Sermon Notes + Quotes:
Transcript:
We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel and it’s my delight this week to be leading us through Genesis chapter five. As you may know already, we’re calling our study of the book of Genesis, In the Beginning. It’s a book about the beginnings, many beginnings actually, and the beginner that began all the beginnings. And so, we’ve gone all the way back to Genesis chapter one verse one and we began there. Here it is on the screen, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” What a great way to open up the Bible.
Those words read by astronauts on their way back from the moon, those words have echoed down through the centuries and divides people because there are some people that don’t think that the universe had a beginning or that there’s such a being as God or a creator. But we find that the Bible begins to answer all of the really big questions of life right there in verse one, the very first verse. And from Genesis all the way through to Revelation, the story is of God who’s in pursuit of a people He can call his own. And if you’re here and you’re reading through and studying through Genesis with us as well as the other books of the Bible that we’ve studied, you sense that He’s been calling you, you sense as well this hunger and this longing to know your creator.
So, where did everything come from? Is there a God? If there is a God, who is God? What’s God like? Does human life have any meaning? Is there anything unique about human life? Is there something special about it or not? How do we tell the difference between right and wrong? Is this world going somewhere or is it just fade to black and disappear? These are great questions that have been asked for a long, long time and I love it that our Bible begins to help us with all of those.
Now, we’re going to read a text that describes, today anyway, that describes some of the generations from Adam down through a person named Noah that most of you have probably heard of. And this’ll be filled with some of what they call a genealogical record. There are 10 different names, 10 different fathers that we’ll read about here and some of the stories are just really amazing and fantastic although we’re not told a lot about a lot of them. But I just want to remind you that, when we read a text like this as old as it is, and if Moses indeed is the author of much of the book of Genesis, we should expect, just as old as it is, with all the gaps that we’ve got to jump to understand it here in our modern contemporary world, contemporary that is of this time and this day, we should expect to struggle a little bit. There are going to be some cultural issues, there are going to be some time gaps, there’s going to be some references that are going to sound strange and wild to us and that’s okay, that’s normal when we’re reading literature that’s this old.
As well, I think we should be prepared as we read it to understand what Jesus thought of the Old Testament. Not only did He quote it often, but He believed every bit of it. And I’m even going to tell you that, in John’s gospel, Jesus Himself is called the Word. John’s gospel opens up with, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God.” And John goes on, John – one of Jesus’ closest friends, goes on to describe Jesus as the living Word of God. And so, I side with Jesus on His view of Genesis and the rest of the Old Testament as well.
And then I think, also, when we approach a text like this, we, not only should struggle with some of it just because of all the gaps and not only should we consider it the way Jesus considered it, but I think, as we read it, we ought to decide that we’re going to let God be God in this book as we study this book. That is, if God is doing things like creating everything out of nothing, then all of the rest of the miraculous deeds of God that we’ll read about, throughout the Bible, actually, are just a cakewalk for him, there’s no big deal to Him at all. So, He who created everything out of nothing, He who formed the stars and the universe and set them all in place and designed you and designed me fearfully and wonderfully made as we’re told in the book of Psalms. He’s the only one really qualified to be God.
So, let’s go to Genesis chapter five and see what we can learn here as we study the lineage or the descendants of Adam. Here it goes, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” Verse one, chapter five says.” In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.” Now, we’ve been told that before but he’s driving it home over and over again. Sometimes I need to be told something more than once to really let it sink in. I don’t know if you’re that way or not but, in the world in which we live right now, we’re real quickly told that you are, we are each our own little-g god and we can create our own selves and design our own selves the way that we want to. We’re ultimately the ones with the last word. The first word and the last word, actually, but I don’t think that’s true. That has not proven to be true.
I saw a church sign here in Nashville this week that said looking into myself is where I’ll find the true answers. And I don’t think the Bible agrees with that at all and I know I don’t agree with it because I look into myself and I see all kinds of crazy stuff. So, I need outside help, I need redemption, I need rescue and I’m so glad there’s a God who isn’t me and isn’t you and has set His love on me and has decided to call me to be in relationship with Him and He is, I hope, calling you as well and that you’ll respond to Him. But here he is…”This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.”
