Enoch and Noah
Enoch was an Old Testament character from whose
life we can glean something very helpful. We do not
know exactly when he repented or what kind of life he
had lived before he turned 65 years old. We know,
however, from the Biblical record that he began to
walk with God after he fathered Methuselah in his 65th year. From
that moment onward his life underwent a drastic change (“Enoch
lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah; and Enoch walked
with God after he begat Methuselah”—Gen. 5.21,22). Possibly it was
because he had seen a prophecy. He lived on earth a total of 365
years (see 5.22b,23), but during the last 300 of those years he
“walked with God.” And hence, the birth of his son must have had a
deep effect upon him. Moreover, if we carefully compute the years
Methuselah lived, we will discover that the Flood catastrophe began
to occur exactly in the year he died. So that evidently, at the birth of
his son Methuselah, Enoch had been shown by God the terrible
coming tribulation that was to befall the earth. He was awakened and
moved by the fear of God.
It is interesting to note that while Noah preached righteousness
Enoch preached judgment. Noah preached the way of salvation
because God told him to build an ark of safety. Enoch preached
judgment because this was what his son bore witness to. We can only
preach that which has affected us inwardly. By faith, Noah prepared
the ark. By faith, Enoch reaped the benefit of walking with God.
We would do well to know that sinners will be judged, the flesh
will be judged, and the world will be judged: “the day of the Lord
will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with
great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat,
and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2
Peter 3.10). Will we love the world if we truly know that such is its
end [i.e. the end of the millennial reign of Christ on earth when earth
will finally be burnt up]? See the connection to 2 Peter 3.13, "Nevertheless
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness." Have we ever heard of a man who, knowing
that a certain bank was going bankrupt, would purposely deposit his
money in it? If he knows the impending bankruptcy of that bank, he
will never deposit any money into it. In like manner, then, we who know
what the end of the world shall be—even its being burned up—should
never love it again. Enoch perceived the meaning of Methuselah and was
therefore awakened to spiritual things, walked with God ever
afterwards, and was eventually raptured to heaven, as the Genesis
account of his later life tells us: “Enoch walked with God: and he
was not; for God took him” (5.24).
