IV.
Ge 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed."
26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.
5:1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.
3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4 After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.
5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.
7 After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.
8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9 Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.
10 After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters.
11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
12 Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel.
13 After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters.
14 So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared.
16 After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters.
17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch.
19 After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah.
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.
26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.
27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son.
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed."
30 After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters.
31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
(NKJV)
I know. The genealogy thing is about as much fun as getting your teeth cleaned when you never floss.
But, still, we compare genealogies.
We see the same name. Similar names.
No great creations mentioned in this group. No works of genius. No one developed the bicycle or even the wheel. No levers and no fulcrum.
They are pictured as being obedient only in that they had sons and daughters. We see nothing of their lives, who grew crops, who herded sheep, who discovered fire. Nothing of what we would call consequence.
But...this is the lineage that followed the Lord. Actually the lineage of all of us today, follow Him or not.
Cain's line was busy trying to reshape the world into their image. This is the way of sin. All following Satan who wanted to reshape heaven in his image and then tempted us to fall and left us with his curse, to try to reshape the world in our image. Supposedly an architect once said he could build a bridge across the Grand Canyon that would make that natural wonder be ignored by the people who went there. The arrogance of Cain and most of us in the modern world. We somehow believe there will always be fresh water and fresh places to go to pollute, that we can destroy and move on and those who can't are fated to die that way. Lamech of that line came to think of himself as better than God. Generations apart from the Lord left a people who did not know Him. He never walked with them. Cain was the last of that family to talk with Him.
Now, examine this for a second. Cain talked with God. Was this Jesus as well? Did God being there physically somehow diminish Cain's regard? If He walked with us every day in the flesh, would we somehow lose regard for Him?
Now think on it. Satan lived for whatever part of eternity God gave him as an angel in heaven being very close to God and somehow, despite the constant presence, lost his respect, his awe. Living in God's love somehow left him thinking God was weak.
Did seeing Him as Jesus in the Garden somehow lessen Eve's regard? Did the First Flesh have time enough with Him that they came to see him as "just a guy"?
Think on that in your own relationship with Him. Do you find you have come to regard the One you don't see, who walks inside you in the Spirit, who walks alongside you in the Spirit, as ho-hum? Started missing meals with Him by not inviting Him or thanking Him for them? Started seeing days when you don't read the Word. miss prayer? Finding his Grace as an escape route instead of a chance to practice obedience? Join the crowd. We all fail, but the key is to not let it become a habit, to get back on the horse or you can see generations after you lost because they didn't get acquainted with Him.
Satan apparently thought God's grace in not snuffing him out even before he could fall was a weakness.
Cain seemed to think that as well. And if God is weak, why teach others to follow him?
My wife said she seldom got punished by her dad because she saw how her older siblings acted and she saw how they got punished so she treated her father with respect because she didn't want to let him down. I think this may have been in the mind of Seth's line as well.
"Mom and Dad got thrown out of Eden. Brother Cain got exiled. Maybe we can learn from that."
But keeping up an identity in God to avoid his punishment is tricky. The avoidance can then become that identity of the relationship and, when no punishment seems imminent, the relationship lapses. This line had many sons and daughters that aren't mentioned. Many, maybe even most, were alive in the time of Noah and they died in the flood with Cain's line. So the notion that Seth somehow produced this pure race that went down to Noah simply isn't so. This was merely one line from Seth. The others fell like Cain's lines did. We have a whole discussion of the nephilim coming up, but that story may partially explain why this line was the only segment of mankind to make it through the Flood. The idea of punishment overshadowing love may provide another.
There are 2 prominent personages here: Noah and Enoch.
We hear a lot about the first: the second, not so much. Spend some time there now.
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Spurgeon's Devotional Commentary:
Ge 5:21-24; Heb 11:5,6; Jude 1:14,15
Let us think about that eminent saint of the antediluvian church, Enoch, the seventh from Adam.
