WALKING
[p. 321] WALKING
Zechariah 6: 7; John 1: 35 - 39; Romans 6: 4; Romans 8: 4
I have in view to speak about walking, a subject that runs through the Scriptures; God is the first to walk, in the book of Genesis, and in the last book of the Bible we have Jesus walking amid the seven golden candlesticks. We also find Satan walking, a solemn matter. Peter says, “Your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour”, 1 Peter 5: 8. But the book of Job records something in a way more serious; that is, when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, “Satan came also”, Job 1: 6. This, no doubt, would apply to the so-called convocations of Israel. All the males were enjoined to come up three times in the year to present themselves, to appear before Jehovah. And no doubt Satan also came on these occasions; this applies also to our own times, for he undoubtedly comes on occasions like these “Satan came also”. One can understand how in Israel he would have in mind to frustrate the designs of God in these holy convocations, to mar them, as he might find occasion to do; as the tribes met on the streets of Jerusalem, or in the environments of Jerusalem, the hills and vales, evil feelings of jealousy might arise, natural feelings might prevail, some other motives beside those primarily designated might be there-personal motives. Any or all of these conditions would give occasion to Satan, who would be there on his nefarious business to corrupt, to promote evil feelings or rivalry. We read, indeed, in this very book of Zechariah that on one occasion Joshua the high priest was there, and Satan was there; it was not simply that he also came, but that he was there to resist, to resist God in what He intended to do with [p. 322] Joshua the high priest. God had in mind to bless him; Satan had in mind to prevent the blessing, to resist the angel of the Lord. This is ever his mind when God was about to bring Israel into Canaan, Satan was ready to curse, to have Israel cursed, if he could, and alas! he had a ready instrument in a hireling, one who would do it for the reward of unrighteousness.
But the word in Job is very searching because God said, ‘Now, Satan, why are you here?’. God challenges the devil, and He would challenge everyone too: ‘Why are you here?’. “Whence comest thou?”, He says, as you may remember, in chapter 1: and Satan answered Jehovah and said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it”. That is his account of himself. God would bring that out. It does not appear that he was attacking any one person of the sons of God; perhaps God did not allow it. He frustrated him; He challenged him about job. He gives him something to answer, “Whence comest thou?”. The probing question is, Why am I here? What is my motive? Satan answers; he could but answer to Jehovah. Thank God, God has control of him, and he answers immediately, and says, “From going to and fro in the earth”. It is an unsettled, and yet not an aimless movement; like a bird or a beast of prey, that is the idea: “to and fro in the earth”. And if there were any other thing to cause more deliberateness, “walking up and down in it”, he says. Think of that! He had evidently a free hand. And he has yet, as Peter says, “as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour”; he has a definite object, preying, seeking anyone, even the Son of God, for he attempted it. It is impossible that he could overcome Him, but still he did not turn aside; he tempted the Lord Jesus. But now he is seeking whom he may devour, anyone who is likely to be in his way, and give him the opportunity [p. 323] of turning such aside, young or old, into light, frivolous, vain pursuits. He is waiting for you. Well, all this is very searching and solemn, seeking whom he may devour. God says, “Hast thou considered my servant Job ... ?” (verse 8). How pleasing it was to Jehovah at that time that there was one whom He could call His servant. One always hesitates to apply the term to oneself, and yet it should be applicable to every one of us. God loves the term. When one was maligned God said, “My servant Moses: ... Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”, Numbers 12: 7, 8. He says, “My servant Moses”, “My servant David”, too, “My servant Job” and many others. “Hast thou considered my servant Job?”. Satan answers immediately, ‘Yes, I have considered him’. I do not suppose that he would answer everyone that way, for he conceals his designs as much as possible, but not before God. All things are naked, especially Satan’s motives: “All things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do”, Hebrews 4: 13. Satan knew that, and he boldly argues with God as to this servant, “Hast not thou made a hedge about him ... ?”.
‘Now, I cannot do anything to him’. That is very comforting, God’s taking care and protection of His servant. It is very comforting to notice the connection with the word ‘care’ and the word ‘servant’. The importance comes into it of addicting oneself to divine service, for divine care comes with it.
Well, now I come to these bay horses in Zechariah. There were four groups mentioned in this prophet. I read the seventh verse, because it uses the word ‘walk’. This word is not employed, as far as I know, in regard to the first three chariots but is used in connection with the strong horses in the fourth chariot. The word ‘walk’ is applied by the Spirit three times, and not to any of the other horses. You cannot say an aeroplane walks, or a train or a motor car. Walking [p. 324] is deliberate. God set the pace, as I said before; He is said to have walked in the garden in the cool of the day. All that was deliberate. God never does anything save in deliberateness. He would have us to understand that; no one walking in faith should do anything save in deliberateness. Think of what you are doing. Take counsel if necessary: “In the multitude of counsellors there is safety”, Proverbs 11: 14.
