If All Die Because All Sinned, What About Enoch?

I'm trying something new. The last time I used this blog was in 2010. I have found that though I would like to write more, time doesn't allow, however, with my emails this morning came an idea. I will attempt to use this blog as a forum to post questions and answers that I receive, at least as I have time to do so...

This will serve at least two goals. One I will be able to supply the answer to the questions received via email to a multitude of people (at least potentially) without adding much additional work, and two, I will have used this blog rather than it staying idle. And so here we go.

 This morning I received the following question:  

Hey Nick! 
So I have been thinking about the sermon Sunday night and I started thinking about something and wanted to see if maybe you could clear things up for me? 

So, the bible says that the wages of sin is death and that because of the fall of man and the curse with Adam and Eve disobeying, every man is born a sinner and therefore must die because that is our payment for being a sinner. So I was curious about Enoch. In Genesis 5 it goes in to saying how Enoch was no more because God took him away. So I was curious about if that means that Enoch did not sin, because he didn't die, and he didn't have to pay the price for sin. It says in Hebrews 11 that Enoch is "known as the person who pleased God, and that it is impossible to please God without faith and if anyone wants to come to Him he must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" So obviously Enoch was rewarded for his immense amount of trust and faith in God in such a difficult time to be following God, but how did he get to skip out on the payment for being born a sinner? I know that Jesus was the only person born with out sin, so it really just kind of confuses me. So I was wondering if you could possibly clear this up in any way! 

 Thanks!!

And here is my reply.

 Hey ______, I love getting questions like these because it shows that you are really thinking through the issues directly and its correspondence to the rest of Scripture (thinking canonically). Of course I can't give you a definite answer to the question, but only a proposed probability/hypothesis. The story of Enoch is allusive but also Elijah (chariot of fire--no death)... And yet as you say the wages of sin is death... and furthermore, Hebrews sin it is appointed for a man to die once and then comes the judgment. 

 Here's my proposed solution. There are two witnesses in Revelation 11. There have been several allegorical interpretations of the two witnesses, but I take them to be two people. From the people camp most throw out Elijah, Enoch and Moses as possibilities (moses because of a miracle resembling one of the plagues in Egypt). 

 Since you see where I am headed, I say the two are Enoch and Elijah! Both men would be powerful witnesses to the Israelites and the world during the tribulation, they would be able to do signs similar to those that are recorded for Elijah, then they will be killed (thus having fulfilled their requirement) and after resurrected and raptured as a special act of grace for two who didn't belong to that time to begin with, but who were sent to fulfill a mission for the Lord. 

Of course this is just a theory, but it sure does wrap a nice bow around it. By the way, there are some prominent early church fathers who agreed with this, Tertulian, Irenaeus, and Hyppolytus of Rome to name a few. 

 So any way... hope that helps.. I've included Revelation 11:1-14 below, just to perhaps save you a bit of time in looking it up. Hope you enjoyed the study. Glad you are feeling better.


 11 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff;and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6 These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. 7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

 Nicholas Paul LeBlanc Pastor, Central Bible Church