Enoch
In Genesis 5 time after time we read, “And he died.” Eight times in all. It seems a depressing genealogy that we can quickly skip over. It reminds us only of the consequences of Adam’s disobedience and the one certainty in life since. In verses 21 to 24, however, we have a notable exception. And we shall direct our attention to the consideration of this remarkable man.
Genesis 5:18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19 After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. …21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
We read about Enoch only in 4 passages totalling 9 verses – don’t confuse him with his cousin of the same name, the son of Cain, grandson of Adam and Eve who is mentioned earlier in Gen 5. So we know very little about him, nevertheless his name means to instruct, to initiate, to dedicate and by considering his example we can be instructed and challenged to dedicate ourselves to the Lord.
He does not seem to have been special like many of his contemporaries:
· Jabal the original cowboy and nomad – tent dwellers who kept livestock. Gen 4:20
· Jubal the first musician – playing the harp and flute. Gen 4:21
· Tubal-Cain the first craftsman in bronze and iron and teacher of craftsmen. Gen 4:22
Why then are we going to spend our time thinking about him, hanging a lot of words on very few, when we ignore these others who contributed so many of the developments that we now take for grated? Firstly it is because we are, by and large, ordinary people − I don’t think any of us are going to revolutionise industry, the arts or politics! So we can all relate to an ordinary bloke. The original man on the Clapham camel-train! God chose, and still generally chooses, ordinary people rather than those who are rich, famous or intellectual giants!
Secondly it is because Enoch lived in very difficult times. The author of Genesis has already written about original sin and murder and is moving towards a time of great wickedness when God will lament that every intent of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually.6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (Gen 6) In short the times were very like our own and were heading towards judgement.
Thirdly it is because of some of the phrases that are used to describe Enoch:
·Enoch walked with God – Gen 5:22
·he pleased God – Heb 11:5 – the only man of whom that is explicitly recorded in scripture
·he preached about coming judgement – Jude 1:14,15
·Enoch was translated that he should not see death – Hebrews 11:5 God took Enoch home so he did not see death Gen 5:22 & Heb 11:5. In this he foreshadows what will happen to God’s people at the end of the age and this gives us hope.
His importance is confirmed by a possible reference to Enoch in ancient Babylonian writings. Berosus, a priest of Marduk’s temple at Babylon in about 300 BC tells of the ten kings of the Chaldeans who reigned before the flood. He says that the seventh king is Enmeduranki, who was said to have been summoned by the gods Shamash and Ramman into their fellowship and made acquainted with the secrets of heaven and earth. Enoch was, of course, in the 7th generation from Adam. Coincidence?
Do we want to please God? Do we want to have a part in the resurrection or rapture? If so we should emulate Enoch. What I want us to do is to consider what scripture says about Enoch so that we can learn from his good example.
Enoch walked with God – Gen 5:22
Firstly Enoch is one of only 2 men of whom it is explicitly said in scripture that they walked with God. Noah is the other one (Gen 6:9). This is important for us because God wants us to walk with Him too. If we see how and why Enoch walked with God then, perhaps, we can learn from his example.
What did it mean for Enoch to walk with God? The Hebrew denotes intimacy, or fellowship. Enoch had an inner communion with God and was conscious of His presence. The love that this close fellowship produced made him determined to live in such a way as to please God, so far as this was humanly possible. This communion with God went hand in hand with raising a family – celibacy is not essential for a holy life. Indeed it may be that the birth of Methuselah brought him closer to God.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
While it is true that this verse says that he walked with God after his son was born, it does not say that he did not walk with him before. It is, however, probable that Enoch had some revelation from God at that point about the coming judgement on the earth. That would explain why Methuselah’s name is linked with the flood which happened in the year that he died ¾ more on this another time.
The farthest that many Christians get is to recognise that we are pardoned criminals. Wonderful as this is, it is far short of the joy and blessedness of walking with God. How much more God wants to share with us. Like Enoch we can walk with God! Sometimes it takes God’s intervention at some crisis point to grab our attention and turn us away from ourselves and this world to focus on Him. The birth of Methuselah may have been such a crisis point for Enoch.
Jesus said: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” … 23 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:21-23
This is the experience that Adam and Eve enjoyed in Eden where they walked with God before the fall. Afterwards they hid themselves (Gen 3:8) when they heard Him coming. Sin had created a barrier of fear. But God still wants this fellowship and we have an emptiness inside which only fellowship with Him can fill.
How proud we should feel if the Queen came to visit us, but how would we feel if she wanted to move in though? Christ does exactly that. When we become Christians He not only comes to visit, to welcome us into the family, but He moves in, forever. Are we really ready for that sort of fellowship?
What is needed if we are to walk with God?
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
Colossians 2:6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him
These verses give us the starting place. We must be in tune with God if we are to walk with Him. For two to walk together in close fellowship requires agreement, sympathy, and harmony. Two people walking together naturally fall into step. Are we in step with God?
