27th October 2024

Old Testament Heroes 2- Enoch. Readings: Hebrews 11:1-6. and 1 Peter 2:4-10.

How much do you know about Enoch?  

We’re looking, if you remember, at the heroes of the Old Testament, and you might legitimately ask why I’ve chosen to talk about Enoch, when he’s not really one of the main characters of the O.T. narrative.

But we’re going to do two things this morning, because did you know that today, in France anyway, it’s “La Journée de la Réformation”?  You may remember that last year there was a special service at La Bastide sur l’Hers, so first I want to mention that briefly, just from a historic perspective, THEN we’ll talk about Enoch. 

So, from what I can gather Reformation Day is celebrated by evangelical protestants particularly in Chile, Germany and Slovenia, but also, it now seems, in France. I don’t know where else, I’ve not heard of it being celebrated in Britain, perhaps you have.

I DON’T think that it is intended as a demonstration of the differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics, so much as a simple celebration of what might be considered as their birthday.

It commemorates the day, in 1517, when a German monk named Martin Luther strode up to the church in Wittenburg, Germany, and nailed a list of 95 'theses' (or propositions) to the church door.   

Luther deliberately chose to do this on October 31st as he knew the church would be full the next day for All Saints' Day.  “Mother church”, unsurprisingly, was not amused and Luther was excommunicated.  

His particular bug-bear was the practice of indulgences. These were pardons from sin that could be bought, meaning that those who could afford to, could be as sinful as they wanted to be.

Luther’s objective was to spark wider debate and foster public opinion against the practice. However, so many people agreed with his ideas that they quickly spread across western Europe. This was greatly helped by the opportune invention of the printing press. And this then led to the religious revolt that we now know as “the Reformation”.

As well as the principle that forgiveness can ONLY be acquired by GRACE, and that Salvation is ONLY found in JESUS CHRIST, there were two other major principles that the Reformation highlighted.

The first was that the Bible, not the Pope or anyone else, is the sole and ultimate authority in matters of theology and religious practice.

This is fairly self-explanatory, but at the time it was a huge shift, and difficult for the vast majority of believers to grasp and accept. This was mainly because until that time the Bible was only available in Latin, a language which only the elite understood. But the invention of the printing press meant not only that Luther’s ideas could be widely spread abroad, but also that Bibles could be translated, printed and distributed far and wide, meaning that for the first time ordinary people could see for themselves what it said. 


The second principle was what we call “the priesthood of all believers”. This says that we are all priests, in the sense that we are all called by Jesus to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of those around us, and to share with them the good news of the gospel. We have direct access to God and so don’t need ordained ministers or saints to act as intermediaries for us.  

 

That’s not to say that the ordained clergy doesn’t have other useful roles, but just that we too are priests, in our own right, before God. 

 

There’s a whole lot more that could be said on this subject, but we don’t have time this morning.  

Can I just say that important though those things are, it’s also important to focus on the things that ALL Christians believe: 

 

OK. Let’s change the subject and talk about this guy Enoch.

 

So, who was he?  Well, first of all he was the great, great, great, great, great grandson of Adam, but more than that he was also the great, great, great, in fact 64 times great grandfather of Joseph who, “so it was thought”, as the Bible puts it, was the father of Jesus. Other illustrious names in that list include Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of course King David.

 

But, do all those greats make him a hero?  No, I don’t think so.

 

He lived, apparently, for a mere 365 years. I say “mere” because that was shorter than the other pre-flood patriarchs, who are all recorded as living for over 700 years. 

 

You may know this, but I didn’t, Enoch is traditionally credited with having written a book, or one book in 3 parts.  I haven’t read it, perhaps I should have.  Although it’s not considered to be canonical scripture by either the Jews or us Christians, so not part of the Old Testament, it does apparently contain unique material on the origins of demons, the Nephilim, why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary, and a prophetic exposition of the millennium, the thousand-year reign of the Messiah. The reason that it isn’t part of our Bible is apparently that it is inconsistent with the teachings of the Torah (first five books of the OT), but it is certainly accepted as being of historical or theological interest.  It must have been ground breaking stuff in its day. 

 

Jesus’ brother, the apostle Jude, writing in his epistle about the ungodly people of his own times, whom he called “grumblers and faultfinders who follow their own evil desires, boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage”, said that Enoch prophesied about them: saying “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones  to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

 

Apart from Enoch’s age and his prophetic writings, we know almost nothing about him, what sort of person he was, …., or about any of his exploits.  

 

That is apart from one MAJOR thing.  He didn’t die. Instead, we’re told, categorically, God just took him.

 

EVERYONE ELSE is Jesus’ line died, and we know the exact age at which they did so.  But not so our friend Enoch.  No!  Genesis chapter 5 tells us that “Enoch lived a total of 365 years.  He walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

 

“Enoch walked faithfully with God”, the passage tells us.  What more could anyone ask?  How different our world would be if that was the rule rather than the exception.  Just imagine if some of the world leaders, whose names I don’t need to mention, walked faithfully with God”.

 

Why was Enoch a hero?  Because he walked faithfully with God.  Because, as the writer of Hebrews puts it “before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God”. And his reward was that God gently lifted him into his loving arms and took him off to spend eternity with him in heaven.

 

That’s all very well for him, we might think, we should be so lucky.

But we are.  Jesus has opened the gates of heaven for us, and if we will only accept the sacrifice that he paid for us, we too, at the very moment we die, will be scooped up into the loving arms of our heavenly father.