The Bible contains many mysterious statements that have been interpreted in different ways. One of the greatest mysteries lives in the book of Revelation. In chapter 11, verses 3-13, the “Two Witnesses” are spoken of, who will prophecy against the Antichrist in Jerusalem for 1,260 days. Many believe that the two figures must be Moses and Elijah, because of the nature of their judgments in verses 5-6, which state that they have authority to call down fire, stop rain, turn waters into blood, and to strike the earth with plagues. These call to mind the authority Elijah had to call down fire and bring on famine (1 Kings 17:1; 18:37-38). The water turned to blood and power of the plagues also seem to remind us of the authority given to Moses (Exodus 7:14-25; chapters 7-11). One figure, however, interrupts the flow of this seemingly clear connection.
Enoch is a cryptic figure with few words dedicated to him in the early part of Genesis. In fact, the brief story of Enoch is mentioned in Genesis 5:18-24, a total of just seven verses! The reason for all the mystery, though, is that Enoch is one of two figures mentioned in Scripture who did not die:
“Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
“21Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” —Genesis 5:18-19, 21-24
Not only this, but Enoch being taken before death matches Elijah ascending to God in a chariot of fire:
“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” —2 Kings 2:11 NKJV
A big argument for why Enoch would be the second of the two witnesses is because He did not see death. Further, his being “taken up” is believed by some scholars to be a symbol of the church being raptured to meet Christ in the air, like Elijah. Along with this fact would be the apocryphal claims in the Book of Enoch that this man of God confronted the fallen angels of the pre-flood world, proclaiming judgment to them and their giant offspring (Enoch 12-14).
A great mystery of this that is not spoken of often is the secret behind Enoch’s years lived on the earth. This righteous man lived 365 years when he was taken by God, a bit over 1/3 of the time lived by most of his peers time. Could it be that this is a prophetic number? Since the time usually taken for the earth to make one full circular course around the sun is 365 days, this could be symbolic. If Enoch truly is one of the two witnesses of Revelation, the number of years that he lived could represent that just as the earth takes 365 days to make a full rotation around the sun, returning to its original point, so Enoch will return when history has run its full course! Just as he was there to rebuke the fallen ones near the beginning of the earth, perhaps he will be there near the end to confront the Antichrist!
If subjects of prophecy and the mysteries of God’s Word intrigue and interest you, check out the wealth of information available through ISOW Bible College's courses on prophecy! We have our exclusive course on the Millennial Temple, as well as courses such as Decoding Bible Mysteries, The Book of Revelation, Unsealing the Daniel Cipher, and so much more!
Matthew Foley
Staff Writer, Instructor, ISOW Bible College
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