Genesis 8:1-14 - Deliverance!

Genesis 8:1-14

1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

The earth was finally dried out from the deluge that covered the entire world even over the mountaintops.  Deliverance was granted to Noah and his family for their faithfulness.  God had considered Noah and all the rescued animals of His creation on the ark spoken into existence and spoke grace and mercy to deliver them from the judgment of destruction.  He did this incredible feat by blowing a long hard wind over the waterlogged ground until the waters subsided with some into the oceans and the rest evaporated into the clouds to remain for,the most part with limited rain in the future to keep from covering the surface of the world again.  It took one hundred and fifty days for this to happen and the ark to rest on the mountaintop of Ararat in what is now modern Turkey.  After three more months the mountains were exposed; forty days later, Noah sent out a raven and then a dove to scout for land.  The dove returned because there was no dry land to set down on, but a week later it went out and returned with an olive leave of peace.  Noah therefore waited yet another week and sent the dove one last time because this time it found a resting place and did not come back.  Noah and his family had also found their resting place in God’s grace to be delivered safely from judgment by water which had eliminated all others corrupted by original and ongoing sin that had brought swift and overreaching consequences on all the world.  The ark was symbolic of deliverance through the church’s baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21) in preparation for the divine judgment by fire (2 Peter 3:6-7) as Noah proclaimed a new birth to the world (Clement of Rome).  This was about 371 to 376 days from the time the rain started (Genesis 7:11) to the time Noah left the ark (Genesis 8:14) according to the best estimates taking into account the varying calendars used.  This then was just over one year that the flood had covered the earth, burying everything and everyone under massive sedimentary layers of mud from the mountains and valleys as the rains fell and receded.  The earth was finally dry again as Noah saw when he opened the hatch of the Ark of deliverance.  He must have actually cried out, “deliverance!” in my opinion over that moment of joy in relief and release.  Just consider how much more reason we will have to rejoice after the final judgment by fire on the world!  We will realize in that resurrection to life (John 5:29) with new incorruptible and sinless bodies (1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Peter 1:3-5) the deliverance from sin’s presence and penalty forevermore.  We will have ridden out the judgment because God delivers us in Christ from what we all deserve because He chose to see us righteous in His Son and write our names in His Book of Life!  Rejoice and anticipate the final deliverance (Revelation 21:4) from all sorrow, tears, and pain!  As we read in Revelation 21:5, the Almighty will then proclaim to us, “Behold, I make all things new.”  This is our hope of salvation while we are in Christ as the ark of our deliverance who keeps us safe in union with Him until that day.  We will then cry, “Deliverance!” with unbounded joy.

Genesis 7:13-24 - The World Washed Clean

Genesis 7:13-24

13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 

16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

17 Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 

23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 

24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

The flood waters extinguished the breath from every man, woman, and land animal as the world was washed clean by God of sin’s corruption in all life due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve and the destruction with immortality and murder that followed since Cain.  Only those eight people chosen by the LORD as more righteous than any others in their generation and selected animals were delivered from the waterlogged world that followed.  The breath of life was washed away from all those left upon the earth as the torrential rains swept down from the sky to bury all life in primordial mud to create fossils later, erode the mountains and carve great canyons on the ground when they ran off and dried up.  Such a deluge is unheard of today and incomprehensible to us to read that the mountains were covered by the waters over the whole world and all living things on land died in the destructive judgment on sinful man.  Only Noah and his family with all the rescued animals weathered the storm and floated safely above the judgment below them.  These floodwaters stayed there for one hundred and fifty days (Genesis 8:3, 5) and gradually evaporated away by the winds blown by God over the waterlogged ground.  This washing of the flood temporarily cleansed the world of sinfully corrupt people who were filled with violence against one another of God’s precious creations made in His image.  By killing one another and defiling with immorality, they rejected and dishonored their Maker and brought swift judgment on themselves.  It will be even more so in the final judgment when fire (Hebrews 10:27, 2 Peter 3:7, 12, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) will consume those rejecting Him and His Son whose gospel words they mock and act in opposition to.  If only people would read this account of the flood and see the hope offered by God to deliver them from a certain destruction by a perfect hope of deliverance by His goodness of grace!  The world was temporarily washed clean of sin which returned again in the fallen nature of the original sin inherited from Adam () but will be completely rid of the presence of sin and kept from returning because all who are rescued in the Ark of Christ will be made new and sinless in body and soul.  There will be no more original sin as we will inherit the righteousness of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45, 49, 51-52), God’s Son, and be made new along with the earth to sin no more and not ever corrupt the world again.  This is the promise of deliverance with a certain hope from sin’s presence and consequences in Jesus Christ.  Knowing these truths of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11), who would want to suffer such a fate by continuing to reject Him and His goodness to rescue them from these things?  Why not turn from sin by acknowledging and forsaking it and turn to Him for forgiveness and deliverance?  Remember the judgment of the flood and consider that of the fire to come.  Find refuge above it in the Son of God as an Ark come to take away the sin of the world and bring us safely through judgment (John 5:24). 

