Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19990704.htm

GENESIS: THE SOURCES OF GOOD AND CALAMITY IN OUR ORIGINS
Part II - The Source Of Calamity In Our Origins
D. Adjusting With Great HOPE To An Outwardly Hopeless Earthly Life
(Genesis 4:25-5:32)
  1. Introduction
    1. When a friend or pet dies, or financial tragedy strikes, or the spiritual decay in society gets us down, we must again face the futility and pain of our life "under the sun" as Ecclesiastes puts it.
    2. However, in the midst of the outwardly hopelessness of this mortal, earthly life stands a great hope, and the saints between Adam and the Noahic flood knew it and used it in their difficult days. So must we:
  2. Adjusting With Great HOPE To An Outwardly Hopeless Earthly Life, Genesis 4:25-5:32.
    1. On the outset, the genealogy of even the godly line of Seth, the third important son of Adam, was filled with monotonously hopeless cycles of birth and death, Genesis 4:25; 5:3-20, 25-27, 30-31:
      1. Seth was the third important son born to Adam and Eve, Genesis 4:25.
        1. After the death of Abel and Cain's tragic displacement from the home in Genesis 4, Adam and Eve again produced a third important son named Seth, Genesis 4:25a.
        2. Seth's name means "the appointed one," and shows that he was the substitute for the slain Abel, Gen. 4:25b; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV ftn. to Gen. 4:25.
      2. Seth's line began the godly lineage that stood opposite Cain's brutal line, for men who came from Seth's line began to develop the occupation of proclaiming or calling on the name of the Lord as men of God, Gen. 4:26; Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 35.
      3. However, even Seth's godly line, in coming from Adam and Eve, was marked by OUTWARDLY HOPELESS cycles of birth, life and death: from Genesis 5:3-20, 25-27 and 30-31 we read case after case of one who was born, who lived, who had a son and then DIED!
    2. Nevertheless, within this godly line of Seth are bright glimpses of affirmative living with great HOPE:
      1. As men in Seth's line proclaimed hope in the Lord (4:26b), one of them, Enoch, communed so closely and long with God that he was raptured, not seeing death, before the judgment he predicted!
        1. Enoch "walked with God", or, "walked about," fellowshipping with God, Ryrie, Ibid., ftn. to 5:22-24
        2. We know from Jude 14-15 that God revealed to Enoch the Second Coming of Christ to judge the earth of its wickedness, an insight into the distant future way ahead of what other men knew!
        3. Yet, God "raptured" Enoch to heaven without letting him die. We know this happened by the expression that is used in Genesis 5:24 for "God took him" because the same word is used for the translation of Elijah in 2 Kings 2:3,5 who was translated so that he did not see death, Ibid., Ryrie.
        4. This translation, coupled with the event of God's preserving the tree of life for future use in Genesis 3:22-24, supplied the hope beyond this futile life of a resurrection for the upright!
        5. As this rapture occured before judgment, it prefigures a Pretribulation Rapture for us as well!
      2. In contrast to the Lamech in Cain's line, the Lamech in Seth's line replaced boast in independence from God with an expression of hope in God's help to handle this life, Gen. 4:23 with 5:28-29:
        1. The Lamech in Cain's line boasted of his capacity to defend himself without God's help against avengers as had Cain, a man under a strict land curse, Gen. 4:23; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Gen. 4:23-24.
        2. However, the Lamech in Seth's line named his son, Noah, which sounds in Hebrew like the word for "comfort," Gen. 5:29a; Bib. Kn. Com., O.T., p. 36. This name showed Lamech's hope that through his son God would bring comfort to believers who labored under the curse of sin, Gen. 5:29b.
        3. Little did he know what God would do in using Noah to preserve humanity for future blessings when one day Christ would provide liberation from the curse by faith in His name!
Lesson: The saints from Adam to Noah handled this life's trials by HOPING in God: (1) they gained TEMPORAL blessings by faith in God (physical salvation by Noah's ark) and (2) ULTIMATE relief in the life to COME [through faith in God] (Enoch's translation).

Application: God's way to handle this life's trials is (1) for us to find temporal relief by looking to God in faith NOW (Noah's ark) and (2) hoping for our final rescue in the Pretribulation rapture (Enoch)!