Gênesis 5

Gênesis 5

Meyer - Enoch walked with God. What an epitaph on this ancient saint! It is as clear-cut today as when first recorded here. We know nothing of Enoch but this brief record; but it tells us everything. It was not an act or a number of acts, but a high tone of life constantly maintained. Better to walk with God every day in calm, unbroken fellowship, than to have occasional rapturous experiences, succeeded by long relapses and backslidings. The Hebrew word might be rendered, “Enoch walked, and continued to walk.” Be sure to go God’s Way. — He will not walk with thee in thy way, but thou mayest walk with Him in his. To this He calls thee. Each moment, and especially when two or three roads diverge, look up to Him, and say, “Which way art Thou taking, that I may accompany Thee?” It will not be so hard to forsake inviting paths and engaging companions, if only the eye is kept fixed on his face, and the track of his footsteps determines thy road beyond hesitation or dispute. Be sure to keep God’s Pace. — Do not run impetuously before Him; learn to wait his time: the minute-hand as well as the hour-hand must point the exact moment for action. Do not loiter behind in indolence or sloth. Be loyal and true to his ideals, and quick to obey his least commands. Be sure to wear God’s Livery. — He is in the light; the light is his chosen symbol; it ill becomes thee to wear the unfruitful works of darkness. Put them off, and put on the armor of light. Walk with Him daily in stainless robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Then thy fellowship shall be with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and with all holy souls everywhere. D L Moody - A GREAT deal is being said about holiness. Every true child of God desires to be holy, as His Father in heaven is holy. And holiness is walking with God. Enoch had only one object. How simple life becomes when we have only one object to seek, one purpose to fulfill—to walk with God, to please God! It has been said that the utmost many Christians get to is that they are pardoned criminals. How short they fall of the joy and blessedness of walking with God! James Smith - Handfuls of Purpose - WALKING WITH GOD “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). Walking with God simply means living in the presence of God (Gen. 17:1). A life regulated by His will, inspired by His Spirit, and devoted to His purpose. It implies— I. Entire Self-surrender. The name Enoch means “dedicated,” one yielded up to God, to be conformed to His mind and will. II. Unbroken Fellowship. “How can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Good company makes the road short. III. Continual Progress. To walk with God means a growing knowledge of Him. The light on this path shineth more and more. There is no standing still with Him. The wheels that are full of eyes rest not. IV. Complete Separation. You could not think of Enoch taking part in the world’s sinful pleasures. “Be ye holy” (Lev. 20:7), for I am holy. God is light, and those who love the light do not walk in darkness. V. Unfailing Perseverance. For 300 years he walked with God. Not once a week, not only in the morning or the evening for a few minutes, but continually, and amidst all the cares and trials of the ordinary family life. He was no hermit or recluse. VI. Fearless Confidence (Psa. 23). When we can say, “THOU art with me,” what need we fear? Greater is He that is with us than all that can be against us. Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory over sin, the world, death, and the devil (1 Cor. 15:57). VII. Intense Satisfaction. “He hath this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). What a consolation this is, “He pleased God.” In so doing he would no doubt displease many. Because ye are not of this world therefore doth the world hate you (John 15:18). VIII. Future Blessedness. “God took him.” This is the epitaph written concerning a man who was buried in Heaven before he died. He went in “to walk with Him in white” (Rev. 3:4). A figure of the transformation of the Church at the Coming of the Lord (Jude 14, 15). IX. Simple Faith. “By faith Enoch was translated” (Heb. 11:5). He evidently believed that God would take him in without tasting death, and He did it. By faith in Christ God still takes men into His company, enabling them to please Him, and transforming them into His own likeness. “Walk worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10). Oswald Chambers - Getting into God’s stride Genesis 5:24. The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on. The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights. (Cf. John 1:36.) It is a painful business to get through into the stride of God, it means getting your ‘second wind’ spiritually. In learning to walk with God there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride; but when we have got into it, the only characteristic that manifests itself is the life of God. The individual man is lost sight of in his personal union with God, and the stride and the power of God alone are manifested. It is difficult to get into stride with God, because when we start walking with Him we find He has outstripped us before we have taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined into His ways. It was said of Jesus-“He shall not fail nor be discouraged,” because He never worked from His own individual standpoint but always from the standpoint of His Father, and we have to learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God’s Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things begin to be possible which never were possible before. Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose. Walter Kaiser - 5:23–24 What Happened to Enoch? (Go to page 74 of Hard Sayings) Too many people assume that there is no uniform and sure doctrine on the subject of life after death in the Old Testament. Only one reference in the Old Testament is counted as a clear and undisputed reference to the resurrection of the dead by most Old Testament scholars, Daniel 12:2: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Unhappily, however, even those who concede this point incorrectly place Daniel in the second century B.C. A few scholars are willing to add Isaiah 26:19 to the Daniel 12:2 passage and count it as a second passage supporting the idea of resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament. It reads, “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” Nevertheless, it is amazing to see how many learned men and women will deny even these two texts and argue that the Old Testament teaches virtually nothing about resurrection or life after death. The truth of the matter is that ancient peoples were more attuned to the subject of life after death than moderns suspect. The peoples of the ancient Near East wrote at length about what life was like after one left this earth. One need only consult such representative pieces as the Gilgamesh Epic, The Descent of Ishtar into the Netherworld, the Book of the Dead and the Pyramid Texts. Indeed, the whole economy of Egypt was geared to the cult of the dead, for all who wished a part in the next life had to be buried around the pyramid of the Pharaoh. What these Egyptians could expect in that afterlife was depicted in the scenes on the walls of their mortuaries: eating, drinking, singing and all the joys of this life. Each joy, of course, would be magnified and still enjoyed through a body. By the time Abraham arrived in Egypt, such concepts had been emblazoned on their walls in hieroglyphics, murals and models made of clay, to make sure no one missed the point. Life after death was not a modern doctrine developed by an educated society that began to think more abstractly about itself and its times. Instead it was an ancient hunger that existed in the hearts of humanity long before the patriarchs, prophets and kings of the Old Testament began to function. Why should we attribute this idea to the second and third centuries B.C. if already in the third and second millennium B.C. there is strong evidence to support it? The earliest biblical mention of the possibility of a mortal’s inhabiting the immortal realms of deity can be found in Genesis 5:24. There we are told that a man named Enoch lived 365 years, all the while “walking with God.” Suddenly, “he was no more, because God took him away.” Enoch, whose name means “beginner,” must have been unusually godly—not that he achieved this distinction by removing himself from the world and contemplating only the presence of God. In fact, he fathered the famous Methuselah (the man who lived the longest that we know about on planet Earth, 969 years!). And he had other sons and daughters. This man was hardly removed from the daily grind and the problems of life. Nevertheless, he was able to walk with God. Since this quality of “walking with God” is ascribed only to Enoch and Noah (Gen 6:9), it is significant that Malachi 2:6 shows that the concept involved having a most intimate communion with God. What a tribute to a mortal who is also a sinner! On the other hand, since Exodus 33:20 teaches that “no one may see [God] and live,” the possibility of an outward, physical meeting with God is ruled out. Many think that only since New Testament times have such nearness and inner communion with God become possible. But here was one who found such uninterrupted consciousness of the living God that it appears to match what we in the post-New Testament era experience. After 365 years of intimacy with the Almighty, suddenly the Lord “took” Enoch. What can it mean that he “took” him? The Hebrew root for the verb to take is used over a thousand times in the Old Testament. However, in two contexts—this Genesis 5 passage and the account of Elijah’s assumption into heaven in 2 Kings 2:3, 10–11—it refers to a snatching of a person’s body up to heaven. In light of these two cases of physical assumption, are there other cases where the verb is used in the Old Testament with a similar meaning? There are two additional contexts in which more is intended than a mere rescue from dying or distress. Psalm 49 presents a stark contrast between the end of the lives of the wicked and the end of the lives of the righteous. The wicked are like “the beasts that perish” (Ps 49:12, 20) without any hope that they “should live on forever” (Ps 49:9). However, the righteous have the triumphant expectation that “God will redeem [them] from the grave [Hebrew Sheol]; he will surely take [them] to himself” (Ps 49:15). The idea is the same as that of Genesis 5:24: God will snatch, take or receive us to himself when we die. If the psalmist had in mind the fact that he would be rescued from death for a few years, though he knows he still must eventually die like the beasts, then the psalm has very little, or no, point. Psalm 73:23–25 makes a similar contrast between the wicked and the righteous. Once again there is faith that reaches beyond this life, and it centers on this verb to take (Hebrew lāqaḥ). Says the psalmist, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory” (Ps 73:24). Accordingly, it can be argued on very strong linguistic and conceptual grounds that the “taking” of a person from this earth implies that mortals are capable of inhabiting immortal realms. For the believer in Yahweh in Old Testament times, death did not end it all. There was life after death, and that life was to be in the presence of the living God. While Enoch did not experience “resurrection,” he did experience glorification. He did, along with Elijah, transcend this mortal life and go in his body to be with God. Since Enoch had not died, he could not be resurrected. Such a view of an immediate access into the presence of God would also close down all speculation on any kind of intermediate state, receptacle or location as unscriptural. To say that Old Testament believers stayed in a separate compartment in Sheol or in a kind of purgatory runs directly counter to the fact that God snatched Enoch and Elijah away “to himself.” To say that the Old Testament offers the hope of personal fellowship with God beyond the grave with a real body is not outlandish or incorrect. That hope is a teaching of the text itself. See also comments on GENESIS 25:8 (See page 98); JOB 19:23–27 (See page 228); PSALM 49:12, 20 (See page 241); ECCLESIASTES 3:19–21 (See page 265). FOLLOWING FROM BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD The life and translation of Enoch I. Consider THE LIFE OF ENOCH. He “walked with God.” These words seem to imply that Enoch possessed a remarkable resemblance to God in moral excellence; that he realized God’s presence, and enjoyed His communion in an extraordinary measure, and that he publicly avowed himself to be on God’s side, and stood almost alone in doing so. We notice especially the quietness and unconsciousness of his walk with God. The life of David or of Job resembled a stormy spring day, made up of sweeping tempest, angry glooms, and sudden bursts of windy sunshine; that of Enoch is a soft grey autumn noon, with one mild haze of brightness covering earth and heaven. II. Notice ENOCH’S PUBLIC WORK OF PROTEST AND PROPHECY. The Epistle of Jude supplies us with new information about Enoch’s public work. He not only characterized and by implication condemned his age, but predicted the coming of the last great judgment of God. He announced it (1) as a glorious and overpowering event; (2) as one of conclusive judgment and convincing demonstration. III. Look now at ENOCH’S TRANSLATION. How striking in its simplicity is the phrase, “He was not, for God took him!” The circumstances of his translation are advisedly concealed: “translated that he should not see death.” Many a hero has gathered fame because he stood “face to face with death,” and has outfaced the old enemy; but death never so much as dared to “look into Enoch’s eye as it kindled into immortality.” The reasons why this honour was conferred on him were probably-- (1) to show his transcendent excellence; (2) to abash an infidel world; (3) to prove that there was another state of being, and to give a pledge of this to all future ages. (G. Gilfillan.) Enoch’s life Few words are needed to describe the salient features of the majority of human lives. It is not needful to write a volume to tell whether a man has spent a noble or a wasted life. One stroke of the pen, one solitary word, may be enough. I. HERE IS A LIFE SUDDENLY AND PREMATURELY CUT SHORT; for, although Enoch lived 365 years, it Was not half the usual age of the men of his day. II. A LIFE SPENT AMID SURROUNDING WICKEDNESS. III. A LIFE SPENT IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. In the expression “walked with God,” there is the idea of-- (1) strong persistence and determination; (2) progress. IV. A LIFE OF NOBLE TESTIMONY. “V. A LIFE CROWNED BY TRANSLATION. His translation was-- (1) A reminder to the men of his day that there was another state above and beyond the present; (2) an intimation of the final reward of the saints. (J. W. Atkinson.) Enoch, one of the world’s great teachers Three strange things in connection with Enoch’s history: (1) That so little is said about him; (2) the comparative shortness of his stay on earth; (3) the manifest singularity of the life he lived. I. HE TAUGHT THE WORLD BY HIS LIFE. 1. “He walked with God.” 2. “He had the testimony that he pleased God.” II. HE TAUGHT THE WORLD BY HIS TRANSLATION. 1. That death is not a necessity of human nature. 2. That there is a sphere of human existence beyond this. 3. That there is a God in the universe who approves of goodness. 4. That the mastering of sin is the way to a grand destiny. III. HE TAUGHT THE WORLD BY HIS PREACHING (Jude 1:14-15). (1) The advent of the Judge. (2) The gathering of the saints. (3) The conversion of sinners. (Homilist.) The heavenly walk I. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED NOTWITHSTANDING THE PREVALENCY OF SIN AROUND. II. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED IN THE VERY PRIME OF BUSY MANHOOD. III. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED IN THE VERY MIDST OF DOMESTIC ANXIETY AND CARE. Many people have lost their religion through the increase of domestic cares. But a godly soul can walk with God in family life, and take all its offspring in the same holy path. Enoch would instruct his children in the right way. He would pray for them. He would commend them to his Divine friend. Happy the home where such a godly parent is at its head. IV. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED INTO THE VERY PORTALS OF HEAVEN AND ETERNAL BLISS. Enoch walked with God, and one day walked right into heaven with Him. Heaven is but the continuation of the holy walk of earth. (J. S.Exell, M. A.) Enoch: accounting for men’s disappearance from the earth “God took him.” I. WE SHOULD TAKE AN INTEREST IN THE DESTINY OF MEN. II. WE SHOULD RECOGNIZE THE HAND OF GOD IN THE REMOVAL OF MEN. III. WE SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE PARTICULARITY OF GOD’S OVERSIGHT OF MEN. When God takes a good man-- (1) He takes that man to a higher blessing, (2) He will fill that man’s place as a Christian worker upon earth. (3) He trains survivors towards self-reliance and emulous work. Or thus: 1. God took him the assertion of a sovereign right. 