what does it mean to walk with God...
"Well, that was hard work"….I don't think my husband was expecting such a response as I arrived home with a walk through the snow with our dog. Admittedly, she is a bull terrier, and stubbornness is one of their less delightful traits. But it seemed every new pile of snow the neighbours had shovelled into neat piles held unseen delights that she could not pass without intense investigation. It had been an hour of me either tugging or waiting and then trying to stay upright on the icy ground as she accelerated forward, as the familiar scent of home and a tasty treat came into sniffing range!
"She just wouldn't walk with me"….I murmured, glancing at her as she munched on her treat, oblivious to her lack of coordination with my steps……it simply wasn't her nature.
My mind went to a character in the bible who did walk in coordination, not with his dog but with God.
Not much is said about Enoch in the bible, but he gets a mention in the Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. Here, the writer of Hebrews is encouraging his readers to persevere; he's encouraging them to imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit what has been promised…how did he get a mention in this Hall of Fame?.... Hebrews says Enoch had faith, and he pleased God.
If we go back to Genesis 5:24, where we will see the Enoch that we're going to look at, we notice that Enoch was not only a man who walked by faith, but he was a man who walked with God….we will also see something else remarkable… but we'll get to that.
A lot has happened since Adam and Eve plunged us into unrecoverable sin: cities have been built, music has been written, the first victim of murder, Abel slaughtered by Cain, and most crucially, "people started to call on the name of the Lord" Genesis 4:26
However, sin takes the form of Lamech from Cain's line, not Seth's. Even though they are both seventh-generation descendants of Adam, Lamech is the polar opposite of Enoch. This disparity is a replay of the battle between Cain and Abel in Chapter 4, which established the rival kingdoms of God's kingdom and Satan's kingdom. Lamech is a conceited and arrogant city builder whose only objective is honouring and promoting himself. He is not just a murderer but a pompous and self-righteous killer who murdered a man for harming him, even singing a song about taking the law into his own hands; he is judge, jury, and executioner.....he is Cain all over again but ten times worse.
Enoch, unlike Lamech, is a humble and faith-filled man who walks with God.
What does it mean to walk with God….. if Hebrews 11:5 says Enoch was commended as having pleased God, and Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please God, Enoch must have had faith. Genesis 5 also says Enoch walked with God, so we could conclude that to walk with God is to have faith, a faith which pleases God.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
God was pleased to be in Enoch's company, in fellowship with him. And what established that was Enoch's faith – "Without faith it is impossible to please Him."
Now, how do we draw near to God? How do we please Him?
We don't come by works; we come by faith; we see that emphasised here. "whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists". You have to believe that God exists before you can believe in Him; otherwise, we're talking about fairy tales; you might as well be talking about Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy!
However, simply believing that God exists does not constitute a biblical faith. Many people think God exists. In truth, everyone knows there is a Creator, even if they squash that knowledge deep inside themselves.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
It is necessary to believe that God exists, but the belief that God exists in itself does not please Him….there must be something else; there must be the belief, the faith, that He rewards those who seek Him.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
A person must believe that the true God exists, yes, but also that He will reward our faith in Him with forgiveness and righteousness because that is what He has promised to do.
Now, the text does not explicitly state this, but since Hebrews is a book of encouragement that speaks of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ while also warning about the danger for those who are drifting away from the gospel despite hearing and understanding the salvation that it offers, it would be consistent with the overall message to assume that the author of Hebrews is telling us that we must believe that God rewards those who seek Him by seeking Him through Christ.
Let's face it: Anyone can believe that God exists, and very many do. However, we cannot get away from the fact that the faith that is pleasing to God is the faith that believes that God will keep His promises, that He will respond, that he will forgive and reward with salvation those who approach Him through Jesus Christ alone.
Einstein, now there's a smart guy…well, not that smart actually because although he acknowledged that there was a God, that there was a cosmic power, even going as far as to say that anyone who didn't believe in this God, this cosmic power, was a fool, it seems Einstein was the fool because he also said that we could never come to know this God! But we can know God. To please Him, we must believe that He is knowable, that He is a loving, caring, personal God who responds graciously to those who come to Him…that he rewards faith.
