Enoch and Elijah
These two Ancient Worthies both had a miraculous ending to their lives. Of Enoch it was written simply, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Of Elijah, “There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire … and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11).
Most brethren who express a thought on the pictures contained in these episodes conclude that both men represent the saints of the Gospel Age, who are taken to be with God in His heavenly kingdom. With this view we concur. Enoch was the “seventh from Adam” (Jude verse 14), and this may suggest Enoch represents the saints taken during the seventh stage of the Church, the seventh period of time counting from the “second” Adam, our Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:47). Enoch’s 365 year lifespan reminds us of the sun, which is a picture of the saints in glory (Matthew 13:43).
Elijah is famous for his stand for God during a drought of three and a half years, which represents the drought of truth during the three and a half prophetic “times” when Papacy dominated the Christian world during the 1260 years from 539 to 1799 AD. Elijah represents the Church class who stood for God during this period of affliction.
Elijah’s being taken up into the sky1 at the close of his life is usually agreed to represent the taking of the saints at the end of the Harvest. The four locations he visited during his last experiences – Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan – may represent four conditions of the Church during the harvest. They begin in Gilgal (Christendom), move to Bethel (the Truth Movement during the days of Bro. Russell), there after to Jericho (the subsequent divided condition of the brethren), and at last come to the Jordan (a later stage of the harvest, perhaps now beginning).
The taking of Elijah
Elijah then smote the Jordan with his mantle, representing the authority granted by the Spirit of God, which many take to suggest a renewed work of the Truth yet impending. Then he and Elisha walked on together a short way until they were separated, Elijah going into heaven by a chariot amidst a whirlwind. Elisha who was left probably represents the Great Company. His subsequent smiting of the Jordan may represent a message to Israel given by the Great Company in the closing experiences of this age. Song of Solomon 5:5-10 and following are compatible with this view.
After Elisha crossed the Jordan the second time, the various miracles he performed seem to represent the work of the Ancient Worthies during the Millennium. (See “Elisha’s Typical Experiences,” Beauties of the Truth, November 1998 and February 1999.)
AN EARLIER APPLICATION
Some have suggested an earlier application of the type as well, and on this also we concur. Elijah’s three and a half years of service represented the ministry of our Lord Jesus, the drought representing the “dry ground” of Israel at his first advent (Isaiah 53:2). Elijah spread his mantle over Elisha to call him to follow in his path as a prophet of the Lord, just as Jesus spread his mantle over the apostles to follow his work. Elisha was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen at the time, just as the apostles were engaged with the 12 tribes of natural Israel when they were called to the divine ser vice. In this regard the miracles of Elisha represent the “greater works” that Jesus promised his disciples they would accomplish. On the day of Pentecost, when 3000 shared the redemption secured in Christ, this began to fulfill these greater works.
Thus the same episode has two fulfillments, for there are two ages of Redemption in God’s Plan, and the type has something to say respecting each of these. However, for our purposes in this article, we focus on the application mentioned first above, in which Elijah represents the saints go ing to their reward at the close of the Harvest.
DISTINGUISHING ENOCH AND ELIJAH
In language, when two words are of similar meaning, they usually can be distinguished by some nuance, and each fits best in slightly different situations. With types that have similar meanings, the same is true. At least in this particular case it seems so. We suggest that Enoch represents the saints who are taken at the opening of the Harvest, after the return of Christ, whereas the taking of Elijah represents the taking of those saints who linger to the close of the Harvest.
With Enoch there was no overt display of his taking. The record simply says he walked with God and “he was not,” for God took him. We think this represents the situation with the sleeping saints who were raised by Christ at his return. They walked with God through the length of the Gospel Age, but when it came time for their reward there was no overt display and it occurred quietly, secretly, un known to the world.
With Elijah it was different. His taking was marked, known, and understood. In fact, at each city he visited in his last days there was a general awareness that Elijah would be taken. How this came to be is not disclosed in the narrative, but the expectation was quite evident. “And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, ‘Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day?’ And he answered, ‘Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace’ ” (2 Kings 2:5).
Today also, in fact during most of the harvest, there is and has been a general expectation among Christian people that the saints will soon be taken, and though the years have been deferred more than any supposed, the expectation is still broad among Christian people that we are living in the closing time of the Gospel call, and the saints of God will be called home within a generation. We share this confidence.
