| January 9, 2000 |
Vol. II, No. 37
|
“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... 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. (Gen. 5:18, 19, 21-24)..
The Bible tells us the life stories of many fascinating men and women: Adam and Eve, the first man and woman who ever existed; Joseph, Moses, and Daniel-- Hebrews who rose from slavery to places of prominence, power, and respect almost unparalleled; Solomon, one of the richest and wisest men who ever lived. But these few verses in Genesis 5 introduce us to a person who must have been one of the most interesting people who ever lived, one of only two men out of all earth’s billions, who have been permitted to enter heaven without experiencing death. These verses, along with four from the New Testament tell us all that has been revealed about a man who walked so closely with God that he was taken to heaven without death. Almost literally, he walked to heaven.
From Luke 3:37 we learn that Enoch was an ancestor of Jesus. The Hebrew writer tells us, “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.” (Heb. 11:5). In the next verse, he tells us that “without faith, it is impossible to please” God.
Jude informs us, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him,’” (Jude 14-15).
Everything we know about Enoch is in these verses.
What Have We Learned About Him?
1. He was the seventh from Adam. By carefully comparing the chronology of Genesis 5, we learn that Adam and Enoch were contemporary for 300 years.
2. Enoch had brothers and sisters, neither named nor enumerated in the text
3. Jared was his father. Methuselah was his son. It’s an interesting side-note that Methuselah became the oldest living person on record, living 969 years. He died the year of the flood, but we are not told whether he died in the flood, or before the flood.
4. Enoch had sons and daughters in addition to Methuselah, but they are neither named nor enumerated.
5. Enoch was an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
6. He was a godly man: he “walked with God.” While upon the earth, Enoch walked with God. He was walking with God, walking with God, walking with God upon the earth. And then one day, he was walking with God in heaven. He was not found (on earth) because God had taken him. All the days of Enoch (on the earth) were 365 years. After that, he went to a realm where time is not marked.
7. He was a prophet or seer.
8. He foretold a day of judgment, apparently the final judgment that will take place at the end of the world.
9. He was “translated” or transported to the eternal realm without experiencing death.
SOME LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM ENOCH
1, There will be a judgment.
2. Faith is absolutely essential to pleasing God, Heb. 11:6.
3. It is also necessary to be obedient to God. Active in our faith. We must -- not only believe in God, but WALK with God, if we are to have a meaningful relationship with Him.
4. We must be aware of the judgment to come, and should do what we can to warn others about it.
5. We observe the power of God to translate or change us even if we never experience death. There will be some living when Christ returns, and these will be changed so that they are fit for eternity without experiencing death, 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:16-18.
6. Finally, from Enoch’s experience, we learn the certainty of an eternal realm. Enoch never died, so he is still alive somewhere today.
By active, obedient faith, we too can “walk” with God. Noah did, Gen. 6:9. “Levi” did, Mal. 2:6. We can.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s, and eternal glory awaits us in the world to come.
–CRJ
In Matt. 13:33, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
It might be well to point out Matthew’s use of the term “kingdom of heaven.” The other inspired biographers of Jesus always used the term “kingdom of God.” Scholars tell us that the Jews of Jesus’ day held the name of God to be so holy that they seldom if ever used the terms “Jehovah” and “God.” When they read their Hebrew Scriptures and came across the word “Jehovah” they read it as if it said “Lord.” That is why the translators almost always translated God’s name as “the LORD” in the King James Version Old Testament. It also explains why Matthew, writing to a Jewish readership, usually used the term “kingdom of heaven” instead of “kingdom of God.” Mark, wrote mostly for a Roman readership. Luke wrote for other Gentiles. John wrote for a general readership after the destruction of Jerusalem. These writers always referred to Christ’s rule as the “kingdom of God.” Modern readers have sometimes become confused and assumed that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God were two different kingdoms. In reality, the two terms are used interchangeably, as one can easily see by comparing Matt. 13:31 with Mark 4:30. If you doubt this, take a good concordance and look up the two phrases and make your own comparison. You will find the two terms mean exactly the same thing! In fact, Matthew uses them both interchangeably in Matt. 19:23-24.
But, now, let’s look briefly at the parable itself. It, like the parable preceding it in the context, depicts the growth of the cause of Jesus. The word “leaven” is frequently used to suggest the power of influence. Jesus used the word to warn His apostles not to be influenced by the doctrines and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. See Matt. 16:6-12; Luke 12:1. Paul warned that an immoral member of the church in Corinth must be removed from their association or else he would be a pervading influence, “leavening the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:1-6). Judaizing teachers were undermining the gospel in the churches of Galatia, and again Paul warned, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal. 5:9). Just as false teachers and false doctrine exert their influence for bad, even so Christ’s followers should apply the gospel in their lives, so that they can be an influence for good. When they do so, the kingdom or rule of Christ will continue to grow and spread and benefit more and more of an otherwise hopeless humanity. We need to let our lights shine, our influence be felt in the community for the furtherance of the cause of Jesus Christ.
--CRJ