Sometimes it is wiser to take counsel with oneself rather than with a multitude. Nehemiah says, “I consulted with myself”. Sometimes that may be necessary, for God gives us wisdom. If any man lack it, let him ask of God, and He will give it to him. And one retires to himself, as before God, and takes counsel. We find that these four strong horses walk, as I was saying, with deliberateness. The idea is true of Christ especially; He walked no more in some places. He moved, like the type, in the calf-like, firm, careful step that attaches to walking; and every man of faith, if need be, may take counsel with others, take counsel with the Lord; the Lord will give understanding. Let no one be in the dark; yet Nehemiah says, “I consulted with myself”. There are things that you yourself have got to deal with. To bring in another only beclouds the position. I have no doubt that the cells in the temple, in Solomon’s and in Ezekiel’s temple, would mean isolation in that way, getting by yourself. But then, as I said, walking, the very action, involves deliberateness, and it is applied three times to these strong horses and not at all to the other three kinds. There are four chariots, but only in connection with this one do we find the idea of walking. And I want to speak about that, dear friends, as having a special application to the present time. These chariots refer to the four gentile monarchies; it is Zechariah’s way of presenting what Daniel presents more fully. We learn here that they are the four spirits of the heavens: “These are the [p. 325] four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth”, Zechariah 6: 5. Now this is to be observed carefully and prayerfully; I say prayerfully, because they come into the range of individual exercise in such a peculiar way; they are not distinctively of the world. Christians often becloud their minds and hinder their prayers and their outlook by regarding the powers that be as distinctively of the world. They are not. The persons who rule may be, viewed separately, but not in their office. Their office is not of the world. And what we have here is more than the office; it is the actual powers themselves: “These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth”. Well, you say in your mind, that cannot be so-and-so, and so-and-so. But it means the four monarchies, the Babylonish, the Persian, the Greek, and the Roman; they are as much in God’s service, in principle, as was Israel under David and under Solomon. The first monarch of these monarchies was Nebuchadnezzar, and he is called by Jehovah “my servant”. Indeed, God speaks to someone else, and says, ‘I must pay that man wages, for what he did to Tyre’. Now this would never enter into our minds if we read profane history and confined our minds to it; nor would we get spiritual thoughts from these histories. We get all the thoughts that we need morally from the Scriptures; not that we should not read history, but I am saying that, as christians, we want to read Scripture in regard to everything and understand that it has to do with everything that we need.
Another great ruler, Cyrus, is said to be God’s anointed, and that was before he was born (Isaiah 45: 1). Again Jehovah says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd”, Isaiah 44: 28. Let anyone read the book of Isaiah and see what that means; how subservient he was. Some of us were saying a few days ago that the first great [p. 326] monarch was converted by God; he was an idolatrous sinner, a cruel man, casting people into the fire, burning men without feeling, heating the furnace seven times more than usual, but that man was converted. He was converted as an emperor, and he proclaimed; he turned into a preacher, indeed. That is all to bear upon the present position right down to the present moment. Zechariah gets his own view of these four chariots, and we want to get that view, dear brethren.
