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Genesis Chapter
Five
Genesis 5
Chapter Contents
Adam and Seth. (1-5) The patriarchs from Seth to Enoch.
(6-20) Enoch. (21-24) Methuselah to Noah. (25-32)
Commentary on Genesis 5:1-5
Adam was made in the image of God; but when fallen he
begat a son in his own image
sinful and defiled
frail
wretched
and mortal
like himself. Not only a man like himself
consisting of body and soul
but a
sinner like himself. This was the reverse of that Divine likeness in which Adam
was made; having lost it
he could not convey it to his seed. Adam lived
in
all
930 years; and then died
according to the sentence passed upon him
"To dust thou shalt return." Though he did not die in the day he ate
forbidden fruit
yet in that very day he became mortal. Then he began to die;
his whole life after was but a reprieve
a forfeited
condemned life; it was a
wasting
dying life. Man's life is but dying by degrees.
Commentary on Genesis 5:6-20
Concerning each of these
except Enoch
it is said
"and he died." It is well to observe the deaths of others. They all
lived very long; not one of them died till he had seen almost eight hundred
years
and some of them lived much longer; a great while for an immortal soul
to be prisoned in a house of clay. The present life surely was not to them such
a burden as it commonly is now
else they would have been weary of it. Nor was
the future life so clearly revealed then
as it now under the gospel
else they
would have been urgent to remove to it. All the patriarchs that lived before
the flood
except Noah
were born before Adam died. From him they might receive
a full account of the creation
the fall
the promise
and the Divine precepts
about religious worship and a religious life. Thus God kept up in his church
the knowledge of his will.
Commentary on Genesis 5:21-24
Enoch was the seventh from Adam. Godliness is walking
with God: which shows reconciliation to God
for two cannot walk together
except they be agreed
Amos 3:3. It includes all the parts of a godly
righteous
and sober life. To walk with God
is to set God always before us
to
act as always under his eye. It is constantly to care
in all things to please
God
and in nothing to offend him. It is to be followers of him as dear
children. The Holy Spirit
instead of saying
Enoch lived
says
Enoch walked
with God. This was his constant care and work; while others lived to themselves
and the world
he lived to God. It was the joy of his life. Enoch was removed
to a better world. As he did not live like the rest of mankind
so he did not
leave the world by death as they did. He was not found
because God had translated
him
Hebrews 11:5. He had lived but 365 years
which
as men's ages were then
was but the midst of a man's days. God often takes
those soonest whom he loves best; the time they lose on earth
is gained in
heaven
to their unspeakable advantage. See how Enoch's removal is expressed:
he was not
for God took him. He was not any longer in this world; he was
changed
as the saints shall be
who are alive at Christ's second coming. Those
who begin to walk with God when young
may expect to walk with him long
comfortably
and usefully. The true christian's steady walk in holiness
through many a year
till God takes him
will best recommend that religion
which many oppose and many abuse. And walking with God well agrees with the
cares
comforts
and duties of life.
Commentary on Genesis 5:25-32
Methuselah signifies
'he dies
there is a dart
' 'a
sending forth
' namely
of the deluge
which came the year that Methuselah
died. He lived 969 years
the longest that any man ever lived on earth; but the
longest liver must die at last. Noah signifies rest; his parents gave him that
name
with a prospect of his being a great blessing to his generation. Observe
his father's complaint of the calamitous state of human life
by the entrance
of sin
and the curse of sin. Our whole life is spent in labour
and our time
filled up with continual toil. God having cursed the ground
it is as much as
some can do
with the utmost care and pains
to get a hard livelihood out
comfort us." It signifies not only that desire and expectation which
parents generally have about their children
that they will be comforts to them
and helpers
though they often prove otherwise; but it signifies also a
prospect of something more. Is Christ ours? Is heaven ours? We need better
comforters under our toil and sorrow
than the dearest relations and the most
promising offspring; may we seek and find comforts in Christ.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 5
Verse 1
[1] This
is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man
in the
likeness of God made he him;
The first words of the chapter are the title
of argument of the whole chapter; it is the book of the generations of Adam -
It is the list or catalogue of the posterity of Adam
not of all
but only of
the holy seed
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came; the names
ages
and deaths of those that were the successors of the first Adam in the
custody of the promise
and the ancestors of the second Adam.
Verses 1-2
[1] This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created
man
in the likeness of God made he him; [2] Male and female created he them; and blessed
them
and called their name Adam
in the day when they were created.
Where we have a brief rehearsal of what was
before at large related concerning the creation of man. This is what we have
need frequently to hear of
and carefully to acquaint ourselves with. Observe
here. 1. That God created man. Man is not his own maker
therefore he must not
be his own master; but the author of his being must be the director of his
motions
and the center of them. 2. That there was a day in which God created
man
he was not from eternity
but of yesterday; he was not the first-born
but
the junior of the creation. 3. That God made him in his own likeness
righteous
and holy
and therefore undoubtedly happy; man's nature resembled the divine
nature more than that of any of the creatures of this lower world. 4. That God
created them male and female
Genesis 5:2
for their mutual comfort
as well
as for the preservation and increase of their kind. Adam and Eve were both made
immediately by the hand of God
both made in God's likeness; and therefore
between the sexes there is not that great difference and inequality which some
imagine. 5. That God blessed them. It is usual for parents to bless their
children
so God the common Father blessed his; but earthly parents can only
beg a blessing
it is God's prerogative to command it. It refers chiefly to the
blessing of increase
not excluding other blessings.
Verse 2
[2] Male
and female created he them; and blessed them
and called their name Adam
in
the day when they were created.
He called their name Adam — He gave this name both to the man and the woman. Being at first one by
nature
and afterwards one by marriage; it was fit they should both have the
same name
in token of their union.
Verse 3
[3] And
Adam lived an hundred and thirty years
and begat a son in his own likeness
after his image; and called his name Seth:
Seth was born in the 130th year of Adam's
life
and probably the murder of Abel was not long before. Many other sons and
daughters were born to Adam besides Cain and Abel before this; but no notice is
taken of them
because an honourable mention must be made of his name only
in
whose loins Christ and the church were. But that which is most observable here
concerning Seth
is
that Adam begat him in his own likeness after his image -
Adam was made in the image of God; but when he was fallen and corrupted
he
begat a son in his own image
sinful and defiled
frail and mortal
and
miserable like himself; not only a man like himself
consisting of body and
soul; but a sinner like himself
guilty and obnoxious
degenerate and corrupt.
He was conceived and born in sin
Psalms 51:5. This was Adam's own likeness
the
reverse of that Divine likeness in which Adam was made; but having lost it
himself he could not convey it to his seed.
Verse 5
[5] And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and
he died.
In the day Adam ate forbidden fruit
he
became mortal
he began to die; his whole life after was but a forfeited
condemned life
nay it was a wasting dying life; he was not only like a
criminal sentenced
but as one already crucified
that dies slowly and by
degrees.
Verse 6-19
[6] And
Seth lived an hundred and five years
and begat Enos: [7] And
Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years
and begat sons
and daughters: [8] And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. [9] And
Enos lived ninety years
and begat Cainan: [10] And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight
hundred and fifteen years
and begat sons and daughters: [11] And
all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. [12] And
Cainan lived seventy years
and begat Mahalaleel: [13] And
Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years
and begat
sons and daughters: [14] And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred
and ten years: and he died. [15] And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years
and begat Jared: [16] And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared
eight hundred and thirty years
and begat sons and daughters: [17] And
all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he
died. [18] And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years
and he begat Enoch: [19] And
Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years
and begat sons and
daughters:
We have here all that the Holy Ghost thought
fit to leave upon record concerning five of the patriarchs before the flood
Seth
Enos
Cainan
Mahalaleel
and Jared. There is nothing observable
concerning any of those particularly
tho' we have reason to think they were
men of eminency
both for prudence and piety: But in general
observe how
largely and expressly their generations are recorded. We are told how long they
lived that lived in God's fear
and when they died
that died in his favour;
but as for others it is no matter: the memory of the just is blessed
but the
name of the wicked shall rot. That which is especially observable
is
that
they all lived very long; not one of them died 'till he had seen the revolution
of almost eight hundred years
and some of them much longer; a great while for
an immortal soul to be imprisoned in an house of clay. The present life surely
was not to them such a burden as commonly it is now
else they would have been
weary of it; nor was the future life so clearly revealed then
as it is now
under the gospel
else they would have been impatient to remove it. Some
natural causes may be assigned for their long life in those first ages. It is
very probable that the earth was more fruitful
the products of it more
strengthening
the air more healthful
and the influences of the heavenly
bodies more benign before the flood than they were after. Though man was driven
out of paradise
yet the earth itself was then paradisaical; a garden in
comparison with its present state: and some think
that their knowledge of the
creatures and their usefulness both
for their food and medicine
together with
their sobriety and temperance
contributed much to it; yet we do not find that
those who were intemperate
as many were
Luke 17:27
as short-lived as temperate men
generally are now. It must therefore chiefly be resolved into the power and
providence of God; he prolonged their lives
both for the more speedy
replenishing of the earth
and for the more effectual preservation of the
knowledge of God and religion
then when there was no written word
but
tradition was the channel of its conveyance. All the patriarchs here (except
Noah) were born before Adam died
so that from him they might receive a full
account of the creation
paradise
the fall
the promise
and those divine
precepts which concerned religious worship and a religious life: and if any
mistake arose
they might have recourse to him while he lived
as to an oracle
for the rectifying of it
and after his death to Methuselah
and others that
had conversed with him; so great was the care of Almighty God to preserve in
his church the knowledge of his will
and the purity of his worship.
Verse 22
[22] And
Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years
and begat
sons and daughters:
And Enoch walked with God after he begat
Methuselah — To walk with God
is to set God always
before us
and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is to live a
life of communion with God
both in ordinances and providences; it is to make
God's word our rule
and his glory our end
in all our actions; it is to make
it our constant care and endeavour in every thing to please God
and in nothing
to offend him; it is to comply with his will
to concur with his designs
and
to be workers together with him. He walked with God after he begat Methuselah
which intimates
that he did not begin to be eminent for piety 'till about that
time.
Verse 24
[24] And
Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
He was not
for God took him — That is
as it is explained
Hebrews 11:5
he was translated that he should
not see death; and was not found
because God had translated him. But why did
God take him so soon? Surely because the world
which was now grown corrupt
was not worthy of him. Because his work was done
and done the sooner for his
minding it so closely.
He was not
for God took him — He was not any longer in this world: it was not the period of his being
but of his being here. He was not found; so the apostle explains it from the
seventy; not found by his friends
who sought him
as the sons of the prophets
sought Elijah
2 Kings 2:17. God took him body and soul to
himself in the heavenly paradise
by the ministry of angels
as afterwards he
took Elijah. He was changed
as those saints shall be that will be found alive
at Christ's second coming.
Verse 25
[25] And
Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years
and begat Lamech:
Methuselah signifies
He dies
there is a
sending forth
viz. of the deluge
which came the very year that Methuselah
died. If his name was so intended
it was a fair warning to a careless world
long before the judgment came. However
this is observable
that the longest
liver that ever was
carried death in his name
that he might be minded of its
coming surely
tho' it came slowly. He lived nine hundred sixty and nine years
the longest we read of that ever any man lived on earth
and yet he died: the
longest liver must die at last. Neither youth nor age will discharge from that
war
for that is the end of all men: none can challenge life by long
prescription
nor make that a plea against the arrests of death. 'Tis commonly
supposed
that Methuselah died a little before the flood; the Jewish writers
say
seven days before
referring to Genesis 7:10
and that he was taken away from
the evil to come.
Verse 29
[29] And
he called his name Noah
saying
This same shall comfort us concerning our work
and toil of our hands
because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
This same shall comfort us concerning our
work and toil of our hands
because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed — Very probably there were some prophecies that went before of him
as a
person that should be wonderfully serviceable to his generation.
Verse 32
[32] And
Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem
Ham
and Japheth.
And Noah begat Shem
Ham
and Japheth — These Noah begat (the eldest of these) when he was six hundred years
old. It should seem that Japheth was the eldest
Genesis 10:21
but Shem is put first
because on
him the covenant was entailed
as appears by Genesis 9:26
where God is called the Lord God
of Shem. To him 'tis probable the birthright was given
and from him 'tis
certain both Christ the head
and the church the body
were to descend;
therefore he is called Shem
which signifies a name
because in his posterity
the name of God should always remain
'till He should come out of his loins
whose name is above every name; so that in putting Shem first
Christ was in
effect put first
who in all things must have the pre-eminence. For the glory
of God's justice
and for warning to a wicked world
before the history of the
ruin of the old world we have a full account of its degeneracy
its apostacy
from God
and rebellion against him. The destroying of it was an act not of
absolute sovereignty
but of necessary justice for the maintaining of the
honour of God's government.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
05 Chapter 5
Verses 1-32
This is the book of the generations of Adam
Distinguished men
I.
SOME
MEN ARE RENDERED DISTINGUISHED BY THE PECULIARITY OF THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY
LIVE. Adam; the first human being to
II. SOME MEN ARE
RENDERED DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR MARVELLOUS LONGEVITY. Methuselah.
III. SOME MEN ARE
RENDERED DISTINGUISHED BY THE VILLAINY OF THEIR MORAL CONDUCT.
IV. SOME MEN ARE
RENDERED DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR ANCESTRAL LINE OF DESCENT. Feeble lights in a
grand constellation.
V. SOME MEN ARE
RENDERED DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR TRUE AND EXALTED PIETY. Enoch. This is a
distinction of the very truest kind; it arises from the moral purity of the
soul. Lessons:
1. That a good old age is often the heritage of man.
2. That noble lineage is the heritage of others.
3. That true piety may be the heritage of all.
4. That true piety has a substantial reward as well as a permanent
record. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Thoughts
I. THE LONGEVITY
OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN RACE.
1. Their longevity might be explained on natural principles.
2. Their longevity was for special ends.
3. Their longevity contributed to their depravity.
II. THE POVERTY OF
HUMAN HISTORY. The record of a thousand is in these few verses.
