“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5 (Read Genesis 5:21-24)

The Bible tells us of Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, that he “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

At the relatively young age of 365, Enoch was taken directly, without seeing death, to be with the Lord God in heaven. Enoch was translated; that is, changed from a temporal, earthly existence to an eternal, heavenly one. His body and soul were taken from this earth into his eternal and heavenly home.

Such a conveyance directly into heaven is hard for us to understand. In all of human history, Elijah the prophet is the only other human being to escape death and be taken directly to his heavenly home (cf. 2 Kings 2:11). Even the Lord Jesus Christ first died for the sins of the world before He rose again on the third day and then 40 days later ascended into heaven.

Enoch walked with God by faith, trusting that God’s ways are right and that God would send the promised Seed of the woman to redeem him from sin and eternal death. In the book of Jude, we learn that Enoch also testified in his time of God’s coming judgment upon all who continued in their ungodly and rebellious ways (v. 14f.).

To walk with God by faith is no different today. Believers know and believe that God’s ways are true and right and trust in God’s mercy and forgiveness for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for the sins of the whole world and rose again on the third day.

Believers walk in fellowship with God the Father, agreeing with Him about their sinfulness but trusting in Him to graciously forgive their sins and accept them as His own dear children for the sake of Jesus Christ, who lived a righteous and holy life in mankind’s stead and made full atonement for the sins of all when He suffered and died upon the cross (cf. 1 John 1:7 – 2:2).

Like Enoch, believers are pleasing to God and righteous in his eyes because all their sins have been washed away in Jesus’ blood. Their works too are pleasing in His eyes because they flow from faith in Him and are made pure through the blood of Jesus.

Believers have already been conveyed. The Bible says of believers in Jesus that the Father “has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14). God has graciously translated or conveyed His children from the kingdom and rule of darkness and sin into the kingdom of grace and forgiveness – the kingdom of His own dear Son.

Believers will be conveyed into God’s eternal and heavenly kingdom when Jesus returns. The Bible says to all who believe: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).

So, Enoch walked with God by faith and was taken directly into heaven. All who today walk by faith in the Son of God, trusting in Him for mercy and forgiveness, have been conveyed from the kingdom of darkness and spiritual death into God’s kingdom of grace and life. And, on the last day, they too will be conveyed into heaven – their earthly bodies will be changed into glorious and heavenly bodies like that of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:35ff.).

Jesus, let me ever walk with You by faith so that, as Enoch was conveyed from this world into your heavenly kingdom, so I may arise and live with You forever in Your eternal and glorious kingdom. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

My mom doesn’t know me anymore. She says I look familiar and is happy to see me but can’t quite place me.

Apparently, I must look a little like someone she once knew and went to school with years ago, or maybe she faintly remembers me. She has asked me if I know certain classmates of hers and if I am older than she is or younger. I tell her who I am, but she doesn’t usually remember for long.

While it’s hard not to be recognized by my mom as her son — and I certainly thought I did enough things when I was young to make me hard to forget — it has to be so much harder for my dad who spends most of his time caring for my mom. There are good days and there are other days. While things are usually better in the mornings, by evening time she sometimes doesn’t know him either. On those nights, one of them has to sleep on the couch because it wouldn’t be right to share a bed with someone she didn’t recognize as her husband even though my mom and dad have been happily married for 64 years.

It started with a little confusion and being a little forgetful, but her Alzheimer’s progressed from that to asking the same questions or telling the same stories over and over again during the same visit. She became frustrated because she couldn’t remember things and was aware of her problem with memory.

From there it went to not being quite sure who I was when we visited, but she was still happy to see me. When I called on the phone, she would talk to me but was always quick to hand over the phone to Dad since she wasn’t quite sure who I was or what to say to me.

On our most recent visit, she didn’t come to the door to greet us when we arrived as she usually did but was sitting quietly and somewhat withdrawn on the couch in the living room. When I walked over to her and said hello, she said I looked familiar and joined in our visit but was more of a passive participant, listening and looking around but not saying much. My father lovingly explained things to her as we talked.

We went out to eat together before we started on our trip back home. My father ordered for my mom, knowing what she liked and what she would eat. His loving care and patience with her were amazing to watch.

She seemed to truly enjoy watching our three-year-old grandson whom she had not met before our most recent visit. The two kind of hit it off from the start. She watched him play with old toy cars and trucks at my parents’ house. And, at the restaurant, when she got out of my dad’s car, our grandson took her hand rather than ours to walk across the parking lot. Instead of her watching out for him, he watched out for her and led her safely to the restaurant door. He did the same when we returned to our cars. He took her to my dad’s car and her passenger-side door.

We said our goodbyes until our next visit and she gave me a hug before we left.

Having seen how the disease progresses, I know caring for her will be harder and harder for my dad. Days may come when she does not recognize him at all, even though they spent their lives together and he still cares for her each and every day. When we visit, I may no longer be anyone she recognizes — not even a familiar face.

