Sermon Tone Analysis

!!!!!! Genesis 5-6

 

The fifth chapter of Genesis begins, "This is the book of the generations..." (genealogies) "...of Adam.

In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam..." (mankind) "...in the day when they were created."

(Gen.5:1-2).

Now we come to the generations of Adam.

It is interesting that this verse begins much like the Gospel of Matthew except that Matthew begins, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ..." It's the same idea of tracing the lineage of Christ, in the Gospel, back to Abraham to show that He was the promised "seed" of Abraham.

As we deal with the genealogies of the Bible, we find many interesting things.

It is important to note that the Bible is only interested, at this time, in tracing the line from Adam to Noah.

Later on it will trace the line from Noah to Abraham and from Abraham to David and then from David to Jesus Christ.

We are only interested in one family and that is the one that will lead us to Jesus Christ.

In some places of the Bible it branches off into certain generations, but then is cut off.

In chapter four, we just finished reading about seven generations of Cain's descendents and then it was cut off, because we are not interested in Cain's descendents.

We are only interested in the line that brings us to Jesus Christ, thus here in the fifth chapter other sons and daughters are not named.

To assume that one named is the first born son is not necessarily so.

It is the one that will bring us to Noah and that's the line we're interested in, here in the fifth chapter of Genesis.

When it says Seth lived a hundred and five years and begat Enos; it doesn't mean he didn't begat other children in this time, but only that Enos is the line to Noah and the one the Bible is interested in following.

In verse three, the Bible begins to trace Adam's lineage down through Noah.

"And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." (Gen.5:3).

Notice that Adam begat a son in his own likeness.

Although Adam was created in the likeness of God, now his sons are begat in his likeness and no longer, necessarily, in the likeness of God, because of the "Fall."

Now, death has entered into the world by sin and death has passed unto all men; so, his son was born with an Adamic nature or sinful nature, a nature governed by the flesh or body appetites.

Adam was originally governed by the Spirit and inclined toward God, but now he begat a son, in his own likeness, born after the flesh; who will now need redemption.

In the beginning Adam didn't need redemption.

Not until the "Fall" was redemption necessary.

Seth was not the first child of Adam.

He had been married one hundred and thirty years so probably had many sons and daughters.

They looked to Seth to take Abel's place, who was killed by his older brother Cain.

"And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years; and he begat sons and daughters; and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died."

(Gen.5:4-5).

Since Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, it means that he was still alive when Lamech was born, who was the father of Noah.

Adam lived almost up to the time of Noah's birth and died not long before.

Adam and Enoch lived together on the earth at the same time.

In fact Enoch was translated shortly after the death of Adam.

We sometimes fail to realize that some of these people were contemporaries.

Lamech, Noah's father, was probably about a hundred years old when Adam died; so, the whole story of creation could have been passed directly from Adam to Lamech.

Lamech, in turn, passed it on to his son, Noah, and Noah could have passed it to his son Shem, who was still alive when Abraham was born.

So Abraham isn't that far removed from the story of creation.

The early generations of Adam were probably recorded by Abraham who heard them from Shem, who heard them from Noah, who heard them from Lamech, who heard them from Adam.

"And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos." (Gen.5:6).

Then the scriptures list various descendents of Enos and how long they lived.

We'll skip over some of these and take it up again with Jared.

"And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch; and Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years; and he died.

And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah." (Gen.5:18-21).

Enoch is a very interesting man in this line; because, he did not die.

Hebrews, chapter 11, has this to say about Enoch.

"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.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

(Heb.11:5-6).

Enoch was one of those men of the Old Testament who believed God and whose name was inscribed in Hebrews, chapter 11, called the "Hall of Faith."

Enoch is called the seventh from Adam in the Book of Jude and he lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah.

According to Jude, Enoch was a prophet and prophesied of the coming of Jesus Christ.

"...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." (Jude 1:14-15).

Enoch named his son Methuselah which means, when he dies...judgment.

Signifying that the judgment of God, which Enoch was prophesying, would come upon the earth in the year of the death of his son, Methuselah.

"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; and Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him."

(Gen.5:22-24)

So, Enoch was "raptured" before the judgment (flood) of God was visited upon the earth.

He walked with God by faith and was raptured.

Enoch shares with Elijah the fate of not dying and because "All men are appointed once to die..." (Heb.9:27),

many people believe that Enoch will be one of the two witnesses in Revelation, chapter eleven, during the first part of the seven year period that God has determined upon the nation of Israel.

Two of the dominant prophets of the old testament, are coming back upon the earth, to prophesy to Israel during the first part of this seven year cycle.

We know, from Revelation, that the antichrist will put them to death and their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three days while the whole world watches and rejoices; then God revives them and they ascend directly up into heaven with all the people watching.

Since these are the two men, from the old testament, who did not make their appointment with death, there are many who believe that they will be the two witnesses that will come again.

We do know that Elijah is one of the witnesses as proclaimed in the fourth chapter, verses five and six of Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Enoch, a very interesting person, is thought to be the other one.

"And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech; and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years; and he died.

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years and begat a son; and he called his name Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died.

And Noah was five hundred years old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth."

(Gen.5:25-32).

Noah is the line we have been tracing down from Adam.

The word Noah means "rest" and in the first five hundred years of Noah's life he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth.

"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth..." (Gen.6:1a).

The time of Noah was the time of a population explosion.

You have to have above zero population or the earth is going to be extinct of man.

The population growth factor has been about 1.5, from the time of Noah up to the present time.

Prior to the flood, if we assume that the average generation was ninety-four years; the average family size was eight children; the average age was five hundred years old; (though those that are listed here in Genesis average out at nine hundred and twelve) at that rate, at the time of Noah's flood, there were 137 billion people living on the earth.

There are some very interesting discoveries, especially, in the area of the Andes and of Lake Titicaca in Peru, which is the highest large body of water in the world.

There is evidence in these high Andean peaks that at one time, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, that there was a huge metropolis.

The mountains around this lake are terraced for farming high above where you can farm today.

Above the tree level, there are still terraces that were once farms.

They go up into the glacial ice and even under it, which leads to the conclusion, by those studying the geological structures, that once, and not too long ago, the Andean Mountains and Lake Titicaca were once at sea level.

They were thrust upward in a gigantic earth movement.

It is interesting that they date the time of this upheaval as being some 5,000 years ago.

Now, if indeed, the population of the earth had expanded; men began to multiply on the face of the earth.

Men had expanded over the whole surface of the earth by that time and surely there is evidence that men lived before the flood age, in great numbers, down in South America.

It is also possible that the continental shift took place some time later.

Originally the earth was all one land mass so that these areas and the things that puzzle us, from a geological standpoint, have resulted from the flood.

We do have evidence of vast civilizations of people, who lived on a very high level of civilization, existing in varied parts of the world.

In the book "Earths In Upheaval," there is a short segment on the mysteries that surround Lake Titicaca and the large population that once existed there in the Peruvian Andes.

"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose."

(Gen.6:1-2).

It appears that the sons of God might be a reference to fallen angels.

The term "sons of God," are used of angels in the Old Testament.

The classic case is in the book of Job where it says, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them."

(Job 1:6).

We are dealing now with abnormal sex.

The fallen angels could be the ones that Peter refers to as those reserved in the chains of Tarterus.

This is the only place Tarterus is mentioned in the Bible and in the classical Greek it says that Tarterus is below Hades which is below the earth.

Jude speaks of the angels that kept not their first estate, but are being reserved in chains of darkness awaiting the day of judgment.