“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him away.” (Genesis 5:24)
Genesis chapter 5 is an historical summary of the generations before God judged the world with the great flood. It is a genealogy of the descendants of Adam down to Noah. The recurrent theme of the chapter is death. It describes a fulfillment of God’s verdict on Adam and Eve: “You shall surely die.” The last enemy, death, was at the end of every life, even those very long lives. Eight times in the chapter we encounter the phrase, “then he died.”
One man, Enoch, stands out. He breaks the pattern. His story is an exception to the death and ungodliness in his time. He escaped death. That’s right. He didn’t die. The New Testament comments: “By faith Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death; he could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5).
In this respect, Enoch is an illustration of the rapture, or “catching away” of the church before the future tribulation Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24. In that passage, Jesus compared the tribulation judgment of the last days to the flood (Matthew 24:35-39). Enoch’s translation to heaven pictures what will happen to the living believers who will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11).
Enoch pleased God because he walked with God. Or did he walk with God because he pleased God? Either way, he stands out in his generation as one who lived in close fellowship with his Creator. He walked with God for 300 years! That’s consistency. Living for God in this world — living with God — is like a walk. My experience as a long-distance hiker on the Appalachian Trail has taught me the value of steady progress over a long haul. It is not a sprint or a dash, nor is it a casual stroll.
Enoch’s walk with God implies long-term obedience to the will of God. They were moving in the same direction. Enoch and God were on good terms. Abraham was called the friend of God. So was Enoch. I don’t think it an exaggeration to say that they enjoyed each others’ company. Enoch did not allow anything to interfere with his relationship with God.
It was said of Charles Haddon Spurgeon that “he felt perfectly at home with his Heavenly Father.” Perhaps that could describe Enoch’s relationship with God, too. It was based on faith. For us it is living by faith in God’s word, and the guidance of God’s Spirit, not trusting our own understanding. “We live (literally ‘walk’) by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Enoch was commended for his faith in Hebrews 11:5-6. There it tells us that his faith “pleased God,” and that without faith it is impossible for us to please God.
Genesis tells us of three men who walked with God, Enoch, Noah (Genesis 6:9), and Abraham (Genesis 17:1). Scripture also tells us that we, you and I, here and now are invited to walk with God. Listen to the prophet Micah: “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
I want 2023 to be a year in which I walk humbly with God. I am not talking about physical walking. With Parkinson’s disease, I am a little less steady on my feet than I once was. I think my long-distance hiking days are over. But spiritually, in my relationship with the Father in Heaven, I can keep walking in faith and faithfulness. For the next few weeks I will use this space to explore what that looks like.
Pastor Randy Faulkner