God tells him,
32 …Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good.I suppose if Enoch felt he wasn’t a good speaker and he was hated, his social status couldn’t get much worse.. He could only get better. Yet, he could have refused.
33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.
34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me. (Moses 6:32-34)
So Enoch puts his whole heart and soul into saying what the Lord wants him to say. I suspect he had a very hard time at the beginning. It says “Enoch went forth in the land, among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places, and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.” (v37) What he said annoyed the natural man and how he said it was, from a worldly perspective, probably not artistic at all, but somehow the Spirit reached them and they couldn’t keep away, whether they believed or not. (Have you ever known people like that?) The people say to each other, “Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and there is a strange thing in the land; a wild man hath come among us.” (v38) Perhaps he was a bit of a loose cannon at first, but those who believed what he said already considered him a seer and knew he prophesied.
Here was their reactions:
And it came to pass when they heard him, no man laid hands on him; for fear came on all them that heard him; for he walked with God. (Moses 6:39)We may think that Enoch’s words were magic somehow, but their power lay in his priesthood and speaking with the Spirit. When he said something was going to happen, it came to pass, so people couldn’t dismiss him. Yes, the wicked became his enemies, and they fought against him, but they couldn’t dismiss him.
And as Enoch spake forth the words of God, the people trembled, and could not stand in his presence. (Moses 6:47)
…all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. (Moses 7:13)
This is what caused me to want to pay closer attention to what Enoch said, to see if I could feel what his people felt.
Is there anything that impresses you about the words of Enoch in the Pearl of Great Price?
2 comments:
I love these scripture:
33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.
34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me. (Moses 6:32-34)
They remind me of when I was investigating the church of Jesus Christ of LDS. Enoch reminds me of some of the missionary's who knocked at my door, and I wouldn't let them in. I would only peep out at them, and maybe crack the door. But there was a young sister missionary from China, who basically put her tiny foot in my door and dared me to shut it. She asked my husband why he didn't come to church, we only lived about 3 blocks from it. She told us that her dad was inactive too, in China. He refused to go back to church or the temple or anything. She said that one of the reasons she became a missionary was to help her father to come back to church, and she said that he did. Her challenge was that if her father could come back, my husband could get up on Sunday mornings and walk or drive the few blocks to go and take me with him.
This sister missionary's words were justified, the mountains may not have fled but our door was opened by that tiny foot and her powerful testimony.
That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that.
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