"And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24).
By faith Enoch "was translated that he should not see death...for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Hebrews 11:15). In the midst of a world by its iniquity doomed to destruction, Enoch lived a life of such close communion with God that he was not permitted to fall under the power of death. The godly character of this prophet represents the state of holiness which must be attained by those who shall be "redeemed from the earth" (Revelation 14:3) at the coming of Christ. Then, as in the world before the Flood, iniquity will prevail...But like Enoch, God's people will seek for purity of heart and conformity to His will, until they shall reflect the likeness of Christ (Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 88,89).
If your church is like mine, you may sometimes sing that old gospel hymn, "O let me walk with Thee my God, as Enoch walked in days of old. Place Thou Thy tender hand in mine and sweet communion with me hold." For 300 years, Enoch maintained a closer walk than any other man before him. And what is even more astounding--he remained faithful in a time when men's thoughts were "only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).
Consider this snapshot of those dark days--"They sought only to gratify the desires of their own proud hearts, and reveled in scenes of pleasure and wickedness. Not desiring to retain God in their knowledge, they soon came to deny his existence...Neither the marriage relation nor the rights of property were respected. Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence" (Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 91). It almost sounds like a commentary on today's news, doesn't it? But these were the times of Enoch who, in contrast, stood pure in faith, untainted by the world's culture.
To stand when all the world has crumbled in the face of idolatry and purity. To follow the ways of God when everyone else did what was right in their own eyes. To seek the Lord in prayer when his neighbors offered incense to a collection of wooden and golden statues. This was the witness of Enoch for 300 years. How he must have prayed, seeking to know His Father's will. "What shall I do to honor You?" could very well have been the burden on his heart. Constantly, he must have meditated on the goodness and perfection of God's character. And as he looked to Jesus, he became changed into the same image.
When we see such devotion in someone who lived long ago, we might be tempted to think, "That could never happen today!" And most of all, "it could never happen to me!" But even though there's a quite a gap between Enoch's time and ours, we can make the same choices he did. We can choose to walk in the light of God's Word. We can choose what we think or talk about. Even if sin bombards us at every step--as it did for Enoch--we can still walk in the atmosphere of heaven. The world's pollution doesn't have to infect us. For Enoch walked with God in a Godless age, and he walked so in tune with heaven that God took him home without passing through death.
If we seek the Lord with all our heart, we can walk the Communion Walk. We can "seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1). We can "set [our] mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2). For we have Christ's promise, "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved" (Psalm 16:8). When our heart belongs to Jesus, we shall love to talk about our Savior; our sweetest thoughts will be about Him. Our eyes will be more alive to His presence, our ears more open to His voice. And by thinking-talking-even singing of Jesus, we'll be energized to walk as Enoch walked so long ago.
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