Happy New Year. I know a lot of folks are glad to see 2020 gone but we need to remember that God was in control last year and He is in control now. I do admit that it is sometimes difficult to hold on to that when it seems like the world is completely out of control. It is in those times that I do my very best to cling to the hope I have in Him and keep walking.
I began a new Bible reading plan this morning. A friend invited me to a group on Facebook and our goal is to read together and encourage one another along the way. It is the most intense reading plan I have ever seen. If we successfully complete it we will read through Psalms twice and another 59 of them three times. We will read through the rest of the Old Testament twice. We will read all four Gospels twelve times (once a month), and the rest of the New Testament six times (once every two months). It’s pretty intense but I read the first section (Genesis 1-5, Psalm 1, Matthew 1-3, and Acts 1-3) in less than an hour this morning.
Out of everything I read this morning one particular thing sticks out. I have always been fascinated with the Enoch we see in Genesis 5:21-24. He is listed as the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah. It also says that he walked with God and was no more because God took him. He is mentioned in Luke’s genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:37). He is mentioned two other times in the New Testament.
Hebrews 11:5 (CSB) says, “By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.”
There is also an odd referece to Enoch in Jude 14-15 where he is described as being the seventh from Adam and one who prophesied against the wicked in the days leading up to Noah. That isn’t found anywhere else in Scripture but is found in the non-biblical book of 1 Enoch.
I find Enoch so interesting because he is only one of two people mentioned in the Bible who never died. The other one is the prophet Elijah who was taken away in a chariot of fire. While we do know quite a bit more about Elijah than Enoch I still find it fascinating that God decided that neither of these two men would die and He personally took them off the earth. Every other human being that has ever lived eventually died. We know that some of them were brought back to life but they died again (Jesus being the exception). What was it about Enoch and Elijah? I guess I’ll have to wait until Eternity to see.
Grace and peace.
That 80s Pastor Dude 