2. God took him--an illustration of Divine regard. 3. God took him--an assurance of eternal blessedness. 4. God took him--a pledge that all like him will be associated. (J. Parker, D. D.) Enoch I. ENOCH AS TO HIS AGE. 1. It Was an age of longevity. 2. It was an ungodly age. II. ENOCH AS TO HIS RELIGION. 1. He was independent. 2. Practical. III. ENOCH AS TO HIS DEPARTURE. 1. His departure implies a future state. (1) Analogy says so. (2) The state of the world shows that there is a hereafter to square the accounts. (3) Revelation proves it. 2. His departure shows that there is a reward to the faithful. (1) Present satisfaction. (2) Future felicity. Heb 4:9. (W. Griffiths.) Enoch I. WHAT IS MEANT BY ENOCH’S WALKING WITH GOD? 1. That he was well-pleasing to God (Heb 11:5). Amity, friendship, intimacy, love. 2. That he realized the Divine presence (Heb 11:6). God was to him a living Friend, in whom he confided, and by whom he was loved. 3. That he had very familiar intercourse with the Most High. 4. That his intercourse with God was continuous. He did not take a turn or two with God and then leave His company, but walked with God for hundreds of years. He did not commune with God by fits and starts, but abode in the conscious love of God. 5. That his life was progressive. At the end of two hundred years he was not where he began; he was not in the same company, but he had gone forward in the right way. II. WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WERE CONNECTED WITH ENOCH’S WALKING WITH GOD? 1. The details of his life are very few. Quite enough for us to know that he walked with God. 2. It is a mistake to suppose that he was placed in very advantageous circumstances for piety. (1) A public man. (2) A family man. (3) Living in a very evil age. Still he bore his witness for God. III. WHAT WAS THE CLOSE OF ENOCH’S WALK? 1. He finished his work early. 2. He was missed. “Not found” (Heb 11:5). 3. His departure was a testimony. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Enoch’s walk with God In “Kitto’s Daily Bible Readings” there is an exceedingly pleasing piece, illustrating what it must be to walk with God by the figure of a father’s taking his little son by the hand and walking forth with him upon the breezy Dills. He says, “As that child walks with thee, so do thou walk with God. That child loves thee now. The world--the cold cruel world--has not yet come between his heart and thine. His love now is the purest and most beautiful he will ever feel, or thou wilt ever receive. Cherish it well, and as that child walks lovingly with thee, so do thou walk lovingly with God.” It is a delight to such children to be with their father. The roughness of the way or of the weather is nothing to them: it is joy enough to go for a walk with father. There is a warm, tender, affectionate grip of the hand and a beaming smile of the eye as they look up to father while he conducts them over hill and dale. Such a walk is humble too, for the child looks upon its father as the greatest and wisest man that ever lived. He considers him to be the incarnation of everything that is strong and wise, and all that his father says or does he admires. As he walks along he feels for his father the utmost affection, but his reverence is equally strong: he is very near his father, but yet he is only a child, and looks up to his father as his king. Moreover, such a walk is one of perfect confidence. The boy is not afraid of missing his way, he trusts implicitly his father’s guidance. His father’s arm will screen him from all danger, and therefore he does not so much as give it a thought--why should he? If care is needed as to the road, it is his father’s business to see to it, and the child, therefore, never dreams of anxiety--why should he? If any difficult place is to be passed, the father will have to lift the boy ever it, or help him through it; the child meanwhile is merry as a bird--why should he not be? Thus should the believer walk with God, resting on eternal tenderness and rejoicing in undoubted lave. What an instructive walk a child has with a wise, communicative parent! How many of his little puzzles are explained to him, how everything about him is illuminated by the father’s wisdom. The boy, every step he takes, becomes the wiser for such companionship. Oh, happy children of God, who have been taught of their Father while they have walked with Him! Enoch must have been a man of profound knowledge and great wisdom as to Divine things. He must have dived into the deep things of God beyond most men. His life must also have been a holy life, because he walked with God, and God never walks out of the way of holiness. If we walk with God, we must walk according to truth, justice, and love. The Lord has no company with the unjust and rebellious, and therefore we know that he who walked with God must have been an upright and holy man. Enoch’s life must, moreover, have been a happy one. Who could be unhappy with such a companion! With God himself to be with us the way can never be dreary. Did Enoch walk with God? Then his pilgrimage must have been safe. Nothing can harm the man who is walking with the Lord God at his right hand. And oh, what an honourable thing it is to walk with the Eternal! Many a man would give thousands to walk with a king. (C. H. Spurgeon.) High ground I. WHAT IS IT TO WALK WITH GOD? 1. Reconciliation with God. 2. Spiritual life (Gal 5:25). 3. None walk with God closely but those who love Him supremely. 4. Those with whom we walk, and whom we love, we are desirous to please and oblige. And those who walk with God delight to do His will. 5. Communion with God. 6. Similarity of disposition and feeling. II. THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM SUCH A WALK. 1. It gives a real enjoyment, for which we are not at all dependent on external things, and of which nothing in this world can deprive us. 2. It sweetens all earthly pleasures and pains. 3. The man who walks with God learns much of the will of God. 4. Such a walk is a preparation for the enjoyment of God in heaven. (Benson Bailey.) Enoch I. ENOCH’S PIETY. 1. Walking with God includes-- (1) A true knowledge of God--of His character and laws; of His will concerning us, etc. (2) Reconciliation to God (Am 3:3). In Jesus alone can this be effected. (3) Cheerful obedience to the commands of God (1Jn 2:3). (4) Devotional intercourse with God. Meditation. Prayer. Praise. (5) Assimilation to the holy image of God (2Co 3:18). (6) Advancement in all the things of God. 2. Walking with God is associated with-- (1) True dignity. (2) Real pleasure. (3) Permanent security. And (4) eternal advantages. II. HiS DISTINGUISHED REMOVAL. 1. “He was not.” No more among men. (1) He was not allowed to remain in a troublesome and ungodly world. (2) He was not subjected to the, otherwise, universal stroke of mortality. Exempted from disease, death, and corruption. 2. “God took him.” (1) In a peculiar way. Body and soul unseparated. (2) God took him to Himself--to His own immediate presence, “where is fulness of joy,” etc. (3) God took him; and thus signalized and honoured distinguished piety. Application: Learn-- 1. The nature of true piety. To walk with God. 2. The reward of true piety. Interested in God’s gracious care; and ultimately raised to His own Divine presence. 3. Removal of Enoch teaches immortality of soul. (J. Burns, D. D.) Enoch’s walk with God I. EXPLAIN THE VIEW GIVEN OF ENOCH’S LIFE AND CHARACTER. II. THE SINGULAR CLOSE OF HIS PIOUS COURSE. 1. It was a sudden change. 2. It was a miraculous change. 3. It was a happy change. (The Evangelical Preacher.) Walking with God I. HIS GENERAL CHARACTER. He walked with God. 1. What walking with God supposes. 2. Some advantages which result from walking with God. (1) Guidance in difficulties (Pro 3:6). “He shall direct.” Psa 32:8). (2) Preservation from falling (Psa 16:8). (3) Assistance in weakness (Isa 41:10). (4) Comfort in afflictions (Psa 46:1; Psa 94:19). (5) Improvement in piety (Pro 4:18). II. SOME PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH IT. Particularly-- 1. The period of its commencement, and the time of its continuance. It commenced in what may be considered his early youth; when he had not lived the twelfth part of the then usual age of man. This shows us that early piety is acceptable to God (Pro 8:17). Seek it (Ecc 12:1); for early habits are most easily formed, and most lasting Lam 3:27). It continued at least three hundred years. This teaches us that the pleasures of religion never cloy (Psa 63:3-4); and that God’s grace is sufficient for the longest pilgrimage (2Co 12:9). 2. The relations under which it was sustained. (1) The relation of a family governor. Hence, we see the falsehood of three common suppositions. First, “That solitude is necessary to piety.” This is an error of superstition; as Christians we are called to sociability Mat 5:14-16). Secondly, “That religion is injurious to social duties and comforts.” This is an error of prejudice, which is confuted by many living characters (Pro 12:26). Thirdly, “That we serve God only when we engage in acts of devotion.” This is an error of ignorance; for we also serve God acceptably when we serve mankind in obedience to Act 13:36; Gal 5:14; Gal 6:2; Gal 6:10). (2) This character was also sustained by Enoch, under the relation of a public teacher. From this example we learn that teachers of others should be careful to walk with God themselves; in domestic life, that they may engage their families in God’s service (Jos 24:15); in public life, that their labours may be blessed by God (Psa 51:12-13; Mal 2:6). 3. The scenes amidst which it was preserved. These were examples of prevailing ungodliness, when piety was generally reproached. Thus, when iniquity is general, it is our duty to be singular (Ex 23:2); for we are called by God to be a peculiar people (Tit 2:14; Rom 12:2). A resolute confession of God in the face of an opposing world, is highly pleasing to Him (Heb 11:5). “He pleased God” Num 14:24). Those who honour God are honoured by Him (1Sa 2:30). 4. The glorious event which succeeded this holy walk: “God took him.” He was translated body and soul to heaven, without seeing death. (1) This removal was gainful to him; it perfected his felicity. So the death of all true believers is followed by the eternal consummation of all their happiness (Php 1:21; Php 1:23; Luk 23:43). (2) It was honourable to God. To His wisdom in discriminating characters; to His goodness, in rewarding the faithful; and to His truth, in fulfilling His promises. So is the death of all His saints (Psa 116:15; Psa 58:11). (3) It was beneficial to mankind. It teaches mankind in all ages-- (a) That there is another and better world reserved for the righteous, as the ascension of Elijah and our Lord did afterwards (Heb 1Pe 1:3-5); (b) that piety is extensively profitable, being evidently conducive to our eternal, as well as to our present welfare (1Ti 4:8); (c) that the redemption of our bodies as well as our souls is certain. For we see God able and faithful to fulfil His engagements (Ho Php 3:21); (d) that an early removal is no loss to the righteous. For what is taken from time is added to a blissful eternity (Rev 7:14-17); (e) that a sudden removal, when God appoints it, is no cause of terror to those who die in Him, for to all such characters sudden death becomes sudden glory. (Sketches of Sermons.) Walking with God I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE TERM. II. I SHALL PRESCRIBE SOME MEANS, IN THE LAWFUL USE OF WHICH BELIEVERS ARE ENABLED TO KEEP UP THEIR WALK WITH GOD. 1. By studying the Scriptures. 2. By constant and earnest prayer. 3. By watching the dealings of God without. 4. The motions of God within. 5. Walking in ordinances. 6. Walking in providences. 7. In the communion of saints. 8. And by meditation. III. I SHALL OFFER SOME MOTIVES TO STIR US UP TO THIS HOLY PRACTICE. It is most honourable: most pleasing: and abundantly beneficial to the souls of men. 1. This walking is by faith in Christ (2Co 5:7). 2. Looking to the promises of God (1Ti 4:8). 3. Trusting to the wisdom of God (Rom 8:28). (T. B. Baker.) Enoch I. ENOCH’S CHARACTER. “He walked with God.” II. ENOCH’S END. “He was not” any longer subject to pain, sickness, infirmity, sorrow; all of which are still the portion even of those who walk with God in this vale of tears. “He was not” any longer tempted by Satan, by the world, by his own fallen nature, to sin against his kind Friend and Saviour; and thus his heaviest burden is removed. “He was not” any more “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,” with the dishonour cast on his God, with the “triumphing of the wicked.” “He was not” spared to see their ungodliness proceeding to that gigantic pitch, which at length brought upon them the flood of waters to destroy all the earth. (J. Jowett, M. A.) Enoch; or, the earthly walk and heavenly home I. HE “WALKED WITH GOD”--A BRIEF AND SIMPLE STATEMENT OF A MOMENTOUS FACT. Of course the meaning is, that he was a good man, that he lived religiously. True religion is, walking “with God.” We are meant to walk with someone. We are social as well as active. Solitary journeying is sorrowful journeying. Company gives safety as well as cheer, beguiles the long hours and goads the flagging spirits. Most men have fellowships in their journey through life--companions of their moral ways, “walking with the wise,” or “going with the evil.” But the highest of all fellowships is with God: and “if we all walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” We “walk with God.” What does it include? Unquestionably realization. God is with us wherever we are, but we are with Him only as we recognize and feel Him to be present. God is “invisible,” and only faith can realize; and “by faith Enoch was translated.” In the dark night, a stranger perhaps might place himself by our side, or just behind us, for a time, but we should not walk with him. In the dark night of sin, “God is not far from every one of us,” but only one here and there are with Him. To see God, to be aware of His solemn nearness, to act as if this thought were ever in our mind, “Thou, God, seest me,” doing His will as that of a present Master, rejoicing in His favour as that of a present Friend, and trusting in His succour as that of a present Protector--to go on thus divinely right, and brave, and happy, is to “walk with God.” It includes intercourse. “But truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” II. Enoch walked with God, AFTER THE BIRTH OF METHUSELAH. It was then, so far as appears, that he began to do so. It is not said that he did so before. Until then it is said that “he lived,” as it is said of the rest. Does it not imply that he had not walked with God for sixty-five years? Or, supposing the expression, in his case, refers to eminence in religion, does it not imply that at that time his religion received a new start? III. Be this as it may, the fact is clear that Enoch did walk with God after the birth of Methuselah and the births of other children. One of the two men who have had the honours of translation in this world for “pleasing God” was a man who LIVED IN THE MIDST OF SOCIETY, and was surrounded with children; he was not a recluse or a celibate. He lived in that condition in which there are natural and necessary distractions and temptations. It would be saying very little for religion if such a case were impossible. It would be queer theology which taught that man must denude himself of a portion of himself, ignore some of his capabilities and propensities, in order to know and possess much, or most, of God. When it is said that Enoch walked with God, it is meant that he attained to special religious excellence. His religion did not merely come into contact with his secular life; his spiritual humanity did not merely touch his social humanity, but, like the prophet upon the dead child, “stretched itself upon” it, mouth on mouth, eyes on eyes, hands on hands, and made it live. His religion was life, an active life. He “walked with God.” IV. We see Enoch’s eminent godliness attaining A STRANGE AND SIGNAL HONOUR. “He was not, for God took him.” Paul says of Enoch, he did not “see death.” Christ says of every disciple that “he does not taste death.” I know not how it strikes you, but I always feel when reading this passage as if there was a beautiful fitness in this exit, a fitness of course and end. God took him who had walked with Him, bore him away to another sphere. The very silence of the historian aids the impression: there is no breach between the earthly and the heavenly life, no defined horizon--clouds, and sky, fields, hills, and wood, meet together, and this world’s beauty and the glory of the world above melt into each other, and one unbroken scene fills and satisfies the eye. He was with God here, he is with God there. He became more and more Divine in the lower and harder conditions of life, and now he has reached a state where nothing exists to check or disappoint his Godward aspirations. There is no translation now for the righteous, but there is better, transformation, the being “changed from glory to glory now,” and “the bearing of the image of the heavenly” hereafter. (A. J. Morris.) Enoch’s character and translation Observe, Be the times never so bad, it is men’s own fault they are bad too. Eminent holiness, and intimate communion with God, may be attained in the worst of times. The reasons are-- 1. Because, however men grow worse and worse, heaven is still as good and bountiful as ever (Isa 59:1-2). 