves to even notice him.²⁴

It is at this point in the Ascension—as it comes down to us—that a few paragraphs written significantly later have been inserted into the text, breaking the flow of the narrative and using a noticeably different writing style. A brief capsule summary of Jesus’s ministry on Earth as presented in the later-written gospels has been added. But as we have seen, the original text up to this point does not give any indication at all that “The Lord” will have any sort of life or career among humans on Earth. The angel has made clear in advance that The Lord will simply descend, be crucified in the firmament above Earth by Satan and the “angels of the air”, and that this act will somehow lead to the immediate and complete defeat of the forces of darkness. Then once the demons realize who The Lord is, they will be shocked and begin to worship him.²⁵

Artist depiction of Paul’s vision of the heavenly Jesus

As we will see, just about every aspect of the peculiar-sounding theology of The Ascension of Isaiah is actually shared by the Apostle Paul—whose epistles written in the 50s CE predate the gospels by decades. Paul too shared the doctrine that Christ’s very existence was a kept secret from mankind from the creation of the world up until the present moment²⁶—the beginning of the End Times—when apostles like himself first became aware of The Lord through visionary experiences.²⁷ He too taught that the Lord descended from Heaven to the firmament where, in that place, he was crucified by Satan and his demons.²⁸ And Paul too teaches that the Lord was not bestowed with the name “Jesus” or the title “the Son of God” until after being resurrected and having ascended back to Heaven.²⁹

And as previously noted, and by now made clear, Paul betrays no notion of believing Jesus walked among humans on Earth, much less that such a thing occurred in the very recent past. The incredible value of the oft-overlooked Ascension is that, while Paul’s core understanding of Christ and his saving actions can mostly be pieced together from passages throughout his epistles, this one document lays out a theology nearly identical to Paul’s in a very straightforward way, vastly improving our understanding of what the earliest Christians believed and preached.

Christians who converted to the faith in later decades, however—after the gospels had popularized the notion of an earthly Jesus—must have puzzled at the Ascension. Clearly it was a Christian work, but how could its author have skipped right over The Lord’s life and ministry on Earth, somehow not even deeming it worth a single mention? It may have seemed as though part of the document was missing. Such a mindset would explain the addition of the several paragraphs awkwardly added to the text at a later date which attempt to harmonize the Ascension with the gospels written some 30 to 60 years later. (Note: The scholarly consensus for the dating of The Ascension of Isaiah is that its original form was in place by at least 150 CE,³⁰ though how much earlier its core layer was composed has only been guessed at. My own suggestion of this writing being the basis of Paul’s gospel places it before 50 CE, and is based solely on its content which, with its depiction of a strictly heavenly Jesus Christ, perfectly fits into place like a missing puzzle piece in this formative era of the faith—far more so than it would at any later date.)

The Martyrdom of Isaiah

Another section of the Ascension deals with the prophet Isaiah’s death. King Hezekiah summons his only son Manasseh to hear the prophet Isaiah recount his heavenly vision. Isaiah, the text says, beheld the Judgment to come; the destruction of the world; the eternal tortures of Hell; the transformation, persecution, and ascension of “the Beloved”; and the “prince of this world and his angels, archons, and powers”.³¹ This latter set of terms matches Paul’s language exactly—he too writes of “archons and powers” who crucified the Lord, and that they never would have done so if his identity was not kept hidden from them.

Artist depiction of the being known as Beliar, Belial, and Satan

Isaiah then takes king Hezekiah aside and informs him that his son Manasseh will abandon his religion and become a follower of Beliar—and that Beliar will dwell inside him.³² At the dawn of Christianity, the name “Satan” had not been settled on for the most powerful among the demons. Older names like Sammael from The Book of Watchers are still used at times here in the Ascension.³³ In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the most common name used is “Belial”, though occasionally we see the variant “Beliar” instead. The Ascension uses “Beliar” 12 times and “Satan” 7 times. Paul speaks of “Beliar” once and “Satan” 10 times.