Genesis 7:1-12 - Forty Days and Nights of Rain

Genesis 7:1-12

The Great Flood (Luke 17:26, 27)

1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.

7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 

12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

The LORD called out Noah and his family from the world under judgment to deliver them in the ark whose perfect design was given to Noah who was faithful to do according to the directions of God’s word to him.  Compared to the rest of the world whose inheritance of sin from their forefathers and especially of Cain, this man was called righteous before God.  He was then told not only to save himself and family, but also seven of the clean animals later for food and sacrifices (Genesis 8:17, 20, 9:2-3), with seven of the birds as well.  All others were taken in pairs of two to keep the species alive and fill the earth as they would multiply after the floodwaters settled.  In just a week, God was going to pour rain on the earth for forty days and so the ark filled with life to continue quickly.  All other life left on the earth was going to be destroyed to rid the world of the corruption of sin on God’s good creation.  As for faithful Noah, he was six hundred years old when this deluge began and he was delivered from the sentence of sin (1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5) that God passed on His creation.  Of course, this was not to say that the world was free of sin after the flood, for even though Cain’s physical lineage was stopped his spiritual legacy of disobedience lived on in the original sin in the spiritual DNA of Adam and Eve and was still in the world.  The difference was a second chance for mankind to trust and obey God’s commands this time after witnessing the judgment to come of destruction for man’s sin.  The eight of the chosen people entered the ark and after a week began to witness the flood of destruction and death on the sin-soaked world they left behind.  All the waters of the seas and sky of the heavens poured down and covered the earth, a torrential rain like no other that kept incessantly falling for over a month!  This baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21) immersed them in God’s grace and mercy to deliver the righteous but imperfect ones who trusted Him and acted on that faith with unquestioned actions.  Do we obey based on God’s word to us like Noah, or do we question God and act contrary as Eve did when deceived (2 Corinthians 11:3) or Cain did (Genesis 4:6-8, 1 John 3:12) out of jealousy and disobedience with anger that God does not accept our sacrifices in place of the kind He asks of us (Romans 12:1, 1 Peter 2:5) from an obedient heart (Matthew 9:13) of repentance and faith?  We know that our deliverance is secure in Christ from the judgment of fire to come (2 Peter 3:6-7) in the end when all things, including the earth that has been itself corrupted (Romans 8:21) by our sin, are made new (Revelation 21:1, 5), just as Noah trusted Him through the flood of destruction in the first Judgment on mankind.  This then is the good news we proclaim to the world as a warning to turn from sin to Him in faith to realize the certainty of hope in Jesus Christ who is our only deliverer from sin and its consequences.  Are you ready and prepared to enter the ark of deliverance?

Genesis 6:13-22 - Faith Delivers from Destruction

Genesis 6:13-22

The Ark Prepared (Hebrew 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20)

13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 

14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 

17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 

19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”