Ver. 21-24 Here is it worthy of notice that the sacred writer says once that Enoch "lived;" but he changes the word and writes Enoch "walked with God;" thus teaching us that communion with God was Enoch's life, and truly so it ought to be ours. He was not a mere talker about God, but a walker with God. This holy patriarch lived in unbroken communion with the Lord for three hundred years, not now and then visiting with God, but habitually walking with him. This is a point of great difficulty. To draw near to God is comparatively easy; but to remain in undivided fellowship, "this is the work, this is the labor." yet the Holy Spirit can enable us to accomplish even this. Continued communion is what we should aim at, and we should not be content with anything short of it.
Some excuse themselves from seeking after unbroken fellowship with God because of their calling, their circumstances, and their numerous engagements. Enoch had the cares of a family upon him, and he was also a public preacher, and yet he kept up his walk with God: no business or household cares should make us forget our God. Society with God is the safety of saints, it is their solace and delight, it is their honor and crown. More to be desired is it than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Happy was Enoch to enjoy it so sweetly, and so continuously. The long communion of this good man with his God ended in his being borne away from earth without death to that place where faith is lost in sight. He did not live like others, and therefore he did not die like others.
In Heb 11:5,6 Paul tells us a little more concerning this holy man, and we will gather up the fragments of his history which remain on record, that nothing may be lost.
Heb 11:5 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.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
(NKJV)
Let me complete Spurgeon's reference verses:
Jude 1:12 There are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
15 "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."
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.
(NKJV)
(Jude has a couple references not found in the Bible which annoys some of us.)
But let's step back to our discussion of God walking in the Garden. I think perhaps Enoch may have actually walked with Jesus as well. If we see that previous reference as a possibility than it becomes likelier here. It may have been a mix of the Physical God and the Spiritual God that Enoch knew.
This becomes even more interesting when you realize most commentators today see Enoch as a precursor of the Raptured Church. We who walk with God taken out before the Desolation. Many also see this as a postive affirmation of the idea you need to work on your relationship with Christ to avoid the Tribulation as Enoch avoided the Flood. I avoid that idea. If you are trying to keep up a relationship so you don't face the Tribulation, then you are no longer about the relationship and are now about your own well being. This harks back to the rest of Seth's line faltering.
Now, I haven't done the math, but I've heard some pastors say the timing of Enoch's "rapture" was just before the Flood. I don't know that that timing is so important as simply the fact God spared him the Flood.
But it also speaks to having a Godly ancestor. One who walks with God opens the blessings of the Lord for his family. "Even unto the third and fourth generations."
Remember this is pre-law. No requirement existed for Enoch to do anything. He could have sat back, watched his sheep graze and invented wine or beer and TV and watched the soccer game (This is the Middle East, so no "real" football.) . He could have discovered pita bread or started a falafel stand. Instead by the guidance of that natural instinct Paul named in Romans, he sought the real God and found Him waiting even as we can every second of every day.
Even fallen flesh carries the God gene.
But please don't miss something. Read it again:
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
Did you see it that time? Read it again.
Yes, Enoch walked with God 300 years but he lived 365 years.
Whoa, wait a minute. This righteous man, this pillar of the Church. this founder who God loved so much He Raptured him before the Flood. This man spent 65 years of his life NOT walking with God.
Let that sink in.
Enoch was saved at 65. He found his communion with God then and never left it. He fell so in love with God that he stayed til the day he died.
But he was not always that way. He had a revelation, a moment when the truth dawned on him like a lightning bolt and that was it. And God loved him right back.
He was, indeed, like all of us and we need to recall that God was in love with us, now loves us right back and that some of us, every day, come closer and closer to a moment when we are gone in the blinking of an eye. Walking with him in the Spirit going to walking with Jesus in Heaven..
Enoch foreshadows those people before Christ who were somehow given a revelation of God by the Spirit and heard it, felt it, were stunned by it and came into relationship with Him as prophets.
