May 17 - Genesis 5:24

Enoch walked with God;

then he was no more,

because God took him.

Genesis 5:24

A friend emailed the other day asking about Enoch and the story about how he went to heaven. I thought I’d share it with you too!

1.    Enoch was one of only two humans who (according to scripture) never died. The other was Elijah, who was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire.

2.    Enoch walked with God. What does that mean? Adam is our model for both “walking with God” and a close relationship with God. The word picture that Genesis creates is that near the end of each day at the time of the evening breeze, God and Adam would walk together. They’d talk. They’d laugh. They’d share life. Like a curious child, full of wonder, Adam would probably ask a million questions of his Father. And it was friendship, relationship, joy.

3.    Enoch was depicted as walking with God too. The truly intimate walks with God ended, however, with sin and the Fall. Nevertheless, Enoch (and Jesus) are reminders that God still invites us to walk intimately with him … even after the Fall.

4.    The picture I have – which is probably more imagination than fact – is Enoch and God walking along together, discussing life. And as they walked – and without Enoch even knowing what was happening – the path beneath them began to disappear. Without Enoch even knowing what was happening, that invisible line between heaven and earth had disappeared. Enoch wasn’t walking on earth anymore. He was walking on something more firm and more eternal. He stepped right into heaven.

5.    Indeed, as scripture puts it: “Gen 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.”

6.    That quote was from the NRSV. The New Living Translation takes out all the wonder, imagery, and mystery out of the verse; nevertheless, it wonderfully emphasizes faith as relationship as it says … “[Enoch] enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him.”

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who wants

– as the old hymn sings –

“just a closer walk with Thee.”