part0008

"And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him ." [Genesis 5:21-24]

When a person reads about the Old Testament saints in the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis, he or she cannot help but notice the extremely high number of years that some of those men had lived. Adam, for example, had lived nine hundred and thirty years. His third son, Seth, had lived nine hundred and twelve years. His son, Enos, had lived nine hundred and five years. His son, Cainan, had lived nine hundred and ten years. His son, Mahalaleel, had lived eight hundred and ninety-five years. His son, Jared, had lived for nine hundred and sixty-two years. Thus, each of those men except one had lived for more than nine hundred years and even the one that had not had still been very close. One then gets to the son of Mahalaleel whose name was Enoch and a brief different duration is noted. Enoch had only lived for three hundred and sixty-five years. However, following him had been Methusaleh, Lamech, and Noah. Each of those men had also lived very lengthy lives.

From that list of very durable, long living men, five meaningful points can be made. First, Adam had lived long enough to see the birth of each of those generations up until Lamech who was the father of Noah. By doing some very simple arithmetic on the years that are listed in the book of Genesis, Lamech had been born eight hundred and seventy-four years after Adam's nine hundred and thirty years had begun. So Adam had actually known him for about fifty-six years before his own death. Second, human beings have only been in this existence for about six thousand years. So that means that the people of those first generations of human beings had lived close to fifteen percent of the total number of years of ALL human beings. That in itself is quite incredible. Third, the last person in the above group to have died with the exception of Noah was Methusaleh. He had died in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-six. By again making some simple arithmetic calculations, one can see that Noah had been born in the year one thousand and fifty-six. Exactly six hundred years later which would have been in the same year that Methuselah had died, the Great Flood had begun. Genesis 7:6 says, "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth ." So that means that Methusaleh had lived right up until the year of the flood.

Fourth, the name "Methusaleh" means man of the dart. Connotatively it had implied that some form of judgment was coming to the earth. So the people that had lived during those nine hundred and sixty-nine years of Methusaleh's life had actually had almost one thousand years of warning that something terribly bad would someday happen. But of course, as is often the case even today, they had completely ignored that warning. Concerning more modern times, II Peter 3:1-4 says, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you… that there shall come in the last days scoffers , walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." One should note that many of the people during Noah's days had probably been similar to the above latter day scoffers. Fifth, Enoch had lived for a very short time when compared to the very lengthy lifetimes of everyone else . So what had happened to him? What had he done so terribly bad as to cut short his number of years? Should a person look at the very long lifetimes of the others and then feel sorry for Enoch because his life had been so much shorter? The answer is definitely not. From what had actually happened to him, a person can learn four very important positive facts about the Lord and also about the Old Testament saints.

The first important positive fact is that Enoch had NOT died. Hebrews 11:5-6 says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death…he pleased God. 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." Normally ALL human beings die. Hebrews 9:27-28 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die , but after this the judgment…." But Enoch had not died. Besides him only one other person in the Bible had so dramatically and so unexplainably left this life without having died. II Kings 2:11 says, "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven ." As a side note to the fact that neither Enoch nor Elijah had died many but not all Bible scholars and theologians believe that they will probably be the two witnesses of God that are spoken about in the book of Revelation. Revelation 11:3 says, "And I will give power unto my two witnesses , and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth."

The second important positive fact is that Enoch's departure from this life gives a very clear picture of the Rapture. The Greek word used for "translated" in Hebrews 11:5-6 means to put one thing in the place of another. It also means to transpose or to change something. So when Enoch had been brought into heaven by the Lord, his change in physical substance had been very similar to and maybe even the same as when the saints on earth will be caught up to be with the Lord in the Rapture. In a moment, they will be changed from their earthly physical form to an eternal heavenly form. I Corinthians 15:51-52 says, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed , In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed ." So, as Enoch had been changed from the physical to the eternal so the saints on the earth at the time of the Rapture will be changed, too.

The third important positive fact is that Enoch's life shows that the Old Testament saints had had some kind of personal relationship of potential with the Lord. The New Testament teaches that a born again follower of Christ is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Jesus had referred to Him as the Comforter or as the Spirit of truth that lives inside of each believer and leads him or her in the way that they should go. John 16:13 says, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." The Apostle Paul had also written about Him. I Corinthians 6:19 says, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you , which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" So while Enoch had not been indwelled by the Holy Spirit in the same way as the New Testament saints would be, he had still had a personal relationship of sorts with God. Genesis 5:21-24 which was quoted above says that the two had walked together. But whenever two people are walking together, then they are automatically in some kind of a relationship. That relationship had also had the potential to rise to higher heights because God had taken Enoch so that he had not experienced the same physical death as other human beings.

The fourth very important positive fact is that living a long time in this existence is NOT necessarily the greater blessing. Many people TODAY might think that the goal is to live in this existence as long as possible. But Enoch had greatly pleased the Lord even though he had lived considerably fewer years than the other people of his days. He had lived many fewer years. But he had still been much closer to the Lord. He had lived many fewer years. But he had also been with the Lord sooner than many of his brethren and ancestors who had still been struggling with the matters of this life. So he had lived a life of quality rather than a life of quantity. By contrast, many of those people around him had lived lives of quantity but not necessarily lives of quality. While it is understood that people are often frightened by the unknowns of what awaits on the other side of the grave, Enoch's example CAN BE a basis for changing some of those fears. Very few individuals would actually say that Enoch had NOT been blessed. But even more than his earthly blessings of walking with God was his true blessing of having been "translated."