Genesis 5:24 tells us that “Enoch walked with God.” Many Christians today find it so difficult to walk consistently with God, even for a single day. But Enoch walked with God for 300 years! A Biblical study of the term “walk” tells us that it is expressive of something more intimate than just taking a walk with God.
Firstly, walking with God suggests that there is no enmity between God and Enoch.
Enemies do not walk together. Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” The Scriptures in many places assert that the mind of the unconverted is carnal, sinful, and therefore at enmity with God. Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Thus, walking with God implies that the converted man who walks with God is no longer an enemy of God, but has been reconciled to God through the all-sufficient righteousness and atonement of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus Christ is our peace as well as peacemaker. Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Colossians 1:20 says, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” If you have believed on Him, you are justified and you are reconciled to God; and consequently you can walk with God. Jesus Christ brings us to God and helps us to walk with Him.
Secondly, walking with God implies an abiding communion or fellowship with God.
1 John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” So walking with God or in His light would mean having fellowship with God. Such a person would not allow anything to distract him from his communion with God. He keeps his life in tune with God all the time.
We all know that when friends walk together, they would engage in close and interesting conversation. They derive strength and encouragement from their close communication. And this idea is clearly intended in the figure of speech “walk with God”. Every child of God must keep on communing with God. A Christian must draw his pleasure and comforts not from his worldly friends but from his God. He must have constant fellowship with God.
The child of God must have fellowship with God in prayer. He must view the daily seasons of prayer as sweet and wonderful. So the man who walks with God speaks with God – telling Him all his doubts and fears, struggles and sufferings, all his desires and needs. The prayerful Christian will receive God’s kind exhortations and comforting answers in return.
I remember a story told by Charles Spurgeon about a sickly Christian in Scotland who was on his death bed, and visited by a friend who felt very distressed for him. This Christian told his friend, “Could these curtains, or could these walls speak, they would tell you what sweet communion I have had with my God here.” O prayer! Prayer! It brings and keeps God and man together. It raises man up to God, and brings God down to man. If you have been there, you would like to be there again. O believers, keep up your walk with God; pray, and pray without ceasing.
Believers must also maintain their walk with God by reading His Holy Word. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). We meet our Saviour in this Holy Book, the Bible. There we hear His voice, gentle and sure, guiding and strengthening, comforting and emboldening us for each day’s task.
How can we maintain a Christian walk without having God to speak to us? So God preserved His inspired Word for His people. It shall not pass away for the sake of His people’s blessing. And the royal Psalmist tells us, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). Walking in the light of God’s Word is to walk in His presence.
Thirdly, walking with God is a description of the renewed life of a believer.
The word “walk” is descriptive of the manner in which God’s people ought to walk. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” A man who is united with Christ should not walk like a worldly person. Anyone who desires to walk with God cannot walk with those who have no fellowship with God.
Ephesians 2:2 tells us, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
Ephesians 4:17 – “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.”
Those who walk with the Lord will be characterised by godliness. Consider what the Scripture says about the manner in which Christians ought to walk:
(1) Walk by faith: 2 Corinthians 5:7, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight).”
(2) Walk according to the Holy Spirit and not according to carnal feelings: Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4, “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
(3) Walk honestly, without hypocrisy: Romans 13:13, “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” 2 Corinthians 4:2, “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Ephesians 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”
(4) Walk in Christ’s love: Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
(5) Walk circumspectly: In Ephesians 5:15, believers are exhorted to “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.”
A believer who walks with God will be wise to always please Him. One ought to walk with God in the same direction and to the same destination. The man who walks with God must conform to God’s moral character and will. His feelings and aspirations ought to be in accordance with the holy law. He ought to love righteousness and hate iniquity.
The New Testament names Enoch as a man of faith, and comments on his life as one that pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 says, “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 certainly a remarkable man of faith. When the time came for this extraordinary man of piety to leave the world, God took him suddenly and supernaturally. He was the first of two in the Old Testament who did not see death.
Fourthly, walking with God implies that one is advancing or making progress in his spiritual life.
Walking, in the very first idea of the word, seems to suppose a progressive action or motion. A person who walks, moves and goes forward. So it is with those who walk with God. They will go on “from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7); they are “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
In the epistle of Jude, we are told that Enoch prophesied about the last days: Jude 14, 15 – “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” What a blessing Enoch received from God to be given a glimpse of the glorious return of Christ with His saints in the end-times!
