Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you heard about the two men who never had a funeral? Their friends never received a death notice. No one ever said goodbye to Enoch and Elijah.
The Old Testament says simply that “Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The New Testament says that 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” (Heb. 11:5). One man reconciled to God!
The New Testament also says that there will be other people who “please God,” who in the last day “are alive and remain [who] shall be caught up ... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall ... ever be with the Lord.” In other words, they will be translated at the second coming of Jesus, as Enoch was (1 Thess. 4:14-17). Paul calls this “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).
Elijah also was “not,” for God “took” him with a whirlwind of a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11). We never get a sight of Enoch again, but we do meet Elijah on the mount of transfiguration when he appeared with Jesus in glory (Matt. 17:3). Moses also was there, but he had died and experienced a special resurrection (Jude 9). So, Moses represents the vast hope of sleeping saints who will be raised in the first resurrection when Jesus comes again; and Elijah and Enoch represent the living people who will never experience the “sleep” that the Bible says is the first death. Amazing!
Now we come to our question: is it really possible that a “body” of people, many in fact, could be “translated” without “seeing death”? That’s when “this mortal” shall “put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:51-54). Yes, Revelation 14 describes such a corporate “body” of people who will be “redeemed from the earth,” who “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,” in whose “mouth [is] found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (vss. 1-5).
It makes sense to see them as the fulfillment of Paul’s prayer in Hebrews 13:20, 21 that “the God of peace ... make you perfect in every good work to do his will.” Apparently He will do just that! Hopefully the number “144,000” is symbolic for if literal that would be a tiny representation from the billions of present world population.
It also makes sense to see this group as the “bride” of Christ who finally “makes herself ready” for “the marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:1-9). Something’s happening today! Tune in.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: July 14, 2003.
Copyright © 2012 by “Dial Daily Bread.”
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