So, there we have that Imago Dei, the image of God, such a beautiful, unique thing about human persons, verse 2, “He created the male and female and He blessed them and He named them man,” or Adam. And so, Adam is not only the personal name of the first male but Adam is actually, it’s humankind, it’s the kind of being that male and female both are. And so,” He named them man in the day when they were created and, when Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness according to his image and named him Seth”. Now, he and Eve together already had Cain and Abel and we studied that passage last week and Abel has now died at the hands of Cain.
But Seth has come along as we studied in the end of chapter four and we were told at the end of chapter four that Seth also had a son, his name was Enosh and then we were told that beautiful last line of chapter four that I just love, verse 26 “…Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” and this is when a great turning point happens. And even though humanity has fallen into sin and begun to unravel in a lot of ways, through the line of Seth will come, and Seth’s name means appointed, through the line of Seth will come the ultimate appointed one, Messiah, Jesus Himself, God’s redeemer, the one who’s come to rescue us from our sin. And this is just a wonderful bit of good news that goes all the way back to the Book of Genesis like we said.
Verses 3-4, “When Adam had lived 130 years,” that’s when he fathered Seth “…according to his image and he named him Seth. Then the days of Adam, after he became the father of Seth, were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters”. And so, how many other sons and daughters did Adam and Eve have? Could not tell you, that wasn’t what was kept in the record here. Just that they had other sons and daughters, that’s told to us and that’s great.
If Adam and Eve are the fountainhead of humanity, if they are the uniquely created by fiat creation as God just spoke and created the universe, created everything that exists, including creating humanity. Scooped up the dust of the earth and formed the first human being, breathed life into them, took the rib from Adam, created in fashion this beautiful partner for Adam and, Adam, her partner as well, and there they are together, the first couple having the first children and it’s just the fountainhead of humanity. It’s a great story, isn’t it?
But here he is going to live, it says, literally 800 years, the days of Adam were, after he became the father of Seth and he had other sons and daughters. Verse five: “So, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.” 930 years, folks, that’s a long time. Wow. We’ll talk about that in a little bit because there’s some other astonishing numbers that we’ll read about in this chapter as well. Verses 6-7, “Seth lived 105 years and he became the father of Enosh. Then Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh and he had other sons and daughters”. Alright, so this is a pattern that the writer of Genesis is going to use here, at least, in chapter five as we go through this record of generations.
Verse eight, “So, all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. And Enosh lived 90 years and became the father of Kenan”. So, he started having children early, at 90 years, okay? Whereas, Adam had Seth when he was 130, I think we just read, and then Seth had Enosh when he had been already 105 years old. So, here’s old Enosh having a kid at literally 90 years of age. He becomes the father of Kenan and that’s really powerful. Alright, verses 10-17:
“Then Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan and he had other sons and daughters. So, all the days of Enosh were 905 years and he died. And Kenan lived 70 years and he became the father of Mahalalel. Then Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mahalalel and he had other sons and daughters and all the days of Kenan were 910 years and he died. And Mahalalel lived 65 years and became the father of Jared. Then Mahalalel lived 830 years after he had become the father of Jared and he had other sons and daughters. So, all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years and he died.”
Are you tracking with me on this? This is amazing. You watch the numbers and they fluctuate a little bit, undulate a little bit and I think that’s telling us something which we’ll point out in a little bit. Verses 18-20:
“And Jared lived 162 years and became the father of Enoch. Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch and he had other sons and daughters. So, all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died.”
Now, something different is going to happen next with the appearance of Enoch. This pattern that we’ve been seeing is going to be broken a little bit. Watch this: verse 21-22, “And Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God” that’s interesting, “300 years after he became the father of Methuselah and he had other sons and daughters So, all the days of Enoch were 365 years.” And then verse 24 says:
“And Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.”
