Word of Salvation – Vol. 59 No. 29 – October 2009
WALKING WITH GOD
By John Haverland
Text: Genesis 5:21-24
Readings: Jude, Hebrews 11:1-7, Genesis 5
Theme: Enoch stands out as a man who walked in close communion with God in the godly line of Seth
Purpose: To highlight the example of Enoch in God’s plan of salvation in the line of Seth.
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When we come to those parts of the Bible that contain a long list of names, like this one, most of us tend to skip over them, or we skim read them. We don’t find these chapters all that interesting and certainly not inspiring. We want to hurry on to the next chapter and what to happens next in the story.
A list of names like this is called a genealogy. It is the record of the line of descent of a person or a family. It is a family tree, but one that follows one line in the family.
Most of us have some interest in our own family tree. We want to know something about who we are and where we came from. We are interested in a bit of family history and looking back to our forebearers.
Think of Genesis 5 like this – it is part of your family history; it takes you all the way back to the very beginning because all of us came from Noah, and Noah came out of the line of Seth, and Seth came from Adam.
Going back to ancient times has a lot of interest for many of us. This is part of the attraction of books and movies like the “Lord of the Rings”, and the legends about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. These stories take us back to a distant past – we want to know what went on then.
This chapter of the Bible takes us back to an even more distant past, well before King Arthur; and, unlike the Lord of the Rings, it is a true story. Genesis 5 covers at least the first 1600 years of the history of the world from the time of Adam to the time of the flood.
It begins by marking this as new section. “This is the written account of Adam’s line.” That phrase – “this is the account” – occurs ten times in Genesis and each time it marks a new development in the story, but one that is part of the overall picture of what God was doing in history.
Because it is a new section Moses summarised what has happened so far. God created Adam in his own image. He created them male and female. He blessed them. Moses gave a commentary on what was going on – this is interpreted history, a theological history.
As he continued with this story Moses did not give his readers a history of the whole world; rather he wrote a selected history – telling the story of what God has done to rescue his people from the punishment and consequences of sin.
In chapter 4 we are told about the line of Cain, but that only gets five verses. Cain and his descendants disappear from the record.
In Chapter 5 the Holy Spirit concentrates on the line of Seth. Out of everything that was going on in the world at that time, and out of all the people living in the world, he has recorded this family tree. But not even all the sons and daughters are mentioned, and not all the lines are traced. Only one line is followed – from Adam to Seth to Noah. Of all the people who were part of that large family tree only ten names are mentioned.
It is significant that these people are mentioned by name. God is interested in each individual in this world and especially in those whom he has chosen for redemption.
Sometimes we wonder about our place in the overall scheme of what God is doing and we wonder if what we do is worth anything. Does it matter? Does it contribute anything to the church and kingdom?
Yes, it does. Each person can make a difference. Everyone of us can do something. The good you do in your day to day life contributes to the overall plan and purpose of God and can make a difference to this world. God is concerned about each one of us and what we are doing.
But we also need to note that these men were connected together; they were part of a family. God worked out his plan through individual people, but also through family lines. Later on God would describe this as a covenant. These men were part of a larger community. They were connected with the people before them, with those living at the same time, and with those who were still to come.
It is the same for us. In our Western societies we are used to thinking only of the individual – me on my own. But we need to stand back and see the big picture. God is at work in you and in your family and in the covenant community of the church. God wants his work of salvation to continue on from generation to generation.
That happened in the line of Seth to Noah. Ten godly men are mentioned. No doubt there were many others but only these are recorded.
They all lived a long time. Seven of them lived for over 900 years! That is as old as some of the massive ancient kauri trees in New Zealand that are about 1000 years old. These men lived many years and saw a lot of life and had opportunity to witness for the Lord to many people.
Special mention is made of one, whose name was ENOCH.
He occupied a significant place in the genealogy because he was “the seventh from Adam” in this family line (Jude 14).
He stands in contrast to Lamech who was the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain.
Lamech stood out in the unbelieving line of Cain as an evil man who took revenge, as a murderer, and a blasphemer. (Genesis 4:23-24).
Enoch, however, stood out in the believing line of Seth as a godly man. Among those ten great men he was the greatest.
Of those who were part of this extended godly family he stood out as one who “walked with God.”
This certainly should not be understood in a physical sense because God is a Spirit and so he has no body.
Rather this is referring to a spiritual communion with God. Enoch had a close relationship with the Lord, a deep fellowship, an openness in prayer that was remarkable even among believers.
He lived with a strong faith and trust in God and a love that was expressed in a life of obedience.
Some have thought that you can only do this if you withdraw from normal life and society to be by yourself or to live in a holy community. This was the attitude of some in the early church who lived for years in caves or up on top of poles to escape from the evil world around them. And this was the approach of the monks and nuns in the medieval church.
But Enoch lived an ordinary, normal life and was married and had sons and daughters.
He also lived among men in society. In chapter 6 we see that these men of God were a minority in that world, as believers are in New Zealand & Australia today. He lived with unbelievers. He knew what was going on in the world around him. He wasn’t a hermit locked away on his own. And still he walked with God.
