The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5, NRSV.
God had a church when Adam and Eve and Abel accepted and hailed with joy the good news that Jesus was their Redeemer. They realized as fully then as we realize now the promise and the presence of God in their midst. Wherever Enoch found one or two who were willing to hear the message he had for them, Jesus joined with them in their worship of God. In Enoch's day there were some among the wicked inhabitants of earth who believed. The Lord never yet has left His faithful few without His presence, nor the world without a witness.
Enoch was a public teacher of the truth in the age in which he lived. He taught the truth; he lived the truth; and the character of the teacher who walked with God was in every way harmonious with the greatness and sacredness of his mission. Enoch was a prophet who spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. He was a light amid the moral darkness, ... a man who walked with God, being obedient to God's law—that law that Satan had refused to obey, that Adam had transgressed, and that Abel had obeyed and, because of his obedience, been murdered over. And now God would demonstrate to the universe the falsity of Satan's charge that human beings cannot keep God's law. He would demonstrate that though humans had sinned, they could so relate themselves to God that they would have the mind and spirit of God and would be representative symbols of Christ. This holy man was selected of God to denounce the wickedness of the world, and to evidence to the world that it is possible for a person to keep all the law of God....
Enoch walked with God, while of the world around him sacred history records: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Enoch's righteous life was in marked contrast to the wicked people around him. His piety, his purity, his unswerving integrity, was the result of his walking with God, while the wickedness of the world was the result of their walking with the [great] deceiver....
Enoch was a representative man, but he is not praised, he is not exalted; he simply did that which every son and daughter of Adam may do.—Manuscript 43, 1900.
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