The book of Exodus indicates that some of the saints remain in the flesh up until the last plague, for the “firstborn” class were “passed over” during the outbreak of the death of the Egyptian firstborn. This “passing over” represents their deliverance from death into life, which thus occurs at the last episode of the harvest.
Similarly, the saints are shown to linger in the flesh until the last of the seven plagues of Revelation. As late as the sixth plague the saints are exhorted to attend to their garments (Revelation 16:15), and at the opening of the seventh plague comes the announcement, “It is done,” similar to the words of Jesus on the cross as he ended his career, “It is finished” (Revelation 16:17, John 19:30).
In Song of Solomon 5:5-10, a passage referred to above, the Great Company is asked by the daughters of Jerusalem what was so special about her beloved, that is, our Lord Jesus. She responds with a marvelous description symbolic of his majesty and virtue. This is found in Song of Solomon 5:10-16, which closes with the summation, “His mouth is most sweet: yeah, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem” (Song of Solomon 5:16).
The daughters of Jerusalem are duly impressed and are moved to seek him also. “Whither is thy beloved gone, 0 thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee” (Song of Solomon 6:1).
Surprisingly, though the Great Company is seeking their Lord, they seem to know where he is. She replies in the next verse, “My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.” This is a metaphor for love, and suggests the Lord has received his bride beyond the veil. (Compare Song of Solomon 4:16 and 5:1, which two texts properly close out the scene of chapter four, a new chapter beginning properly with 5:2). In other words, the Great Company, in this hour of desperate longing, seems to realize that they have missed the chief favor, as the Bride class has joined Christ beyond, in their symbolic garden above.
The same thought – that the Great Company senses the previous taking of the Bride class proper – is reflected in the oft cited Jeremiah 8:20. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jesus warned that we should flee Christendom before the close of the harvest “summer” and the onset of “winter,” but many do not (Matthew 24:20).
So it is with Elisha (the Great Company), as he sees Elijah (the Church) going into heaven. The Great Company recognizes the taking of the more elect class. This does not mean the Great Company will visibly behold the raising of saints into the sky, for those acquainted with the Divine Plan recognize that the saints die as human beings and are raised as invisible spirit beings. On this Paul is clear, stating directly, according to the better manuscripts, “we shall all sleep [literally, fall asleep, that is, die]” (1 Corinthians 15:51, rendering of the Revised Version Improved and Corrected, Parkinson, 2000. See also Marshall’s diaglott for “fall asleep”).
But the Elisha experience does indicate that the Great Company recognizes, after the saints have gone, that they are left behind and have missed the chief opportunity.
The Great Company class is composed of Christians devoted to Christ, begotten of the Spirit, but lacking the zeal which motivates living a fully consecrated life. They will receive spiritual life in the resurrection as servants in God’s Heavenly Temple, but do not share the throne with Christ (Revelation 7:15). Naturally this includes some of the brothers and sisters of our fellowship. But are these to be found exclusively within our fellowship? We believe they are not.
Evidently there are a large number of people of faith, committed to Christ in their lives, whose appreciation of God’s Plan has not kept pace with their hearts, and they remain in various Churches outside of our fellowship. This is suggested by the account of this class in Song of Solomon chapter five, for this woman resists the pleas of Christ to rise from her bed and meet him at the door (Song of Solomon 5:2-6). Contrast this with the spirit of the more faithful bride described in chapter three, who rouses herself to seek Christ even before he calls, and is richly rewarded in her quest (Song of Solomon 3:1-4).
At last the sleepy lover of chapter five does arouse her self, but only when moved by a sense of loss.
Elisha receiving the mantle of Elijah
Then she is deeply “moved” (verse 4). “I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh … I opened to my be loved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer” (verses 5,6). The Great Company lingers in the house of Christendom too long.
Revelation chapter seven also suggests that this company is aroused to action following the harvest gathering of the more favored 144,000 class. Revelation 7:9, which introduces the Great Company, follows a description of the full sealing of the 144,000 in the immediately preceding verses. The 144,000 are taken before the loosing of the four winds closing the harvest, whereas the “Great Multitude” of Revelation 7:9 pass through this great tribulation (Revelation 7:14). We do not suggest that the multitudes within the Churches are spirit begotten, but even a minority among them may constitute a considerable number.
Thus Elijah represents the saints taken at the close of the harvest, leaving behind the Great Company who sense their loss and are thereafter moved to action. Enoch, on the other hand, represents the saints who are quietly “taken” by God to a spiritual resurrection. This taking is unobserved by the world at the opening of the seventh period of the Church.
