This is incorrect and contrary to Scripture (never mind what the professing church teaches).
In fact it is quite the opposite.
Here is what the Bible says:Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:17).
The *translation* of Enoch is an example of the Rapture: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. (Heb 11:5)
There are many (such as yourself) who are falsely asserting that the Rapture is simply the death of the saints. As you can see, that is complete nonsense.
Sorry but it is evident that you lack a proper understanding of the texts you quote neither of which supports your erroneous theory.
Let’s begin with the first one which you imagine suggest that the living saints following the resurrection of the “
dead in Christ” will experience their resurrection instantaneously without having to die.
There are no scriptures to support this idea; in fact the scriptures to the contrary implicitly state the death of the Lord’s saints as a prerequisite to their entering the kingdom of heaven and receiving their reward.
“
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain [that is we who are alive and awake at the Second Advent, we who are living during the Parousia]
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
1 Thess 4:16, 17
The professing church (i.e. the church nominal) erroneously teaches that both of these events happen simultaneously—that the dead in Christ in the grave are raised first and a second or two later the living are caught up with them. However
Rev 14:13 shows that after the initial raising of the dead in Christ (the sleeping saints), each individual faithful Christian as he makes his or her calling and election sure, who subsequently dies in the interim (during the harvest) will receive an instantaneous change
at the moment of death.
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And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead [in Christ] which die in the Lord from henceforth (that is following the resurrection of the sleeping saints...”
Why blessed? Paul supplies the answer in
1 Cor 15:51: "
Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." The faithful overcomers of the "
parousia" period will not sleep, but will be changed
at the moment of death.
“
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Rev 2:10
Not merely
until death, but
unto death.
Paul said, "
I want to be made conformable to His death, if by any means I might attain unto His resurrection."
His was a sacrificial death, which ended in actual death. As Jesus was for three and one-half years daily dying more and more to the human desires and hopes, so the Father says. "
I want you to die as My Son Jesus died." The joy which was set before Him is also set before us. We are being baptized into His death, and "
Blessed those who die in the Lord." Precious in the sight of the Lord is the daily dying of those who follow in the sacrificial course of the Savior.
But must all die, all of the "
feet of him" who will be alive and remain until the presence of the Lord?
Yes; they all consecrated themselves--"
even unto death"; and of these it is distinctly written that they must all die. No scripture contradicts this thought. God declares by the Prophet--“
I said, “You are gods [Elohim, “mighty ones”],
and all of you are children of the Most High (Sons of God, begotten of His spirit).
But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”
Psa 82:6, 7
The word here rendered "
princes" signifies chiefs or heads. Adam and our Lord Jesus are the two heads or princes referred to. Both died, but for different reasons: Adam for his own sin, Christ as a willing sacrifice for the sins of the world. And all the Church of Christ, justified by faith in his sacrifice, are reckoned freed from the sin of Adam, and also from the death penalty attached to that sin, in order that they may share with Christ as
joint-sacrificers. It is as such joint-sacrificers with Christ that the death of the saints is esteemed by God.
“
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
Psa 116:15
The fellow-members of the body of Christ, when they die, are recognized as "
dead with Christ," "
made conformable unto his death." They fall like one of the princes--not like the first, but like the second Adam, as members of the body of Christ, filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.
Col 1:24
That the term "
gods," mighty ones, in this passage is applied to all the Sons of the Most High God, who will be joint-heirs with Christ Jesus, the heir of all things, is clearly shown by our Lord's reference to it.
John 10:34-36 "
Ye shall ALL DIE like men"; but, "
behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep." To die is one thing, to "
sleep" or remain unconscious, dead, is quite another. God's testimony, then, is that all the saints must die, but that they shall not all sleep.
As for your text taken from
Heb 11:5, it is a common falsely amongst many students of the word to see something in a text which is not necessarily there, but which they would like to imagine so as it lends support to their own theories.
“
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
The question is asked: Did God take Enoch to heaven?
No. How do we know? Because Christ said, "
No man has ascended into heaven." (
John 3:13)
“
In faith Enoch was translated” (“
metatethe”—changed from one place or condition to another). In this instance we believe that is translated from one
place to another rather than one
condition to another. Enoch could not have experience a change of natures as this was not something which was offered to any until following Pentecost and the begetting of the spirit.
But the question still remains then where was he translated to, and how is it that it could be said that he did not see death?
Generally it is the wise course not to go beyond what is written, but for the sake of augment we might speculate a bit here. It’s very much a possibility that since he was not translated to heaven the most likely place would be the Garden of Eden; remember the Garden of Eden is still there, merely hidden from man. Here Enoch would have access to the trees of life and as such would not see death. Another way of looking at this is that in translating Enoch to Eden God spared him from seeing death i.e. the deplorable conditions that developed in the earth prior to the flood, and which made the destruction of the old world a necessity (
Gen 6:1- 7).