Genesis 3:6-8 KJV
(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat.
(7) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
(8) And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:17-21 KJV
(17) And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the
voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee,
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
(18) Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and
thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
(19) In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return.
(20) And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother
of all living.
(21) Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats
of skins, and clothed them.
Genesis 4:1-16 KJV
(1) And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain,
and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
(2) And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper
of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
(3) And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of
the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
(4) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and
of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
(5) But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain
was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
(6) And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is
thy countenance fallen?
(7) If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou
doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.
(8) And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass,
when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
and slew him.
(9) And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And
he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
(10) And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's
blood crieth unto me from the ground.
(11) And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened
her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
(12) When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield
unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
(13) And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than
I can bear.
(14) Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of
the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and
a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth
me shall slay me.
(15) And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain,
lest any finding him should kill him.
(16) And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt
in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
Adam's entire sinful plight began with the well-known story of sinning
against God's only command to not eat of the forbidden fruit.
- The fruit of the
knowledge of good and evil endowed man with a sinful stain in his flesh.
- And the manner in
which this was first manifested is one which not many might recognize.
- Adam immediately
set forth to solve his own condition of nakedness.
- He had been naked
beforehand but not ashamed.
- However, now he tried
to cover himself up since something inside was wrong.
- But we all know that
outward acts of any kind cannot solve the problem of the inside.
The donning of the fig
leaf aprons speaks to us volumes of thought about what God does and does
not accept.
- The fig leaf aprons
represent all our attempts to try to rectify sin in our lives.
- And it's nonsensical
to think that putting on a fig leaf apron is going to remedy an inward spiritual
problem.
- But people do it
all the time in trying to ease their consciences by doing some outward act
in order to trade it off for what they did wrong.
- The idea that God
has a set of scales upon which we try to outweigh the bad with more good
comes from this false idea that started in Adam.
What did God do?
- He took an animal
of some kind, and killed it in order to provide Adam with a covering.
- That was how God
rectified Adam's situation.
- God did the work
and it sufficiently covered Adam.
- Adam thought the
fig leaf was fine, but when God's presence came he still hid himself!
- Our efforts to cover
up simply fall short.
On that day of judgment,
no matter how many good things you have on your mythological scales of balance,
you will always COME SHORT.
Instead of trying to commit good works, God showed us the Gospel when
an innocent life was slain instead of Adam, and that became a covering for
Adam to be able to abide in God's presence.
Then the next two people involved in mankind's story were Cain and Abel.
The boys would have been over 100 years of age by this time, since we
read Abel's death on this day occurred before Adam fathered his next son,
Seth, when he was 130 years old.
- We could say that
Seth was probably born a year or more after Abel's death.
At any rate, the two bring
a sacrifice before the Lord.
- And poor old Cain
seems to have taken after his father's poor sense of spiritual judgment.
- Cain offered the
fruit of the ground.
- Now, not only was
the ground cursed, from which Cain obtained his offering, but this sacrifice
to be given before God was insufficient.
- God did not accept
it.
Abel, on the other hand,
offered an acceptable sacrifice to God which consisted of the firstlings
of his flock of sheep.
- Abel slew the beast
and offered it to God.
At this point, we must
turn to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11:4 KJV
(4) By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Abel got a real revelation from God.
- I believe Adam must
have told him about his experiences in the Garden and how the boys were born
outside the Garden and not inside.
- He must have told
him all about the fruit and the fig leaf apron and the sacrificed animal
for Adam's clothing.
- For, would it be
mere coincidence that Abel began tending sheep?
- We know these folks
did not eat meat, because we read they only ate herbs of the field at this
time.
- Meat was never allowed
until Noah's day after the flood.
- So what would the
sheep be raised for?
- CLOTHING.
- So it seems it is
very likely that God slew a sheep in order to clothe Adam.
- It was not mere wool,
because we read God clothed Adam in animal hide or skins.
Furthermore, Abel had
a sense of what to offer God.
- He offered the life
of one of the sheep.
- And this is quite
amazing in light of the entire issue of Cain and Abel.
- If Abel realized
these things, then why did not Cain?
- Of course we cannot
know the mind of Cain.
- But we can imagine
the spirit of what went through his mind.
