Seth and Enoch
69
The wickedness of men had reached such a height that destruction
was pronounced against them. As year after year passed on, deeper
and deeper grew the tide of human guilt, darker and darker gathered
the clouds of divine judgment. Yet Enoch, the witness of faith, held on
his way, warning, pleading, entreating, striving to turn back the tide of
guilt and to stay the bolts of vengeance. Though his warnings were
disregarded by a sinful, pleasure-loving people, he had the testimony
that God approved, and he continued to battle faithfully against the
prevailing evil, until God removed him from a world of sin to the pure
joys of heaven.
The men of that generation had mocked the folly of him who
sought not to gather gold or silver or to build up possessions here. But
Enoch’s heart was upon eternal treasures. He had looked upon the
celestial city. He had seen the King in His glory in the midst of Zion.
His mind, his heart, his conversation, were in heaven. The greater the
existing iniquity, the more earnest was his longing for the home of
God. While still on earth, he dwelt, by faith, in the realms of light.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
Matthew
5:8
. For three hundred years Enoch had been seeking purity of soul,
that he might be in harmony with Heaven. For three centuries he had
walked with God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer
and nearer had grown the communion, until God took him to Himself.
He had stood at the threshold of the eternal world, only a step between
him and the land of the blest; and now the portals opened, the walk
with God, so long pursued on earth, continued, and he passed through
the gates of the Holy City—the first from among men to enter there.
[88]
His loss was felt on earth. The voice that had been heard day after
day in warning and instruction was missed. There were some, both of
the righteous and the wicked, who had witnessed his departure; and
hoping that he might have been conveyed to some one of his places of
retirement, those who loved him made diligent search, as afterward
the sons of the prophets searched for Elijah; but without avail. They
reported that he was not, for God had taken him.
By the translation of Enoch the Lord designed to teach an important
lesson. There was danger that men would yield to discouragement,
because of the fearful results of Adam’s sin. Many were ready to
exclaim, “What profit is it that we have feared the Lord and have kept
His ordinances, since a heavy curse is resting upon the race, and death