apoc-adamnag-hammadi
Apocalypse of Adam 3
Sakla, the demiurgic ruler of the lower powers, three times moves against the holy seed of Seth — first by fire, then by army, then by angels of darkness — and three times fails. Clouds of light descend from the eternal aeons and withdraw the sealed generation from the flame; the living water and the seal of the great Light render them untouchable. Sakla's impotence before this sealed remnant mirrors the pattern of Pharaoh hardening his heart against a people whom no earthly power can hold. The chapter closes with the four hundred thousand standing in the high place, confirmed in the threefold name, unmoved before the great judgment of the latter days.
1
Then Sakla, the god of the powers, beheld the great glory upon the four hundred thousand men. And he was filled with envy and wrath.
2
He said unto his angels: They have despised our power. They have not obeyed our word. The seed of Seth shall not stand. We will burn them with fire and brimstone, that they may be no more.
3
And the powers came down with a great army of fire. They circled the holy generation. They sought to consume them upon the holy mountain.
4
But behold, there came great clouds of light. They descended from the eternal aeons. They covered the holy seed. They withdrew them out of the flame.
5
And Abrasax, and Sablo, and Gamaliel — they took the men. They placed them in another land. The fire passed by, and consumed them not.
6
Then the god of the powers gnashed his teeth. He said: Where are they? How have they escaped? Have we not the heavens, and the earth, and the air? Yet they pass through our hand as smoke.
7
His powers said unto him: There hath come down a great cloud of light. They are taken into the place of the eternal knowledge. We have no power over them.
8
Then the rage of Sakla burned hotter than before. He sent a third time. He sent the spirit of his unrighteousness. He sent his angels of darkness.
9
But the holy seed received the seal. They received the baptism of the living water. They were sealed with the seal of the great Light. The angels of darkness fled from before them.
10
Then the god of the powers, when he saw that he could not prevail, prepared the great judgment of the latter days. He hardened his heart against the holy ones. But the eternal God watched over His seed; and they were not moved.
11
And the four hundred thousand stood in the high place, blessing the eternal God. They knew that the powers could not lay hold of them, neither could the fire, neither could the water, neither could the spirit of unrighteousness.
12
For they were sealed of the great Light. They were sealed with the seal of the great generation. They were sealed in the name of the holy Father, and the holy Mother, and the holy Son.