Enoch lived by faith; in Hebrews, he is praised for his faith.
Have you ever tried walking with someone who doesn't want to go the same way you do? God has planned the way for each one of us, so we must agree with God's course.
Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to do so?
Because Enoch walked with God, it was clear he did not resist God but rather enjoyed following His instructions. For Enoch, the rebellion that began in the Garden of Eden was now over; ever since the fall, every individual born has opposed God; we are born into rebellion...we are born rebels against God...that is our nature, as Ephesians 2:3 tells us.
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
However, as we know, the purpose of salvation is to reconcile men to God and restore the connection that sin has broken. Enoch was reconciled with God because of his faith and could now walk with God.
Enoch and God had natures that agreed with each other…
…back to my dog….I had a bit of a tussle with her on that last walk; sometimes walking in step with me, other times, holding back, intrigued with mysterious aromas, but even if I could command her to walk in perfect step with me, she could never experience fellowship with me because our natures are different, and an unbelievers nature is distinct from God's nature. However, once we are saved, we become, Peter says, "partakers of the divine nature" 2 Peter 1:4. In Christ, we are given a heavenly nature, His nature, and we can, therefore, have fellowship with God.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years….this was a walk you notice and not a run or a sprint…it was a long walk, a long and steady walk because Enoch was in this for the long haul.
You see, anyone can run or sprint for a short distance, but the lost world needs to see steady, faithful people who walk with God throughout all their circumstances and who come to know him more day by day.
We don't need flash-in-the-pan Christians, those who are all show and bluster, promises and pzazz, only to leave town, or worse, your church, as quickly as they arrived.
During his walk, Enoch also preached against the sin of his day, and you have to move around the bible a bit to see this; it's in Jude 14-15
He spoke against sin because he became more holy as he walked with God and realised how wicked the people of his day were.
We can also see that in ourselves as we develop in holiness, we begin to be aware of sins we didn't recognise before we became Christians.
You can only perceive the sin around you if you walk with God daily; otherwise, you learn to live with it and accommodate yourself to sin.
We observe this accommodation in certain governments and leaders—those to whom we have committed the duty of adequately governing us—passing legislation permitting sin. Do they believe that declaring something lawful implies it's no longer sinful? It's as if they decided what sin is...
But it is God who defines what sin is.
We also see this in some church leaders, those who should know better, and some of those with big audiences; they rename sin and reinterpret it….all to increase their numbers.
You would have to ask if they are walking with God.
So, Enoch pleased God by walking with Him and recognising sin for what it is. Furthermore, Enoch had an active and dynamic faith…he spoke out, and I'm guessing he wasn't popular…but he was faithful and obedient to God.
The result of this? Well, if we read chapter 5:5-24 of Genesis, we see the life span of the descendants of Adam through to Noah.
Adam….930 yrs - he died
Seth….912 yrs - he died
Enosh.…905 yrs - he died
Kenan…..910 yrs - he died
Mahalalel….895 - yrs he died
Jared…...962yrs - he died
Enoch…..365yrs…..God took him home…he walked so closely with God that one day God walked him into paradise.
Why would God do this?
Martin Luther says it was to show that death is not the end but rather "that there has been prepared and set aside for men another and also a better life than this present life which is replete with so many misfortunes and evils."
Enoch shows us that those who walk with God in this life will also walk with him in the life to come, and it is also a wonderful picture of believers who will be taken up directly to heaven when Christ returns for his bride, his church, just as Enoch didn't see death either will they.
Can you imagine what it was like for Enoch to have God walk with him?
They will have walked together through the good and bad days, joy and despair, health and sickness, but God would never have left Enoch's side.
The same can be said for us, through all our circumstances…Jesus promises never to leave us or forsake us..who then shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Do you think you can't survive, let alone triumph over your circumstances? ……..think again and realise that Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, has fixed his love upon you and that nothing will separate you from his love and your destiny of spending eternity with him.
Let us be encouraged by Enoch and all those recorded in Hebrews 11, by their faith and endurance, by their walk; let us live in that same hope and walk with God now so that we may also walk with him in the age to come.
