The Dead — Where Are They? 17 Enoch Translated

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Enoch Translated

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because God had translated him.”

“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” — Heb. 11:5; Gen. 5:22.

Nothing in these texts says that Enoch was taken to heaven; nothing in these texts says that he did not die, and Heb. 11:13 would seem to include Enoch with the others mentioned when it says,

“These all died in faith.”

Again remembering our Lord’s words in John 3:13, the student is guarded against supposing that Enoch was taken to heaven. Referring to Gen. 5:22, we are told that ”he was not,” which is another way of saying that he had ceased to live. The expressions “was not,” ”were not” and ”are not” are used in Psalm 37:36; Jer. 31:15; Matt. 2:18 to denote death. That he was translated (set over) without seeing death should therefore be understood as meaning that his end came so suddenly that he had no warning or intimation of its approach. The people of his time were very long-lived; compared with others, he was taken at his prime, and probably had experienced little of the aches and pains which accompany death. The Lord “took him” in the same way that he received the spirit of Stephen, when that martyr fell asleep. He took their power to live, preserving their characteristics in His own records until such time as the resurrection should call them forth. In the same manner, the spirit, breath, or power to live, of all human beings ”returns to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7), to remain in His keeping until the resurrection, when the power to live shall again be bestowed. This “spirit” is not, as we have already seen, a separate personality, which consciously lives apart from the body, but it is the breath of life, which God placed in the first man’s nostrils (Gen. 2: 7), and by reason of which the man “became a living soul” or being.

“And dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God that gave it.” (Ec 12:7 GenevaBible)

“The Lord God also made the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed in his face, breath of life, and the man was a living soul.” (Ge 2:7 GenevaBible)

– The New Covenant Advocate June 1909 p. 42

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Preceding

The Dead — Where Are They? 1 Universal Inquiry

The Dead — Where Are They? 2 Scientific Answer

The Dead — Where Are They? 3 The Spiritualist’s Answer 

The Dead — Where Are They? 4 The Bible’s Answer

The Dead — Where Are They? 6 Death for man and beast

The Dead — Where Are They? 7 Man became a living soul

The Dead — Where Are They? 8 Man in God’s likeness

The Dead — Where Are They? 9 The Resurrection of the Dead

The Dead — Where Are They? 10 Depart and be with Christ

The Dead — Where Are They? 11 Absent from the Body, Present with the Lord

The Dead — Where Are They? 12 The Thief on the Cross

The Dead — Where Are They? 13 The Souls Under the Altar

The Dead — Where Are They? 14 The Spirits in Prison

The Dead — Where Are They? 15 Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration

The Dead — Where Are They? 16 Elijah taken up to Heaven

Next

The Dead — Where Are They? 18 King Saul and the Witch of Endor

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Additional reading

  1. Creation of the earth and man #9 Formation of man #1 Cure of souls
  2. Creation of the earth and man #12 Formation of man #4 Constitution of man
  3. Creation of the earth and man #13 Formation of man #5 Living soul
  4. Creation of the earth and man #16 Formation of man #8 Dust, flesh, blood,breathing and life
  5. The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
  6. Dying or not
  7. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #6 Summary
  8. Is there an Immortal soul
  9. Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith
  10. Departed Souls Await Judgment

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Related

  1. Genesis 6, the sons of God
  2. Genesis 6; sons of God, and the giantsWho were the Nephilim, the Watchers, and the Anakim?
  3. 3 People In The Bible That Didn’t See Death
  4. The Antidote For Fear
  5. Walking With God
  6. Hebrews 11:5