Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Gen 5:1 onwards. Indeed, after the bankruptcy of Cain’s line, it is as if God were taking up the history of man at his beginning (v. 1:2). Here we have the succession of names that form what has been called “the golden thread of faith” throughout the ages, the one that will lead to the Messiah: the “offspring of woman” promised after the fall. There is no question in this family of much activity as in that of Cain. The passage of the man of God on earth leaves little trace. He does not contribute much to the progress of the world and history has little to say about him. He is born, humbly serves his God, has children and dies. Yes, death is there, the consequence of sin, and the brief summary of the long life of each of these patriarchs ends with these inexorable words: “and he died” (eight times). Satan, the liar, had said, “You certainly will not die” (Gen. 3:1-5), but God commanded, “You shall return to dust” (Gen. 3:17-19), and this chapter 5 gives us a solemn confirmation of this. However, Adam and his first descendants reached record ages. Therefore, before the existence of Scripture, the truth will be transmitted orally through as few intermediaries as possible (barely seven between Adam and Moses).
Here we find the record of the seed of Seth. There is a stark contrast to the account of the Cainites in the previous chapter. The Cainites were progressive, built cities and invented. Nothing is said of God-fearing generations in this chapter accomplishing great earthly things. They were pilgrims and strangers, waiting for better things. In the fourth chapter, the word “die” is not mentioned.
Nothing is said about the length of Cain’s life and seed. Eight times in the fifth chapter we read “and he died.” One is not dead. We learn from this that the Lord keeps a record of the lives, work, and years of His people. His saints are in His hands. The names of tengenerations translatedgive a striking revelation. We read the faith of the pious generations before the flood and what they expected: Adam – Man; Seth – Together; Enos – Fragility; Cainan – Deplorable; Mahalaleel – The Blessed God; Jared – Descend; Enoch – Teaching; Methuselah – Death sent back; Lamech – Powerful; Noah – Rest, comfort.
Enoch’s account must be compared to Jude 1:14 and Hebrews 11:5. He was transferred before the great judgment swept the earth. Enoch is a type of saints living at the end of the present age, who will be changed in an instant, in the blink of an eye. Study Enoch’s walk, Enoch’s faith, Enoch’s testimony, Enoch’s suffering, and Enoch’s translation using New Testament passages. The first great event that left an indelible mark on the memory of the primitive world was the Flood. There is every reason to believe that this disaster was coextensive with the human population of the world. In each branch of the human family, we find the traditions of the event. These traditions do not need to be recited, although some of them bear a remarkable resemblance to biblical history, while others are very beautiful in their construction and significant in some points.
Local floods at different times in different countries could not have given rise to the tiny coincidences found in these traditions, such as the sending of birds and the number of people saved. But we do not yet have material to calculate how far the human population has spread from the original center. It could apparently be argued that it could not have extended to the coast, or at least that no ship had yet been built large enough to withstand a violent storm; For a completely nautical population might have had little trouble surviving a disaster as described here. But all that can be said is that there is no evidence that the waters extended beyond the inhabited part of the earth; and from some details of the narrative, this part of the earth can be identified as the great plain of the Euphrates and Tigris.
Some of the expressions used in the narrative could indeed suggest that the writer understood that the catastrophe had spread all over the globe; but expressions of similar magnitude occur elsewhere in passages where their meaning must be restricted: The most convincing evidence of the limited extent of the flood is probably provided by the animals of Australia. The animals that abound on this island are different from those found in other parts of the world, but are similar to the species that are found fossilized on the island itself, and therefore must have inhabited these same areas long before the flood. So if the flood spread to Australia and destroyed all animal life there, what would be the order of events? We must suppose that the creatures, visited by some presentiment of what was to happen several months later, selected specimens of their number, and that these specimens by unknown and quite inconceivable means crossed thousands of miles of sea, found their way through all kinds of perils of the unusual climate, food and beasts of prey; chose Noah by an inscrutable instinct, and surrendered to his care.
And after the year expired in the ark, they turned to the house, leaving no offspring behind, preserving themselves intact again and transporting themselves by unknown means to their native island. This, if the Flood were universal, must have taken place with thousands of animals from all parts of the globe; And not only were these animals a prodigious miracle in themselves, but wherever they went, they were the occasion for miracles in others, all beasts of prey abstaining from their natural food. The fact is that the thing will not bear to say. We must regard it as the absolutely unknowable. But what most degrades God and exalts Him? If we find it impossible to worship an absolutely unknowable, if we find that practically such an idea is for us a mere nothingness, and that we cannot in fact pay homage or show any consideration to such an empty abstraction, is it not really a lowering of God?
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped for your better understanding.
List of Adam’s ancestors up to Noah:
- Created man, in the image of God
Noah, son of Lameck, general references
-Walked with God in an evil environment Gen. 6:8-12 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 This is the seed of Noah. Noah was a righteous man of integrity in his time; Noah walked with God.10 Noah begat three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.11 The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was full of violence.12 God looked at the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way on earth.
