You start reading through Genesis. In Genesis 1, you read how God created the heavens and the earth. In Genesis 2, you read how God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, you read about the Fall, when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree. In Genesis 4, you read how Cain killed his brother Abel. After breezing through these historical narratives, you hit a speed bump at the genealogy in Genesis 5. 

The temptation is to skip over this biblical ancestry.com record. That would be a mistake. Nothing in scripture is meaningless, unnecessary, or superfluous. 2 Timothy 3:16 asserts: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

After Cain killed Abel, Eve gave birth to a son named Seth. Through Seth, God would continue his redemptive plans after the death of Abel. Genesis 5 records the genealogy of Seth.

• It begins in verse 1 with Adam. 
• It ends in verse 32 with Noah. 

The Sethite genealogy introduces ten men. Three facts are given about each man: They lived, had children, and died. In Genesis 3:2-3, Eve says, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God, which is spiritual, ultimate, and eternal death. However, they did not physically die that day. The serpent’s statement in Genesis 3:4 seemed true: “You shall not surely die.” God has the last word. Even though Adam’s family line lived for centuries, every person died. 

Reading Genesis 5 is like walking through a cemetery and reading the tombstones. There is one glaring exception in Genesis 5:21-24. W.R. Bowie wrote: “This astonishing paragraph shines like a single brilliant star above the earthly record of this chapter.” The text introduces us to a man named Enoch. He is mentioned in three passages: Genesis 5:21-24, Hebrews 11:5-6, and Jude 14-15. We learn little of Enoch’s biography from these passages. The New Testament passages do not tell us anything more important than what we learn in his first mention. Genesis 5 records two outstanding facts about Enoch. 

• While others lived, Enoch walked with God. 
• While others died, Enoch was not, for God took him. 

Genesis 6:9 reads: “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man in his generation. Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6-8 records the story of Noah to prove these statements. We are not told the details of Enoch’s life. Yet we know all we need to know about him. Enoch walked with God. There is a difference between living and walking with God. Walking with God is the only way to live. Are you walking with God? Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” What does it mean to walk with God? 

How Walking with God Begins

Genesis 5:21-22 says, “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.” Enoch lived sixty-five years. Having reached what we call the age of retirement, Mrs. Enoch gave birth to a son named Methuselah. Enoch lived three hundred years after Methuselah was born. He did more than live. Enoch walked with God. How does walking with God begin?

Faith in God. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.” God raptured him so that he would not see death. No one could find Enoch because God took him. Then the writer tells us why and how Enoch enjoyed such a blessed end: “Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.” Genesis and Hebrews explain Enoch’s life the same way with different terms. 

• Genesis says Enoch walked with God. 
• Hebrews says Enoch pleased God. 

God does not walk with those whose lives displease him. 1 John 1:6-7 says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” To walk with God is to please God. 

How does a person please God? Hebrews 11:6 answers, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith pleases God. Romans 14:23 says, “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” To walk with God, you must please God. To please God, you must trust God. There are two things you must believe about God. 

• You must believe that God exists. 
• You must believe that God lives. 
• You must believe that God is real. 

This is the starting point of saving faith. James 2:19 says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder!” Faith begins with believing that God is real. You must also believe that God rewards those who seek him. Without God, we are eternally lost. God allows U-turns. Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”  

Fellowship with God. We have lost the art of walking. We live in an Uber culture that rides everywhere. Outside of exercise, most view walking as tedious, tiring, and time-consuming. In the ancient Near East, walking was the most common means of transportation. Anything you did and every place you went required walking. Walking was closely associated with life itself. When used metaphorically, walking is about how one lives. Your walk is your lifestyle, consistent conduct, and habitual behavior. This is the case when our text refers to Enoch’s walk. It is about how he lived. How did Enoch live? Enoch walked with God.

• He did not walk behind God. 
• He did not walk in front of God. 
• He did not walk away from God. 

Enoch walked with God. He lived in intimate fellowship with God. The Bible does not tell us much about Enoch. But we can safely conclude he was a humble, holy, and happy man. How do we know all of this about him? Enoch walked with God. To walk with God is to live in personal, intimate, and abiding fellowship with God. It is remarkable that Enoch walked with God. It is more remarkable that God graciously condescended to walk with Enoch. 