22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Faith like that of Noah saves us from destruction.  When judgment loomed upon the whole world because sin had taken over and corrupted mankind and turned them from the loving image of God to violence and destruction of one another in rejection and disobedience of God’s word, Noah was tasked to trust the LORD and he did.  He dispense everything that he was told without doubt or questioning as some portray Noah in this day.  He accepted the fact that sin had corrupted God’s good creation and that accountability demanded divine justice.  This faithful but imperfect man of God heard and trusted with action as he walked with God to build an enormous ark while facing the disbelief of all around them (Luke 17:27).  Hebrews 11:7 tells us that he was moved with godly fear to save his family and condemn the world and became the heir of righteousness according to faith.  He feared judgment, he trusted God’s warning, and his faith saved him from the wages of sin.  We read also that he preached the righteousness of the LORD’s word that brought the flood on the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5) and so was delivered from sin’s penalty just as it foreshadowed the saving grace of God in Christ in whom we are baptized into (1 Peter 3:20-21) as our ark of deliverance by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).  The ark itself was such a perfect seaworthy design given by God that modern tankers still imitate its dimensions to stay afloat; likewise we find that grace through faith still delivers us from the flood of judgment which is coming on all flesh.  All who find refuge in the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be rescued and delivered from the consequences of our sin which is both inherited from Adam (Romans 5:12, 14, 17-18, 19) and which we daily commit ourselves (1 John 1:8-10).  We therefore call out the warning of judgment with the deliverance from eternal punishment by faith in the work of God in His Son who delivers us (2 Corinthians 1:9-10, 2 Peter 2:9) by an everlasting promise because we trust Him and follow as best we can in willing obedience after we pass through the flood as baptized into Christ and in His righteousness alone.  Like Noah, we too do all God commands us in the gospel to trust and obey with faith in His work and promise to deliver even if the world around us continues to ignore the warnings of coming destruction and a fiery judgment (2 Peter 3:6-7) reserved from those continuing in ungodliness.  We stay the course of faith because the one who promises all has changed and sealed us as His (1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30), come into us and we into Him, and are led forward to the day when sin is vanquished with death (1 Corinthians 15:25, 52, 54, 56) and we find ourselves with the Lord in His presence forevermore.  May we be faithful to build the ark of faith to safely weather the storm and proclaim His deliverance from destruction as the Day draws near.  Yes, faith in Christ delivers us from a certain destruction of the wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10) to come, for just as Faith delivered Noah through the flood, so are we delivered from judgment in the final day by saving faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  

Genesis 6:1-12 - Judgment and Grace on the World

Genesis 6:1-12

The Wickedness and Judgment of Man

1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Noah Pleases God

9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

The narrative of humanity turned to the worse after Cain killed his brother Abel and his grandson Lamech did likewise with another man for hurting him in some way.  The corruption of sin made life cheap and vengeance as common as immorality in fallen mankind.  These filled the earth after their own kind which was designed to be in God’s untainted image but ended up with the image marred by sin instead.  Men who were the sons of God as Adam was took wives from the daughters of men that God created through the descendants of Cain as well as Seth who was “a son in his own [Adam’s] likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3).  They tried to carry out the original command to their forefathers to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28), but the corruption of sin brought more evil into the world after their own kind to fill it with violence and wickedness in deeds and intentions.  Around this time the LORD capped people’s lifespans at around one hundred and twenty years instead of the nine hundred plus as previously in order to limit the damage of sin among them.  He did not desire to keep striving with man but loved His creation enough to necessitate dealing decisively with them in the downward spiral of wickedness as people rejected God’s word and beloved the lie that they determined what was right and wrong instead of believing and observing all the LORD told them, which disobedience is defined as sin.  This original sin was propagated by those born after their own kind of fallen men and women and resulted in polygamy (“they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose”) and other wickedness to likely include murder as Cain and Lamech demonstrated.  They faced sin at their heart’s door but did not overcome (Genesis 4:7) and overrule it according to God’s word!  Their offspring was mighty in size before their DNA was further corrupted and were described here as mighty and renowned giants.  This certainly does not mean that angels bred with women to make giants as some infer, but simply that the sons and daughters of Adam’s descendants were great and bore great children.  However, the thoughts and intents of these corrupted great ones was too much for God to allow to continue to fill His good creation with and so He was grieved over what sin had done to them.  He was ready to hold them to just judgment for their rebellion against His word in thinking they knew better than He (Genesis 3:1-3, 4-5) and so condemned the world to the destruction of the flood to wipe the slate clean and start over with a few good men and their wives.  He found Noah to be that one and his sons and wives along with him.  Noah was perfect compared to all others in his day (though not perfectly righteous as no mere man can ever be according to Romans 3:23), and these were chosen to live and escape judgment because they trusted God’s judgment and choice to save them as if baptized through the flood waters (1 Peter 3:18-19, 20-21) to come.  Noah found grace in God’s eyes, not justified by his own perfection, but by God’s righteousness to save him just as we who are in Christ have been delivered from destruction by His righteousness and choosing by being baptized into His grace in Christ.  All flesh still has corrupted its way on the earth with sin and only can find deliverance from judgment through the fire (2 Peter 3:6-7) to come through Him (2 Peter 3:9, 13) as through His promise in the Son of God promised from the beginning in Genesis 3:15 we look for new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells and a new creation free from the presence of corrupting sin brings the the very presence of God to dwell within (Revelation 21:3, 22:3-4) just as in the beginning when God walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve.  This is our unending and certain hope in Christ Jesus in the face of the final judgment on the wickedness of the world and the deliverance of God on those He shows grace on we sinners! 

