“The very atmosphere is [today] polluted with sin. Soon God’s people will be tested by fiery trials, and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true will prove to be base metal. Instead of being strengthened and confirmed by opposition, threats, and abuse, they will cowardly take the side of the opposers. The promise is: ‘Them that honor Me I will honor.’ Shall we be less firmly attached to God’s law because the world at large have attempted to make it void?
“Already the judgments of God are abroad in the land, as seen in storms, in floods, in tempests, in earthquakes, in peril by land and by sea. The great I AM is speaking to those who make void His law. When God’s wrath is poured out upon the earth, who will then be able to stand? Now is the time for God’s people to show themselves true to principle. When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised, then should our zeal be the warmest and our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few,—this will be our test. At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason…
“The test will surely come…. The Captain of our salvation will strengthen His people for the conflict in which they must engage. How often when Satan has brought all his forces to bear against the followers of Christ, and death stares them in the face, have earnest prayers, put up in faith, brought the Captain of the Lord’s host upon the field of action and turned the tide of battle and delivered the oppressed.
“Now is the time when we should closely connect with God, that we may be hid when the fierceness of His wrath is poured upon the sons of men. We have wandered away from the old land-marks. Let us return. If the Lord be God, serve Him; if Baal, serve him. Which side will you be on?” (5 Testimonies, pp. 136:1–137:3).
It is only as we draw near to God and study His Word and the lives of Jesus and holy men of old that we shall be strengthened to have warmth amid the coldness and apostasy around us. It was for this reason that we prepared this compilation on the life of Enoch.
“We are to obey the laws of His kingdom, making ourselves all that it is possible for us to be. Earnestly we are to cultivate the highest powers of our being, remembering that we are God’s property, God’s building. We are required to improve every day. Even in this world of sin and sorrow, we may, by earnest, persevering effort, rise to the highest spiritual efficiency…. We are to please God. This we may do; for Enoch pleased God, though living in a degenerate age. And there are Enochs in this our day” (Sons and Daughters, p. 314:1).
“I am comforted with the conviction that the Lord has made me His humble instrument in shedding some rays of precious light upon the past. Sacred History, relating to holy men of old, is brief. Inspiration has dealt sparingly in praise of the noble deeds and holy lives of the faithful. For example, the life of righteous Enoch is summed up in these words: ‘And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him’ ” (Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 3, p. v:1).
“That God who walked with Enoch was our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He was the light of the world then just as He is now. Those who lived then were not without teachers to instruct them in the path of life; for Noah and Enoch were Christians. The gospel is given in precept in Leviticus. Implicit obedience is required now, as then. How essential it is that we understand the importance of this word!” (6 Testimonies, p. 392:2).
“The Old Testament is as verily the gospel in types and shadows as the New Testament is in its unfolding power. The New Testament does not present a new religion; the Old Testament does not present a religion to be superseded by the New. The New Testament is only the advancement and unfolding of the Old. Abel was a believer in Christ and was as verily saved by His power as was Peter or Paul. Enoch was a representative of Christ as surely as was the beloved disciple John. That God who walked with Enoch was our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He was the light of the world then, just as He is now” (That I May Know Him, p. 208:3).
“This hope of redemption through the advent of the Son of God as Saviour and King, has never become extinct in the hearts of men. From the beginning there have been some whose faith has reached out beyond the shadows of the present to the realities of the future. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—through these and other worthies the Lord has preserved the precious revealings of His will. And it was thus that to the children of Israel, the chosen people through whom was to be given to the world the promised Messiah, God imparted a knowledge of the requirements of His law, and of the salvation to be accomplished through the atoning sacrifice of His beloved Son” (Prophets and Kings, pp. 682:2–683:0).
“The many prophecies concerning the Saviour’s advent led the Hebrews to live in an attitude of constant expectancy. Many died in the faith, not having received the promises. But having seen them afar off, they believed and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. From the days of Enoch the promises repeated through patriarchs and prophets had kept alive the hope of His appearing” (Prophets and Kings, pp. 699:3–700:0).
“How selfish was the expression that he would live a different life if he knew his Lord was to come in ten years! Why, Enoch walked with God 300 years. This is a lesson for us that we should walk with God every day, and we are not safe unless we are waiting and watching” (Last Day Events, p. 42:5).