III. THE
MATERIALIZING TENDENCIES OF SIN. All that is recorded here of these great men
except Enoch
is that they begat sons and daughters. They thought only of
material things.
IV. THE
INEVITABLENESS OF MAN’S MORTALITY. It is said of each
“He died.” No money can
bribe Death
no power avert his blow.
V. THE
BLESSEDNESS OF PRACTICAL GODLINESS. “Enoch walked with God.” (Homilist.)
The genealogy
1. It is a very honourable
one. The Son of God Himself descended from it.
2. Neither Cain nor Abel have any place in it. Abel was slain before
he had any children
and could not; and Cain
by his sin
had covered his name
with infamy
and should not. Adam’s posterity
therefore
after a lapse of one
hundred and thirty years
must begin anew.
3. The honour done to Seth and his posterity was of grace; for he is
said to have been born in Adam’s likeness
and after his image. Man was made
after the image of God; but this being lost
they are born corrupt
the
children of a corrupt father. What is true of all mankind is here noted of
Seth
because he was reckoned as Adam’s firstborn. He
therefore
like all
others
was by nature a child of wrath; and what he or any of his posterity
were different from this
they were by grace.
4. Though many of the names in this genealogy are passed over
without anything being said of their piety
yet we are not from hence to infer
that they were impious. Many might be included among them who called upon the
name of the Lord
and who are denominated the sons of God
though nothing is
personally related of them. (A. Fuller.)
The original vitality of men
Whether we are to think that the original vitality of the human
frame faded only by slow degrees
or whether there was something salubrious in
the air of the ages after Eden
has often been asked
but can never be
answered. Some have fancied that the immense lives ascribed to the
antediluvians imply that each name represents a tribe
the lives of whose
leading members are added together; others have understood the years to mean
only months; while others have sought to prove that from Adam to Abraham the
year had no more than three months
from Abraham to Joseph eight
and from
Joseph’s time twelve months
as at present. But such explanations have no
sufficient warrant
and it is perhaps best
on the whole
to keep in mind what
Bishop Harold Browne has pointed out
that “numbers and dates are liable in the
course of ages to become obscured and exaggerated.” It is quite possible that
some of the early Rabbis
desirous of emulating the fabled age ascribed by
heathen nations to their heroes and demigods
may have added to the Bible
figures
so as to secure the patriarchs an equal honour. Our present bodies
certainly could not live more than two hundred years
at the very most
from
the decay of one part after another
and hence we must either take Bishop
Browne’s solution of antediluvian longevity
or suppose that exceptional
circumstances in the first ages produced exceptional results. (C. Geikie
D.
D.)
The apostate and the godly seeds
I. IT IS
ESPECIALLY IN THE LINE OF CAIN THAT WE FIND THE ARTS OF SOCIAL AND CIVILIZED
LIFE CULTIVATED. They increased in power
in wealth
and in luxury. In almost all
earthly advantages they attained to a superiority over the more simple and
rural family of Seth. And they afford an instance of the high cultivation which
a people may often possess who are altogether irreligious and ungodly
as well
as of the progress which they may make in the arts and embellishments of life.
II. THE GODLY SEED
WAS PERPETUATED IN THE FAMILY OF SETH
whose name signifies “appointed
placed
or firmly founded.” For on him now was to rest the hope of the promised
Messiah. So God ordained
and so Eve devoutly believed. The posterity of Seth
maintained the cause of religion in the midst of increasing degeneracy. It is
true they did not always maintain it very successfully; perhaps they did not
always maintain it very consistently. In the first place
in the days of Enos
the grandson of Adam
a signal revival took place among those who adhered to
the true faith (Genesis 4:26). Again
secondly
several
generations later
contemporary with Lamech in the house of Cain
lived Enoch
in the family of Seth
the seventh from Adam. He was raised up as a remarkable
prophet
and the burden of his prophetic strains is preserved to us by the
Apostle Jude (verses 14
15). Once more
in the third place
still later in
this melancholy period
the Lord raised up Noah
or Nee
as his name is often
written. That name signifies “comfort” or “consolation.” Thus
in three
successive eras
the Lord remarkably interposed to arrest the progress of the
sad apostasy.
1. It is interesting in this view to consider the longevity of the
patriarchs. The length of their days well fitted them for being the
depositories of the revealed will of God
preserving and transmitting it from
age to age; and so many of them surviving together to so late a period must
have formed a holy and reverend company of teachers and witnesses in the world.
So
at least
it should have been; since
at all events
this longevity of the
fathers was a boon and privilege to the Church. It served the purpose of the
written Word. It transmitted
not a treacherous and variable tradition passing
quickly through many hands
such as some would fondly prefer even to the Bible
but a sure record of the truth of God. Hence it was fitted to rally with no
uncertain sound
and not by the artifice of any dead and nominal uniformity
but on a trustworthy principle of living unity
the Church of the living God.
If the effect was otherwise--if the testimony of the long-lived fathers then
like the teaching of the abiding Word now
failed to keep the sons of God at
one among themselves
and separate from the world
their sin was on that
account all the greater. Nor was the agency wanting which alone can give a
spiritual discernment of the truth. The Spirit
who searcheth all things
yea
the deep things of God
was
throughout these ages
continually striving with
men
and by the Spirit Christ was ever preaching to the successive generations
of that antediluvian world.
2. But it is not the length of their lives only that is to be taken
into account when we would estimate the effect which the testimony of the godly
patriarchs was fitted to have in stemming the torrent of ungodliness. Their
deaths also must have been instructive and significant. That they all lived so
long
witnessing for God
believing and showing forth His righteousness
was a
standing reproof to the wicked. That
long as they might live
they all died at
last
gave a warning more affecting still. The death of each
coming surely in
the end
though long delayed
must have rung emphatically the knell of
judgment. (R. S. Candlish
D. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence hath made a
sufficient register of the Church’s rise and growth and state
for faith
not
for curiosity.
2. God’s will is made out
that His Church was to be propagated by
generation
not creation.
3. The generations of the Church were ordered to be from Adam
fallen
that grace might appear.
4. God’s blessing makes man only fruitful to propagate His Church. (G.
Hughes
B. D.)
Nobodyism
You must have already noticed that this chapter is as true as any
chapter in human history
especially as it shows so clearly
what we ourselves
have found out
that the most of people are extremely uninteresting. They are
names
and nothing more. They are producers and consumers
tenants and
taxpayers
and that is all; they are without wit
music
piquancy
enterprise
or keenness of sympathy. Such people were Seth and Enos
Mahalaleel and Jared;
respectable
quiet
plodding; said “good night” to one another regularly
and
remarked briefly upon the weather
and died. Just what many nowadays seem to
do. Now
I want to show you that such people are often unjustly estimated
and
to remind you that if all stars were of the same size the sky would look very odd--much
like a vast chessboard with circles instead of squares. I want to remind you
also that really the best part of human history is never written at all. Family
life
patient service
quiet endurance
the training of children
the
resistance of temptation--these things are never mentioned by the historian.
Because we admire brilliance we need not despise usefulness. When your little
child is ill
he needs kindness more than genius
and it will be of small
service to him if his mother is good at epigrams but bad at wringing out a wet
cloth for his burning brow. I am
then
quite willing to admit that Seth and
Enos
Mahalaleel and Jared
are not one-thousandth part so well known by name
as the man in the moon
but I believe they did more real good than that famous
character ever attempted. You should remember
too
that a long fiat road may
be leading up to a great mountain. There are some very plain and uninteresting
miles out of Geneva
but everyone of them brings you nearer Merit Blanc. Oh
so
dull that long road from Seth to Jared
but round the corner you find Enoch
the Mont Blanc of his day! Many a child who never heard the name of Jared knows
well the name of Enoch. So you do not know to what high hill your life may be
quietly leading up. Even if you yourself are nobody
your son may be a man of
renown
or his son may be a valiant and mighty man. Enoch reaches the point of
renown in godliness; he walked with God three hundred years at least; his walk
was on the high hills--so high that he simply stepped into the next world
without troubling Death to go through his long
dark process. “He was not
for
God took ” As if he had walked so near that God opened the window and took him
in; and we
too
might pass in as easily if we walked on the same sunny heights.
But we are in valleys and pits
and God must needs send Death to dig us out and
send us to heaven by a longer road. After Enoch
we come to Methuselah. He
too
is well known
although for nothing but length of days apparently; yet as
a matter of fact he ought to be known for something much more highly
distinguished. He was the grandfather of Noah; that is his glory
not his mere
age! You cannot tell what your boy may be
or his boy; so keep yourself up to
the mark in all mental health and moral integrity
lest you transmit a plague
to posterity. It may be that Nature is only resting in you; presently she will
produce a man! Precisely the same thing we have in this chapter we find in the
catalogue of the names of the early disciples of our Lord. We know Peter and
James and John. But how little as compared with them do we know of Thomas and
Bartholomew and Philip
of Lebbaeus
and Simon the Canaanite? Yet they were all
members of one company
and servants of the same Lord. We speak of men of
renown
forgetting that their renown is principally derived from men who have
no renown themselves! Unknown people make other people known. The hills rest
upon the plain ground. Besides
there is a bad repute as well as a fair fame:
Judas Iscariot is known as widely as the Apostle John! Be not envious of those
who have high place and name; could we know them better
perhaps we should find
that they long for the quietness of home
and sigh for release from the noise
and strain of popular applause. Happily
too
we should remember that a deed
may be immortal
when the mere name of the doer may be lost in uncertainty. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
The Divine image in man hidden
A researcher of art in Italy
who
reading in some book that there
was a portrait of Dante painted by Giotto
was led to suspect where it had been
placed. There was an apartment used as an outhouse for the storing of wood
hay
and the like. He besought and obtained permission to examine it. Clearing
out the rubbish and experimenting upon the whitewashed wall
he soon detected
the signs of the long-hidden portrait. Little by little
with loving skill
he
opened up the sad
thoughtful
stern face of the old Tuscan poet. Sin has done
for man what the whitewash did for the painting. It has covered over the likeness
of God upon the soul; and it is only by the Spirit of God Himself that the
long-hidden likeness can be manifested again.
Long life and death of the patriarchs
From the 4th verse to the 22nd two things chiefly are noted
the
long life of these fathers and their assured death. Many years they continued
yea
many hundreds; but at last they died. Death was long ere it came
but at
last it came.
1. And touching their long life
some questions are moved: First
why it was so long; secondly
whence or how it came to be so. Of the first
two
causes are alleged
one for the propagation of mankind so much the faster and
more speedily
the other for continuance of remembrance of matters
and
deducing of them to posterity the better. The indifferent mixture
equal temperature
and good disposition of the chief and first qualities
heat
cold
moisture
dryness
is in nature the ground of life
and by all probability in that
beginning this was so more than now; their diet better
and temperance more
from surfeiting and fleshly pleasures than is now; their minds quieter from
eating and gnawing cares
the shortness of man’s life
since
iniquity then
being not so strong
many woes and vexations were unfound; and lastly
the
fruits of the earth
in their purity
strength
and virtue
not corrupted
as
after the flood
and ever since still more and more
might be to them a true
cause
and a most forcible cause
of good health
greater strength
and longer
life than ever since by nature could be.
2. Their certain death is noted
to show the truth of God’s Word
ever infallible and unmovable. The Lord said
if they did eat they should die:
they did eat
then death must follow; for He will be true
do what we can
and
we shall find it so. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years
but he died;
Sheth nine hundred and twelve
and he died; Methuselah nine hundred threescore
and nine
and yet he died. Died
died
is the end of all
that God might be
true
how long soever they lived. The same word of the Lord is no falser now
than then
but the same forever. Would God this repetition of death
death
to
all these fathers might make us as duly to remember it as we are sure truly to
find it--to find it
I say; and God knoweth
not we
how soon. “Today I
tomorrow thou
” saith the wise man. His conceit was not unprofitable that
imagined man’s life to be as a tree
at the root whereof two mice lay gnawing
and nibbling without ceasing
a white mouse and a black. The white mouse he
conceived to be the day
and the black mouse the night
by which day and night
man’s life
as a tree
by continual gnawing
at last is ended. Who can now tell
how far these two mice have eaten upon him? Haply the tree that seemeth yet
strong ere night may shake
and ere day again fall flat down. Oh
let us think
of this uncertainty! But you see the snow
how blind it makes a man by his
great whiteness; so doth this world
by his manifold pleasures
baits
and
allurements
dazzle our eyes
and blind us so
that we forget to die; we dream
of life when there is no hope
and we cannot hear of it to go away. O death
how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his
possessions
unto the man that hath nothing to vex him
and that hath
prosperity in all things
yea
unto him that is yet able to receive meat. (Bishop
Babington.)
Lessons from the longevity of the antediluvians
1. Now
here is a lesson in
human experience which one would think would silence forever the advocates of
the theory of human perfectibility. The race of antediluvians were blessed with
all possible capacities and facilities for indefinite improvement in knowledge
and happiness. They were not called to die when they had just began to live
nor to quit their investigations forever when they had just learned how to
study. Men’s minds might have been formed and disciplined in the revolution of
nine hundred years under an accumulation of influences and circumstances in the
highest degree powerful and favourable. A ladder was let down to them from
heaven; but instead of rising thither
they employed every endowment of being
and every capability of life
for growth in unkindness
and corrupted
themselves to such a height before God
that their sufferance on earth was no
longer possible. So much for human perfectibility.
2. Only one event is recorded alike of them all
no matter what may
have been their situation in life--whether princes of the earth or beggars in
rags. Their life is reduced down to the bald
unvaried epitaph--“He died”! The
only thing of absolute value is that which connects us with God. Crowns are
playthings; dukedoms and dominions of no more importance than the grains of
sand that go to make up an ant-hill.
3. The consideration of the great age of the antediluvians
and its
effect upon their state on earth
might lead to some faint conception of what
an apostle calls the “power of an endless life.”
4. We are all naturally as wicked as the race of mankind destroyed
by the deluge. And doubtless it will be less tolerable for us than the
antediluvians in the Day of Judgment.
5. The mere duration of years does not constitute a long life
but
the fulfilment of life’s purposes.
