Temple Baptist Church - 4-30-2023
Genesis 5:21-24
A. In our text, we find the First Mention Principle in the phrase “walked with God.” Though the principle of walking with God is found all through the Bible, the phrase “walked with God” is only found 3 times: twice in our text and in Genesis 6:9.
1. This speaks of rarity. Most of the references to “walk” or “walking” in the Bible is either encouraging, commanding, or admonishing someone to walk. These three instances of “walked with God” defined the person walking.
2. Enoch walked with God. God did not walk with Enoch. When you walk with someone (I sometimes walk with my son), they set the direction, the pace, the length, and the destination of the walk, otherwise they walk with you.
3. If you are not pleased in your walk with another, you can quit and turn back at any time or just choose not to walk with them at all.
B. Before we look at walking with God, I want to look at the times in which Enoch walked with Him as they are pertinent to both his day and our days.
C. These dates are accurate because the years were specifically given in Genesis, chapter 5. You can do the simple calculation yourself in a matter of a few minutes.
1. Enoch was born in the year 3,378 BC.
2. Enoch was 65 years old when he begat Methuselah in 3,313 BC, 687 years from the beginning of time in Genesis 1:1, and 969 years before the flood .
3. Enoch walked with God for 300 years and became the first “was not” in 3,013 BC, 669 years before the flood. This means that Enoch walked with God in almost the exact middle years between the beginning (687 after) and the destruction of mankind (669 before) by the flood.
4. Methuselah lived 969 years and was 300 years old when Enoch’s life on earth was done. Methuselah died the year of the flood, so this put the date of the flood 669 years after Enoch or 2,644 BC or 1,356 years from the beginning.
5. Bishop James Ussher (1581-1656) did the same calculations but on the entire Old Testament and gave 4004 BC as the date of the beginning in Genesis 1:1. This is consistent with the 7 days of time (a day with the Lord is as a thousand years in our time).
6. There are 7 days of time given with the 7th day, a day of rest, the Millennial Reign of Christ in the end time. Of the remaining 6 days, there were 4 days or 4,000 years from the beginning of time to the First Advent and there have been 2 days or 2,000 years since Christ came.
D. The name Methuselah means “man of the dart”. It comes from a root word meaning “a shoot of a growth”, or a “missile of attack”. “It shall be sent” or “when he is gone, it shall come.” Methuselah was named because of the impending judgement of God that was to come when he was gone.
1. Shortly after the creation, mankind began to quickly depart from the ways of God. We do not know how long Adam and Eve remained innocent but probably not too long. In chapter 3, we find the fall.
2. In chapter 4, in the process of time, we found Cain killing Abel because of a hatred for righteousness. These two men were born after the fall and were now grown so this would possible be within 30-40 years later. Two men with both taught the truths about sin, its consequences, atonement, and faith with two distinctly different outcomes.
3. In chapter 4, we see the establishment of the wicked line of Cain and the re-establishment of the Messianic line through Seth.
4. Chapter 5 sets forth the line of Adam or the Messianic line of Christ, but spiritual decline once again began and finds its culmination in chapter 6.
Genesis 6:5-6 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (6) And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (It did not take long for the sinfulness of mankind to escalate to this point. Now, the “sons of God” or the Messianic Line of Seth was affected by the wickedness of the ungodly line of Cain. Men like Enoch were now the exception or rarity rather than the rule.)
E. I said all that to say this, Enoch walked in perilous times. Men of God who walked in days of peril. Enoch walked “with God”, not God walked with Enoch. This means that Enoch walked everywhere God let him as God was the leader, not the Follower.
F. Enoch was a beautiful type of a raptured church of the end times. I want to break down these verses so as to view them in a biblical manner.
1. Enoch evidently had some wasted years. “And Enoch lived sixty and five years.” There was no mention of the first part of Enoch’s life. This opens the possibility that Enoch may have had some wasted years. Before our walk with God commences, our years are spent in vanity. Many have had so many wasted years though they may not be viewed as such by many. These were the years of youth, the pinnacle of strength, the choice years of life.
Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. (10) Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity. (12:1) Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2. Enoch had a changed life. “and begat Methuselah” The birth of Methuselah changed the life of Enoch: "His death shall send", or “when he is gone, it shall come” A prophecy of the impending judgement of God. Methuselah died the year of the flood. Not in the flood but just prior to it.
3. Enoch had a beginning in his walk with God. “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah” It is important how we begin our walk with God. Evidently the birth of Methuselah not only marked the beginning of Enoch’s walk with God, this event caused a change in Enoch. The value and gift of children is one of the greatest of all. Children are a loan from God to be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
4. Enoch had maintained a consistency in his walk with God. “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years” This was the remainder of Enoch’s life. He remained in constant fellowship with the Lord in his perilous times.
5. Enoch was a godly family man during his walk with God. “and begat sons and daughters” Enoch was not a hermit or isolationist. He lived a normal but spiritual life before his family. He led his family, they did not deter him.
6. Enoch had a glorious finish in his walk with God. “(23) And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: (24) And Enoch walked with God: and he was not” Not that he died a natural death but that he was forever missing on this earth. I do not know what his family thought but, one of these days, the saints will not die but will be suddenly missing.
7. Enoch was finally home with God! “for God took him.” The end of Enoch’s walk with God ended with him walking with God forever.
Conclusion:
1. Walking with God in evil times is Possible. It is up to everyone to make the choice.
2. Walking with God in evil times is a Privilege. You can walk with and talk with God!
3. Walking with God in evil times is Pleasurable. It is the greatest life available to the believer.
4. Walking with God in evil times is Practical. It is the only life that will satisfy the believer.
5. Walking with God in evil times is Protective. As the hen gathers her chicks under her wings, God protects those who walk in the realm of divine safety.
6. It is important that God’s children “walk with God” in this life. Walking with God is not perfection. We are all flesh and fail God in this life, but He will not fail us!
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