Now verse 7 speaks of the last of the four horses, the one we have to do with. The third is said to have gone forth toward the south country; the first two go into the north country. It says, “See, these that go forth towards the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country”. That is, they do something. These have done something, thank God! It is not simply that they govern the world, but that this power did something for God; they quieted His Spirit in the north country. That is not said of any of the others; certainly not of these strong horses. They refer to the Romans, and there is nothing to indicate that they reach any finality. This power is still existent; the seventh head is past; the final one is the eighth; it is to bear the character of all the others, presently to come up; and in the meanwhile, under certain circumstances, the beast, this power, is governing. There are ten kings; there are those that the number ten would mean; that I am at a responsibility, even though the empire has been submerged. The number remains, and all the present rulers of the world represent that, and God is supporting them. But there is nothing said here to indicate that this power reaches any finality, although we know from other scriptures that it reaches satanic finality in its final results. It does not quieten God’s Spirit; it is the very acme of man’s will supported by the devil. This scripture does not go on to that, but we understand;
[p. 327] indeed, we were called upon hundreds of years ago, if we had wisdom, to count the number. He that has it, it says, will do so, and then we are told what the number is, so that, dear brethren, we are brought into all this in a spiritual way, not in a mere sense of curiosity or as prophecy-mongers. There are many like that, just pursuing prophecy as they would any other subject. It is not like that; it is a question of what is spiritual. These powers are powers of the heavens; they come from before the Lord of all the earth. Let us not put it forth into any abstract or theoretical position; it is a practical thing. This thing that I am speaking about is existent at the present time, but it is still under God. This power crucified Jesus; this power martyred the apostles, some of them, but still it retains its status as one of the spirits of the heavens, who stand before Him who is the Lord of all the earth. And so they go forth. We can see, dear brethren, where we stand; we are exactly in the path that Christ was. He had to do with an emperor, but it is the same power. He says, “Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above”, John 19: 11. He answered Pilate carefully; He says, ‘I was born King’. Pilate was not born a king; nor was any emperor, for a king is made of God, really. Jesus was born King, the real thought of God, in that precious blessed Man, and He told Pilate this, as much as to say, ‘You should know you have power from on high, and I am respecting it’. Then Pilate felt his first thoughts were right, and that is what I would impress upon you. He says, ‘This Man is innocent; I find no fault in Him at all’. You see that belonged to his office. He failed in that; he retreated in that, in cowardice. He failed, but the thing was there. God had empowered him; he had the right thought, and God would have helped him. And it is for us now to pray for these men that if they get the right thought they may stand by it. It is for [p. 328] us to pray for them, that God will make them do it. Now I have in my mind to speak about walking as three times over it is connected with this power. And in the first instance, it is because they wanted to do it, as you will notice. “The strong go forth”; that is their own act, “and seek to go that they may walk to and fro through the earth”. That is their own act. That was in their minds, you see, imperialism. Well, then the next word is, “Go”. It is not as if they were in the way, but “Go, walk to and fro through the earth”. ‘You want to do it-God says you are to do it’. God will use them. Balaam professes to say, I would not go if Jehovah did not send me, but he wanted the reward of unrighteousness, and if these powers want to walk up and down through the earth, they are thinking of conquest, aggression and spoil. But God says, I will have to say something about this, and in spite of themselves they will have to do something for God, as Balaam had to do something for God. At the right time God came in; Balaam says, I am going; God says, I see you are going; go then. And He let him go, and He stood before him in the way and would have slain him, but He let him go, as much as to say, I will let you go for a purpose. And so it is with these powers. God will let them go, but He says, ‘I will use them’.
“They walked to and fro through the earth”, and they are doing it yet. These great Roman roads that are historic; everyone that knows anything about history knows what the Romans roads are; those of us who go to Europe see them; they are not to be surpassed. They are not roads made out of by-paths, or cattle trails; they are cut straight through; they are engineered straight through; they are intended to be walked on, and that no more time should be taken to walk on them than is necessary. They were not for amusement; they are for a purpose; they are for walking to and fro through the earth. That is the [p. 329] intention of their makers, and they did that. How the Roman legions did tread these roads! They walked; that is the reason why I am stressing this point. They walked; that is, they did everything with deliberateness, and with a purpose. But God used them nevertheless. They did not perhaps know. God says to Cyrus, You do not know Me, but that is My thought about you; you are My elect, and you are My shepherd; showing how God uses persons and things who may not understand that they are being used. God can do anything. And so the fact is that they walked; the apostle was wont to walk from Jerusalem round to Illyricum. How did he do that? It was probably a distance of a thousand miles, which was immense in those days. He took the ways of Rome, the ships sometimes, but the roads other times. What did he take those ways for? Did he say, I will not walk on those roads, because the Romans made them? No. They were heaven’s servants when they made those roads, and he used those roads. And so it is today: take the highways of the world, what are they for? What is heaven thinking about? Heaven is thinking of those that go forth, not for conquering nor for conquest, but to preach the gospel, to serve the Lord. The ships of the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the railways, or whatever they may be that are legitimate and usable, are heaven’s; they belong to heaven. These powers are the four spirits of the heavens, whatever their motives. We are not thinking of that; we are thinking of God and His mind about it. If He gives His wind to blow and His rain to come down, He gives these too, to serve us. How it enlarges our view and robs our minds of mere international feeling and politics! These are the four spirits of the heavens sent out from standing before God, who is the Lord of all the earth. They go to and fro through the earth. Paul does it, and Peter does it; millions of others have done it, and [p. 330] these same roads were made to be walked upon to preach the gospel. “I have fully”, he says, “preached the gospel of Christ”. What a moral triumph for us!