- While Abel offers
the very thing that was acceptable to God for Adam's clothing, CAIN OFFERS
THE VERY THING THAT WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD FOR CLOTHING.
You see, this deals with
righteousness.
Self-righteousness, and God's righteousness.
COVERINGS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SACRIFICE.
Cain offered the fruit of the ground.
- Not only was the
ground cursed, but it was vegetation -- the very thing Adam used to cover
himself with, and was found lacking.
I can imagine Abel cringing
in seeing Cain offer vegetation.
- You see, if someone
has real faith and insight from God, then they know what is not acceptable
as well as what is.
- He must have thought,
"No, Cain. That is the very thing father tried to cover his sin with, and
failed. God had to cover him through the death of an innocent life,
and that is why I am offering this innocent life for my sins before God.
My works are no more better than father's works of trying to cover himself."
Our flesh was originally
made from the dust of the ground.
- And this brings up
another thought about Adam's and Cain's mistakes.
- The ground was cursed.
- Any product of our
flesh is not acceptable to God.
- Flesh is sinful since
Adam's sin.
- Taking something
from the ground that was cursed as an offering before God is like the best
deeds our old sinful flesh can muster up to impress God.
- IT DOES NOT WORK.
What does Abel's sacrifice
mean?
- Self cannot muster
up enough good works to impress God.
- We recognize that
we have sin, and can therefore never commit enough good works to please Him.
- Since man is born
a sinner... MAN MUST DIE.
- the soul that sins
shall die.
Cain's sacrifice was actually
saying, "A soul that sins does not have to die, but can commit good deeds
instead."
And the whole problem with this thought is that IT DENIES ANY NEED FOR
THE DEATH OF CHRIST THROUGH THE CROSS.
- The whole reason
Jesus died, was to offer his death as the deaths all of us had to pay due
to our sins.
- Cain was saying he
did not have to die, and therefore this spirit was saying Christ's work of
the cross was unnecessary!
So many people are caught
up in good deeds or bad deeds.
- And that is nothing
more than the tree of the knowledge of what is good and what is evil.
- And when sinners
look at a Christian who does bad deeds, and see themselves doing good deeds,
they think they do not need Christ.
- That Christians needs
to repent of his wicked deeds and get right with God, but that sinner is
still far worse off, because at least the Christian saw the need of Christ.
- Such Christians make
Christianity unbelievable to the world, so we certainly never condone such
bad acts from them.
Whatever you offer before
God in sacrifice stands for yourself.
- What do you have
to show before God in order to represent your position before Him?
- Like Cain, do you
offer all the good deeds you ever did?
- Or like, Abel
you offer the sacrifice of an innocent to indicate you deserved death for
your sin, and have therefore paid it?
I stand before God today
pointing to the death of Jesus Christ as my own death, since I deserved it.
And the wonderful thing about it is that God recreates me all over again!
Why did Jesus Christ die on the cross and then go to the grave?
- Obviously you bury
dead people, right?
- True.
- But something deeper
is involved here.
- Jesus died as us.
- His death counts
as us dying.
- And we go back to
the ground of his grave, and there he makes us from the ground again IN CHRIST,
and we come forth as new creatures.
And think of Abel.
- Abel died like Jesus
died.
- He was innocent.
- And he was slain
because of it!
- Cain was jealous
in his anger towards God.
- Often people who
do evil to you are actually in a bad relationship with God and they know
it.
- And they take it
out on those whom God accepts.
Two families are the highlight from this point onward.
As much as the two boys were so opposite to one another, so were the two
families.
- And they represents
the two streams of humanity in this world.
- Those who know Christ
and those who do not.
The spirit in Cain continued
in his lineage.
- We read that the
God who cursed the earth for man's sake, cursed Cain from the earth to be
hidden from God's face as well.
Genesis 4:13-15 KJV
(13) And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than
I can bear.
(14) Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the
earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth
me shall slay me.
(15) And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain,
lest any finding him should kill him.
CAIN FEARS DEATH.
Life was so fragile to him now!
God's punishment was enough for Cain so that anyone who would punish him
further in their own efforts would be judged sevenfold for it.
And we read of Cain building a city outside God's presence.
Genesis 4:17 KJV
(17) And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch:
and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of
his son, Enoch.
It was a city that was built after his son was born.
- The birth of children
played a very important part in the lineages following Adam.
