There are many different views about the rapture of the saints, especially as to when it will take place. But, in the verse above, the author of Hebrews sets forth very clearly the principle of the rapture, when he tells us us that Enoch, who was raptured in the Old Testament, was taken because he had pleased God. And when we look at the Old Testament to learn about Enoch’s history, we find that he pleased God simply because he “walked with God” throughout his entire life (Gen. 5:22, 24).

In the except below, D.M. Panton (England, 1870-1955) draws out the lessons we may learn today from the life Enoch lived. Mainly, he emphasizes that is it not the simple fact that we are saved and forgiven, as wonderful as that is, which makes us pleasing to God and thus prepared for the rapture; rather, as in the case of Enoch, it is our living a life of “walking with God” in “communion,” or daily fellowship, with Him that makes us so pleasing to Him. I especially appreciate Mr. Panton’s comment that, because Enoch had already been living as a companion of God for his entire life, when he was raptured, he “changed his place, but not his company.”

— D.M. Panton —

“Enoch Walked
With God”

By faith Enoch was removed, so that he should not see death; “And he was not found, for God had taken him”; for before he was taken, he gained the testimony that he had pleased God.
— Hebrews 11:5; cf. Genesis 5:22, 24

So the Holy Spirit now draws a general lesson of the utmost practical and prophetic importance to us: that the pleasure given to God by those who are raptured is not the mere act of conversion, but a whole life of devotion, so that the Old Testament phrase is, Enoch “walked with God” (Gen. 5:24), in continuous well-pleasing; it was his walk which produced his removal. He changed his place, but not his company….

So now all concentrates on the walk with God: “Enoch walked with God.”…None will escape from the coming judgments, save those who walk with God. There is an exquisite beauty about the phrase, discernible only to a sensitive spiritual vision: it implies close intimacy and unbroken communion, an agreement of mind and purpose, a union of heart and soul, a sympathy of sentiment and affection:

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
— Amos 3:3

It also means a lonely life: Enoch walked with God when all men were walking contrary to God. Nothing in the world is more valuable than the ability to walk alone, for it is the supreme prerequisite for walking with God.

The man who walks with God becomes exceedingly sensitive to criticisms of Christ, and exceedingly sensitive to the inevitability of judgment (Jude 15). The universal ungodliness obsessed Enoch like a nightmare, exactly as it did Elijah (Rom. 11:3). It is a most remarkable fact that the only two men ever raptured before Christ were each distinguished for extreme loneliness, and for fearless testimony in an age of dominant wickedness; that is, the man who stands alone for right is the man whom God delights to honor.

The law in the natural realm—that like attracts like—rules also in the spiritual: heaven attracts the most heavenly, until, in the set design of God, acting upon ever-deepening heavenliness of character, the harvest comes (Mark 4:29), and the Enochs are gone.

— Adapted from Rapture, Schoettle Publishing Company, Miami Springs, Florida, 1988; pages 57-59. Originally published c. 1922.

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— 5 August 2026 —