“The sacrificial offerings, and the priesthood of the Jewish system, were instituted to represent the death and mediatorial work of Christ. All those ceremonies had no meaning, and no virtue, only as they related to Christ, who was Himself the foundation of, and who brought into existence, the entire system. The Lord had made known to Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the ancient worthies, especially Moses, that the ceremonial system of sacrifices and priesthood, of themselves, were not sufficient to secure the salvation of one soul” (Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 2, p. 10:3).
“ ‘When men shall revile you and persecute you,’ said Jesus, ‘rejoice, and be exceeding glad.’ And He pointed His hearers to the prophets who had spoken in the name of the Lord, as ‘an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.’ James 5:10. Abel, the very first Christian of Adam’s children, died a martyr. Enoch walked with God, and the world knew him not. Noah was mocked as a fanatic and an alarmist. ‘Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment.’ ‘Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.’ Hebrews 11:36, 35” (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 33:1).
“Yet the whole world was not corrupt. There were a few faithful witnesses for God. Methuselah, Enoch, Noah, and many others labored to keep alive on the earth the knowledge of the true God, and to stay the tide of moral evil. God declared that His Spirit should not always strive with guilty men, but that their probation should be a hundred and twenty years; if they did not then cease to pollute with their sins the world and its rich treasures, he would blot them from His creation; and these faithful ministers of righteousness gave the warning message. But the light was not heeded, and the preaching of Noah and his co-laborers impressed hearts less and less. Many, even of the worshipers of God, had not sufficient moral power to stand against the corrupting influences of the age, and were beguiled into sin by them” (Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, July 1, 1887, para. 7).
“In every period of this earth’s history, God has had His men of opportunity, to whom He has said, ‘Ye are My witnesses.’ In every age there have been devout men, who gathered up the rays of light as they flashed upon their pathway, and spoke to the people the words of God. Enoch, Noah, Moses, Daniel, and the long roll of patriarchs and prophets,—these were ministers of righteousness. They were not infallible; they were weak, erring men; but the Lord wrought through them as they gave themselves to His service” (Gospel Workers, 1915, p. 13:1).
“Christ looked forward to the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost should descend upon His disciples. He would teach them that they were not to look upon this as the result of their own labor. They were not to lose sight of the fact that patriarchs, prophets, and holy men had been sowing seeds of truth. God’s ancient chosen people had been enriched with precious truth, which was to them as the river of God. Christ had been their invisible leader through all their travels in the wilderness. Gracious illustrations of His love were given them in the covenant signed by God in the rainbow of promise, which was ever to be an assurance that seedtime and harvest time should remain, and that the world should never again be destroyed by a flood. Christ was just as truly the water of life to Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and all who received His instruction then, as He is at the present time to those who ask of Him the refreshing drought. God has given His Word to His chosen ones, and made known His way. Through His Son He has been supplying them with the dews and showers of His grace. But His blessings are often overlooked, and men take the glory to themselves” (Signs of the Times, April 22, 1897, para. 17).
“The patriarchs and prophets were representative men, and through them, from century to century, a flood of knowledge was poured into the world. Adam, repentant and converted, was a Christian; Abel was a Christian; Enoch was a Christian; Noah was a Christian; Abraham was a Christian. In types and symbols the Gospel was revealed to those of former dispensations. The Old Testament Scriptures show us the power possessed by those who looked to Christ. The glorious beams of continually increasing light are all concentrated in our time. All testify of Christ, ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’ But never was this truth so clearly defined as in Christ’s answer to the words, ‘Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?’ Christ is revealed to us in His first advent. We see Him sacrificing riches, power, and glory for poverty, temptation, privation, and suffering” (Signs of the Times, January 13, 1898, para. 10).
“In the schools established under God’s direction, the fear of the Lord was the foundation of all true education. The knowledge of God had been handed down from generation to generation. In Abel, whom Cain killed, and afterward in Enoch, Seth, Methuselah, Noah, and many others, the Lord had faithful witnesses, just men, who kept His fear before their generation. Their memories were not feeble and treacherous. They had received the words of instruction from Adam, and these they repeated to their children and their children’s children. Much important history and truth were expressed in song” (Youth’s Instructor, May 21, 1903, para. 8).
“In that time, as in this, there were two classes, the righteous and the wicked. Enoch and others walked with God in uprightness. But the great majority of the inhabitants of the earth were given over to iniquity, and their wickedness rose before God. The earth ‘was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.’ ‘The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and…every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’ ‘And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.’ ‘And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.’ ‘And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth’ (Gen 6:5–13)” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. Eighteen, pp. 92:2–93:0).
JESÚS Y YO 