{There is an end times argument among Pretribulation believers as to who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Some church fathers like Tertullian and Irenaeus believed they were Enoch and Elijah while Moses is popular since he appeared with Elijah on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration. (Matthew 17:1-13)
Mt 17:1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;
2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
(NKJV)
That's an argument no one wins but must be mentioned when we talk about him.
{But that raises the question: Did God convert Enoch to Final Flesh? Did he transform him as we will be transformed into His likeness? Now, if he did, then Enoch would not be one of the witness since they will be killed and raised from the dead. Jude, meanwhile says Michael and Satan fought over Moses' body, so he wouldn't be coming back in Fallen Flesh either. See why I really don't want to get started?}
Thomas Scott meanwhile focuses on the evangelical aspects:
Verses 21-24. “Walking with God” is a figurative description of the intimate communion which subsists between a merciful God and true believers. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Am 3:3.) Without coincidence in sentiment, judgment, and disposition, there can be no cordial union or harmony. But man is naturally partial to those things which God abhors and forbids, and averse from those which he loves and commands. Man’s understanding is darkened, his judgment perverted, his affections depraved, and his taste vitiated by sin; so that, in almost every thing, his views, his choice, his desires and pursuits, are the reverse of those which h the Scripture requires. Thus he is induced to talk contrary to God, to contract guilty, and merit condemnation. A sinner’s walk with God, therefore, commences with the change of his judgment and disposition by divine grace. Then he begins to repent of his sins, to despise the world in comparison of the favour of God, to “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” to seek forgiveness and acceptance in the way of God’s appointment, and to devote himself to His love and service, and the pursuit of holiness. Having been thus reconciled to God, he walks with him by habitual repentance, and “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;” in a realizing regard to the presence of God in his whole conduct; a daily dependence on his promise, providence, and grace, for all things needful for soul and body; and a continual attention to his word, that from thence he may learn His truth and will, and derive the peace and comfort of his salvation; by pouring out his heart before the Lord in fervent prayer and grateful praise; by a believing, reverential, and delightful attendance on all the ordinances of his worship, and an open profession of his faith and love; by a conscientious obedience to all his commandments, without regarding the praise or censure of men; by submission to his providential appointments; and finally, by attention to every relative obligation, a careful improvement of every talent, a circumspect conversation, and endeavoring to “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,” and to recommend religion to all around him.—The Lord, on His part, answers the expectations of those who walk with him. He supplies their wants, interposes in their emergencies, and evidences His care of them. He meets them in his ordinances, teaches them from His word, answers their prayers, accepts their services; communicates, by His Spirit, wisdom, strength, and consolation to their souls, and is indeed their Guide, Companion, and Counselor through life: and at length he meets them at death, and takes them into “His presence, where is fullness of joy.” Thus ends the walk of faith; for thenceforth they walk by sight, and see him as he is; being for ever with him, and like him in holiness and felicity.—But “Enoch was translated that he should not see death” (Heb 11:5-6). In the prime of life, according to those times, he was taken from earth to heaven, in the body, without feeling the pangs of death, “having received this testimony, that he had pleased God.” Therefore “he was not” on earth: neither his friends nor his persecutors could find him. He was a preacher of righteousness, and if we may judge by the specimen left on record (Jude 1:14-15), his plain and alarming address could not fail greatly to enrage the daring sinners among whom he lived. But God effectually rescued him from their malice, testified his approbation of his conduct, and gave a convincing proof of the invisible world, and of the future state of recompense. ‘It is possible also that the translation of this holy man might be conferred, in order to show what should have been common to all, had man persisted in his obedience—a translation from the earthly to the heavenly paradise.’—Fuller.
Most of the commentaries hold that Enoch was transformed. All of them agreeing he harks toward the Christian experience.
Which leaves Noah. To be continued some time later.
http://christianpersecutionindia.blogspot.com/2016/07/miscreant-attacks-tumakuru-church.html
Ge 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed."
26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.
5:1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.
3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4 After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.
5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.
7 After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.
8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9 Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.
10 After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters.
11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
12 Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel.