-Obeyed when a hard task was given to him Gen. 6:14, 22 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; thou shalt arrange this ark in cells, and smear it with pitch inside and out. 22 This is what Noah did: he carried out all that God had commanded him. Gen. 7:5 Noah carried out all that Jehovah had commanded him.
-The Lord remembered him and delivered him from death Gen. 8:1 God remembered Noah, all the animals and cattle that were with him in the ark; and God brought a wind over the earth, and the waters calmed down.
-By faith, worked for his salvation Heb 11:7 It was by faith that Noah, divinely warned of things not yet seen, and seized with a respectful fear, built an ark to save his family; it was through it that he condemned the world, and became heir to the righteousness that is obtained by faith.
-Warned his neighbors of the coming of judgment 2 Pet 2:5 if he did not spare the old world, but if he saved Noah, the eighth, this preacher of righteousness, when he brought the flood to a world of ungodly;
-Built the first altar mentioned in the Bible Gen. 8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord; he took from all the pure beasts and all the pure birds, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
God honored him with an everlasting covenant Gen. 9:12-17 (see Bible)
- Hénoc, father of Mathusalem
-The man who walked with God Gen. 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.
-To please God Hb 11:5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up that he might not see death, and that he would not appear again because God had taken him away; for before his rapture he had received a testimony that he was pleasing to God.
-Testify for God Jude 14 It is also for them that Enoch, the seventh since Adam, prophesied in these terms: Behold, the Lord has come with his holy myriads,
3972 Longevity, examples
Gen. 5:4, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31 Adam’s days, after Seth’s birth, were eight hundred years; and he begat sons and daughters. 8 All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; then he died. 11 All the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; then he died. 14 All the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years; then he died. 17 All the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; then he died. 20 All of Jered’s days were nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died. 27 All the days of Metuschelah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died. 31 All the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy seven years; Then he died. Deut 31:2 To-day, he said to them, I am one hundred and twenty years old, I will no longer be able to go out and enter, and the Lord has said to me, Thou shalt not pass this Jordan. Joshiah 24:29 After these things, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the Lord, died, aged one hundred and ten.
From all the above, we note that we must do God’s will without any reasonable sign to deal with natural difficulties, painful and pinching circumstances, ill health, bad mood, failure of our favorite projects, and old hopes – so that at last we come to think that security may be everything, and we must have in Christ, a mere exemption from suffering of one kind bought by endurance from much suffering of another kind: that we must be grateful for forgiveness on any conditions; and run away with our lives, be content. If there is any part of the sinful life left, it will arise to spoil what God wants to present to us. Only this must be preserved that we can take it with us in our ark. Only this is to pass on in our lives what we can keep while we are in true connection with Christ, and which we think we can help us to live like His friends, and to serve Him zealously. Car cand event then gives us some measure by which we can know how much God will do to maintain holiness on earth. In this catastrophe, anyone who yearns for piety can find encouragement, seeing in it God’s divine seriousness – for good and against evil. For thereis only one other event in history that shows so clearly that holiness among men is the object for which God will sacrifice all else. There is no need now for further demonstration of God’s purpose in this world, and His zeal to accomplish it. And can we not expect us, His children, to stand in the presence of the cross until our cold, frivolous hearts grasp something of the seriousness, the “resistance to the bloodstream struggling against sin,” which is exposed therein? The flood has not been forgotten by almost any people under heaven, but what is its moral outcome? But he whose memory is haunted by a dying Redeemer, by the thought of Him whose love found its most appropriate and practical result in dying for him, is prevented from many sins, and finds in this love the source of eternal hope, that his soul in the deep intimacy of his most sacred thoughts can be nourished with joy, what he builds around as his inalienable possession. Thus thischapter contains a strange and remarkable exception to the law of death: Enoch lives 65 years, then walks with God for 300 years, and then God takes him. No details are given either about this walk with God or about the rapture which is in short the last step. But what a beautiful summary of a life! Do we know what it is like to walk with God, even for a single day in a single year? By his march which is that of faith, Enoch has his place in the list of brilliant witnessess in Heb 11:5-6). His name means “taught,” and like them, taught by God, beyond the present things, he contemplates by faith the Lord coming to reign “with his holy myriads” (Jude 1:14-16). This vision keeps him separate from those who will be judged. Forlike Enoch, all living believers will be taken from the earth without death, when according to His promise the Lord Jesus comes to seek His own (1 Thes 4:13-18). Is each of our readers instructed in this truth, blessed to those who are ready, solemn to those who are not? Note that God does not send His judgment on the world without first giving promises of blessing: Noah means consolation and rest. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in truth to pray with me:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my personal Lord and Savior. I acknowledge that you died at the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and my faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom by walking according to your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to be baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all worship, power and glory, now and for ever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “The corruption of humankind, the flood.” (Gen 6)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.