6. There was a time in the life of every ungodly antediluvian in
which his wickedness had reached such a point
his long habits of sin had
gained such strength
that all hope of his salvation departed. At such a
moment
though long before the close of his mortal career
it might have been
said with awful emphasis--“He died”! (Christian Age.)
God’s way of writing history
Bible history is written on the principle of abridgment and
selection. God Himself is the abridger and selector. He has written the story
of His own world in His own way
and according to His own plan
keeping such
things as these in view--
1. What would most glorify Himself.
2. What would most benefit the Church upon the whole.
3. What would mark distinctly the stages leading on to the
incarnation of His Son.
4. What would prove the true humanity of Messiah as the seed of the
woman
and so the embodiment of the grace and truth wrapt up in the first
promise to man.
The first verse carries us back to the earlier chapters
and
repeats the statement already given as to man’s creation in the Divine image.
It is plain from it that God desires us to look at and ponder such things as
these--
1. Man’s creation by God.
2. His creation in the likeness of God.
3. His creation
male and female.
4. His being “blessed” by God
and that he enters this world as a
blessed being
not under the curse at all.
5. His receiving the name of Adam
or man
from God Himself
as if
God specially claimed the right of nomenclature to Himself.
How much importance must God attach to these things when He thus
repeats them at so brief an interval! He does not repeat in vain. Every word of
God is “pure
” and it is full of meaning
even though we may not now see it
all. It is not a mere grain or atom; it is a seed
a root. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
Ten biographies in one chapter
A single chapter contains ten biographies. Such is God’s estimate
of man
and man’s importance! How unlike man’s estimate of himself! How unlike
are the biographies contained in this chapter to those volumes of biography
over which are spread the story of a single life! Is not this man worship
hero
worship? And was it not to prevent this that God has hid from us the details of
primitive history--everything that would magnify man and man’s doings? Just as
He has taken pains to prevent the grosser idolatries of sun worship and star
worship by exhibiting these orbs in the first chapter as His own handiwork
so
in this fifth chapter He has sought to anticipate and prevent the more refined
idolatry
not only of past ages
when man openly and grossly deified man
but
of these last days
when man is worshipping man in the most subtle of all ways
and multiplying the stories of man’s wisdom
or prowess
or goodness
so as to
hide God from our eyes
and give to man an independent position and importance
from which God has been so careful to exclude him. We might say
too
that this
chapter is God’s protest against that special development of hero worship which
is to be exhibited in the last Antichrist
when God shall be set aside and man
be set up as all. The importance attached to these recorded names is just this
that they belong to the line of the woman’s seed. It was this that made them
worthy of memory. The chain to which some precious jewel is attached is chiefly
noticeable because of the gem that it suspends. The steps which led up to the
temple were mainly important because of the temple to which they led. So it was
the connection of these ten worthies of the world’s first age with the great
Coming One that gave them their importance. Standing where we now do
far down
the ages
and looking back on the men of early days
we are like one tracing
some great river back to its distant source amid the lonely hills. The varied
beauties of its banks
however great
yet derive their chief attraction and
interest from the mighty city reared upon its margin
at some turn of its far
downward course
and from the mighty ones which that city has given birth to.
It is Bethlehem that gives all its interest to the river whose beginnings this
chapter traces; or rather
it is He who was there born of a woman--Jesus the
son of Abraham
the son of Adam. Save in their bearing upon Him
how unmeaning
do these names appear! (H. Bonar
D. D.)
And Adam begat a son in his own likeness
after his image
Human depravity
I.
THAT
HUMAN DEPRAVITY IS TOTAL AS TO ITS INFLUENCE OVER THE HUMAN MIND. By the
phrase
human depravity
we mean that corruption of our nature
whereby we are
inclined to sin rather than to holiness. The seat of this depravity is within;
external forms of wickedness
in words and actions
are only the results and
expressions of it
etc. By the heart
we mean the mind and all its faculties
and powers; and by the depravity of the heart
we mean that principle within
it
call it disposition
energy
or cause
whence those powers receive their
inclination and bias
and from the quality of which
they
and the actions
resulting from them
derive their character.
II. I now proceed
to prove
that THIS DEPRAVITY IS UNIVERSAL IN ITS PREVALENCE AMONGST MANKIND.
1. It exists in all ages. Our proof of this is in universal history.
2. It exists in all countries.
3. In all communities.
4. In all families.
5. In all individuals.
III. IT IS INHERENT
IN OUR NATURE
IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL OF ADAM. (T. Raffles
D. D.)
Verse 5
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty
years: and he died
The life and death of Adam
I.
THE
SUBJECT OF THIS BRIEF NARRATION. Adam
the first of men. Here it may be
profitable to notice him most attentively.
1. As a compound being
formed of different component parts.
2. As to the common head of mankind; both our natural and moral
head.
3. As the chief of sinners.
4. As a subject of God’s redeeming mercy.
5. As a figure or type of Christ.
II. HIS LIFE. He
lived nine hundred and thirty years. His life may be considered--
1. In its origin. Divine (Luke 3:38).
2. In its progress
as singularly diversified.
3. In its duration
as graciously protracted. From the protracted
life of Adam learn the great end for which our lives are continued; that we may
glorify God by getting and doing good.
III. HIS DEATH HE
DIED. His death may be considered--
1. As a dissolution of first principles. He died; he was not
annihilated
but merely dissolved. His body returned to dust
his soul to God Ecclesiastes 12:7).
2. As the fruit of sin.
3. As a release from the vanity and evils of this world.
4. As a certain indication of our own. (Sketches of Sermons.)
Preparation for death
A man
who lived in forgetfulness of God and of his soul
went one
day into a church while the chapter which has furnished us with our text was
being read there. When he heard that long and monotonous catalogue of the names
and ages of the patriarchs
his first inclination was to smile; he said to
himself that there might have been chosen for the reading a less dry and a more
edifying subject. He remained
however
and continued to listen
compelled to
attention in spite of himself. Soon a thought struck him. He could not long
listen with indifference to that solemn refrain
which came back always the
same after these lives
so lengthened
of the patriarchs
“And he died.” That
is
he said to himself
what all these men had to pass through who lived so
long on earth; they have all finished by dying. What happened to the
patriarchs
happens also to all men without exception. All finish with death.
What happens to all men must
therefore
happen to myself. I also shall finish
with death. How am I prepared to receive that death which every day advances
towards me
and from which no power in the world can shield me? What will be
its consequences in my case? Will they be happy or unhappy? Will it be a
heaven? Will it be a hell? Solemn question
which I have lost sight of till the
present
but which I can no longer let remain unsolved. And from that moment he
became as serious as he had hitherto been careless
with regard to his eternal
interests.
I. The first way
of acting with regard to death
is NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT AT ALL that is the way
of men of the world. They can so occupy themselves with the things of this
life
that they forget
in some sort
that this life is to have an end.
1. Such a young man thus forgets death in the stupefaction of
pleasures.
2. Another young man is thus brought to forget death in the
preoccupation of work.
3. The old man himself often comes to conceal from himself the death
which is already so near him. He can no longer work; he can no longer deliver
himself up to the noisy pleasures of youth
but he can still procure
distractions for himself
which beguile his ennui
and remove from him
the thought of death; he can stir throw the dice
or hold the cards
and the
game will make him forget the flight of time. Or in the moments of idleness;
say
when he is thrown back upon his own reflections
he will transport himself
in idea into the past; he will turn over in his memory
and with inward
satisfaction
too
the scenes of his youth and of his riper age
and that
preoccupation with the past will hinder him from thinking about the future.
And
in a word
there are many means of diverting one’s thoughts
and deceiving
one’s self with regard to death; but is such conduct wise and reasonable? is it
really for our interest?
II. A second
manner of acting with regard to death consists in PERSUADING ONE’S SELF THAT
EVERYTHING ENDS AT DEATH this is the way of infidels. The men whom I have in
view do not at all divert their thoughts from the necessity which is laid upon
them to die; they do not fear (at least
to judge from their pretensions)
to
look in the face the thought of death; they speak voluntarily and coolly of it;
they believe that they possess the secret of not fearing it. They mock the
people simple enough to trouble themselves with what is to follow death. As
regards themselves--more enlightened and freed from those vulgar
prejudices--they are convinced that what is called our soul is but a result of
physical organization
and that
in consequence
it cannot survive the
dissolution of the body; that judgment to come
heaven
hell
and life eternal
are so many idle fancies of weak minds. By means of such a conviction they
pretend to live tranquilly
and not to fear death. Annihilation is a sad
prospect; there is in the thought of annihilation something which horrifies our
nature
and which we cannot look at without shuddering. What strange consolation
to oppose to the trials of life is the future expected by the infidel! There is
another existence after this
and the infidels themselves are forced
sooner or
later
to do homage to that truth. At the approach of death they see the
fragile stage of their infidelity fall in pieces like a house of cards at the
breath of a child; and the anguish of their conscience becomes then an
argument
tardy but terrible
in favour of a life to come. It is not
then
in
the ranks of infidels that we shall find the best way of preparing for death.
III. A third way of
conducting one’s self with regard to death consists in MAKING AN EFFORT TO
MERIT BY ONE’S WORKS FUTURE HAPPINESS it is the Way with self-righteous men.
If
then
a man observed the law of God perfectly
he could wait fearlessly for
death
assured beforehand that the consequences will be happy in his case; he
could present himself with confidence at the judgment of God
and ask from Him
eternal life as a recompense which he has merited. But
as there is not a
single man that has perfectly observed the law of God
there is not one who can
procure for himself by that means a solid peace in view of death.
IV. But that peace
which we seek in vain in ourselves
might it not be found in CONFIDENCE IN THE
GOODNESS OF GOD? It is there at least that many persons seek it. Here again
we
are forced to overthrow that pretended peace as dangerous and illusive. No! it
is in vain that you pretend to found your peace in presence of death on the
goodness of God
while leaving in the shade His justice. The goodness of God
separated from His justice
is but a frail reed
which will pierce the hand of
the imprudent one who rests on it.
V. We shall need
you see
in order to our being able to die tranquilly
A MEANS OF PREPARING FOR
DEATH THAT WOULD SATISFY THE JUSTICE OF GOD
AT THE SAME TIME THAT IT WOULD DO
HOMAGE TO HIS GOODNESS. It would be necessary that at the very time when His
goodness displayed itself in the pardon of the sinner
His justice should
preserve its rights in the punishment of the sin. If there existed a System
founded on truth
and satisfying that double condition
it would assuredly be
the best means
or rather the only means
of preparing us to die tranquilly.
Now
that system exists
that means is found
and you have already named it in
your thought; it is faith in Jesus Christ. After all human systems have been
tried in succession
and been found false and powerless
how joyfully the means
which God Himself has proposed
and which is the only one that can give peace
to our hearts
is returned to; that system
simple as well as Divine
which is
summed up in the words
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be
saved!” Faith in Christ presents the secret of satisfying at once the justice
of God and His goodness. The Cross of Christ unites what an eternal abyss
seemed to separate. (A. Monod
D. D.)
Adam dies
Then he died! He by whom death came in at last fell under it. He
returned to dust. His sin found him out
after a long pursuit of nine hundred and
thirty years
and laid him low. The first Adam dies! The tallest
goodliest
palm tree of the primeval paradise is laid low. The first Adam dies; neither in
life nor in death transmitting to us aught of blessing. He dies as our
forerunner; he who led the way to the tomb. The first Adam dies
and we die in
him; but the second Adam dies
and we live in Him! The first Adam’s grave
proclaims only death; the second Adam’s grave announces life--“I am the
resurrection and the life.” We look into the grave of the one
and we see only
darkness
corruption
and death; we look into the grave of the other
and we
find there only light
incorruption
and life. We look into the grave of the
one
and we find that he is still there
his dust still mingling with its fellow
dust about it; we look into the grave of the other
and find that He is not
there
He is risen--risen as our forerunner into the heavenly paradise
the
home of the risen and redeemed. We look into the grave of the first Adam
and
see in him the first fruits of them that have died
the millions that have gone
down to that prison house whose gates he opened; we look into the tomb of the
second Adam
and we see in Him the first fruits of them that are to rise
the
first fruits of that bright multitude
that glorified band
who are to come
forth from that cell
triumphing over death
and rising to the immortal life;
not through the tree which grew in the earthly paradise
but through Him whom
that tree prefigured--through Him who was dead and is alive
and who liveth for
evermore
and who has the keys of hell and death. (H. Bonar
D. D.)
And he died
It is said that the striking thing in this chapter is the painful
repetition of the words
“and he died.” In a popular magazine some years ago
there appeared an article
“An Hour Among the Tombstones
” in which the writer
gives the following:--“In memory of Richard B--
who died August 1
18--. He
was for many years an inhabitant of this parish.” Was he? Well most people are
“inhabitants” of some “parish”; and if they live long enough
and are not over
fidgety
of the same parish for “many years.” That is little enough to say of
Richard B--. But what sort of an “inhabitant” was he? Cross and surly
miserly
and close-fisted
selfish and ungodly; or
a good man
fearing his God
and
blessing his neighbour? Good stone mason
come hither. You have written too
much or too little. Either cut out what is on yonder stone
or else cut in
something more creditable to him “who was for many years an inhabitant of this
parish.”
The dissolution of past ages a memento for posterity
One Guerricus
hearing these words read in the Church
out of the
Book of Genesis: “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty
years
and he died; all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years
and he died; and all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years
and he
died; and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years
and he died
” etc.
--hearing
I say
these words read
the very conceit of
death wrought so strongly upon him
and made so deep an impression in his mind
that he retired from the world and gave himself wholly to devotion
that so he
might die the death of the godly
and arrive more safely at the haven of
felicity
which is nowhere to be found in this world. And thus should we do
when we look back to the many ages that are past before us
but thus we do not:
like those that go the Indies
we look not on the many that have been swallowed
up by the waves
but on some few that have got by the voyage: we regard not the
millions that are dead before us
but have our eyes set on the lesser number
that survive with us; and hence it comes to pass that our passage out of this
world is so little minded. (J. Spencer.)