13 After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters.
14 So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared.
16 After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters.
17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch.
19 After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah.
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.
26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.
27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son.
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed."
30 After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters.
31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
(NKJV)
I know. The genealogy thing is about as much fun as getting your teeth cleaned when you never floss.
But, still, we compare genealogies.
We see the same name. Similar names.
No great creations mentioned in this group. No works of genius. No one developed the bicycle or even the wheel. No levers and no fulcrum.
They are pictured as being obedient only in that they had sons and daughters. We see nothing of their lives, who grew crops, who herded sheep, who discovered fire. Nothing of what we would call consequence.
But...this is the lineage that followed the Lord. Actually the lineage of all of us today, follow Him or not.
Cain's line was busy trying to reshape the world into their image. This is the way of sin. All following Satan who wanted to reshape heaven in his image and then tempted us to fall and left us with his curse, to try to reshape the world in our image. Supposedly an architect once said he could build a bridge across the Grand Canyon that would make that natural wonder be ignored by the people who went there. The arrogance of Cain and most of us in the modern world. We somehow believe there will always be fresh water and fresh places to go to pollute, that we can destroy and move on and those who can't are fated to die that way. Lamech of that line came to think of himself as better than God. Generations apart from the Lord left a people who did not know Him. He never walked with them. Cain was the last of that family to talk with Him.
Now, examine this for a second. Cain talked with God. Was this Jesus as well? Did God being there physically somehow diminish Cain's regard? If He walked with us every day in the flesh, would we somehow lose regard for Him?
Now think on it. Satan lived for whatever part of eternity God gave him as an angel in heaven being very close to God and somehow, despite the constant presence, lost his respect, his awe. Living in God's love somehow left him thinking God was weak.
Did seeing Him as Jesus in the Garden somehow lessen Eve's regard? Did the First Flesh have time enough with Him that they came to see him as "just a guy"?
Think on that in your own relationship with Him. Do you find you have come to regard the One you don't see, who walks inside you in the Spirit, who walks alongside you in the Spirit, as ho-hum? Started missing meals with Him by not inviting Him or thanking Him for them? Started seeing days when you don't read the Word. miss prayer? Finding his Grace as an escape route instead of a chance to practice obedience? Join the crowd. We all fail, but the key is to not let it become a habit, to get back on the horse or you can see generations after you lost because they didn't get acquainted with Him.
Satan apparently thought God's grace in not snuffing him out even before he could fall was a weakness.
Cain seemed to think that as well. And if God is weak, why teach others to follow him?
My wife said she seldom got punished by her dad because she saw how her older siblings acted and she saw how they got punished so she treated her father with respect because she didn't want to let him down. I think this may have been in the mind of Seth's line as well.
"Mom and Dad got thrown out of Eden. Brother Cain got exiled. Maybe we can learn from that."
But keeping up an identity in God to avoid his punishment is tricky. The avoidance can then become that identity of the relationship and, when no punishment seems imminent, the relationship lapses. This line had many sons and daughters that aren't mentioned. Many, maybe even most, were alive in the time of Noah and they died in the flood with Cain's line. So the notion that Seth somehow produced this pure race that went down to Noah simply isn't so. This was merely one line from Seth. The others fell like Cain's lines did. We have a whole discussion of the nephilim coming up, but that story may partially explain why this line was the only segment of mankind to make it through the Flood. The idea of punishment overshadowing love may provide another.
There are 2 prominent personages here: Noah and Enoch.
We hear a lot about the first: the second, not so much. Spend some time there now.
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Spurgeon's Devotional Commentary:
Ge 5:21-24; Heb 11:5,6; Jude 1:14,15
Let us think about that eminent saint of the antediluvian church, Enoch, the seventh from Adam.
