Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from Hebrews 11:5.

 

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death;  and he was not found because God took him up;  for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”  Hebrews 11:5.

 

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“Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.  Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.  So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.  Enoch walked with God;  and he was not, for God took him.”  Genesis 5:21-24.

 

From today’s Scripture and Genesis 5:21-24, we can infer that Enoch was pleasing to God, because Enoch had faith and “Enoch walked with God”.  We also note with interest that Enoch was father to Methuselah, a great high priest and type of Christ as we learned earlier in Hebrews.

 

We note no accomplishments by Enoch that the world would think is great.  Enoch simply lived by faith and walked with God.

 

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  Ezekiel 36:27

 

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  Galatians 5:25

 

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”  Galatians 5:16

 

Jesus said:  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart;  and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  For My yoke is easy, and My load is light”. Matthew 11:28-29. 

                                      

What is a yoke?  According to Oxford American Dictionary, published in 1980 by Oxford University Press, a yoke is a “wooden crosspiece”.  It is a foundation for pulling or work.

After reading this definition of yoke, I thought of the cross.  The cross is a wooden crosspiece that was fastened to Christ as a foundation for His work of carrying away the sins of the world.  The yoke that Christ endured was the cross, but the yoke that Christ give us is His Spirit.

The Pharisees lay law upon law on the people:  “And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders;  but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”  Matthew 23:4.

In contrast, Christ tied up the heavy loads of the law and laid them on His own shoulders and gave us His Spirit as a yoke:  “in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”.  Romans 8:4.