Enoch
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 8 December 2024
Tonight we continue our study of the book of Hebrews 11. Going through this chapter we study the Heroes of the Old Testament, the great examples of people of faith. Verse 4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.”
Abel was conceived and born after the fall of men. Abel is the first on the list of faith examples because he is a model of faith in the sacrifice that he brought. But the first born of Eve was Cain who turned out to be the first criminal. The only offering that could atone for sin was the blood sacrifice. And by faith Abel sacrificed what God required. But Cain did not believe he needed to sacrifice.
Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering.” Now the testimony of Hebrews 11:4 is that Abel is a model of faith. And there is a way to worship. God is to be approached only by sacrifice. So Cain is the father of false religions.
And here you have the first time that we have a record in Scripture of righteousness being credited to the account of an obedient sinner. God gives testimony that Abel, has attained righteousness. His act, an act of faith, was an act which brought the very righteousness of God to cover him. God honored Abel, imputed righteousness to him. Imagine having God give testimony that you are righteous.
We can read about it in Genesis 4. God is offering Cain mercy in verses 6-7. But Cain makes His choice in verse 8, he went to Abel to talk to him in the field and Cain killed Abel. Cain yielded to Satan. And the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? And Cain said I don’t know. Now he’s compounded his murder with a lie. And the voice of the blood of Abel is crying to God.
Cain wants to avoid the consequences. Verse 11, “So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.” Verse 15 says, “Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Verse 17 says, “Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.”
Now, the theme of Hebrews is to present Christ, as the mediator of a better covenant, a better Priest with a better priesthood, who’s made a better sacrifice by His blood, having perfected forever those that are sanctified as opposed to the repetition of the Old Testament. Hebrews 10:38 says, “The just shall live by faith.” The Jews believed in works, and so that had to be counteracted.
So the writer of Hebrews 11 spends 40 verses, outlining what faith really is both by definition and illustration. Here’s what faith is, verses 1 - 3. Then He follows it up by in verse 4 with a series of examples of faith. And He wants to show the Jewish reader particularly, and all men in general, that they never had a works system. And so, He does it by giving illustrations of men of faith.
Now, the second example of faith is Enoch. Genesis 5:21 says, “Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah.” Verse 22-24 says, “Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.” Now, this is a new concept in the book of Genesis.
Abel didn’t really understand the concept of walking with God. Abel illustrates worship by faith; Enoch illustrates walk by faith. Now, revelation of Scripture is a progressive revelation. And Abel got a little of it, and Enoch got a little more of it. Adam and Eve had walked and talked with God, and after they fell and were thrown out of the garden, they ceased to walk with God.
And the destiny of man is reinstituted in the man Enoch, who stands as an illustration for all men of what it is to walk with God. In Enoch, then, the true destiny of man is again reached as he experiences the fellowship with God that Adam and Eve had forfeited. So, in Hebrews 11 we see a continuity. The only way you’ll ever walk with God is when you come on the basis of a sacrifice.
And the only sacrifice that opens up the way to God is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so we find a man walking with God, but not until sacrifice is made. So, first there’s a death for sin; then there can be the walk with God. And Enoch illustrates that. Enoch did everything that Abel did, and took it even further. There are five things about Enoch’s life of faith. Notice Hebrews 11:5.
“By faith Enoch was taken away, and sot he did not experience death.” In Genesis 5:24, it says, “He was not there, because God took him.” He was not found, I mean there weren’t any remains. He pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So Enoch lived by faith.
First of all, Enoch believed that God is. Secondly, he was seeking God’s reward. Thirdly, he was walking with God. Fourthly, he surrendered to God. And fifthly, he was entering God’s presence. To begin with, God was pleased with Enoch because he believed in God. Religion doesn’t please God, because all other religions are systems by Satan to counteract the truth.
Nationality doesn’t please God. The Jews thought that because they were the seed of Abraham, circumcised on the eighth day, and had the law, they were therefore pleasing God. Actually they displeased Him greatly. Romans 3 says, “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.” God can’t stand anybody who tries to earn his way into His heaven. That kind of self-righteousness is hated by God.
God’s not happy with somebody’s good deeds. Faith alone pleases God. The only way to God is to believe. And Enoch pleased Him because Enoch lived by faith. In fact, it pleased Him so much that one day he and God took a walk, and they just decided to keep on walking and walked right into heaven together. God gets excited about people who believe Him. Enoch pleased Him.
Now, you can’t prove God scientifically. All scientific evidence is only circumstantial. The reason lies in the nature of history itself and in the limitations of the scientific method. In order for something to be proved by science, it must be repeatable. But history is, by its very nature, unrepeatable. But the fact that these events can’t be proved by repetition does not disprove their reality.”
