FAITH || Lesson 4 

FAITH

Text:  Hebrews 11

Lesson Four – V.5

Examples of the ancients who were commended for their faith: (Cont’d.)

ENOCH – [Part 2]:  V.5 – By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Original account:  Genesis 5:18-24 – ¹⁸When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.  ²⁰Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.

²¹When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.  ²²And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.  ²³Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years.  ²⁴Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Enoch’s Quality of Life:  V.24 – Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.  [Refer to Lesson 3 regarding Enoch’s Quantity of Life.]

Enoch walked with God – Like Abel, Enoch was a “true worshiper.”  The following is a part of what Enoch did while he “walked with God.”

Jude 1:14-15 – ¹⁴Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones ¹⁵to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Let us thank the Lord that He is willing to help us to “walk with Him” as we heed, along with the other Scriptures, the following:

Romans 12:1-2 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.  ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 2:10 (KJV) – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath beforehand ordained, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 4:1 (KJV) – I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

Ephesians 5:15 (KJV) – See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Then he was no more, because God took him away.  Note: Hebrews 11:5a – By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Compare 2 Kings 2:1-18  (V.11-12, 16-18 – ¹¹As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.  ¹²Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

¹⁶“Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”

“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

¹⁷But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”)

Let us thank the Lord for the glorious hope contained in the following.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 – ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 – ¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.  ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Hebrews 11:5b – By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Let us ask the Lord to help us to be likewise commended.  Note Isaiah 66:2 – Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.