By Faith Enoch
- Randall Brewer
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
‘By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for prior to being taken up, he was approved as being pleasing to God.’
- Hebrews 11:5 -
Hebrews 11 was written to convince Jewish converts to Christ that faith is the only way to God. The chapter’s first example is Abel. He showed that we enter the life of faith by confronting sin and admitting we need a sacrifice. The second example is Enoch, who shows how to walk by faith. Not much is known of Enoch, as the record of his life is small. There are only five passages on him in the Bible. Two are genealogies that only mention his name, which leaves three passages of significance. Hebrews 11:5 says: ‘By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death, and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God.’ So Enoch was an ordinary guy who had an extra-ordinary relationship with God.
Enoch lived as one who pleased God. Genesis 5 gives the genealogy of righteous men, starting with Adam and ending with Noah. We read: ‘When Jared lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch … Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and begot sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him’ (Gen. 5:18-24). Enoch wasn’t known for construction like Noah or building cities like Cain or Nimrod. He simply walked with God. That was his testimony.
In Enoch, man’s true destiny was reached by restoring the fellowship with God that Adam and Eve had forfeited. Spurgeon said Enoch “displayed in his life the relation of the believer to the Most High, and showed how near the living God condescends to be with His own children.” By faith he walked with God while sin ran rampant all around him. Notice how Enoch didn’t walk with God until he turned 65, when his son, Methuselah, was born. Thus Enoch’s faith grew when he had children. Growing a godly family moved his relationship with God to new heights.
Many of us live wild lives when we’re single and only settle down and get serious when we marry and have kids. For Enoch, the thought of raising heirs in an evil world made him want to walk with God. It is important to note that Methuselah means: Man of the sending forth. It can also be translated: When he is dead it will be sent forth. God was prophesying that when Methuselah died, He would send judgment on the earth. God revealed this to Enoch, so he named his son Methuselah: a God-given name for a God-given prophecy. This revelation of the worldwide flood shook Enoch to the core. From then on, he walked with God.
Enoch’s testimony is that he pleased God. Walking with God and pleasing Him are one and the same. When we walk with God, we are pleasing God. The Greek translation of Genesis 5:24 says: ‘Enoch walked with God as he pleased God.’ Before the law was given with its rules and sacrifices, spirituality simply meant walking with God. In these early days, God was not a distant deity requiring sacrifices for communion with Him. God was a companion to His people. He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Then ‘Noah walked with God’ (Gen. 6:9). Later, God appeared to Abraham and said: “Walk before Me and be blameless” (17:1). This was early spirituality. Spending time with God; having daily, intimate communion with Him.
Walking with God meant having a close relationship. Here, in early human history, Enoch proved a relationship with God was all about intimacy. Walk refers to step-by-step fellowship and daily communion. A walk with God is consistent, being always in His presence. To walk with God you must drop all unnecessary baggage. Walk is a biblical expression found in both the Old and New Testaments. It refers to conduct and manner of life. Paul taught: ‘As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him’ (Col. 2:6). To the Galatians he said: ‘Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the cravings or the desires of the flesh’ (5:16). Walking with God means living to please Him. That’s what our legacy should be; walking with God and thereby pleasing Him.
According to Jude, Enoch was a prophet of God. Enoch was the 7th generation from Adam and God had him prophesy the judgment to come in the days of Noah. Jude says Enoch also prophesied about Jesus coming back with ten-thousands of His saints to execute judgment on ungodly sinners at the end of the age. God used Enoch in a special way but, more than anything, Hebrews 11:5 says Enoch ‘was commended as one who pleased God.’ And how does one please God? Well, the next verse says: ‘without faith it is impossible to please God.’ So if we’re going to please God, we must have faith. And the more faith we have, the more we please God. As Paul said: ‘we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him’ (2 Cor. 5:9).
Enoch walked with God and pleased Him so much that one day he walked straight into heaven. Enoch didn’t die. He disappeared off the face of the earth. ‘It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying. He disappeared because God took him’ (Heb. 11:5). In Hebrew, this means a sudden, inexplicable disappearance. Because Enoch walked with God, he escaped death. People looked for him, yet he wasn’t found. Enoch had the privilege of being used by God to show that we can leave this world of sin and enter His perfect presence. Job had this confidence, saying: “After my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:27).
Enoch was the first man to be raptured. The same Greek word for translated appears in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: ‘But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.’ Enoch is identified as someone reconciled to God, which is what salvation is all about. His life is a timeless illustration of the walk of faith that one day ends with entrance into glory. Adam and Eve walked with God but were thrown out of Eden over sin. But in Enoch, man’s true destiny was restored. Once again, man could have a personal relationship with God. This is what God always desired and offered. He has never been a distant God but has always been an imminent, personal God.
The dynamic lesson of Hebrews 11 is that the only way to walk with God - the only way to please God - is by faith. You can’t please God, you can’t be reconciled to God, and you can’t enter into the glory of eternal life apart from faith. The most dramatic testimony of all is when an everyday person walks with God by faith. So when someone asks: “What’s your testimony?” we can say: “I walk with God.” There’s no testimony more powerful than that. Hopefully you can say: “By faith I walk with God every single hour of every single day, week after week, month after month, year after year.” If you can say that, then one day very soon you will also be translated into heaven to be in His presence forever and ever. Hallelujah!