SUBJECT: Enoch
QUESTION: Where Is
Enoch? Is Enoch in heaven?
ANSWER:
ENOCH was "translated."
Where did he go? Was he immediately taken to heaven? NO!
Because Jesus Himself said: "No man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
man"(John 3:13). Here are Jesus' own words that no man,
except Himself, had ascended into heaven!
And how did He know? Why, He
came from there!
Then where is Enoch? Let's
see what the bible says.
Enoch
Walked With God
At the age of 65 Enoch had a
son Methuselah. "And Enoch walked with God after he begat
Methuselah three hundred years, and he begat sons and
daughters" (Genesis 5:22).
Here was a man that PLEASED
God, a man that WALKED WITH GOD.
Enoch had to have faith, for
in Hebrews 11:6 the Apostle said, "But without faith it is
impossible to PLEASE Him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him." So Enoch walked with God. He obeyed
God, and followed Him in His paths BY FAITH.
No one can walk with God
unless he is in agreement with the will of God and doing it.
Amos the prophet said: "Can two walk together, except they
be agreed?" (Amos 3:3.) So in his generation Enoch was the
only recorded person who followed the ways of God - even
though it possible took him sixty-five years to learn to
walk with God!
But how long did Enoch walk
with God? The Scripture says that he "walked with God after
he begat Methuselah three hundred years." So Enoch followed
God's ways for three hundred years. Notice that Moses did
not record that Enoch is still walking with God. The
Scripture says that Enoch WALKED with God for three hundred
years and not one year more! The Enoch is not still walking
with God! Why?
Because "all the days of
Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years" (Gen. 5:23). All
the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
Not just part of his days, but all his days! If Enoch did
not die-if he was changed to immortality-and thus continued
to walk with God, then his days would have been more than
three hundred and sixty-five years. But the Bible plainly
says that ALL his days were just that many, and no more!
This expression "all his
days" is used in the same fifth chapter of Genesis about a
dozen times and always it means that the person lived for
that length of time ONLY "and he died." So Enoch lived NO
MORE than three hundred and sixty-five years because "all
his days were three hundred and sixty-five years." As he
lived only for this length of time THEN HE MUST HAVE DIED!
But what about his
translation? Does that mean he didn't die?
That's what most people
carelessly assume without proof.
What
Really Happened at Enoch's Translation!
Remember, Moses didn't write
that Enoch did not die. Rather Moses wrote that "Enoch
walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis
5:24). Paul records the same event by saying that he "was
not found, because God had translated him" (Hebrews 11:5).
Thus the Scripture records
that Enoch was not found because God took him, or
"translated" him. THE BIBLE DOES NOT SAY THAT ENOCH WENT TO
HEAVEN when he was translated. Instead it says he was not
found.
Certainly Enoch was
"translated," but what does the word "translate" mean?
Strange as it may seem,
nowhere in the entire Bible does "translate" mean to make
immortal!
The original Greek word for
"translate" is metatithemi. According to Strong's
Concordance it signifies: transfer, transport, exchange,
change sides.
This same Greek word is
rendered "carried over" in Acts 7:16. Here we read that
after Jacob DIED his body was "carried over"-transported,
'TRANSLATED-to Sychem WHERE HE WAS BURIED! That's what your
Bible says! Jacob was transported or TRANSLATED to the place
of burial!
That is why Moses said that
God TOOK Enoch. God removed-translated-him so that he was
not found. God took Enoch and buried him!
In Deuteronomy 34:6 we read
also how God took Moses from the people after which he died
and was buried by God. "But no man knoweth his sepulcher
unto this day." God removed Moses-God translated him-and he
was not found either!
So Enoch was not made
immortal after all! He was taken away and was not found. ALL
his days were three hundred and sixty-five! That's as long
as Enoch lived.
Notice another proof that
"translate" does not mean to make immortal. It is found in
Col. 1:13: the Father "hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath TRANSLATED us into the kingdom of His
dear Son." Here the Bible says that Christians are already
translated-but Christians still die! We are not immortal
bodies, but mortal flesh and blood. Although we were once
part of the darkness of this world, now we are TRANSLATED,
removed from darkness into the light of the kingdom of God.
Didn't
Receive the Promise
Enoch is included by Paul
(in Hebrews 11) among the fathers who obtained a good report
through faith; but "ALL these, having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promise" (Hebrews 11:39).
What promise? The "hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Titus 1:2).
So Enoch therefore is one of
"ALL THESE" who have not yet obtained the promise of eternal
life and inheritance. Enoch and all the worthies of old will
receive the promise of eternal life at the return of Christ,
the same time Christians obtain it (Hebrews 11:40). That is
yet future!
