"The only thing that you can't escape," it is said, "is death and taxes." The one I'm beginning to think is true, but the other we know is absolutely not true. We know of two people who did not experience physical death: Elijah, who was taken directly to heaven in a whirlwind, and Enoch, the man who is our hero of faith this month.

If you are thinking that because they made it without dying maybe you won't have to die, the odds aren't in your favor, unless, of course, you are here on earth when Jesus comes back. Otherwise, it's a pretty rare blessing. So why was this hero of faith so blessed?

Enoch walked with God

Enoch doesn't get much publicity in the Bible—six verses in the Old Testament (Genesis 5:18-24) and four verses in the New Testament (Luke 3:37, Hebrews 11:5,6, Jude 14). From this snapshot of his life we learn that he was a prophet (Jude), that he pleased God (Hebrews), that he walked with God (Genesis), and that the Lord took him to heaven without death (Genesis and Hebrews). That's it.

According to our reading, Enoch pleased God, and God blessed him by taking him to heaven without dying. "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death. . . . For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God" (Hebrews 11:5).

The fundamental truth of Christianity is simple: "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). What kind of faith did Enoch have?

Before the flood, people lived a long time. Even though Enoch lived more than six hundred years after Adam and Eve, Adam was still alive and could have talked to Enoch face-to-face. If he had those conversations, Adam would have shared the events of the garden and God's great promises of a descendant of Eve crushing Satan's head. Adam trusted that God was sending a Savior for the world. Enoch believed that too. Enoch's faith prompted him to want to please his God. In the Old Testament his faith in action is described as "walking with God." And God took him—no death.

We need to walk with the Lord

It is significant that one of the "heroes of faith" was a man who walked with God. He didn't work miracles. He didn't bring water from a rock or heal a blind man. All he did was walk with God.