Enoch
Can you imagine living for 365 years? Most of the world today is happy to live to the ripe old age of 70 and hopefully live that long with good health. Before Noah’s flood people were living into their 900’s. Enoch was only about one third the average age when God took him. So, what is the story of God taking Enoch at such a young age? There are many who believe Enoch never died a human death and God carried him off to heaven before he died. The misbelief in “going to heaven” after one passes away is an established concept in the Christian community of believers. Did Enoch “go to heaven” or did something else happen?
We will look at the two verses of Gen. 5:21-24 and Hebrews 11:5 which are used by most in the Christian world to say Enoch went to heaven. First, we look at what the apostle John had to say about going to heaven. Writing around 95-96 A.D. John says, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” (John 3:13 [KJV]). John wrote this around 4,000 years after God took Enoch. No one has ascended to Heaven accept Jesus. So where did God translate Enoch too?
Gen. 5:21-24 [NKJV] “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Many people believe this means God took Enoch to heaven. However, the Hebrew word for “took” is laqah meaning, “to take, receive; to be led away.” (Strongs #3947). There is no mention of heaven nor any mention as to where God took Enoch. In Gen. 42:36 the same Hebrew word laqah is used; “And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” They took Benjamin to Egypt, not heaven. Joseph and Simeon were still alive. Jacob was concerned about possibly losing another son who would be laqah away.
Heb. 11:5 is the second verse people use to say Enoch went to heaven. “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.” [KJV]. “Translated” comes from the Greek word metatithemi, meaning, “to change (from one place or position to another); to bring back; to take away:” God moved Enoch somewhere but we are not told where.
Both citations (Gen. 5:21-44; Heb. 11:5) show us Enoch was moved somewhere by God. Why, because he (Enoch) pleased God. At the time of Enoch, the world was spiraling down to the age of Noah and the great washing away of sin by the flood. Great sin encompassed the world, and Enoch was a righteous man. Neither verse even hints at Enoch going to heaven but both point out God removed (laqah and metatithemi) him from the sinful world he lived in to a different place. Enoch was not dead; he was moved to a safe place by God. The place God put him in is not told to us. The apostle John said about 4,000 years later that “no man has gone to heaven…”
So, what does happen at death? Since Enoch was literally moved and had not yet died, what happens at actual death?
First, we need to understand what happens at human death. Read the COSCOG7 Staff Immortal Soul study for a longer explanation of what happens when a human dies. All humans die a physical death as stated by God and His Biblical authors. Heb. 9:27 “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgement”. Concerning the “faithful” listed in Hebrews 11 they “all died in faith [Including Enoch], not having received the promises…” (Vs. 13). Continuing in verse 39 they all “obtained a good report through faith”, yet “received not the promise.” These are the faithful of God yet they all died and Enoch was one of them. All die (I Cor. 15:22). It is clear Enoch is currently dead. Jesus said,” And no man hath ascended up to heaven…” (John 3:13a [KJV]). Only Jesus has been to heaven and back (John 3:13b). Only Jesus has gone to heaven therefore Enoch is clearly in the grave today awaiting his future judgement at the return of Jesus Christ. Read the www.coscog7.org article on Heaven for further info on what happens after death.
We have learned we are all subject to death and no one but Christ has gone to heaven. Now what about Enoch and the fact God took him? Where did God take him? The Bible does not say God took him to heaven. Heb. 11:5 says God “translated” him. What was meant by the term and “not see death”? Which death? The second death of Rev. 20:6. Enoch will inherit the earth with the rest of God’s saints. At God’s great judgement of mankind Enoch will once again live with the saints in the presence of God. He died the normal physical death of all men but will live the loving eternal life with God in His future Kingdom of God as he has not yet received the “promise” of eternal life (Heb. 11:39). Enoch did die the human death, he did not go to heaven and he is buried (Just like King David is, see Acts 2:29). Enoch was a friend of God and two cannot walk together unless they agree (Amos 3:3). Enoch like all the saints listed in Heb. 11 will eventually receive God’s promise of eternal life (verses 39-40) at the return of Jesus Christ to rule this earth (I Thes. 4:13-18 and I Cor. 15: 50-54). Enoch was being promised his future immortality with God.
Are there others in the Bible God has translated to another location? YES! At the end of his ministry Elijah was taken away in a fiery chariot by God to heaven (This is the first heaven as there are three heavens spoken of by God in the Bible. The first heaven is the atmosphere, the second heaven is the universe and the third heaven is where God’s throne is. See www.coscog7.org article in resources on “Heaven”) and about ten years later we see Elijah wrote a letter to the King. See II Kings 2:11 and II Chronicles 21:12-15.
Philip the deacon preached to the Ethiopian eunuch and was translated away by God. Again, we see God moving his people to where He wanted them to be. Acts 8:39-40 show us Philip did not go to heaven but continued his ministry in Azotus and then he went to Caesarea. “Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
Enoch was moved (translated) by God from one place to another. He did not go to heaven and like all the saints of God, Enoch died a physical death and is awaiting his resurrection to be with Jesus in the eternal kingdom.
Mike Wallace
