Elijah too was "raptured" similarly to Enoch. In neither of these cases was a pattern for humanity devised, or a theological paradigm created for humans to leave earth without death. I do not consider these to be raptures, in that my understanding of rapture is based on other things.
To begin with, Jesus' transfiguation on the mountain in the presence of His three disciples seems a better illustration of what rapture is all about. Several of His parables spoke of finding a special treasure- a lost coin, a pearl of great price, a treasure hidden in a field- and also of selling all He had to buy the field. We take these as illustrations of His great work of redeeming mankind, and rightly so. But just what was that pearl, that treasure He found?
I would suggest it is the rapture He experienced on the mountain, the glorification that for a brief time He wore in somewhat public view. We must not forget that Jesus was a man, and had "not counted equality with God to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became obedient unto death."
From His conversation with Satan in the wilderness where He was challenged to prove He was the Son of God, Jesus knowingly rebuffed the great liar and said this: "MAN shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God." In other words, He told Satan that He was going to defeat him not as God, but as a man!"
This is critical, because if He had not become fully man He would not have qualified to die as a man for our sin.
And so this "man" walks up onto the mountain and receives the reward of His righteousness, a glorification hitherto unknown by any mortal man!
It is at this point He could have returned to heaven, the bosom of the Father, and the joys of that presence. He would have completed a sinless walk on earth and received the glory that a righteous man should have. It was His to hold for all eternity. But He would not have us.
As we know, He took it off and laid it aside. Driven by a love for those disciples and us by extension, He went down the mountain and onto the cross. There He purchased for us the right to have exactly what He had on the mountain. Complete rapture!
Let me boldly say, I have been raptured in a measure, with a little taste of the glory. Weeping, blubbering out praises in English and other tongues, filled to almost pain with adorations and gushings of love and adoring of Jesus my savior! It was a baptism in His Spirit, a rushing of energy and emotion that words fail to adequately describe. It changed my life, and it changed the bible, too! Suddenly I had an inkling of what John was talking about in chapters 14, 15, 16, 17. He comes to abide within, making His home there! Oh! So that's what that means! It is indeed rapture!
Now, typing on the keys of this device is an old man with crochety joints and diminished physical strength. I cannot fly, have a hard enough time jumping! But I burst inside for the consummation of what I have tasted, longing to be clothed with the Lord Himself who loved me and gave Himself for me. I shudder to think of how He loves me even more than I love Him!
Parsing verses to prove theological points is usually fruitless, people don't change their views very easily. The desire to win arguments is just old flesh in me, I flee from it in the Spirit. But I would encourage my brethren who have never had a Holy Spirit baptism, or are not sure, to ask The Father for it.
It may change your perception of rapture, it did for me. But just hearing from God is enough. The Spirit, The Helper, will guide you into all truth.
