Enoch’s Walk
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
5/19 Reading Portions: Numbers 28; Psalm 72; Isaiah 19-20; 2 Peter 1
Genesis 5:22
Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
FAITH
Here we have a verse that indicates the grace of faith as an eternal fixture. You and I, as fallen human beings, descendants of our father, Adam, cannot truly tell whether another human being has been saved. We cannot know with one hundred percent certainty that the faith of another is genuine. Only God can see the heart (1 Sam 16:7b). Satan cannot. He’s a fallen angel. We cannot. You and I are finite human beings. We can deduce whether someone has been saved or not because we can examine their fruit and outward appearance (1 Sam 16:7a; Matt 7:15-20). Nevertheless, the final and ultimate condition of a human being’s eternity must come by divine revelation; and that, by the very word of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 7:21-23).
In today’s verse, we have the blessed truth of the Lord Jesus to us. He tells us that in this verse (as well as in the next two verses) that Enoch’s faith was not a passing, temporary, intellectual assent. Many of us have personally seen false confessions. Jesus speaks of those temporary confessions in the parable of the Sower and the seeds (Matt 13:1-9; 19-23). The prophets of old have said so, as the gospel writers quoted them (Mark 15:7-8; et al). James, the Lord Jesus’ half-brother says so in this way:
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:17
In other words, James says that a mere belief in God that doesn’t change one’s life is not true, biblical, saving faith. Rather, it is the faith of fallen angels, as he writes a little later:
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! James 2:19
Enoch had an encounter with God Almighty when he was 65 years old (my age now until this coming August 25th). Enoch was not momentarily used by God to name his son (which we will see by and by), but by God’s grace, he was gifted with the fruit of faith (Gal 5:22-23), and he walked with God. Not behind God. Not ahead of God. But with God. Were those listed in Genesis 5 before Enoch saved or unsaved? We have indications from God’s Holy Word that Adam and Eve were (Gen 3:21; 4:24); and that more than likely Seth and Enosh were (Gen 4:25). The others may have been; or they may not have been. But from this point on, we will see that Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah were prophets of the Most High God; and that, by God’s grace (Gen 6:8). Hallelujah! What a Savior!
