By State
>Jesus
>Himself "climbed" up into heaven; Enoch was taken up.
the Bible does not say Enoch was taken *up*. It says he was taken. It
says nothing about heaven.
"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" (Heb.11:5 KJV).
The translators of the King James Bible translated the two Greek words
'metathesis' and 'metatithemi', which means 'change of place' and 'put
in another place' into the English word 'translated.' This is
probably because the theology of their day taught that when righteous
people died they were taken to heaven. However, by no stretch of the
imagination can the two Greek words 'metathesis' and 'metatithemi',
which are used in Hebrews 11:5, convey the concept of Enoch being
transported to heaven. The Bible does not say that Enoch went to
heaven when he was translated. Instead, it says he "was not found."
According to Strong's, Thayer's and Bullinger's Greek Lexicons,
"translate" means "to put or place in another place, to transport, to
transfer." Nowhere in the Scripture does "translate" mean to make
immortal.
The same Greek word is rendered "carried over" in Acts 7:16 where
Jacob's body was "translated" or "transported" to Sychem, where he was
buried. The Scriptures say Jacob was translated to the place of burial.
God took Enoch and buried him somewhere so as not to be found, just as
he did with the body of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:6. No man knows where
Moses' or Enoch's grave is. God hid them for reasons known only to Him.
Notice another proof that "translate" does not mean to make immortal.
Paul wrote that the Father "hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son"
(Colossians 1:13). The apostle Paul says that he was already
translated, even though he was still physically alive. Although he was
once part of the darkness of this world, he was translated, removed
from darkness, into the light of the kingdom of God while he was
physically alive.
At the age of 65, Enoch had a son named Methuselah. But how long did
Enoch walk with God?
Genesis 5:22, "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah
three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters."
So, Enoch followed God's ways for three hundred years. Notice that the
Scripture does not record that Enoch is still walking with God. It says
that Enoch WALKED with God for three hundred years, and not one year
more. Why? Because "all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and
five years" (Genesis 5:23). Paul says, in Colossians 1:10, "That ye