Verse 24
Enoch walked with God
The life and translation of Enoch
I.
Consider
THE LIFE OF ENOCH. He “walked with God.” These words seem to imply that Enoch
possessed a remarkable resemblance to God in moral excellence; that he realized
God’s presence
and enjoyed His communion in an extraordinary measure
and that
he publicly avowed himself to be on God’s side
and stood almost alone in doing
so. We notice especially the quietness and unconsciousness of his walk with
God. The life of David or of Job resembled a stormy spring day
made up of
sweeping tempest
angry glooms
and sudden bursts of windy sunshine; that of
Enoch is a soft grey autumn noon
with one mild haze of brightness covering
earth and heaven.
II. Notice ENOCH’S
PUBLIC WORK OF PROTEST AND PROPHECY. The Epistle of Jude supplies us with new
information about Enoch’s public work. He not only characterized and by
implication condemned his age
but predicted the coming of the last great
judgment of God. He announced it
III. Look now at
ENOCH’S TRANSLATION. How striking in its simplicity is the phrase
“He was not
for God took him!” The circumstances of his translation are advisedly
concealed: “translated that he should not see death.” Many a hero has gathered
fame because he stood “face to face with death
” and has outfaced the old
enemy; but death never so much as dared to “look into Enoch’s eye as it kindled
into immortality.” The reasons why this honour was conferred on him were
probably--
Enoch’s life
Few words are needed to describe the salient features of the
majority of human lives. It is not needful to write a volume to tell whether a
man has spent a noble or a wasted life. One stroke of the pen
one solitary
word
may be enough.
I. HERE IS A LIFE
SUDDENLY AND PREMATURELY CUT SHORT for
although Enoch lived 365 years
it Was
not half the usual age of the men of his day.
II. A LIFE SPENT
AMID SURROUNDING WICKEDNESS.
III. A LIFE SPENT
IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. In the expression “walked with God
” there is the idea
of--
IV. A LIFE OF
NOBLE TESTIMONY. “V. A LIFE CROWNED BY TRANSLATION. His translation was--
Enoch
one of the world’s great teachers
Three strange things in connection with Enoch’s history:
I. HE TAUGHT THE
WORLD BY HIS LIFE.
1. “He walked with God.”
2. “He had the testimony that he pleased God.”
II. HE TAUGHT THE
WORLD BY HIS TRANSLATION.
1. That death is not a necessity of human nature.
2. That there is a sphere of human existence beyond this.
3. That there is a God in the universe who approves of goodness.
4. That the mastering of sin is the way to a grand destiny.
III. HE TAUGHT THE
WORLD BY HIS PREACHING (Jude 1:14-15).
The heavenly walk
I. THAT IT MAY BE
PURSUED NOTWITHSTANDING THE PREVALENCY OF SIN AROUND.
II. THAT IT MAY BE
PURSUED IN THE VERY PRIME OF BUSY MANHOOD.
III. THAT IT MAY BE
PURSUED IN THE VERY MIDST OF DOMESTIC ANXIETY AND CARE. Many people have lost
their religion through the increase of domestic cares. But a godly soul can
walk with God in family life
and take all its offspring in the same holy path.
Enoch would instruct his children in the right way. He would pray for them. He
would commend them to his Divine friend. Happy the home where such a godly
parent is at its head.
IV. THAT IT MAY BE
PURSUED INTO THE VERY PORTALS OF HEAVEN AND ETERNAL BLISS. Enoch walked with
God
and one day walked right into heaven with Him. Heaven is but the
continuation of the holy walk of earth. (J. S.Exell
M. A.)
Enoch: accounting for men’s disappearance from the earth
“God took him.”
I. WE SHOULD TAKE
AN INTEREST IN THE DESTINY OF MEN.
II. WE SHOULD
RECOGNIZE THE HAND OF GOD IN THE REMOVAL OF MEN.
III. WE SHOULD
BELIEVE IN THE PARTICULARITY OF GOD’S OVERSIGHT OF MEN. When God takes a good
man--
1. God took him the assertion of a sovereign right.
2. God took him--an illustration of Divine regard.
3. God took him--an assurance of eternal blessedness.
4. God took him--a pledge that all like him will be associated. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
Enoch
I. ENOCH AS TO
HIS AGE.
1. It Was an age of longevity.
2. It was an ungodly age.
II. ENOCH AS TO
HIS RELIGION.
1. He was independent.
2. Practical.
III. ENOCH AS TO
HIS DEPARTURE.
1. His departure implies a future state.
2. His departure shows that there is a reward to the faithful.
Enoch
I. WHAT IS MEANT
BY ENOCH’S WALKING WITH GOD?
1. That he was well-pleasing to God (Hebrews 11:5). Amity
friendship
intimacy
love.
2. That he realized the Divine presence (Hebrews 11:6). God was to him a living
Friend
in whom he confided
and by whom he was loved.
3. That he had very familiar intercourse with the Most High.
4. That his intercourse with God was continuous. He did not take a
turn or two with God and then leave His company
but walked with God for
hundreds of years. He did not commune with God by fits and starts
but abode in
the conscious love of God.
5. That his life was progressive. At the end of two hundred years he
was not where he began; he was not in the same company
but he had gone forward
in the right way.
II. WHAT
CIRCUMSTANCES WERE CONNECTED WITH ENOCH’S WALKING WITH GOD?
1. The details of his life are very few. Quite enough for us to know
that he walked with God.
2. It is a mistake to suppose that he was placed in very
advantageous circumstances for piety.
III. WHAT WAS THE
CLOSE OF ENOCH’S WALK?
1. He finished his work early.
2. He was missed. “Not found” (Hebrews 11:5).
3. His departure was a testimony. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Enoch’s walk with God
In “Kitto’s Daily Bible Readings” there is an exceedingly pleasing
piece
illustrating what it must be to walk with God by the figure of a
father’s taking his little son by the hand and walking forth with him upon the
breezy Dills. He says
“As that child walks with thee
so do thou walk with
God. That child loves thee now. The world--the cold cruel world--has not yet
come between his heart and thine. His love now is the purest and most beautiful
he will ever feel
or thou wilt ever receive. Cherish it well
and as that child
walks lovingly with thee
so do thou walk lovingly with God.” It is a delight
to such children to be with their father. The roughness of the way or of the
weather is nothing to them: it is joy enough to go for a walk with father.
There is a warm
tender
affectionate grip of the hand and a beaming smile of
the eye as they look up to father while he conducts them over hill and dale.
Such a walk is humble too
for the child looks upon its father as the greatest
and wisest man that ever lived. He considers him to be the incarnation of
everything that is strong and wise
and all that his father says or does he
admires. As he walks along he feels for his father the utmost affection
but
his reverence is equally strong: he is very near his father
but yet he is only
a child
and looks up to his father as his king. Moreover
such a walk is one
of perfect confidence. The boy is not afraid of missing his way
he trusts
implicitly his father’s guidance. His father’s arm will screen him from all
danger
and therefore he does not so much as give it a thought--why should he?
If care is needed as to the road
it is his father’s business to see to it
and
the child
therefore
never dreams of anxiety--why should he? If any difficult
place is to be passed
the father will have to lift the boy ever it
or help
him through it; the child meanwhile is merry as a bird--why should he not be?
Thus should the believer walk with God
resting on eternal tenderness and
rejoicing in undoubted lave. What an instructive walk a child has with a wise
communicative parent! How many of his little puzzles are explained to him
how
everything about him is illuminated by the father’s wisdom. The boy
every step
he takes
becomes the wiser for such companionship. Oh
happy children of God
who have been taught of their Father while they have walked with Him! Enoch
must have been a man of profound knowledge and great wisdom as to Divine
things. He must have dived into the deep things of God beyond most men. His
life must also have been a holy life
because he walked with God
and God never
walks out of the way of holiness. If we walk with God
we must walk according
to truth
justice
and love. The Lord has no company with the unjust and
rebellious
and therefore we know that he who walked with God must have been an
upright and holy man. Enoch’s life must
moreover
have been a happy one. Who
could be unhappy with such a companion! With God himself to be with us the way
can never be dreary. Did Enoch walk with God? Then his pilgrimage must have been
safe. Nothing can harm the man who is walking with the Lord God at his right
hand. And oh
what an honourable thing it is to walk with the Eternal! Many a
man would give thousands to walk with a king. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
High ground
I. WHAT IS IT TO
WALK WITH GOD?
1. Reconciliation with God.
2. Spiritual life (Galatians 5:25).
3. None walk with God closely but those who love Him supremely.
4. Those with whom we walk
and whom we love
we are desirous to
please and oblige. And those who walk with God delight to do His will.
5. Communion with God.
6. Similarity of disposition and feeling.
II. THE ADVANTAGES
ARISING FROM SUCH A WALK.
1. It gives a real enjoyment
for which we are not at all dependent
on external things
and of which nothing in this world can deprive us.
2. It sweetens all earthly pleasures and pains.
3. The man who walks with God learns much of the will of God.
4. Such a walk is a preparation for the enjoyment of God in heaven.
(Benson Bailey.)
Enoch
I. ENOCH’S PIETY.
1. Walking with God includes--
2. Walking with God is associated with--
II. HiS
DISTINGUISHED REMOVAL.
1. “He was not.” No more among men.
2. “God took him.”
Application: Learn--
1. The nature of true piety. To walk with God.
2. The reward of true piety. Interested in God’s gracious care; and
ultimately raised to His own Divine presence.
3. Removal of Enoch teaches immortality of soul. (J. Burns
D. D.)
Enoch’s walk with God
I. EXPLAIN THE
VIEW GIVEN OF ENOCH’S LIFE AND CHARACTER.
II. THE SINGULAR
CLOSE OF HIS PIOUS COURSE.
1. It was a sudden change.
2. It was a miraculous change.
3. It was a happy change. (The Evangelical Preacher.)
Walking with God
I. HIS GENERAL
CHARACTER. He walked with God.
1. What walking with God supposes.
2. Some advantages which result from walking with God.
II. SOME PECULIAR
CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH IT. Particularly--
1. The period of its commencement
and the time of its continuance.
It commenced in what may be considered his early youth; when he had not lived
the twelfth part of the then usual age of man. This shows us that early piety
is acceptable to God (Proverbs 8:17). Seek it (Ecclesiastes 12:1); for early habits are
most easily formed
and most lasting Lamentations 3:27). It continued at least
three hundred years. This teaches us that the pleasures of religion never cloy
(Psalms 63:3-4); and that God’s grace is
sufficient for the longest pilgrimage (2 Corinthians 12:9).
2. The relations under which it was sustained.
3. The scenes amidst which it was preserved. These were examples of
prevailing ungodliness
when piety was generally reproached. Thus
when
iniquity is general
it is our duty to be singular (Exodus 23:2); for we are called by God to
be a peculiar people (Titus 2:14; Romans 12:2). A resolute confession of
God in the face of an opposing world
is highly pleasing to Him (Hebrews 11:5). “He pleased God” Numbers 14:24). Those who honour God are
honoured by Him (1 Samuel 2:30).
4. The glorious event which succeeded this holy walk: “God took
him.” He was translated body and soul to heaven
without seeing death.
(a) That there is another and better world reserved for the righteous
as the ascension of Elijah and our Lord did afterwards (Heb 1 Peter 1:3-5);
(b) that piety is extensively profitable
being evidently conducive
to our eternal
as well as to our present welfare (1 Timothy 4:8);
(c) that the redemption of our bodies as well as our souls is certain.
For we see God able and faithful to fulfil His engagements (Ho Philippians 3:21);
(d) that an early removal is no loss to the righteous. For what is
taken from time is added to a blissful eternity (Revelation 7:14-17);
(e) that a sudden removal
when God appoints it
is no cause of terror
to those who die in Him
for to all such characters sudden death becomes sudden
glory. (Sketches of Sermons.)
Walking with God
I. WHAT IS
IMPLIED IN THE TERM.
II. I SHALL
PRESCRIBE SOME MEANS
IN THE LAWFUL USE OF WHICH BELIEVERS ARE ENABLED TO KEEP
UP THEIR WALK WITH GOD.
1. By studying the Scriptures.
2. By constant and earnest prayer.
3. By watching the dealings of God without.
4. The motions of God within.
5. Walking in ordinances.
6. Walking in providences.
7. In the communion of saints.
8. And by meditation.
III. I SHALL OFFER
SOME MOTIVES TO STIR US UP TO THIS HOLY PRACTICE. It is most honourable: most
pleasing: and abundantly beneficial to the souls of men.
1. This walking is by faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:7).
2. Looking to the promises of God (1 Timothy 4:8).
3. Trusting to the wisdom of God (Romans 8:28). (T. B. Baker.)
Enoch
I. ENOCH’S
CHARACTER. “He walked with God.”
II. ENOCH’S END.
“He was not” any longer subject to pain
sickness
infirmity
sorrow; all of
which are still the portion even of those who walk with God in this vale of
tears. “He was not” any longer tempted by Satan
by the world
by his own
fallen nature
to sin against his kind Friend and Saviour; and thus his
heaviest burden is removed. “He was not” any more “vexed with the filthy
conversation of the wicked
” with the dishonour cast on his God
with the
“triumphing of the wicked.” “He was not” spared to see their ungodliness
proceeding to that gigantic pitch
which at length brought upon them the flood
of waters to destroy all the earth. (J. Jowett
M. A.)
Enoch; or
the earthly walk and heavenly home
I. HE “WALKED
WITH GOD”--A BRIEF AND SIMPLE STATEMENT OF A MOMENTOUS FACT. Of course the
meaning is
that he was a good man
that he lived religiously. True religion
is
walking “with God.” We are meant to walk with someone. We are social as
well as active. Solitary journeying is sorrowful journeying. Company gives
safety as well as cheer
beguiles the long hours and goads the flagging spirits.
Most men have fellowships in their journey through life--companions of their
moral ways
“walking with the wise
” or “going with the evil.” But the highest
of all fellowships is with God: and “if we all walk in the light as He is in
the light
we have fellowship one with another.” We “walk with God.” What does
it include? Unquestionably realization. God is with us wherever we are
but we
are with Him only as we recognize and feel Him to be present. God is
“invisible
” and only faith can realize; and “by faith Enoch was translated.”