2. Because those that mind for heaven must row against the stream always; and if they do not, they will be called down the stream in the best of times; for, says our Lord (Mat 11:12). 3. The badness of the times affords matter to excite God’s people the more to their duty and close walking with God. The profaneness and formality of those they live among, and the dishonour done to God thereby, should be like oil to the flame of their holy love and zeal, as it was to David Ps 119:126-127). 4. Because, as the Lord shows Himself most concerned for the welfare of those who are most concerned for His honour, so the worse the times are, they that cleave to Him closely may expect to fare the better. I. Let us consider Enoch’s holy life in this world; “Enoch walked with God.” The Spirit of God puts a special remark on this. It is Enoch’s honour, that he did not walk as others did, after their lusts. Observe, 1. God takes special notice of those who are best when others are worst Gen 6:9). (1) To be thus argues an ingenuous spirit, a love to the Lord for Himself, and a love to His way for its likeness to Himself; that the soul is carried thus to it against the stream of the corruption of the age. (2) It argues not only grace, but the strength of grace. It must be strong faith, love, etc., that so much bear out against the strong temptation to apostasy, arising from the combination of a generation against God and His way. To be holy when the helps to a holy life are least in the world, argues the vigour of grace in the heart. Labour ye then to be best while others are worst, to confront the impiety of the generation wherein ye live. Do they indulge themselves in licentiousness? be ye the more strict and holy in your walk. Do they take up with mere externals in religion? strive ye the rather to get into the inner court, to taste and see, and here to have communion with God. Observe, 2. It is the honour of a professor of religion to outgo others in the matter of close walking with God. In the first part of the words we have-- (1) The person characterized; and that is Enoch. There was another of this name descended from Cain, who had a city called after his name Gen 4:17). Immortality is desired of all; and because men cannot stave off death, they follow after a shadow of immortality, that at least their name may live when they are gone. Therefore that has been an ancient custom, for men to call their lands after their own names (Psa 49:11). How much better was it with this Enoch, that took that course to get on him the name of the city of God, which Christ promises to write on all his people (Rev 3:12)? The city called by the name of the other Enoch was destroyed by the deluge, and is now unknown; but the city of God lasts still, and will last forever. Observe, True piety is the best way to honour, even to true honour. For “the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance,” when “the memory of the wicked shall rot.” Observe, They that live near God are most likely to be put upon His secrets, and to know most of His mind (Psa 25:14). II. His character; he “walked with God.” He lived like a man of another world; a life of close communion with God. It imports-- (1) That he was really religious; not only religious before men, but before God. Religion lies inwardly. We are that really which we are before the Lord; “He is a Jew which is one inwardly.” See, here, what he was: a spiritual traveller through the world; he “walked.” “He walked with God.” He looked on himself as a pilgrim and stranger in this present world Heb 11:13). (T. Boston, D. D.) Of walking with God I. First, I am to consider walking with God in the foundation thereof, with respect to our state. II. Secondly, I shall consider walking with God in the matter of it, in respect of our frame and conversation. And, indeed, this duty goes as broad as the whole law. If we would have the life of religion in our walk, we must not walk at random. 1. We must walk with God in the way of habitual eyeing of Him in all things. 2. We must walk with God in the way of the heart’s going along with Him in all things, as the shadow goes with the body. Walking with God is no bodily motion, but a spiritual motion, a moving of the heart and affections; and so it must import necessarily the heart’s going along with Him. 3. We must walk with God in ordinances (Luk 1:6). The ordinances are the banqueting house of Christ wherein He feasts His people (Song 2:4), the galleries wherein the king is held by those that walk with him there (Song 7:5). 4. We must walk with God in the stations and relations wherein He hath placed us. These are the sphere that God hath given us to move in, in the world. There are two pieces of work which a Christian has to do. (1) One for himself, and that is his salvation work (Php 2:12). This lies in his personal walk. (2) One for God, and that is his generation work (Act 13:36). This lies in his relative walk. 5. We must walk with God in all our actions, whether natural, civil, or religious. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1Co 10:31). III. Thirdly, I shall consider walking with God in the properties thereof. Walking with God is religion; and it is-- 1. Practical religion, religion in deed, not in word only; and there is no other sort of religion that will bring us to heaven; hence says our Lord Joh 13:17). 2. It is inward and heart religion (1Pe 3:4). They that have no religion but what is visible to the world, have no true religion; for God is the invisible God, and walking with Him must be so too (Rom 2:28-29). 3. It is heavenly religion (Php 3:20). According to men’s state and their nature, so will their actions be; for as is the tree, so will the fruit be. The heart of man, according as grace or corruption reigns in it, will tincture everything that comes through it. 4. It is lively and active religion, being a walking with the living God, wherein there is not only grace, but grace in exercise (Song 1:12). 5. It is regular religion, and uniform; for he that walks with God must needs walk by a constant rule, eyeing Him not in some things only, but in Gal 6:16; Psa 16:8). He gives one rule of walking, extending to man’s whole conversation; and so he that walks with Him, walks regularly, aiming at a holy niceness, preciseness, and exactness, in conformity to that rule in all things (Eph 5:15). 6. It is laborious and painful religion; for it is no easy life they have whose trade it is to walk on their feet (Heb 6:10). And it is no easy religion to walk with God. Religion is not a business of saying, but doing; not of doing carelessly, but carefully, painfully, and diligently. 7. It is a self-denied religion (Mat 16:24). 8. It is a humble religion (Mic 6:8). 9. It is constant religion. Walking is not a rising up and sitting down again, but a continued action, like that of a traveller going on till he come to his journey’s end. Enoch walked on through the world, till he was not. 10. It is progressive religion; religion that is going forward (Pro 4:18). (T. Boston, D. D.) Walking with God I. First and chiefest, because it will secure the rest, walk CONFIDENTLY with God. Rest upon His faithfulness. Entertain no suspicions of His love. II. Walk OBEDIENTLY with God; i.e., be diligent in keeping His commandments. And let your obedience be an unreserved, warm-hearted, zealous, faithful obedience, an obedience of love which is ready at all times, as love is ready. Walk, then, unreservedly, in the love of the Lord with all its glorious consequences. And walk obediently with God in the second commandment as well as the first. Oh! then, let your walk with God be obedient; unreserved, without fear of excess; universal, without exception or partiality; and persevering, without yielding to monotony. III. Walk HUMBLY with your God. He is a Father, and we are children. What does that relationship call for? Reverence--filial reverence, it is true, but still reverence, or honour--the honour of the father and the mother. “If I be a Father,” He says, “where is My honour? and if I be a Master, where is My fear?” Further, He is the Creator, and we are the creatures of His hands; and this relationship calls for real subjection and prostration. IV. Walk PATIENTLY with God. For however confiding your walk may be; however obedient with all the great characteristics of obedience; however humble, still you will suffer, and must be prepared for endurance. “The Lord chastens every son whom He receiveth”; and you must not expect to walk through this world exempt from trouble. “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.” It is not a strange thing, it is the common case of the Lord’s children. (H. McNeile, D. D.) Enoch’s walk and translation I. THE CHARACTER OF ENOCH, WITH HIS DECIDED RELIGIOUS WORTH. II. ENOCH’S GLORIOUS TRANSLATION FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN. 1. A sign of God’s love. 2. It is remarkable that three eminent translations distinguished three dispensations of God’s mercy to men--the last the most glorious. (1) Enoch’s translation in the patriarchal age. (2) Elijah’s translation in the prophetic age. (3) Our Lord Jesus Christ ascended, was translated to heaven, in the Christian dispensation, when, after His triumphant resurrection and sojourn on earth for forty days, He ascended on a cloud of glory before His own disciples. Now, these three most memorable instances of translation to heaven clearly prove a separate state--a glorified humanity and an immortal life. III. A FEW PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS MAY PROFITABLY CONCLUDE THIS SERMON: especially when a solemn event fills the minds of so many with deep thoughts. 1. We may all copy the living sermon of a holy life dedicated to Christ. 2. How sweet and blessed is the death of the Christian! His soul is taken away to the Saviour whom he loved; and his body rests in hopes of resurrection glory. His soul is gone; he is not on earth; God has taken him to heaven! No more shall sin or sorrow cloud the soul; no more shall trial, suffering, or death affect the body; no more shall the gloom of life intercept or darken the eye of faith, or the streaming light of heaven. (J. G.Angley, M. A.) The piety and translation of Enoch I. ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD. II. THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH. 1. As a work of omnipotence. (1) A suspension of the order of nature in this particular case, arresting the arm of death. (2) There was also a miraculous removal of the body of Enoch. 2. As a work of mercy. The wings of heavenly mercy overshadowed him, to protect him from the penalties of a violated law. 3. The translation of Enoch eminently displays the glory and honour of God. His love of the righteous was strikingly shown. His moral government was manifested, and His entire command over the present and the future so fully exemplified, that we cannot contemplate it without profound adoration of the Most High. 4. It was calculated to be beneficial to mankind, and to serve in that early stage of society the interests of truth and piety. (Essex Remembrancer.) The character and translation of Enoch I. HISTORY OF ENOCH. II. CHARACTER OF ENOCH. III. CONDUCT OF ENOCH. The conduct of this antediluvian saint was the piety of intelligence; he understood God’s claim and his own obligations, and it was not a mere custom. It was the piety of deliberate design and choice; he was not, so to speak, thrown accidentally into God’s company, but chose to go to Him, and with fixed, determinate purpose, sought His friendship. It was the piety also of a minister of religion; and what is any minister of religion, without personal godliness, but an actor in the most dreadful tragedy ever performed on the stage of this world, since it ends not in the feigned, but the real, death and destruction of the performer? It was the piety of one who had few of those helps and advantages of divine revelation and ordinances which we enjoy, and therefore shows how God can, and will, help those in the Divine life, who are, by Providence, deprived of the assistance which others possess. It was piety, maintained during a long period of severe trial, a profession consistently upheld amidst all conceivable opposition for nearly four centuries, thus exhibiting a sublime instance of endurance, perseverance, and victorious faith. IV. TRANSLATION OF ENOCH. Enoch’s translation was a testimony to that generation of which he was a member, and to the whole world from that time to this, of God’s approval of his conduct. (J. A. James.) Walking with God I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN WALKING WITH GOD. II. THAT GOD WILL MANIFEST SOME PECULIAR TOKENS OF HIS FAVOUR TO THOSE WHO WALK WITH HIM. 1. God will guard them against the favours of the world. 2. God graciously guards his friends while they walk with Him, from their invisible as well as visible enemies. 3. God will give those who walk with Him peculiar evidence of their interest in His special grace. He loves those who walk with Him, and will manifest His love to them. He expressly called Abraham His friend when he offered up his son upon the altar. He sent a messenger from heaven to declare that Daniel was greatly beloved. And He manifested His special love to David by lifting the light of His countenance upon him. 4. God will manifest His peculiar favour to those who walk with Him, by giving them not only inward light, and joy, and peace, and the full assurance of hope, but by granting them outward prosperity. 5. Those who walk with God have ground to hope for another great and peculiar favour; that is, His gracious and comforting presence when they leave the world. IMPROVEMENT. 1. We may learn from the nature and effects of walking with God how all true believers may attain to the full assurance of hope. If saints would prevent or remove darkness, doubts, and distress from their minds, let them walk closely with God, who will give them peculiar tokens of their displeasing Him, and standing high in His favour. 2. If God manifests peculiar tokens of His favour to those who walk with Him, then they have more to gain than to lose by walking with Him. 3. If God be highly pleased with His friends while they walk with Him, then He must be highly displeased when they depart from Him. 4. It appears from the nature of walking with God, that those who walk with Him in a day of degeneracy do peculiar service and honour to religion. 5. This subject calls upon all who have professed to walk with God to inquire whether they have walked worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called. 6. This subject exhorts all who have not hitherto walked with God to walk with Him. