Enoch walked with God... and God took him away. That's the Genesis account.

There are no explanations. He simply disappeared from the face of the earth because God took him away. In few words, just a few sentences, the biblical account tells us of a special relationship between God and Enoch. They walked together.

"To a good connoisseur, few words", goes the saying. And in this case, it seems to me, the saying is confirmed. God wastes no time walking with people who are not faithful, holy, trustworthy, authentic, truthful, available, and willing.

So good was the relationship (not the religion), that God decided to continue the relationship with Enoch elsewhere. So, he transposed it. From here he went there. And Enoch continued walking with God.

No matter how much we think about the interpretations, we are facing one of the great exceptions to the rule of death. The other is Elijah.

The temptation is to focus on the supernatural of the transposition, which is God's work and divine right, when we should be wondering how Enoch kept walking with God for more than 300 years without losing his way, or straying, or delaying.

How did you make it, Enoch?

After going through the biblical portfolio and reviewing the treatment of God and Jesus with men, I stopped at a man who walked with Jesus. And quite a lot. Peter.

My anxiety and panic disappeared. The standard set by Enoch had seemed impossible to match, but I know Peter's weaknesses, his failures, his lies, his unfulfilled promises, and so many other details of his impulsive character. Well, I would almost say that if Jesus continued to walk with Peter, in spite of Peter, I might have some chance of walking with Jesus as well.

And reading Peter's first letter I found this pearl: "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (2:21, NIV).

Footprints, example, model...

As I reflected on this, I discovered three things.

I must put my feet in the footprints that Jesus left. Neither in front, nor behind, nor beside. Exactly in the same footsteps of Jesus. This speaks to me of an identity with him. A total identification. To be one in Christ.

I must stay as close to Jesus as possible. If I separate myself from him, the footsteps of others can interfere and lead me to confuse the footsteps of Jesus with others that may be similar. This speaks to me of a communion, of exclusive intimacy with Jesus.

I must stay focused looking down so that I don't err in putting my feet in the footsteps left by Jesus, to follow his example of life. This speaks to me of living in humbleness, of the need to keep my old nature well dead so that Christ alone lives in me.

 

Dig deeper:

2 Peter 1:3-8

 

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