September 8
“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,” Hebrews 11:5.
Very little is recorded in Holy Scripture about Enoch. However, what is recorded is very enlightening and important. In Genesis, we read, “Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. All the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him,” Genesis 5:18-24. In the genealogy listed by the evangelist Luke, Methuselah, who is listed in the Bible as the oldest person who ever lived, is identified as the son of Enoch. In the Epistle of Jude, Enoch is identified as having been the seventh in line from Adam (Jude 14).
Holy Scripture emphasizes that Enoch, like Abel, was also a man of faith, one who trusted in God’s promise to send the Messiah, the Savior, who was first promised to Adam and Eve after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit and had brought sin into the world.
Enoch lived his faith. Twice we are told by Moses in the Book of Genesis that, “Enoch walked with God.” And it was not just an occasional walk; Moses adds, “Enoch walked with God three hundred years.” The Hebrews’ author says, “He pleased God.” He lived a God-pleasing life.
What an example for us to follow – walk with God, live a God-pleasing life, live according to the Christian faith from the day of Baptism until the day of death!
However, for Enoch, it was somewhat different. “Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death.” Enoch did not die! Suddenly, one day, Enoch disappeared. We can hear the relatives and neighbors asking, “Where is Enoch?” No one knew! He was gone! Today, in the media and on the records, Enoch would be listed among “the missing persons.”
Normally, when we think of the people who are listed in Scripture as having disappeared suddenly, we think of the prophet Elijah. He was miraculously taken into heaven in a whirlwind and in a chariot of fire with horses of fire. The only person to witness the scene was Elijah’s successor, the prophet Elisha. There were those who doubted Elijah’s disappearance. Fifty men went searching for Elijah for three days, but they did not find him. We are not told whether anyone went looking for Enoch.
When the day comes that God will take us from this life, we will not count on something as miraculous as what occurred in the lives of Enoch and Elijah. But we can face that day without fear. By faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered and died to redeem us, and who conquered sin, death, and the devil, we can say with the psalmist, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me,” Psalm 23:4. As Christians, who believe in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and our only Savior, we will leave this world to go to heaven to be with our risen Redeemer and our ever-living Lord!
“The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; He leadeth me
The quiet waters by.
My soul He doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E’en for His own name’s sake.
Yea, tho’ I walk in death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.” Amen.