Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” —Amos 3:3
The expression “walk together” is often used in Scripture as a figure for communion. “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5:24).
Communion, if it is thorough and entire, implies activity. It is not merely contemplation; it is action and, therefore, inasmuch as walking is an active exercise, and walking with a man is communion with him, we see how walking comes to be the picture of true communion with Christ. An old Puritan said, “It does not say that Enoch returned to God and then left him, but he ‘walked with God.’” All his journey through, he had God for his companion and lived in perpetual fellowship with his Maker.
Another idea is contained in the idea of “walking together.” It is not only activity but continuance. So true communion with Christ is not a mere spasm—not just an excitement of ecstasy—but if it is the work of the Holy Spirit and if it is enjoyed by the healthy soul, it will be a continual thing.
It also implies progress, for in walking together, we do not lift up our feet and put them down in the same place, but we proceed nearer to our journey’s end. And whoever has true communion with Christ is making progress. Christ can go no further toward excellence, for he has already attained perfection. But the nearer we get to that perfection, the more fellowship we have with Jesus. Unless we progress, unless we seek to be more childlike in faith, more instructed in knowledge, and more diligent in service—unless we seek to have more zeal and fervency, we shall find that, in standing still, we lose the presence of the Master, for it is only by following the Lord that we continue to walk with him. It will, therefore, strike us on how walking with a person is an excellent figure for communion with him and how the expression “walking with God” is the best expression for fellowship with God. Hence, our text implies by its form that two cannot walk together unless they are agreed. And it teaches us, therefore, that unless we are agreed with Christ, we cannot attain to the sweet state of communion with him.
