So we see the gentile Enoch, preaching up a storm and warning the lost of coming judgement, have an amazing encounter with the God he was telling everyone about. The Bible tells us that, one day while witnessing, God simple caught him up off the face of the earth and translated him to the throne room of Heaven. What did Enoch miss when that happened?
"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:37-39 (KJV)
God is His amazing word, places types in the Bible from cover to cover to illustrate some deeper meaning or to shed light on prophecy. For example, David was an actual king who ruled over Israel from Jerusalem, and he is also a type of Jesus Christ who will rule from Jerusalem at the Second Coming. Ruth was an actual woman, but she is also a type of the gospel going to the gentiles at a time yet future of the writing of the book of Ruth. Joseph was one of the 12 sons of Jacob, and he is also a type of Jesus Christ in over 150 different respects. So we see that God places types in the Bible to show us things that He wishes us to pay attention to.
In Matthew 24 and Luke 21, we have Jesus prophesying to his disciples of what would be coming far into the future, a period of time the Bible calls the time of Jacob's trouble. Jesus says that this time will be unique in human history as it will be the time of the greatest and most intense tribulation that will ever befall this sin-cursed old world. The greatest period of tribulation ever seen in the Old Testament was, you guessed it, the Flood of Noah.
So let's look at some quick bullet points to connect Matthew 24, Luke 17, Luke 21, Jude, the time of Jacob's trouble, and of course, good old Enoch:
- IT WILL BE A GLOBAL JUDGEMENT: The Flood of Noah was not isolated to any particular region, it was global and affected the entire world. So too the time of Jacob's trouble, while its primary focus will be the judgment of the Jews and Israel, will affect every human being who will be alive at the time it starts after the Rapture of the Church. "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matthew 24:21 (KJV)
- THE DAYS OF NOAH: Jesus is Matthew 24 draws a parallel to the 'times of Noah' (spelled as 'noe' because the New Testament is written in Greek) because the time of Jacob's trouble is both global, and has a particular enemy in mind, namely Antichrist. The Flood of Noah was sent as a judgment of the wickedness of hybrid humans created when fallen angels mated with human women, with the Nephilim being the particular enemy. A lot of people, Christians, balk at the idea of fallen angels having sex with earthly women that created hybrid monsters, but guess what? It's in there. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."Jude 1:6 (KJV)
- THE DAYS OF LOT: Jesus compares it to Noah to show that it's global, and that a particular enemy is in mind, and then He compares it to Lot for a variety of reason. First, the fiery judgment that falls on Sodom and Gomorrah is an ensample of the the fiery judgments that blanket the earth in the last half of the time of Jacob's trouble. Second, Lot himself, fleeing to the mountains for safety, is a picture of the Jews that Jesus tells to also flee to the mountains in Matthew 24. Lastly, Lot who cozies up with the lost sinners of Sodom is a picture of the Jews in the time of Jacob's trouble who cozy up to Antichrist. "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."Luke 17:28-30 (KJV)
Now that we have established a prophecy 'baseline', let's take a look at the main character of this article, Enoch.
Whenever you hear me talking about the Rapture, I am always very careful to qualify it as the pretribulation rapture of the church. Why do I do this? Because as spectacular as the pretribulation rapture of the church is going to be, it is not the only rapture in the Bible.
c. 1600, "act of carrying off," from Middle French rapture, from Medieval Latin raptura "seizure, rape, kidnapping," from Latin raptus "a carrying off, abduction, snatching away; rape" (see rapt). Earliest attested use in English is of women and in 17c. it sometimes meant rape (v.), which word is a cognate of this. Sense of "spiritual ecstasy, state of mental transport" first recorded c. 1600 ( raptures).
Jesus shows us a rapture of the tribulation saints in Matthew 24, there is the rapture of the Two Witnesses, Elijah is caught up and away, Paul was caught up the Third Heaven, John was caught up to Heaven in a type of the rapture of the church, and the list goes on. And when we look just one page before the Flood of Noah in Genesis 6, what do we see there? We see good old Enoch who gets raptured away to be with God in Heaven without ever dying. Want to take a wild, end times guess what that is a 'type" of? Let's go the bullet points and take a look.
- ENOCH WAS A GENTILE: There are many reasons why God uses Enoch as a type to reveal to us light on end times prophecy. First, Enoch was not a Jew he was a gentile. So Enoch is a type of the gentile believer in the Church Age. Yes, the Church is made up of 'Jews and gentiles' but the vast majority of born again believers in the Church Age are in fact gentiles. "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious." Isaiah 11:11 (KJV)
- ENOCH WAS A PREACHER: The gentile enoch had a testimony before the LORD, and like Christians are commanded to do, he preached the word. SO Enoch is a great type of the obedient Christian in the days right up before the time of Jacob's trouble because Enoch preached right up before the Flood of Noah. Everytime you go preaching and handing out tracts on the street, you are as gentile believers actually following the example of Enoch. I always say that NTEB is an end times witness for Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world in the last days before the Rapture of the Church. See the similarities? "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 1:14,15 (KJV)
- ENOCH NEVER SAW DEATH BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM: So we see the gentile Enoch, preaching up a storm and warning the lost of coming judgement, have an amazing encounter with the God he was telling everyone about. The Bible tells us that, one day while witnessing, God simple caught him up off the face of the earth and translated him to the throne room of Heaven. What did Enoch miss when that happened? Why Enoch just happened to miss...wait for it...every single second of the global tribulation of the Flood of Noah! At this point, those of you who still struggle with the idea of a pretribulation rapture, now have all the evidence you need to knowthat the Church doesn't spend one, single second in the time of Jacob's trouble. Why? Because like Enoch, the Church of born again believers will be caught up and out of here before the great tribulation begins. Just like Enoch was. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (KJV)
- BONUS POINT: Right now the world uses a gentile calendar that has 365 days of the year in it. In the time of Jacob's trouble, the 360 day year used in the Hebrew calendar will be used once again to gauge the unfolding of prophecy by. So...how long did the gentile Enoch live for before God took him? You guessed it. "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." Genesis 5:23,24 (KJV)
Now you know why it makes me laugh when the mockers comment to say that the pretribulation rapture wasn't taught before John Darby made it up in the early 1800's. Who needs John Darby or anyone else when God has already frontloaded His word with a dozen different 'proofs' for the pretrib rapture of the Church, the one we're discussing today being the gentile Enoch as a type of the Church Age believer who witnesses to a lost and dying world right before the flood.
You can hang your eternal destiny securely on the fact that the Church will not live under Antichrist or even spend one, single minute in the time of Jacob's trouble. Just like Enoch, we who are "alive and remain" will be caught up and out in the greatest troop movement in human history.
Count on it.
"My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away."Song Of Solomon 2:10 (KJV)
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