ENOCH – ACCORDING TO JUDE

ENOCH – ACCORDING TO JUDE

You may recall that Enoch was a godly patriarch in the days before the Flood.  His family tree placed him in the line of the coming Savior.

In a world getting worse day by day, “Enoch walked with God,” says the 5th chapter of Genesis, and “then he was no more, because God took him away.”  

The New Testament book of Hebrews describes it this way:   “By faith Enoch was taken up, so that he would not experience death, and he was not found because God took him away” (Hebrews 11:5  EHV).

The New Testament book of Jude informs us that Enoch’s walk with God was not a quiet, passive, “sipping-tea-in-the-parlor” sort of thing.  

Enoch was a thunderous prophet.  He summoned the people of his time to repentance.  That little book of Jude describes Enoch this way:  “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these people, saying, ‘Look, the Lord is going to come with tens of thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment against all of them and to convict every soul concerning all their ungodly deeds, which they did in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh words that ungodly sinners spoke against him’ ” (Jude 14-15 EHV).

Enoch’s sermons announced:  Court will be in session. There will be an accounting.  To borrow a phrase from Jude, Enoch “contended for the faith.”   Enoch, in his time, was a sparrow on a housetop, a canary in the wilderness, a voice in the desert.

Most probably called him a nut case, Enoch sounded the alarm and fought for the truth of God’s word in a world that wanted none of it.

It was a grace note from God in those days in a world that did not deserve it, God sent Enoch as a lifeline to anyone who would listen.  

It is a grace note from God that in a world stampeding toward judgment, God still sends forth His Word among us – summoning us to see our sin for what it is, and to see clearly our Savior who has loved us even unto death.  Are these glad tidings not worth fighting for? Must it not begin in your heart and mine, in our homes and our congregation? Wouldn’t it sad if we lost it? Like Enoch of old, let us walk with God and contend for the faith!