Ver. 21-24 Here is it worthy of notice that the sacred writer says once that Enoch "lived;" but he changes the word and writes Enoch "walked with God;" thus teaching us that communion with God was Enoch's life, and truly so it ought to be ours. He was not a mere talker about God, but a walker with God. This holy patriarch lived in unbroken communion with the Lord for three hundred years, not now and then visiting with God, but habitually walking with him. This is a point of great difficulty. To draw near to God is comparatively easy; but to remain in undivided fellowship, "this is the work, this is the labor." yet the Holy Spirit can enable us to accomplish even this. Continued communion is what we should aim at, and we should not be content with anything short of it.
Some excuse themselves from seeking after unbroken fellowship with God because of their calling, their circumstances, and their numerous engagements. Enoch had the cares of a family upon him, and he was also a public preacher, and yet he kept up his walk with God: no business or household cares should make us forget our God. Society with God is the safety of saints, it is their solace and delight, it is their honor and crown. More to be desired is it than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Happy was Enoch to enjoy it so sweetly, and so continuously. The long communion of this good man with his God ended in his being borne away from earth without death to that place where faith is lost in sight. He did not live like others, and therefore he did not die like others.
In Heb 11:5,6 Paul tells us a little more concerning this holy man, and we will gather up the fragments of his history which remain on record, that nothing may be lost.
Heb 11:5 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.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
(NKJV)
Let me complete Spurgeon's reference verses:
Jude 1:12 There are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
15 "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."
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.
(NKJV)
(Jude has a couple references not found in the Bible which annoys some of us.)
But let's step back to our discussion of God walking in the Garden. I think perhaps Enoch may have actually walked with Jesus as well. If we see that previous reference as a possibility than it becomes likelier here. It may have been a mix of the Physical God and the Spiritual God that Enoch knew.
This becomes even more interesting when you realize most commentators today see Enoch as a precursor of the Raptured Church. We who walk with God taken out before the Desolation. Many also see this as a postive affirmation of the idea you need to work on your relationship with Christ to avoid the Tribulation as Enoch avoided the Flood. I avoid that idea. If you are trying to keep up a relationship so you don't face the Tribulation, then you are no longer about the relationship and are now about your own well being. This harks back to the rest of Seth's line faltering.
Now, I haven't done the math, but I've heard some pastors say the timing of Enoch's "rapture" was just before the Flood. I don't know that that timing is so important as simply the fact God spared him the Flood.
But it also speaks to having a Godly ancestor. One who walks with God opens the blessings of the Lord for his family. "Even unto the third and fourth generations."
Remember this is pre-law. No requirement existed for Enoch to do anything. He could have sat back, watched his sheep graze and invented wine or beer and TV and watched the soccer game (This is the Middle East, so no "real" football.) . He could have discovered pita bread or started a falafel stand. Instead by the guidance of that natural instinct Paul named in Romans, he sought the real God and found Him waiting even as we can every second of every day.
Even fallen flesh carries the God gene.
But please don't miss something. Read it again:
22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
Did you see it that time? Read it again.
Yes, Enoch walked with God 300 years but he lived 365 years.
Whoa, wait a minute. This righteous man, this pillar of the Church. this founder who God loved so much He Raptured him before the Flood. This man spent 65 years of his life NOT walking with God.
Let that sink in.
Enoch was saved at 65. He found his communion with God then and never left it. He fell so in love with God that he stayed til the day he died.
But he was not always that way. He had a revelation, a moment when the truth dawned on him like a lightning bolt and that was it. And God loved him right back.
He was, indeed, like all of us and we need to recall that God was in love with us, now loves us right back and that some of us, every day, come closer and closer to a moment when we are gone in the blinking of an eye. Walking with him in the Spirit going to walking with Jesus in Heaven..
Enoch foreshadows those people before Christ who were somehow given a revelation of God by the Spirit and heard it, felt it, were stunned by it and came into relationship with Him as prophets.
{There is an end times argument among Pretribulation believers as to who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Some church fathers like Tertullian and Irenaeus believed they were Enoch and Elijah while Moses is popular since he appeared with Elijah on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration. (Matthew 17:1-13)
Mt 17:1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;
2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
(NKJV)
That's an argument no one wins but must be mentioned when we talk about him.
