Whatever happened to Enoch, Methuselah’s dad?

Genesis 5:21-24 says this about Enoch’s life:

“And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methu’selah:

“and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methu’selah 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.”

It begs the question: what happened to Enoch?

The passage suggests God took Enoch up to heaven. Some say he returned as John the Baptist. Others say he’ll return as one of the two witnesses in Revelation (while others insist it’ll be Moses and Elijah). Enoch must’ve been a special person, if God allowed him to enter heaven without first enduring a physical death.

One friend named David Ricker, a former roommate of mine at Pensacola Christian College who now pastors Lighthouse Christian Church in Phillips, Maine, has a different take, one I’d never even thought of. It’s one I found fascinating.

Dave believes that Enoch’s ascent into heaven, followed some years later by the Flood, is a picture of the rapture. The earth in those days was filled with evil until God wiped it out with a flood and allowed Noah and his family to start over. And just as Enoch ascended into heaven because of his righteousness (which comes through Jesus Christ), Christians due to their righteousness will also “ascend” or be raptured into heaven.

“To the issue of Enoch and his being ‘taken’, I think that he was a godly man because he ‘walked with God,’” Dave said. “I think that it was a life change for him after he had his child, Methuselah. This actually makes an excellent type for a premillennial rapture. Let me explain. First, the whole earth is in constant moral decline. Jesus said that in the last days it would be like Noah’s Time. Second, Enoch, part of the line of godly men, after a ‘conversion’ and walking with God is ‘raptured’ out of the world before real trouble of worldwide judgment. Third, Noah, a picture of believing Jews are kept safe through this judgment to a beautiful remade world to start over in the millennium.”

Enoch is one of only two men recorded in the Old Testament to not have died. Elijah was the other one. Moses died but was buried somewhere where only God knows for sure.

One thing’s for certain, as far as the Great Tribulation goes: I’ll be very glad to miss it. I think mankind has yet to see God when He’s angry.

A greeting for my friend, Howard

In case he accesses this blog, here’s a Hebrew message for my friend Howard (who has studied Hebrew and says it’s a lot like sign language):

שלום, הורד! מא שלמחא?

אני רי׳צרד