More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP - Gen. 5, 21-24 Enoch walked with God
What does it truly mean to "walk with God" as Enoch did? Dr. Papa invites us into a profound exploration of one of Scripture's most mysterious figures – a man who lived 365 years and then simply vanished because "God took him."
Through careful examination of Genesis 5:22-24, we discover that Enoch stands apart from all other patriarchs. While their stories end with "and he died," Enoch's culminates in divine translation – taken directly to heaven without experiencing death. But what set him apart? What earned him this extraordinary privilege?
Far from being a withdrawn pietist hiding from worldly corruption, Jude's epistle reveals Enoch as a bold prophet who fearlessly proclaimed God's coming judgment on an ungodly generation. Like John the Baptist centuries later, he spoke truth to power without compromise. Dr. Papa challenges today's believers to follow this example, lamenting that many modern pulpits have grown timid while our world careens toward judgment just as swiftly as Enoch's pre-flood generation.
The devotion culminates with practical spiritual disciplines that characterized Enoch's walk with God and can transform our own: abiding in Scripture, consistent prayer, faithful obedience, and submission to the Holy Spirit. As Dr. Papa beautifully puts it, "We can walk with God as Enoch did. The only difference is that we have the written word to read and study and the living word living inside us to fellowship with us and guide us." Ready to begin your own extraordinary walk with God? This episode shows you how.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson.
Speaker 2:Papa, can you tell me a story?
Speaker 1:Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather around, grab your Bibles and let's look into the written Word, which reveals to us the living Word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, today we're in Genesis, chapter 5, verses 22 to 24. Let's read now from God's Word. Then, enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah and he had other sons and daughters, so all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. May God add his blessing to the reading from his word.
Speaker 1:What in the world does it mean when the Bible says that Enoch walked with God? Was it in the same way that Adam, who also walked with God in the garden in the very beginning, in the cool of the evening? I don't think so. Adam, at that point in time, had no sin nature. His conversation with God was unhindered by sin. At least for a brief time, it was not hindered by sin. He was able to behold the face of God and not die. He enjoyed a proximity and closeness to the Heavenly Father that none of us have ever known. So no, enoch's walk with God wasn't the same as Adam's, but Enoch was one of the ten patriarchs and one of the apart from the rest, so much so that God selected him and took him, translated him to heaven, without death's due ever appearing on his brow.
Speaker 1:The Bible doesn't tell us what set Enoch apart, except to say that he walked with God. We do, however, have a record of one of his prophetic messages, and it's recorded in Jude, verses 14 and 15. Let me read that to you. It's very interesting. In Jude, verse 14 and 15, the Bible says it was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all. To execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and we have a record of that. Perhaps he had in mind his distant cousin Lamech, who was seventh in line from Cain, just as Enoch was seventh in line from Adam. Lamech was boastful, arrogant, proud, blasphemous, as we determined in chapter 4. They were contemporaries and Enoch's prophetic message was for Lamech and his kind. It's amazing that even in the days before the flood that God had his prophets, like Enoch, warning an ungodly generation that there was a coming day of judgment and that the promised seed would return with all of his saints. The primary fulfillment was in the great flood, but its final fulfillment would have to await the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Please take note that Enoch was not a pietist. Now what in the world is a pietist? A pietist is a peculiar brand of Christian that believes any contact with the non-Christian world will pollute and contaminate them, that it will soil and sully their reputation. So they withdraw as cave dwellers away from the world. But let me ask you, how can they be the light of the world if they live as cave dwellers? How can we be salt that preserves and purifies the culture if we withdraw to isolated communities away from the world? Jesus told his disciples that he did not take them out of the world but left them in the world to be a strong influence, his representatives. We are in the world but not of the world.
Speaker 1:Enoch had a strong prophetic voice. As a preacher of righteousness. He was definitely not a pietist withdrawn, withdrawn into a cave protecting his testimony from contamination. Listen, enoch, like Elijah, who boldly called out Ahab and Jezebel for their wickedness, was no shrinking violet. And Jude, by divine revelation, told us exactly what Enoch, that prophet of righteousness, preached when he proclaimed to his pre-flood generation the message that we have recorded all the way back in the book of Jude, that message that he preached when he said Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Now, does that sound like a pietist who's withdrawn from the world for fear of being corrupted or polluted? No, does that sound like a cave-dwelling pietist, afraid to be polluted by the world? No, that sounds like John the Baptist calling out the Pharisees when he said you brood of vipers who warned you of the wrath to come.
Speaker 1:All of us have a responsibility to speak the truth in love. Where are the prophets of righteousness today? All we have is panty-waisted preachers who are afraid of offending the tender sensibilities of their congregations. While our generation careens towards judgment just as swiftly as Enoch's generation slid downhill towards the flood, we should be strenuously warning our children and our grandchildren of the impending rapture of the church, which I believe is the very next event on the prophetic calendar. Warning them of the rapture of the church and the ensuing wrath to come. Warn them to keep their eyes on the Middle East, the Russian bear and Persia, which is Iran, and all the predicted allies are joining hands against God's chosen people, which is Israel. Speak the truth in love, that's our calling.