In the dark night
a stranger perhaps might place himself by our side
or just
behind us
for a time
but we should not walk with him. In the dark night of
sin
“God is not far from every one of us
” but only one here and there are
with Him. To see God
to be aware of His solemn nearness
to act as if this
thought were ever in our mind
“Thou
God
seest me
” doing His will as that of
a present Master
rejoicing in His favour as that of a present Friend
and
trusting in His succour as that of a present Protector--to go on thus divinely
right
and brave
and happy
is to “walk with God.” It includes intercourse.
“But truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
II. Enoch walked
with God
AFTER THE BIRTH OF METHUSELAH. It was then
so far as appears
that
he began to do so. It is not said that he did so before. Until then it is said
that “he lived
” as it is said of the rest. Does it not imply that he had not
walked with God for sixty-five years? Or
supposing the expression
in his
case
refers to eminence in religion
does it not imply that at that time his
religion received a new start?
III. Be this as it
may
the fact is clear that Enoch did walk with God after the birth of
Methuselah and the births of other children. One of the two men who have had
the honours of translation in this world for “pleasing God” was a man who LIVED
IN THE MIDST OF SOCIETY
and was surrounded with children; he was not a recluse
or a celibate. He lived in that condition in which there are natural and
necessary distractions and temptations. It would be saying very little for
religion if such a case were impossible. It would be queer theology which
taught that man must denude himself of a portion of himself
ignore some of his
capabilities and propensities
in order to know and possess much
or most
of
God. When it is said that Enoch walked with God
it is meant that he attained
to special religious excellence. His religion did not merely come into contact
with his secular life; his spiritual humanity did not merely touch his social
humanity
but
like the prophet upon the dead child
“stretched itself upon”
it
mouth on mouth
eyes on eyes
hands on hands
and made it live. His
religion was life
an active life. He “walked with God.”
IV. We see Enoch’s
eminent godliness attaining A STRANGE AND SIGNAL HONOUR. “He was not
for God
took him.” Paul says of Enoch
he did not “see death.” Christ says of every
disciple that “he does not taste death.” I know not how it strikes you
but I
always feel when reading this passage as if there was a beautiful fitness in
this exit
a fitness of course and end. God took him who had walked with Him
bore him away to another sphere. The very silence of the historian aids the
impression: there is no breach between the earthly and the heavenly life
no
defined horizon--clouds
and sky
fields
hills
and wood
meet together
and
this world’s beauty and the glory of the world above melt into each other
and
one unbroken scene fills and satisfies the eye. He was with God here
he is
with God there. He became more and more Divine in the lower and harder
conditions of life
and now he has reached a state where nothing exists to
check or disappoint his Godward aspirations. There is no translation now for the
righteous
but there is better
transformation
the being “changed from glory
to glory now
” and “the bearing of the image of the heavenly” hereafter. (A.
J. Morris.)
Enoch’s character and translation
Observe
Be the times never so bad
it is men’s own fault they are
bad too. Eminent holiness
and intimate communion with God
may be attained in
the worst of times. The reasons are--
1. Because
however men grow worse and worse
heaven is still as
good and bountiful as ever (Isaiah 59:1-2).
2. Because those that mind for heaven must row against the stream
always; and if they do not
they will be called down the stream in the best of
times; for
says our Lord (Matthew 11:12).
3. The badness of the times affords matter to excite God’s people
the more to their duty and close walking with God. The profaneness and
formality of those they live among
and the dishonour done to God thereby
should be like oil to the flame of their holy love and zeal
as it was to David
Psalms 119:126-127).
4. Because
as the Lord shows Himself most concerned for the welfare
of those who are most concerned for His honour
so the worse the times are
they that cleave to Him closely may expect to fare the better.
I. Let us
consider Enoch’s holy life in this world; “Enoch walked with God.” The Spirit
of God puts a special remark on this. It is Enoch’s honour
that he did not
walk as others did
after their lusts. Observe
1. God takes special notice of those who are best when others are
worst Genesis 6:9).
2. It is the honour of a professor of religion to outgo others in
the matter of close walking with God. In the first part of the words we have--
II. His character;
he “walked with God.” He lived like a man of another world; a life of close communion
with God. It imports--
Of walking with God
I. First
I am to
consider walking with God in the foundation thereof
with respect to our state.
II. Secondly
I
shall consider walking with God in the matter of it
in respect of our frame
and conversation. And
indeed
this duty goes as broad as the whole law. If we
would have the life of religion in our walk
we must not walk at random.
1. We must walk with God in the way of habitual eyeing of Him in all
things.
2. We must walk with God in the way of the heart’s going along with
Him in all things
as the shadow goes with the body. Walking with God is no
bodily motion
but a spiritual motion
a moving of the heart and affections;
and so it must import necessarily the heart’s going along with Him.
3. We must walk with God in ordinances (Luke 1:6). The ordinances are the
banqueting house of Christ wherein He feasts His people (Song of Solomon 2:4)
the galleries
wherein the king is held by those that walk with him there (Song of Solomon 7:5).
4. We must walk with God in the stations and relations wherein He
hath placed us. These are the sphere that God hath given us to move in
in the
world. There are two pieces of work which a Christian has to do.
5. We must walk with God in all our actions
whether natural
civil
or religious. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink
or whatsoever ye do
do all
to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
III. Thirdly
I
shall consider walking with God in the properties thereof. Walking with God is
religion; and it is--
1. Practical religion
religion in deed
not in word only; and there
is no other sort of religion that will bring us to heaven; hence says our Lord John 13:17).
2. It is inward and heart religion (1 Peter 3:4). They that have no
religion but what is visible to the world
have no true religion; for God is
the invisible God
and walking with Him must be so too (Romans 2:28-29).
3. It is heavenly religion (Philippians 3:20). According to men’s
state and their nature
so will their actions be; for as is the tree
so will
the fruit be. The heart of man
according as grace or corruption reigns in it
will tincture everything that comes through it.
4. It is lively and active religion
being a walking with the living
God
wherein there is not only grace
but grace in exercise (Song of Solomon 1:12).
5. It is regular religion
and uniform; for he that walks with God
must needs walk by a constant rule
eyeing Him not in some things only
but in Galatians 6:16; Psalms 16:8). He gives one rule of
walking
extending to man’s whole conversation; and so he that walks with Him
walks regularly
aiming at a holy niceness
preciseness
and exactness
in
conformity to that rule in all things (Ephesians 5:15).
6. It is laborious and painful religion; for it is no easy life they
have whose trade it is to walk on their feet (Hebrews 6:10). And it is no easy religion
to walk with God. Religion is not a business of saying
but doing; not of doing
carelessly
but carefully
painfully
and diligently.
7. It is a self-denied religion (Matthew 16:24).
8. It is a humble religion (Micah 6:8).
9. It is constant religion. Walking is not a rising up and sitting
down again
but a continued action
like that of a traveller going on till he
come to his journey’s end. Enoch walked on through the world
till he was not.
10. It is progressive religion; religion that is going forward (Proverbs 4:18). (T. Boston
D. D.)
Walking with God
I. First and
chiefest
because it will secure the rest
walk CONFIDENTLY with God. Rest upon
His faithfulness. Entertain no suspicions of His love.
II. Walk
OBEDIENTLY with God; i.e.
be diligent in keeping His commandments. And
let your obedience be an unreserved
warm-hearted
zealous
faithful obedience
an obedience of love which is ready at all times
as love is ready. Walk
then
unreservedly
in the love of the Lord with all its glorious consequences. And
walk obediently with God in the second commandment as well as the first. Oh!
then
let your walk with God be obedient; unreserved
without fear of excess;
universal
without exception or partiality; and persevering
without yielding
to monotony.
III. Walk HUMBLY
with your God. He is a Father
and we are children. What does that relationship
call for? Reverence--filial reverence
it is true
but still reverence
or
honour--the honour of the father and the mother. “If I be a Father
” He says
“where is My honour? and if I be a Master
where is My fear?” Further
He is
the Creator
and we are the creatures of His hands; and this relationship calls
for real subjection and prostration.
IV. Walk PATIENTLY
with God. For however confiding your walk may be; however obedient with all the
great characteristics of obedience; however humble
still you will suffer
and
must be prepared for endurance. “The Lord chastens every son whom He
receiveth”; and you must not expect to walk through this world exempt from
trouble. “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you
as though some strange thing happened unto you.” It is not a strange thing
it
is the common case of the Lord’s children. (H. McNeile
D. D.)
Enoch’s walk and translation
I. THE CHARACTER
OF ENOCH
WITH HIS DECIDED RELIGIOUS WORTH.
II. ENOCH’S
GLORIOUS TRANSLATION FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN.
1. A sign of God’s love.
2. It is remarkable that three eminent translations distinguished
three dispensations of God’s mercy to men--the last the most glorious.
(1) Enoch’s translation in the patriarchal age.
III. A FEW
PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS MAY PROFITABLY CONCLUDE THIS SERMON: especially when a
solemn event fills the minds of so many with deep thoughts.
1. We may all copy the living sermon of a holy life dedicated to
Christ.
2. How sweet and blessed is the death of the Christian! His soul is
taken away to the Saviour whom he loved; and his body rests in hopes of
resurrection glory. His soul is gone; he is not on earth; God has taken him to
heaven! No more shall sin or sorrow cloud the soul; no more shall trial
suffering
or death affect the body; no more shall the gloom of life intercept
or darken the eye of faith
or the streaming light of heaven. (J. G.Angley
M. A.)
The piety and translation of Enoch
I. ENOCH WALKED
WITH GOD.
II. THE
TRANSLATION OF ENOCH.
1. As a work of omnipotence.
2. As a work of mercy. The wings of heavenly mercy overshadowed him
to protect him from the penalties of a violated law.
3. The translation of Enoch eminently displays the glory and honour
of God. His love of the righteous was strikingly shown. His moral government
was manifested
and His entire command over the present and the future so fully
exemplified
that we cannot contemplate it without profound adoration of the
Most High.
4. It was calculated to be beneficial to mankind
and to serve in
that early stage of society the interests of truth and piety. (Essex
Remembrancer.)
The character and translation of Enoch
I. HISTORY OF
ENOCH.
II. CHARACTER OF
ENOCH.
III. CONDUCT OF
ENOCH. The conduct of this antediluvian saint was the piety of intelligence; he
understood God’s claim and his own obligations
and it was not a mere custom.
It was the piety of deliberate design and choice; he was not
so to speak
thrown accidentally into God’s company
but chose to go to Him
and with fixed
determinate purpose
sought His friendship. It was the piety also of a minister
of religion; and what is any minister of religion
without personal godliness
but an actor in the most dreadful tragedy ever performed on the stage of this
world
since it ends not in the feigned
but the real
death and destruction of
the performer? It was the piety of one who had few of those helps and
advantages of divine revelation and ordinances which we enjoy
and therefore shows
how God can
and will
help those in the Divine life
who are
by Providence
deprived of the assistance which others possess. It was piety
maintained
during a long period of severe trial
a profession consistently upheld amidst
all conceivable opposition for nearly four centuries
thus exhibiting a sublime
instance of endurance
perseverance
and victorious faith.
IV. TRANSLATION OF
ENOCH. Enoch’s translation was a testimony to that generation of which he was a
member
and to the whole world from that time to this
of God’s approval of his
conduct. (J. A. James.)
Walking with God
I. WHAT IS
IMPLIED IN WALKING WITH GOD.
II. THAT GOD WILL
MANIFEST SOME PECULIAR TOKENS OF HIS FAVOUR TO THOSE WHO WALK WITH HIM.
1. God will guard them against the favours of the world.
2. God graciously guards his friends while they walk with Him
from
their invisible as well as visible enemies.
3. God will give those who walk with Him peculiar evidence of their
interest in His special grace. He loves those who walk with Him
and will
manifest His love to them. He expressly called Abraham His friend when he
offered up his son upon the altar. He sent a messenger from heaven to declare
that Daniel was greatly beloved. And He manifested His special love to David by
lifting the light of His countenance upon him.
4. God will manifest His peculiar favour to those who walk with Him
by giving them not only inward light
and joy
and peace
and the full
assurance of hope
but by granting them outward prosperity.
5. Those who walk with God have ground to hope for another great and
peculiar favour; that is
His gracious and comforting presence when they leave
the world.
IMPROVEMENT.
1. We may learn from the nature and effects of walking with God how
all true believers may attain to the full assurance of hope. If saints would
prevent or remove darkness
doubts
and distress from their minds
let them
walk closely with God
who will give them peculiar tokens of their displeasing
Him
and standing high in His favour.
2. If God manifests peculiar tokens of His favour to those who walk
with Him
then they have more to gain than to lose by walking with Him.
3. If God be highly pleased with His friends while they walk with
Him
then He must be highly displeased when they depart from Him.
4. It appears from the nature of walking with God
that those who
walk with Him in a day of degeneracy do peculiar service and honour to
religion.
5. This subject calls upon all who have professed to walk with God
to inquire whether they have walked worthy of the vocation wherewith they are
called.
6. This subject exhorts all who have not hitherto walked with God to
walk with Him. (N. Emmons
D. D.)
Walking with God
Other notable men existed in that ancient time
to whom we are
apparently more indebted than we are to Enoch; men who were the fathers of arts
and sciences
and the founders of political institutions--pioneers in the
onward march of civilization. But what are Jabal
and Jubal
and Tubal-Cain to
us but so many cyphers associated in our minds with certain objects? We know
something of these men’s work; of themselves we know absolutely nothing. Here
on the contrary
nothing is told us of any outward work that the man did; we
only have the brief and summarized story of an inner life. But more than this.
