Study in the Epistle of Jude # 73: Verse 14
by Chris McCann
EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)
Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study. We are in Jude verse 14, which says:
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
As we read the Bible, we are constantly amazed at the brilliant mind of God. Even in this one short Epistle of Jude, which us only one chapter long, we find tremendous amounts of information. We read about God’s judgment on the church in this chapter, about the end of the world, and about Hell. We read about how God knows that there are individuals coming into the church professing His name with their mouths, yet whose hearts are far from Him. We have looked at Satan as he has disputed with the Lord Jesus Christ about the body of Moses in this chapter. We have looked at Cain, Balaam, and Korah, and the historical settings for which that statement was made in this one little Epistle of Jude; and now, God is bringing up Enoch.
There is so much information in so few verses—there are only twenty-five verses in this whole book—and here we are in verse 14. It has taken us quite some time to get through this because God keeps bringing up various interesting details that we have to check out, and we want to be thorough as we study the Word of God, the Bible. Now we wonder, why did God give us this verse about Enoch the seventh from Adam, who prophesied of these, saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints”?
First of all, it has to be pointed out that there is no book of Enoch. Enoch is written about in only a few places in the Bible, and we will take a look at him. In Genesis 5:18, we read:
And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:
As far as I can tell, the name “Enoch” means trained, train, or dedicate, just as in Proverbs 22:6 where it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go.” That seems to be the Hebrew word that is underlying this name of Enoch—train, as in training a child. I am not sure how we are to understand that spiritually, but let us keep reading here in Genesis 5. Verses 19-24 say:
And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 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 is that very interesting character whom we have heard about back in the book of Genesis who never died. Enoch never died; God took him and he was translated. He lived 365 years, and in his 365th year, God simply took him. He had a wonderful testimony; it was said, “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
Why did God take him? Why did Enoch never die? Why is Jude bringing up Enoch? Enoch would have lived about seven thousand years before the time of the Cross, so it is many thousands of years later that God the Holy Spirit is moving the writer of Jude to pen these words that say that Enoch prophesied of the coming of the Lord with ten thousands of His saints.
Even though there is no written record in the Old Testament of Enoch ever prophesying this kind of thing and we do not find any book of Enoch, we know that there are no missing Scriptures of any kind. Some like to dwell on that kind of an idea and speculate about maybe there being a missing book out there, but that is not possible. We have the complete Word of God, the whole Bible—sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation. God has concluded His Word in the last chapter of Revelation, saying that it is not to be added unto (Revelation 22:18). There is nothing missing; there is nothing out there somewhere yet to be unearthed or discovered that will give us new insights—we have everything we need in the Bible.
Jude is not using some other kind of a source; he is not quoting from some unknown book, but Jude was moved by the Holy Ghost. This is the Word of God, and God knew everything that Enoch did in his life. He knew the prophesying and the preaching of Enoch. God knew what Enoch was like and how he lived and what he said to others, and it is God who moved holy men of old to write (2 Peter 1:21).
They did not write their own thoughts or their own ideas, though that is what some like to think. They like to think that the Bible was written by men, and so they make that kind of an accusation. Men wrote the Bible—that is true—but only as God moved them to write. In other words, they were like scribes who were dictated to. God is the One who wrote His Word, and men were nothing but a vehicle in the hand of God. As He would move them to will and do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), they wrote down what God wanted them to write down, even if they had no knowledge of the event or did not know what they were writing about.
Many times that was true. We know that Daniel received visions and dreams that he wrote down, yet had no understanding whatsoever of those dreams or what they meant. There are others also. Did Ezekiel know what those glorious visions he received in chapters 1 and 10 represented? They were visions of God, yet as you read Ezekiel 1, you just shake your head at the description of the living creatures that he saw by the river of Babylon. Yet this was God’s writing; He moved Ezekiel to write those things, just as He moved Jude to write down that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of the coming of the Lord with ten thousands of His saints. Most certainly, without any question, Enoch absolutely did prophesy this. We do not doubt it at all; we know that this is the truth of the Word of God, and we believe everything that God tells us.
Now Jude was given this information by God. He did not know this kind of information, but God gave it to him, just like God gave Moses information about the creation. There was no man present when God created the world or when He created Adam and Eve, therefore, how did Moses know to write those things down? How did Moses know to write down everything that we read in the early chapters of Genesis about the flood and so forth? It was because God gave it to him, so he wrote it down. This is how the whole Bible was written. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” God has moved these men to write these things, and we know that they are absolutely true.
