“AN ANCIENT RAPTURE”
(Genesis 5:18 - 24, Hebrews 11:5) W. Max Alderman
18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:
19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
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.
INTRODUCTION: Our message will examine the life of a little known but familiar character of the Bible. The historical setting of his life was one of godlessness and extreme wickedness. Out of those dark days the Bible reveals to us a unique and special man named Enoch.
Enoch stood midway between the Fall and the Flood. He was the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, just as Lamech was seventh from Adam in the line of Cain. As godlessness climaxed in Lamech, so godliness climaxed in Enoch. He was the first man to escape death. This fact is all the more significant when one reads the "tolling of the bell" in Genesis 5. It is recorded of all other men, "And he died." But Enoch was translated that he should not see death. In type, he is a picture of the raptured saints just before the great Tribulation. As a matter of fact, Enoch’s translation is the first Rapture in the Bible! It was a very ancient rapture that pictured the upcoming rapture. Let’s now look at the parallels of the “then and now”.
I.THE TIME OF ENOCH IS DESCRIBED (Genesis 6:5-7,11,12)
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
A. There Was a Moral Corruption During the Time of Enoch (V. 5a) (“wickedness of man")
An example of moral corruption would be as it pertains to homosexuality or as the Bible refers to it as sodomy. If this practice was not against nature then there would be no public demonstrations as it applies to this terrible wicked sin. Homosexuality is a blatant departure from God’s rules of creative nature. It is wickedly unnatural and with it being against nature it contradicts God’s creative order.
The Apostle Paul wrote of this sin in Romans 1:26-27: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”
We are being taught by our humanistic society and now by our liberal universities, and court systems that preaching like this is the practicing of a “hate crime”. I wish to remind you that the hate is not being directed against a person; it is directed against their sin. I also hate alcohol, but love the alcoholic. I can hate the drugs but love the addict. According to the Word of God, God also hates the sin and will greatly judge the sinner.
B. There Was a Mental Corruption During the Time of Enoch (V. 5b.- 11,12) (“only evil continually”)
Nihilism, a philosophy which rejects all religious and moral principles became popular in the 1960s. Here is the way that the word is defined according to Webster’s Dictionary: Nihilism: a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless b: a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths. This philosophy is not only restricted to a classroom, it has permeated our culture and is effecting all of us.
As a society, we have raised our babies to believe that God’s law has no real worth or value. The last presidential election showed that morals are not really that much of an issue. We now have a president who strongly supports abortion and “gay rights”. How can “gays” have special rights when what they do is so wrong? The way that we either cope with these issues or accept these sins as being ok all takes place within the mind. The mind of the unregenerate has become defiled.
II. THE TESTIMONY OF ENOCH IS DIFFERENT
A. His Walk Marked His Fellowship (Genesis 5:24) "Enoch walked with GOD"
To walk with God involves the total man. When Enoch was walking with God, I believe that he was in communion with Him. He was learning from Him. He let God be his counsellor and his guide. He very likely separated himself from his peers in preference to spending time with the Preeminent One. Our walk should clearly mark just who we are. Notice with me this passage that shows how we as believers should be walking differently from this old sin cursed world:
Colossians 3:1, 2; 5-10 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
B. His Witness Marked His Faith
1. Enoch Witnessed a Faith Which Involved
Prophecy
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14,15)
“The “ten thousand of his saints” are the raptured believers, who will return visibly with the Lord in glory. This is what is written in Colossians 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Although we do not know the day or hour of Jesus’ return, we can clearly see the last chapter in human history before the Rapture has begun. Only those who are “in Christ” will be kept. “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied” (Jude 1- 2). There is no other place where you can be preserved from the future judgment of God than in Jesus Christ alone.” (Leith)
2. Enoch Witnessed a Faith Which Involved
Preaching
Enoch preached judgment on the wicked of his day and his message is still true today.
III. THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH IS DEFINED
A. As Being a Supernatural Translation
*Enoch’s translation before the Flood is a type of those saints who will be raptured out before the flood of Tribulation!
(I Thessalonians 4:13 – 18; I Corinthians 15:51 - 53)
*Noah, left on earth, but preserved through the judgment of the Flood, is a type of the Jewish people, who will be kept THROUGH the Tribulation and brought as an earthly people to the new Heaven and the new earth! (Jeremiah 30:5 - 9)
5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
B. As Being a Sudden Translation
24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)
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.
CONCLUSION: May GOD help the Church of JESUS CHRIST to strive to have the same testimony that Enoch had while he lived upon this earth before he was translated.