Enoch was the first saint
in the full sense of the word
of whom we hear
anything in human history
as Abel was the first “righteous for justified]
man.” He stands
perhaps
historically speaking
at the head of the great
master roll of heaven’s nobility; and it is the brotherhood of saints that
makes the ages one. We are more indebted to the first pioneer upon the highway
of holiness than to the earliest discoverers in science and in art. Holiness
is
above everything else
the reproduction of the Divine. As I said a moment
ago
very little has been told us about Enoch
where our curiosity would fain
have heard a great deal; but the little that has been told us is suggestive
and every point seems to carry its own lesson. To begin with his name. Enoch
has the double meaning of consecration and initiation
suggesting first the
thought that he who bore that name was to be one of God’s consecrated ones
“a
priest unto God
” and next that
as a priest
he was to be introduced into the
spiritual temple
to be allowed to see and know what the outer world knows
nothing of
and to be initiated into the deeper mysteries of the spiritual
life. And in this name we have the clue not only to his career
but to that of
every other saint who
like him
walks with God. The life of fellowship must
needs be the product of a state of consecration. God consecrates us His
spiritual priests that our whole manhood may be set apart and our whole lives
dedicated to His service. We may be occupied
as Enoch was
in the ordinary
duties of life; our hands and our heads may be busy
yet may we find God’s
temple everywhere
and His service in everything. For there is nothing secular
all is a sanctity
where all is given to God. Further
our attention is
specially called by a New Testament writer to the fact that Enoch was the
seventh from Adam. His was the Sabbath life in that genealogical record. As the
Sabbath days to the other days of the week
so must his life have seemed as
compared with the lives of others in those troublous and tumultuous days. And
there is a rest even here for the people of God. We need not defer the Sabbath
keeping of the soul to that glorious future which awaits God’s faithful ones
yonder. It may seem
perhaps
fanciful to call attention to another fact
mentioned in this brief notice
but I cannot bring myself to pass it over. We
read that “all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.” That
is to say
he lived a perfect year of years; as many days as there are in the
year
so many years there were in his life; he fulfilled his year. Perhaps when
we reach the other side we shall make some strange discoveries with respect to
the term of our existence here in the house of our discipline. Perhaps we may
find that some lives have been lengthened out to extreme old age
just because
life’s lessons were being learned indeed
but learned wondrous slowly by very
dull scholars; and that some lives were cut short just because Divine
Omniscience saw no probability of these lessons ever being learned at all by
scholars who positively refused to learn. But to every man is appointed his own
proper year; and blessed are they who so live that the year completes the life
in every sense of the word! Blessed are they who so walk with God that when
their appointed life period draws to a close their life lesson may be learnt
and they themselves be ready for the call to higher knowledge and more perfect
service
while it is said of them
“He was not; for God took him.” Enoch’s life
was not a long one as lives went in those days; he was only in what would be
then regarded as early middle life when his call came
but had fulfilled his
year. His life was complete in God’s sight
his day’s work done
and there was
no necessity that he should tarry in the house of discipline through the long
ages which measured the life of a Methuselah. But it is time that we looked
more closely at this pregnant phrase
which tells us all that we historically
know of the religious life of this ancient servant of God
“Enoch walked with
God.” What is it
let us ask
to walk with God? More than a single idea would
seem to be suggested by this familiar expression. As the words stand in the
original they suggest primarily the idea of walking with reference to God. It
is the idea that the Psalmist expresses when he says
“I foresaw God always
before mine eyes.” In the practical issues of life
and in all its complete
details
everything turns upon our choice of our centre of reference. He whose
central idea in life is
How shall I please myself? can never walk with God
because God is not his centre of reference. Or again
this life of reference to
God stands contrasted with the life of reference to the world
that
conventional life which so many people condescend to lead. With such the question
is
What is expected of me? or
What is the correct thing? or
What do others
do? or
Will people like it? What will people say if I adopt this course
or do
not adopt the other? Do not aim at singularity
but
on the other hand
do not
shrink from it. You needs must be singular if you serve God in a world that
serves Him not; you needs must be singular if you put the good before the
fashionable in a world that puts the fashionable before the good; you needs
must be singular if you put duty before worldly expediency
and the love of God
and man before both in a selfish
shallow world
where all men seek their own.
But there is nothing to be ashamed at in such singularity
and he who plays the
poltroon
and is afraid to face reproach
would indeed be very singular in
heaven if he were ever to get there. Better surely to be singular in this
perishing world than hopelessly out of harmony with the spirit and genius of
heaven. But this leads us to consider another thought suggested by the words of
our text
closely connected with what we have just been considering
and yet
distinct from it. To walk with God is not only to walk with reference to God
but to move
so to speak
on the same moral plane as belongs to God--seeing
things from His point of view
entering into His designs
and drinking ever
more and more deeply of His Spirit. There is a unity of heart and mind
of
thought and feeling
that is usually a feature of close association amongst
ourselves; and something of this kind would seem to be implied by the words
“Enoch walked with God
” Listen to the words quoted by St. Jude
“Behold
the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints
to execute judgment upon all
and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which
they have ungodly committed
and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against Him.” The man that uttered those words was clearly
looking at things from the Divine standpoint. With him sinners are regarded
specially as ungodly
and sins are ungodly deeds; the habit of life that
induces them is an ungodly habit of life
and the very words that such sinners
are wont to speak are ungodly words. And the reason of this way of viewing
things is that the man is walking with God. He takes measure of evil and of
good
according as it affects that Divine Being with whom his life is hid. His
standpoint is no longer merely ethical; he is conversant rather with She very
heart of God than with moral principles. He is jealous for God’s glory with a
godly jealousy
and is fired with a holy indignation at all that militates
against this. And oh
with what a heart full of yearning love does he who thus
walks with God gaze upon a God-dishonouring world! God loved the world
and
loves it
and he who is in fellowship with the mind of God must needs love it
too. The more He hates sin
the more does He long for the salvation of the
sinner. But let us take the words of our text in the meaning which they most
naturally bear
and which suggests perhaps the most important lesson of all.
“Enoch walked with God”; that is to say
he lived in the society of God. In all
his life an invisible but ever-present Friend was his Companion. He lived in
His society
he consulted Him about everything
he was in communion with Him
everywhere. So he lived out his allotted life
his year of years
until he
passed from the triumphs of the walk of faith to the glories of the Land of
Vision; for there is no death for such. The presence of God makes earth heaven
and brings heaven down to earth. The presence of God turns the shadow of death
into the morning
and invests him who enjoys it with immortality. “I am the
resurrection
and the life
” saith the Lord: “he that believeth in Me
though
he were dead
yet shall he live: and he that liveth and believeth on Me shall
never die.” By-and-by
when the last of the three hundred and sixty five days
of his year had arrived and was reaching its close
the call came
“Friend
come up higher”: and “he was not; for God took him.” For as to walk with God is
the secret of perfection here on earth
so to walk with God will be the
crowning glory of that higher world. (W. Hay Aitken
M. A.)
Enoch
the model walker
I. A SAFE WALK.
During a sudden freshet
a labouring man and his child
living in a cottage
that stood by itself
were obliged to walk at midnight for more than a mile
through water reaching to the little boy’s waist before they could reach a
place of safety. After they had changed their clothes
and were feeling
comfortable
the friend in whose cottage they had found shelter said to the
little boy
“And wasn’t you afraid
Jack
while walking through the water?”
“No
not at all
” said the little fellow
who was but seven years old: “I was
walking along with father
you know. And I knew he wouldn’t let the water drown
me.” This was very sweet. And if
like Enoch
we are walking with God
let us
remember that we are walking with our heavenly Father. And He promises us
expressly
“When thou passest through the waters
they shall not overflow thee”
(Isaiah 43:2). One morning a teacher found
many empty seats in her schoolroom. Two little scholars lay dead at their
homes
and others were sick. The few children present gathered around her
and
said
“Oh! what shall we do? Do you think we shall be sick
and die too?” The
teacher gently touched the bell
and said
“Children
you are all afraid of
this disease. You grieve for the death of your little friends
and you fear
that you also may be taken. I only know of one thing for us to do
and that is
to hide. Listen whale I read to you about a hiding place. Then she read the
91st Psalm
which begins thus: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the
Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” They were all hushed
by the sweet words
and then the morning lesson went on as usual. At recess
a
dear little girl came up to the desk
and said
“Teacher
aren’t you afraid of
the diphtheria?” “No
my child
” she answered. “Well
wouldn’t you be if you
thought you would be sick
and die?” “No
dear
I trust not.” The child gazed
wonderingly at her for a moment; and then her face lightened up as she said
“Oh! I know! You are hidden under God’s wings. What a nice safe place that is
to hide in!”
II. WALKING WITH
GOD IS A USEFUL WALK. Suppose that you and I were taking a walk through the
wards of a hospital. It is full of people who are suffering from accidents
and
diseases of different kinds. There are some people there with broken limbs.
Some are blind
others are deaf; and some are sick with various fevers
and
consumption. And suppose that
like our blessed Lord
we had the power
as we
went from one bed to another
to heal the sick and suffering people in that
hospital. Here is a lame man. We make his limbs straight and strong
so that he
can walk. Here is a blind man. We touch his eyes with our fingers; they open
and he can see. We speak to those who are suffering from diseases of different
kinds
and make them well. Then we might well say that our walk through that
hospital was a useful walk. But we have no such power as this to cure the
diseases from which the bodies of men are suffering. Yet this may afford us a
good illustration of what we can do for the souls that are suffering around us
when we become Christians
and walk with God. Some years ago a gentleman from
England brought a letter of introduction to a merchant in this country. The
stranger was an intelligent man with very pleasant manners
but he was an
infidel. The gentleman to whom he brought the letter of introduction
and his
wife
were earnest Christian people. They invited the stranger to make their
house his home during his stay
and treated him with the greatest possible
kindness. On the evening of his arrival
before the hour of retiring
the
gentleman of the house
knowing what the views of his guest were on the subject
of religion
told him they were in the habit of having family worship every
evening; that they would be happy to have him join with them; or
if he preferred
he could retire to his room. He said it would give him pleasure to remain. Then
a chapter of the Bible was read
and the family knelt in prayer
the stranger
with them. After spending a few days in that pleasant Christian home
the
stranger embarked on board a ship
and sailed to a foreign land. In the course
of three or four years he returned
and stayed with the same family. But what a
change there was in him! His infidelity was all gone. He was now an humble
earnest Christian. In speaking to his friend of this change
he said: “Sir
I
owe it all to you. When I knelt down with you at family prayers on my former
visit
it was the first time for years that I had ever bowed my knees before
God. It brought back to me the memory of my pious mother
now in heaven
and
all the teaching she had given me when a boy. I was so occupied with these
thoughts that I did not hear a word of your prayer. But this led me to give up
my infidelity
and seek the blessing of my mother’s God. And now I am as happy
as the day is long in His service.” Here again we see how true it is that
walking with God is a useful walk.
III. A PLEASANT
WALK. When we are taking a walk there are several things that will help to make
up the pleasure to be found in that walk. If we have a guide to show us the
road; if we have a pleasant companion to talk with as we go on our way; if we
have plenty of refreshments--nice things to eat and drink; if there are bright
and cheerful prospects around and before us; and especially
if we are sure of
a nice comfortable home to rest in when our walk is ended
these will help to
make it pleasant. But when we walk with God
as Enoch did
we have all these
things
and more too.
And these are sure to make it a pleasant walk. Solomon is speaking
of this walk when he says: “Its ways are ways of pleasantness
and all its
paths are peace.” “I visited a poor old woman belonging to my congregation
”
said a minister. “She was entirely dependent on the church for her support. Her
home was a very small cottage. The moment I entered it I saw how neat and clean
everything was. She had just been gathering some sticks from the lane with
which to cook her evening meal. Her face was one of the sweetest I ever saw. It
was surrounded by the strings of her snow-white cap. On the table lay a
well-worn copy of the Word of God. I looked around for a daughter or friend to
be her companion and caretaker
but saw none. I said: ‘Mother Ansel
you don’t
live here alone
do you?’ ‘Live alone! Live alone!’ she exclaimed in surprise
and then
as a sweet smile lighted up her face
she added
‘No
sir
the
blessed Lord lives with me
and that makes it pleasant living!’” Certainly she
found walking with God a pleasant walk. A Christian lady was visiting among the
poor one day. She called
among others
on a little sick girl. Her home was a
dreary looking one. The room she occupied was on the north side of the house.
There was nothing bright or pleasant about it. Everything looked dark and
cheerless. “I am sorry you have no sun on this side of the house
” said the
lady. “Not a ray of sunshine gets in here. This is a misfortune
for sunshine
is everything.” “Oh
ma’am! you are mistaken
” said the sick girl
as a sweet
smile lighted up her pale face. “My sun pours in at every window
and through
all the cracks.” “But how can the sun get round on this side of the house?”
asked the visitor. “It is Jesus
‘the Sun of Righteousness
’ that shines in
here
” was the reply
“and He makes the best sunshine.” That sick girl found
walking with God a pleasant walk.
IV. A PROFITABLE
WALK. We see a good deal of walking done without much profit. But sometimes we
hear of people who are able to make their walking pay. There was a walking
match in New York not long ago. A number of persons were engaged in it
and the
man who won the prize secured twenty-five thousand dollars. That was profitable
walking
so far as money was concerned; but walking with God is more profitable
than this. Suppose there was a savings bank half a mile from your house
and
you were told that if you walked to that bank every week
and put a penny in
the treasury
for every penny you put in you would get a dollar at the end of
the year. A penny a week would make fifty-two pennies by the end of the year
and if for these fifty-two pennies you were to receive fifty-two dollars
that
would make your walk to the bank profitable walking. “It would be getting what
we call a hundredfold for the money invested there.
There is no such savings bank as this. But
when we learn to walk
with God
we find that serving Him is just like putting money in such a bank.
