Enoch as a Picture of the Rapture of the Bride

Enoch’s name means “dedicated.” The very first picture that Enoch gives us of the Bride is that she is dedicated to her Bridegroom and He to her. Secondly Enoch is a place; a city was named Enoch, reminding us that Jesus is preparing a place for His Bride.

John 14:2-3 "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."

Enoch is said to be the 7th generation from Adam. Seven is the number of perfection and completion, therefore Enoch as the 7th from Adam, represents the Bride of Yeshua as being perfected and complete at the 2nd Adam’s appearing when Yeshua will take His Bride to Himself, known as the rapture. As we consider how God speaks to us through numbers, we are catapulted to the 7th Millennium, when Jesus will rule and reign with His Bride for a thousand years.

Rev 20:6 "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years."

Scripture tells us very little about Enoch. We are told in the 5th chapter of Genesis that he walked with God and that he lived for 365 years when God took him and he was no more. During his lifetime had sons and daughters, and one of his sons was Methuselah. We are told that Enoch was 65 years old when Methuselah was born and that Methuselah lived 969 years, having been the longest living person recorded in the Bible.

Gen 5:21-24 "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."

Enoch a Picture of Faith for the Bride to Emulate

The book of Hebrews says something very interesting about Enoch. It says that it was “by faith” that God took him so he should not see death.

Hebrews 5:11 "By faith 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."

I believe there is a key contained in this scripture concerning the rapture of the Bride of Christ. If Enoch is indeed a picture of the Bride, then she must also be walking with God in such a way that it pleases Him. The most important key found in this scripture in my opinion is the statement of Enoch having faith to believe that God would rapture him and he would not see death.

I believe the Bride of Christ will be walking in this same kind of faith. In fact it has occurred to me that there is a possibility that those that do not have the faith that they will be raptured and never face death, just might be left behind for lack of faith. I believe the pattern for this belief of mine comes from the wilderness wanderings. The Israelites minus 2 did not have the faith to obey God and over take the Canaanites and take their land for themselves. Therefore they died in the desert never realizing the promise of God themselves. The thing that pleases God the most is to believe the things that He has said.

Enoch as a Prophetic Voice Mirrored by the Bride

In the New Testament Jude quotes words from a prophecy of Enoch. This particular prophecy is not recorded in the scriptures, only the quote is.

Jude 1:14-15 "It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

Jude is writing to the believer to contend for the faith, and implores them not to be deceived by certain people that have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated condemnation, because they are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. It is clear from the content of Jude’s letter that the ungodly he is referring to are those that are sexually immoral which includes homosexuality. Then Jude quotes Enoch for confirmation.

We learn from book of Enoch, where the above quote is taken, that Enoch was spiritually in-tune to the supernatural and had knowledge about the fallen angels and the end of days. In his writings he warns the wicked of judgment for disobedience and promises the righteous rewards for their obedience. He prophesied that the Lord would judge mankind for sin the first time by water and the second time by fire.

It is said of Enoch that although he prophetically saw ahead to Noah’s day, God took him so that he would not see death and so his eyes would not have to look upon the evil of Noah’s day.

Enoch pictures the Bride of Christ as the generation that will walk with God, please God, speak prophetically to the world, be taken in the rapture because of her faith, she will be the generation that will not see death, and her eyes will not be allowed to look upon the horrible evil of that day.

Application of Scripture

Before we begin to look at the pictures our Lord has painted for us in story of Noah, and Jesus’ reference to him in Mathew 24. I think it would be important to point out something that I believe the Church is confused about. When rightly dividing the word, one must distinguish between the end time scriptures that apply to the Church and the end time scriptures that apply to Israel. Much of the Church today is trying to apply scriptures that belong to Israel, and apply them instead to the Church.

This causes great confusion especially when examining the prophecies that are yet to happen. As an example, the entire discourse of Jesus in Mathew 24 is directed at Israel, giving them instructions as to what they must do when the great tribulation comes that they must go through. Jesus is not describing what it will be like at His appearing when He will receive His Bride. No, He is describing what it will be like when He returns with His Bride. So often the scripture of the Angels gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth just before His return is thought to be the gathering of the Church.

This misunderstanding causes people to believe that the Church will go through the great tribulation. This however is the gathering of Jewish Believers and those who have been evangelized by the 144,000 Jews during the tribulation period and spoken of in Revelation. With this in mind, please re-read the account in Mathew 24 through the lens of this discourse being directed towards Israel. We in the Church however need to be like the sons of Issachar discerning the times, for the Church still has work to do before we are called up to meet Jesus in the air.

Continue with Noah as a picture of Israel through the tribulation