Vol.12 No.1

The Man Who Walked to Heaven
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:24
By Ellen G. White

It is written of Enoch that he lived 65 years and [had] a son. After that he walked with God 300 years. During these earlier years Enoch loved and feared God and kept His commandments. From the lips of Adam he had learned the dark story of the Fall, and the cheering one of God’s grace as seen in the promise; and he relied upon the Redeemer to come.

But after the birth of his first son, Enoch was drawn into a closer relationship with God. He realized more fully his obligations and responsibility as a son of God. As he saw the child’s love for its father, its simple trust in his protection; as he felt the deep, yearning tenderness of his own heart for the first-born son, he learned of the wonderful love of God to men in the gift of His Son, and the confidence which children of God may repose in their heavenly Father. The infinite, unfathomable love of God through Christ became the subject of his meditations day and night; with all his soul he sought to reveal that love to the people among whom he dwelt.

Friend of god

Enoch’s walk with God was not in a trance or a vision, but in all the duties of his daily life. He did not become a hermit, for he had a work to do for God in the world. In the family, in his [communication] with men, as a husband, a father, a friend, a citizen, he was the steadfast, unwavering servant of the Lord.

His heart was in harmony with God’s will; for “can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3. There are few Christians who would not be far more earnest and devoted if they knew they had but a short time to live, or that the coming of Christ was about to take place. But Enoch’s faith [became] stronger, his love became more ardent, with the lapse of centuries.

Distressed by the increasing wickedness of the ungodly, and fearing that their infidelity might lessen his reverence for God, Enoch avoided constant association with them, and spent much time in solitude, meditation and prayer. Thus he waited before the Lord, seeking a clearer knowledge of His will. To him prayer was the breath of the soul; he lived in the very atmosphere of heaven.

He was a fearless reprover of sin. While he preached the love of God in Christ to the people of his time, and pleaded with them to forsake their evil ways, he rebuked prevailing iniquity and warned that judgment would surely be visited upon the transgressor. It was the Spirit of Christ that spoke through Enoch, not alone in utterances of love, compassion, and entreaty. God puts into the heart and lips of His messengers truths to utter that are keen and cutting as a two-edged sword.

The power of God was felt by those who heard. Some heeded the warning, and renounced their sins; but multitudes mocked the solemn message, and went on more boldly in their evil ways. The servants of God are to bear a similar message in the last days; it will also be received with unbelief and mockery. The antediluvian world rejected the warning words of him who walked with God. So will the last generation make light of the warnings of the Lord’s messengers.

In the midst of active labor, Enoch steadfastly maintained communion with God. The greater and more pressing his labors, the more constant and earnest were his prayers. After remaining among the people, laboring to benefit them by instruction and example, he withdrew to spend a season in solitude, hungering and thirsting for divine knowledge which God alone can impart. Communing thus with God, Enoch came more and more to reflect the divine image. His face was radiant with holy light. As he came from these communings, even the ungodly beheld with awe the impress of heaven upon his countenance.

PURE IN HEART

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8. For 300 years Enoch had been seeking purity of soul. Day by day he had longed for closer union; nearer and nearer had grown the communion, until … the walk with God, so long pursued on earth, continued, and he passed through the gates of the Holy City—the first from among men to enter there.

By the translation of Enoch the Lord designed to teach an important lesson. There was danger that men would yield to discouragement, because of the fearful results of Adam’s sin. But the instructions which God gave to Adam, which were repeated by Seth, and exemplified by Enoch, swept away the gloom and darkness, and gave hope to man.

Satan was urging the belief that there was no reward for the righteous or punishment for the wicked, and that it was impossible for men to obey the divine statues. But in the case of Enoch, God declares “that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. He shows what He will do for those who keep His commandments. Men were taught that it is possible to obey the law of God that even while living in the midst of the sinful and corrupt, they were able, by the grace of God, to resist temptation, and become pure and holy.

His translation was evidence of the truth of his prophecy concerning the hereafter, with its award of joy, glory, and immortal life to the obedient, and of condemnation, woe, and death of the transgressor.

By faith Enoch “was translated that he should not see death … for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5. In the midst of a world by its iniquity doomed to destruction, Enoch lived a life of such close communion with God that he was not permitted to fall under the power of death.

ENOCH’S EXAMPLE FOR US

The godly character of this prophet represents the holiness which must be attained by those who shall be “redeemed from the earth” at the time of Christ’s Second Advent. Revelation 14:3. Then, as before the Flood, iniquity will prevail.

But like Enoch, God’s people will seek for purity of heart and conformity to His will, until they shall reflect the likeness of Christ. They will warn the world of the Lord’s Second Coming and of judgments to be visited upon transgression. By their holy conversation and example they will condemn the sins of the ungodly. As Enoch was translated to heaven before the destruction of the world by water, so the living righteous will be translated from the earth before its destruction by fire.

 “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

* Ellen G. White (1827-1915) was a Christian educator, speaker, and author whose inspirational writings have been translated worldwide into over 100 languages. Excerpted from Patriarchs and Prophets, “Seth and Enoch.”