The Faith of Enoch

The Faith of Enoch
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Abel was slain by his brother Cain. Abel’s faith not only produced an inward righteousness, it also produced an outward righteousness; a proof to the world of what had taken place on the inside.

Genesis 4, beginning in verse 16 describes what happened to Cain.

Genesis 4:16: "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."

The word “Nod” means “banishment.”

Verse 17 continues, "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch – and he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch."

The age old question arises: Where did Cain get his wife? Genesis 5:4 says, "And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters."

Cain married his sister and God allowed him to. In the beginning it had to be allowed because there were so few people on the earth at that time. Later, God did not allow this to be done.

Verse 18 of Genesis 4 continues, "And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael; and Methusael begat Lamech."

We are going to run across the names of Lamech and Enoch in the lineage of Seth, also.

Verse 25, "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."

The name of “Seth” means “substitute.” After Abel had been slain, there needed to be another line through which to bring in the righteous. Cain and his offspring were evil. The Caananites came through the line of Cain. Those who eventually brought trouble into this earth came through the line of Cain.

Verse 26 continues, "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."

Notice, it was through the line of Seth men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Seth wasa godly man. Seth’s lineage is brought down through Genesis Chapter 5, verses 21-24, "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and beg at Methusaleh: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh 300 years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."

Hebrews, Chapter 11, verse 5, talks about Enoch’s faith. It says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see (physical) death; and was not found, because God translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God."

Enoch not only walked holy before God, he walked holy before men. His inward faith was exhibited to men through his life. For 300 years, Enoch’s walk with God became so intense that one day he just disappeared. The “death” spoken of in verse 5 is physical death. Enoch is a type of the rapture of the church. Notice the next four words in this verse, "...and was not found." That means people looked for him. The word, “testimony” is the same Greek word as, “witness” in the previous verse. A testimony means before Enoch left this earth, he not only pleased God, he showed men that he pleased God. His life was a witness to all those around him. They looked at Enoch and they could see God walking in this earth.

The thread running through all of these heroes of faith is they used their faith and pleased God as a result.
Verses 21 and 22 of Genesis 5 describe what caused Enoch to walk with God. "And Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methusaleh: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh 300 years."

These verses do not tell us what Enoch did before he begat Methusaleh. We do know however, that he did not walk with God. We do know after Methusaleh was born he walked with God 300 years, and his walk became so intense that at the end of that 300 years he was raptured. What is it that happened to Enoch that caused him to walk with God? If you trace Methusaleh’s life, you will find he died the year after the flood hit. When Methusaleh was born, Enoch saw a vision of the flood of Noah and the Lord told him, “Your son will be a living witness on this earth. As long as he is alive, My mercy and long-suffering will not come to an end.” Noah and his sons were not the only one’s preaching about the flood. Methusaleh and Enoch were also preaching the flood was coming.

The book of Jude, verse 14 also mentions Enoch. It says, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with then 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."

In other words, Enoch saw a day when the Lord would come out of heaven to execute judgment on all the wickedness of the earth at one time, along with ten thousands of his saints. Enoch did not have one vision, he had two. He had a vision of the time when the flood would come into this earth and destroy it. But, he also had a vision of a day coming in which the Lord would return from heaven with ten thousands of His saints. At that time, the evil of the earth would be destroyed and His Millennial reign would begin.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 24:37, speaking of the days of the Second Advent, "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

This verse is speaking of the coming of the Son of man (Jesus Christ) with ten thousands of saints. At the rapture, Jesus will return and appear in the clouds to receive ten thousands of saints, but seven years later, Jesus will return with ten thousands of saints to execute judgment on this earth.

Verses 38 and 39 continue, "For as in the days that were before the flood they (unbelievers) were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

In the days of Noah, all the unbelievers were removed off of the earth and when the flood waters were gone, God began a whole new dispensation. In the same way, when Jesus returns at the Battle of Armageddon, all the unbelievers will be removed from the earth and the believers will settle into a whole new dispensation, the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those two events are seen together, and Enoch had a vision of that.

Hebrews 11 continues in verse 6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him." The men and women mentioned in Hebrews 11 had faith on the inside of them, and their works were a product of their faith. The book of James says faith without works is dead. Your faith must have production for the world to see, but we do not try to produce something without having the life inside us.

Verse 6 says again, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he who cometh to God, (or approaches God), must believe He is and He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him."

This verse is saying if you are going to enter into the presence of God, you must realize He exists. The word “is” in this verse is mentioned twice, but it is two different words. The first “is” actually means He exists, He has always existed, and He will always exist. The next word for “is” is actually the word “becomes.” God is not just instantly our rewarder. He rewards us when we diligently seek Him. The whole book of Hebrews is about how God rewarded those who diligently sought Him and Hebrews 11 gives us examples of how specific individuals were rewarded.

The next hero of faith described is Noah. Verse 7 of Hebrews 11 says, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear (or motivated by reverence) prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which (by the ark) he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

Genesis 6, beginning in verse 11 says, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth."

At this time, Noah and his family were the only righteous people on the face of the earth. All other flesh was perverted. Noah and his family had preached righteousness, judgment, and of the coming destruction, and not only did Noah preach it, Noah’s father Lamech preached it as well as his grandfather Methusaleh and his great grandfather, Enoch.

Verse 13 continues, "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

Verse 17, "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die."

God went on to describe how He was going to destroy the earth by flooding it with water. The rains came for 40 days and literally covered the whole earth so even the mountains were covered. However, not only was there rain, Genesis 7:11 says all the fountains of the great deep (earth) were broken up. The water came up and the water came down until all that could be seen was water. Listen to me carefully; before the time of the flood, it had never rained. The earth was actually watered by a mist coming out of the ground and the earth was surrounded by a canopy of clouds. No one before the time of Noah had seen the sun. The earth was watered by a mist that came up during the day. When God told Noah it was going to rain, Noah did not know what rain was.

Hebrews 11:7 says again, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as of yet." Noah had never seen rain. He had no idea what rain was. Noah believed God about something he had no comprehension of. He was warned of things no one had ever seen and when he began to preach this, the whole world laughed at him. After 40 days, there was no canopy left above the earth because it had all collapsed in the form of rain. The canopy that surrounded the earth was God’s protection against all of the negative things resulting from the sun.

Just as Noah preached in his day, so do many today, but a day is coming when the door is shut. Destruction is going to hit this earth and as it was in the day of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Second Coming of the Son of man. He shall come with ten thousands of saints to execute judgment on this earth. Noah is an example for us today. Just as Noah appropriated his righteousness, so can you appropriate your righteousness. Just as Noah escaped the corruption of his day and God spared him, so He can spare us because He is the same today as He was yesterday as He will be tomorrow!

Bob Yandian

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