Wow. Now, that’s a very unique thing to be said by anybody. He didn’t experience physical death; God took him which is amazing when you think about. It suggests there’s something more than this world that we can perceive, doesn’t it? Yeah, that gives me great hope. Maybe it gives you great hope.
I don’t know what you’re going through, I don’t know what you’re thinking about, and I don’t know what … Some of us have experienced loss, great loss. “Is this life all there is?” as a question, that’s one of the big ones, and the Bible says, no, it’s not. And here we have in this first pretty serious genealogy a reiteration of that fact that he walked with God and he lived for a certain number of years now and God took him. And so, this is really awesome. “All the days of Enoch 365 years, he walked with God and he was not for God took him”. Verse 25: “Methuselah lived 187 years and became the father of Lamech.” And this isn’t the same Lamech that we learned about in chapter four which was a descendant of Cain; this one is a descendant of Seth.
Just like now, we will have many friends that have the same name, first name, and, here, this is just two different guys named Lamech. It’s interesting to contrast them. Seemed like the one in chapter four was given to arrogance and threats and it’ll seem like, this one here in chapter five, completely different spiritual dynamic going on in his life. Let me read it for you here instead of just telling you. Verse 26 “Then, Methuselah lived 782 after he became the father of Lamech and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years…” and he’ll be the oldest recorded human person in the Bible, 969 years. That’s a long time, “… and then he died.”
And so, for Methuselah, his midlife crisis didn’t hit till, man, 620 or something. And just think about this. This is an amazing thing for this stretch of time to be on the planet but, remember, a different planet back then…and if you just try to imagine that a little bit – and how clean, how pure everything was, how the air, how the water, how the land, everything different, quite different back then. And the Hebrews, the Israelites, not the only ones from the Ancient Near East to have a record kept that describes persons living this long. As a matter of fact, we’ll read about that in just a little bit too. I’ll show you some writings from the Ancient Near East a little bit but watch this.
So, Methuselah, 969 years and then he died, verse 28, “Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son.” Oh, I love this. And “Now, he called his name Noah saying …” see, we get a little more about Lamech than we have these other ones, right? Saying, “…’This one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.’” And we know the Lord had cursed the land all the way back. Especially in chapter four, we read about that because Cain was the one who worked the land and, as a result of him being the first murderer, as a result of his sin and all that thing, we discovered that his land, his job, his work was going to be very difficult.
But even before that, back in Genesis chapter three, we learned with the fall, all of creation is cursed because of the entrance of sin into the world. And a part of that is that the land itself, the physical universe itself. Which we’re told much later in the New Testament that all of creation groans for the redemption that is on offer and that is part of God’s plan and so it’s leaning forward looking for that just as we are. But here’s Lamech and he calls this son Noah because he’ll give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.
Verse 30. “Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters.” Again, the same formula is used.” So, all the days of Lamech were 777 years and he died.” And then, this final verse, verse 32, ”Noah was 500 years old and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.” And we’ll learn more about Noah in the coming weeks but, man, this is just an amazing chapter. And some of you might be thinking to yourself, what in the world are we going to get out of the reading of just these names and I’ll tell you a couple things. I really think there are some fascinating lessons in a text like this and they’re timeless and they are the kinds of things that apply to you and apply to me and impact us in a way that, again, begin to help us with some of the big questions of life.
Let me just throw a few things up on the screen for you here in Genesis five. It reminds us, first of, all these names especially the significance of every human life. And of course, we’ve made the point that we’re created in the image of God. Genesis makes that point more than once here in these first five chapters. And it’s, again, driving it home that, all the way back to the beginning of the Bible and running throughout, you will find lots of names and we’re going to get into some passages where they’re going to be very difficult to pronounce. And yet, the beauty of these lists, these genealogies, at least, that it begins to tell us that each and every human person has a name and that person is important in some way, significant in some way to God.
