Scripture Reading: Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:1-2, 5-6, 13; Jude 14-25
Ⅰ
The ultimate issue of man's fall is death—Gen. 5; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:26.
Ⅱ
The way to escape death and obtain the testimony of being well pleasing to God is to walk with God—Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5-6:
A
To walk with God is not to override God, not to be presumptuous, not to do things according to our own concept and desire, not to do things according to the current of the age, and not to do anything without God—cf. Psa. 19:12-13; Josh. 9:14b; Luke 24:15.
B
To walk with God is to take Him as our center and everything, to live and do things according to God and with God, according to His revelation and leading, and to do everything with Him—Rom. 8:4, 13-14; Gal. 2:2a; 2 Cor. 5:14-15.
C
To walk with God means that we do not live by what we are or can do but by the immortal life, which is Christ Himself—2 Cor. 5:4, 9.
D
To walk with God is to have habitual fellowship with God, to be in constant touch with the Lord, and to be under His constant infusion—1 John 1:3; Phil. 4:6; 2 Cor. 3:16, 18.
E
To walk with God is to continually exercise our spirit to enjoy the Blessed Trinity—Jude 14-25.
F
To walk with God implies the denying of our self and everything that is of our self that we may be one with Him; it implies that we have given ourselves to Him and that we will give in to Him and let Him take the lead—Matt. 16:24-25; 2 Cor. 2:13-14.
Ⅲ
To walk with God is to walk by faith—2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11:5-6:
A
Faith means that we believe that God is—vv. 1-2, 6; 2 Cor. 4:13, 18:
１
Without faith it is impossible to please God, to make God happy—Heb. 11:6a.
２
To believe that God is, is to believe that He is everything to us and that we are nothing—John 8:58; Eccl. 1:2.
３
To believe that God is implies that we are not; He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything—Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5.
４
To believe that God is, is to deny our self; in the whole universe He is, and all of us are nothing—Luke 9:23.
５
I should not be anything; I should not exist; only He should exist—"It is no longer I, but Christ"—Gal. 2:20.
６
At his conversion, the Lord told Saul of Tarsus, "I am Jesus"—Acts 9:5:
ａ
The Lord was saying, "I am the great I Am. I am the One that is. You must believe that I am and you are not."
ｂ
Eventually, Saul was over and Paul came up—13:9.
７
This is faith—"O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here"—J. N. Darby.
B
Faith means that we believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him—Heb. 11:6; Gen. 15:1; Phil. 3:8, 14:
１
Enoch's reward was the highest degree of life—escape from death—Heb. 11:5a; 2 Cor. 5:4; Rom. 8:6, 10-11; 5:17.
２
The Lord is a rewarder, and we need to be His seekers—Psa. 27:4, 8; 42:1-2; 43:4; 73:25; 119:2, 10.
C
Faith means that we believe in God's word—cf. Luke 1:38; Rom. 10:17:
１
When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he had a son and gave him the name Methuselah (Gen. 5:21); this name has a prophetic significance, meaning, "when he is dead it shall be sent":
ａ
By naming his son Methuselah, Enoch prophesied of the coming judgment of the flood in the year that Methuselah died, which was Noah's six hundredth year—Gen. 7:6; 5:25-29a:
⑴
Methuselah begot Lamech at the age of one hundred eighty-seven (5:25), Lamech begot Noah when he was one hundred eighty-two (5:28), and when Noah was six hundred, the deluge was sent (7:11).
⑵
If we add these three figures together, we arrive at a total of nine hundred sixty-nine years, the age that Methuselah died—5:27.
ｂ
Enoch's prophecy was uttered when he was sixty-five, at which time he must have received God's revelation, was inspired with the divine will, and learned of the coming judgment upon the entire ungodly generation of mankind—Jude 14-15.
２
Thereafter, day and night Enoch was expecting the fulfillment of that prophecy, and that expectation motivated him not to follow the current of the age but to walk with God and thus live a godly and holy life—cf. 2 Pet. 3:10-12.
Ⅳ
Enoch, as the first person to be raptured, is the representative of all the overcomers who will be raptured while they are living—Matt. 24:37-51; Rev. 14:1; Luke 21:34-36:
A
Our being raptured depends on our being mature in the divine life by our walking with God—Heb. 6:1a.
B
Enoch continually walked upward with God day and night for three centuries, becoming closer to God and more one with God each day until "he was not, for God took him"—Gen. 5:24; cf. S. S. 8:5a.