Genesis 5:1-32 - Adam’s Family until Noah

Genesis 5:1-32 

The Family of Adam (1 Chr. 1:1–4; Luke 3:36–38)

1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. 7 After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. 8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

9 Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. 10 After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. 11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.

12 Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. 13 After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. 14 So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.

15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. 16 After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters. 17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19 After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. 26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. 27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.” 30 After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. 31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

This detailed account of the descendants of the first man Adam is given to us for many reasons.  It begins with how Adam was created in the very image of God to bear His likeness in spirit and in works.  It then describes mankind as that man and the woman Eve that make up the entirety of the whole of man and not just the initial male person, both created the same day but in sequence as the roles of each show later.  We are meant to be couples made up of one man with one woman as in the beginning, and not in any other way.  Adam bore an heir child in his image who in turn bore God’s image as a pattern of continuation to be fruitful and multiply until the Son of Man and of God would come from the seed (Genesis 3:15, Romans 1:3-4, Galatians 3:16, 19, 29) as promised.  Most of these descendants lived to be over nine hundred years old!  Only Mahalalel and Lamech lived less than that, as well as Enoch who lived about a third of that, but it was only because he had walked so close to the LORD that God took him home early out of the world to be with him like (2 Kings 2:11) Elijah to come later.  This same Enoch who lived the shortest life on earth out of these original sons of Adam had a child Methuselah who was the oldest to ever live.  Then came Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 7:13) who would be among the eight souls to survive (1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5) the cleansing flood of judgment on the sins of the world.  More will follow in this account of the lives and death of many while telling of the chosen ones to continue the lineage of Adam and of all mankind until the Messiah, the Seed of Hope to us all to be found in Him. 

Genesis 4:16-26 - Cain’s Sin and Seth’s Son Calling on God

Genesis 4:16-26

The Family of Cain

16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.

19 Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20 And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. 22 And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

23 Then Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

A New Son

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.

The lineage of Cain was doomed but a new hope arose in a son called Seth.  Cain’s descendant Lamech through his son Enoch ended up repeating the sin of Cain by murdering a man who only wounded him.  He then claimed that God would keep him safe as He did for Cain by vengeance on any who would kill him in retaliation.  This protection was not told him by the LORD as we do not find it written here as it was for Cain in Genesis 4:15 when Cain feared for his life.  This bold proclamation by Lamech then seems not to be sanctioned by God.  This cheap claim of grace would ultimately end in the destruction of the physical lineage of Cain at the flood when the entire population had only evil on their minds (Genesis 6:5, 12-13).  Then Adam and Eve had another son called Seth meaning, “appointed compensation” to replace the good son Abel lost to Cain’s jealous wrath.  This son Seth then had a son called Enosh who was righteous enough to influence others to begin calling on the name of the LORD God in worship.  This line made it through the flood but ultimately mankind would still turn from God again, unable to redeem themselves until God did it for them and us by sending His Son into the world to take our sin’s penalty and offer free eternal hope of life with God again in the end as if the New Jerusalem will be a new Garden of Eden with sin removed and our relationship restored to offer unending true worship once more as we call on His name in praise forevermore!  This is the meaning and hope of Christmas where we remember the Son of God become a man like us to deliver us from God’s wrath on our sin and restore us, reconciled, to Him.  Worship Him for these things as the greatest present we could ever be given! 

Genesis 4:1-15 - Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Genesis 4:1-15

Cain Murders Abel (Luke 11:51; Hebrews 11:4; 12:24)