From Adam to Noah, we’ve got these 10 fathers listed here and certainly tons of other human persons on the planet during the course of their life. And if Adam indeed lived as long as we’re told here, if each one of these men, these fathers lived as long as we’re told, they overlapped quite a bit and likely were sitting around in the tent together having a meal together for a long, long time. As a matter of fact, there are those who have done some of the math that think it’s likely that Adam may indeed have been sitting in the tent and eating a meal with Lamech just when you start adding up how many years each lived and how much that overlaps. But these names are important if you want to think biblically about other persons and about yourself as well and I want to encourage you to do that especially in a day and time when human life is discarded easily at both ends of lifespan.
And so, here’s the Bible coming along and saying each human life is the created the image of God. And from the womb to the tomb, each and every human life matters. And that’s so important, I think, when you start to think about how you think about and how I think about other persons. And by the way, that shouldn’t be shaped and molded, first and foremost, by cultural trends, that should be shaped and molded and influenced more and more and more by the word of God, by the scriptures as God speaks to us and reveals Himself to us and teaches us what we need to know.
And so, here we have again the importance of the significance of every person because these names are listed and, I think you can deduce that from this, they bear the image of God. And even as they begin to make moral and social choices, and even as you make moral and social choices, even as I do, we are reminded there of a fact that we’re supposed to be reflecting this image of God, bearing it and reflecting it. So that, when I see others, I should think how God thinks about others. That is I should see them the way that God sees them no matter who they are. Human persons are all created in the image of God.
And so, we want to make certain that we are caring for others, that we are loving others, that we allow no room whatsoever for the kind of prejudice or racism that takes root in our hearts so easily and so quickly. And you don’t want to leave room for fear; you don’t want to leave room for anger. Why? Well, because each and every person that you are interacting with on the planet is an image bearer. Whether they believe in God or not, they have this stamp inside of them. And yes, I agree, we all, unfortunately, have this thing called sin in our lives that has distorted the image of God in our lives but, nonetheless, we carry the image of God and we should view others that way and we also should view ourselves that way.
And I hope this sets you free to think about that. But when you look in the mirror, you’re looking at an image bearer of God. Don’t let anybody tell you anything different. I know there are billions of dollars spent every year to tell you that something’s missing in your life, that you need to have this toy or this bit of clothing or this kind of car or live in this condo, whatever it is, for your life to have any kind of meaning. And I just want you to know, the Bible says no to all of that. The Bible says the deepest, most profound meaning can be found in the fact that you were created in the image of God. That just blows my mind.
Secondly, not only are we reminded here of the significance of each human life, but we’re reminded of the progress of time and procreation. As a result of God’s good design and the human response to God’s command, male and female come together, the earth now is being filled but we might miss that time is also rushing forward. Literally covered hundreds in … About 1,556 years are mentioned here in chapter five, that’s a long time. So, time is rushing forward in the Book of Genesis. A lot of things are happening and the progress of time and procreation is something God has designed, He’s the one that created space, time history. The continuum itself is all a part of God’s creation and He’s the one that designed our capacity to procreate. It takes that complementarity of a male and a female to come together to create a human person.
Again, we certainly leave room, as my own experience, raised in a single parent home and … But Genesis here isn’t speaking about the raising of children, Genesis here is talking about how they’re created and that remains the case. It takes that something from the male, something from the female to create another human, to procreate. But this is happening is the point. And God’s mandate to the human being is to fill the earth, that’s happening here and we’re seeing it listed here just with these 10 fathers and their other sons and daughters, many of them that they have. What do we make though of the lifespan claims here in Genesis chapter five? Pretty fantastic, right?
And time is moving, that’s right, but it’s also 1,556 years and there are only 10 names of fathers listed here. What are we to make of the claim that some of them lived over 900 years? Well, all of them. First, I’ll start with they all lived under a thousand years and so that’s one of the limitations. And those same kinds of claims though, I want you to know, we’re made in, not just biblical records, but in Ancient Near Eastern literature. If you go back to, and I’ll put up on the screen here for you, some cuneiform tablets which is really writing from Sumer, S-U-M-E-R.