Speaker 1:So what happened to Enoch, whom God took up? Hebrews 11 5 says by faith, enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. And he was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that, before God took him up, he was pleasing to God. Oh that that could be said of you and me, brothers and sisters, that we were pleasing to God. So what does it mean when it says that God took him up? Well, that equals translation. He was translated. He was taken up to heaven in the same way that Elijah was taken up to heaven in the chariot of fire. It's the same thing that happened to Elijah. It is an extraordinary thing, but not unique to these men, because the same thing will happen to all Christians who are alive at the time of the rapture. They will be taken up, they will be translated All the I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:At the conclusion of the life of the other nine patriarchs in the scripture, all of them had this postscript which said and he died, but not so with Enoch, it says twice that he walked with God and that God took him. All the other patriarchs the Bible plainly says that they died, but Enoch. Nowhere does it mention that he died. It merely says that God took him. You may ask what about the scripture that says it is appointed unto men once to die and then comes the judgment? Hebrews 9.22 plainly says that it's appointed unto men once to die and then comes the judgment. Well, I believe that Enoch and Elijah will have their appointed day of death and judgment.
Speaker 1:Many theologians believe these two translated Old Testament saints are the two witnesses of the coming tribulation period. These two witnesses are also identified as the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth in Zechariah 4 and verse 14. These anointed ones, these witnesses, are men and not angels. And how do we know that? Well, when these two witnesses finish their testimony, they will be slain and then resurrected in Revelations, chapter 11, verse 7 through 12. Check it out. And then they will be raptured, they will be translated before the eyes of the entire disbelieving world. Now I realize that many suppose that Moses and Elijah are the two witnesses in Revelation 11. But the Bible clearly tells us that Moses died and God buried him in Deuteronomy, chapter 34. And recall, it is appointed unto men once to die and then comes the judgment.
Speaker 1:Only Enoch and Elijah fit the qualifications, in that neither of them have yet died and both of them are preachers of righteousness. It seems probable to me that Enoch, that amazing prophet of the antediluvian ages, will yet get to fulfill his ministry of witnessing to a godless generation, a ministry that was once cut short by an amazing and sudden translation while he walked with God. Now that begs the question what does it mean for you and me to walk with God? Well, the Bible tells us look at John, chapter 8, verse 31 to 32, and let me read that to you. John, chapter 8, verse 31 to 32, and let me read that to you. John, chapter 8, verse 31 to 32.
Speaker 1:Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him if you continue in my words, then you are truly disciples of mine and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. What does it mean for you and me to abide in his word? What does it mean for us to walk with God? I believe that it's a spiritual discipline. Walking with Jesus, walking with God, is a spiritual discipline, and a part of that spiritual discipline is abiding in Jesus. And to abide in Jesus we have to abide in His Word. In John, chapter 15 and verse 7, jesus said If you abide in Me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
Speaker 1:Abiding in Jesus means that we must abide both in his word and we must abide in prayer, and necessarily that requires time. It requires time in his word, it requires time in prayer. That's a part of the discipline. The discipline of the Christian life requires that you and I spend time in the word, time in prayer. That's a part of the discipline. The discipline of the Christian life requires that you and I spend time in the Word, time in prayer, and that's part of what it means for you and me to abide in Jesus. It also means obedience. Jesus said if you love me, you will obey me.
Speaker 1:Part of abiding in Jesus is obedience obedience to his Word. And then the last thing I would say is it means allowing Holy Spirit to rule and reign in our life. In John 14 and verse 16, jesus said I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever. One of the benefits of being born again is that Holy Spirit comes to live within us, and one of the challenges of our walk with God is allowing Holy Spirit, every day, to rule over our souls. And here's the formula. You cannot reduce the Christian life to a formula, but if I tried to do so, it would be like this Walking with God is a matter of discipline, abiding in the Word, abiding in prayer, spending time with Jesus in the Word and in prayer, always seeking to be as obedient to God as I possibly can and every day seeking to be fully submitted to Holy Spirit who lives within me.
Speaker 1:We can walk with God as Enoch did. The only difference is that we have the written word to read and study and we have the living word living inside of us to fellowship with us and to guide us. The hymn writer said what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms, what a blessedness, what a peace is mine leaning on the everlasting arms. Well, you're listening to devotions with Dr Papa. I hope you like what you hear and if you do, I pray you'd share it with your friends. Follow, like, download it and remember your doctor loves you and I'll be back again next week. Until then, may the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. Also, don't forget to check out Dr Jackson's books that are available on Amazon His third book Turkey Tales and Bible Truths, and his father's biography on laughter-silvered wings the story of a country doctor, a family man, a patriot and a political activist. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Productions.
