KM-HQ: 12/01/2020
Only two people in the Bible appear to be taken straight to heaven, without having to experience death (if you don’t speculate that these two people are the witnesses in Revelation who do in fact experience death briefly in Revelation 11:7-12).
Enoch was the seventh generation and lived 365 years, thus connecting him with solar cycles, and some gave that as the argument for using solar calendars. Enoch further connects this when speaking of the 8th and 9th realms of the heavens.
Enoch is also Noah’s great grandfather, a fact many modern day christian's seem to gloss over, but we feel needs to be emphasized. He was the “7th from Adam” (Jude 1:14), and distinguished from the son of Cain, the 3rd from Adam. If you created a family tree of Adam’s descendants, Lamech and Enoch would each be seven generations down, but standing on opposite sides—one in the line of Cain and the other in the line of Seth. One side will prove to be chosen and faithful, and the other will prove to be rejected and rebellious. Enoch clearly stands in the line of the faithful, and rather than exalting himself with the proud boasts of Lamech, Enoch is a man of humility and faith.
Most of us don’t know a whole lot about Enoch because the majority of wisdom to be had by him has been long removed from the texts of the Holy Bible and it's "revised editions" since at least the days of King James. However those who do know Enoch he and Noah provided a strong, Godly witness to the people of their day. Scripture say that he “walked with God.” In the 365th year of his Earthly life, Enoch was apparently taken directly to Heaven, without dying (translated to the dimension where God dwells). Enoch was later believed to be the recipient of secret knowledge from God via the Akashic Records, or "God's Library".
Enoch first appears in Genesis, and just as soon as he steps onto the scene, he steps into heaven. Enoch “walked with God 300 years” (Genesis 5:22-24), when he was translated without tasting death. is the first to be taken straight to heaven. His whole life on Earth was 365 years. He is spoken of in the catalog of Old Testament worthies in the Epistle to the Hebrew affirming he was very pleasing to God. This occurred about 987 years after Adam was created. Adam was a contemporary of Enoch, and did not die until the age of 930 years.
In Abel we see the first example not only of martyrdom, but of those who enter into heaven with God through the veil of death. Enoch, however, does not taste death. He enters into God’s eternal rest as one who lived by faith, walked with God, and then was miraculously taken up into the presence of God. These are the two doors into heaven: those who die and yet live by way of being raised up on the other side of death, and those who are alive at Christ’s coming and are simply carried into the bliss of eternal life apart from experiencing death.
Enoch tells the story of his journeys between the place of God and the earth. He flew with the angels and saw the rivers and mountains and the very ends of the earth from above. He witnessed angels falling from grace (the “Watchers”), taking wives of humans and breeding evil giants (“Nephilim”) who would consume the earth were they not stopped. Then Enoch was named the scribe to keep track, and to report back and forth. The punishment of those fallen angels was decreed, and Enoch reported it. He was shown the functions of the Heavenly hosts, and the order of the planets and stars. He brought back three stories which he was compelled to tell.
This portrait of Enoch as visionary was influenced by the Babylonian tradition of the 7th antediluvian king, Enmenduranna, who was linked to the sun god and received divine revelations. It was believed that by his honorable integrity as well as his bloodline that Enoch was taken up through the realms of the heavens by Gabriel, to the very face of Great Creator, and allowed into "God's library" especially with specific instructions to copy certain of the knowledge to return and in turn teach to the people of earth. The son of Jared, and father of long-lived Methuselah (Genesis 5:21; Luke 3:37). His father was 162 years old when Methuselah was born. Sometime after that birth, Enoch “walked with God 300 years” (Genesis 5:22-24), when he was translated without tasting death. His whole life on Earth was 365 years. He was the “7th from Adam” (Jude 1:14), as distinguished from the son of Cain, the 3rd from Adam. He is spoken of in the catalog of Old Testament worthies in the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:5).
