“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. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
One thing the Christian must get very clear in his thinking, is that he will not die. Adam stood in his own righteousness, and the life he was given was based upon obedience. When he disobeyed his life was forfeited, for the wages of sin is death.
But Christ came in His righteousness, having life in Himself, and met all the requirements against sin by dying. In so doing, He destroyed the power of the devil, and in rising from the dead He made life available to all who believe in Him.
Satan can’t touch that! It is a perfect and finished work Christ did, and the believer must understand that once he has repented of sin and placed his faith in the work of that cross and in Christ’s bodily resurrection, and once he has been born from above, death is behind him.
Now of course unless we are raptured first there will be a ‘falling asleep’, as Paul called it, ‘sleeping in Christ’. But that is not death, for we who believe shall not see death. Because death is the wages of sin, and the question of sin for the believer has been dealt with and put away forever.
We have a beautiful example of this doctrinal truth in Enoch, who stands out in sharp contrast to all the other lives recorded in Genesis 5, in that he did not die.
As you read down through this chapter the sad end of each story is “he died” He had this many sons and daughters, and he lived this many years, and he died.
Until we come to Enoch. Now I want to point out here that he was the seventh generation from Adam. And it is very encouraging to see that death was not allowed to triumph over ‘the seventh’.
Now just in case anyone might read these verses and say, “Well, it says God took him. And I heard my dad say that about my grandfather. So how do you know he didn’t die?”
I would take you to Hebrews 11 verse 5. Let’s go there and look then come back.
“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should 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.”
And how was it he escaped death? How was it he was pleasing to God? By faith.
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (vs 6)
HE WALKED WITH GOD
I want to talk to you today, about the ways Enoch typifies the church. I want us to see that although we have very little information about him, the little that we are told speaks volumes about the Christian and his walk.
He ‘walked with God‘. What an amazing three words!
If Enoch’s life is a foreshadowing of the church, believers, how should we then be walking?
We are so anxious to put do’s and don’ts out there on a list and admonish folks to follow it. A Christian acts like this, and he doesn’t act like that. A Christian is expected to be a good witness; set a good example for others to follow.
But how much simpler we could make the whole thing, if we could say we ‘walk with God’.
The proper thinking and behaviors would pretty automatically fall into line, wouldn’t they?
Do you think Enoch literally walked with someone he could see? What we call a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ? Did He walk with Enoch the way He walked with Adam in the garden? Did He appear to Enoch the way He appeared to Abraham and Moses and Joshua and others?
I believe He did. Why not? Enoch was pleasing to Him.
So you might say, Enoch had an edge. It’s easier to be close to someone you can see. Develop a closer relationship with someone who is walking beside you and you can literally hear His voice. Right?
But Christian, He is in you!
He is in you. Jesus told His disciples while standing right in front of them, that the Comforter would come and would be in them. The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ. Himself God. So listen to me, if you’re a believer in Christ.
When you ignore the Holy Spirit who indwells you, when you walk through your day thinking only of and to yourself, like He’s not even there, you grieve Him. And when you have a thought of some spiritual way you should be reacting to life and you do not, you quench Him, because it is He who is speaking to your heart, saying, ‘pray’ ‘tell that person about Jesus’ ‘don’t respond to that man in anger, but in love’, and so forth.
Not only that, but He gives you the power to live by faith and thus be pleasing to Him. And I am afraid that I have to be honest and say that as I look around, I am aware of many, many churched people today, who say they are Christians, ~ whether they are is for God to determine in the final analysis I suppose ~ who seem to think that they can walk with God and walk with the world.
Have the best of both worlds, so to speak.
But Enoch is our type, and Enoch walked with God. There was only one world for him, and he walked in it, with God.
I think we sometimes are trying so hard to enjoy the passing things of this world so that we don’t miss out; so that we don’t feel left out; that we don’t even realize how much of our behavior and our thinking are shaped by the world. Conformed to the world. Like the world.
In truth, believers, the closer we walk with God, the more clearly we can see the true nature of the thinking of the world; and it is death!
Do you want to cling to some little thing? Like Lot, who when told to escape to the mountain begged to be allowed to stay in Zoar? “See, isn’t it small?”