Since Enoch has not yet
inherited eternal life he must be dead! This is exactly what
Paul writes in Heb. 11:13! Paul says Enoch DIED! Notice it!
"These ALL died in faith, not having received what was
promised." Who were these "ALL"?
Paul tells us: Abel, ENOCH,
Noah, and the patriarchs and their wives. Hebrews 11:1-12
lists those who had faith and Enoch is included among them.
Then in verse 13 Paul proved that they had not inherited the
promises by saying: "These ALL [including
Enoch] died in faith."
But what about Paul's saying
that Enoch "should not see death"?
Which
Death Did Enoch Escape?
Enoch lived only three
hundred sixty-five years. Then what could Paul possibly have
meant by saying: "By faith Enoch was translated that he
should not see death; and was not found because God had
translated him?" This verse nowhere says that Enoch did not
die. Rather, it says that Enoch "should not see death." But
what does it mean?
Remember, there is more than
one death mentioned in the Bible. There is a first death,
and there is a second death (Revelation 20:6). Which death
did Paul mean?
The first death is appointed
unto men (Hebrews 9:27). That death cannot be humanly
evaded. It is inevitable. That death Enoch died, as we have
already proved.
But Paul was not writing
about that death. The phrase "should not see" is in the
conditional tense of the verb, having reference to a future
event. It is not in the past tense, that he "did not see'
death-but that he "sbould not see death." So this death that
Enoch escaped by being translated is one that he can escape
in the future ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS!
Did Jesus ever speak of a
death that might be escaped? He certainly did! In John 8:51
Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep
my sayings, he shall never see death"-shall never see-that
is, suffer-the second death! And again in John 11:26, "Whoso
liveth and believeth in me shall never die"-or "shall not
die forever."
This death is one than can
be escaped on condition that men keep the saying of Jesus
and believe Him. This death is not the first death, because
Christians who keep Jesus' sayings die this first death.
Then the death which Enoch should escape must be the second
death which will NEVER TOUCH THOSE WHO ARE IN THE FIRST
RESURRECTION (Revelation 20:6). And Enoch will be in the
first resurrection because he met the conditions!
Enoch had faith. He believed
God and walked with God, obeying Him. In keeping the sayings
of God, Enoch kept the sayings of Jesus too; because Jesus
did not speak of Himself, but spoke what the Father
commanded Him (John 14:10).
Thus Enoch met the
conditions so that he should not see death. The second death
shall never touch Enoch, because of his faith and obedience.
Two
Translations
Now we can understand
Hebrews 11 :5: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death; and was not found, because God had translated
him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that
he pleased God."
This verse plainly mentions
two translations.
Examining this verse fact by
fact, we notice that Enoch had faith and was translated.
This translation-removal, transference-was on condition of
FAITH. NOW what translation mentioned in the Bible is on
condition of faith? Why, the one we read about in Colossians
1:13. The Father "hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His
dear Son."
This is a FIGURATIVE
translation-a FIGURATIVE removal or transference from the
spiritual darkness of this world to the light of the family
or kingdom of God and Christ. In verse 10 Paul shows that to
abide in this kingdom we must "walk worthy of the Lord unto
all pleasing." This is exactly what Enoch did. He walked
with God, and pleased God.
Then Enoch, the same as
Christians, was delivered from the power of sin and darkness
in which he had been living for sixty-five years. He was
removed (translated)
from the ways of the world and lived three hundred years
according to God's ways so that he might inherit eternal
life at Christ's return, and should not suffer the second
death.
By faith Enoch was
separated-removed or translated-from the world, the same as
Christians who are not to be a part of the world, although
living in the world.
Not only was Enoch
FIGURATIVELY taken from the society of his day, but he was
also LITERALLY removed-translated-so that he was not found.
God took him physically away
from the people, just as He later took Moses. And God buried
each so well that neither has ever been found since! Enoch
had completed this present normal life. "All his days were
three hundred sixty-five years. This was the second
translation-a literal removal at death.
God gave Enoch this sign of
physical removal as a type for all those who should later
follow Enoch's example of faith. He was taken physically
from the people just as Christians are to be spiritually
removed from the ways of the world. The physical translation
or carrying away of Enoch was also a sign to him from God
that his faith had been accepted-God often gives signs
(Isaiah 38:7).
Like every true saint, Enoch
is awaiting the hope of the resurrection and the return of
Christ (Jude 14, 15).
back to the top |