Noah is described with exactly the same phrase in chapter 9:6 – “he walked with God”.
Later God said to Abraham; “Walk before me and be perfect.” ((Gen 17:1).
Later still Hezekiah prayed to God and said; “Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion.” (Is 38:3).
The prophet Micah called Israel “to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8).
So this wasn’t something just for one man, but it is for all believers – for you and me.
Does this describe you?
Are you walking with God?
Do you live close to the Lord?
Do you read God’s word to hear God speaking to you in his Word and do you respond to God in prayer? Do you do that throughout the day in an ongoing conversation with him?
Do you love God and does that show in a life of obedience?
Can others see that you are living close to God?
As you live among the unbelieving people of the world are you prepared to speak up for God and to declare your faith to others?
Not only did Enoch walk with God but the writer of Hebrews tells us that Enoch “was commended as one who pleased God.” (11:5)
Again there is an interesting contrast with the family of Cain because his firstborn son was named Enoch. At the time Cain was building a city and he named it after his son. None of us have had a city named after us, let alone the very first settlement in the world! Enoch, the son of Cain, was a significant fellow in the world of his day, an important man, a VIP!
Enoch, the son of Jared, in the family of Seth, had no such claim to fame. Nothing is said about him that would make him great by worldly standards. No city was named after him. He is not listed as a great inventor or as an accomplished musician, as are the descendants of Cain. Yet he received the greatest commendation that anyone can receive: he “pleased God”.
Will you be commended for this? Is this your aim, your desire, your ambition – to please God? Will this to be written down as the distinguishing mark of your life?
You may gain all sorts of awards in this life, receive prizes, be given degrees, win trophies, be praised and acknowledged by men, but all that counts for nothing if God is not pleased with you.
The one who lived this out perfectly of course, was the Lord Jesus. God the Father said that him; “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22).
Enoch “walked with God; and then he was no more, because God took him away.” (vs 24)
This statement breaks the pattern of the rest of the chapter. About everyone else we read that he lived for so many years “and then he died… then he died… then he died….”
This repeated refrain is a reminder of God’s judgement on sin. Physical death is the consequence of sin. “Death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses” and after that as well (Rom 5:14). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). The shadow of death looms over us all our lives. We are reminded of it every day because every day thousands of people die. But Enoch did not die! “…he was no more, because God took him away.”
The writer of Hebrews said; “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.”
This phrase is used of only one other person in the Bible and that is Elijah (2 Kings 2:3,5). Elijah and Elisha “were walking together and talking, and suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind” (2:11). The young prophets from the school of the prophets insisted that they go looking for him and they searched for three days but could not find him.
Perhaps people went looking for Enoch when he was taken away, but “he could not be found.”
He was taken, probably for his own sake, so that he did not have to experience death. God took him directly to be with him in heaven.
But God also took him to show the believers in that age that there was a life beyond this life. Enoch being taken was the first indication of immortality, of eternal life, of an existence in heaven, of a life beyond this world.
This expectation and hope is picked up later in the Old Testament.
Psalm 49; “But God will redeem my life from the grave, he will surely take me to himself” (Psalm 49:15).
Psalm 73; “You guide me with your counsel and afterward you will take me into glory” (Psalm 73:24).
The Holy Spirit has told us of only two men who did not die – Enoch and Elijah; and then there will be those who are living when Jesus returns and who will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But most of us will die. However we get there, believers know we are going to heaven. This is our hope and expectation. God will take us to be with him and we will be there forever.
Enoch was a pledge to those Old Testament believers that this would happen – that they would join him.
In this New Testament age we have a much stronger pledge because Jesus has gone into heaven as the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
He died for our sins, rose from the dead, and then ascended into heaven. He has gone there to prepare a place for us and has assured us that he will come back and take us to be with him, so that we may be with him in heaven (John 14:2-3).
If you believe in the Lord Jesus, and you come to the edge of your life in this world, then you can be sure that Jesus is waiting to receive you.
This is why the Bible can describe the death of a believer as falling asleep in Christ.
This is why believers can die without fear.
Some of you have been at the bedside of loved ones who have died with a calm confidence and a sure hope that they were going home to be with the Lord – they have felt safe in the arms of Jesus.
And when a loved one dies we do not grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.
So Enoch points ahead to the Lord Jesus.
Enoch’s life directs us to the first coming of Jesus because he was one of the forefathers of Jesus in this godly line of Seth. That line went on to Abraham and then to David and then to the Messiah himself. (Matt 1).
Enoch directs us to the present reign of Christ in that he was taken away into glory, as each one of us will be taken away to be with our Lord Jesus in the glory of heaven.
And he directs us to the second coming of Jesus in that he prophesied about Jesus, as Jude records that in his letter; “See the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones, to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly….” (Jude 14-15).
When Jesus comes, will he find you among the ungodly, living to please yourself and going your own way, or will he commend you as one with whom he is pleased?
When Jesus comes again will he find you doing what Enoch did – walking with God?
Amen.