ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD
Genesis 5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 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.
The days of Enoch were about one third of the length of the days of the other father’s of his days. Some of them lived nine hundred plus years. But when you walk with God, time is not relevant! Being in the eternal presence of the Lord God shall be without the consciousness of succession. And time is but the measure of succession.
The ‘atmosphere’ of glory far surpasses the atmosphere of sunlight and oxygen! The glory of the Lord God’s person – whose life is the light of men – is far greater than every kind of created light in which we now walk! Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
The coming of the Lord has words given to it as moments being but similar to the twinkling of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:52). General Electric scientists report that a twinkle lasts about 11/100’s of a second! And being in the Lord’s presence brings great spiritual and edifying joy, that are without the awareness of any succession! Therefore that eternal present-consciousness far surpasses the moments of time’s measured succession! Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. For five minutes in the dentist’s chair seems far longer then an hour spent in a joyful past time. Therefore Enoch’s 365 years, with 300 of them spent in walking with God, were more fulfilling to him than his son’s 969 years.
His life is divided into two distinct periods. First there was the sixty five year period. Moses did not have much to write about this period of his life. The only thing to set forth in verse twenty one was that his wife had a child. But that changed his life and its direction. For the next verse, which begins the second period of three hundred years, states that this was the point of his beginning to walk with God. And we know that two cannot walk together, except they be agreed. (Amos 3:3.)
This natural birth was the point of the Lord’s bringing Enoch into a spiritual awakening – a spiritual birth, if you please! For with Eve, as recorded in Genesis 4:25, and with Lamech in Genesis 5:29, there were revelations from the Lord God to his people at the times of physical birth. And Enoch was not only awakened to the conscious presence of the Lord is his evil times, while Cain and his clan were filling the earth with the attempt to cultivate fallen man on a cursed earth, but he was made so conscious of the Lord’s glory that he continued to both walk in it and also continued on to begat sons and daughters. He had a living hope in the Lord God which gave him confidence to bring in children in such a day!
And we find Enoch listed in two other books of the Scriptures. He does not just fall off it’s pages like others of his day. He is still walking in the fertile fields of the record of regenerating grace! In the Book of Hebrews we not only learn that he was translated, so as not to see death, but that also before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5).
And then in Jude’s writing we find Jude calling on Enoch to support him in his own redirected purpose by the Holy Spirit. For Jude states, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Then he refers to wicked men of old ordained to this condemnation. Therefore it is no wonder that he calls on the strongest witness of the days when God repented that he had made man, and of the days when men’s thoughts and imaginations were only evil continually! (Genesis 6:5,6).
And in referring to Enoch, Jude even affords us an excerpt of one of Enoch’s sermons! Here is what he recorded: Jude 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Enoch bears down on the wickedness which prevents men from walking with God. For he mentions that word, ungodly four times in that one sentence!
And, as you see, his walking with God bestowed upon him both the awareness of a present day judgment, which came in the flood. But also on the future day of God’s finally judgment at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all his holy angels!
And just how did Enoch please God? He pleased God by faith! Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. There is no other way! There is no greater gift to men from faith’s author! Listen to just how essential faith is: Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
And we cannot even imagine that one could ever walk with God who does not please him! And again, one cannot please him except by God-granted faith! Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. And Jesus Christ alone is both faith’s author and finisher! Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
And just how did the Lord Jesus author faith? Faith is experiential and active in its exercise. Therefore it had to be experiential in it’s conception! And we are clearly told that which was the issue of Christ’s faith, which will also then reveal the time of it’s conception. In this following passage we see that the Lord’s issue of faith was trusting in the Father to raise him from the dead and not to allow his body to be corrupted.
Acts 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
This being the issue, we see that the origin of faith was then at Calvary! And that faith sealed the belief, and therefore the righteousness of all saints past, present and future! Notice that in both of the following verses the Apostle Paul speaks of spiritually living, not by just “faith in” the Lord; but by the “faith of” the Lord! Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Therefore Enoch pleased God by faith. And he was translated so as not to return to the dust, and never to have to die for his faith pleased God.
We must also notice that it is stated that Enoch walked WITH God! This is of the utmost importance. For this is not the same as walking BEFORE God! Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. This is most assuredly a beneficial walk. For to walk before God is to walk with a God conscious mind, which will surely cause one to be careful of his conduct. King David was said by God, to have walked before Him. Listen to just how that made him conduct himself. 1 Kings 9:4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: Walking before God is a very good walk, but it is not the same as walking with God!
Then there is the walk “after God.” Walking “before God” makes one to walk in God conscious. But walking “after God” makes one conscious of the law of God, with a desire to conform to its requirements. Deuteronomy 13:4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 2 Kings 23:3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
But this is possible to accomplish without the regeneration of the heart. For the Apostle Paul did so and he said that everything in his life at that point was a loss! For morality can never substitute for righteousness! Philippians 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Therefore, for our Brother Enoch to walk “with God” is of a more special fellowship! For he had, not just a consciousness of God, but a friendship with him! John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And that fellowship with God allows one to even experience the vast mystery of the sufferings of the Savior! For no one can possibly plummet the depths of what it was for Christ the mighty Maker to die, except he also be allowed to taste deep and painful mortifications of heart! No one can bring their intellectual investigations, no matter how religious or pious, to this place! Only by the experiencing of the mortifications and terrors of God, can one drink of these waters of mystery! Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
There is a mortification – a making dead the carnality of the believer. Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And also there is the experiencing of the terror of God! 2 Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
Remember dear soul, it was the LORD who was pleased to bruise him! Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. And know of a certainty that the Father has only one Son without sin! But he has none without a cross!
And we cannot imagine that one with Enoch’s godly spirit avoided persecutions in such a wicked day as his! 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Therefore we know that as he suffered with the Lord and his people, he was also given to reign with him! 2 Timothy 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
Then we finally read that of Enoch which we desire to have said of ourselves… and he was not; for God took him. And this is not only the desire of all the Lord’s people, but it is the purpose and intent of the Godhood! John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;…
Pastor Gene Breed
September 5, 2015
