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In the Bible, we are told simply that “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”[2] However, in Moses 7, we are given a detailed account of how and why this happened—not only to Enoch but also, eventually, to a city of his followers. Before being taken permanently to God’s “own bosom,”[3] Enoch was temporarily “clothed upon with glory,”[4] allowing him to receive visions of the near and far future. These visions and their parallels in the ancient Enoch literature will be discussed in detail in subsequent Essays. In this Essay, we will discuss Enoch’s transfiguration.
The scene of “celestial clothing” that is described in ancient and modern Enoch accounts recalls a vision of President Lorenzo Snow, then an apostle. The vision occurred during his near-fatal illness in Iowa. His journal records:[5]
My spirit seems to have left the world and introduced into that of Kolob. I heard a voice calling me by name, saying: “He is worthy, he is worthy, take away his filthy garments.” My clothes were then taken off piece by piece and a voice said: “Let him be clothed, let him be clothed.” Immediately, I found a celestial body gradually growing upon me until at length I found myself crowned with all its glory and power. The ecstasy of joy I now experienced no man can tell, pen cannot describe it.
Enoch Is Made a Son of God, in His Perfect Image and Likeness
Immediately following the description of the process whereby Adam became a “son of God,”[6] Enoch testified that many others “have believed and become the sons of God.”[7] Then, in verses 2–3, we read of Enoch’s own transfiguration:[8]
2 As I was journeying, and stood upon the place Mahujah, and cried unto the Lord, there came a voice out of heaven, saying—Turn ye, and get ye upon the mount Simeon.
3 And it came to pass that I turned and went up on the mount; and as I stood upon the mount, I beheld the heavens open, and I was clothed upon with glory;
The pseudepigraphal books of 2 and 3 Enoch purport to describe the process by which Enoch was “clothed upon with glory”[9] in more detail. As a prelude to Enoch’s introduction to the secrets of creation, both accounts describe a “two-step initiatory procedure” whereby “the patriarch was first initiated by angel(s) and after this by the Lord” Himself.[10] As this process culminates, Enoch, both in ancient sources and modern scripture, receives “a right to [God’s] throne.”[11]
In 2 Enoch, God commanded His angels to “extract Enoch from (his) earthly clothing.