Jesus says that if we give a cup of cold water to one of His disciples
or if
we suffer for Him
or do any work for Him
we “shall receive a manifold more in
this present time
and in the world to come life everlasting.” And if such
rewards are given to those who walk with Him
then we may well say that that is
profitable walking. An infidel was one day laughing at a plain farmer because
he believed the Bible. The farmer surprised him by saying
“Well
you see
we
plain country people like to have two strings to our bow.” “And pray what do
you mean by that?” asked the infidel. “Only this
” was the farmer’s answer
“that believing the Bible
and acting up to it
is like having two strings to
one’s bow; for
if the Bible is not true
still I shall be a better and happier
man for living according to its teachings
and so it will be profitable for me
in this life; this is one string to my bow
and a good one
too. And
if the
Bible should prove true
as I know it will
it will be profitable for me in the
next world
and that is another string
and a pretty strong one
too. But
sir
if you do not believe the Bible
and do not live as it requires
you have no
string to your bow in this world. And
oh
sir! if the tremendous threatenings
of the Bible prove true--as they surely will--you will have no string to your
bow for the next world
and what will become of you then?” This shows us that
walking with God is profitable walking. (R. Newton
D. D.)
Known by his walk
“That man’s been in the army
” said a gentleman to his friend the
other day
as a stranger passed them in the street; “I know a soldier by his
walk.” Men ought to know Christ’s soldiers by their walk.
The biography of Enoch; or
a glorious life and a glorious end
Enoch is one of the few excellent men mentioned in the Bible
of
whom nothing bad is recorded. Abraham is described as the father of the
faithful; and yet there are instances on record in which his mighty faith gave
way. Who ever thinks of the flaws on the face of beauty? Who ever thinks of the
spots which deface the sun? They exist
you may find them by minute
observation; but they do not make a deep impression upon your mind. Thus the
character of Enoch
in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation
seemed to
be one mass of light
in which there was no darkness at all. Enoch is one of
these men who owe their immortality to the brightness of their characters. Let
us then consider the text as--
I. A SIMPLE
RECORD OF A GLORIOUS LIFE. What does a glorious life consist in? The poet
thinks it a glorious thing to produce burning thoughts
to master the powers of
language
to command brilliant imagery; to revel in imagination through the
ethereal regions of the lovely
the grand
the eternal; and then descend from
those lofty heights to the lowly regions of real life
to enlighten its gloom
to soothe its sorrows
to strengthen its hopes. The orator thinks it a glorious
thing to rivet the attention of assembled multitudes. The warrior thinks it a glorious
thing to be entrusted with the command of a powerful army. Here is a simple
record of a glorious life; let us now endeavour to analyse it. The words point
to--
1. A life of absolute devotedness. It is not a selfish existence
but an existence linked to another existence
subordinate to another existence
devoted to another existence. “With God.”
2. A life of steady progress. This is clearly suggested by the term
walking. Man is never more dignified than when he walks with a regular
firm
steady step; it is then that he looks every inch the lord of creation; you
wonder not that other creatures should submit to his sway. But let him loiter
about as if he had nothing to do
or let him run as if he were pursued
and he
falls at once in your estimation. There is a touch of manliness about the very
act of walking
which indicates a definite purpose
a reasonable aim
a
complete mastery over one’s self. You have only to conceive of a man walking
and a man running
and compare these two conceptions together
in order to be
impressed with the superiority of the one over the other. But the expression
employed here has a wider meaning than this. “Enoch walked with God.” This
indicates progress. It is progress in knowledge
progress in holiness
progress
in good works. It is an upward struggle
a heavenward course
a climbing up to
the mount of God.
3. A life of blessed companionship. “With God.” Now
the blessed
companionship of Enoch with God
which was a type of all true companionship
implied faith in God. Enoch’s companionship implied also a certain degree of
familiarity with God. Just think of it. God’s friend must become a God-like
character. The moon which is bathed in the transforming light of the sun
becomes itself a luminous body
and lightens up the sombre blackness of the
night with its pale
beautiful
silvery rays. And so the man who walks in the
light of God’s countenance must necessarily catch some of the glory and reflect
it upon the world around him. Besides this
God’s friend needs fear no enemy.
II. A SIMPLE
RECORD OF A GLORIOUS END. “And he was not
for God took him.” A good man is
never lost; long after his body has mouldered in the dust
the influence of his
holy example will remain
will remain as a mighty power; a power which will not
diminish
but grow with the flight of ages. (D. Rowlands
B. A.)
Enoch’s walking with God
I. As the first
acceptable worshipper of God was Abel
so the first acceptable walker with God
was Enoch
in Scripture record. Here are two remarks upon Enoch recorded in
Scripture. The first is
his appearance in the world. The second is
his
disappearance from the world.
1. His appearance is attended with sundry considerable
circumstances. As
Enoch signifies “dedicated”; his father Jared (which signifies
“meek”) being a lowly and a holy man
did dedicate this son to God
as soon as
he had received him from God.
II. Enoch
signifies “catechized” or “instructed”; well knowing
also
that the care of
the means was committed to the father
though he had committed the care of the
end to the Lord. The paternal instruction must promote the dedication. As Jared
had marred him by propagation (begetting a son in his own
the fallen image)
so he must mend him by instruction. God is so exact in Scripture record
stating him the seventh patriarch
not only to declare the genealogy of Christ
in a more distinct chronology of succession than can be found in any of the
best human histories
but also to show both His great care of His Church and
His great delight in His Church.
1. His great care of it in upholding it by seven descents of holy
patriarchs.
2. His great delight in His Church above all other His concerns in
the world
being only
all of them
in order to His Church.
3. The age of life that Enoch lived. The years that he lived in this
lower world were exactly answerable to the days of a year
to wit
365. What he
wanted in the silver of a life natural
he had well paid him in the gold of a
life eternal; so that not only the shortness of the father’s life was made up
in the long life of his son
but also
God took him from a worse place to plant
him into a better. His translation was but transplantation
as it were
out of
God’s kitchen garden into His heavenly paradise. Thus we see here on earth
those northern plants which are transplanted out of their cold climate into a
warmer southern soil
find no detriment
but advantage thereby
and thrive the
better. How much more was it no loss
but gain
to Enoch to be translated out
of the vale of tears into God’s garden of celestial pleasures! There are many
talkers and but few walkers; many talkers of God
few walkers with God. Their
lives give the lie to their lips or tongues
as not running relatively in
parallel lines together with the heart. A man’s conversation is the most conspicuous
comment upon all that the heart believeth and the mouth expresseth (Romans 10:9-10).
I. WHAT IS THIS
WALKING WITH GOD?
1. Negatively. It is not as if a man should desert the society of
mankind
and run into a desert or cloister; or as if a man should depart out of
the world
and fly up into heaven. Neither does this phrase import only Enoch’s
public capacity
as if it were proper solely to such as serve God in some high office.
There are three Scripture phrases--
2. Showing what it is to walk with God positively; that is
he did
serve God in his generation according to his will
as is said of David (Acts 13:3; Acts 13:6).
II. HOW THIS
WALKING WITH GOD IS MAN’S DUTY. Upon a threefold respect.
1. It is the principal end why God created man
that man should walk
with God his Creator.
2. It is the creature’s homage and fealty to his creator
God
to
walk with Him
not with Satan
or with sin and sinners.
3. This walking with God is the very badge and character whereby
saints are distinguished from sinners
believers from unbelievers
and the
children of God from the children of the World.
III. HOW THIS
WALKING WITH GOD IS MAN’S DIGNITY AS WELL AS DUTY. It is not only man’s homage
but it is also his honour to walk with God. It is accounted honourable to be
but a follower of a mortal king. Inferences hence are--
1. It is our duty to walk with God
though the whole world walk
contrary to God. The worse that times are
the better should we be
that the
times may not be worse
but better by us. We should all strive to be the most
holy persons
even in the most unholy times.
2. Therefore we should all strive to walk with God
upon these three
following motives; besides the reasons of the duty
as also of the dignity.
Having done with Enoch’s first grand concern
to wit
concerning
his appearance in the world--all which he managed in a constant walking with
God--I come now to discourse upon his second grand concern
concerning his
DISAPPEARANCE FROM THE WORLD to wit
his translation from earth to heaven. (C.
Ness.)
The memorial of Enoch
Could we but hope that
even in a limited sense
these words might
be inscribed as the motto on our tomb
then we need not envy either the
mausoleums of the Pharaohs
the tomb of Alexander or Napoleon
or the
sepulchres of the Caesars! Our “record would be on high
” and our memorial
would live when the scroll of fame should be scattered by the winds of heaven
and perish forever in the conflagration of the world; for they who walk with
God on earth shall reign with Christ in heaven.
I. CONTEMPLATE
THE CHARACTER HERE GIVEN OF ENOCH--“HE WALKED WITH GOD.” Let none suppose that
whatever this may imply
it was the exclusive privilege of Enoch
and
therefore
is not to be sought after by others; for of Noah it is written--he
“found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for he was a just man
and perfect in his
generation.” And “Noah walked with God.” To Abraham
also
it was
commanded--“Walk before Me”; and this the father of the faithful actually
described himself as doing
when he said
“The Lord
before whom I walk
will
send His angel with thee
and prosper thy way.”
1. It must imply the true knowledge of each other; for familiar
intercourse is founded on knowledge. On the part of God
the knowledge is
perfect and infinite. Well
then
might the Psalmist exclaim--“O Lord
Thou
hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising;
thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compasseth my path and my lying
down
and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my
tongue
but lo! O Lord
Thou knowest it altogether.” But man is naturally
ignorant of God. He knows Him not
nor desires to know Him; for “God is not in
all his thoughts.” How
then
shall he understand His being and perfections
His works and His ways? “Such knowledge is too wonderful” for him; “it is
high
” he “cannot attain unto it.” “For who by searching can find out God? who
can find out the Almighty to perfection?” But He has graciously revealed
Himself to us by His Spirit
in His Holy Word.
2. The most sincere friendship.
3. The strongest proofs of devoted attachment. Without these
friendship itself is only a name; but with them
the very balm of life.
4. But
in one word
to walk with God includes a community of
interests. Their aim is one. Now
as God necessarily exists for His own glory
and delights in its manifestation in the happiness of His creatures; so man
regenerated and sanctified
supremely seeks the glory of God in all things.
II. CONTEMPLATE
HIS SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. He was removed to heaven
without tasting the bitterness
of death. It might be sooner than he expected; for he had not attained to half
the years of the life of his father--but he rejoiced to depart
and to be with
“God
his exceeding joy
” forever and ever! And was not this the richest boon
he could possibly receive? Classic story has told us of two lovely youths that
were found dead in their bed
soon after the prayer had been offered for them
that they might possess the best blessing heaven could bestow. And the
Christian well knows
that “to depart
and to be with Christ
is far better”
than anything here. Such was the privilege of Enoch--but as to the mode of his
translation we know nothing. Yet
it must have been eminently gracious.
Whatever was the manner of his translation
it was evidently supernatural--the
doing of the Lord
and marvellous in the eyes of all. No rude stormof chaos
no
fortuitous blast of atoms hurled him on high. But the Lord did it
in His own
most gracious way. He had frequently conferred on him many distinguished
favours--but then
to crown all
he took him as a special friend to Himself
to
be forever with Him in heaven
in joys unutterable and full of glory. But do
not expect the same kind of dismissal as Enoch. Only Elijah and he ever entered
the eternal kingdom
without passing through the gate of death. (J. Clunie
LL. D.)
Enoch’s holiness and its reward
His mind was pure; his spirit rose above the turmoil of
worldliness; he delighted in calm communion with God; once more the familiar
intercourse between God and man
which had existed in the time of paradise
was
restored; the path commenced by Seth was continued by Enoch; the former
addressed God by the medium of the word; the latter approached Him by the still
more spiritual medium of thought: the highest form of religious life was
gained. But
unfortunately
Enoch alone “walked with God”; his contemporaries
were sunk in iniquity and depravation; but the measure of their wickedness was
not yet complete; three generations more were required to mature their destruction;
and God
in order to rescue Enoch
took him to Himself
delivering him from the
contamination of his time at a comparatively early period of his life. Was this
early death a punishment? But the piety of Enoch is repeatedly stated. Was it a
misfortune? It was this as little as the full length of Noah’s life; both cases
were analogous; in the one
the pious man left the wicked generation; in the
other
he was by a catastrophe freed from it; and in both instances
the
deliverance was miraculous and supernatural
by the immediate agency of God. If
this is the clear internal meaning of Enoch’s history
who can doubt that he
was called away from the earth
not to cease his life abruptly
but to continue
it in a better sphere
and in still more perfect virtue? We are convinced that
the “taking away” of Enoch is one of the strongest proofs of the belief in a
future state prevailing among the Hebrews; without this belief
the history of
Enoch is a perfect mystery
a hieroglyph without a clue
a commencement without
an end. If
then
pious men could hope to continue a brighter existence after
their transitory sojourn upon earth
the books of the Old Testament are not
enveloped in the gloomy clouds of despair; they radiate in the beams of hope;
and
if a long life on earth was also gratefully accepted as a high
though not
the highest
boon
this may have sprung from the just feeling
that man is born
to enjoy and to work
to receive much and to give more; and that he does not
deserve the blessing of eternal rest before he has toiled to extend the empire
of truth and piety (comp. Genesis 4:7-10.) God “took” Enoch as He
“took” Elijah (2 Kings 2:9)
or “he was translated
by faith
that he should not see death
and was not found
because God had
translated him” (Hebrews 11:5). The notion seems to be
that
Enoch passed from earth to heaven without the intermediate state of decrepitude
and dissolution; he suffered no bodily infirmity; “his eye grew not dim
nor
did his natural strength abate
” as it is stated with regard to Moses
who also
disappeared
so that no mortal knew his grave. For the pious Enoch
death lost
its pang and its sting; though the descendant of a sinful race
he was
delivered from the real punishment which sin inflicted upon the human family;
his existence was uninterrupted; he was undying
as man was originally intended
to be; for he passed from this life into a future state both without fear and
without struggle. God took him as a loving father to His eternal home. The
history of Enoch has ever been regarded as embodying profound truths; and
we
think
there are few so strongly affecting the very root of religious life as
those which we have just briefly indicated. And
as the virtuous are thus
translated into heaven
the wicked are devoured alive in the gulf of the earth
(Numbers 16:1-50). It is known that
the classical writers also mention such translations into heaven; they assign
this distinction among others to Hercules
to Ganymede
and to Romulus. But it
was awarded to them either for their valour
or for mere physical beauty
which
advantages
though valued among the Hebrews
were not considered by them as
sublime or godlike; a pious and religious life alone deserved and obtained the
crown of immortal glory. In no single feature can the Scriptures conceal their
high spiritual character. However
the idea of a translation to heaven is not
limited to the old world; it was familiar to the tribes of Central America; the
chronicles of Guatemala record four progenitors of mankind who were suddenly
raised to heaven; and the documents add that those first men came to Guatemala
from the other side of the sea
from the east. This is
then
apparently
a
rather remarkable connection of the primitive traditions of the most different
nations. (M. M. Kalisch
Ph. D.)