Do you want to walk with God sometimes only, but still have some time for yourself, to indulge yourself and flirt with the world and its thinking? Hold on to just a few little things?
Well let me point out once more who it is you’re flirting with! I’ll use Enoch’s own prophetic words, from Jude 14,15
“Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him”
My Christian brother and sister, listen to me! When we try to walk in both worlds, we are partnering with those who are called ‘ungodly’, and whose very lives in every respect are ‘ungodly’.
Do you know what ungodly means? It means ‘without God’. Would you leave God’s side to walk with those without God?
Robert Robinson recognized that tendency in himself, and probably in those around him; that’s why he was moved to write, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love”.
Let me take that in another direction. Do you think that it’s the church’s job to make the world a better place? Should the church be involved in politics and social reform? Is your excuse for playing fast and loose with the world, that as a Christian you are being salt and influencing the world around you for better?
Then you are mistaken. Because we are not called to make the world better; we are commissioned to call others out of the world to walk with God also. We are given the command to save as many as we can like brands from the fire, before the final day comes and this old world is destroyed!
And that cannot be done by walking their path of destruction with them. We set an example, we influence them for good, we are in a position to rescue them, only as we stand close to God’s side and call them over.
Enoch, our type, walked with God. So must we.
WHAT GOD TOOK HIM FROM
I want to talk about what God took him from.
Read Genesis 6:5 with me:
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Since the Fall, sin and its power has grown in the hearts of men, until there was nothing left but evil, with the exception of a few righteous. But note that those unrighteous were all-together unrighteous. There was no good in them to be found.
The thoughts and intents of their hearts were continually evil.
It was in this setting, against this backdrop, that Enoch walked with God.
Christian, if you are walking with God, there will be a very sharp contrast between you and the world. Jesus said that at the end it would be as it was in the days of Noah, and folks, we are seeing those days.
You will be criticized, you will be despised, you will come under persecutions of various sorts, when you walk with God. Because they can’t see Him, but they see you, and since they hate Him, the more you are like Him, the more they will seek to stop you.
What God took Enoch from was evil and the presence of sin. What He took Enoch from was destruction and wrath. And Enoch is our type.
Sin is an entity that will die with this world. It has this world and those who belong to this world in its evil grasp, and it won’t let go. But it’s like the monkey, who reaches in the jar and grabs the handful of marbles and then can’t pull his hand back out because he won’t let go of the marbles, so he is caught. Sin has its clutches on this world, and when it passes away with a fervent heat, so will sin. Enoch was taken away to a place where sin cannot follow, and believer, he is our type.
Do you struggle? Are you often grieved in your spirit, because you recognize how far short you fall of what you think you really should be in Christ? Do temptations surround you? Addictions hound you? Past sins continue to goad your conscience like a cattle prod, and you can’t seem to find rest for long before it all hits you again?
Jesus is going to take you to a place where sin cannot follow. And He is going to take you there before the destruction, because you are in Christ and you please Him.
I find it interesting that the only quote we have from Enoch’s prophesying recorded in scripture, the one I read earlier from Jude, refers to the second coming of the Messiah, and that he, as a type of the church, makes reference to the church in it, when he says, “…the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones…”
That is a picture of the coming of Christ followed by all His saints at the battle of Armageddon, as recorded by John in Revelation 19:11-16
Before that scene, there will be much suffering and destruction as God’s wrath is poured out on this world in the great tribulation.
But let’s talk about when God took Enoch, and what it means for us.
WHEN GOD TOOK HIM
If you look once more at Genesis you will see that Enoch is mentioned in the middle of chapter 5, but it isn’t until chapter 6 that Moses begins telling us about the prediction of the Flood and God’s instructions to Noah.
Doing a bit of calculation and with the help of some of my resources, I figured out that Enoch was taken up approximately 680 years before the Flood came. Now that may sound like a lot, but it’s really only a couple of guys long. :>)
Point is, it was well before the destruction, and it was long enough before, that no one can possibly argue that he was taken up from the midst of the destruction.
In fact, his son, Methuselah, and his grandson, Lamech, died within 5 years of each other, and just a couple of years before the Flood, but they were not in any part of it either. They were taken away from the evil to come, as is promised in Isaiah 57:1,2
“The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; and devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil. He enters into peace;…”
There are those who argue that there is scriptural evidence that the church will undergo the first half of the tribulation; the first three and one half years, then be raptured. Personally, I don’t see it.