It certainly pays to walk with God. And only those who walk with Him below will walk with Him above. The Lord took Enoch into His presence without letting him see death. That is a very great honour indeed!
Firstly, walking with God suggests that there is no enmity between God and Enoch.
Enemies do not walk together. Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” The Scriptures in many places assert that the mind of the unconverted is carnal, sinful, and therefore at enmity with God. Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Thus, walking with God implies that the converted man who walks with God is no longer an enemy of God, but has been reconciled to God through the all-sufficient righteousness and atonement of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus Christ is our peace as well as peacemaker. Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Colossians 1:20 says, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” If you have believed on Him, you are justified and you are reconciled to God; and consequently you can walk with God. Jesus Christ brings us to God and helps us to walk with Him.
Secondly, walking with God implies an abiding communion or fellowship with God.
1 John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” So walking with God or in His light would mean having fellowship with God. Such a person would not allow anything to distract him from his communion with God. He keeps his life in tune with God all the time.
We all know that when friends walk together, they would engage in close and interesting conversation. They derive strength and encouragement from their close communication. And this idea is clearly intended in the figure of speech “walk with God”. Every child of God must keep on communing with God. A Christian must draw his pleasure and comforts not from his worldly friends but from his God. He must have constant fellowship with God.
The child of God must have fellowship with God in prayer. He must view the daily seasons of prayer as sweet and wonderful. So the man who walks with God speaks with God – telling Him all his doubts and fears, struggles and sufferings, all his desires and needs. The prayerful Christian will receive God’s kind exhortations and comforting answers in return.
I remember a story told by Charles Spurgeon about a sickly Christian in Scotland who was on his death bed, and visited by a friend who felt very distressed for him. This Christian told his friend, “Could these curtains, or could these walls speak, they would tell you what sweet communion I have had with my God here.” O prayer! Prayer! It brings and keeps God and man together. It raises man up to God, and brings God down to man. If you have been there, you would like to be there again. O believers, keep up your walk with God; pray, and pray without ceasing.
Believers must also maintain their walk with God by reading His Holy Word. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). We meet our Saviour in this Holy Book, the Bible. There we hear His voice, gentle and sure, guiding and strengthening, comforting and emboldening us for each day’s task.
How can we maintain a Christian walk without having God to speak to us? So God preserved His inspired Word for His people. It shall not pass away for the sake of His people’s blessing. And the royal Psalmist tells us, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). Walking in the light of God’s Word is to walk in His presence.
Thirdly, walking with God is a description of the renewed life of a believer.
The word “walk” is descriptive of the manner in which God’s people ought to walk. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” A man who is united with Christ should not walk like a worldly person. Anyone who desires to walk with God cannot walk with those who have no fellowship with God.
Ephesians 2:2 tells us, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
Ephesians 4:17 – “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.”
Those who walk with the Lord will be characterised by godliness. Consider what the Scripture says about the manner in which Christians ought to walk:
(1) Walk by faith: 2 Corinthians 5:7, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight).”
(2) Walk according to the Holy Spirit and not according to carnal feelings: Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4, “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
(3) Walk honestly, without hypocrisy: Romans 13:13, “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” 2 Corinthians 4:2, “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Ephesians 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”
(4) Walk in Christ’s love: Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
(5) Walk circumspectly: In Ephesians 5:15, believers are exhorted to “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.”
A believer who walks with God will be wise to always please Him. One ought to walk with God in the same direction and to the same destination. The man who walks with God must conform to God’s moral character and will. His feelings and aspirations ought to be in accordance with the holy law. He ought to love righteousness and hate iniquity.
The New Testament names Enoch as a man of faith, and comments on his life as one that pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 says, “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 certainly a remarkable man of faith. When the time came for this extraordinary man of piety to leave the world, God took him suddenly and supernaturally. He was the first of two in the Old Testament who did not see death.
Fourthly, walking with God implies that one is advancing or making progress in his spiritual life.
Walking, in the very first idea of the word, seems to suppose a progressive action or motion. A person who walks, moves and goes forward. So it is with those who walk with God. They will go on “from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7); they are “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
In the epistle of Jude, we are told that Enoch prophesied about the last days: Jude 14, 15 – “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” What a blessing Enoch received from God to be given a glimpse of the glorious return of Christ with His saints in the end-times!
It certainly pays to walk with God. And only those who walk with Him below will walk with Him above. The Lord took Enoch into His presence without letting him see death. That is a very great honour indeed!
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