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Walking with God Other notable men existed in that ancient time, to whom we are apparently more indebted than we are to Enoch; men who were the fathers of arts and sciences, and the founders of political institutions--pioneers in the onward march of civilization. But what are Jabal, and Jubal, and Tubal-Cain to us but so many cyphers associated in our minds with certain objects? We know something of these men’s work; of themselves we know absolutely nothing. Here, on the contrary, nothing is told us of any outward work that the man did; we only have the brief and summarized story of an inner life. But more than this. Enoch was the first saint, in the full sense of the word, of whom we hear anything in human history, as Abel was the first “righteous for justified] man.” He stands, perhaps, historically speaking, at the head of the great master roll of heaven’s nobility; and it is the brotherhood of saints that makes the ages one. We are more indebted to the first pioneer upon the highway of holiness than to the earliest discoverers in science and in art. Holiness is, above everything else, the reproduction of the Divine. As I said a moment ago, very little has been told us about Enoch, where our curiosity would fain have heard a great deal; but the little that has been told us is suggestive, and every point seems to carry its own lesson. To begin with his name. Enoch has the double meaning of consecration and initiation, suggesting first the thought that he who bore that name was to be one of God’s consecrated ones, “a priest unto God,” and next that, as a priest, he was to be introduced into the spiritual temple, to be allowed to see and know what the outer world knows nothing of, and to be initiated into the deeper mysteries of the spiritual life. And in this name we have the clue not only to his career, but to that of every other saint who, like him, walks with God. The life of fellowship must needs be the product of a state of consecration. God consecrates us His spiritual priests that our whole manhood may be set apart and our whole lives dedicated to His service. We may be occupied, as Enoch was, in the ordinary duties of life; our hands and our heads may be busy, yet may we find God’s temple everywhere, and His service in everything. For there is nothing secular, all is a sanctity, where all is given to God. Further, our attention is specially called by a New Testament writer to the fact that Enoch was the seventh from Adam. His was the Sabbath life in that genealogical record. As the Sabbath days to the other days of the week, so must his life have seemed as compared with the lives of others in those troublous and tumultuous days. And there is a rest even here for the people of God. We need not defer the Sabbath keeping of the soul to that glorious future which awaits God’s faithful ones yonder. It may seem, perhaps, fanciful to call attention to another fact mentioned in this brief notice, but I cannot bring myself to pass it over. We read that “all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.” That is to say, he lived a perfect year of years; as many days as there are in the year, so many years there were in his life; he fulfilled his year. Perhaps when we reach the other side we shall make some strange discoveries with respect to the term of our existence here in the house of our discipline. Perhaps we may find that some lives have been lengthened out to extreme old age, just because life’s lessons were being learned indeed, but learned wondrous slowly by very dull scholars; and that some lives were cut short just because Divine Omniscience saw no probability of these lessons ever being learned at all by scholars who positively refused to learn. But to every man is appointed his own proper year; and blessed are they who so live that the year completes the life in every sense of the word! Blessed are they who so walk with God that when their appointed life period draws to a close their life lesson may be learnt, and they themselves be ready for the call to higher knowledge and more perfect service, while it is said of them, “He was not; for God took him.” Enoch’s life was not a long one as lives went in those days; he was only in what would be then regarded as early middle life when his call came, but had fulfilled his year. His life was complete in God’s sight, his day’s work done, and there was no necessity that he should tarry in the house of discipline through the long ages which measured the life of a Methuselah. But it is time that we looked more closely at this pregnant phrase, which tells us all that we historically know of the religious life of this ancient servant of God, “Enoch walked with God.” What is it, let us ask, to walk with God? More than a single idea would seem to be suggested by this familiar expression. As the words stand in the original they suggest primarily the idea of walking with reference to God. It is the idea that the Psalmist expresses when he says, “I foresaw God always before mine eyes.” In the practical issues of life, and in all its complete details, everything turns upon our choice of our centre of reference. He whose central idea in life is, How shall I please myself? can never walk with God, because God is not his centre of reference. Or again, this life of reference to God stands contrasted with the life of reference to the world, that conventional life which so many people condescend to lead. With such the question is, What is expected of me? or, What is the correct thing? or, What do others do? or, Will people like it? What will people say if I adopt this course, or do not adopt the other? Do not aim at singularity, but, on the other hand, do not shrink from it. You needs must be singular if you serve God in a world that serves Him not; you needs must be singular if you put the good before the fashionable in a world that puts the fashionable before the good; you needs must be singular if you put duty before worldly expediency, and the love of God and man before both in a selfish, shallow world, where all men seek their own. But there is nothing to be ashamed at in such singularity, and he who plays the poltroon, and is afraid to face reproach, would indeed be very singular in heaven if he were ever to get there. Better surely to be singular in this perishing world than hopelessly out of harmony with the spirit and genius of heaven. But this leads us to consider another thought suggested by the words of our text, closely connected with what we have just been considering, and yet distinct from it. To walk with God is not only to walk with reference to God, but to move, so to speak, on the same moral plane as belongs to God--seeing things from His point of view, entering into His designs, and drinking ever more and more deeply of His Spirit. There is a unity of heart and mind, of thought and feeling, that is usually a feature of close association amongst ourselves; and something of this kind would seem to be implied by the words, “Enoch walked with God,” Listen to the words quoted by St. Jude, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” The man that uttered those words was clearly looking at things from the Divine standpoint. With him sinners are regarded specially as ungodly, and sins are ungodly deeds; the habit of life that induces them is an ungodly habit of life, and the very words that such sinners are wont to speak are ungodly words. And the reason of this way of viewing things is that the man is walking with God. He takes measure of evil and of good, according as it affects that Divine Being with whom his life is hid. His standpoint is no longer merely ethical; he is conversant rather with She very heart of God than with moral principles. He is jealous for God’s glory with a godly jealousy, and is fired with a holy indignation at all that militates against this. And oh, with what a heart full of yearning love does he who thus walks with God gaze upon a God-dishonouring world! God loved the world, and loves it, and he who is in fellowship with the mind of God must needs love it too. The more He hates sin, the more does He long for the salvation of the sinner. But let us take the words of our text in the meaning which they most naturally bear, and which suggests perhaps the most important lesson of all. “Enoch walked with God”; that is to say, he lived in the society of God. In all his life an invisible but ever-present Friend was his Companion. He lived in His society, he consulted Him about everything, he was in communion with Him everywhere. So he lived out his allotted life, his year of years, until he passed from the triumphs of the walk of faith to the glories of the Land of Vision; for there is no death for such. The presence of God makes earth heaven, and brings heaven down to earth. The presence of God turns the shadow of death into the morning, and invests him who enjoys it with immortality. “I am the resurrection, and the life,” saith the Lord: “he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and he that liveth and believeth on Me shall never die.” By-and-by, when the last of the three hundred and sixty five days of his year had arrived and was reaching its close, the call came, “Friend, come up higher”: and “he was not; for God took him.” For as to walk with God is the secret of perfection here on earth, so to walk with God will be the crowning glory of that higher world. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.) Enoch, the model walker I. A SAFE WALK. During a sudden freshet, a labouring man and his child, living in a cottage that stood by itself, were obliged to walk at midnight for more than a mile through water reaching to the little boy’s waist before they could reach a place of safety. After they had changed their clothes, and were feeling comfortable, the friend in whose cottage they had found shelter said to the little boy, “And wasn’t you afraid, Jack, while walking through the water?” “No, not at all,” said the little fellow, who was but seven years old: “I was walking along with father, you know. And I knew he wouldn’t let the water drown me.” This was very sweet. And if, like Enoch, we are walking with God, let us remember that we are walking with our heavenly Father. And He promises us expressly, “When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee” (Isa 43:2). One morning a teacher found many empty seats in her schoolroom. Two little scholars lay dead at their homes, and others were sick. The few children present gathered around her, and said, “Oh! what shall we do? Do you think we shall be sick, and die too?” The teacher gently touched the bell, and said, “Children, you are all afraid of this disease. You grieve for the death of your little friends, and you fear that you also may be taken. I only know of one thing for us to do, and that is to hide. Listen whale I read to you about a hiding place. Then she read the 91st Psalm, which begins thus: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” They were all hushed by the sweet words, and then the morning lesson went on as usual. At recess, a dear little girl came up to the desk, and said, “Teacher, aren’t you afraid of the diphtheria?” “No, my child,” she answered. “Well, wouldn’t you be if you thought you would be sick, and die?” “No, dear, I trust not.” The child gazed wonderingly at her for a moment; and then her face lightened up as she said, “Oh! I know! You are hidden under God’s wings. What a nice safe place that is to hide in!” II. WALKING WITH GOD IS A USEFUL WALK. Suppose that you and I were taking a walk through the wards of a hospital. It is full of people who are suffering from accidents, and diseases of different kinds. There are some people there with broken limbs. Some are blind, others are deaf; and some are sick with various fevers, and consumption. And suppose that, like our blessed Lord, we had the power, as we went from one bed to another, to heal the sick and suffering people in that hospital. Here is a lame man. We make his limbs straight and strong, so that he can walk. Here is a blind man. We touch his eyes with our fingers; they open, and he can see. We speak to those who are suffering from diseases of different kinds, and make them well. Then we might well say that our walk through that hospital was a useful walk. But we have no such power as this to cure the diseases from which the bodies of men are suffering. Yet this may afford us a good illustration of what we can do for the souls that are suffering around us, when we become Christians, and walk with God. Some years ago a gentleman from England brought a letter of introduction to a merchant in this country. The stranger was an intelligent man with very pleasant manners, but he was an infidel. The gentleman to whom he brought the letter of introduction, and his wife, were earnest Christian people. They invited the stranger to make their house his home during his stay, and treated him with the greatest possible kindness. On the evening of his arrival, before the hour of retiring, the gentleman of the house, knowing what the views of his guest were on the subject of religion, told him they were in the habit of having family worship every evening; that they would be happy to have him join with them; or, if he preferred, he could retire to his room. He said it would give him pleasure to remain. Then a chapter of the Bible was read, and the family knelt in prayer, the stranger with them. After spending a few days in that pleasant Christian home, the stranger embarked on board a ship, and sailed to a foreign land. In the course of three or four years he returned, and stayed with the same family. But what a change there was in him! His infidelity was all gone. He was now an humble, earnest Christian. In speaking to his friend of this change, he said: “Sir, I owe it all to you. When I knelt down with you at family prayers on my former visit, it was the first time for years that I had ever bowed my knees before God. It brought back to me the memory of my pious mother, now in heaven, and all the teaching she had given me when a boy. I was so occupied with these thoughts that I did not hear a word of your prayer. But this led me to give up my infidelity, and seek the blessing of my mother’s God. And now I am as happy as the day is long in His service.” Here again we see how true it is that walking with God is a useful walk. III. A PLEASANT WALK. When we are taking a walk there are several things that will help to make up the pleasure to be found in that walk. If we have a guide to show us the road; if we have a pleasant companion to talk with as we go on our way; if we have plenty of refreshments--nice things to eat and drink; if there are bright and cheerful prospects around and before us; and especially, if we are sure of a nice comfortable home to rest in when our walk is ended, these will help to make it pleasant. But when we walk with God, as Enoch did, we have all these things, and more too. And these are sure to make it a pleasant walk. Solomon is speaking of this walk when he says: “Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace.” “I visited a poor old woman belonging to my congregation,” said a minister. “She was entirely dependent on the church for her support. Her home was a very small cottage. The moment I entered it I saw how neat and clean everything was. She had just been gathering some sticks from the lane with which to cook her evening meal. Her face was one of the sweetest I ever saw. It was surrounded by the strings of her snow-white cap. On the table lay a well-worn copy of the Word of God. I looked around for a daughter or friend to be her companion and caretaker, but saw none. I said: ‘Mother Ansel, you don’t live here alone, do you?’ ‘Live alone! Live alone!’ she exclaimed in surprise, and then, as a sweet smile lighted up her face, she added, ‘No, sir, the blessed Lord lives with me, and that makes it pleasant living!’” Certainly she found walking with God a pleasant walk. A Christian lady was visiting among the poor one day. She called, among others, on a little sick girl. Her home was a dreary looking one. The room she occupied was on the north side of the house. There was nothing bright or pleasant about it. Everything looked dark and cheerless. “I am sorry you have no sun on this side of the house,” said the lady. “Not a ray of sunshine gets in here. This is a misfortune, for sunshine is everything.” “Oh, ma’am! you are mistaken,” said the sick girl, as a sweet smile lighted up her pale face. “My sun pours in at every window, and through all the cracks.” “But how can the sun get round on this side of the house?” asked the visitor. “It is Jesus, ‘the Sun of Righteousness,’ that shines in here,” was the reply, “and He makes the best sunshine.” That sick girl found walking with God a pleasant walk. IV. A PROFITABLE WALK. We see a good deal of walking done without much profit. But sometimes we hear of people who are able to make their walking pay. There was a walking match in New York not long ago. A number of persons were engaged in it, and the man who won the prize secured twenty-five thousand dollars. That was profitable walking, so far as money was concerned; but walking with God is more profitable than this. Suppose there was a savings bank half a mile from your house, and you were told that if you walked to that bank every week, and put a penny in the treasury, for every penny you put in you would get a dollar at the end of the year. A penny a week would make fifty-two pennies by the end of the year, and if for these fifty-two pennies you were to receive fifty-two dollars, that would make your walk to the bank profitable walking. “It would be getting what we call a hundredfold for the money invested there. There is no such savings bank as this. But, when we learn to walk with God, we find that serving Him is just like putting money in such a bank. Jesus says that if we give a cup of cold water to one of His disciples, or if we suffer for Him, or do any work for Him, we “shall receive a manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” And if such rewards are given to those who walk with Him, then we may well say that that is profitable walking. An infidel was one day laughing at a plain farmer because he believed the Bible. The farmer surprised him by saying, “Well, you see, we plain country people like to have two strings to our bow.” “And pray what do you mean by that?” asked the infidel. “Only this,” was the farmer’s answer, “that believing the Bible, and acting up to it, is like having two strings to one’s bow; for, if the Bible is not true, still I shall be a better and happier man for living according to its teachings, and so it will be profitable for me in this life; this is one string to my bow, and a good one, too. And, if the Bible should prove true, as I know it will, it will be profitable for me in the next world, and that is another string, and a pretty strong one, too. But, sir, if you do not believe the Bible, and do not live as it requires, you have no string to your bow in this world. And, oh, sir! if the tremendous threatenings of the Bible prove true--as they surely will--you will have no string to your bow for the next world, and what will become of you then?” This shows us that walking with God is profitable walking. (R. Newton, D. D.) Known by his walk “That man’s been in the army,” said a gentleman to his friend the other day, as a stranger passed them in the street; “I know a soldier by his walk.” Men ought to know Christ’s soldiers by their walk. The biography of Enoch; or, a glorious life and a glorious end Enoch is one of the few excellent men mentioned in the Bible, of whom nothing bad is recorded. Abraham is described as the father of the faithful; and yet there are instances on record in which his mighty faith gave way. Who ever thinks of the flaws on the face of beauty? Who ever thinks of the spots which deface the sun? They exist, you may find them by minute observation; but they do not make a deep impression upon your mind. Thus the character of Enoch, in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation, seemed to be one mass of light, in which there was no darkness at all. Enoch is one of these men who owe their immortality to the brightness of their characters. Let us then consider the text as-- I. A SIMPLE RECORD OF A GLORIOUS LIFE. What does a glorious life consist in? The poet thinks it a glorious thing to produce burning thoughts, to master the powers of language, to command brilliant imagery; to revel in imagination through the ethereal regions of the lovely, the grand, the eternal; and then descend from those lofty heights to the lowly regions of real life, to enlighten its gloom, to soothe its sorrows, to strengthen its hopes. The orator thinks it a glorious thing to rivet the attention of assembled multitudes. The warrior thinks it a glorious thing to be entrusted with the command of a powerful army. Here is a simple record of a glorious life; let us now endeavour to analyse it. The words point to-- 1. A life of absolute devotedness. It is not a selfish existence, but an existence linked to another existence, subordinate to another existence, devoted to another existence. “With God.” 2. A life of steady progress. This is clearly suggested by the term walking. Man is never more dignified than when he walks with a regular, firm, steady step; it is then that he looks every inch the lord of creation; you wonder not that other creatures should submit to his sway. But let him loiter about as if he had nothing to do, or let him run as if he were pursued, and he falls at once in your estimation. There is a touch of manliness about the very act of walking, which indicates a definite purpose, a reasonable aim, a complete mastery over one’s self. You have only to conceive of a man walking and a man running, and compare these two conceptions together, in order to be impressed with the superiority of the one over the other. But the expression employed here has a wider meaning than this. “Enoch walked with God.” This indicates progress. It is progress in knowledge, progress in holiness, progress in good works. It is an upward struggle, a heavenward course, a climbing up to the mount of God. 3. A life of blessed companionship. “With God.” Now, the blessed companionship of Enoch with God, which was a type of all true companionship, implied faith in God. Enoch’s companionship implied also a certain degree of familiarity with God. Just think of it. God’s friend must become a God-like character. The moon which is bathed in the transforming light of the sun, becomes itself a luminous body, and lightens up the sombre blackness of the night with its pale, beautiful, silvery rays. And so the man who walks in the light of God’s countenance must necessarily catch some of the glory and reflect it upon the world around him. Besides this, God’s friend needs fear no enemy. II. A SIMPLE RECORD OF A GLORIOUS END. “And he was not, for God took him.” A good man is never lost; long after his body has mouldered in the dust, the influence of his holy example will remain, will remain as a mighty power; a power which will not diminish, but grow with the flight of ages. (D. Rowlands, B. A.) Enoch’s walking with God I. As the first acceptable worshipper of God was Abel, so the first acceptable walker with God was Enoch, in Scripture record. Here are two remarks upon Enoch recorded in Scripture. The first is, his appearance in the world. The second is, his disappearance from the world. 1. His appearance is attended with sundry considerable circumstances. As (1) his name. (2) His time. (3) His Age. (4) His office or employ. Concerning his name Enoch, which has a double signification. Enoch signifies “dedicated”; his father Jared (which signifies “meek”) being a lowly and a holy man, did dedicate this son to God, as soon as he had received him from God. II. Enoch signifies “catechized” or “instructed”; well knowing, also, that the care of the means was committed to the father, though he had committed the care of the end to the Lord. The paternal instruction must promote the dedication. As Jared had marred him by propagation (begetting a son in his own, the fallen image), so he must mend him by instruction. God is so exact in Scripture record, stating him the seventh patriarch, not only to declare the genealogy of Christ in a more distinct chronology of succession than can be found in any of the best human histories, but also to show both His great care of His Church and His great delight in His Church. 1. His great care of it in upholding it by seven descents of holy patriarchs. 2. His great delight in His Church above all other His concerns in the world, being only, all of them, in order to His Church. 3. The age of life that Enoch lived. The years that he lived in this lower world were exactly answerable to the days of a year, to wit, 365. What he wanted in the silver of a life natural, he had well paid him in the gold of a life eternal; so that not only the shortness of the father’s life was made up in the long life of his son, but also, God took him from a worse place to plant him into a better. His translation was but transplantation, as it were, out of God’s kitchen garden into His heavenly paradise. Thus we see here on earth, those northern plants which are transplanted out of their cold climate into a warmer southern soil, find no detriment, but advantage thereby, and thrive the better. How much more was it no loss, but gain, to Enoch to be translated out of the vale of tears into God’s garden of celestial pleasures! There are many talkers and but few walkers; many talkers of God, few walkers with God. Their lives give the lie to their lips or tongues, as not running relatively in parallel lines together with the heart. A man’s conversation is the most conspicuous comment upon all that the heart believeth and the mouth expresseth (Rom 10:9-10). I. WHAT IS THIS WALKING WITH GOD? 1. Negatively. It is not as if a man should desert the society of mankind, and run into a desert or cloister; or as if a man should depart out of the world, and fly up into heaven. Neither does this phrase import only Enoch’s public capacity, as if it were proper solely to such as serve God in some high office. There are three Scripture phrases-- (1) Walking with God, as here. (2) Walking before God (Gen 17:1). (3) Walking after God (Deut 13:4). 2. Showing what it is to walk with God positively; that is, he did serve God in his generation according to his will, as is said of David (Act 13:3; Act 13:6). II. HOW THIS WALKING WITH GOD IS MAN’S DUTY. Upon a threefold respect. 1. It is the principal end why God created man, that man should walk with God his Creator. 2. It is the creature’s homage and fealty to his creator, God, to walk with Him, not with Satan, or with sin and sinners. 3. This walking with God is the very badge and character whereby saints are distinguished from sinners, believers from unbelievers, and the children of God from the children of the World. III. HOW THIS WALKING WITH GOD IS MAN’S DIGNITY AS WELL AS DUTY. It is not only man’s homage, but it is also his honour to walk with God. It is accounted honourable to be but a follower of a mortal king. Inferences hence are-- 1. It is our duty to walk with God, though the whole world walk contrary to God. The worse that times are, the better should we be, that the times may not be worse, but better by us. We should all strive to be the most holy persons, even in the most unholy times. 2. Therefore we should all strive to walk with God, upon these three following motives; besides the reasons of the duty, as also of the dignity. (1) Safety. (2) Solace. (3) Satiety. Having done with Enoch’s first grand concern, to wit, concerning his appearance in the world--all which he managed in a constant walking with God--I come now to discourse upon his second grand concern, concerning his DISAPPEARANCE FROM THE WORLD; to wit, his translation from earth to heaven. (C. Ness.) The memorial of Enoch Could we but hope that, even in a limited sense, these words might be inscribed as the motto on our tomb, then we need not envy either the mausoleums of the Pharaohs, the tomb of Alexander or Napoleon, or the sepulchres of the Caesars! Our “record would be on high,” and our memorial would live when the scroll of fame should be scattered by the winds of heaven, and perish forever in the conflagration of the world; for they who walk with God on earth shall reign with Christ in heaven. I. CONTEMPLATE THE CHARACTER HERE GIVEN OF ENOCH--“HE WALKED WITH GOD.” Let none suppose that, whatever this may imply, it was the exclusive privilege of Enoch, and, therefore, is not to be sought after by others; for of Noah it is written--he “found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for he was a just man, and perfect in his generation.” And “Noah walked with God.” To Abraham, also, it was commanded--“Walk before Me”; and this the father of the faithful actually described himself as doing, when he said, “The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with thee, and prosper thy way.” 1. It must imply the true knowledge of each other; for familiar intercourse is founded on knowledge. On the part of God, the knowledge is perfect and infinite. Well, then, might the Psalmist exclaim--“O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compasseth my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.” But man is naturally ignorant of God. He knows Him not, nor desires to know Him; for “God is not in all his thoughts.” How, then, shall he understand His being and perfections, His works and His ways? “Such knowledge is too wonderful” for him; “it is high,” he “cannot attain unto it.” “For who by searching can find out God? who can find out the Almighty to perfection?” But He has graciously revealed Himself to us by His Spirit, in His Holy Word. 2. The most sincere friendship. 3. The strongest proofs of devoted attachment. Without these, friendship itself is only a name; but with them, the very balm of life. 4. But, in one word, to walk with God includes a community of interests. Their aim is one. Now, as God necessarily exists for His own glory, and delights in its manifestation in the happiness of His creatures; so man, regenerated and sanctified, supremely seeks the glory of God in all things. II. CONTEMPLATE HIS SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. He was removed to heaven, without tasting the bitterness of death. It might be sooner than he expected; for he had not attained to half the years of the life of his father--but he rejoiced to depart, and to be with “God, his exceeding joy,” forever and ever! And was not this the richest boon he could possibly receive? Classic story has told us of two lovely youths that were found dead in their bed, soon after the prayer had been offered for them, that they might possess the best blessing heaven could bestow. And the Christian well knows, that “to depart, and to be with Christ, is far better” than anything here. Such was the privilege of Enoch--but as to the mode of his translation we know nothing. Yet, it must have been eminently gracious. Whatever was the manner of his translation, it was evidently supernatural--the doing of the Lord, and marvellous in the eyes of all. No rude stormof chaos, no fortuitous blast of atoms hurled him on high. But the Lord did it, in His own most gracious way. He had frequently conferred on him many distinguished favours--but then, to crown all, he took him as a special friend to Himself, to be forever with Him in heaven, in joys unutterable and full of glory. But do not expect the same kind of dismissal as Enoch. Only Elijah and he ever entered the eternal kingdom, without passing through the gate of death. (J. Clunie, LL. D.) Enoch’s holiness and its reward His mind was pure; his spirit rose above the turmoil of worldliness; he delighted in calm communion with God; once more the familiar intercourse between God and man, which had existed in the time of paradise, was restored; the path commenced by Seth was continued by Enoch; the former addressed God by the medium of the word; the latter approached Him by the still more spiritual medium of thought: the highest form of religious life was gained. But, unfortunately, Enoch alone “walked with God”; his contemporaries were sunk in iniquity and depravation; but the measure of their wickedness was not yet complete; three generations more were required to mature their destruction; and God, in order to rescue Enoch, took him to Himself, delivering him from the contamination of his time at a comparatively early period of his life. Was this early death a punishment? But the piety of Enoch is repeatedly stated. Was it a misfortune? It was this as little as the full length of Noah’s life; both cases were analogous; in the one, the pious man left the wicked generation; in the other, he was by a catastrophe freed from it; and in both instances, the deliverance was miraculous and supernatural, by the immediate agency of God. If this is the clear internal meaning of Enoch’s history, who can doubt that he was called away from the earth, not to cease his life abruptly, but to continue it in a better sphere, and in still more perfect virtue? We are convinced that the “taking away” of Enoch is one of the strongest proofs of the belief in a future state prevailing among the Hebrews; without this belief, the history of Enoch is a perfect mystery, a hieroglyph without a clue, a commencement without an end. If, then, pious men could hope to continue a brighter existence after their transitory sojourn upon earth, the books of the Old Testament are not enveloped in the gloomy clouds of despair; they radiate in the beams of hope; and, if a long life on earth was also gratefully accepted as a high, though not the highest, boon, this may have sprung from the just feeling, that man is born to enjoy and to work, to receive much and to give more; and that he does not deserve the blessing of eternal rest before he has toiled to extend the empire of truth and piety (comp. Gen 4:7-10.) God “took” Enoch as He “took” Elijah (2Ki 2:9), or “he was translated by faith, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him” (Heb 11:5). The notion seems to be, that Enoch passed from earth to heaven without the intermediate state of decrepitude and dissolution; he suffered no bodily infirmity; “his eye grew not dim, nor did his natural strength abate,” as it is stated with regard to Moses, who also disappeared, so that no mortal knew his grave. For the pious Enoch, death lost its pang and its sting; though the descendant of a sinful race, he was delivered from the real punishment which sin inflicted upon the human family; his existence was uninterrupted; he was undying, as man was originally intended to be; for he passed from this life into a future state both without fear and without struggle. God took him as a loving father to His eternal home. The history of Enoch has ever been regarded as embodying profound truths; and, we think, there are few so strongly affecting the very root of religious life as those which we have just briefly indicated. And, as the virtuous are thus translated into heaven, the wicked are devoured alive in the gulf of the earth (Num 16:1-50). It is known that the classical writers also mention such translations into heaven; they assign this distinction among others to Hercules, to Ganymede, and to Romulus. But it was awarded to them either for their valour, or for mere physical beauty, which advantages, though valued among the Hebrews, were not considered by them as sublime or godlike; a pious and religious life alone deserved and obtained the crown of immortal glory. In no single feature can the Scriptures conceal their high spiritual character. However, the idea of a translation to heaven is not limited to the old world; it was familiar to the tribes of Central America; the chronicles of Guatemala record four progenitors of mankind who were suddenly raised to heaven; and the documents add that those first men came to Guatemala from the other side of the sea, from the east. This is, then, apparently, a rather remarkable connection of the primitive traditions of the most different nations. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.) My ministry On the 22nd of February 1880 Dr. Raleigh preached for the last time. His text was, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Had he known that he would never preach again, he could not have chosen a more appropriate text, or have spoken with more impressiveness and pathos. One of the members of the congregation said, on returning home, “I have heard today what I never expect to hear again in this world.” Dr. Raleigh was compelled to rest; weeks passed away, but there was no amendment in his health, and at length he had to be told that there was an hope of his recovery. When he received the intelligence he said, “Then my ministry is ended.” There was a pause, and then he added, “My ministry!--It is dearer than my life.” On the Tuesday before his death, he was visited by the Rev. Joshua Harrison, to whom he freely expressed his confidence in the glorious work of the Saviour, and said, “in any case I may well be content and thankful. I am not an old man, yet I have lived long and worked hard. I have had, on the whole, a most happy, and I think I may say successful, ministry. God has blessed my work, and has always given me true friends. If I have finished my work, I am ready to go. Indeed, I should have no regrets but for these dear ones” (his wife and children). When reminded of the prayers which were being offered on his behalf, he replied, “Yes, my people’s prayers make me sometimes think I may have a little more work to do, but it not, I shall calmly march up to the gates.” Still trusting in Christ, he went “through the gate,” April 1880. In the presence of a sorrowing multitude, his coffin was lowered into a grave in Abney Park Cemetery. (Old Testament Anecdotes.) Gathering flowers to compose him in the hour of death We know it to be a Scripture fact that men have “walked with God” in closest intimacy, and that God hath held converse with them, “even as a man converseth with his friend.” Such was the case with Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and all that luminous cloud of witnesses so brightly and clearly revealed in the Bible. The Church of God, even down to our own time, furnishes innumerable witnesses to this truth, which we will establish by the mouth of two of them. John Holland was an old Puritan minister, who died two hundred and fifty years ago. Little is known of him, except what relates to his deathbed. Perceiving that he was near his end, he said, “Come, oh, come; death approaches. Let us gather some flowers to comfort this hour.” He requested that the eighth chapter of Romans might be read to him. But at every verse he stopped the reading, while he expounded it to the comfort of his soul, and to the joy and wonder of his friends. Having thus continued his meditations above two hours, he suddenly cried out, “Oh, stay your reading. What brightness is this I see? Have you lighted any candles?” They told him “No; it is the sunshine.” “Sunshine?” said he; “nay, my Saviour’s shine! Now farewell, world--welcome, heaven. The day star from on high hath visited my heart. Oh! speak when I am gone, and preach it at my funeral, ‘God dealeth familiarly with man.’” In such transports his soul soared towards heaven. His last words, after repeating the declaration that “God doth and will deal familiarly with man,” were these: “And now, thou fiery chariot, that camest down to fetch up Elijah, carry me to my happy home. And, all ye blessed angels, who attended the soul of Lazarus to bring it to heaven, bear me, oh! bear me to the bosom of my best beloved. Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!” One other present witness is Gilbert Tennent, who was a main instrument, with Whitefield and Edwards, of the great revival in New England one hundred years ago. In one of his letters to his brother, the holy William Tennent, he says, “Brother, shall I tell you an astonishing instance of the glorious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is this, that one of the meanest of His servants has had His presence every day, in some degree, for above eleven weeks, Nor is the great, good Master yet gone. Oh, brother, it is heaven upon earth to live near to God! Verily, our comfort does not depend so much upon our outward situation as is generally supposed. No, a Saviour’s love is all in all. Oh, this will make any situation sweet, and turn the thickest darkness into day!” (Old Testament Anecdotes.) Preparation for death necessary I have read of a gentleman who died very suddenly, and his jester ran to the other servants, and having told them that their master was dead, he, with much gravity, said, “And where is he gone?” The servants replied, “Why, to heaven, to be sure!” “No,” said the jester, “he is not gone to heaven, I am certain.” The servants with much warmth asked him how he knew that his master was not gone to heaven? The jester then replied, “Because heaven is a great way off, and I never knew my master take a long journey in his life but he always talked of it some time beforehand, and also made preparations for it; but I never heard him talk about heaven, nor ever saw him making preparations for death, and therefore I am sure he is not gone to heaven.” (H. G. Salter.) Enoch’s translation This moment Enoch is surrounded by antediluvian sinners, transformed by evil passions into demons; the next, he is in the society of angels, of the general assembly of the firstborn, of God Himself: this moment he is in a humble tent; the next, he is in the city and palace of the King: this moment he is in imminent danger; the next, his is quietness and assurance forever: this moment he is in earth--an earth reeling with wickedness, and ripening fast for ruin; the next, he “summers high in bliss upon the hills of God”: this moment he is almost a solitary protester against evil; the next, he has outsoared the shadow of sin, and is one of a holy company that no man can number, standing before the throne: this moment his body is frail and corrupt, a body of death, even as others; the next, his body has become a glorious body, winged, radiant, immortal: this moment he is like all men, subject to, and in danger of, death; the next, he has evaded the grim king of terrors, escaped not only the feeling, but the sight, of death. (G. Gilfillan.) A singular saint is a precious saint As the morning star in the midst of the clouds, and as the moon when it is at full; as the flower of the roses in the spring of the year, and as the lilies by the springs of waters; as the branches of the frankincense in the time of summer, and as a vessel of massy gold, set with all manner of precious stones, and as the fat that is taken from the peace offering;--so is one Enoch, that walketh with God when others walk from Him; one Rahab, in Jericho; one Elias, that boweth not his knee to Baal; one David, in Mesech; one Esther, in Shushan; one Judith, in Bethulia; one Joseph, in the Sanhedrim of the Jews; one Gamaliel, in the council of the Pharisees; one innocent and righteous man, in the midst of a crooked and froward generation. (J. Spencer.) Genesis 5:25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Related Passages: Genesis 4:18-24 (THE FIRST LAMECH AN EVIL MAN) Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; 24If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” THE SECOND LAMECH IN GENESIS Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech - This is not the Lamech who descended from Cain. That Methuselah could father a child at this age clearly shows that the corrupting effects of sin had not yet become prominent. QUESTION - Who was Lamech in the Bible? Answer - The Bible mentions two different men by the name of Lamech, both in the book of Genesis. The first Lamech was the son of Methushael, and the second Lamech was the son of Methuselah. Although the men shared a name and had fathers with names that sound very much alike, that is where their similarities end. The first Lamech was a wicked descendant of Cain. After Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden as a punishment for their sin, they had children. Two of their sons were Cain and Abel. The Bible tells us that both men offered God a sacrifice, and God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected Cain’s (Genesis 4:3–5). Out of jealousy, Cain murdered Abel in cold blood. God punished Cain by cursing him and sending him away to live as a fugitive (Ge 4:11–12). When Cain complained about the severity of the punishment, God marked Cain and promised that anyone who harmed him would receive punishment sevenfold (Ge 4:15). Cain settled in the land of Nod and eventually begat children (Genesis 4:16–18) who continued the trend of sin. Lamech son of Methushael was Cain’s great-great-great grandson, and he followed Cain’s disobedient and murderous ways. Lamech married two wives—the Bible’s first mention of polygamy—and he committed murder. Another man struck and wounded Lamech in some way, and Lamech killed him for this seemingly small offense. Afterward, he boasted of his sin to his two wives and exulted in that he suffered no consequences: “If Cain is avenged seven times, / then Lamech seventy-seven times” (Ge 4:24). This Lamech was the father of Tubal-Cain (verse 22). The other Lamech was a descendant of Seth. After Cain’s banishment Eve bore another son and named him Seth. In contrast to Cain’s sinful line, Seth’s descendants were known for righteousness. Enoch, Seth’s great-great-great grandson, walked so closely with God that God took him directly to heaven when Enoch was 365 years old (Genesis 5:22–24). Enoch’s son Methusaleh (the oldest man recorded in the Bible) continued the righteous line and fathered Lamech (verse 25). When Lamech was 182 years old, he fathered his own son and named him Noah, a name that sounds like the Hebrew word for “comfort.” Lamech said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed” (Genesis 5:29). Lamech looked forward to the day when the curse on the ground would be ended by God’s promised Savior (cf. Genesis 3:15). After Lamech died, his son Noah was known as a righteous man in a world filled with great sin and perversion (Genesis 6:90). Noah and his family were saved from the flood God sent to judge the earth and thus were able to continue the line of promise. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ would be born into the line of Seth through Lamech (Luke 3:37). Lamech’s godly hope that the curse would end was realized in Jesus, whose death and resurrection abolished the reign of sin and death. GotQuestions.org Genesis 5:26 Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. he became the father of Lamech - Ge 5:4 Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries THE OLDEST MAN IN SCRIPTURE Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters - We always think of Methuselah as the oldest man in the Bible, but there is one who is actually older, albeit admittedly He is the God-Man, Jesus Christ, Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Eternal God Who became a Man. Genesis 5:27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. died - Ge 5:5 Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. QUESTION - Who was the oldest man in the Bible? ANSWER - Genesis chapter 5 lists nine men who had very long lives. How and why they lived such long lives is not specifically said. Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5). Seth lived 912 years (Genesis 5:8). Enosh lived 905 years (Genesis 5:11). Kenan lived 910 years (Genesis 5:14). Mahalalel lived 895 years (Genesis 5:17). Jared lived 962 years (Genesis 5:20). Enoch lived 365 years before God took him (Genesis 5:22–24). Lamech lived 777 years (Genesis 5:31). Genesis 9:29 records that Noah lived 950 years. But the oldest man in the Bible, outliving all the rest, is a man named Methuselah, who lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). There may have been someone in the antediluvian days who outlived Methuselah, but the Bible has no record of anyone older. Very little is said about Methuselah other than he was the grandfather of Noah. There are two possible meanings of Methuselah’s name: “man of the spear” and “his death shall bring.” There is a tradition outside of the Bible that Enoch, Methuselah’s father, was given a revelation from God that the Flood would not come until his son died. If this is true, Methuselah’s name would essentially mean “his death shall bring the Flood.” The biblical math backs this up, as Methuselah died the same year the Flood occurred. Methuselah fathered Lamech when he was 187 years old (Genesis 5:25). Lamech fathered Noah when he was 182 years old (Genesis 5:28). The Flood occurred when Noah was 600 years old (Genesis 7:6). 187 + 182 + 600 = 969, which is the age Methuselah was when he died. So it appears there may be an interesting story behind the oldest man in the Bible, Methuselah, and why he lived 969 years. In the 2014 movie Noah, Methuselah is portrayed as sort of an eccentric witch doctor. While the Bible says nothing about Methuselah to confirm or deny this portrayal, it seems highly unlikely, considering the family line from Adam to Noah recorded in Genesis 5 is the “righteous” line who obeyed the Lord God. There is very little we can know for sure about Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible. He lived 969 years and apparently died the same year the Flood occurred. He was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam and the grandfather of Noah. He was likely a godly man to have been blessed by God with such a long lifespan.GotQuestions.org Genesis 5:28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Ray Pritchard - What a contrast with the “other” Lamech of Cain’s line. That Lamech was a boastful, arrogant, violent man who acted like an ancient Mafia don, bragging about a man he had killed. But the Lamech of Seth’s line was a man of faith who believed that through his son would come some deliverance from the curse God put on the ground in Genesis 3. As a godly father, he looked into the future and saw that somehow his son would be used to comfort people and bring deliverance. He got what he hoped for—both more and less. He could not have foreseen the great flood that covered the world and wiped out everyone except his son’s family. And he could not have imagined the promise God would give Noah in Genesis 9. That covenant was a promise of a great salvation that would be ultimately fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. Genesis 5:29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed." he called - Ge 6:8,9 7:23 9:24 Isa 54:9 Eze 14:14,20 Mt 24:37 Lu 3:36 Lu 17:26,27 Heb 11:7 1Pe 3:20 2Pe 2:5 This one will give us rest - Ge 3:17-19 4:11,12 Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries A SON NAMED REST/COMFORT Now he called his name Noah - It is notable that many times in Scripture, we see personal names have meanings that relate to the character of the people who bore them. The greatest is Jesus in Mt 1:21+ “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” It is interesting that Noah's name is the only name in Genesis 5 which is coupled with an explanation. Saying, "This one will give us rest (naham/nacham) from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed (arar) - Give us rest (naham/nacham) is translated in the Septuagint with the verb dianapauo (see root anapauo) mean to allow rest for a while from. GotQuestions.org When Lamech was 182 years old, he fathered his own son and named him Noah, a name that sounds like the Hebrew word for “comfort.” Lamech said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed” (Genesis 5:29). Lamech looked forward to the day when the curse on the ground would be ended by God’s promised Savior (cf. Genesis 3:15). After Lamech died, his son Noah was known as a righteous man in a world filled with great sin and perversion (Genesis 6:90). Noah and his family were saved from the flood God sent to judge the earth and thus were able to continue the line of promise. