Genesis 5 is an uninteresting passage of Scripture. So-and-so lived x years and begot What’s-his-name. After he begot What’s-his-name, So-and-so lived y years, had sons and daughters. So all of the days of So-and-so were x + y; and he died. What’s-his-name lived c years and begot You-know-who. After he begot You-know-who, What’s-his-name lived d years, had sons and daughters. So all of the days of What’s-his-name were c + d; and he died. Everybody dies. You get the point.
Buried twenty-four verses deep into this stack of men, all of whom died, is a mysterious character named Enoch—a man whose life is summarized much differently than any other before or after him. The Bible says, “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:24 NKJV). Everyone else lived, had children, and died. Enoch did these things, too. But he didn’t die. God took him.
This isn’t the only time we see a righteous man living for God disappear from the presence of men to go into the presence of God. Something similar happened to Elijah. We have more detail in his case because his story is told as a narrative rather than a genealogical listing. We read, “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” 2 Kings 2:11 (NKJV).
Enoch and Elijah were unique in every way. The way they lived their lives was counterculture and the way they were ushered into the presence of God was uncommon.
Your story may not read like Enoch’s or Elijah’s. But that doesn’t mean that what is said about you has to be different from the things the Bible says about these men. The story of your life can be: he/she didn’t go with the flow; he/she walked with God.
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