My ministry
On the 22nd of February 1880 Dr. Raleigh preached for the last
time. His text was
“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took
him.” Had he known that he would never preach again
he could not have chosen a
more appropriate text
or have spoken with more impressiveness and pathos. One
of the members of the congregation said
on returning home
“I have heard today
what I never expect to hear again in this world.” Dr. Raleigh was compelled to
rest; weeks passed away
but there was no amendment in his health
and at
length he had to be told that there was an hope of his recovery. When he
received the intelligence he said
“Then my ministry is ended.” There was a
pause
and then he added
“My ministry!--It is dearer than my life.” On the
Tuesday before his death
he was visited by the Rev. Joshua Harrison
to whom
he freely expressed his confidence in the glorious work of the Saviour
and
said
“in any case I may well be content and thankful. I am not an old man
yet
I have lived long and worked hard. I have had
on the whole
a most happy
and
I think I may say successful
ministry. God has blessed my work
and has always
given me true friends. If I have finished my work
I am ready to go. Indeed
I
should have no regrets but for these dear ones” (his wife and children). When
reminded of the prayers which were being offered on his behalf
he replied
“Yes
my people’s prayers make me sometimes think I may have a little more work
to do
but it not
I shall calmly march up to the gates.” Still trusting in
Christ
he went “through the gate
” April 1880. In the presence of a sorrowing
multitude
his coffin was lowered into a grave in Abney Park Cemetery. (Old
Testament Anecdotes.)
Gathering flowers to compose him in the hour of death
We know it to be a Scripture fact that men have “walked with God”
in closest intimacy
and that God hath held converse with them
“even as a man
converseth with his friend.” Such was the case with Enoch
Abraham
Moses
and
all that luminous cloud of witnesses so brightly and clearly revealed in the
Bible. The Church of God
even down to our own time
furnishes innumerable
witnesses to this truth
which we will establish by the mouth of two of them.
John Holland was an old Puritan minister
who died two hundred and fifty years
ago. Little is known of him
except what relates to his deathbed. Perceiving
that he was near his end
he said
“Come
oh
come; death approaches. Let us
gather some flowers to comfort this hour.” He requested that the eighth chapter
of Romans might be read to him. But at every verse he stopped the reading
while he expounded it to the comfort of his soul
and to the joy and wonder of
his friends. Having thus continued his meditations above two hours
he suddenly
cried out
“Oh
stay your reading. What brightness is this I see? Have you
lighted any candles?” They told him “No; it is the sunshine.” “Sunshine?” said
he; “nay
my Saviour’s shine! Now farewell
world--welcome
heaven. The day
star from on high hath visited my heart. Oh! speak when I am gone
and preach
it at my funeral
‘God dealeth familiarly with man.’” In such transports his
soul soared towards heaven. His last words
after repeating the declaration
that “God doth and will deal familiarly with man
” were these: “And now
thou
fiery chariot
that camest down to fetch up Elijah
carry me to my happy home.
And
all ye blessed angels
who attended the soul of Lazarus to bring it to
heaven
bear me
oh! bear me to the bosom of my best beloved. Amen; even so
come
Lord Jesus
come quickly!” One other present witness is Gilbert Tennent
who was a main instrument
with Whitefield and Edwards
of the great revival in
New England one hundred years ago. In one of his letters to his brother
the holy
William Tennent
he says
“Brother
shall I tell you an astonishing instance of
the glorious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is this
that one of the
meanest of His servants has had His presence every day
in some degree
for
above eleven weeks
Nor is the great
good Master yet gone. Oh
brother
it is
heaven upon earth to live near to God! Verily
our comfort does not depend so
much upon our outward situation as is generally supposed. No
a Saviour’s love
is all in all. Oh
this will make any situation sweet
and turn the thickest
darkness into day!” (Old Testament Anecdotes.)
Preparation for death necessary
I have read of a gentleman who died very suddenly
and his jester
ran to the other servants
and having told them that their master was dead
he
with much gravity
said
“And where is he gone?” The servants replied
“Why
to
heaven
to be sure!” “No
” said the jester
“he is not gone to heaven
I am
certain.” The servants with much warmth asked him how he knew that his master
was not gone to heaven? The jester then replied
“Because heaven is a great way
off
and I never knew my master take a long journey in his life but he always
talked of it some time beforehand
and also made preparations for it; but I
never heard him talk about heaven
nor ever saw him making preparations for
death
and therefore I am sure he is not gone to heaven.” (H. G. Salter.)
Enoch’s translation
This moment Enoch is surrounded by antediluvian sinners
transformed by evil passions into demons; the next
he is in the society of
angels
of the general assembly of the firstborn
of God Himself: this moment
he is in a humble tent; the next
he is in the city and palace of the King:
this moment he is in imminent danger; the next
his is quietness and assurance
forever: this moment he is in earth--an earth reeling with wickedness
and
ripening fast for ruin; the next
he “summers high in bliss upon the hills of
God”: this moment he is almost a solitary protester against evil; the next
he
has outsoared the shadow of sin
and is one of a holy company that no man can
number
standing before the throne: this moment his body is frail and corrupt
a body of death
even as others; the next
his body has become a glorious body
winged
radiant
immortal: this moment he is like all men
subject to
and in
danger of
death; the next
he has evaded the grim king of terrors
escaped not
only the feeling
but the sight
of death. (G. Gilfillan.)
A singular saint is a precious saint
As the morning star in the midst of the clouds
and as the moon when
it is at full; as the flower of the roses in the spring of the year
and as the
lilies by the springs of waters; as the branches of the frankincense in the
time of summer
and as a vessel of massy gold
set with all manner of precious
stones
and as the fat that is taken from the peace offering;--so is one Enoch
that walketh with God when others walk from Him; one Rahab
in Jericho; one
Elias
that boweth not his knee to Baal; one David
in Mesech; one Esther
in
Shushan; one Judith
in Bethulia; one Joseph
in the Sanhedrim of the Jews; one
Gamaliel
in the council of the Pharisees; one innocent and righteous man
in
the midst of a crooked and froward generation. (J. Spencer.)
And all the days of Methuselah
The longest life and its lessons
In dwelling upon this text I shall--
I.
Take
a simple survey of the age and manners of the antediluvian world. The youth of
the world was the season of man’s greatest age; perhaps
also
of man’s
greatest wickedness.
II. Draw some
important lessons from this survey--
1. The agglomerative tendencies of human depravity.
2. The vanity of earthly things.
3. The power of an endless life.
4. The great natural wickedness of the heart.
5. That mere duration of years does not constitute a long life
but
the fulfilment of life’s ends.
6. The danger of religious procrastination. (Dr. Cheever.)
The close of life
I. THE CLOSE OF
LIFE IS ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN.
II. LIFE HAS COME
TO A CLOSE WITH MEN THROUGH ALL GENERATIONS FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.
III. LIFE COMES TO
A CLOSE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. Some places are more salubrious than others.
IV. LIFE COMES TO
A CLOSE AT ALL SEASONS OF THE YEAR.
V. LIFE CLOSES AT
ALL PERIODS. Death is not peculiar to any age.
VI. LIFE CLOSES IN
A VARIETY OF WAYS. How many perish in the battlefield
amid all the dreadful
realities of war! Many are lost by shipwreck at sea. Many lose their lives by
accident on land. Far from the land of his birth and friends
pursuing his
philanthropic career
John Howard finished his labours and his life. Sublimely
grand must have been the exit of Thomas Chalmers; but
like that of John
Foster
no human eye was permitted to see it. It was a Sabbath evening when he
retired to rest
“in his most happy mood.” In the morning he was found on his
bedside in an attitude of repose. A peaceful smile
like a beam from the Sun of
Righteousness
lingered about his face. His immortal part had soared upwards
escorted by a convoy of angels
to the better land. Thus widely diversified are
the circumstances and modes of our departure. VII. THE CLOSE OF LIFE NEVER
HAPPENS BY CHANCE. It is an event of Divine appointment.
VIII. THE CLOSE OF
LIFE MAKES ALL THE ARTIFICIAL DISTINCTIONS OF LIFE VOID. “Death
” says Dr.
Donne
“comes equally to us all
and makes us all equal when it comes. The
ashes of an oak in a chimney are no epitaph of that to tell me how high
or how
large it was; it tells me not what flocks it sheltered whilst it stood
nor
what men it hurt when it fell. The dust of great men’s graves is speechless
too; it says nothing
it distinguishes nothing. As soon the dust of a wretch
whom thou wouldst not
as of a prince whom thou couldst not look upon
will
trouble thine eyes if the wind blow it thither; and when a whirlwind hath blown
the dust of the churchyard into the church
and the man sweeps out the dust of
the church into the churchyard
who will undertake to sift those dusts again
and to pronounce: ‘This is the patrician--this is the noble flour; and this the
yeoman--this the plebeian bran!’”
IX. THE CLOSE OF
LIFE IS OF INCONCEIVABLE IMPORTANCE. Our chances of preparation last while life
lasts. Iris said that when Alexander encamped before a city
he used to set up
a light
to give notice to those within that if they came forth to him while
that light lasted
they should have quarter; but if they came not out within
the given time they were to expect no mercy. Our light is burning now. It goes
out when life departs. Death fixes all forever. It is this solemn fact--that
death in shutting the gates of life upon us here
ushers us into the
unchangeable hereafter--that accounts for the opposite experiences of men when
they come to die. Voltaire said to his doctor--“I am abandoned by God and man.
I will give you half of what I am worth
if you will give me six months’ life.”
“Sir
” replied the doctor
“you cannot live six weeks.” “Then
” said the dying
man
“I shall go to hell”; and soon after expired. “I shall be glad to find a hole
”
said Hobbes
“to creep out of the world at.” How different the anticipations of
good men! “O Father of Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ!” exclaimed the martyr
Polycarp; “I bless Thee that Thou hast counted me worthy to receive my portion
in the number of martyrs.” “I have pain
” said Richard Baxter
“(there is no
arguing against sense); but I have peace.” “Is this dying?” said Dr. Goodwin.
“How have I dreaded as an enemy this smiling friend.” “The best of all is
God
is with us
” was John Wesley’s shout of victory in the last hour. “The
victory’s won forever
” exclaimed Dr. Payson; “I am going to bathe in an ocean
of purity and benevolence and happiness to all eternity.”
X. I HAVE NOW TO
OBSERVE
THAT THE CLOSE OF LIFE MAY BE NEAR AT HAND. We know not the day nor
the hour of the messenger’s arrival.
XI. MY LAST REMARK
IS THAT THE CLOSE OF LIFE DEMANDS INSTANT PREPARATION. Mark what that
preparation is. What you require to fit you for death is all the same as that
which you require to fit you for life. (W. Walters.)
This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our
hands
Hope through the gloom
I.
THE
HARDNESS AND DIFFICULTY OF LIFE. These words are the words of parents. Lamech
“the powerful
” is not ashamed to confess that he needs comfort; and when this
child comes to him he accepts him as a Divine gift
as a commissioned
competent
and thrice-welcome messenger of comfort from God.
II. THE COMFORT THAT
COMES INTO THE WORLD WITH CHILDREN. These words of Lamech are the permanent
inscription in the horoscope which parents everywhere and always see over the
cradle of the latest born. There is a bright prophecy of God concerning the
future in this invincible hopefulness of the parental heart.
III. THE SECURITY
WE HAVE FOR THIS IN THE GREAT PACT OF OUR REDEMPTION. Our Noah has been born;
the Rest-giver
strong Burden bearer
all-pitying and all-suffering Saviour.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness
but Jesus Christ brings and gives
righteousness
instilling it into every believing heart. (A. Raleigh
D. D.)
Comfort in toil
These words
used by Lamech
apply far more truly to the
descendant of Noah after the flesh
even Jesus Christ.
I. When our Lord
appeared among men the world was in almost as sad and hopeless a condition as
when Lamech looked around him. Among the Gentiles there was ignorance
darkness
and false imaginations; among the chosen people there Was hardness
and impenitence. Christ comforted His disciples after His resurrection by
raising up the temple of their wrecked faith
as He raised again the temple of
His own body. He comforted them with the assurance that their faith was not in
vain
that He had the keys of death and hell
and was able to succour to the
uttermost those who trusted in Him.
II. The risen
Christ comforted also the fathers of the ancient covenant. Moses and Elias
appeared unto Him on Tabor
speaking with Him of the things concerning His
passion. The ancient patriarchs could not enter into heaven till the gates were
opened by the cross of Christ
and the handwriting that was against all sinners
was taken away.
III. The
resurrection of Christ is a joy and comfort to us also--
1. Because in Him a way of safety was opened to the world.
2. Because He will repay a hundredfold all that is done for him. (S.
BaringGould
M. A.)
The third Sunday in Advent
I. THE DEEPER
MEANING OF THE GENEALOGICAL LISTS OF SCRIPTURE. They serve to tell us not
only--
1. Of the physical interdependence of the race
awakening thus our
attention to the great problem of heredity; but
2. Of the moral variety of the race
bringing us face to face with
human free will; and
3. Of the great glory of the race. There are names
like mountain
peaks
of spiritual grandeur; they find their apex in the Name which is above
every name.
II. THE MERCIFUL
DEALING OF GOD WITH A SINFUL WORLD. Samples of God’s education of man by--
1. Promise;
2. Disappointment;
3. Manifold discipline.
III. THE
TRANSCENDENT SUPERIORITY OF OUR PRIVILEGES. In the advent of Jesus Christ--
1. We find no disappointment;
2. We have profound satisfaction. (Homilist.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》