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

8 Now 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 killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

13 And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”

15 And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, a man from the LORD as she called him after experiencing  the pain of childbirth as a consequence of the curse of sin.  Then she had another boy and called him Abel.  They grew up to be a shepherd and a farmer; Abel the youngest was a keeper of sheep and Cain the elder became a tiller of the ground.  Eventually, they both brought an offering of their work to the LORD, first Cain with something grown out of his hard toil (Genesis 3:17-18, 19), and then Abel presented the LORD with the plump firstborn of his sheep as a blood offering.  We see the picture of the second animal slaughtered for sacrifice, the first being one God had sacrificed to make coverings (Genesis 3:21) for the sin of Adam and Eve.  We later read that the sacrifices of animals was symbolic because the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and their blood was shed until the perfect sacrifice of God’s Son would be the last and only effective sacrifice to cover sin (John 6:53, Hebrews 9:12, 10:10, 13:11-12) permanently, one time for all who come to Him and are made clean by His lifeblood.  God therefore did not approve of Cain’s sacrifice because it was part of the curse to work in futility to scrape by, while that of Abel was patterned after the sacrifice that God made in the Garden to cover the sin of his parents with the sacrificed animal skins.  The sacrifice of Abel looked forward to the hope of God’s solution to sin while that of Cain only perpetuated it as a reminder of the Fall.  Cain was furious that his offering of his work was rejected and jealous that his younger brother’s following the example of the LORD was accepted.  Abel’s offering also was something of value, a lamb without blemish and provider of wool for covering and meat for food as well.  God knew Cain’s heart and therefore had warned him about his anger and perceived lost face in having offered less than his brother.  He reminded Cain that if he did what was right, he would be accepted along with his offer, but if not that sin’s desire for vengeance is ready to overtake him.  He did not take God’s word to heart and murdered his brother as we all recall the account of scripture.  When asked what happened to his brother, Cain roughly and disrespectfully answered, “am I my brother’s keeper?”  He was to watch over and protect his brother as his keeper but chose to refuse his responsibility and eliminate the one who God had accepted.  This almost cost him his life.  God heard the cry of Abel’s blood from the grave of the earth’s dust that Cain labored over and cursed Cain for his sin of murder.  His work in the dust was made unfruitful and he was a criminal and tramp doomed to roam the world as punishment.  Cain cried out for mercy because he knew that others would hunt him down for what he did to hold him accountable and put him to death as well.  God in His mercy marked Cain so nobody would kill him if they caught up with him or face God’s vengeance in return.  This is the pattern of the grace of the LORD for sinners such as you and I.  We are covered in dust of our own works until we accept the sacrifice of the lifeblood of Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb who sacrificed Himself to give us life in His blood which our efforts of earthly work and offerings are completely unable to accomplish.  We are to show the grace showed by God to Cain the murderer and forgive sins against us while not becoming jealous and angry when God accepts what others do and not for the unacceptable works we do to earn His favor in our own strength to be accepted.  This is the answer to Cain, that we are our brother’s keeper to watch over and protect, not to take our own vengeance (Romans 12:19) and commit sin.

Genesis 3:9-24 - Consequences of The Curse

Genesis 3:9-24

9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

16 To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.

18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.

19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

The consequences of sin’s curse are swiftly given to all involved as Eve was deceived by the serpent deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:3) into disbelief and Adam went along to disobey God’s clear command also instead of resisting the temptation to follow his wife’s error.  We all have suffered as the descendants of the first couple by inherited sin in our spiritual DNA and continued sin of disbelief and disobedience to His word to this day.  Like Adam, when God calls us now we do the same in hiding our shame from not doing what the scriptures clearly tell us, often choosing instead to focus on some other obscure command to justify disobeying the clear one or at other times just letting our pride blind us as we imagine we know good from evil without hearing His word.  We can pass the blame as Adam did to Eve when questioned by God, or we can blame it all on the deceitful devil who made us do it as Eve did, but we all answer to our Creator Lord nonetheless.  Notice that when Adam did blame his wife that God immediately went to her to ask why she disobeyed Him.  She blamed it all on the deceiver without confessing that she had a choice not to listen but instead desired the lie more than waiting to be taught good from evil by God, and so acted against the Lord’s word.  The serpent offered no excuse or explanation.  None.  He knew perfectly well in his own rebellious nature that he could not answer his maker and so heard his sentence without reacting as he plotted how to further corrupt God’s created man and woman in the image of God whom the evil one sought and still seeks to destroy (John 10:10, Revelation 12:9) through deception and lies (John 8:44, 1 John 3:8).  The consequences began with the serpent because he knew exactly what deception he had deceived himself with in full knowledge of the truth, having walked in heaven before the throne of God and heard His voice clearly for a long time.  His willing disobedience and desire to corrupt God’s image in man brought eternal consequences which cannot ever be reversed.  Unlike him, Adam and Eve received punishment but were also offered a way of redemption through the promise of a deliverer, the seed of the woman who was the Messiah to come!  This promise in Genesis 3:15 here is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ who came to redeem us from our curse (Galatians 3:13) by His perfect righteousness and lifeblood sacrificed in our place as the price required to pay for our lives once forfeited by sin in Eden.  Eve’s immediate consequences included a great pain and sorrow in childbirth and submission to her husband whom she would desire to please and serve not just alongside as originally designed, but with a more supporting role as a reminder her susceptibility to temptation was to limit her giving the final choices in matters now allotted to her husband who himself had not taken responsibility.  He was given the consequences of hard work to survive instead of the freely provided food of paradise lost.  Adam and his descendants would have to scrape a living out of the dust as a constant reminder we are but dust created by and given life from God (Genesis 2:7).  Dust of us returns to the dust of the earth by physical death as we sweat and toil along the way.  That is the wages of sin (Romans 3:23) we earned by inheritance, but we now have hope of the Son of God, the Seed, who has paid the price (Romans 6:23) and offered life from death and the dust.  Some people would corrupt this truth by trying to make us believe that we are random creatures composed of star dust instead of the dust of the earth we stand on by God’s hand, but we who know the beginning also know the end of such deception.  We see the end of this chapter with Adam naming his wife Eve meaning ‘life-giver,’ because all their descendants would be birthed through her (1 Corinthians 11:12) including every man to come, completing the circle of the first woman coming from the side of man to every man thereafter coming out of a woman.  This shows our understanding of our equality (Galatians 3:28) in Christ but also the respective roles (1 Timothy 2:12-14) of each taking into account the order of our creation and the way continuing descendants come into the world, first out of the earth and later from the woman.  The consequences to man and woman are still keeping us from the tree of eternal life until we find reconciliation in the Seed who is Christ with the hope of eternal life in Him by His sacrifice for us and the hope of a resurrection like His to enter the New Jerusalem, the Celestial City, where we will be allowed access to the tree of life (Revelation 2:7, 22:2, 14) at last by His work for us!  Jesus Christ has opened access through the flaming swords of Eden’s Paradise lost into a new beginning to walk before His face with Him as in the beginning of creation.  There will no longer be the presence of sin in that place where God lives among us or the deceiver to corrupt us again.  That is Paradise regained forever from the consequences of the curse!