{But that raises the question: Did God convert Enoch to Final Flesh? Did he transform him as we will be transformed into His likeness? Now, if he did, then Enoch would not be one of the witness since they will be killed and raised from the dead. Jude, meanwhile says Michael and Satan fought over Moses' body, so he wouldn't be coming back in Fallen Flesh either. See why I really don't want to get started?}
Thomas Scott meanwhile focuses on the evangelical aspects:
Verses 21-24. “Walking with God” is a figurative description of the intimate communion which subsists between a merciful God and true believers. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Am 3:3.) Without coincidence in sentiment, judgment, and disposition, there can be no cordial union or harmony. But man is naturally partial to those things which God abhors and forbids, and averse from those which he loves and commands. Man’s understanding is darkened, his judgment perverted, his affections depraved, and his taste vitiated by sin; so that, in almost every thing, his views, his choice, his desires and pursuits, are the reverse of those which h the Scripture requires. Thus he is induced to talk contrary to God, to contract guilty, and merit condemnation. A sinner’s walk with God, therefore, commences with the change of his judgment and disposition by divine grace. Then he begins to repent of his sins, to despise the world in comparison of the favour of God, to “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” to seek forgiveness and acceptance in the way of God’s appointment, and to devote himself to His love and service, and the pursuit of holiness. Having been thus reconciled to God, he walks with him by habitual repentance, and “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;” in a realizing regard to the presence of God in his whole conduct; a daily dependence on his promise, providence, and grace, for all things needful for soul and body; and a continual attention to his word, that from thence he may learn His truth and will, and derive the peace and comfort of his salvation; by pouring out his heart before the Lord in fervent prayer and grateful praise; by a believing, reverential, and delightful attendance on all the ordinances of his worship, and an open profession of his faith and love; by a conscientious obedience to all his commandments, without regarding the praise or censure of men; by submission to his providential appointments; and finally, by attention to every relative obligation, a careful improvement of every talent, a circumspect conversation, and endeavoring to “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,” and to recommend religion to all around him.—The Lord, on His part, answers the expectations of those who walk with him. He supplies their wants, interposes in their emergencies, and evidences His care of them. He meets them in his ordinances, teaches them from His word, answers their prayers, accepts their services; communicates, by His Spirit, wisdom, strength, and consolation to their souls, and is indeed their Guide, Companion, and Counselor through life: and at length he meets them at death, and takes them into “His presence, where is fullness of joy.” Thus ends the walk of faith; for thenceforth they walk by sight, and see him as he is; being for ever with him, and like him in holiness and felicity.—But “Enoch was translated that he should not see death” (Heb 11:5-6). In the prime of life, according to those times, he was taken from earth to heaven, in the body, without feeling the pangs of death, “having received this testimony, that he had pleased God.” Therefore “he was not” on earth: neither his friends nor his persecutors could find him. He was a preacher of righteousness, and if we may judge by the specimen left on record (Jude 1:14-15), his plain and alarming address could not fail greatly to enrage the daring sinners among whom he lived. But God effectually rescued him from their malice, testified his approbation of his conduct, and gave a convincing proof of the invisible world, and of the future state of recompense. ‘It is possible also that the translation of this holy man might be conferred, in order to show what should have been common to all, had man persisted in his obedience—a translation from the earthly to the heavenly paradise.’—Fuller.
Most of the commentaries hold that Enoch was transformed. All of them agreeing he harks toward the Christian experience.
Which leaves Noah. To be continued some time later.
http://christianpersecutionindia.blogspot.com/2016/07/miscreant-attacks-tumakuru-church.html
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2016
Miscreant attacks Tumakuru church, Christians plan protests
TUMAKURU: A church in Tumakuru was attacked by an unidentified man early on Thursday morning.
The miscreant targetted Tomlinson Church on the Union Christian College (UCC) campus in Saadepura, a place of worship for Protestant Christians of the Church of South India (CSI), Karnataka Central Diocese.
