Now that we have seen what death is, we will discuss some issues that are much misunderstood. For example, Enoch, because it is taught that he never died.
Genesis 5 speaks of him. In this chapter we find a succession of generations, beginning with Adam. The names are mentioned, then their descendants and ages, after which we find the addition: and he died (Gen. 5:5, 8, 11, 17, etc.)
Genesis 5
22 And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Unlike all previous patriarchs, we do not find the addition and he died in Enoch. The account in Genesis 5 is all that is said about Enoch in the Hebrew Bible. After this, we only encounter the name of Enoch in the Old Testament in genealogies. But in the New Testament, Enoch also appears a number of times.
Hebrews 11
5 By faith Enoch was transferred, that he should not die; and he was not found, because God transferred him. For before he was transferred he had a witness that he pleased God.
to heaven?
Some conclude from these passages that Enoch did not die and that God took him away and he is now in heaven. But that cannot be the idea. First of all, because Paul says that only Christ Jesus has immortality (1 Tim. 6:16). But also because we find a few verses further in the same chapter:
Hebrews 11
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises…
all died
There can be no doubt that Enoch also died. All these died. But what happened to Enoch? Why and where was he transferred (same word as in Acts 7:16; Gal. 1:6)? The only thing we learn about Enoch in the New Testament is what Jude writes about him.
Jude
14 These are they also of whom Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,
15 To execute judgment, and to convict all ungodly men of all their ungodly deeds wherein they are ungodly, and of all the harsh words which ungodly sinners speak against him.
not yet old
Enoch was transferred by God when he was 365 years old, so that he would not see death. But he was not yet of age to die. People in those days still lived to a very old age and the youngest mentioned in Genesis 5 was Lamech and he lived to be 777 years old. So Enoch was not saved from dying of old age.
saved from an early death
In the account of Jude we read that Enoch prophesied about his contemporaries that they would face judgment. Apparently God saved Enoch from an early death because people wanted to kill him. That was the fate of almost every prophet (Acts 7:52). The fact that Enoch was not found (Heb. 11:5) suggests that people did search for him.
We do not know where God transferred Enoch, but God brought him to a safe place on earth. Enoch did not go to heaven, for no one has ascended to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man (John 3:13).
type of the church
Of course there is something special about Enoch. He walked with God and was an exception as a believer. He foretold his contemporaries a coming judgment and before this judgment came, he himself suddenly disappeared.
His name means something like devoted or follower. Enoch is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as an example of faith. Enoch is a picture of the believers of the ecclesia, whom God will take away before the judgment comes (1 Thess. 4:13-17; Rev. 12:5-6).