We read a little more information about Enoch in Hebrews 11, that chapter of faith where the saints of God are painted as being men of faith. Hebrews 11:5 says:
By faith Enoch was translated…
This word “translated” is pointing to the fact that God took him—we read that back in Genesis. We read that Enoch was 365 and he walked with God and was not for God took him, which means that God translated him. To be translated means that God changed him.
What does it mean that God changed Enoch? We know that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50), so Enoch could not go into Heaven in his physical body that was seeing corruption. Therefore, God translated him; that is, He gave him his new resurrected body. Enoch already had a resurrected soul because he was a child of God, but now God equipped him in both body and soul to be able to enter into Heaven.
It is just as God at a later point would translate Elijah. God took Elijah up in a whirlwind and he never physically died (2 Kings 2:11), just as Enoch. Therefore, these two men were living in their glorious resurrected bodies in Heaven before the time, before the final day of resurrection had come. It was long before, actually, especially in Enoch’s case. It has been thousands upon thousands of years since God translated him and took him up, yet God did so for a very definite reason and purpose.
Going back to Hebrews 11:5, we continue reading:
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death…
Enoch never died—now we have verification of that idea. He did not physically die. The verse continues:
…and was not found, because God had translated him…
It said in Genesis that he was not; no one was able to find him. Where did Enoch go? When Elijah was taken up, the sons of the prophets had some information that God was going to take Elijah because they said to Elisha, who was the protégé of Elijah, “Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head today?” Elisha answered, “Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace” (2 Kings 2:5). Finally, God did take Elijah up, and these men who had this advance information, these sons of the prophets, wanted to search and to look for him, just to make sure that God had not dropped him upon the rocks somewhere. Elisha knew that God had taken him, yet their constant insistence upon searching for Elijah caused Elisha to relent and allow them to search.
I am sure that in Enoch’s case also, some looked for him and he was not; as God says in Hebrews 11:5 that he did not see death and was not found. Some of his family members and his friends wondered, “Where did Enoch go? He was here; he was always in this place. For 365 years we knew where he was and we could find him.” Now suddenly, this man of faith who walked with God was not. God took him that he should not see death. He was not found, because God had translated him.
Hebrews 11:5 continues:
…for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Let us read the next verse to see what it means to please God. We read:
But without faith it is impossible to please him…
We know that Enoch was a man of faith. He was saved just like you or I are saved—by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had saving faith, the faith of God’s doing in saving a sinner. Enoch had this testimony: he pleased God. God took him; but again we have to ask the question, why Enoch? Why did God take Enoch? Why did God not take so many of the other men of faith? You could read Hebrews 11 and you would read of Abraham and David and Samson and Jephthah and all these other men of faith—why did God not take them? Did they not please God?
We have to answer yes, they must have pleased God because they were saved by the same faith as Enoch—the faith of Christ. Every child of God finally pleases God because God is pleased with the Lord Jesus Christ’s work upon the Cross and His tremendous act of faith in saving a people for Himself. Why Enoch then? Why does God make a point of translating Enoch? Does it not really stand out in Genesis 5, that chapter that begins to outline the calendar of the history of man upon earth from creation? You have all these dates and all these years, then suddenly God gives some information about Enoch—when he was 365 years old, God took him and he was not.
Now after so many thousands of years (at the time of the writing of Jude, I believe it was about seven thousand years), God moves Jude to write of Enoch, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these.” Enoch prophesied of these evil men, these wicked men, these unbelievers, these false brethren who have crept in unawares. Enoch was aware.
Is it not something that so long ago they had the same parallel situation that we have today of wheat and tares, of those who give the appearance of salvation yet have never been saved? Actually, we should not be surprised. When we looked at Cain, we saw that this situation went right back to the beginning of time, to the creation of the world, when Cain rose up and slew Abel his brother. There, the unsaved in their jealousy and envy slew the saved, Abel. This has been going on ever since, and Enoch also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these.
Enoch is the seventh one—if you read that genealogy in Genesis 5, indeed Enoch is the seventh name found. He is the seventh generation from Adam. Historically, this is a very accurate statement; it is a true statement that Enoch was the seventh man, the seventh generation of men, from Adam. He came down from his father Adam; Adam had a son, who had a son, who had a son, and so forth until Enoch was born.
