God Took Him Genesis 5:21-24

Gen 5:21-24 “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen 5:24). ▫What does the text mean when it says that Enoch “was not, for God took him”?  The Hebrew word refers to God’s taking Elijah (2 Ki 2).  The word is also used of God’s receiving the soul after death.  “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me” (Ps 49:15).  “You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory” (Ps 73:24).

Gen 5:21-24 It seems God never intended man to die. ▫“The L ORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Gen 3:22). ▫“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19).

Gen 5:21-24 Enoch walked with God. ▫Only one other time do we read that someone walked with God.  “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God” (Gen 6:9).  With Noah, walking with God is equated with being righteous and blameless. ▫The LXX reads: “Enoch pleased God.”

Gen 5:21-24 “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb 11:5). ▫Notice that the author of Hebrews says that Enoch “had this testimony.” ▫The author of Hebrews makes clear what walking with God means: walking with God means pleasing God.

Gen 5:21-24 Enoch was a prophet. ▫“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him’” (Jude 14-15). ▫Enoch, because he was pleasing to God, was privileged to get a glimpse of the future.

Gen 5:21-24 We can only speculate, but we know: ▫Enoch lived in a very difficult time. ▫We can be certain that members of Enoch’s family were lost in the Flood.

Gen 5:21-24 Some things we can know for certain. ▫God loved Enoch.  “We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). ▫God knows the future.  “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure’” (Is 46:10). ▫God does all things well.  “Righteous are You, O L ORD, And upright are Your judgments” (Ps 119:137).

Gen 5:21-24 Enoch went to the Paradise of God. ▫“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43). ▫The rich man “lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom” (Lk 16:23). We do not go to heaven when we die. ▫“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man” (Jn 3:13).