Cn – The Faith of Enoch 11: 5-6

The Faith of Enoch
11: 5-6

The faith of Enoch DIG: Why was God pleased with Enoch? What reward does God promise for those who seek Him? Will God ever turn away from those who come to Him with genuine faith? Is it possible for someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus to please God? What is meant by the word “walk” in the New Covenant? What must take place before we can walk with God? Why can’t sinful people have fellowship with Ha’Shem? What message did Enoch preach? What are some of the reasons YHVH took Enoch into His presence?

REFLECT: Jude tells us that Enoch confronted the false teaching and ungodliness of his day. We also live in an ungodly society saturated with false teaching. Like Enoch we are responsible to confront it, both with our lives (Phil 2:15) and our words (Second Timothy 2:24-26). Can you make the commitment to live a life-style that will be a rebuke to false teaching, then confront false doctrine when the opportunity arises?

The second person in the hall of faith is Enoch. Whereas Abel exemplifies worshiping by faith – which must always come first – Enoch exemplifies walking by faith. But those who are righteous will live their lives by faith (Hebrews 10:38 CJB quoting Habakkuk 2:4 CJB). Adam and Eve had walked and talked with God in the garden of Eden, but they fell, they were thrown out of the Garden and ceased to walk with Him any longer. The ultimate destiny of mankind was reinstated with Enoch, who represents for all of us what it means to be in fellowship with ADONAI. In Enoch, our true destiny is again reached, as he experiences the fellowship with YHVH that Adam and Eve forfeited (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Bv – Enoch was the Father of Methuselah and Walked with God for 300 Years).

I believe that Enoch’s faith included everything that Abel’s included. In other words, Enoch had to have offered a blood sacrifice to God, symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice of Messiah, because a blood sacrifice is the only way into the presence of ADONAI. He could not have walked with God if he had not first made a blood offering to Him. That principle has not changed from the days of Abel and Enoch until today.³⁰¹

Enoch believed that God existed: And without faith it is impossible (Greek: adunatos) to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists (11:6a). The first step to faith is simply to believe that He exists. God was pleased with Enoch because he believed in Him. This is where the walk of faith begins. Both covenants are filled with teaching that YHVH not only can be found, but that it is His great desire to be found. David said to his son Solomon: If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever (First Chronicles 28:9); I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me will find Me (Proverbs 8:17); You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). Yeshua was very clear: For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened (Luke 11:10 and Revelation 3:20).

Without faith it is impossible (Greek: adunatos) to please God. But only believing in the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible, counts. And since we have never seen Him, our belief in Him must come by faith. No one has seen God at any time (John 1:18). Nor can we know ADONAI by reason. Two chapters of the book of Job (38-39) are dedicated to the LORD’s forceful and colorful illustrations of how we cannot even fathom how nature works. How much less can we understand God Himself by our own observations and reasonings.³⁰²

Enoch sought God’s rewards: Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (11:6b). The reward that YHVH gives for faith is salvation. Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). In other words, every good thing that ADONAI has, including eternal life, constitutes a reward for belief. For faith we receive forgiveness, a new heart, eternal life, joy, peace, love, heaven (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith). When we trust in Jesus Christ, we become mutual heirs with Him. All that God’s own Son has is ours as well.³⁰³

Enoch walked with God: Enoch walked faithfully with God for 300 years (Genesis 5:22a). Believing that YHVH exists is the first step toward faith. Believing that He rewards those who trust in Him is the first step of faith. Trusting fully in Yeshua Messiah as Lord and Savior is only the beginning of the faithful life in ADONAI. Walking with God requires a holy lifestyle. To continue to please God, we must fellowship with Him, walk with Him, just as Enoch did. The word walk in the B’rit Chadashah basically refers to the manner of daily conduct. For example, an unbeliever walks according to the things of the world, and a believer walks in the Spirit. Enoch walked daily in the presence of the LORD.

