Enoch is a very interesting man, and almost nothing is known about him. The only thing we know is that there was such a man in the seventh generation from Adam, and when he was 365 years old God took him, and he was no more. In fact, in the story of Enoch, as in the stories of other righteous men of the Old Testament, a wonderful picture is revealed that shows us the Lord Jesus Christ. The stories of the Old Testament, as Paul writes, are a shadow of things to come, but the reality is Christ! [Col.2:17] Let us dive into this story and look at the glory of our Lord.

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.
—Hebrews 11:5

So what is Enoch’s secret, that he received the testimony that he pleased God? If we look in the Old Testament, it says: “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” [Gen.5:24] An interesting expression: walked with God, or, in other translations (the Russian Synodal among them), walked before God. And what does it mean to walk before God? This is interesting, because this expression often occurs in the Old Testament. For example, God said to Abraham: “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.” [Gen.17:1]

The Old Testament, as you may know, was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek. But about 2 centuries before the birth of Christ, when the Greek language began to gain popularity in the world because Alexander the Great had conquered half the world, the Jews translated the Scriptures into Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint, or “the Translation of the Seventy Elders”, and is often written in Roman numerals as LXX. Listen to how Genesis 5:24 sounds in the Septuagint (here in Brenton’s English translation): “And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him.” The same Greek word, euaresteo, is used here as in Hebrews 11:5, where it is written that Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God. This is simply wonderful! It turns out that, as a Jew understood it, to walk before God means to be pleasing to Him, and to be pleasing to God means to walk before Him. As one sister used to say: “My brain is creaking.”

It is remarkable that in the story of Enoch in the book of Genesis it is said twice that he walked before God, or was pleasing to Him. Each time certain events took place in his life that can reveal wonderful truths to us.

The First Taking Up of One Who Pleased God

After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
—Genesis 5:22

In the Septuagint it says: “And Enoch was well-pleasing to God after his begetting Mathusala…” Why did Enoch suddenly become pleasing to God after the birth of Methuselah? Methuselah is known for holding the record for longevity. He lived 969 years, longer than anyone else. Why did he live longer than everyone, and what is special about Methuselah? Methuselah lived longer than everyone because the flood was to come with his death. The flood began right after Methuselah died. It was thanks to the longsuffering of our Lord that he lived longer than everyone. Peter writes: “by whom [Christ] also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” [1 Pet.3:19-20] Also in Peter’s letter it is written: “and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…” [2 Pet.3:15] and also: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” [2 Pet.3:9]

The name Methuselah comes from two words, to pierce and man. So it means a pierced man. By naming his son a pierced man, Enoch had clearly received a revelation that the Lord would be pierced for our transgressions. That is why he prophesied: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds…” [Jud.1:14-15] Enoch had a revelation that a flood would come that would destroy all flesh that fights against God. He named his son a pierced man because he saw another pierced Man, Jesus Christ, in whose body all flesh was put to death. No wonder Paul writes: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died… Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” [2 Cor.5:14-16]

To understand all this better, it is easier to look at Jesus, for all truth is in Jesus, and simplicity is in Christ. The first time Jesus received the testimony that God was pleased with Him was when He was baptised in the river Jordan, and after He came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down on Him and a voice came from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” [Mat.3:17] Jesus was not only the beloved Son, but God was also well pleased with Him; in other words, He was pleased with Him, or He was pleasing to Him. Why were these words of the Father spoken at this time and in this place? Until the age of 30, Jesus lived according to the flesh, in submission to the law and to His parents. But when He was baptised, He “died” to the law and moved from the realm of the flesh and the law into the realm of faith and the Spirit. Jesus experienced a second birth. Right after the Holy Spirit came down on Him, it is written: “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.” [Mar.1:12] Jesus began to walk in the spirit, or to walk before God, or to walk in faith. It was precisely because Jesus moved from the realm of the flesh into the realm of the Spirit that He received the testimony from the Father that He was pleasing to Him. That is why it is written in Hebrews: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is” [Heb.11:6].

To believe does not mean holding certain convictions or anything like that. To be in faith is to be in the Spirit, not in the flesh. When we received the Spirit of adoption and the Spirit of Christ and were born from above, or born again, we are now in faith forever, because God has placed us there. It is precisely because we are in Christ that we are pleasing to Him. To be in Christ is to be in faith, for Christ is our faith! Amen!

The Second Taking Up of One Who Pleased God

And Enoch walked with God [Enoch was well-pleasing to God]; and he was not, for God took him.
—Genesis 5:24

The second time it is said that Enoch was pleasing to God is right before God took him. It is about this event that the book of Hebrews says: “for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God” [Heb.11:5] Since Enoch is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ too, before God took Him to Himself, received the testimony that He was pleasing to God. This happened on the mount of transfiguration. It is written that Enoch, after the birth of Methuselah, walked with God for three hundred years. Likewise Jesus, after He was baptised in the river Jordan and the Holy Spirit came down on Him, walked before God, or in the Spirit, for 3 years. We know that Jesus’ ministry lasted three and a half years, but I believe that exactly three years later, on the 17th day of the 7th month, Jesus went up the mount of transfiguration with three disciples. It was on this very day that Noah [a type of Christ], who also walked with God with his three sons, came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. [Gen.8:4]

The mount of transfiguration is a wonderful place, and many precious truths are hidden there. Peter writes, remembering what happened there: “For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” [2 Pet.1:17] On the mountain with Jesus were Moses and Elijah, and also Peter, James and John. Moses and Peter are types of the law, or of Christ living under the law, or according to the flesh. Just as Moses, who did not enter the promised land, was raised when the archangel Michael disputed with the devil about the body of Moses, so Christ too was raised. We know that Elijah did not see death, but was taken up to heaven by a chariot. And about John, whose name means grace, Jesus said: “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” [Jhn.21:22]

Jesus said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” [Jhn.11:25] This is Christ in the types of Moses, Peter and also Methuselah. And further: “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” [Jhn.11:26] This is Christ in the types of Elijah and John — God’s grace, which remains forever and never dies — and also in Enoch, who was taken by God to heaven. And what about James? James’ name is the same as Jacob’s (in Greek, as in Russian, it is one name), and of Jacob it is written: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated“. Jacob is a type of the new man, the new creation, and Esau a type of the old, carnal man. Do you want to know what the new creation, created in righteousness and holiness, looks like? Look: “His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” [Mar.9:3] That is exactly what you look like — the new creation! Hallelujah! Glory to the Lord!

The letter to the Hebrews also says: “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.” Notice that, first, the one who comes to God must believe, and second, God rewards those who seek Him. And what should we seek, Lord? Jesus said: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” Before Jesus went up the mount of transfiguration, He said: “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” [Mar.9:1] Jesus found the Kingdom of God when He went up the mount of transfiguration; more precisely, He revealed this Kingdom, which was inside Him, and His righteousness, in the form of white, shining clothes. The same Kingdom and the same righteousness, which are now inside us, are shown through us too.

Paul writes to the Corinthians: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” [2 Cor.4:7] We carry the Kingdom of God, we carry Christ, a treasure in earthen vessels, and this Kingdom shows itself in power. To the same Corinthians: “For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” [1 Cor.4:20] The power that raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in us. His Kingdom and His righteousness are inside us, and we are in Him, for our life is hidden with Christ in God. That is why Paul writes: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” [Gal.2:20] We live by His faith (literally, as the KJV renders it, “by the faith of the Son of God”), and it is not we who live, but He lives in us, for Christ is our life! Amen!!