And so, the Sumerian peoples, which is really what we call modern day Iraq over in that area of the Middle East. But there are some records that have been dug up and here are, as I say, some images of this cuneiform writing, two different ones and then here’s an image even of a woman’s purse. I suspect maybe that means there was a Nordstrom’s in Sumer, I don’t know, but it looks like a woman’s purse to me, I don’t know what it looks like to you. But it’s fascinating to me that there’s culture happening back then, all the way back then, okay? So, we’re talking thousands of years ago. And so, in your own mind, as you’ve thought about the Bible and you thought about how old it is and, the record, how far back it goes, I just want you to know that writing and the idea of images that we can understand, all of that is quite ancient and record keeping and genealogies.
And even with the Sumerian records, we’ve got poetry, we’ve got recipes that have been figured All of this has been figured out by those experts of those ancient languages and it’s quite fantastic. It goes all the way back to 3,400 BC, I think, it is. You can look some of that up online for yourselves. But the Sumerian people, think about this, this goes back to them too. This idea that there would be 60 seconds in a minute goes back to them, 60 minutes in an hour traces all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia. The other remnants of Sumerian system of counting have survived in the form of spatial measurements as well. The whole idea of 360 degrees in a circle, the whole idea of 12 segments to what we call a foot, all of that really finds its root all the way back in ancient times like these.
All of that to say this: our record of Genesis, if it indeed comes from the pen of Moses, inspired by God, because remember, Moses wasn’t there in the beginning but he spent an awful lot of time talking with God up on that mountain and many other times. And for the best that we can tell from the biblical historical record is that somebody like Moses, if not Moses himself, is indeed the one who kept these records. And we’ve got writing records, as I say, that go all the way back past the time of Moses. So, we’ve got the significance of every human life in this genealogical record here in Genesis chapter five, we’ve got the progress of time and procreation.
Thirdly, we’ve got the compounding consequences of sin. Here we do notice a steady decline in human lifespans and that’s part of the consequences of sin entering the world. The Lord said that, in the day that you sin, that you choose to go against God’s commands, told our first parents that that is the day that death would enter into the world. The result would be that death would enter into the world. And so, here we’re even seeing that in the lifespans that are going down and eight different times here we are told “and he died.” And so, the length of life is being shortened as we go through chapter five and then the reality of physical death is also occurring and lifespans are shortening. And indeed, everybody, but Enoch and Noah who are mentioned in this chapter, ended up dying.
Well, we’ll open chapter six with the sad news that trajectory of human morality was toward depravity. As C.S. Lewis used to say:
“Progress is really only good when one is on the right road and humanity, at this point, is on the wrong road.”
–C.S. Lewis
And so, there’s this compounding of consequences of sin and it just continues to unfold. And again, we’re going to get really quickly to the flood and to the story with Noah and everything and what God does about sin and His righteous judgment against it.
But fourthly, I think what we also see here, especially in this person, Enoch, who is such a unique person, is that it is possible to walk with God even in a fallen world. And I hope this gives you some hope as it gave to me as well. Sometimes do you feel the walls closing in, not only your own sin that you can’t get the victory over, not only your own fears, your own doubts, your own struggles, your own tendencies towards selfishness and arrogance and pride and all of that. That happens to me, that happens to all of us, I know. And then the pressures of the world and the brokenness of the world all around us weigh so heavily on us. And we sometimes find ourselves asking ourselves, “God, where are You?” along with the psalmist, “God, how long before You come and rescue us?”
And here we have in Genesis chapter five yet another, and we’ve already had it, but here we have another word of hope. This flicker of the hope of faith in this person called Enoch. In the entire Bible, the idea of walking with God is really only said of two different people. This idea, this metaphor, walking with God, Enoch and Noah, believe it or not. Enoch, it is said of twice of him, once of Noah. And Enoch and Elijah are the only two people that we know of, in the Old Testament anyway, that didn’t experience physical death itself. Enoch here was taken away by God somehow. And again, a great reminder that the ultimate thing in all of reality is not getting to stay here in this realm. In other words, this life is not all there is and also this life is not the best there is, yeah.