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ would be born into the line of Seth through Lamech (Luke 3:37). Lamech’s godly hope that the curse would end was realized in Jesus, whose death and resurrection abolished the reign of sin and death. Noah - 46x/39v - Gen. 5:29; Gen. 5:30; Gen. 5:32; Gen. 6:8; Gen. 6:9; Gen. 6:10; Gen. 6:13; Gen. 6:22; Gen. 7:1; Gen. 7:5; Gen. 7:6; Gen. 7:7; Gen. 7:9; Gen. 7:11; Gen. 7:13; Gen. 7:15; Gen. 7:23; Gen. 8:1; Gen. 8:6; Gen. 8:11; Gen. 8:13; Gen. 8:15; Gen. 8:18; Gen. 8:20; Gen. 9:1; Gen. 9:8; Gen. 9:17; Gen. 9:18; Gen. 9:19; Gen. 9:20; Gen. 9:24; Gen. 9:28; Gen. 9:29; Gen. 10:1; Gen. 10:32; 1 Chr. 1:4; Isa. 54:9; Ezek. 14:14; Ezek. 14:20 Give rest (give comfort) (05162) naham/nacham is a verb which means to be sorry, to pity, to console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted, to get revenge for oneself (Ge 27:42, Ezek 5:13). According to the TWOT nacham reflects the idea of "breathing deeply" and hence refers to the physical display of one's feelings, such as sorrow, or in this case compassion or comfort. Nacham in Genesis - Gen. 5:29; Gen. 6:6; Gen. 6:7; Gen. 24:67; Gen. 27:42; Gen. 37:35; Gen. 38:12; Gen. 50:21 QUESTION - Who was Noah in the Bible? ANSWER - We first hear about Noah in Genesis 5, which begins with “this is the book of the generations of Adam.” This is a recurring phrase in Genesis, and chapter 5 details the godly line of Seth as opposed to the worldly line of Cain (Genesis 4:17-24). Assuming no generational breaks, Noah represents the tenth generation from Adam. The genealogical account of Noah reads, “When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed’” (Genesis 5:28-29). Right from the start, we see that Noah is going to be special as he is the only member of this genealogy whose name is explained. His father, Lamech, states that his son, Noah, will bring relief (“Noah” sounds like the Hebrew word for “rest or relief”). We learn quickly what Noah was to relieve them from in Genesis 6:1-8, where we see the unfettered results of the fall as unrighteousness increases throughout the world. God indicts mankind with these words: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). God determined to "wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them" (Genesis 6:7). Yet, even in this situation, there is hope: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). Despite the rampant wickedness that was increasing exponentially upon the earth, there is one man who stands out—a man whose life was characterized by the hand of God’s grace upon him. Noah found favor with the Lord. God was about to send judgment upon the world for its wickedness, but He extends His saving grace to Noah and his family. Genesis 6:9 marks the beginning of the flood narrative, and it is here that we learn the most about Noah’s life. We learn that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and that he walked with God. One can almost see a progression of spirituality in this description of Noah’s life. By saying Noah was righteous, we know that he was obedient to God’s commands (as best as he was able and understood them at that time). He was blameless in his generation, standing out among the people of his day. While they were engaging in debauchery, Noah was living an exemplary life. Finally, Noah walked with God, which puts him in the same class as his great grandfather, Enoch (Genesis 5:24); this implies not only an obedient life, but one that has a vibrant and intimate relationship with God. We see Noah’s obedient life demonstrated in his willingness to obey without question the Lord’s commands regarding the ark (Genesis 6:22; 7:5, 9; 8:18). Consider that Noah and his generation more than likely had never seen rain before, yet God tells Noah to build a large seagoing vessel nowhere near a body of water. Noah’s trust in God was such that he promptly obeyed. Noah’s blameless life is made manifest as he obeys the Lord in light of the approaching day of wrath. The apostle Peter tells us that Noah was a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), and the author of Hebrews says that he “condemned the world” (Hebrews 11:7) through his righteous actions. Throughout the long delay of the coming judgment, Noah continued to faithfully obey the Lord. As evidence of his walk with God, after the flood, Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God (Genesis 8:20). Worship was a central part of Noah’s life. Aside from the flood narrative and the vignette of his drunkenness recorded in Genesis 9:20-27, we don’t know much about Noah’s life. Surely, the drunkenness wasn’t the only instance of impropriety in Noah’s life. Like all of us, Noah was born with a sin nature. The episode of his drunkenness was included in the narrative, more than likely, to explain the animosity between the Canaanites and the Israelites. Despite this incident, we do see that Noah was revered as one of the few exceptionally righteous men in the history of God’s people. Twice in Ezekiel 14, God says through the prophet that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were present in the land, God would not spare the people from judgment. That’s some righteous company to be in (Daniel and Job). We also know that Noah is included as an example of faith in Hebrews 11, another indication that Noah was considered a model of faithfulness and that he had the kind of faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). With all that said, Who was Noah in the Bible? Practically speaking, Noah is an example of a life of faith. Hebrews 11:7 says of Noah, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah didn’t need to “test” God before going into action; God commanded, and he obeyed. This was typical of Noah’s life. Noah was part of the godly line of Seth, of whom it was said, “At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). Noah was the result of generational obedience and faithfulness toward God. If we were to model our lives after Noah, there is no better rule to follow that to be “righteous, blameless in our generation, and to walk with God.” In other words, be right with God, be right with others, and have a reverent and worshipful relationship with God. You can almost hear the words of Jesus echoing here when He responds to the lawyer’s question regarding the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-39). Theologically speaking, we can also draw some lessons from Noah’s life. First and foremost, Noah’s life shows us the eternal truth that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Noah wasn’t an exemplary individual because he was somehow able to bypass the fallen sin nature we all possess. God’s grace was upon him, aside from which Noah would have perished with all of the other wicked sinners in the flood. Noah is also a prime example that God saves His elect. We see that God was patient concerning the coming judgment while Noah built the ark (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. This truth is explicitly stated in 2 Peter 3:8-9, as we learn that the Lord will postpone final judgment until all of the elect reach repentance. Finally, Noah’s life serves as a reminder that judgment on sin will come. The Day of the Lord will come (2 Peter 3:10). Jesus uses the life of Noah as a foreshadowing of what it will be like when the Son of Man returns in final judgment (Matthew 24:37-38; Luke 17:26-27). As such, we need to follow Noah’s example and be a “herald of righteousness” and heed the words of Paul: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Like Noah, we are Christ’s ambassadors in these last days. God’s judgment is coming, but He offers reconciliation through Jesus Christ. We must take this message of reconciliation to others.GotQuestions.org QUESTION - Why did Lamech think Noah would bring comfort (Genesis 5:29)? ANSWER - Many times in Scripture, we see that personal names have meanings that relate to the character of the people who bore them or to the times in which they lived. Noah’s name means “rest” or “consolation” and is related to a Hebrew word meaning “comfort.” Genesis 5:28–29 says, “When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’” So, Lamech named his son Noah. Genesis 5:29 provides the basic idea regarding Lamech’s thought process. He specifically mentions that the ground had been cursed as part of God’s judgment (cf. Genesis 3:17–19). The birth of Noah when Lamech was 182 years old would have provided “comfort” or “rest” from some of the work of subsistence farming. A son would one day be able to join in the labors of farming, giving Lamech some relief from his many years of manual labor. But Noah would provide more than physical rest. It appears that Noah’s name is also an inspired prediction regarding his life. The word Noah is taken from the Hebrew word for “rest,” nuakh (see 2 Samuel 14:17). Lamech lived in an evil time, before the Flood (Genesis 6:1). Noah’s father predicted that, in contrast to the world’s evil, Noah would represent righteousness and bring rest and peace in the midst of God’s judgment. Later in Genesis, Noah was indeed used as God’s agent of peace. He was called by God to build an ark that would save himself, seven of his family members, and enough land animals and birds to keep the species alive. The dove used by Noah to help determine if the flood waters had receded would later become known as a symbol of peace. In Genesis 9:12–15 God promised that the earth would never again be covered by water, and the sign of this covenant of peace was a rainbow. The New Testament affirms Noah’s role as one who brought comfort. Second Peter 2:5 calls Noah a preacher of righteousness. No others are mentioned as believing his message, and no one joined Noah’s family in the ark, but Noah had peace with God. He lived according to God’s ways and obeyed His commands in preparing for the Flood. If anyone had heeded Noah’s preaching, he or she could have found “rest” in the ark along with Noah, the man of rest. In both a literal and prophetic sense, Noah lived up to his name as one who would bring comfort. To this day, Noah is seen as a man of peace who led people and animals through a time of judgment and into a new world. Noah’s life was used as an illustration by Jesus in the Gospels: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26). There is coming a time that will be like Noah’s time when God’s judgment will come upon the earth. The proper response is to be like Noah and obey the Lord’s call for salvation now, while time remains (2 Corinthians 6:2; John 3:16; Acts 4:12).GotQuestions.org Robert Hawker on Genesis 5:29 - I still think, and believe that I always shall think, that holy men of old possess great superiority of faith to New Testament believers, in the attention they paid to the choice of names given to their children. Our choice, for the most part, is from caprice, or respect to our relations or earthly connections: they had an eye to heaven. Thus, in the instance before us, Lamech evidently called his son Noah, which signifies rest, in reference to “the rest which remaineth for the people of God!” and, as such, had an eye to Christ, the promised seed, in whom alone that rest was to be found. I do not presume to suppose that Lamech thought this child to be himself the promised seed, as our first mother Eve did at the birth of Cain, when she said, “I have gotten a man,” or, as it might be read, “the man, from the Lord.” (Gen. 4:1.) No doubt, she considered this her first-born son to be the very man, the Ishi, promised: and hence, when her second son was born she called him Abel, which means vanity, thereby intimating, what is indeed true, that every other man but the God-man is but vanity. Poor woman! how sadly mistaken she found herself! But though Lamech had not such high views of his son, as to suppose him the very Christ, yet in calling him Noah, it should seem probable, that he desired, in the remembrance of this child, to keep up an eye to Christ in him as a rest, and his son as a type of Christ, which Noah eminently was. And indeed the latter part of Lamech’s observation seems to confirm it: “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.” It would be a strange, not to say an unnatural thought, in a tender parent, to take comfort in the prospect of a son’s arriving to manhood, to take off all toil and labour from his parents, that they might enjoy ease; which would be the case had Lamech meant nothing more than the rest of this mortal life. In this sense, indeed, what is the curse here spoken of, and how could the labour of Noah take it away? But on the supposition that Lamech was so well taught of God, as to be looking forward to the day of Christ afar off, and under the believing expectation of Christ’s coming in the fulness of time, who would take away the curse, by being made both sin and a curse for his redeemed, he called his son Noah, that he might, as often as he should look upon the child, remember Christ. There is somewhat very sweet and striking in this circumstance, which may serve to explain why the Holy Ghost hath thus caused it to be so particularly recorded. My soul! gather a sweet improvement from this scripture, and do not fail to observe how graciously God the Holy Ghost dealt with the patriarchs, in causing, by so many ways, the one glorious event of Jesus and his salvation to be kept alive, in ages so remote from the accomplishment of redemption. And what hast thou to comfort thyself with, concerning thy work, and the toil of thine hands? What is thy rest, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed? Hast thou thy Noah, thy Jesus, who is thy hope, thy rest, thy righteousness? Precious, precious Noah! I would look up to thee, my Lord Jesus, and say, Thou hast comforted me, thou dost comfort me, under all the toil and sweat of brow in which I eat my daily bread! Thou hast taken away the curse of the ground, and art indeed thyself the whole blessing of it. Thou, blessed Jesus! art the rest “wherewith the Lord causeth the weary to rest; and thou art the refreshing!” (Isaiah 28:12.) “Return then to thy rest,” thy Noah, “my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” (Psalm 116:7.) Genesis 5:30 Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. begat sons - Ge 5:4 Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters Genesis 5:31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. he died - Ge 5:5 Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. Genesis 5:32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth Shem - Ge 6:10 7:13 9:18,19,22-27 10:1,21,32 1Ch 1:4-28 Lu 3:36 Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth Ray Pritchard - Living Lessons From an Ancient List Let’s wrap up our study by drawing three lessons from this ancient genealogy. A. People Matter to God. That’s obvious, isn’t it? Kenan and Mahalalel are otherwise unknown to us. We can’t say anything definite about what they did. Their personal details are completely hidden to us. But this much we know. They were in the godly line that stretches from Adam and Noah and they were both vital links in the chain. Even though Adam and Noah are much better known to us, without Kenan and Mahalalel the line would be broken and Noah would not be born. And Mahalalel was the grandfather of Enoch who walked with God. These names that are just words on paper to us represent men who once walked on the earth a long time ago. They lived for God in an ungodly age and they believed in God when others scoffed at them. They are true heroes and deserve to be remembered and even honored. And they remind us that no one is ever forgotten or overlooked by the Lord. Those who today stand strong in their faith will one day shine as the brightest stars in the firmament. God is not so unjust as to forget those who labor in obscurity for him. People matter. Names matter. Kenan matters. His name is in the book. B. Death Still Reigns Today. This list is like a monotonous drumbeat of death: Adam lived … and he died. Seth lived … and he died. Enosh lived … and he died. Kenan lived … and he died. And so on across the generations, the only exception being Enoch who was taken directly to heaven without seeing death. But all the rest lived hundreds of years and then they died. Death reigned in the earliest generations of world history. And death still reigns today. Just open any newspaper and look at the obituary section. This morning I checked the Chicago Tribune and found more than 150 obituaries. Tomorrow there will be more. And more the day after