Hebrews 11:1-6 NIV
[1] Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. [2] This is what the ancients were commended for. [3] By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. [4] By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. [5] By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. [6] And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Genesis 5:21-24: [21] When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. [22] And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. [23] Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. [24] Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Story: The first man to walk around the world was a man by the name of David Kunst of Waseca, Minnesota. He completed his historic walk on October 5, 1974, after walking 14,500 miles.
He set off with his brother John and a mule. In Afghanistan bandits attacked them, killing John and wounding David. He took four months to recover. He then continued his walk with his a brother Pete joining him for a while; he left after a few weeks.
The trip took 4 1/2 years, during which time David went through 22 pairs of shoes and wore out two mules.
At the completion of his historic journey, an auction was held with eager bidders paying $150 for his right shoe, $170 for his left shoe, and $140 for his remaining mule.
God wants us to understand that the Christian life is a walk-a journey which requires dedication, courage, and persistence. It calls for self-surrender, a fully yielded life, and an intense desire to please God rather than ourselves.
Along the way we may be wounded. We may suffer loss. We need time to recover but then keep walking! Along the way we may be joined by others, who give up, but keep walking!
Your Walk Will Determine Your Legacy
Enoch escapes death. He vanishes! The people, his family presumably, looked and looked for Him. His son was Methuselah, whom the Bible says lived the longest of any person - 969. That's a lot of years to be looking for your father's body.
There are actually two Enoch's in the Bible. The first one is a son of Cain and has a city named after him by his dad (Gen 4:17). You can still see the pride of Cain desiring to do things his way and on his terms. His son Enoch is the first to have a city named after him - Cain commemorating his own achievements. There is nothing really noteworthy about this Enoch.
But there is another son born to Adam and Eve - Seth. A son, in their words, who God has given them to replace Abel (Gen 4: 25). It is in his family line that Enoch appears; Enoch then is the great, great, great, great grandson of Adam.
God is in the business of reclaiming heritage. He is the one who will bring righteousness back into a family line when it has been lost.
There is another key verse in Genesis connected with Seth, Adam's third son:
Genesis 4:26 NIV
[26] Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.
There was something about Seth that began to lead his family to seek the Lord again.
In Cain we have the shadow of the one trying to do things his way. In Seth we have the beginning of the picture of those who seek the Lord.
Enoch we are told:
Genesis 5:24:Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
He escaped death itself it seems. The death his great, great, great, great, grandfather brings into the world through sin was escaped. He simply is translated to paradise. Now this is a mystery but it would seem he is an early example and promise of life beyond this one. He simply changed residence.
Enoch is in the lineage of Joseph, Jesus' stepfather. When you walk with God you will deposit something in the spiritual DNA of your lineage that God can use!
Walk with God
Enoch we're told walked with God (Gen 5:21).
This is a way of saying that He lived for God in a godless generation.
It is a hope filled statement. It shows us that God is looking for men and woman to walk with Him. He still is.
Jude 1:14-15 NIV
[14] Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones [15] to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
We do not read in Genesis that Enoch said anything, although he is the only one noteworthy between Adam and Noah travel anything recorded about him others than who he fathered and how long he lived.
So where did this idea in Jude come from? In the Jewish tradition stories were passed from one generation to another by story-telling, what theologians like to call the 'oral' or 'spoken' tradition. His life was one that pleased God and one that was in two ways: words and actions (see blog bonus).
Something else though that shows Enoch was a prophet in his generation, seen on the name of his son.
When Methuselah was born, his godly father must have prophetically known of coming things for his son's name means "when he dies, judgment," and interestingly enough, Methuselah died just before the flood of Noah's day.
There is a subtlety in the language used here to describe Enoch's life that we miss if we just skim over it (Gen 5:24).
God was walking with Enoch, so what! But that's not the text says. It says that Enoch walked with God, not God walked with Enoch.
It means that Enoch lived differently to our self-centred, often consumer led, Christianity. Don't claim to be walking with God when actually your life screams that you expect God to walk with you, do things your way, accept your agenda.
Often we will do things and expecting God to be with us. Be with me as I go to work. Be with me as I go to school. Be with me as I do this or that. He is everywhere!
We know that in one sense God is with us all the time - He is omnipresent (Psalm 139).
The issue is what sort of Christian are you going to be in your world?
We know that Jesus promised His presence with us all the time (Matthew 28:20).
In fact that promise is conditional. In the broader sense Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us (Matthew 1:23) - God has become with them, with the whole world.
Matthew 28: 18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Yet Jesus promises to be with His disciples in a special sense - with them until the end of the age. Conditional on them obeying the ethical teachings of Jesus and teaching others, making disciples of nations, too.
Why? Because living for Christ this way is counter cultural and counter intuitive.
It is a lonely road.
It is a narrow road.
A costly road.
A road where you walk with Jesus!
1 John 1:7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Walk Worthy of the Calling
The way we walk is not different to way we did previously, before we knew Jesus.
Colossians 3:5-7: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [7] You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
To live the way you used to live is sleep walking, not faith walking.
Paul urged the NT church to live differently to the rest of society.
Ephesians 4:1: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Ephesians 4:1 NKJV
[1] I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
You are all called.
One of the most frustrating things about being a church leader is to see the calling on people's lives vanquished by walking their way.
My friends you are called for so much more than you currently see in your life.
You are called to transform your generation.
You are called to be light.
You are called to be one so distinct in your workplace that everyone knows it (in word and deed).
You are called to be an Enoch who impacts his generation, who when he is not found, he is missed by his generation that their lives are not longer the same.
You are called to be more than an acquaintance of people but the epicentre of their lives for Christ lives in you.
You are called to show what Christian living is like.
You are called to be morally different from the world, not in judgement over sinners, but showing that walking with God works.
You are called to be those in a godless generation to point towards the Father God.
You are called to be a signpost, pointing towards Jesus and His love and redemption, not trying to fit into the way things are done around you.
Your are called! It's time to answer!
You might walk with a limp.
You might walk and stumble now and then.
You might walk through valleys of the shadow of death.
You may have mountaintop experiences.
You may have times of blessings and times of hardship.
Walk Distinctly.
Walk with God.
Wrapping this up:
Walk tall. Walk with God.
If you feel your life has wandered and you're far from Him, He is waiting in the spiritual place you left Him. He is looking to the horizon to see your turn around.
Pray.
Blog bonus:
There is some debate about the Jude account of Enoch's prophecy. Some say he quoted directly from the spurious book of Enoch. Personally I don't believe this, but even if Jude did, it is not an issue. You may find this article interesting as a side bar.
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/562-did-jude-quote-from-the-book-of-enoch
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