But I speak of this walking, so that we might have in mind these powers and pray for them, as the four spirits of the heavens, so that the enemy may not have it all his own way with them. He will have his own way presently, for he is the dragon who gives all his power to the beast and the false prophet. He is not doing that yet; Satan is walking up and down through the earth. But the Roman roads thwarted him sometimes; they were not always available to him. Paul walked those roads and spoilt the enemy’s goods in walking those roads; they are not always available to him, nor can Satan do what he likes today with the powers that be. He is attempting to do it, but he cannot do all he wishes to do; he has to wait. And our business in this respect is to make it as difficult as possible for Satan to succeed, and in that sense to pray for these powers that God may force them, as He can do. It is a question of horses here; they are directed by the bit and bridle so that God may move them by external influences to do His will. He is doing that with most of the nations, and He will do it, as we pray.
Well, now, I have dwelt on that more than I intended, but over against that I wanted to come to the walk of Jesus. Indeed, it is concurrent with these horses walking, but think of the difference between the walk of Jesus, and the walk of those strong horses. What a difference! Whether it is Pilate or any of those Roman procurators, or military officers doing what they wished to do, Pilate mingling the blood of the Jews with their sacrifices-what a vicious, lawless, cruel thing to do-a wicked man. Think of Jesus walking alongside Pilate! We get it here in these verses; it is a sacrificial walk; it is the Lamb. He is [p. 331] not said to be the Son of God here, nor the Lord, nor even Jesus, although He is always that, but John calls Him the “Lamb of God”. “Behold the Lamb of God”: that is what he says at this time. Why does he say that? The previous day he had said, “Who takes away the sin of the world”, and he says, “I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God”, John 1: 34. But here it is just this one statement, “Looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God”. That is all: “as he walked”. He may have looked upon Pilate as he walked; he looked upon Herod, but what could he say? He did say something to one of the Herods; it was part of his mission to reprove, to make a way for the Lord. It was part of his mission. But he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God”. It is the sacrificial walk. That is all I want to press upon you, that to walk in the world alongside these horses is a sacrificial walk instead of a self-assertive walk, instead of a selfish walk, instead of an ambitious walk, desiring to be something in this world; it is a sacrificial walk. That is what the Lamb of God means all through Scripture; it means sacrifice. Well could John understand such a walk as that; he was himself on that line, a sacrificial line: he was born a priest, his father a priest, his mother too, you might say; he was in the deserts until the days of his showing to Israel, his clothing of camel’s hair, a leathern belt around him, and his food, locusts and wild honey, none of the delicacies of the city, none of the finery of the tailors or the clothiers, no thought at all of being anything in this world. He was in the deserts until the time of his showing to Israel. Most young people who are to be shown in a public way, who are to be politicians, or doctors, or lawyers, or military men, must be trained; the day of their showing is ever in view, but the training, the colleges, whatever it be, is all necessary; how zealous the [p. 332] parents are, even sacrificing themselves to make a show of their sons and daughters. Not so Zacharias and Elisabeth; no! Sent into the deserts, he was there without any resistance on his part evidently. There was nothing for the flesh; it was self-sacrificing love, you might say, in one who before he was born was joyous at the very voice of the mother of Jesus. Think of what a man he was! And this is the man, when Jerusalem would make him something in this world, who says, “In the midst of you stands ... he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose”. And then, “A man comes after me who takes a place before me”. That is John the baptist. And now he is looking at Jesus as He walked.
He had never seen, I am sure, such a walk. His eyes are able to discern such a walk as that; it was a self-sacrificing walk, beloved brethren. There it is. He says, “Behold”. That is all he said. You might say his work is done, and now his disciples, as we have often had it, left him; that is another test, you know, to have your disciples leave you. You do not like that; if you are a teacher you like to have disciples. They were his disciples. He had been a wonderful teacher, but they left him. What a test! They followed that One; his voice directed them to that One. So we are indeed in the presence of a walk, dear brethren, that we are to imitate, to emulate and imitate; we are to walk in His steps we are told; in His very steps, meaning those details in every step. And so these two heard John and followed Jesus.