So, as some people have said, if you’re a believer in Jesus, here’s what the Bible is basically promising you that, in this broken world, in this fallen world, this is the closest that you’ll ever get to hell. That what is waiting for you as a believer in Jesus, as one who’s trusted Christ, the Christ who came and died on the cross, who rose again from the grave and promises you eternal life, the closest thing you’ll ever get to hell is this life and most all of your experience, because this life is just a vapor, will be in the presence of God in His kingdom especially after He comes again to set things right and you’ll spend eternity with Him forever which is just wonderful. We refer to it as heaven or eternal life.
If you’re not a believer, conversely, if you’re not a believer, if you don’t trust God, don’t believe in God, this life here in this broken world is the closest you’ll ever get to heaven. Because what the Bible says is that, if you reject God, if you reject God’s free offer of salvation by faith in Christ, this gracious offer for guilty and deserving sinners like me, guilty and deserving. We’re undeserving of this gift that God has offered to us so, actually, we’re sinners who deserve God’s judgment and wrath. We’ve chosen that, we’ve chosen life without God if we reject God, you see, and he’s just giving us what we want. What could be more fair than that? But this life here in this broken world is the closest thing you’ll ever experience to heaven.
I say that in a very sober way because I seek to persuade you to receive the gift that God has for you by grace, through faith, in Christ, the gift of eternal life with Him forever. Who wouldn’t want that? What an amazing thing. So, here we have with Enoch, though, this flicker of faith that you can walk with God even in a fallen world. What would that look like? It would look like walking in communion with God. That is walking with God, not walking ahead of God, not walking away from God, not walking behind God 10 gamillion miles. Now, God, His desire is that He would dwell among His people and with His people and so we’re invited to walk with Him.
And I love it that that’s said about Enoch and that the challenge is for us as well. Taking the same route that God takes, traveling the same speed God travels, heading in the same destination that God is headed for. As Elton Trueblood has said:
“The Company of Jesus is not people streaming to a shrine, it is not people making up an audience for a speaker, it is laborers engaged in the harvesting task of reaching their perplexed and seeking brethren with something so vital that, if it is received, it will change their lives. “
–Elton Trueblood, The Company of the Committed
I love that.
And lastly, I want to say this. Genesis five reminds us of the providentially protected path of redemption history. Isn’t that awesome? So, you see it here; at least this line of it starts with Seth, goes on to Noah, which we’ll read about more of that. And as we go through Genesis, we’ll read the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph and we’ve already studied some of the story of King David. And it runs all the way down into the line where Jesus is born and that path of redemption history finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. What great news.
All the way back in Genesis, hints of this providentially protected path. Even as we approach the flood and God’s great judgment meted out on a world that had just gone completely insane and nuts with selfishness and sin and rebellion against God. Oh, man, I can’t wait. I can’t wait till we get to those stories. As we go through Genesis, I want to be comforted by the gospel, the good news that’s so beautifully and luminously foreshadowed in this ancient text.
I want to close with this quote from David Jackman,
“The necessity and provision of redemption is at the very heart of God’s plan and it’s the plan of His heart’.
–David Jackman
How about you? Would you like to walk with God? Are you walking with God? What would it take for you to walk with God? It begins with that two-fold turn, turn away from our selfishness and our sin, turn toward Christ. Trust Him, believe Him, read His word, pray, commune with God, get into a fellowship of believers. And there’s tons of different ways to do that here at The Village Chapel, even online, and I want to encourage you to do that if you haven’t done that.
But here at TVC, we want you to learn how to love God and how to walk with God, how to love your neighbors well. And I think it begins with the right kind of thinking, the right kind of answers to those really big questions in life that we’re finding here in the Book of Genesis.
(Edited for Reading)
