Enoch is one of the truly mysterious figures in Scriptural history

He was one of those long-lived ante-diluvians. That is, he lived before the Deluge (Noah’s great flood) and was early in the line of primal fathers who lived to incredible ages. Genesis 5:21–24 devotes only fifty-one words (in English) to describing Enoch:

At age sixty-five, Enoch began walking with God. For three hundred years, he walked so closely with the Lord that it is as if one day, the Lord looked at him and said, “Enoch, we’re closer to My house than yours, so why don’t you just come on up and stay with Me?” Enoch never died. He was just raptured, translated, and snatched up into heaven, where he is living to this day.

You see, walking with God has benefits not only in this life but in heaven—where all things will be right, where every tear will be dried, where every question will be answered, where every problem will be solved.

Enoch served as a prophet for over three centuries, preaching the unwelcome message of coming judgment. Jude 14, 15 records this, saying

Enoch was no wilting flower! His prophetic bloom remained fresh and full for 300 years!

That is, our walking with God is not only for our benefit but for His enjoyment. We see this in Genesis 3, a story we know well.

Walking with another person suggests a mutual agreement of soul, as the prophet Amos understood when he asked, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3). It is impossible to walk together unless there are several mutual agreements. To begin with, you must agree on the destination. Husbands and wives know that the paths to Bloomingdale’s and Eddie Bauer are not the same! You cannot walk together and go to separate destinations. Enoch was heading in God’s direction.

Of course, it is quite possible to be headed to the same destination but by separate paths. But again, two cannot walk together unless they have the same destination and follow the same path. This Enoch did with God!

The other side of this coin, the primary side that so pleased God that he decided to take Enoch to Heaven, was Enoch’s faith—“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away” (11:5a). Though the Old Testament does not say Enoch had faith, the inspired author of Hebrews says that was his primary characteristic. Faith and a righteous walk with God are inseparably joined in the author’s mind—just as he had observed about Abel in the previous verse: “By faith he was commended as a righteous man” (v. 4). The preacher is saying that faith precedes and produces the walk with God that so pleases him.

Enoch lived in dark, hostile days that were uncongenial to his faith. Life was so inhospitable that finally, in the time of Noah:

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” (Genesis 6:11–13)

However, Enoch resisted the sinful gravity of his culture and walked with God for over 300 years!

God declared that man should walk with Him and desired that man would walk with Him. But man didn’t. He failed in Eden and failed in the days of Amos. Did God wash His hands and say, “Forget it”? No. Even though man was polluted by sin, God determined that man could walk with Him by becoming a Man Himself.

God sent His Son to be slain for our sin, to take away the disharmony, the disagreement, the barrier between us and God.

The Lamb of God took away every sin I have ever committed in my entire life. On the Cross, He paid for every carnal thought, sinful act, and stubborn mistake. That’s why John exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” We can walk with our Father once again. We can have harmony and unity with God because Jesus paid the price for our sin. The barrier is gone.

Our walks become complicated. We think we have to learn ten verses a day, read ten chapters in the Bible a week, and witness to ten people at work in order to maintain our walk with the Lord. We develop philosophies and theologies, obligations and regulations—and then wonder where the joy of our walk with the Lord went.

The problem with many believers is that, although we understand we’re saved by grace and not works, after we’re saved, we start working. We start complicating things and wonder where the joy went.

To walk with God simply means realizing you’re a sinner and thanking Him for saving you. It’s not dependent upon your working, witnessing, praying, studying, tithing, or worshiping. It’s just saying, “Lord, I’m a sinner. Thank You for saving me.”

We worship and witness, pray and praise, sacrifice and serve not to earn God’s favor but because He has already shown such favor to us. The Christian life is a delight because it’s so simple. We can walk in agreement with God solely because of the work of the Lamb. It’s finished. It’s complete. Enjoy your salvation—and be free.