“Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:24). The original Hebrew meaning for walked implies that Enoch went up and down, in and out, to and fro, arm in arm with God, continually conversing with him and growing closer to him. Enoch lived 365 years—or, a “year” of years. In him, we see a new kind of believer. For 365 days each adult year, he walked arm in arm with the Lord. The Lord was his very life—so much so that at the end of his life, he did not see death (see Hebrews 11:5).
Like Enoch, who was translated out of life, those who walk closely with God are translated out of Satan’s reach—taken out of his kingdom of darkness and put into Christ’s kingdom of light: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13).
Enoch learned to walk pleasingly before God in the midst of a wicked society. He was an ordinary man with all the same problems and burdens we carry, not a hermit hidden away in a wilderness cave. He was involved in life with a wife, children, obligations and responsibilities; Enoch wasn’t “hiding to be holy.”
“Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). We know from Hebrews that this verse speaks of Enoch’s translation, the fact that he did not taste death. But it also means something deeper. The phrase he was not, as used in Genesis 5, also means “he was not of this world.” In his spirit and in his senses, Enoch was not a part of this wicked world. Each day as he walked with the Lord he became less attached to the things below. Like Paul, he died daily to this earthly life and he was taken up in his spirit to a heavenly realm.
Yet while he walked on this earth, Enoch undertook all his responsibilities. He cared for his family: he worked, ministered and occupied. But “he was not”—not earthbound. None of the demands of this life could keep him from his walk with God.
Hebrews 11:5 says clearly: “Before his [Enoch’s] translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” What was it about Enoch that pleased God so much? It was that his walk with God produced in him the kind of faith God loves. These two verses cannot be separated: “Before his [Enoch’s] translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:5-6). We hear this latter verse often, but rarely in connection with the former. Yet throughout the Bible and all of history those who walked closely with God became men and women of deep faith. If the church is walking with God daily, communing with him continually, the result will be a people full of faith—true faith that pleases God.
All around Enoch, mankind grew increasingly ungodly. Yet as men changed into wild beasts full of lust, hardness and sensuality, Enoch became more and more like the One with whom he walked.
“By faith Enoch was translated.” This is an incredible truth, almost beyond our comprehension. All of Enoch’s faith was focused on the one great desire of his heart: to be with the Lord. And God translated him in answer to his faith. Enoch could no longer bear to stand behind the veil; he just had to see the Lord.
Our brother Enoch had no Bible, no songbook, no fellow member, no teacher, no indwelling Holy Spirit, no rent veil with access to the Holy of Holies. But he knew God!
“He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). How do we know that Enoch believed God was a rewarder? Because we know that is the only faith that pleases God—and we know that Enoch pleased him! God is a recompenser, a remunerator, that is, one who pays well for faithfulness. How does the Lord reward his diligent ones?
There are three important rewards that come by believing God and walking with him in faith.
1. The first reward is God’s control of our lives. The person who neglects the Lord soon spins out of control as the devil moves in and takes over. If only he would fall in love with Jesus, walking and talking with him! God would soon show him that Satan has no real dominion over him and this person would quickly allow Christ to control him.
2. The second reward that comes by faith is having “pure light.” When we walk with the Lord, we are rewarded with light, direction, discernment, revelation—a certain “knowing” that God gives us.
3. The third reward that comes with a walk of faith is protection from all our enemies. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). In the original Hebrew, this verse is translated as: “No plan, no instrument of destruction, no satanic artillery shall push you or run over you, but it will be done away with.”
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.