The Man Who Was Not
“Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
Genesis 5:21-24
It is easy to overlook the one line of Scripture that describes the life of Enoch, that “he walked with God”. The book of Hebrews mentions him in the “Hall of Faith: “It was by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” (Heb.11:5)
How can this be? What does this life look like?
Could it be like his famous ancestor, Adam, who walked in the garden in the cool of day with the Lord, that Enoch, in his heart of hearts, hungered to return to the garden? Like the scriptures in Romans 2 tells us:” For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them…”
With no Bible, no church or fellowship with other believers, with no indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is possible that with prayer alone, Enoch found a portal to that “other country “with a face-to-face encounter with the Living God. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…”. (Rom.1:20) And so Enoch worshipped God.
The Scriptures tell us Enoch was a father, not only to the oldest living man in history (969 years old), but he had other sons and daughters as well. So Enoch was not a monk living the life of a cloistered recluse. He was a father, with all that entails. I have often said to myself,” If any man think himself to be spiritual, let him have children!” You can love your kids, as I’m sure Enoch loved his. You can try your best, yet still they can break your heart. But Enoch nonetheless walked with God.
Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah, of the generation to which the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever …that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually “. (Gen.6:3,5) So the prevalent society did not offer any reinforcement to Enoch’s lifestyle. There was no “Moral Majority” for encouragement. Hundreds of years before the patriarchs appeared, and before Moses walked down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone to instruct His people saying “Thou shall not…”, he had this testimony that Enoch walked with God.
We are at a decided advantage today. We have the written Word of God, we have the Risen Christ, His Body the Church, and the indwelling Holy Spirit “to lead us and guide us in all Truth”. We have this, and so much more, as Hebrews 12 tells us: “ But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to spirits of the righteous made; perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of anew covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” (Heb.12:22-24)
And one day, for those who have ears to hear, God will say to us, “Come up here!” as He did to Enoch:
“ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thes.4:15-17)
The world we live in is no friend to faith. Neither was it to Enoch. But we have Jesus who has prayed for us in John 17, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am…”. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it will be so. Enoch knows.
Genesis 5:21-24
It is easy to overlook the one line of Scripture that describes the life of Enoch, that “he walked with God”. The book of Hebrews mentions him in the “Hall of Faith: “It was by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” (Heb.11:5)
How can this be? What does this life look like?
Could it be like his famous ancestor, Adam, who walked in the garden in the cool of day with the Lord, that Enoch, in his heart of hearts, hungered to return to the garden? Like the scriptures in Romans 2 tells us:” For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them…”
With no Bible, no church or fellowship with other believers, with no indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is possible that with prayer alone, Enoch found a portal to that “other country “with a face-to-face encounter with the Living God. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…”. (Rom.1:20) And so Enoch worshipped God.
The Scriptures tell us Enoch was a father, not only to the oldest living man in history (969 years old), but he had other sons and daughters as well. So Enoch was not a monk living the life of a cloistered recluse. He was a father, with all that entails. I have often said to myself,” If any man think himself to be spiritual, let him have children!” You can love your kids, as I’m sure Enoch loved his. You can try your best, yet still they can break your heart. But Enoch nonetheless walked with God.
Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah, of the generation to which the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever …that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually “. (Gen.6:3,5) So the prevalent society did not offer any reinforcement to Enoch’s lifestyle. There was no “Moral Majority” for encouragement. Hundreds of years before the patriarchs appeared, and before Moses walked down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone to instruct His people saying “Thou shall not…”, he had this testimony that Enoch walked with God.
We are at a decided advantage today. We have the written Word of God, we have the Risen Christ, His Body the Church, and the indwelling Holy Spirit “to lead us and guide us in all Truth”. We have this, and so much more, as Hebrews 12 tells us: “ But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to spirits of the righteous made; perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of anew covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” (Heb.12:22-24)
And one day, for those who have ears to hear, God will say to us, “Come up here!” as He did to Enoch:
“ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thes.4:15-17)
The world we live in is no friend to faith. Neither was it to Enoch. But we have Jesus who has prayed for us in John 17, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am…”. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it will be so. Enoch knows.
Posted in Devotions