Heaven’s Hero, Enoch
It is important to remember that the faith of heaven’s heroes was a continual trust, dependence and confidence in God to bring to pass His promises. Although very little is revealed about the character of Enoch he stands out to us as example of a man who pleased God because of a life time of continual trust, dependence and confidence in God
Genesis 5:21-24
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
WHY DID GOD TAKE ENOCH ?
Because of his faith in God Enoch did not experience death as he was taken to be with the Lord. The translation that Enoch experienced because of his faith is not some thing that will happen to every one who puts faith in God, however, Enoch’s translation is a type of what will happen to all believers on the earth when Christ returns.
1 Thes. 4:17
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Enoch may have been taken as a sign to an ungodly generation that the life he lived among them was the pattern that God expected or his removal may have been a sign of God’s displeasure with man’s sinful ways.
WHERE IS ENOCH NOW ?
It is often asked ’what has happened to the material bodies of Enoch and Elijah in the spiritual world of heaven? Some say their translation was a spiritual one, the same as happens to believers coming into the kingdom of God
Col. 1:13
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
or their mortal bodies died an extraordinary death before taking on their immortal bodies as will happen to believers at the Rapture
1 Cor. 15:52
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
and then some say that Enoch and Elijah are still alive and will come back as the two witnesses spoken of Revelation (Rev 11:1-13).
Enoch’s walk with God, his witness for God and his work for God only pleased the Lord because of a life time of continual trust, dependence and confidence in God.
Faith then for all of God’s people is the indispensable ingredient for pleasing God.
ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD
Enoch was commend as a man who pleased God because by faith he walked or communicated with God in a corrupt society. Walking with God is the spiritual journey that all Christians set out an when they accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
It is a walk that is set apart from the ’highway’ of the ungodly that leads them to corruption and eternal condemnation (Matt 7:13-14).
Walking with God is to live by faith and not, by sight (2Cor 5:7),
walking with God is to follow the leading of the Spirit and not the desires of our own nature (Gal 5:16),
walking with God is to live a life of loving sacrifice and not selfish ambition (Eph 5:2),
walking with God is to live a life of holiness in an unholy society (lJh 1:6-7),
walking with God is to live a life of obedience resembling the walk of Jesus (lJh 2:6),
walking with God is to walk in the truth and not in the lies of the world (2Jh :4),
above all else in the Christian walk with God we must remember that we always walk in the sight of God (Ps 56:13, 116;19).
God sees our desires, thoughts and feelings, He sees our actions in public and private, He hears our words spoken and unspoken, there is nothing about us that can be hidden from God. At the end of each day it would be good to ask the Lord "how pleased are you with me today?" The apostle Paul encourages us to learn what it is that pleases the Lord and then to do it, we must seek out the way of the Lord and by faith walk in it. Trusting in the Lord to lead the way, depending on the Lord to provide and to protect on the narrow way and confident that the Lord will bring us to the goal of the journey we began with Him (Ehp 5:10, lThess 4:1, 1Jh 3:22, Phil 1:6 & 3:12-14).
ENOCH WITNESSED FOR GOD
By faith Enoch witnessed to the existence of God to his generation and generations to come by preaching a message from God
Jude 1:14
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
Enoch’s faith in God was a witness to the existence of God, his walk with God was a witness to the existence of God, but there is not greater witness than for the people of God to obey the commission of the Lord, Jesus by opening their mouths and telling the world of the love of God, Enoch lived in an unbelieving society yet he made known his faith in God by preaching a message from God. Today we live in a generation that considers the Bible to be myth and evolution to be truth we can make our faith known to the world by sharing the Gospel of Christ (Mak l6:15, Acts 1:8).
ENOCH WORKED FOR GOD
Enoch must, have believed that a day would come when God would reward and bless his efforts in seeking Him. For 300 years Enoch walked with God earnestly seeking in communion with God and with works of service for God, then one day his reward came, eternity with God.
God’s people are called to seek the Lord (Isa 55:6), we are called to give our lives as living sacrifices in works of service (Rom 12:1-8),
we are called to seek the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33), we are called to persevere (Col l:23).
God’s people are saved to seek the Lord in prayer and in works of service not giving up until the day He returns to take them to their heavenly home.
As God’s people we may continue in the faith walking with God, witnessing and working for God for many years not seeing any reward or blessing in our life time but by faith we can be sure and certain that a day is coming when all that God has stored up for His people will be poured out upon us (Rom 2:6, lCor 3:8, Matt 5:12, Col 3:24).