(Ref: Jude 14 (NASB95): " It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,")
When he was translated, only Adam, so far as recorded, had as yet died a natural death, and Noah was not yet born. Mention is made of Enoch’s prophesying only in Jude 1:14. Enoch is known to the Mohammedans as "Idris" (the Instructor). In the Koran Idris is mentioned in sura xix. 57 as a man of truth and a prophet, raised by Allah to a lofty place, and in sura xxi. 85 as a model of patience. Baidawi, in identifying him with Enoch, explains "Idris" as indicating his knowledge of divine mysteries. He was the first man who knew how to write, and invented the sciences of astronomy and
Most of us know more of the second one to visit and then come upon the earth, Elijah, the only other biblical example of a person apparently being taken to Heaven without dying is Elijah, the Tishbite, who was taken up by God in a chariot with horses of fire, amidst “a whirlwind into heaven.” This famous prophet received a heavenly chariot of fire that took him to heaven after his ministry had finished, leaving Elisha to carry on the mission (2 Kings 2).
The "Book of Enoch", also called the Ethiopian Book of Enoch, because the book is best known from some forty manuscripts from Ethiopia. However, there are many Aramaic fragments of the constituent parts among the Dead Sea scrolls, a handful of Greek fragments and one scrap in Latin.Remanence of the book of Enoch is quoted in Jude 14-15.
Jews include it in the Apocrypha, the external books. Sir Walter Raleigh, writing in 1616 (imprisoned in the Tower of London), said that the Book of Enoch, with “the course of the stars, their names and motions” had been discovered in Sheba in the first century, thus was available to Origen and Terullian. He attributed the information to Origen, in Homilies on Numbers.
First book of Enoch consists of five main parts, which can be subdivided. These parts were composed at different times and never meant as a unity. The Third Book of Enoch was written in the fifth/sixth century and describes how the second-century rabbi Ishmael journeyed into heaven and saw God's throne and chariot. This work has influenced the Zohar, the sacred book of Kabbala.
The Book of Jude quotes Enoch as saying: …“Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” —Jude 14 NASB
Jude’s quote is not the only quote in the Scripture that is from a non-biblical source as Titus 1:12 also quotes Epimenides. the book of Enoch was not considered Scripture by the Early Church, although by faith (and integrity) Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. —Hebrews 11:5 ESV. In consequence of earth's corruption by the evil spirits Shamḥazai and Azael, Enoch was translated to heaven to be a witness that God was not cruel (comp. Ecclus. [Sirach] xliv. 16, Hebr. text).
Enoch was pleasing to God because he not only lived his life by faith in the God of heaven and earth, but he also lived his life in intimate communion with God. Enoch was summoned to leave earth and to assume rulership over the "sons of God and was appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of the archangels, and the immediate attendant on God's throne. He knows all secrets and mysteries, and, while all the angels are at his beck, he fulfils of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, and executes His decrees. He teaches; he conducts souls to the place of felicity; and he is known as "Prince of God's Face," "Prince of the Torah," "Prince of Wisdom," "Prince of Reason," and "Prince of Glory." He communicates God's revelations to Moses.." He ascends to heaven on a horse, after the manner of Elijah's translation, in the sight of a vast multitude, which in vain repeatedly endeavors to detain him. In Tosefot to Yeb. 16b it is denied that Enoch could have been "Sar ha-'Olam" (Prince of the World).
The life and translation of Enoch display not only how it is that we come to please God but also what the reward is for those who live and seek God by faith. The reward is God Himself. This is exactly what God tells Abraham in Genesis 15:1. God is Abraham’s shield as well as his very great reward. What greater thing can await us in heaven than that of perfected communion with God? Hebrews 11:6 makes it very clear that the life that is pleasing to God is a life lived by faith and by seeking after God Himself. Faith is not meritorious. It does not earn anything from God, as God’s favor and promises cannot be earned, yet faith receives and rests upon.
We hope this helps enlighten you to seek knowledge beyond the boxes of constriction of the organized religions as well as considering the "uncanonized canons" should this be a puzzle you hope to get put completely and accurately together in your comprehension.
As always, we Thank you for your continued interest and support and we hope you stay tuned for future posts encompassing this topic.
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