I have heard it argued that those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture are arrogant and presumptuous. Because what right do we have to think we will escape at least some of the punishment that will come on the world?
They say that is the thinking of Christians who are always seeking the easy way. Avoidance of trials. Not wanting to be taught through trials, and always crying out for deliverance without looking for development.
Well, I preach also that our trials are to teach us, and that we should seek development, trusting God, and the deliverance will come in time. I agree with that part.
But hey, it’s gotta stop sometime! If God is going to take us home to Heaven, there has to come a point where He takes us out of this world. That’s the only way we’re going to get there. If I want to drive to California, I have to go West and keep going. If I drive in circles around Fruita, I’m not going to see Bakersfield.
So the argument that we’re seeking to escape trial by believing in a pre-trib rapture really has no basis. Whether I go through the first three and one half years of the tribulation or not, I am certain that I will experience trials up until I go home, whenever that may be. So taking me up before the tribulation begins is not helping me avoid trials; it will be taking me from the evil to come.
The tribulation is a seven year period before Christ’s coming, which will be the out-pouring of God’s wrath on a sinful, Christ-rejecting, God-hating world. It will be progressive, as He gives His last warnings and offers as many opportunities as possible for people to repent and believe.
There is no wrath for the Christian. His sins were taken away at the cross, and buried in the depths of the sea forever.
“For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3)
If you are a believer in Christ all your sins for all time were judged in the body of Christ as He hung on that cross, and when He died he took them all away. He was punished for you. It is over. You will never suffer God’s wrath, not for a moment, not to any degree.
To stress this point, see the contrast between two types, Enoch and Noah.
Where Enoch is a type of the church, which will simply ‘not be’, for God will take it,
Noah and the ark typify the Jews, who will go through the tribulation, but will be kept safe by God through it and brought through safely at the end.
Those suffering the outpouring of His wrath will still see the Jews, as the drowning people in the deluge undoubtedly saw the ark floating above them.
But they will not see the church, for she will, like Enoch, be gone.
WALK LIKE ENOCH WALKED
How much more then, knowing these things, should we be striving to walk with God? With deliberation and determination and diligence, seeking to know Him better.
Steeped in His Word. Saturated with prayer. Seeking out the fellowship of believers whenever an opportunity arises, and encouraging one another day by day with admonitions to not give up. To fight the good fight. To fix our eyes on Jesus and follow. And reminding one another often that soon, very soon, Jesus is coming for us in the clouds, and He will call us up to meet Him in the air.
People listen to me. There are no signs to watch for. There is nothing that has to happen.
There doesn’t have to be any certain battle first, or anything built first. No particular political climate needs to exist, and no world economic condition needs to be prevalent.
There does not first have to be the implementation of computer chips in people’s hands for banking purposes or tattoos on their foreheads; there does not have to be a certain number of countries represented in the common market or the United Nations.
God’s plan is not dependant on man’s time schedule, and He will not ask our leave to do what He has determined to do of His own accord and according to His own power and wisdom since before creation began.
He who is coming will come.
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
(I Thess. 4:16,17)
Just like Enoch. You Christian, because of Who made you to stand in His own righteousness, are pleasing to God. And you have entered into grace by the same faith that Enoch knew. And one day, unless He calls you home before then, you and all who know Christ Jesus our Lord will hear His voice and the trumpet will sound, and you will not be here, for God will take you.
In the time it takes for a ray of light to flash off your eye, you will be with Him.
So in the meantime, the best counsel I or anyone can give you is, walk like Enoch walked.
Walk with God. He has made you new, He has sent His Spirit to give you Life and power, and He is never apart from you for a moment.
Acknowledge His presence daily. Constantly. Develop your spiritual muscles with a lifestyle of prayer and listening to Him and seeking His face.
Let Him draw you so close to Him that when people look at you they can only see Jesus. Because just like Enoch, one day He’s going to say, ‘let’s go home’; and there you will walk with Him in glorified bliss, away from the presence of sin and evil, forever.
Walk like Enoch walked, for this is pleasing to God.