CCTV images showed a man wearing track pants throwing a bottle filled with petrol and setting the wooden door of the church on fire around 4 am.
In the footage, he is seen anxiously checking for the presence of people in the vicinity.
Saadepura area is a residential hub of Christian community. Anook, who resides on the campus, noticed the fire. He rushed to the spot and extinguished it.
Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner K P Mohanraj, who visited the church, termed the incident as unfortunate and said the administration would ensure safety of all places of worship.
Superintendent of Police Karthik Reddy told Express that the police will nab the accused within 48 hours. Five teams led by police inspectors will investigate the case, he said.
Central Range IGP Seemanth Kumar Singh visited the spot and took stock of the situation.
As the news about the attack spread like wild fire, city MLA Rafeek Ahmed, MP S P Muddahanume Gowda, former minister Sogadu Shivanna and others visited the church.
The incident occurred at a place where residential quarters of all top bureaucrats, including the DC, the SP and the ZP CEO, are located. The community leaders have ruled out the act of a person within the community.
Community members angry
The Tomlinson Church holds elections once in two years to elect 10 members to the Pastorate Committee and the polls were held a year ago, they said. “Once the elections are over we forget our differences and assemble for the masses,” they clarified.
Meanwhile, the incident united all sections of the Christian community, including Protestants, Catholics and other denominations. Headed by CSI area chairman Samuel Pujary, they held a meeting in the evening.
They took a decision to hold a day-long hunger strike at the Town Hall Circle here on Friday. On Monday, they will hold a rally and people from Chikballapur, Dodballapur, Gouribidanur and Bengaluru are expected to attend, sources said.
“Our only demand is to arrest the culprit and give protection to the community,” said Jeevaratna, an elderly person of the community.
The 86-year-old church is said to be one of the rarest ones in the country as its architecture is a mix of Hoysala and Chola traditions, observed John Sureshbabu, another community leader.
The miscreant targetted Tomlinson Church on the Union Christian College (UCC) campus in Saadepura, a place of worship for Protestant Christians of the Church of South India (CSI), Karnataka Central Diocese.
CCTV images showed a man wearing track pants throwing a bottle filled with petrol and setting the wooden door of the church on fire around 4 am.
In the footage, he is seen anxiously checking for the presence of people in the vicinity.
Saadepura area is a residential hub of Christian community. Anook, who resides on the campus, noticed the fire. He rushed to the spot and extinguished it.
Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner K P Mohanraj, who visited the church, termed the incident as unfortunate and said the administration would ensure safety of all places of worship.
Superintendent of Police Karthik Reddy told Express that the police will nab the accused within 48 hours. Five teams led by police inspectors will investigate the case, he said.
Central Range IGP Seemanth Kumar Singh visited the spot and took stock of the situation.
As the news about the attack spread like wild fire, city MLA Rafeek Ahmed, MP S P Muddahanume Gowda, former minister Sogadu Shivanna and others visited the church.
The incident occurred at a place where residential quarters of all top bureaucrats, including the DC, the SP and the ZP CEO, are located. The community leaders have ruled out the act of a person within the community.
Community members angry
The Tomlinson Church holds elections once in two years to elect 10 members to the Pastorate Committee and the polls were held a year ago, they said. “Once the elections are over we forget our differences and assemble for the masses,” they clarified.
Meanwhile, the incident united all sections of the Christian community, including Protestants, Catholics and other denominations. Headed by CSI area chairman Samuel Pujary, they held a meeting in the evening.
They took a decision to hold a day-long hunger strike at the Town Hall Circle here on Friday. On Monday, they will hold a rally and people from Chikballapur, Dodballapur, Gouribidanur and Bengaluru are expected to attend, sources said.
“Our only demand is to arrest the culprit and give protection to the community,” said Jeevaratna, an elderly person of the community.
The 86-year-old church is said to be one of the rarest ones in the country as its architecture is a mix of Hoysala and Chola traditions, observed John Sureshbabu, another community leader.
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