that. Every day a brand-new list, names never repeated. Why? Because death reigns in Chicago. But death also reigns for you and for me. If there is one thing about which we may be perfectly certain it is this: Unless the Lord returns in your lifetime, you are going to die someday. We say nothing is as certain as death and taxes, but death is far more certain. How certain is the fact of your death? So certain that there is an entire industry built about the expectation of your death. It’s called the life insurance industry. The only reason you buy life insurance is because someday you are going to die. If you lived forever, you’d never need life insurance. But you buy life insurance precisely because you know the fact of your death, you just don’t know the time of your death. You pay the money, but in order to get the insurance benefit, you have to die. If you live and don’t die, you’ve spent the money and you lose. But when you die, someone else gets the money. You lose either way. Don’t miss the point: Life insurance is based on one great theological truth—Death reigns. When you die, the coroner will fill out a death certificate for you. There’s a space on that certificate that says “Cause of Death.” If we understand the Bible, the answer is always the same: “Sin.” Not sickness, not cancer, not an accident, not old age. Those are merely symptoms of the one great cause of death: Sin. C. God Honors Those Who Live By Faith. The Christian life is not a marathon or a sprint. It’s a relay race where one person runs and then hands the baton of faith to the next runner who runs and hands it to the next runner. The most critical moment in any relay race is the few seconds when the runner who is finishing hands the baton to the runner who is starting. Timing is critical and so is the positioning of the hands. The tiniest mistake can cause the baton to be bobbled or to be dropped. Relay races often are won or lost at exactly that moment. (ED: See study Make Disciples) Here is the story of Genesis 5. Adam ran the race of faith and handed the baton to Seth who ran hard and handed it to his son Enosh who also ran hard. Before he died, he passed it along to his son Kenan who passed it to Mahalalel who passed it to Jared who passed it on to Enoch. As Enoch was rising to the sky, he tossed it to his son Methuselah who caught it and started running. Eventually he passed the baton of faith to Lamech who made sure that Noah got it. Ten generations, ten men who lived by faith, ten fathers who made sure their sons caught the faith and then passed it along to the next generation. That’s the whole life of faith in a nutshell. What we have been given, we pass along to our friends and neighbors. We pass it along to our co-workers and to our classmates. We tell it to our family and we labor in prayer to make sure that our children and our grandchildren pick up the baton and start running with it. Nothing matters more than this. If we are rich and successful, if we are famous and blessed with worldly acclaim, if we are regarded as the best and the brightest, if we are quoted and feted and praised by all men, it will all count for nothing if we fail to pass the baton of faith along to the next generation. What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet lose his own family? And if we go to our grave knowing that our children and grandchildren believe in Jesus, we can die happy, knowing that our time on earth was not spent in vain. Last Monday I presided at the funeral service for Eunice Blum. Harry and Eunice came to Calvary about the time I came as pastor in 1989. They were very faithful members of the congregation and loyal members of the Friendship Class and the Golden Heirs Club. They loved to work in the kitchen in preparation for the Wednesday night suppers. About a year ago Eunice was diagnosed with a debilitating lung disease that eventually took her life. For the last few months she was unable to leave her home at all. After the funeral service, Harry and Eunice’s daughter Eileen wrote me a letter telling me about her mother’s Sunday morning routine during the last months of her life. Eileen would go to her parents’ home so Harry could come to church. She and Eunice would have breakfast together and then listen to the Moody Church radio broadcast on WMBI. But always her heart was at Calvary: “Frequently Mom would ask what time it was and where was Dad now—Were they still in church or had Sunday School started? Was the choir singing? What were they singing that morning—what hymns? We would pray before eating and Mom would devote most of her prayer time to you, Pastor Ray, to those at church that morning, that the message would be clear and that hearts would be touched by God’s grace.” The last several months were quite difficult for Eunice as the disease progressed, making breathing and speaking quite difficult. But mother and daughter continued to pray together each Sunday morning. “We would pray and it was hard for Mom to put sentences together—and sometimes I really didn’t understand what she was trying to say—but she always mentioned your name, Pastor Ray. Her heart was at Calvary.” Now she is gone and the family feels the loss of such a good, godly, kind and gracious presence in the home. “We as a family are rejoicing that she is home with her heavenly Father—yet we grieve but we grieve with hope. Mom longed for heaven—many times I told her that her mansion wasn’t ready. Well, on July 12 it was.” God bless Eunice Blum. Though she is dead, she still speaks today. And she is alive in the presence of the Lord. Like Enoch of old, she left behind a witness that she walked with God to the very end. When her time on earth was done, God took her home to heaven. She passed the baton of faith along to the next generation. What more can a person do than that? She lived and died by faith and now she is with the Lord. If the list in Genesis 5 were extended, would your name be on the list? If you will walk with God, you can come to the end of life with full assurance that the best is yet to come. May God help us to run the race with endurance so that we can pass the baton of faith along to those who come after us. Eternal Father, teach us to live in light of eternity. Help us to walk with you, wherever you lead, with nothing held back, so that those who follow us will really be following you. Amen. QUESTION - When was Noah’s flood? ANSWER - Genesis 6—9 records the events of Noah’s flood, also called the Great Flood. If the genealogy provided in Genesis 5 is intended to be comprehensive, we can determine the dates of various events by simply adding up the time spans between fathers and sons, given in Genesis 5: Adam to Seth — 130 years Seth to Enosh — 105 years Enosh to Kenan — 90 years Kenan to Mahalalel — 70 years Mahalalel to Jared — 65 years Jared to Enoch — 162 years Enoch to Methuselah — 65 years Methuselah to Lamech —187 years Lamech to Noah —182 years According to this method, the time from Adam to Noah was approximately 1,056 years. These are approximate times because we don’t know if the years are counted from conception or birth; also, it is obvious that the years are given in whole numbers but no doubt included (or excluded) partial years. (For instance, Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, give or take a certain number of months and days.) So we have Noah’s birth, which occurred about 1,056 years after the creation of Adam. Then, in Genesis 7:11, we are told that the flood came in the 600th year of Noah’s life, so that would mean the Great Flood came approximately 1,656 years after Adam was created in Eden. Using a similar method places the creation of Adam and Eve at around 4004 BC. So, doing the math, Noah’s flood occurred in approximately 2348 BC. Similar genealogies are found throughout the Old Testament. Using the same method places Abraham’s calling at 228 years after Noah’s flood or about 1,884 years after the dawn of humanity. We can also use the genealogies to count backward from other dates that we know, such as the fall of Jerusalem. Using this method, Abraham was born about 2166 BC, and the exodus during Moses’ time would have happened about 1446 BC. Some scholars believe that the genealogies are not intended, and were never understood by the original audience, to be exhaustive. It could be that generations were skipped, as we know happened in the genealogy of Jesus recorded in Matthew. If this is the case in the Genesis 5 genealogy, and there are years unaccounted for, then we really have no idea when the Great Flood took place. The actual year of the flood is less important than the meaning of the flood, which is that God punishes sin but also provides a way of salvation. GotQuestions.org Walter Kaiser - Genesis 5:3–5 How Could Adam Live 930 Years? (Go to page 71 of Hard Sayings) Everyone who reads the list of the ten antediluvians in Genesis 5 and the list of ten postdiluvians in Genesis 11 is immediately struck by the longevity of these patriarchs. How is it possible that these people were able to live so long? Moreover, we are awed by the ages at which they were still able to father children. Noah became a proud father at a mere 500 years (Gen 5:32)! The question of the possible reconciliation of the results of scientific inquiry and the claims of Scripture could not be more challenging. The claims for the long lives and the ages at which these men were able to sire children is enough to lead to a distrust of the Scriptures almost from the very first chapters of the Bible. In fact, so notoriously difficult are the problems presented by the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 that they have been paraded for centuries as prime examples of chronological impossibilities in the Bible. A resolution for the kinds of issues raised here are found, however, in an understanding of the writer’s method. In April 1890, William Henry Green of the Princeton faculty wrote an article in Bibliotheca Sacra pointing to some clear principles used by the writers of Scripture in the construction of genealogies. Those principles include the following: 1. Abridgment is the general rule because the sacred writers did not want to encumber their pages with more names than necessary. 2. Omissions in genealogies are fairly routine. For example, Matthew 1:8 omits three names between Joram and Ozias (Uzziah); namely, Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:25), Joash (2 Kings 12:1) and Amaziah (2 Kings 14:1). In verse 11, Matthew omits Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:34). In fact, in Matthew 1:1 the whole of two millennia are summed up in two giant steps: “Jesus Christ, the son of David [about 1000 B.C.], the son of Abraham [about 2000 B.C.].” 3. The span of a biblical “generation” is more than our twenty to thirty years. In Syriac it equals eighty years. Often in the Exodus account a generation is 100 to 120 years. 4. The meanings of begat, son of, father of and even bore a son often have special nuances, as the context often indicates. To beget often means no more than “to become the ancestor of.” To be the father of often means being a grandfather or great-grandfather. The point is that the next key person was descended from that male named “father” in the text. The most instructive lesson of all can be gleaned from Kohath’s descent into Egypt (Gen 46:6–11) some 430 years (Ex 12:40) before the exodus. Now if Moses (one in the Kohath line) was 80 years old at the time of the exodus (Ex 7:7), and no gaps (such as are suggested by the above-mentioned principles) are understood (as we believe the evidence above now forces us to concede), then the “grandfather” of Moses had in Moses’ lifetime 8,600 descendants. Amazing as that might seem, here is the real shocker: 2,750 of those 8,600 descendants were males between the ages of 30 and 50 (Num 3:19, 27–28, 34; 4:36)! It is difficult to believe that the writers of Scripture were that naive. The form that Genesis 5 and 11 use, with few exceptions, is a stereotypic formula giving the age of the patriarch at the birth of his son, the number of years that he lived after the birth of that son, and then the total number of years that he lived until he died. It is the question of the function of these numbers that attracts our attention here. Since Zilpah is credited with “bearing” (yālaḏ̄) her grandchildren (Gen 46:18) and Bilhah is said to “bear” (yālaḏ) her grandchildren as well (Gen 46:25), it is clear that a legitimate usage of these numbers in the genealogies might well mean that B was a distant relative of A. In this case, the age of A is the age at the birth of that (unnamed) child from whom B (eventually) descended. The ages given for the “father” when the “son” was born must be actual years, as we shall presently see. The conflation takes place not at the point of supplying the actual years at which the father had a child; it is instead at the point where the name of the next noteworthy descendant is given instead of the immediate son. The ages given function as an indicator of the fact that the effects of the Fall into sin had not yet affected human generative powers as seriously as they have more recently. The same point, of course, is to be made with regard to human longevity. The fact that the record wishes to stress is the sad mortality of men and women as a result of the sin in the Garden of Eden. The repeated litany “and he died” echoes from the pages like the solemn toll of a funeral bell. Attempts to make the numbers more palatable have been crushed by the internal weight of their own argumentation or from a failure to care for all the data in a single theory. One abortive attempt was to treat the names as names of tribes rather than as names of individuals. This would seem to work until we meet up with Enoch, who was taken to heaven. It hardly seems fair to imply that the whole Enoch tribe was taken to heaven, so we are left with the idea that these really are meant to represent individuals. Another, equally unsuccessful, rationalization was that the “years” here represented a system of counting months, or something of that sort. In this view, the years would be reduced by a factor of 10 or 12. Accordingly, Adam’s total of 930 years could be reduced to the more manageable and believable 93 or 77 years. This theory runs into trouble when Nahor becomes the father of Terah at 29 years of age in Genesis 11:24. This would mean that he actually had a child when he was 2.9 or 2.4 years old! In that case we jump from the pan into the fire. Unfortunately for this theory, there are no known biblical examples of the word year meaning anything less than the solar year we are accustomed to in general speech. One final warning might be in order: do not add up the years of these patriarchs in Genesis 5 and 11 and expect to come up with the Bible’s date for the birth of the human race. The reason for this warning is clear: the Bible never adds up these numbers. It is not as though the Bible never gives us sums of years—there are the 430 years of Egyptian bondage in Exodus 12:40 and the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1. But in Genesis 5 and 11 the writer does not employ his numbers for this purpose; neither should we. Some who have violated this simple observation have seriously argued that the human race was created on October 24, 4004 B.C., at 9:30 a.m., 45th Meridian time. Being careful scholars from Cambridge, the cynic William Brewster quipped, they did not dare say with any more precision when humankind was born! The earliest definite date we can fix for any biblical person is around 2100 B.C. for the birth of Abram. The Julian calendar dates for anything before that are impossible to set with the present sets of data at our disposal. The creation of the universe is dated in Genesis 1:1 as being “in the beginning.” Of that we can be as certain as we are of revelation itself. The creation of Adam came six “days” later, but one must be warned that right there in the first chapters of Genesis the Bible uses the word day with three different meanings: (1) daylight (Gen 1:5), (2) a twenty-four-hour day (Gen 1:14) and (3) an epoch or era, as we use the word in speaking of the “day” of the horse and buggy or Abraham Lincoln’s “day” (Gen 2:4; compare the RSV’s “In the day” with the NIV’s “When”). I would opt for the day-age theory, given all that must take place on the sixth “day” according to the Genesis record. Incidentally, this day-age view has been the majority view of the church since the fourth century, mainly through the influence of Saint Augustine. So Adam did live a real 930 years. The sons attributed to him may have been his direct sons or they may have been from two to six generations away, but in the same line. See also articles on “Why Don’t Bible Genealogies Always Match Up?” (Go to page 30 of Hard Sayings) and “Aren’t Many Old Testament Numbers Wrong?” (Go to page 32 of Hard Sayings)