Hebrews 11:5 (ESV)
⁵ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

What kind of faith do you have? This is an incredibly significant question. The kind of faith that we have will determine where we spend eternity. As the Hebrews writer says, without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). And faith cannot be faked. There are certain characteristics that are always shown by saving faith. In our last article, looking at the example of Abel, we saw that a couple of those characteristics are obedience and righteousness. Tonight, let us consider Enoch. He, too, was a man of great faith, and his faith accentuates the importance of trusting God.

Now, when you first read Hebrews 11:5, you may wonder how Enoch shows trust. Well, let me ask you this question—in what did Enoch have faith? It would be easy to simply say God, but that is a foregone conclusion. We know that he had faith in God, but a part of that included having faith in what God said. The text tells us that Enoch was taken up by faith. It does not say that Enoch was taken up because he had faith; it says by faith he was taken up. Enoch, in other words, believed that he was going to be taken up. Why? He believed it because God told him he was going to be taken up. We do not have the conversation, just like we do not have the conversation between God and Abel, but remember, faith comes by hearing the word of God; thus, God must have told Enoch what He was planning to do, and Enoch believed Him. Why did he believe God? It was simply because he trusted Him. What a wonderful picture this gives us of Enoch and his faith. Remember, faith is, in part, the conviction of things not seen (ver. 1). So, when God told Enoch that He was going to take him to heaven, he had to believe in something that he had never seen. He had to believe in something that was unheard of in his day and must have seemed impossible. However, Enoch believed God because he trusted God. Trusting God is an integral part of faith. Listen to Thayer’s definitions of faith.

Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
Conviction of the truth of anything, belief; “in the N.T. of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust.

To have faith, then, is to believe in God, with an underlying sense of trust. Having true faith in God and trusting God are two inseparable concepts. We trust God because we believe in God. We believe in God’s Word. We believe in God’s power. We believe in God’s character, that is, in His love and longsuffering; in His goodness and His grace, and therefore we trust Him explicitly. This is what faith in God is all about—trusting God in all aspects of our lives. In our needs, we trust God’s providence (Matthew 6:33). In our affliction, we trust God’s deliverance (2 Corinthians 1:8-10). In our salvation, we trust God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Enoch had commendable faith that led him to trust God, even when it seemed unreasonable to do so. And, let me tell you something about this kind of trust—when you have it, people will see it. When Enoch was taken up by God, the Bible says that he was not found. Do you know what that implies? It implies that when Enoch was gone, people missed him. He was missed because He was living a life that was visible. He let his light shine, and people saw his good works. People knew that he lived a life that was pleasing to God. The KJV tells us that pleasing God was the testimony of his life. Is that your testimony? If you have true faith, faith like Enoch’s, you will trust God explicitly, and people will take notice.

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.