Then Enoch, who was the seventh generation from Adam, lived 365 years and God took him. How does this tie in with the Gospel? We are certain to understand that Enoch’s life span of 365 years points to a very interesting declaration of God in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 61:1-2, we read:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
This passage of Scripture would be quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament, in Luke 4:19. Jesus quoted these words regarding the opening of the prison, the proclaiming of liberty to the captives, and the proclaiming of the acceptable year of the Lord, and said, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” That acceptable year of the Lord is the sending forth of the Gospel. When the Gospel is going out to the world and individuals from all the nations of the world are becoming saved, God likens this to an acceptable year.
God also speaks of a year in which there are feasts to be held. Three times in the year, He says, you are to hold a feast unto Me. He is speaking to the Jews—they are to come to Jerusalem and observe these feasts three times in the year.
The first feast is the feast of Passover, the second feast is the feast of Pentecost, and the third feast is the feast of Tabernacles or the feast of Ingathering, which He declares to be in the end of the year. These three feasts, spiritually, are pointing to three distinct periods of the Gospel, three seasons of God’s sending forth of the Gospel into this world, and they are all spoken of as being held in the year. That is because the acceptable year of the Lord is in view.
It begins with a Passover feast. If you remember, Jesus was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and He went to the Cross at the time of the Passover. The Passover was that feast that looked towards the coming of the Messiah. As the high priest would slay the lamb, so Jesus, the spiritual high priest of His people, would be slain for the sins of His elect. The Lord Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of this feast to the point that at the time when the Passover lamb was being slain, He was suffering on the Cross; it was almost an exact parallelism. The spiritual meaning of the Passover was that Christ would come and pay the penalty for the sins of His people and would die on the Cross to be that Lamb of God.
The next feast in God’s acceptable year of the sending forth of His Gospel into the world is Pentecost. It would be fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead that the feast of Pentecost would be held. At that point, we read in Acts 2, the Apostle Peter preached one sermon and three thousand individuals were saved.
What an incredible day that was! During the Old Testament side of the Cross, very few individuals were being saved. Satan was loosed and he was binding the hearts of men fast so that very few would be saved. There would be Enochs and Noahs and Daniels and Davids, but really, when you consider the total sum of men who lived and died before the Cross, it is a relative handful that God actually saved that we read about in the Bible.
Then after Christ went to the Cross, Satan was bound, as Revelation 20 informs us. Now the Gospel will go into all the world, and great multitudes will become saved. God shows this immediately on the day of Pentecost when three thousand at one time—a tremendous number of individuals—became saved right at the start of the New Testament era. The Age of the Church had begun, and it is during this Church Age that the firstfruits will come in through God’s plan of salvation, in this second season of the acceptable year. It will be in fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost.
We are not going to look in Revelation chapters 7 and 14, but there it pictures those who become saved and who are sealed by God in their foreheads as the firstfruits. They are the 144,000 that Revelation chapters 7 and 14 speak of. These are the firstfruits because they are related to the feast of Pentecost, that feast that observed the first crop, the early harvest, the firstfruits of the year. The early rain would fall and bring in these 144,000, which is only a figurative number looking to the complete fullness of those saved during the New Testament period.
Then finally, there is a third feast, which comes in the seventh month of the year—the feast of Tabernacles, which is also conjoined with the feast of Harvest or Ingathering. God speaks of this feast as being held in the end of the year.
Let us read Exodus 23:14-17, which says:
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib…
The feast of unleavened bread was held in conjunction with the feast of Passover. The passage continues:
…for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours…
That was Pentecost. The passage continues:
…which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
As God names these three feasts in the year, the acceptable year of the Lord is in view. He names that final feast of Ingathering, along with Tabernacles, in the end of the year. The curious thing is that this was held in the seventh month, and the seventh month is a long way from the end of the year. Yet, God identifies it and speaks of it as being held in the end of the year. Of course, He knew that the seventh month is not the twelfth month—there are five more months to go.
When God is looking at the acceptable year of the Lord, when He is looking at the spiritual sending forth of the Gospel into this world during His three seasons, then and only then is the feast of Ingathering, the final feast of Harvest, when God the husbandman will send forth the latter rain and gather together the precious fruit of the earth. It is at that time when He will save the last of His elect, during the short season of the Great Tribulation period, which comes right next to the end of the world. At that time, He will gather in the fruit; He will gather in His labors out of the field.
That third and final season is being held in our present day as God is completing His salvation plan and as the acceptable year of the Lord is coming to a rapid close. It is coming to the point when the year will be over and the last of the elect will have become saved.