FRIDAY 12th
The rapture of Enoch – Genesis 4:24 ‘And he was not, for God took him.’
Enoch is the first of only two individuals in Scripture who did not taste death, the other being Elijah where 2 Kings 2 records for us that he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of Fire.
Enoch’s story is a small but beautiful picture of the rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ that is you, me, and all other living believers at his return. The key to Enoch’s rapture was that he walked with God and that he pleased God, and when we enter into the new-born experience, into the life transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ we are called to ‘walk with him’, to ‘walk by faith’ and as a result God is PLEASED with us -not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Christ has done for us. As believers, when God looks at us, he sees us as justified, he sees us as clothed in robes of righteousness, he sees the evidence of the work of redemption, he sees Jesus, therefore he is pleased!
And as Enoch was raptured or taken up so when Jesus comes again all who are alive at the time, and to be found in Christ will be raptured to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 ‘For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.’
Warren Wiersbe* says of Enoch being taken ‘Enoch had been walking with God for so many years that his transfer to heaven was not even an Interruption.’
Thus, it shall be for us who believe.
The prophecy of Enoch – although there is no account recorded in Genesis, Jude later records in his short epistle that Enoch of old prophesied. Jude 1:14-15 ‘It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’
He was, not only a picture of the rapture but he also prophesied concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The saying or prophecy of Enoch comes from one of the books of the Apocrypha, the book of Enoch. Although the Apocryphal books are not accepted as Scripture, it does not mean that Enoch never said this statement. Within each apocryphal book there is that which is accepted as truth but not accepted as part of the canon of Scripture. For Jude to quote what he has, does not endorse the apocryphal book of Enoch, but does endorse the truthfulness of what is recorded, this must be, for the record of Scripture itself is true! Sources suggest that although Enoch himself never wrote the book, tradition that had been handed down, was recalled, and has recorded what he said. And what he said is affirmed elsewhere in Scripture, Christ will come again.
But to conclude with Enoch, by faith Enoch walked with God, Enoch pleased God, and God took him.
May we ensure that we are walking in a way that is pleasing God in readiness for the arrival of the King of Glory, who will come again to take up to be with himself those who are to be found to be waiting in Christ.
*Preaching the Word Series
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there
When the roll, is called up yon-der
When the roll, is called up yon-der
When the roll, is called up yon-der
When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there
On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise
And the glory of His resurrection share
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there
Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there