“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. “

Enoch was transported says the Greek translation of the word “Translated”. In the same way Elijah was “transported” by chariot and heavenly horses to heaven…not tasting death.

I want to ask you today, where is your faith taking you?

The answer must be found in the verse above. The Bible is full of clues. God does not give us the answers on a plate, hands them to us. We need to enter it with devotion, commitment and love. Joshua was told by God to abide in the Word at all moments. It would bring him success. It is not a formula. We would love just to have a formula and not have the responsibility. But the answer is in the verse.

Before his translation he was given a testimony that he would not taste death. We must really enter into the implication of this truth. So if he was told that he was not going to die, then he must have been intelligent enough to ask how he was going to live. So if he was going to live forever, what would he be doing for all this time?

First of all we must understand that Enoch would have prioritised certain things in his life. He would have put relational priority in walking with God. In all the Bible, beyond Jesus Himself, Enoch walked with God in a way that no other man has. So the interaction, intimacy and interdependence in his life would determine the type of eternal life he was going to live.

It might seem complicated to understand but his pursuit of pleasing, interacting with God was such that he could not be limited to fallen creation, and he was transported to a realm where he would experience moment by moment that living that he had started in imperfection. This is exciting because God is not just going to showcase Enoch for a one time translation, but He desires so much we WALK WITH GOD IN THE SAME FASHION.

Without being unseeming, it can only be equated to the intimacy that can exist between a man and a woman. It is not the act of intimacy in itself, it is what exists to make that intimacy happen. The same exists with God. And God is wanting to take us to places in Him that we have never been.

So we must not take attention to the translation itself, however glorious it was, to what led up to the translation…it was a culmination of union between Enoch and God. He lived in such a realm that where he was could not contain him.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians that no eye has seen and no ear has heard what He has prepared for those who love Him. So you need to know today that God is going to take you somewhere today…you will not stay in the same place.

Paul says in Romans 5 that we are ever going from faith to faith, and glory to glory. Is this not a description of what happened to Enoch? Is it not feasible that the faith of Enoch got to such a degree that this fallen creation could not contain the mindset, the understanding, the revelation, and he had to embrace fully that which he lived. What was invisible had become visible, and the visible was no enticement to him in his pursuit. Is it not that today God wants you to release from your being the conditions which things just fall off, those lies, those people who said it was not possible, because you are being transported to new relationships, to new interactions with angels and the Spirit, who speak of mysteries to you.

Jesus was once speaking to his disciples, suddenly a glory came on Him, and He was transfigured before them, appeared Moses and Elijah, to speak of mysteries with Him. How much us, who walk on this earth! We are called to be “transfigured” by releasing from us the conditions to throw off the weights that so easily entangle…Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 talks of the witnesses, who have gone before us in the faith.

The weights are the philosophies, the mindsets of our contemporaries. Many have left their passion for God to embrace empty philosophical principles. Enoch’s faith was in the cultivation of intimacy.

In the Old Testament the word “know” is translated as “yadah” many times. But when it is like that we see in the narrative times of intense interaction between God and His subject. It is a knowing beyond the normal knowing, it is an intimate union.

So where is your faith taking you?

Are you believing for a building, a car, a financial breakthrough? You have missed it if you think this is faith! This is an outflow of the intimacy that we are given a conviction, a testimony that we truly have a interaction and union with God!

To close, God appeared to Solomon and asked him to ask God for something. Anything. Solomon asked for wisdom. God was pleased because what Solomon asked for was not things or people, but a position in the Spirit. A supernatural management of situations and interpretation of issues, from a divine perspective. God said that as he had asked for this, riches and influence were given.

Our preaching of faith and prosperity has been misunderstood, because we talked of faith’s “shadow” in the provision of miracles. The full light is the intimacy that faith brings us into.  Therefore, if we grasp this, we are transported into a different place where conditions, limits, philosophies, commitments, can no longer tie us down.

From the Book of Enoch, we read that he knew WHEN GOD WAS TAKING HIM UP. That means that when we come into the deepest union we are conscious of the heavenly processes that will receive us. The mist of the earth will give way to the brilliant gold of heaven. We will walk upon the steps accompanied by celestial beings as we take our place, in Him, with Him, and through Him.

Therefore whatever cars,houses, ministries, churches, equipment we acquire is not just testimony of our faith, it is a mere shadow of the intimacy we have entered into.

Shalom!!!