That is what they did. Maybe there is someone here who has never done that yet, and the Lord is saying to you, ‘Now is your time to begin’. They heard John speak, and followed Jesus, and Jesus took notice of them. He loves to do it. He just loves to do that; to see your heart turn in that direction, away from the world to follow that self-sacrificing Man, for it is a sacrificial walk. You say, I am going to be that; I [p. 333] am going to follow that Man, and in order to follow Him, I want to be taught. And so today, a good deal of the weakness among us is the lack of teaching. One is amazed and distressed at times to note how little is understood in ministry. These two men were not simply taking up one position, and saying, ‘We are going to follow this Man’. No; they say, “Rabbi”. And if we need to be taught, we will say it-”Rabbi”, Teacher. John says, ‘You must know what that means; that word means “Teacher”’. That is what the Spirit of God says; do not forget it. These first followers of Jesus called Him “Rabbi”, and what did it mean? It meant that they needed to be taught. They had been taught; they were already disciples. But they had to be taught again, or more, as it were. We get further information about that in the Acts, and they understood that. They wanted more teaching than they had, and they said,’We want to have it where You are living too’. “Where abidest thou?”, they say. He says, “Come and see”. The Lord, if He were speaking to us about that, would say to us, ‘We had a good meeting’, and they had; the Lord was delighted with it, and so He is delighted with us, and will be delighted with any of us who have never taken that ground in our souls before. He would say, ‘It is a good day today; there are one or two young people who are turning their backs on the world; they want something better, and I am ready to give it to them; Come and see’. Tomorrow you will have a greater opportunity. We have had it today, but tomorrow is the day in which the Lord shines, the heavenly Man. Come and see. The brethren will be breaking bread tomorrow in remembrance of Me, and you will not be there, but you should be there. That is exactly what He would say to you: “Come and see”; even if you are not going to participate, Come and see, and see with right eyes; see as you should see. The Lord said to the disciples, “Blessed are your eyes”. Well, that is the kind of eyes to have eyes that are blessed by seeing wonderful things; seeing them in the sanctuary. One great servant says, “To see thy power and thy glory, as I have beheld thee in the sanctuary”. That is where God shines. They stayed that day with Him. I suppose it was a Roman day; at least, I would call it, more accurately, John’s gospel day, a twelve-hour light day; a twelve hour working day. Are there not twelve hours in the day? That is, from sunrise to sunset; they stayed there until the twelfth hour of that day.
Well, now, Romans is to show how this walk is entered upon by a believer in his learning days, in his initial education. There are many who in learning bring Ephesians in right away, and others bring in the gospels. You do not calculate what you are doing. Romans is the initial book for christians. It is not without significance that it is addressed to these very people who earlier were represented politically in the strong horses. Rome never quailed at anything, battle or whatever it was. Well, these are the same people, these Romans. “To you also who are in Rome”, the apostle says. Now I want you to walk differently from those horses; they are able to walk; they walk in a military way in the way of conquest, in the way of cruelty, in the way of breaking to pieces and stamping everything as they go. But the apostle says, Now any Romans that I am writing to, I want you to walk differently; walk in newness of life. That is not as a Quaker, or a nun might walk, or a monk.
That is not the idea of newness of life. There might be something different in that. Jude says, “These are they who set themselves apart, natural men, not having the Spirit”. What a terrible word that is! If you have the Spirit you will not separate yourselves from the saints; you will stay by them, and be with them. So the apostle says, I want you to walk in newness of life, and on this ground: “As many as [p. 335] have been baptised unto Christ Jesus, have been baptised unto his death ... as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”. That word ‘newness’ is not simply different, but it is that there was never anything like it in Rome before, even in its priesthood, for Rome had its priesthood: the emperors used to be deified, worshipped; there was plenty of religion in Rome, in spite of this cruelty, but there was never any religion like this, in newness of life, and the Spirit would urge it upon us tonight that the walk is to be like that of Christ; it is to be sacrificial. We are baptised unto Him, but unto His death; that was sacrificial. His death was sacrificial; it has dealt with all that I am as a Roman sacrificially, to the end that I should cease to be that and walk in newness of life.
And then finally in chapter 8, to fulfil the righteous requirement of the law; that is another thing; that is the application, not exactly that it is to be that way, but it is actually so, “that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”. It is not simply in newness of life, but according to Spirit; that is, we have come to see that the Spirit is here in power; so that we walk no longer in the spirit of error, or merely by rule or precept, but in new power and in a spiritual way, by the Spirit. We walk after the Spirit, and every righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us. It was never fulfilled in Israel in this way; it never could be, as is said in Deuteronomy. It is only in the power of the Spirit that it can be fulfilled. But it is a great triumph that God, in christians, has a real Israel of God for the moment, fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law. It goes further in other scriptures, but it means that what Israel should have supplied for God is now supplied in the Romans, who had had their heel on Israel after the flesh, but who have now been converted by a Jew, an instrument of [p. 336] God, or at least other instruments of God, converted and are walking in the Spirit, a complete change inwardly, not merely newness outwardly. So that whatever righteous requirement there was in the law is fulfilled there. It is a complete triumph in that sense in as few or as many of us as walk in the Spirit.
So may God help us in this thought of walking. We have the sacrificial walk of Jesus, and walking in newness of life, as baptised to His death, and walking in the Spirit as possessors of the Spirit of Christ.