MORE ON ENOCH
We referred earlier to Enoch’s lifespan of 365 years, symbolic of the annual solar cycle, thus associating Enoch with the sun, as is the Church class (Revelation 12:1, Matthew 13:43). Enoch’s grandson Lamech also had a lifespan of striking number, namely 777 years. This contrasts with the false Church government of Papacy whose number in Revelation 13:18 is 666. Lamech represents the true Church who are developed through the Gospel Age which in Revelation is depicted as three period of seven times – the seven Churches, seven seals, seven trumpets. This threefold seven is also used in Daniel 10:3 to represent the time during which the “greatly beloved” Daniel class awaits the fruition of their desires (Daniel 10:11).
But if these meanings are correct, what of the generation between Enoch and Lamech, namely Methuselah? His lifespan also is remarkable, being the longest-aged of all the patriarchs listed in the scriptures. Of course his years did not reach 1000, probably because each of Adam’s race was to expire within a “day” of 1000 years (Genesis 2:17, Psalms 90:4). Methuselah died at 969 years, 31 years short of a thousand.
But the year of his death is remarkable. According to the numbers in Genesis chapter five, Methuselah died the very year of the flood, presumably in the opening weeks of that year before the flood waters broke forth. The name “Methuselah” comes from “muth,” a root that means “death,” and from “shalak,” which means “to bring.” The name Methuselah means, “his death shall bring.”2 This name given him by his father Enoch is widely supposed to be a pointer to the coming of God’s judgment, and the coming of the flood just following the passing of Methuselah supports the suggestion.
Presumably Methuselah, like his father Enoch, was a man of faith who bore living testimony to his father’s godly message. As Enoch represents the saints taken by God quietly, Methuselah represents the saints who, like Elijah, endure to the end of the harvest and become a signal of the final judgments closing out this age.
But if Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech all represent some thing respecting the Lord’s elect – and their lifespans in particular are part of the symbolism – what of Noah, their more famous successor, a man of faith so great that he was chosen to survive with his family? Probably he also represents the Church, from yet another point of view, his six hundred years to the flood showing that the 6,000-year curse of sin and death during which the saints are developed will give way to a blessed Seventh Millennium in a new world.
SEVEN AND THIRTEEN
Enoch was the seventh from Adam. As already remarked, this is consistent with him representing the Church who are developed through the seven periods of the Gospel age. But the number thirteen also appears in his life. According to the numbers given in Genesis chapter five, Enoch was taken 13 years before the end of the thousand year day beginning with Adam. If that thousand year “day” of Adam represents the whole period of the curse of sin and death, then Enoch being taken some years before the close is at least consistent with Enoch picturing in particular the saints who are taken early in the harvest while the curse is still abroad.
This conjecture is strengthened by considering the number of years by which Enoch preceded the end of that first millennium, namely thirteen. The two numbers, seven and thirteen, we observed in the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah (see “Twenty-One Days,” Beauties of the Truth, February 2005).
There we saw that Ezra’s work in year seven of the king represented the work of revitalizing the Church through the harvest message early in the harvest. Whereas, by way of complement, Nehemiah’s work, 13 years later, represented the completion of the Church at the end of the harvest, as the curse of sin and death upon the world come to a close. The thirteen years from the taking of Enoch to the end of Adam’s judgment day represents the same interval.
The same thought is contained in the Exodus picture. The Exodus occurred following the 10th plague on Egypt, when the firstborn were passed over and the firstborn of Egypt, the inheritors of that culture, all died. This represents the end of the Harvest when the saints are finally delivered, and the kingdom of this world passes not to a next generation of inheritors but is superseded by the Kingdom of Christ.
That episode occurred at an interesting time – an even 2500 years after Adam, almost. More precisely; the Exodus occurred just 13 years beyond that period. Just as in the the Nehemiah picture, this Exodus picture also occurred at the end of a 13 year period.
-David Rice
(1) The King James version uses the word “heaven,” which in this case we think means the sky. The Hebrew word used is Strong’s Number 8064, Shamech, which is “from an unused root meaning to be lofty; the sky … alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move …” It is translated “air” 20 times, such as Genesis 1:16, “the fowl of the air.” We use “sky” rather than “heaven” in order to avoid the obvious contradiction with John 3:13, “No man hath ascended up to heaven,” by which Jesus means the spiritual abode of God.
(2) cited from www.Joshuanet.org