It was during this festival season that the Israelites left Egypt — on the first day of the feast of unleavened and they walked for the entire feast following God who lead them.
Israelite’s Walking After God
Exodus 12:37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.
Exodus 18:20 And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.
hâlak haw-lak’ a primitive root; to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively): –
Its figurative meaning is to behave in the prescribed manner. It also just means to go, to move and is often translated in other ways:
Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.
Exodus 12:30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
Exodus 12:31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go [hâlak] out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said.
Exodus 12:32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone [hâlak]; and bless me also.”
Exodus 13:17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”
Exodus 13:18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”
Exodus 13:20 So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.
Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went [hâlak] before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
Exodus 13:22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
We know much of their story and what happened with the Israelites in the wilderness. They fell short of the promised land — their goal!
They didn’t follow the example that Abraham had set
Walk before Me and be Blameless
Genesis 17:1 …Walk before Me and be blameless.
King James Version “Walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
The meaning of this word: complete, whole, entire, without blemish or undefiled.
We can do it! Job did it – a blameless and upright man (Job 1:8; 2:3)
Here is our take away: Walking implies action!
Walk by Faith
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
How did the Israelite’s walk? Pillar of fire and cloud – by sight
What will truly last – the physical or the spiritual?
Romans 4:12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith [pisteuo; have faith in; comes from pistis] which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED [pistis] GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Walk in Righteousness and Truth
Hosea 14:9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.
We are to act in a way that reflects the righteousness that has been imputed to us. This entails walking in the right ways of God.
3 John 1:3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.
3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
Proverbs 14:2 He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD….
Walk in Fear of God
Acts 9:31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
This is not just a single welling up of emotion from time to time – but a continual reverence, respect and fear of God – yes even a fear of doing wrong
Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Hebrews 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
There is a proper fear of God that we are to have as well. The word for fear in both cases comes from the word for “phobia.”
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
There is Lake of Fire for a reason.
Walk in Newness of Life
Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
So we are being judged upon our walk now—this new walk, this entirely new way of life;
Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
We are no longer held captive by sin.
Romans 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
We are baptized into His death, then we are raised in His life and act as He does.
Romans 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body…
Romans 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
Romans 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
This is the newness of life that God wants us to walk in.
Romans 7:6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
This happens shortly after baptism — at the laying on of hands.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Walk in the Spirit
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Walk in Christ
1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 Peter 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
Walk in Love
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
We are to lay down our lives in the same way. Greater love has no man than…. God is love and His law is an extension of Him and His love.
2 John 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.
2 John 1:5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
2 John 1:6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning [love one another], you should walk in it.
Walk in the Light
1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Without the light we stumble and do not have the ability to get our bearings to head in the right direction.
Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Ephesians 5:9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
Ephesians 5:10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Ephesians 5:12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
Ephesians 5:13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
Walk Humbly
Micah 6:6 With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old?
Micah 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
What does want more than all the sacrifices that we can bring?
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Philippians 2:7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Jesus Christ humbled Himself – how much more should we walk in His steps?
Walk in Good Works
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
We cannot earn our salvation or work our way into it. It only comes from God.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Walking is an action! There are things that God expects us to do as a reflection of the righteousness in us — that has been accounted to us.
Walk in ALL the Ways of God (Catch-all)
Deuteronomy 5:31 But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’
God gives them — Moses teaches them to the people. So, this is not Moses’ law, but God’s.
Deuteronomy 5:32 “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Stay on the straight and narrow!
Deuteronomy 5:33 You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
Conclusion
We are to come out of “Egypt” (the world) and walk with God. This is made possible by God, but we have to follow through. We walk through the wilderness of sin; we have to walk in the right way though on the way to our ultimate destination!