Enoch was reconciled with God: The first thing implied in Enoch’s walk with ADONAI is reconciliation. Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so (Amos 3:3)? Obviously not! Walking together, then, assumes both are in harmony. Since Enoch walked with YVHV, he was obviously in agreement with Him. However, since Adam fell, everyone born into this world has been in rebellion against Ha’Shem. We do not grow into rebellion or fall into rebellion, we are born into rebellion. We have a sin nature from conception; therefore, we are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). The purpose of salvation is to restore our broken relationship with God. Because of his faith, Enoch was reconciled with ADONAI; and because his reconciliation, he could walk with God.

Enoch had the same nature God: The second truth implied in Enoch’s walk was that Enoch and God had corresponding natures. It is impossible for an unbeliever to have fellowship with God. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement can there be between the Temple of God and idols (Second Corinthians 6:14-16a)? Even an unbeliever is created in God’s image, but that image has been so shattered by sin, his nature is corrupted, and as a result, fellowship with God in not possible. There is no common ground in which he and ADONAI can agree. When we are saved, we become citizens of a new domain. We are still on earth, but our true home, or real citizenship, is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). As Peter says: we participate in the divine nature (Second Peter 1:4). When we are saved we are given a heavenly nature, Messiah’s own nature, and therefore we can fellowship with God. Because Enoch walked with God, he must have had a nature that corresponded with God’s.

Enoch surrendered his will to God: The third truth implied in Enoch’s walk with God was that he had a surrendered will. We cannot have a new nature unless God takes away our sin. When we walk with God it means our sin has been forgiven and that we are justified and counted righteous by ADONAI. Only when all of God’s righteousness has been credited to us, at the moment of salvation, can we move into His presence and begin walking with Him. Because ADONAI cannot tolerate to be in the presence of sin, He can only walk in holiness. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin (First John 1:6-7). The only people the LORD walks with are those who are cleansed of sin. Since Enoch walked with God, he had to have been forgiven of his sin and declared righteous.³⁰⁴

Enoch Prophesied About God: We only learn that Enoch prophesied about God from the book of Jude (see the commentary on Jude At – Enoch, the Seventh Generation from Adam, also Prophesied about These People). Jude’s report of Enoch’s prophesying puts to rest any notion that he lived in an easy time. It seems that he was surrounded by false teachers and false teaching. We do not know if he had the fellowship of any other believers, but we do know that he lived in the midst of a godless society. It would have been impossible for him to prophesy as strongly as he did without considerable opposition. He battled against his generation in the same way that Noah would later battle against his generation. Enoch let them know that they were ungodly, and that Ha’Shem was going to judge them. I believe that YHVH was pleased with Enoch because his faith was not just something he felt in his heart. It was heard on his lips and seen in his life. His faith was active and dynamic, vocal and fearless.

Enoch entered into God’s presence: By faith Enoch was taken up from this life so that he did not experience death. “He could not be found, because God had taken him away” (Hebrews 11:5a quoting Genesis 5:24). For before he was taken up, he was commended as one who pleased God (Hebrews 11:5b). Finally, after three hundred years of faithfully walking with God and prophesying about Him, Enoch went to be with the LORD in a wonderfully unique way. ADONAI just took him up to heaven without experiencing death (see the commentary on Revelation Dc – I Will Give Power to My Two Witnesses and They Will Prophesy for 1,260 Days). He pleased YHVH so much that God just reached down and lifted him up to heaven. One moment he was there, and the next moment he was no more, because God took him away (Genesis 5:24).

We don’t know the reason Ha’Shem waited three hundred years before taking Enoch to be with Him in heaven. Perhaps it was to allow enough time for him to prophesy and witness to the hard and unbelieving generation in which he lived. Additionally, we do not know why ADONAI took Enoch in such an unusual way. Possibly it was to spare him further ridicule and persecution. Maybe it was simply that God wanted to be even closer to the one who pleased Him so much: Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His faithful servants (Psalm 116:15). Enoch was so precious to God that He bypassed the death of His servant.³⁰⁵

Enoch is commended for his exemplary walk with God and his witness in a godless and unbelieving world. We also live in an ungodly society saturated with false teaching. Like Enoch, we are commanded to confront it, both with our lives (Philippians 2:15) and our words (Second Timothy 2:24-26). As believers, we too should be examples to the world of what it means to walk with God. Our God is so wonderful! Let us make time to share His great love and holiness.