So-and-so begat such-and-such begat another and ... on and on they go! Don’t those genealogy passages put you to sleep. Talk about dry and dusty!
But once in a while you can unearth a nugget. Enoch is one of those!
Read Genesis 5. Adam fathered Seth, who fathered Enosh... Kenan... Mahalalel... Jared... Enoch... and so on.
Here’s what it says about Enoch: “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:21-24, ESV)
By the way ... Methuselah, Enoch’s kid, lived 969 years. That’s longer than any other. How could they possibly live that long? That must be a mistake! Right? ... Wrong! The Bible says it, so I believe it. I believe that a great fish really did swallow Jonah. God really did part the Red Sea, and Jesus really fed 5000 with a little boy’s lunch! It’s called faith!
Now, back to Enoch...
He walked with God! And he was not, for God took him!
Here’s how that looks to me. God and Enoch are friends. Good friends! They walk together every morning and every evening. One day they went for a walk, leaving Enoch’s tent early on a cloudless morning. By late afternoon, they are still strolling along, shoulder to shoulder, having a great time, when God says, “Enoch, we’re closer to my house than yours. Why don’t you just come to my place for dinner? So, Enoch went, and stayed over for breakfast, and ... well ... he just moved in!” He didn’t die. He just moved to Heaven.
The Hall of Faith says it this way. “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5, ESV)
Did you catch the last part? Enoch pleased God! Enoch made God happy! He made Him proud! They spent quality time together. They invested in each other. They were friends!
I want to be like Enoch. I want to walk with God! I want my epitaph to read, “He lived in God’s presence, and he made God smile!”