Enoch Walked With God.
LET us now look at the two things which characterized Enoch, as before mentioned.
The first is that he walked with God.
The principle of his walk was faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him,” or to walk with Him. Everything depends on faith, our salvation as well as our conduct. It is a fatal mistake to leave out faith; one grain of it gives life and strength, and the words “Arise, take up thy bed and walk,” remain as evidence of the immediate results of faith.
But Enoch did not merely walk, he walked with God. And here let me observe that to walk with God is quite another thing to God walking with us. The first is the fruit of faith and faithfulness; the second, of redemption. Israel was hardly redeemed out of Egypt when Jehovah began to walk with them, associating Himself in the cloud and in the tabernacle with the wanderings of a people who had found grace in His sight, and whom He had made fit for His presence (Ex. 33:1616For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. (Exodus 33:16); Lev. 26:11-1311And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. (Leviticus 26:11‑13); Deut. 20:4, 31:6). No sooner was the work of redemption accomplished on the cross, and sealed by resurrection, then the Lord drew near to walk with the disciples at Emmaus (Luke 24:1515And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. (Luke 24:15)). It is a striking fact that He associates Himself with them, because He had made them fit to be His companions. Truly these two were not possessed of any great faith or intelligence, their very journey was distancing them from Jerusalem, but Jesus could walk with them, when they were far from qualified to walk with Him. Let us never doubt the truth of this. Our assurance springs from what God is for us, and what He has made us for Himself, and although our enjoyment depends on the measure of our faithfulness, still He who has made us “accepted in the Beloved” can never turn away His face from us.
To walk with God is another thing. To walk with some one necessitates our being together. Enoch, though on the earth, walked in company with God. He lived a heavenly life outside the principles which govern men’s conduct. His walk was characterized by principles which flowed from communion with God in heaven.
Communion is inseparable from a walk with God. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:33Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3)). When we walk with God, there is unison of thought, conduct, and aim between us and Him.
The immediate result of a walk with God is, as before stated, to reproduce clown here the divine character and heavenly principles. One man alone has carried out this in perfection, and His walk must ever be the absolute pattern for ours; but having the same life, the same love, the same spirit, we can more or less perfectly copy the pattern. To walk with God, my heart must have an object, God Himself, as He has revealed Himself in Christ. I am occupied with Christ as He is in heaven, and I reproduce in my walk this heavenly man as He was in this world. Thus my life is the manifestation of that which I possess in Christ in heaven, and the life of Jesus down here is my example.
How is it possible to enumerate the varied characters of Christ as man? His whole life, His every word, step, and action, are the demonstration of the heavenly life, for “He went about doing good.” Psalms 16. depicts the manifestation of the divine life in Him in the pathway of service. He walked with God in perfect holiness, having no other object but Him. Confidence, dependence, humility; finding His delight in those who pleased God absolute separation from evil; seeking His portion in God only; entire satisfaction with the lot that had fallen to Him; praise, assurance, and joy; hope, prospective enjoyment of the glory―all this and much more was seen in Christ. Let us read, too, Psalms 17, which is the path, not so much of the saint, as of the righteous one; righteousness of speech, heart, and conduct (vers. 1-5). Is it not wonderful? There has been a man, Jehovah’s “fellow,” a man whose “fellows” we have become, who has walked with God in absolute perfection. If we want other passages to show it, let us read the gospels, and worship as we trace His footprints. Let us watch Him in the expression of His love, His inexhaustible love, yet never belying Himself. His every act was love, and even when He proclaimed judgment, we can see how His love suffers. “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:36, 3736Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:36‑37)).
Was He not also the expression of God’s word to man? “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:88He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)). And again this word addressed to Levi: “The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity” (Mal. 2:66The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. (Malachi 2:6)).
May we have grace to walk in the steps of this beloved Saviour, to be imitators of God as dear children, and to walk in love as Christ has loved us.
Enoch walked with God three hundred years. During three centuries his character of a heavenly stranger was maintained. Those who bring divine principles amongst men are always strangers. As a new-born babe, Jesus was a stranger in the inn; later on He had not where to lay His head; the Pharisees said of Him, “We know not whence He is;” and the people said, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” Finally, in that solemn hour, when all God’s glory was manifested in His sacrifice, they say, “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
His course of thirty-three and a half years was morally of infinite length, and far more complete than Enoch’s three hundred years, because it was the Lord Himself, God become man, who accomplished it. How humbling it is for us to see how far short we come even of Enoch, we who walk with God perhaps only one day, and on the morrow have lost sight of our object, and forgotten that we belong to heaven!
The expression (Heb. 11:55By 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. (Hebrews 11:5)) “walked with God” is quoted in the Septuagint version as “pleased God,” for these two things go together as we see in Colossians 1:1010That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:10), “That we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” If we walk in the footsteps of Christ, we must please God, for He has said, “In Him is all My delight.” God can find His delight in us also to whom He has given faith and a nature capable of loving and serving Him. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” By faith Enoch drew nigh to an unseen God, realized His presence, and walked with Him, looking to the future for a reward. Scripture not only says that he pleased God, but that before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God.
His translation was not the testimony, neither is it recorded that God gave him a bright testimony before the world, that being reserved for a future day; but he received the testimony that he pleased God, like Abel obtained witness that he was righteous. This suffices to a faithful soul. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”, (John 14:2323Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)). “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (Rev. 2:1717He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)). The heart has the witness in itself of a favor consequent on faithfulness.
(To be continued.)