Cities were places of
walls in those days.
- Group together for
protection as well.
- He has a son and
thinks of fragile life and builds a city to protect himself.
Now after Cain left, Adam
and Eve had another son.
Genesis 4:25 KJV
(25) And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called
his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead
of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Seth means APPOINTED.
- Think of how they
had a boy who REPLACED Abel.
- He was INSTEAD, or
IN THE STEAD of Abel.
- In other words, had
Abel not died this boy would have never existed in that condition as being
IN THE STEAD of Abel.
This tells us a wonderful
Gospel thought.
- Since Christ died,
we are now saved!
- We would not have
existed as saved people had he not died.
- And because He died
as us, WE ARE IN HIS STEAD today.
- If He died as us,
then WE DIED WITH HIM.
- We are on with Him.
- We are in His place
since He is in our place.
What a humble place to
be in.
- We would not be here
if it was not for Him!
And Seth becomes the beginning
of a lineage, like Cain.
Genesis 4:26 KJV
(26) And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called
his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
And something happens when Seth has a son, just as Cain built a city when
he had a son and named it after his son's name.
- Well, something happens
with this humble line of Seth involving a NAME as well.
- But instead of building
a city named after his son, Seth and his family begin calling on the NAME
of the LORD!
- What contrast to
the proud Cain who was so proud and insolent that he actually mocked God's
intelligence by responding to a question about Abel's death saying, "Am
I my brother's keeper?"
And time passes and Cain's
family line continues.
Genesis 4:17-18 KJV
(17) And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch:
and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of
his son, Enoch.
(18) And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and
Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.
- ADAM
- Cain
- Enoch
- Irad
- Mehjael
- Methusael
- Lamech
Lamech is the seventh in the line of Adam through CAIN.
SEVEN is the perfect NUMBER.
- It represents COMPLETION
or FULLNESS.
- Since Cain's line
from Adam shows the stream of mankind that is SINFUL and antichrist, we will
see that LAMECH shows the completion or maturity or fullness of pride and
sinfulness, being the seventh in the line.
Genesis 4:23-24 KJV
(23) And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice;
ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my
wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
(24) If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and
sevenfold.
He recalls Cain's promise from God that if any should kill this Cain who
murdered a man, he would be avenged upon that person seven times by God.
- Lamech told his wives
that he slew two men.
- One man and a second
young man.
- And whereas Cain
murdered Abel for mere anger, Lamech killed two men who hurt and wounded
him.
- That was more noble
than Cain's murder.
- And if Cain was avenged
sevenfold, then Lamech should be avenged 70 times 7 fold.
What a wicked and insane
distortion of God's words about Cain.
- Cain was already
punished by God, and God only mentioned sevenfold judgment upon Cain's murderer
since God’s's payment was sufficient.
- Lamech had no such
ordeal.
- Not only that, how
can one think so lightly of two murders he just committed by speaking of being
avenged
It seems Lamech was concerned
over his death and he also tried to calm his wives worries over a potential
death.
- Surely he will be
protected by God!
After time, truth becomes
distorted if you are away from God.
- After Cain left God's
presence, the world descended from those first ancestors and became full
of multi-god religions!
- It degraded the belief
of God into many gods, and many nonsensical and often obscene rites and rituals.
- Just as Lamech's
idea of God's justice was so twisted.
And these were afraid
of death.
While having no remorse for his murders, he was overly concerned over
his own death!
Lamech’s's family was different.
- He had three sons
and a daughter.
- Jabal, Jubal and
Tubalcain were the boys.
- They were inventors
of instruments, ranchers and metallurgists.
- Inventors of skills
and music.
- And living outside
God's presence left them with such attempts of filling their emptiness inside.
- A family descended
from Adam's errors of covering up, was still at it.
But while these men become
skilled at such things, Seth's family became skilled at the things of knowing
God!
When Cain's son is born he thinks of his own glory in his family and building
a city after his son's name.
Seth has a son and named Him ENOS... MORTAL MAN.
- What a thought --
"I am here because of my brother's death. How fragile life is!
I will name my son MORTAL MAN, and begin calling on the name of the Lord."
- We call on God because
we are fragile and need him.
- We do not do the
best we can and live for the moment, for tomorrow we die, and build cities
to honour ourselves!
