Time passes. Enoch uses it for God’s glory. Once again, he is with Adam. They have become intimate friends.
‘I have now lived nine hundred and twenty-three years.’
Adam says as he shares roast lamb with the one he has learned to trust.
They have sacrificed a lamb at an altar according to the explicit instructions that had been given to him and his family so many years ago.
‘Is it enough for you to still come the way God taught us?’
Enoch replies,
‘Yes, it is difficult when the sons of God tell us we need to follow their new ways to please God.’
To be honest he struggles with envy when false teachers enjoy incredible success. He wants his own family to agree with him. So many love the world more than they love God. This love of pleasure results in sinful compromise.
‘I admit the festivals are spectacular and demonstrate so many glories of God’s creation.’
Adam wisely warns,
‘You will struggle with fleshly desires all the days of your life.’
The Lord is teaching both of them to not only expect trials but to joyfully welcome them.
Adam feels he has little to share. Enoch finds that time spent with him reveals a depth of wisdom. Walls fall away. Love grows.
Adam realizes his desire for isolation violates God’s plan. He says,
‘God created us with a need for love, but it is only possible to love one another when we trust God.’
Enoch’s understanding of faith, obedience, and forgiveness grows stronger the more he knows God. His growing relationship with God gives him power to overcome trials and temptation.
Those who never grasp the horrible weight of sin are robbed of their peace and the ability to genuinely love one another. Enoch wonders,
‘Is this Adam’s burden to bear?’
Adam certainly did not know the result of sin until he sinned.
With his faith and desire to please God Enoch begins to isolate himself from the people of the world. He remembers long and sometimes awkward visits with Adam. His forefather becomes his best friend. He often prays,
‘Thank you, Father, for the things I am learning. I humble myself before you. I accept my need. If I live as long as Adam, I have more than five hundred years to live.’
The companionship of friends who love God and others strengthens their testimony in the world. They cannot force other people to change, but they use all means possible to speak God’s truth.
Words from God become their words.
Disease devastates some communities. Whenever Enoch visits Mattawn’s people he smells the stench of death. His youngest son sees it too. They hate death as much as they hate sin.
No one expects to live forever. God has cut them off from the Tree of Life. Believers walk with God, and they remain faithful even though they die at young ages. Much younger than the wicked people of the city.
God’s ways are not our ways!
Death is a separation. At times it comes suddenly.
Nokh knows that those who die young are blessed for they are escaping by God’s grace the coming judgment. Believers who die are not going to face the wrath of God on earth.
Mattawn humbly shares with his father,
‘Our love for God helps us face the inevitable result of sin.’
Enoch receives these beautiful words with thankfulness. The fear of the Lord brings wisdom. He reminds himself,
‘Wisdom from above is pure and peaceable.’
He understands God’s love.
‘Thank you, God! Precious in your eyes is the death of your saints.’