Genesis 3:1-8 - The Temptation and Fall of Man

Genesis 3:1-8

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

8 And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden.

The cunning serpent of evil who embodies the spirit of antichrist and is also known as the dragon of old (Revelation 12:9-10, 20:2), this created being and fallen angel who was the first influencer of rebellion against God and His word, this father of lies (John 8:44) crept into the Garden and straight up to the woman Eve to deceive (2 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Timothy 2:14) her with the lie to disbelieve and distrust God’s word.  He began with the truth of God’s command as he repeated the words that told them, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden,’ but twisted it into a question to bring it into question.  He asked Eve if God really said that instead of bearing true witness that God had indeed said precisely that.  Then Eve went along because she never encountered a liar just the God of all truth to that point.  She took what the deceiver said and remade here response of what she heard to say that they could eat everything but if they ate of the fruit of that one tree in the middle of the Garden, the tree of knowing good and evil, they would die.  But she added, “nor shall you touch it,” which was not part of God’s command and evoked a sense of disdain against God to even allow them to touch it and exaggerated the command in the process.  The serpent jumped on that inroad of distrust to quickly deny that claim and said they certainly would not die if they touched it, and by the way, they could then also eat it and stay alive as well.  He then blasphemed and maligned God by implying that God knew instead that they should eat it and have their eyes opened to know good and evil just and then be just like God!  What deception!  The woman fell for it and took and ate in direct disobedience to the command of God by listening to the temptation to be like Him just as Satan himself had done (Isaiah 14:13-14) before.  She shared the fruit of evil with Adam her husband when with him and he went along with her in spite of hearing the prohibition from God Himself.  This they sinned by desiring to be wise and their own god but realized too late that sin was there at their door waiting for them (Genesis 4:7).  Their knowledge of good and evil was not taught by God (Hebrews 5:14) and therefore they were untaught in how to deal with it and all they saw with evil possibilities as well as good.  They then saw their natural nakedness as unclean in a distorted sense of pleasure over the command to be fruitful and multiply to fill as the earth (Genesis 1:27-28) and instead saw only the consequence of disobedience as originally told them.  This is the account of the temptation and fall of man into sin and its eternal consequences of physical death and spiritual separation from God as a worse death due to not taking God at His word and being taught by that word what is good to know and do while avoiding what is evil (1 Peter 3:11-12).  What do we now do as their descendants?  May we choose not our way to define what is right and wrong as the fallen world around us does who rejects God’s living Word become flesh as the gospel (John 1:1-2, 14, 16-17), but instead listen to His word to lead our way of thinking and understanding and actions.