Lesson 21 – Walking with God

Sabbath, November 21, 2009

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6, 7.

A forerunner who walked with God

1.    What is the meaning of the phrase, “walked with God,” as used in the Holy Scriptures?
Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.
Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
1 Thessalonians 2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

2. What is the report of one who truly made the experience of walking with God, or sanctification? How long did this experience continue? How was this possible?
Genesis 5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

“Enoch walked with God. He honored God in every affair of life. In his home and in his business he inquired, ‘Will this be acceptable to the Lord?’ And by remembering God and following His counsel, he was transformed in character, and became a godly man, whose ways pleased the Lord. We are exhorted to add to godliness, brotherly kindness. O how much we need to take this step, to add this quality to our characters!… We should have that love for others that Christ has had for us. A man is estimated at his true value by the Lord of heaven. If he is unkind in his earthly home, he is unfit for the heavenly home. If he will have his own way, no matter whom it grieves, he would not be content in heaven, unless he could rule there. The love of Christ must control our hearts…. Seek God with a broken and contrite spirit, and you will be melted with compassion toward your brethren. You will be prepared to add to brotherly kindness, charity, or love….
“It will bring heaven nearer to us. We may have the sweet peace and consolation of God in doing this work. These steps will take us into the atmosphere of heaven.” –My Life Today, p. 98.

One like us

3. Picture Enoch and the way he lived his life. Compare what you know about him and the society in which he and his family lived with what you experience today.
Genesis 5:22, 23 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.

“We are living in an evil age. The perils of the last days thicken around us. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold. Enoch walked with God three hundred years. Now the shortness of time seems to be urged as a motive to seek righteousness. Should it be necessary that the terrors of the day of God be held before us in order to compel us to right action? Enoch’s case is before us. Hundreds of years he walked with God. He lived in a corrupt age, when moral pollution was teeming all around him; yet he trained his mind to devotion, to love purity. His conversation was upon heavenly things.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, pp. 121, 122.

4. On what list of honor do we find his name? In accordance with his life and experience with God, where else is his name registered?
Luke 3:23, 37 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli…, Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri,
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

“The overcomer is to be clothed in the white raiment of Christ’s righteousness, and of him it is written: ‘I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.’ O, what a privilege it is to be an overcomer, and to have our names presented before the Father by the Saviour Himself!” –Sons and Daughters of God, p. 369.

“The spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness is placed upon the tried, tempted, faithful children of God…. Their names are retained in the Lamb’s book of life, enrolled among the faithful of all ages. They have resisted the wiles of the deceiver; they have not been turned from their loyalty by the dragon’s roar. Now they are eternally secure from the tempter’s devices. Their sins are transferred to the originator of sin. A ‘fair miter’ is set upon their heads.” –Prophets and Kings, p. 591.

Surrounded by moral and spiritual corruption

5. According to information provided in the letter of Jude, what can be said about Enoch? What was the spiritual and moral condition in the world at the time in which he lived?
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.

“He educated his mind to run in this channel, and he bore the impress of the divine. His countenance was lighted up with the light which shineth in the face of Jesus. Enoch had temptations as well as we. He was surrounded with society no more friendly to righteousness than is that which surrounds us. The atmosphere he breathed was tainted with sin and corruption, the same as ours; yet he lived a life of holiness. He was unsullied with the prevailing sins of the age in which he lived. So may we remain pure and uncorrupted. He was a representative of the saints who live amid the perils and corruptions of the last days. For his faithful obedience to God he was translated. So, also, the faithful, who are alive and remain, will be translated. They will be removed from a sinful and corrupt world to the pure joys of heaven.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 122.

A life of faith

6. What is the short but inspiring record of his life? Did it end as have the lives of all other mortals? What conclusion must we therefore reach when we ask if it is possible for us to walk and live with God today?
Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

“We can have what Enoch had. We can have Christ as our constant companion. Enoch walked with God, and when assailed by the tempter, he could talk with God about it. He had no ‘It is written’ as we have, but he had a knowledge of his heavenly Companion. He made God his Counsellor, and was closely bound up with Jesus. And Enoch was honored in this course. He was translated to heaven without seeing death. And those who will be translated at the close of time, will be those who commune with God on earth. Those who make manifest that their life is hid with Christ in God will ever be representing Him in all their life practices. Selfishness will be cut out by the roots.” –(Manuscript 38, 1897).

“This is the desire that filled Enoch’s heart. And we read that he walked with God. He studied the character of God to a purpose. He did not mark out his own course, or set up his own will, as if he thought himself fully qualified to manage matters. He strove to conform himself to the divine likeness.” –(Letter 169, 1903) Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1087.

7. What was the great source of his constantly advancing spiritual life?
Hebrews 11:5 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

“Did he