Enoch - God took him home
In Genesis 5 time after time we read, And he died; eight times in all. It seems a depressing genealogy that we can quickly skip over. It reminds us only of the consequences of Adam’s disobedience and the one certainty in life ever since. Enoch is a notable exception because the record tells us that 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
It isn’t immediately clear what this means. It could just be a flowery way of saying that he died, but then why write things so differently for Enoch? We don’t have to puzzle too hard, though for the passage that we read last time in Hebrews 11:5 makes the meaning crystal clear: By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him;” for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
God took Enoch home so he did not see death. He changed his place but not his company. He is the only person that Scripture explicitly says that this happened to although it is probable that something similar happened to Elijah when he was caught up in the fiery chariot.
What a change it must have been! Imagine Enoch going from mountain peak to peak each day as he walked with God, rising higher and higher in his experience of God, until he became so heavenly-minded that God took him into His own presence. It is as though one day he went out for his usual walk with God and they got so lost in conversation that they lost track of time. As night began to fall perhaps Enoch said he had better get on home, but God said that they were nearer to His place and that he should come and spend the night with Him … so they just carried on walking together. Dr. Andrew Bonar put it like this: Enoch took a long walk one day, and has not got back yet. With one bound he leaped the river of death, and walked the crystal pavement of heaven — in the wilderness yesterday, in the Promised Land today.
Think of the company that he enjoyed on earth in the morning and how it compared with that which he enjoyed in the evening! Think of what he left behind and what took its place! He was taken out of this evil, sinful world into the presence of the pure and holy God! Everyone else walked towards their grave; but Enoch walked with God. He had set his heart and affections on things above. He was dead to the world.
Enoch, in those early days, walked with God, and had wonderful fellowship and communion with Him, yet he had no written revelation. How much more should we, who are living in the full light of New Testament revelation, shining in Christ and His Cross, walk with Him? How amazing is the grace of God, and what wonders it works for those who are faithful, who set themselves to walk with God! It is not the want of grace that is the cause of our weakness today, but the want of faithfulness in those who have the light, and yet will not walk as children of the light.
Why did God single out Enoch for special treatment? The answer must come from our previous studies:
· Enoch walked with God – Gen 5:22
· he preached about coming judgement – Jude 1:14,15
· and, most of all, he pleased God – Heb 11:5.
The rapture
What is still more wonderful is that Enoch and Elijah are not the only ones who will bypass death. They are a picture of a much greater event that is yet to come:
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1 Thes 4: 13 But I do not