- He thought of death
as well, and how fragile life is.
- But he did not do
the wrong thing about it.
And As Adam's line winds
up in seven generations with this LAMECH, the vile sinner...
- His line thought
Seth distinctly mentions the seventh child and something extraordinary occurs.
From Genes 5:1-21 we read
of
- ADAM
- Seth
- Enos
- Cainan
- Mahalaleel
- Jared
- Enoch
Enoch is the seventh !
And watch this...
Their names are derived from certain meanings as follows;
- Adam: Meaning: Dust
of the ground;
- Seth: Meaning: He
set or appointed or replacement
- Enos: Meaning: Mortal
man or fallen man or frail or subject to all kind of evil in soul & body
- Cainan: Meaning:
Sorry or lamenter or possessor or purchaser or one that laments
- Mahalaleel: Meaning:
Blessed God or praise of God
- Jared: Meaning: Shall
come down or descent
- Enoch: Meaning: Teaching
or dedicated or initiated or disciplined or well regulated
Enoch walked with God
& did not die; because he please God by faith; God took or translated
him
Methuselah: Meaning: When he is dead it shall bring or be sent a deluge
Lamech: Meaning: Despairing or powerful
Noah: Meaning: Comfort or rest or motion or wandering
GOSPEL MESSAGE IN ADAM'S GENEALOGY:
Adam -> Seth -> Enos -> Cainan -> Mahalaleel ->
Jared -> Enoch -> Methuselah -> Lamech -> Noah
MESSAGE: Dust of the ground <man is> appointed <as>
fallen man subject to all kind of evil in soul & body <in his>
sorry <and> one that laments <sinful state>, <but the>
blessed God shall come down <and> initiated <by the blessed God>
his death shall bring despairing <man> comfort & rest <from
their sins>.
What a picture of the gospel!
Man is from the dust and appointed to death.
- He is fallen and
in sorrow laments. But Blessed God comes and initiates the death of
God manifest in flesh and his death brings despairing man comfort and rest
from sins!!!!
And something happens
upon the birth of his son as well!
Genesis 5:21-22 KJV
(21) And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
(22) And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred
years, and begat sons and daughters:
He began walking with God.
- Now, this line was
pretty boring until Enoch came along.
- Like so many christians.
- I imagine Seth's
descendants all followed God.
- But something abnormal
happened with Enoch!
- He cut loose after
his son was born.
- Praise God, He REALLY
walked with God!
Genesis 5:24 KJV
(24) And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
He did not desire to build a city.
- God would build him
a city!
- He did not fear of
death as Lamech did.
- The rest of the family
lives to 900 years of age plus.
- But God takes Enoch
at 365.
- He has Methuselah
at age 65.
- And for three hundred
years he walks with God.
- He had about 300
more years left to him, BUT GOD COULD NOT WAIT ANY MORE!
- God took Enoch back
to GLORY!
- In other words, this
guy entered the Garden of Eden in a sense again!
Cain was hidden from God's
face.
- But Enoch was taken
to forever see that face.
While Lamech feared death,
we read...
Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;
and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation
he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Enoch did not even taste death!
Cain feared death and that fear was magnified in the seventh generation
through him.
- But LIFE for God
was magnified in Seth's line!
Cain's line goes like
this:
- Adam - Dust of the
ground
- Cain - possession/possessed,
- Enoch - dedicated
disciplined
- Irad - fugitive
- Mehujael -
smitten of God
- Methusael -demands
his death
- Lamech - poor made
low
And together their names
read as follows:
From the dust of the ground, they are possessed and dedicated
to being fugitives - smitten of God -- demanding death, and this poor
state brings man low.
Whereas Enoch went up....
What happened to Lamech and his sons?
Did you know that after Enoch and his son Methuselah came the FLOOD.
- We only read up to
Lamech because THE FLOOD OCCURRED and the family line were sinners who were
taken away in the destruction of the flood.
What is the end of the
sinner -- what is the maturity and the fullness of their lives and where
they come to?
But what is the end of
the saint?
- Being translated
and changed in a resurrection to come where we are taken into God's presence
forevermore!
We know life is fragile,
but we do not seek to protect ourselves and live it up while we can!
- We seek God's face,
and deal with sin so that we can walk with God and have Him take us away
one day.
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