Did Enoch Prophesy The Rapture?

Q

In the epistle of Jude, Chapter 1, Verses 14 &15, (KJV) he mentions a prophecy of Enoch dealing with the return of the Lord accompanied by ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all. Since those saints had to be in Heaven in order to accompany the Lord back to earth, isn’t this a prophecy describing the end of the Rapture period of the Church in Heaven and the Second Coming of Christ?

A

The fact that Enoch’s prophecy has the Lord coming to execute judgment shows he was talking about the 2nd Coming. These judgments are described in Matt. 24:45 through Matt. 25:46.

There are several possibilities for identifying who will be with Him. First, in Matt. 25:31 Jesus said when He comes back all the holy angels will be with Him. The Greek word translated “saints” is also translated “holy ones”, so Enoch could have been referring to the angels.

Old Testament believers are called saints and will be resurrected at the time of the Second Coming. Tribulation martyrs are also called saints and will be resurrected at the Second Coming as well. Therefore Enoch could have been referring to either or both of these groups.

The Church will return to the vicinity of Earth when the New Jerusalem comes down out of Heaven (Rev. 21:2). I see this happening shortly after the 2nd Coming, so of all the groups I’ve mentioned, I think, the Church is the least likely to be the one Enoch had in mind.