Like Enoch Walked Part 1 of 2

by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)

10-25-04


"Like Enoch Walked"


Genesis 5:22-5:24

“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 these 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 want to 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)

I want to talk to you today, about the ways Enoch typifies the church. Remember, by church I don’t mean a building or a denomination; I mean those who have experienced salvation. I want us to see that although we have very little information about Enoch, the little that we are told speaks volumes about the Christian and his walk. He ‘walked with God‘. What an amazing three words; “walked with God!” If Enoch’s life is a foreshadowing of the church, then the question for believers is “How should we then be walking?”

We are so anxious to put do’s and don’ts out there on a list and then encourage 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 do 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. It’s easier to 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 don’t do it, 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, in many churches, 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. They think they 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 temporary 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 only sometimes, 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 and 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, and 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.

The next thing I want for you to consider is, 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 had grown in the hearts of men, until there was nothing left but evil, with the exception of a few righteous people. But note that those who were 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.