In our last issue appeared an article on Enoch and Elijah, suggesting that the quiet taking of Enoch represents the raising of the sleeping saints, whereas the climactic taking of Elijah represents the taking of the last members of the body of Christ amid the tumults closing the Harvest.

We then noticed that Methuselah, the successor of Enoch, may represent the same class as Elijah, for Methuselah lived to the very year of the flood, which Jesus used to represent the apokalupsis which closes the Harvest (Matthew 24:39).

We also noticed that Methuselah’s son, Lamech, lived 777 years, perhaps a picture of the True Church, just as the 666 of Revelation refers to the False Church.

But in this case, how does Lamech, as a picture of the Church, differ from Enoch or Methuselah? We suggest that Lamech represents the saints who live into or during the harvest, but die before its close. Lamech died before the flood, but not long before the flood. He died but five years before the flood. Since the previous article was published, an observation has come to light which may support this.

The 777 years of Lamech, and the 5 years by which his passing preceded the flood, are both involved in this feature. The product of these numbers is 3885.

This number happens to be the sum of the three prophetic spans in Daniel chapter 12 which lead to the parousia of Christ – namely, the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days of Daniel.

This suggests that Lamech represents the saints who live beyond the fulfillment of these three prophetic markers – that is, they live into the parousia, even though they do not live to the apokalupsis.

– David Rice

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