“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). 

There is not much said about the man Enoch, the son of Jared of the line of Seth.  However, his story is a life to be studied.  He is noteworthy of a man of faith who pleased God.  That alone says something of value.  Consider three other lessons from Enoch.

1.  A Godly Progenitor.  The first lesson learned from Enoch is the bloodline of his fathers and his subsequent bloodline down to Noah.  It is written, “Adam, Sheth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (1 Chron. 1:1-4).  Genesis 5 is the record from Moses giving more details of this lineage.  While Adam had a fleshly line through Cain as seen in Genesis 4:16-24, such was a line that did not seek after the ways of God.  It is stated of the line of Seth, “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:25-26).  Here one sees that the line of Adam through Seth were godly men who looked to God.  While it is possible to be godly having come from a godless family heritage, it is a tremendous blessing to come from those who fear God and continue to pass that down to the next generations.

2.  A Godly Personage.  Moses wrote specifically of Enoch, “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5:21-24).  Here are some details that show what kind of person Enoch was from a family and spiritual standpoint.  He walked with the true God which was a walk of faith (cf. Heb. 11:5) and showed his lineage for three hundred years what a godly man looked like.  When one does the math of how old Enoch was at the birth of Methuselah and Lamech, the grandson of Enoch, one sees that both of these men had Enoch’s godly life exemplified before them before he was translated.  Lamech could tell Noah, the great-grandson of Enoch, about his ancestor and the special person that he was.

3.  A Godly Prophet.  Jude wrote, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 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” (Jude 14-15).  Enoch did not live in a world where everyone was godly.  He is noted here as being God’s prophet to seek to turn the ungodly of his day unto the Lord.  The judgment day of the Lord was a major subject of his prophetic work.  The Lord would demonstrate divine judgment upon the world within three generations of Enoch in the days of Noah.  The final judgment was foretold by Enoch that all might heed and prepare.  Enoch’s translation shows life after this life.

Jimmy Clark