WALKING WITH GOD

"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."