God’s intelligence is revealed in His power. You look at plants and animals and all the intricacy, so constructed that they can appropriate the necessary food that they can grow, that they reproduce. You look at the planets, the asteroids, the satellites, the comets, the meteors, the constellations, and they’re all kept on their courses by the great centrifugal forces that swing everything through the universe.
Secondly, Enoch pleased God by seeking God’s reward. It is not enough to believe God is; we must also believe that God is moral and God rewards the righteous who come to Him. We must recognize God as a personal, loving, gracious God to those who seek Him. Now, Enoch believed God was a personal, caring, loving, God with whom He fellowshipped for 300 years.
And the only way you can really seek Him is on His own terms. What is the reward for those that seek Him? Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” That means everything God could give is yours. You’re a joint heir with Jesus Christ. And what has God promised Jesus Christ? Everything that there is.
God gives us forgiveness, a new heart, the Holy Spirit, eternal life, blessing, mercy, grace, peace, joy, love, and heaven. Jesus said this, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” It’s the only way to come to God. Enoch pleased God, because he believed that God was, and secondly because he sought God’s reward. God set a standard.
Now, the term “walk” is used so many times in the New Testament, that to try to do a study on the term walk would take a long time. But basically what it means is thirdly, the manner of daily conduct. He just continued in the presence of God. So, two people walking together then presupposes harmony. It presupposes agreement, which in the case of Enoch means he and God agreed together.
There’s a second thing implied in a walk with God, and that is corresponding nature. You having fellowship with God. A man cannot have fellowship with God on the basis of his own nature. And so, to walk with God means that there must be a common life. And when you walk with God, you are in a different sphere. God made me into something like He is. No sinner can walk with God.
He’s saying, “Since you’ve been born again, and you’ve moved into God’s sphere, you no longer are able to walk in the old life. Now that you walk in God’s sphere, what agreement is there between you and the old life? There isn’t any anymore. Now you just can’t seem to fit in the system anymore. And so, walking with God then presupposes a change in nature.
That’s what Paul meant when he said, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.” He had to be. Old things are passed away, and a few things are become new. Right? What? All things. You have to have a new nature to walk with God. And so, there was a sense in which the walk with God means there’s been a change in a common kind of life. So to walk with God implies a moral fitness.
The idea of a corresponding nature has to do with God dealing with sin. Sin is what keeps us apart. God does not walk out of the way of holiness. Before Christ commences His walk in the millennium, all things that offend must be cast out. Listen to what it says in 1 John 1:6, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not say the truth.”
Fourthly, it implies a surrendered will. To walk with God means you do as He designs. The surrender of our will to Him is a surrender of love. To walk with God implies a spiritual fellowship. When it says Enoch walked with God, it means that they just had a steady kind of unbroken communion. The term “walk” means continuous. Three hundred years of steady, sweet communion. No wonder he just took a walk one day and kept right on walking into heaven.
In the New Testament we have the term “walking in the Spirit,” which is the same thing. The Spirit of God is God Himself. Continual fellowship with Him means expression of fellowship in prayer, sensing His presence. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Because if you walk in the Spirit, you’ll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And if you walk in the Spirit, you will see in your life: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. So, you need to walk in the Spirit. What does that mean? That means you just commune. Walk in the Spirit is nothing more than just letting the Spirit of God pervade your thoughts. And life is a matter of decisions, just one decision after the next.
Look at Jesus. He walked with God. 1 John 2:6 says, “The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.” Jesus was always in communion with the Father. “Everybody went to his own home,” and it says, “And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” That’s where He went every night, and He just communed all night with the Father. He just lived constantly walking with God.
There’s another thing that Enoch did that pleased God, and it’s not in Genesis and not in Hebrews. It’s in Jude 14. You know what he did? He preached for God. Walking in the Spirit’s also affects the way you affect others. Jude 14 says, “It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of His holy ones.”
Fifthly, by faith he entered into God’s presence. He pleased God so much that God just took him. Genesis 5:24 says this, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” And his body remains were never found. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away.”
And Enoch didn’t die, but he was precious to God. He is a wonderful picture of the believers who will be alive on the earth when our Lord descends in the air to catch His bride with a shout. Just as Enoch was taken to heaven without seeing death, so also will those of God’s people alive at the rapture, according to 1 Thessalonians 4, be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
So, Enoch is an ancient picture of the rapture. Well, Enoch died young, 365 years. Didn’t he really die; he passed from the scene very young. His son Methuselah lived 600 years longer. It’s because he pleased God. Have you committed your life to walk with Him? That pleases Him. Have you opened your mouth to speak for Him? That pleases Him. And some day you’ll enter His presence. Let us pray.