I’ve wished there were far fewer miles between us and I could be there to help my dad and sit with Mom when he needed a little time for himself. It’s hard to be watching out for a loved one day and night to be sure she is occupied, safe and has not wandered off and forgotten the way back home, and even more difficult when she doesn’t remember who you are.

It’s sad to see someone we know and love begin to fade; and, in some ways, diseases which affect the mind are the most difficult of all because loved ones no longer know us and sometimes mistrust us or question our loving care.

The why goes back to Genesis 3 and the consequences of mankind’s fall. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19). Alzheimer’s disease, like so many other illnesses and diseases which infect us, leads us toward the end of life in this world and to the grave. We age and our earthly bodies and minds give out and eventually fail us. We return to the ground.

What hope is there when such a disease strikes and the mind and body fail? Many know of no hope. They may hope for a time in medicines, healthy foods or exercise but, eventually, all hope fades.

For the Christian, there is hope in the resurrection. Because Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again, those who place their trust in Him for forgiveness and life eternal have the certain hope of being raised up again on the Last Day to everlasting life, where there will be no more sickness, disease, sorrow or death.

“We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven …” (2 Cor. 5:1-2). “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:52-53).

My mother has such hope. She trusts in Jesus, her Savior, and long ago taught me to trust Him too. Her earthly house (her mind and body) is fading, but she has a new one waiting for her in heaven because of Jesus and what He has done for us. Her new house is eternal, immortal and incorruptible. She again will be all she was in Christ Jesus and so much more!

Randy Moll

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.” Matthew 25:14-15 (Read v. 14-30)

We do not know when our Lord Jesus Christ will return. That day could be very soon, or it may be many years from now. What are we to be doing while we await the return of our Lord and Savior who died upon the cross to redeem us from sin, death and the power of the devil?

With the parable of the talents, Jesus teaches us that we are to be faithfully serving Him and carrying on the work of His kingdom until He returns. All of us, as Christians, have been given talents, abilities and spiritual gifts, as well as resources, to use in carrying on the Lord’s work until He returns on the Last Day (1 Peter 4:10f.; Romans 12:4ff.; 1 Corinthians 12-14). Whatever our gifts, talents and abilities are, we are to faithfully use them for the Lord and for the upbuilding of His kingdom and Church.

We have also been entrusted with the Word of God, which we are to faithfully use and proclaim (Mark 16:15; Hebrews 4:11-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 4:1ff.). Since Christ Jesus suffered and died upon the cross to redeem us and make us children of God, He expects us to respond to His gracious gift of salvation by living our lives for Him. And, as a fruit of our faith, we also desire to do this (2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 John 4:19ff.).

When Jesus returns on the Last Day to take to heaven all who trust in Him for salvation, He will examine our faithfulness. We are His stewards, having been entrusted with His Word and with His gifts, abilities and resources to use for the work of His kingdom. The Bible tells us: “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).

If, as a result of our faith in Christ as Savior, we faithfully serve Him, we will be graciously rewarded with greater opportunity for service when we enter the joy of our Lord in heaven.

But if, on the other hand, we are found to be unfaithful servants who cared to do nothing for our Lord but were afraid and hid our talents away, we will lose not only what has been entrusted to us, but eternal life as well; for such unfaithfulness is a denial of true faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior (cf. John 15:1-6).

O God of mercy, God of might, in love and pity infinite, teach us, as ever in Thy sight, to live our life to Thee … And may Thy Holy Spirit move all those who live to live in love till Thou shalt greet in heaven above all those who live to Thee. Amen. (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #439, Verses 1,6)

[SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION®. COPYRIGHT © 1982 BY THOMAS NELSON. USED BY PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]

And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-29

This parable of Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a man who sows his seed in the soil and waits until the seed of itself springs up and grows, maturing until the harvest. Then the farmer puts in the sickle for the harvest. The farmer can only sow good seed, cultivate the crops, and wait for the fruit to mature. He cannot himself make the seed grow and produce fruit.

The kingdom of God is like this in that all we as Christians can do is sow the pure Word of God. We cannot make it grow or produce fruit. The power to create spiritual life and produce fruit lies in God’s Word and His Spirit and not in us as the sowers.

It is our task to sow the Word of God; but the results must be left up to the Holy Spirit, who brings people to saving faith in Jesus Christ and also sanctifies them through God’s Word. We cannot see how faith is created in the heart, nor should we expect to harvest immediately after the seed is sown. Our crucified and risen Lord Jesus has given us the simple task of sowing the good seed of God’s Word. The rest is up to Him!

Let us then diligently sow the Word! By means of God’s Law, the Holy Spirit will convict men of their sins and show them their guilt before the Almighty God. By means of the Gospel, He will comfort them with the assurance that their sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ’s holy life and innocent sufferings and death in their stead.

If we only sow the Word, we need not worry about the results. They remain in God’s hands, and He has promised that His Word will not return unto Him void (cf. Isaiah 55:10-11). Let us sow the Word and await the harvest!

On what has now been sown Thy blessing, Lord, bestow; the pow’r is Thine alone to make it spring and grow. Do Thou in grace the harvest raise, and Thou alone shalt have the praise. Amen. (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #46, Verse 1)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.