An adult never really walks with a little child. The adult does more waiting on the child than walking with the child. It is one thing to wait on God. It is another thing to have God wait on you. Isaiah 30:18 says: “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show his mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice, blessed are all those who wait for him.” God is waiting on you so that you might walk with him!

How Walking with God Progresses

Treadmills are good exercise machines. As you walk or run on a treadmill, you can burn calories, relieve tension, and even multitask. After walking for miles, you are in the same spot where you started. It is like sitting in a rocking chair. There is motion, but no progress. You cannot walk with God on a treadmill. Walking with God begins with a step of faith that becomes an ongoing walk. There are two ways walking with God progresses. 

Go with God. Amos 3:3 asks, “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” This rhetorical question assumes a negative answer. Two cannot walk together without agreement. When two people walk together without agreement, it is called stalking, not walking. 

Several agreements must be made if two are to walk together. You must agree on the destination. If one is walking home and the other person is walking to the store, they cannot walk together. Different destinations will inevitably separate them. To walk with God, you and God must be going to the same place.

Likewise, you must agree on the mode of travel. If one is walking and the other is riding, they cannot walk together. Both must walk for the two to walk together. Too many times, we want to ride while God walks. But you cannot grow in your spiritual walk as an elevator Christian. Faith gets stronger as you walk the stairs with God! Without God, you cannot do it. Without you, God won’t do it.

Furthermore, you must agree on direction. If one is going east and the other west, they cannot walk together. If one is going north and the other south, they cannot walk together. You cannot walk with God if you and God are not going in the same direction. You must agree to walk in the same direction. This agreement is non-negotiable. God is not going to stop what he is doing to walk with you. You must stop what you are doing to walk with God. God determines the place, pace, and path. 

Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

Stay with God. The most critical part of a journey is what Vance Havner called “the middle miles.” Anyone can be excited at the start of a journey, as you are strong, focused, and expectant. Anyone can be excited at the end of a journey. You may be weary and worn out, but the end is in view, the goal is reached, the journey is over. The struggle comes in the middle miles when you are far from where you started and just as far from where you are trying to go. To walk with God is to stay with God through the middle miles. Psalm 23:4sings, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” There is bad news and good news here. 

• The bad news is that walking with God does not exempt you from life’s low points.
• The good news is that you need not fear any evil thing if you are walking with God.  

A boy announced he was ready to walk to school on his own. His mother was not sure he was ready. He negotiated. “You pay that girl fifteen cents to walk me to and from school. If you let me walk by myself, I’ll only charge you a nickel.” Mom finally relented. During a family get-together, the boy bragged about walking to school on his own. His mother burst his bubble. “Son, she confessed, “you have never walked to school on your own. When you leave home, I let you get a house or two down the street, and follow you to school. At 3 PM, I wait in the distance and follow you home. You have never walked home alone. 

How Walking with God Climaxes

Two people in scripture did not die. Jesus is not on this shortlist. The Son of God knew no sin. Yet he died a cruel and unusual punishment at the cross. The Father raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Only two men in the Bible lived without dying. As Elijah walked and talked with Elisha, 2 Kings 2:11 says, “Chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” The other person to go to heaven without dying is Enoch.

Enoch was the first to be taken to heaven by rapture rather than death. Genesis 5:24 says, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” “And he was not” does not mean Enoch ceased to exist. Enoch was alive and well. He supernaturally relocated from Earth to heaven. As a result, he was not found. Enoch was the great missing person case of the Old Testament. One day, Enoch mysteriously disappeared.

• His wife and children could not find him. 
• His brothers and sisters could not find him. 
• His friends and neighbors could not find him. 

A.W. Pink wrote: “Had the Bible been a human production, much would have been written about Enoch and an attempt made to show the cause and explain the method of his mysterious exit from this world. The silence of the Holy Scriptures attests their divine origin!” Without any details, scripture simply tells us that Enoch was not, for God took him. The Lord raptured Enoch so that he transitioned from earth to heaven without tasting death. 

• Enoch did not have an undertaker. 
• Enoch had an Upper-Taker! 

If the Lord Jesus Christ tarries his coming, we have no reason to expect that we will experience the supernatural transition Enoch did. But the eternal life that Enoch was given will be granted, sooner or later, to every child of God. 

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 reads: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” If you walk with God, you can live with the assurance that death is not the last word. And if God can handle death, he can handle your life!