An Ancient Rapture

“AN ANCIENT RAPTURE”

(Genesis 5:18 - 24, Hebrews 11:5) W. Max Alderman

18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:

19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

INTRODUCTION: Our message will examine the life of a little known but familiar character of the Bible. The historical setting of his life was one of godlessness and extreme wickedness. Out of those dark days the Bible reveals to us a unique and special man named Enoch.

Enoch stood midway between the Fall and the Flood. He was the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, just as Lamech was seventh from Adam in the line of Cain. As godlessness climaxed in Lamech, so godliness climaxed in Enoch. He was the first man to escape death. This fact is all the more significant when one reads the "tolling of the bell" in Genesis 5. It is recorded of all other men, "And he died." But Enoch was translated that he should not see death. In type, he is a picture of the raptured saints just before the great Tribulation. As a matter of fact, Enoch’s translation is the first Rapture in the Bible! It was a very ancient rapture that pictured the upcoming rapture. Let’s now look at the parallels of the “then and now”.

I.THE TIME OF ENOCH IS DESCRIBED (Genesis 6:5-7,11,12)

5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

A. There Was a Moral Corruption During the Time of Enoch (V. 5a) (“wickedness of man")

An example of moral corruption would be as it pertains to homosexuality or as the Bible refers to it as sodomy. If this practice was not against nature then there would be no public demonstrations as it applies to this terrible wicked sin. Homosexuality is a blatant departure from God’s rules of creative nature. It is wickedly unnatural and with it being against nature it contradicts God’s creative order.

The Apostle Paul wrote of this sin in Romans 1:26-27: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”

We are being taught by our humanistic society and now by our liberal universities, and court systems that preaching like this is the practicing of a “hate crime”. I wish to remind you that the hate is not being directed against a person; it is directed against their sin. I also hate alcohol, but love the alcoholic. I can hate the drugs but love the addict. According to the Word of God, God also hates the sin and will greatly judge the sinner.

B. There Was a Mental Corruption During the Time of Enoch (V. 5b.- 11,12) (“only evil continually”)

Nihilism, a philosophy which rejects all religious and moral principles became popular in the 1960s. Here is the way that the word is defined according to Webster’s Dictionary: Nihilism: a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless b: a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths. This philosophy is not only restricted to a classroom, it has permeated our culture and is effecting all of us.