Fifty-seven years after Adam died, Enoch was the next patriarch to pass off the scene while in the prime of life and still a good century shy of middle age. Three hundred sixty-five years still sounds like a long time though, and the count itself, along with the reaffirmation “and Enoch walked with God,” underscores a fidelity in the relationship akin to the earth's consistency in orbiting the sun.
The phrase “and he was not; for God took him” may sound like death to some, but if that were so, why would the text suddenly deviate in Enoch’s case from simply saying “and he died,” like it says about everyone else in the genealogy? That fact, combined with Enoch’s relatively young age is strong evidence that he did not die. The inspired commentary of the apostle Paul confirms this:
“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” (Hebrews 11:5).
How about you? Do you want to be translated without seeing death? Then you must have the same testimony that Enoch had: the testimony of pleasing God, which is the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The timing of Enoch’s translation also foreshadows a central truth of the gospel. Not until after Adam died was Enoch taken to heaven. This is significant because Adam is also called the son of God, (Luke 3:38) and that, along with his original perfection, makes him a type of Christ. It is only by virtue of the death of Christ, the Son of God, the second Adam, and the only perfect man, that any of us can be saved and taken to heaven.
Adam and Enoch, the bookends of earth's first seven generations, became the first representatives of the two categories of the redeemed: those who die in the faith of the Redeemer, and those who, like Enoch, will proclaim the final message of judgment to the world and never taste physical death, but be caught up alive into heaven.
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