IMITATE THEIR FAITH / ENOCH - "TRANSFERRED SO AS NOT TO SEE DEATH"

How did the end come for Enoch?  In a way, his death is even more mysterious and intriguing than his life.  The Genesis account simply says: "Enoch kept walking with the true God. Then he was no more, for God took him." (Genesis 5:24) In what way did God take Enoch?  The apostle Paul later explained:  "By faith Enoch was transferred so as not to see death, and he was nowhere to be found because God had transferred him; for before he was transferred he received the witness that he had pleased God well." (Hebrews 11:5)  What did Paul mean by that phrase "transferred so as not to see death"? Some Bible translations say that God took Enoch to heaven. That cannot be.  The Bible shows that Jesus Christ was the first to ever be resurrected to heaven. - JOHN 3:13.

In what sense, then, was Enoch "transferred" so as to "see death"?  Jehovah likely transferred Enoch gently from life to death, sparing him any pangs of death. But first, Enoch received "the witness that he had please God well."  How?  Just before his death, Enoch may have received a vision from God, perhaps one showing him the earth as a paradise. With the vivid sign of Jehovah's approval, Enoch fell asleep in death. Writing about Enoch and other faithful men and women, the apostle Paul stated: "In faith all of these died.: (Hebrews 11:13)  Thereafter, his enemies may have searched for the body, but it was "nowhere to be found," perhaps because Jehovah disposed of it, preventing them from desecrating it or using it to promote false religion. 

With that Scriptural reasoning in mind, then, let us try to imagine how Enoch's life was on the run, nearing exhaustion. His persecutors were after him, seething rage over his judgment message. Enoch found a place to hide and rest for a while, but he knew  that he could not escape  for long. A violent death loomed very near now. As he rested, he prayed to his God.  Then a profound sense of peace came upon him.  A vision, as vivid as if Enoch were really there, took him far away.

Next time: IMITATE THEIR FAITH /ENOCH - Conclusion of "TRANSFERRED SO AS NOT TO SEE DEATH.

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