Hebrews 11:5-6: By Faith Enoch
2023-07-01
Hebrews 11:5
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)
In the life of Enoch, we see that faith saves from death. Previously, we saw how Abel died, but he was still alive in some way. Enoch did not see death in any way. Consider Genesis 5:21-24. After generations of death, we see a difference with Enoch. The six ancestors that preceded him all died. “And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died” (Genesis 5:20), It is the disappointing refrain we see with each man. All these men had many sons and daughters. Imagine how many children you would have if you lived an average of 900 years! They all would have died. However, we see a glimmer of hope in this one man, Enoch.
What is different with this man Enoch? He walked with God. Adam and Eve did that once. “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). Enoch now walked with God in a very personal way.
Noah also walked with God, and he was saved from the wrath of the Flood. “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).
God commanded Abram to walk before Him: “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).
From these examples, we see that walking with God or before God also entails righteousness and perfection. This walking with God also leads to deliverance: “And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth” (Genesis 48:15-16).
Walking with God means to be one of His people: “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Leviticus 26:12).
There is a close relationship between God and those who walk with them. It implies communion, communication, and a continual dependence. “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17).
It seems like Enoch started to walk with God after Methuselah was born. He merely “lived” up until that point. Then, he walked with God for 300 years. This is far greater than anybody else in the Bible if we consider all the great saints that were of close communion with God. He was not on earth for half the average of the expected lifespan of those days, “for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).
The Bible says that Enoch “was not found.” Imagine all his friends and family were looking for him. Elijah was the only other person whom God took without physically dying (that we know of). We see the dramatic way God took Elijah out of the world, and how only Elisha saw him being taken away. “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces” (2 Kings 2:11-12).
The sons of the prophets wanted to be sure that the Lord took Elijah, and that he was not left behind. “And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?” (2 Kings 2:16-18). I would think that Enoch had others that loved him that knew for sure that he was taken by the Lord and not had just gone missing.
The rapture will be much like this; people will bodily ascend into heaven, but in that case being transformed into His likeness.
However, it was not just the testimony of other people that we know that God took Enoch. It was the testimony “that he pleased God.”
Enoch was not some hermit serving the Lord in private. He was a notorious preacher of his day. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten 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” (Jude 1:14-15).
Enoch was a prophet who spoke of the coming of the Lord, but in the negative sense. He preached hard against ungodliness, warning that the Lord would return with His multitude to destroy His enemies. Likely much of his preaching preserved his generation from wrath but also made him many enemies. He please God, but not necessarily his fellow man.
Jude correlates the people being destroyed in Enoch’s prophecy as ungodly people that infiltrate the church. The previous verses tell us, “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 1:12-13). The gravest of judgment is reserved for evil people who attempt to destroy God’s church.
Enoch pleased God. What else pleases God? We read these examples throughout the Bible:
It pleases God to preach His Word, including the Gospel: “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
It pleases God to save wicked people, make them holy, and use them for His service. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen” (Galatians 1:15-16). And again, “For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people” (1 Samuel 12:22).
It pleases God to bless His people. “And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness” (Numbers 24:1). The prophet then continued to bless God’s people.
It pleases God to ask for wisdom. “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing” (1 Kings 3:9-10).
It pleased God to make His Son receive His wrath for sin in the place of His people. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: 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)
But what is the prerequisite to all the things mentioned previously? It is faith. You can do what those men of old all did, but without faith, you cannot please God. We are given two reasons. Faith implies you (1) acknowledge His existence and (2) He rewards those who “diligently seek him.”
By general revelation, we can know there is a God and that He will judge unrighteousness. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Romans 1:18-19). General revelation reveals the negative side: judgment and condemnation. God is good and all powerful, and we are not.
By special revelation, we know God on a personal level and the positive side: grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Since faith is the eye by which we see Him, you cannot know Him on this level without it. God is not seen with our eyes, being a Spirit who is unseen. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3). And again, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). This is why it says “he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” If you do not approach Him by faith, you know He is one who judges you.
We “see” God by faith, and the more we seek Him in this way, the more clearly we see Him. Faith is a muscle we exercise; it can develop or atrophy depending on how we use it.