Lord’s Day, Vol. 3 No. 41

Enoch Walked With God

Genesis 5:22-24 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

If I walk with the world, I can’t walk with God. For the world is like a net; the more we stir in it, the more we are entangled. (DL Moody). How does a Christian live in the world but not be of the world? Was it easier to be a Christian in the pre-flood era? We hope to draw some lessons from Enoch’s life about walking with God in these perilous times that we live in.

The phrase “Enoch walked with God” was repeated twice in Genesis 5:22 and 24. It provides a contrast and breaks the chain of the narrative in Genesis chapter 5, bound together by the repeated use of the conjunction “and” which denotes a chronological history of pre-flood believers. 10 generations of famous patriarchs from Adam to Noah were mentioned. “So and so begat so and so and lived for a number of years and died”. Genesis chapter 5 is commonly called the diary of death. I believe verses 21-24 are meant to jolt us to pause a moment and consider the “life” of Enoch.

Enoch was 65 years old when he became a believer after he begat Methuselah and he remained a believer for the rest of his life of 300 years. He was taken by God at 365. A significant time of consistent Christian walk! The name Enoch means “dedicated”. Indeed, he never looked back from the day God opened his spiritual eyes. His life was dedicated to walking with God.

Observe the phrase “Enoch walked with God”. In the original, there is a definite article attached to the word “God”. Enoch walked with “the God”, the living and true God. This would be the first time that a definite article is used to distinguish the living and true God that created heavens and the earth and also made Man in His image. The second time where a definite article is attached to the word “God” is found in Genesis 6:9. “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with the God,” the living and true God.

We know that by the time of the flood, wickedness abounded on the earth and only 8 were saved. Noah, his wife, his three sons and his daughters-in-law were the only believers among the billion of people living on planet earth at that time. The father of Enoch, Jared, must have taught Enoch the truth concerning the living and true God, the same knowledge that was passed down from Adam to Seth.

In Genesis 4, another person by the same name Enoch was also mentioned. The Enoch in Genesis 4 is not the same Enoch in Genesis 5. Whereas Genesis 5 is a description of the godly line through Seth, Genesis 4 is a description of the ungodly line through Cain. The Enoch in chapter 4 did not walk with God. He was the son of Cain who was a violent and lawless man. Cain venerated his son by naming the first city after him – Enoch city! This would have been a common practice for self-willed, self-exalting godless men!

But the godly Enoch walked with God by separating himself from the world of his time. He was not living a life in the pursuit of materialism – building barns and tearing down barns which is an enslavement. Instead, he set his affection on heavenly things (Col. 3:2). He prophesied of God’s coming judgment.

Jude 1:14 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” Indeed, the Lord’s coming judgment is an age old doctrine that moves men of God to lifelong holiness and service.

The man Enoch in Genesis 5 who walked with God did not experience death. The Bible says, “he was not, for God took him”. He was taken physically by God to heaven. The Bible tells us that there is a coming momentous event where believers would be “caught up” bodily to heaven without experiencing death.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

We could be the generation in which the rapture is to take place. Brethren, are you ready?

Yours lovingly,

Pr. Lek Aik Wee