Prophet Enoch Series

Text: Genesis 5:21-24, & Jude 1:14-15

Theme: Prophet Enoch

Greetings: The Lord is good and his love endures forever!

Introduction:

The prophetic ministry is one of the five-fold ministry in the church. Ephesians 4:11: "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." Ephesians 4:12-13 explains that the purpose of the five-fold ministry is "to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

Today, we will meditate on the prophet Enoch. Enoch pleased God, he preached repentance, he prophesied Parousia.

Life of Enoch: 

We find Enoch in Genesis 5:18-24, Hebrews 11:5, and Jude 14-15. His name is referred three times in New Testament (Luke 3:37, Hebrews 11:5, Jude 1:14). Enoch was a Devote of God. Enoch was a Prophet of God. Enoch was an Eschatological Man.

There are at least four different men mentioned as Enoch in Genesis. Enoch was the son of Jared. The name of Enoch (Hebrew: ??????? ?ano?) derives from the Hebrew root ??? (?-n-?), meaning to trained up, instructed, initiated, dedicated, inaugurated. Enoch was the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth and not from of Cain. He was not the seventh man born into the world, but the seventh generation from Adam. Genesis 5 provides a genealogy of these ten figures from Adam to Noah. It provides the age at which each fathered the next, and the age of each died.

The genealogical count is inclusive, counting Adam as the first, then Enoch as seventh (Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch). The number seven is often used for perfection or completion in the Bible. The stories of Enoch is found in the Bible, Quran- Idris Ali Salam found in Iraq, Enoch 1, Enoch 2 (Secrets of Enoch), Enoch 3. Also some references found on the Book of Giants.

1. Enoch pleased God

“Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah and had other sons and daughters.”(Genesis 5:22) “Enoch lived to please God all this time, then Enoch was not there any more. God took Enoch to be with him.”(Genesis 5:24).

“It was faith that kept Enoch from dying. Instead, he was taken up to God, and nobody could find him, because God had taken him up. The scripture says that before Enoch was taken up, he had pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5).

He was described as mysterious man but he was an ordinary human being. He turned into a powerful man of God because he lived to please God. He was born in the 338th year of Adam's life. He lived a holy and faithful life to the Lord.

He walked with God in a declining culture. He had a very close relationship with God in a world and at a time that was becoming very wicked. Enoch lived a few hundred years before the Flood. The inhabitants of earth descend into utter moral depravity during this period. Enoch pleased God by walking with Him, he lived a testimonial life. He had encumbrances of wife, in-laws, children, and grandchildren. Yet he walked with God.

He had a close and intimate relationship with God. We need to cultivate a deep and personal relationship with God through prayer, faith, and righteous living. Enoch is commended for his faith. His faith pleased God. This leads to moral and spiritual purification and striving to harmonize with God's will.

Enoch "walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5), which is interpreted as Enoch entering heaven alive. This happens 57 years after Adam's death and 69 years before Noah's birth. Sirach 44:16 states that "Enoch pleased God and was translated into paradise that he may give repentance to the nations." The Greek word paradise, (pa??de?s?? paradeisos) means "enclosed garden", used in the Septuagint to describe the Garden of Eden.

He was translated into heaven. A new concept in those days. He disappeared from the sight of the people. He was not missed out in the jungle, or lost on the way but he was taken up in the sight of the people. We also discover that God took him in the prime of life. 365 years old in his days was equivalent to 35 years old today.

The Arabic writers call him Edris the prophet, and the Jews say that he was in a higher degree than Moses or Elias; they also call him Metatron, the great scribe, a name which they sometimes give to the angel that went before the children of Israel in the wilderness.