The prophet goes on to tell the king that his son Manasseh will kill him—Isaiah, that is—by sawing him in two. Hezekiah is devastated and vows to kill his own son before this can come about. But Isaiah tells him The Beloved won’t let that happen, and that he’s ready to fulfill his calling to suffer a fate like that of The Beloved. Years pass, Hezekiah dies, and his son Manasseh succeeds him and, as prophesied, serves “the angel of lawlessness” Beliar, who is “the ruler of this world”. Soon all Jerusalem is full of witchcraft and fornication.³⁴

Artist depiction of the execution of the prophet Isaiah

In a description that closely mirrors the history of the Zadokites/Essenes, Isaiah and a large band of prophets flee the wickedness happening in Jerusalem, leaving the city to dwell in the desert where they live like the poor, wearing camel hair loincloths, and eating nothing but gathered herbs. Eventually a false prophet arises in Jerusalem and makes spurious accusations against Isaiah to King Manasseh. On this pretense, the venerable prophet Isaiah is dragged in front of the king, and is executed. As he is being sawn in half, Isaiah neither weeps nor cries out. He continuously speaks through the Holy Spirit before finally cursing and damning Manasseh and the false prophet and then dying.³⁵

This section of the Ascension of Isaiah also includes a section of text that is widely recognized as having been inserted by a later author. It displays clear knowledge of the gospels and the book of Revelation, and offers something of a capsule summary of the events of the End Times taken from those later writings.³⁶

Continue Reading:

Chapter 9: Peter, James, and Paul

Footnotes

1
Zetterholm, M., & Klawans, J. (Eds.). (2021). The Oxford Handbook of the Messiah. Oxford University Press.
2
Finkbeiner, D. (2007) A Synopsis on the Essenes from Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder. University of Pennsylvania. https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//courses/735/Historiography/EsseneSynopsis.htm
3
Galatians 1:11-12. The Bible. New International Version.
4
2 Corinthians 12:1-4. The Bible. New International Version.
5
Carrier, R. On the Historicity of Christ. (2014). Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd.
6
Carrier, R. On the Historicity of Christ. (2014). Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd.
7
NOTE: Despite the overwhelming silence of Paul concerning any inkling of a historical Jesus, there are two pieces of evidence that have been claimed to support the notion that Paul knew of a Jesus who had lived on Earth. Galatians 4:4 reads:

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent his son, made from a woman, made under the law, in order to rescue those under the law, in order that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba, father!’ As a result, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then also an heir by God.”

But as Dr. Richard Carrier points out that in the fuller context of Galatians 3:29-5:1 Paul is making an extended allegory. Jesus, writes Carrier, “was momentarily born to the allegorical Hagar, the slave woman, which is the Torah law—the old testament—which holds sway in the earthly Jerusalem, so that he could kill off that law with his own death, making it possible for us to be born of the free woman at last. This is what Paul means when he says Jesus was made ‘under the law’ and ‘from a woman’; he means Hagar, representing the old law; but we now—like Jesus now—have a new mother: God’s heavenly kingdom.” See: Carrier, R. (2023). On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt. United Kingdom: Sheffield Phoenix Press Limited.

Even if Carrier is wrong here, a simple look at Revelation 12 shows that early Christians could believe that a woman could give birth in the firmament to a son that was spirited up to heaven and becomes the End Times vengeful messiah, so there is no reason that Paul wouldn’t have a birth in heaven or the firmament in mind here.

In his letters, Paul also sometimes uses an odd phrase often translated as “according to the flesh” when describing God’s offering of his son as a sacrifice. This phrase in Greek, kata sarka, can also have the connotation of “like flesh” or “in the realm of the flesh” which are quite compatible with a theology as presented in the Ascension of Isaiah and elsewhere in Paul’s letters: namely, that Jesus descended through the heavens putting on the guise of angels and then put on flesh when he reached the firmament above the earth where he was sacrificed by demons. For a thorough rebuttal of claims that Paul’s letters contain evidence he knew of a human Jesus, see: Doherty, E. (2009). Jesus: Neither God Nor Man – The Case for a Mythical Jesus. Age of Reason Publications.
8
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021). Philo Judaeus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus
9
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021). Philo Judaeus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus
10
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021). Philo Judaeus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus
11
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021). Philo Judaeus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus
12
Kohler, K. Therapeutae. Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14366-therapeutae
13
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021). Philo Judaeus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus
14
Knight, J. (1995). The Ascension of Isaiah. Sheffield Academic Press.
15
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
16
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
17
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
25
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
26
Romans 16:25. The Bible. New International Version.
27
Ephesians 3:2-4. The Bible. New International Version.
28
Moses, R.E. (2014). Practices of Power: Revisiting the Principalities and Powers in the Pauline Letters. Augsburg Fortress Publishers.
29
Philippians 2:8-10. The Bible. New International Version.
30
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ascension.html
31
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
32
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
33
De La Torre, M. & Hernandez, A. (2011). The Quest for the Historical Satan. Fortress Press.
34
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
35
The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html
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The Ascension of Isaiah. Early Christian Writings. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ascension.html