Naturally we are God’s enemies so we must first be reconciled, if we are to walk with Him. God does not conform to us; we must conform to God. This means that we must be saved, but more than this we must truly want to know God better. This is demonstrated by our attitude to prayer and meditation on His Word and our daily walk, witness to the lost and relationship with His people.
We begin and maintain our walk with God by feeding from His holy word. ‘Search the scriptures’, said our Lord, for these are they that testify of me. (Jn 5:39) David tells us that God’s word was a lamp to his feet And a light to his path (Ps 119:105). And Paul told Timothy to study the Scripures because they are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus and also profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, and every way sufficient to make every true child of God thoroughly furnished unto every good work (2 Tim 3:16). Of course reading Scripture is not enough. We must let it into our hearts and minds so that it shapes us. Meditation is to the soul, like digestion to the body.
Secondly, we need prayer to maintain our walk with God. Relationships without communication wither – whether human or divine. A neglect of prayer leads to spiritual weakness and failure. ‘Watch and pray’, said our Lord, ‘lest you enter into temptation.’ (Mt 26:41) We always ought to pray and not lose heart. (Lk 18:1) Not that our Lord would have us always upon our knees to the neglect of our other duties, but we should always be in an attitude of prayer.
Lastly, if we want to walk with God, we will associate and keep company with those that do walk with him. The apostle Paul knew this, and therefore commanded us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb 10:25). As Solomon said: As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend? (Proverbs 27:17) Enoch was translated fifty-seven years after the death of Adam. I wonder if he was often found in Adam’s home; talked with him about the second Adam, who would bruise the serpent’s head. (We forget that he had over 300 years to chat with his
great-great-great-great grandfather, Adam. Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel and Jared all outlived him, so he had 365 years to learn from each of them. How’s that for an extended family?)
Walking with God involves making progress or advances in the divine life. A person that walks moves forward, albeit slowly; he does not stay in one place. So it is with those that walk with God. It has been quaintly put: Enoch did not take a turn or two with God and then leave His company, but he walked with God for hundreds of years. What a splendid walk! A walk of three hundred years! It was not a run, a leap, a spurt, but a steady walk.”
Are we moving forwards with God or have we become a group of couch potatoes? As george Verwer put it: Like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God. Brothers we are treading we we’ve often trod.
Walking also implies continuance. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ. We can’t just come to church a couple of times a week and then give our hearts to the world for the rest of the week. This is poor living; we should always be with Him, treading in His steps and doing His will.
Walking further implies habit. When we speak of someone’s walk, we mean their habits, the constant tenor of their life. If we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget Him that is not a habit – we are not walking in Him. We must keep to Him, cling to Him, never let Him go, but live and have our being in Him. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. We need to persevere.
Walking with God implies a surrendered will. God does not force His company upon any. The supreme example of such a walk is the Lord Jesus. None enjoyed such perfect and intimate communication with the Father as He. And what was the secret of it all? I delight to do Your will, O my God (Ps 40:8). If, then, we would walk with the Lord, there must be a willingness and readiness on our part. Take My yoke upon you, says Jesus Mt 11:29, He does not force it on anyone! In summary, then, walking with God means abandoning the world’s way, giving up our right to choose our own way, and following God’s way.
The results of the walk
From other Scriptures, we can deduce the results of Enoch’s walk with God? The first consequence of such a walk would have been a growth in grace. At the close of three hundred years of communion with God, Enoch could not be morally and spiritually where he was at the beginning. He would have had a deeper abhorrence of sin and a humbler estimate of himself. He would have been more conscious of his own helplessness and recognised more and more his absolute dependency on God. There would have been a greater capacity to enjoy God. There would have been a going on from strength to strength and from glory to glory.
There would also have been a growth in the knowledge of the Lord. It is one thing to talk about God, to reason and speculate about Him, to hear and read about Him, it is quite another to know Him. This is the practical and experimental side of the Christian life. If we would know God we must walk with Him: we must come into living contact with Him, have personal dealings with Him, commune with Him. After such a walk of three hundred years Enoch would have had a deeper appreciation of God’s nature, a greater enjoyment of His perfection and a more earnest concern for His glory.
Another consequence of Enoch’s walk with God would have been a deep settled joy and peace. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for you are with me. (Ps23:4) Walking with God ensures protection. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Ps 91:1. Nothing can harm the person who walks in God’s will. (Of course this does not mean that Christian’s won’t suffer persecution, sickness, etc. Peace comes, not from the absence of trials, but from trust in God’s love – even in the trials.) Enoch’s life must have been supremely happy. How could he be miserable in such company?
A further consequence of Enoch’s walk was his service to God—see Jude 14 and 15. This is something that needs to be stressed. The order cannot be reversed. Before we can serve God, we must walk with God. Much of what passes for “Christian service” in our day is not the product of such a walk. Consequently there is no result or only wood, hay and straw. (1Co 3:12) We cannot work out what God has not worked in! We cannot achieve in the flesh that which can only be done in the power of the Spirit. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. Zec 4:6.
Conclusion
Are we walking with God? Are we making progress? If not, what is holding us back?
