ENOCH PLEASED GOD

1. Enoch never ceased to capture imagination of men, there are many fables but one thing is certain, “… before his translation HE HAD THIS TESTIMONY, that HE PLEASED GOD” [Hebrews 11:5b] By the time of his birth, the rot that culminated in the FLOOD in Noah’s time had set in; the revival in Genesis 4:26 did little to turn the tide, “And GOD saw that the WICKEDNESS OF MAN WAS GREAT IN THE EARTH, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” [Genesis 6:5] Some in his generation no doubt called upon the Name of the Lord, none “PLEASED GOD”, increasing the weight of the CURSE; this much Lamech confessed, “And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and TOIL OF OUR HANDS, because of the GROUND WHICH THE LORD HAD CURSED” [Genesis 5:29] Does this not sound familiar? Are we not weighted down by SIN in cesspools of toil and sorrows. Adam was 622 years old when Enoch was born and testified of the VOICE that WALKED in Eden as he did to all who came before him. When Enoch was sixty-five years old, took the first step to WALK with God, “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD AFTER HE BEGAT Methuselah …” [Genesis 5:21-22]

2. The template of God’s relationship with man is best illustrated with “WALKING”, “And they heard the VOICE of the LORD God WALKING in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” [Genesis 3:8] The VOICE of the LORD is the ALMIGHTY reaching out in fellowship to deliver us from SIN and DEATH; the VOICE of the Shepherd calling His lost SHEEP, “MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them, and THEY FOLLOW ME: And I give unto them ETERNAL LIFE; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” [John 10:27-28] God’s Sheep are those who not only HEAR but turn around to FOLLOW Him; Enoch knew the story from his youth but not until he was sixty-five did he take the first step. The same God is calling you to WALK with Him, as he did Abraham, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; WALK BEFORE ME, and BE THOU PERFECT” [Genesis 17:1] The GOSPEL preached in the name of Jesus Christ is the VOICE that WALKED in Eden calling you to REPENT and step in line with Him. As the joy of the Shepherd has no limitation for the lost Sheep that return, so is God PLEASED with those who REPENT, “I say unto you, that likewise JOY shall be in HEAVEN over one SINNER THAT REPENTETH, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” [Luke 15:7]

3. WALKING with God is the spiritual odyssey of FAITH, “But WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD: for he that cometh to God must BELIEVE that HE IS, and that he is a REWARDER of them that diligently SEEK HIM” [Hebrews 11:6] The fathers, from Seth to Jared, no doubt had diverse measures of FAITH but not enough to maintain brisk WALK with God or PLEASE Him; FAITH without UNDERSTANDING is LITTLE FAITH and soon fizzles out; overwhelmed with WORRY [Luke 12:28] tormented with FEAR [Matthew 8:26] fraught with doubt [Matthew 14:31] We all get started with LIITLE FAITH even Enoch, GREAT FAITH is fashioned in deep communion in total submission to God, “The eyes of your UNDERSTANDING BEING ENLIGHTENED; that ye may know what is the HOPE of his calling, and what the riches of the GLORY of his INHERITANCE in the saints” [Ephesians 1:18] FAITH boosted with UNDERSTANDING of personal identity of God is delivered from concomitant disabilities of SELF, we are delivered from SELF and our FAITH firmly anchored in HOPE of the PROMISE not SEEN, “Now FAITH is the substance of things HOPED FOR, the evidence of things NOT SEEN” [Hebrews 12:1] When all else around Enoch had their FAITH submerged by WORK and TOIL of the CURSE [Genesis 5:29b] Enoch had his FAITH buoyed with HOPE in SALVATION that should come through Jesus Christ, “And ENOCH also, the seventh from Adam, PROPHESIED of these, saying, Behold, THE LORD COMETH with ten thousands of his saints” [Jude 1:14]

4. ENOCH PLEASED GOD not because he was blameless, “Even as Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and it was ACCOUNTED to him for RIGHTEOUSNESS” [Galatians 3:6] Enoch PLEASED God by what he SAW, Jude 1:14, and BELIEVED of Christ thousands of years ahead of time. He UNDERSTOOD by REVELATION that the LAMB on the throne was God, in Christ, “SLAIN” to grant us victory over DEATH [Revelation 13:8] Enoch’s FAITH was so strong DEATH could not have him and was God PLEASED, “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” [Hebrews 11:5] The same God is PLEASED when eyes of our UNDERSTANDING are enlightened to SEE the fulness of the FATHER in the SON, “… in the MIDST OF THE THRONE and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a LAMB AS IT HAD BEEN SLAIN, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD sent forth into all the earth” [Revelation 5:6] We, as Enoch, shall be translated not because we are faultless but by evidence of diligent FAITH, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all HOLY CONVERSATIONGODLINESS and GODLINESS, Looking for and hasting unto the COMING OF THE DAY OF GOD, …” [2 Peter 3:11-12]