The Death Defiers: Melchizedek, Enoch, Elijah and Jesus

By Jack Tanner

Three men in the Bible never died. Enoch, Melchizedek and Elijah are the three most mysterious figures in history. This is an exploration of these three shadowy individuals and how they relate to the Bible's most famous death defier: Jesus Christ.

It's one thing to come back from the dead, as Jesus did. It's quite another not to die at all. How can deathlessness be explained? Where do the undead go? How do the fates of Enoch, Melchizedek and Elijah shape theories of the afterlife? Can ordinary people emulate these three great religious patriarchs?

Don't you want to emulate the deathless ones?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9780244673178

Book preview

Introduction

Three men in the Bible never died. Enoch, Melchizedek and Elijah are the three most mysterious figures in history. This is an exploration of these three shadowy individuals and how they relate to the Bible’s most famous death defier: Jesus Christ.

It’s one thing to come back from the dead, as Jesus did. It’s quite another not to die at all. How can deathlessness be explained? Where do the undead go? How do the fates of Enoch, Melchizedek and Elijah shape theories of the afterlife? Can ordinary people emulate these three great religious patriarchs?

Enoch

Enoch, son of Jared, was the seventh son of Adam and Eve, seventh of the ten pre-Deluge Patriarchs, and author of the controversial Book of Enoch. Enoch was the father of Methuselah, the oldest man in history, and the great-grandfather of Noah, chosen by God to survive the Flood.

Prior to the Flood, human beings were much longer-lived than afterwards, often having life-spans of many hundreds of years. Enoch was a youthful 365 when God took him. The prophet was translated up to Heaven while still alive, where he was appointed guardian of the celestial treasures, chief of the archangels, and the immediate attendant on God’s throne. He was, in other words, accorded the status of God’s most trusted follower. In his celestial state, he was referred to as Metatron, the angel that communicates God’s word.

Enoch, some have concluded, must have been an archangel to start with, and he has been equated to Michael the Archangel. If God could arrive on earth as Jesus Christ, why shouldn’t Michael the Archangel arrive as Enoch, preparing the way for the Lord?

Metatron learned all of the divine secrets and mysteries, and, with the help of the angelic host, executed all of God’s decrees. According to some, Metatron was the Angel of the Lord who appears throughout the Bible. He, not God, communicated God’s revelation to Moses, just as, in Islam, Gabriel, not God, communicated the Koran to the prophet Mohammed.

Some traditions say that Enoch was a great king who foreshadowed Solomon. Under his wisdom, peace reigned in his realm, and all of his people were happy and prosperous. God was so impressed that he summoned Enoch to Heaven to rule over the sons of God (the angels). In front of a vast crowd of his subjects begging him to stay, Enoch ascended to Heaven on a white horse (possibly a winged-horse).

Hebrews 11:5 says, 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. Therefore, Enoch was deathless. He is the first human being mentioned anywhere in any religion to avoid humanity’s common fate of death. This makes him truly singular. He was either a human who defied all the odds, or was not human to start with, but someone who only masqueraded as a human.

Not even Jesus Christ escaped death, so, in celestial terms, Enoch must be considered to have a remarkably high standing. The Book of Enoch was so valuable that it was said to have been specially preserved by Noah at the Deluge.

When Enoch was taken to heaven, he was transformed into the angel Metatron. His flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire … his eyeballs to flaming torches and he was placed on a throne next to the throne of glory. Metatron is second only to God in terms of power and wisdom, glory and strength, and all the other angels obey him. He is the Angel of the Lord.

Enoch was either a human who became divine (or the closest possible thing to divinity), or he was an angel who inhabited a