“And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:26

Once while reading Genesis 5:24 I asked the Lord if it were possible for me to do what Enoch had done and be taken into heaven without dying.  He confirmed to me that it was possible and even showed me in a vision a man being taken up into heaven in a great burst of light. Many  Christians are hoping for the rapture to happen, but hardly any seem to consider that its possible to be taken up individually, as a result of our walk of faith pleasing God. But the question is: how did Enoch live such a life that God decided he could skip death?

The Dark Days of Enoch

Enoch had one advantage in his day that we do not have: long life span. The scriptures say that after having his first son Methuselah he walked with God for 300 years (Gen. 5:22). Sadly we don’t have 300 years to learn the walk well enough to reach the point of God taking us up into heaven. However, Enoch was also at a great disadvantage when it came to walking with God. Enoch lived before the law of Moses, the coming of Christ and the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. In his day there wasn’t a Jewish religion or nation for him to belong to and receive instruction from the spiritual leaders. There weren’t any commandments recorded for him to follow or a group of fellow believers to help him along the way. And as for the rest of society in his day, they were extremely wicked. Scripture says all of man’s thoughts were constantly on evil (Genesis 6:5). Fallen angels were on the earth mating with women, giants are engaging in violence and all the earth was corrupted. The time that he lived in was so bad that God decided to destroy everything on the earth with the flood. Finding another righteous individual seemed very unlikely in his day. Yet he succeeds in walking with God.

There may be a lot of evil in our days but its nowhere near as bad as the days of Enoch. We also have the church, the bible and most importantly we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us; guiding and teaching us. The simple truth is that we are more equipped than ever to reach the level of devotion and relationship with God that Enoch had reached. And we don’t have to live three lifetimes to do it. So why hasn’t one of us succeeded at it yet? Why are the only examples we have of individuals being taken up to heaven two men who lived before the indwelling Presence?

Means to an End?

What I’ve learned in the last few years is that what enabled Enoch to reach this threshold was his love and total focus on God. Many Christians today struggle in their walk because it is not a result of their love of God, but their love of themselves. What many today are really after is self preservation. Their goal is to make it to heaven, not to be with the God that makes heaven worth going to but to escape pain and trouble. This is being selfish. But Gods desire is to put to death our selfishness, not preserve it.

Clearly the Lord desires for all of us to be singularly focused on drawing close to Him as possible. But we must learn that God is not a means to an end. God is the end! And as long as going to heaven to escape our problems is our focus and not being with God, than frankly I have to wonder if such a focus could actually lead one to heaven anyways, regardless of how your time on earth ends. I say this because when I think of how men and women interacted with the idols they worshipped in ancient times I cant help but notice that they did so under the impression that their worship would lead to a blessing. For example they would worship an idol believing it would give them a good harvest.

Therefore there worship was a means to an end. But God deserves worship regardless of whether He is giving us a blessing in response or not. That is what it means when we say “He is worthy” in our prayers and worship songs and when we read scriptures such as Revelations 4:11 and Psalm 145:3. He is worthy because of who He is, in His great and perfect nature. Using God to get what you want is a part of idolatry, not godliness.

To walk as Enoch did we must sacrifice our selfish nature and our desire for self preservation, and love God for who He is, not what He does for us. You cant love God just to get to heaven. God is the Alpha and the Omega, He is the end. Enoch was focused on God and learned to live as a child of light in the midst of the darkness, not allowing his circumstances to draw his mind and heart away from the Lord. He understood that loving God looked like giving attention, affection, and time to God continuously and he trusted God to take care of his needs without needing to worry about it.

Basically, walking with God is a lifestyle in which God is your focus and number one priority. The desire to reach the Enoch threshold is an exciting prospect but even the pursuit itself must continue to be about God and not just having the experience.