Abel, the example of righteousness and of its fate in this world, we have seen cut off by the hand of violence, while Cain the murderer, " who was of that wicked one and slew his brother," lived on and became the progenitor of a race distinguished by all the characteristics and aims of the men of this world. They were " the men of the world, who have their portion in this life;" the "men of progress" of their day. And accordingly they are celebrated for their energy in the building of cities, and the arts and embellishments of life have their birth-place amongst them. But faith looks to the future and unseen world, and expects the triumph of righteousness here only as the result of the judgment of the wicked who have corrupted the earth. Hence the posterity of Seth are marked only by the principle of their separation from the apostasy of Cain and his family. (" Then began men to call on the name of the Lord," or to call themselves by the name of the Lord.) And besides this testimony, their history is only a record that they lived their days on earth, and died, leaving no monuments of their fame or traces of their greatness on the earth. Their "record was on high."
Enoch, " the seventh from Adam," was of this family, and is distinguished by his separation unto God, and by his testimony of the coming of the Lord to judge the wicked of the earth, and by the victory over death which closed his walk with God on earth and was the crowning triumph of his faith. "Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him." "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Adam, as the result of his sin, was driven out from the presence of the Lord; Cain in his worldly-mindedness voluntarily left that presence; but Enoch's record is, that he walked with God-not in a paradise as Adam, but in the midst of the increasing evil of the world and in the common everyday circumstances of ordinary life. He walked with God on earth, and God took him to dwell with himself in heaven. Blessed and triumphant issue of a life of faith and of a separated walk with God!
One effect of Enoch's walk with God is seen in his being made the depository of His counsels, as Abraham also was in a later day. " The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" But Lot, who was indeed delivered from the judgment of Sodom, which was revealed to Abraham and awakened in him the spirit of intercession, was not near enough to the Lord to receive his communications-those blessed pledges of His confidence as well as tokens of His condescension and grace. Enoch testified of the coming of the Lord, and of the judgment it would bring upon the wickedness by which he was surrounded, and from which, in spirit and conduct, he was separated by the power of faith that associated him in his walk with Him, concerning whose coming and judgment he witnessed. Though, doubtless, the flood was the immediate and proximate judgment on which his testimony bore, the Spirit of the Lord shows it reached beyond this to the Lord's coming with His saints to judge that evil and apostasy at the close of the present dispensation, of which the epistle of Jude so solemnly speaks. Unlike Noah, whose faith carried him through the judgment of the old world, Enoch's faith rested in the hope of translation from the scene of evil on which the judgment was about to fall. He sees the judgment coming, and warns of its approach, saying, " Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment," &c.; but the rest of his own heart is found in a daily walk with God, in moral separation from all that was bringing on the judgment, and in the certain hope of being with God when it was executed.
So conversant are we with corruption and decay, and all the consequences of sin, that there is something wonderful in the thought of being taken, without the intervention of death, in our own persons, and living, from the scenes of this world, into the presence of God in that world where He manifests Himself apart from all evil in the goodness of His own eternal nature. But this is the very hope-and form of its accomplishment-which is set before us in the reception of the gospel. We are converted to wait for God's Son from heaven. "We shall not all sleep." "We which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Perfect is that victory which Christ the Lord of life has gained over death, so that He can say, " I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die." Still, to be effective in the soul, Enoch's hope must be coupled with Enoch's walk. Who can question that the practical effect of those words, "so shall we ever be with the Lord," is neutralized too often in the heart, by the lack of those affections toward the Lord, and of that confidence in Him which are alone awakened by an habitual walk with Him? How can the heart long for the presence of God in heaven that is not at home in His presence habitually through grace on earth?
But there are two things which are essential to a walk with God; (for I am supposing that the heart is established with grace:) a knowledge of His character and will as revealed to faith, and an apprehension according to the judgment of God of the moral character of the scene around. If I am to " walk with God," I must have a heart at rest in His presence through grace, and also affections and desires which can find their satisfaction in the known and apprehended character of God-a heart that can delight in the contemplation of His goodness, and that can take pleasure in intercourse with Him as the eternal portion of the soul. Then also there is the reflective influence of this walk with God in the soul's moral judgment of things. " If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth." "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Consequently a walk with God necessitates a separation in heart and spirit from the course of this world. The action of divine grace which puts the soul in relationship with God at first, is characterized as a deliverance from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father; (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4);) or, in the words of Christ, " I have chosen you out of the world," (John 15:1919If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:19),) and never can the subsequent walk with God, in the scene from which grace has delivered us, be in contradiction to this fundamental principle. And surely nothing can be more interesting than to see a man surrounded by evil and corruption, and in the midst of the trials and difficulties of common every-day life, with his heart so raised above everything around him, as to show that his resources are in God Himself, and his whole spirit, and conduct, and ways, molded and regulated by his walk with God, and by a reference to His will. For we must remember that in this testimony concerning Enoch and his faith, it was not that his person and worship were accepted, as in the case of Abel, but that his walk was sanctified and molded according to the perfect will of God. " For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God." His faith was not exercised merely with regard to the exigencies and circumstances of this life-in which lower walk of faith, alas! so many fail-but in raising his soul above these circumstances so as to be able to walk in harmony of spirit with God. And yet, on the other hand, there is the simple record of his earthly associations, in his having had sons and daughters, that we might not fail to see the one side and the other of our walk in this world with God. And it is observable that the declaration in Heb. 11:55By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5), that Enoch, " before his translation, had this testimony that he pleased God," gives occasion to the statement, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh unto God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Or, in other words, the faith which leads to a walk with God is not conversant with abstract truths, but with God Himself; and it leaves not the soul at a distance from God, but brings into living, habitual contact with His infinite goodness, so that His being, and character, and moral dealings, are living and eternal realities.