After the fall, Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain whose name
signifies possession. Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Perhaps she
thought Cain was the promised seed. But this would have been a great
disappointment. They also had Abel whose name means vanity. Religious worship
of God started after the fall. The offerings of Cain and Abel were different.
Abel’s offering was done in faith (Heb 11:4); he was seeking the benefit of the
covenant of mercy, through the promised seed and God accepted his offering.
Cain developed an evil spirit of discontent and rebellion against God. God
notices all the thoughts of our minds. He does not want us to sin, He always
warns us but we have the choice to our decisions.
Abel was the younger brother of Cain. A brother Cain was
supposed to love, a younger brother which he had to protect, the only brother
from the same mother; but Cain murdered him out of malice that started in the
heart. He remained impenitent with pride and unbelief and denied the crime as
if he could hide it from the omniscient God. Even when God gives His punishment,
Cain focuses on it rather than the sin. He complains of the weight of the
punishment rather than the weight of the sin. Harden heart! Eventhough Abel was
death his blood speaks, telling us of how serious the guilt of murder is, and
so warns us of the wrath of God. This guilt can only be taken away by the blood
of Jesus. So the Bible warns us today, not to be like Cain who belonged to the
Devil, because his own actions were evil while those of his brother were
righteous (1John 3:12).
Cain departed from the Lord and so could not have rest, he
became a vagabond. He dwelt in the land of Nod which means “Shaking” or
“trembling”, showing how restless he became without God. Cain’s generation was
one of wickedness as we see how Lamech broke the law of marriage and took for
himself two wives. The descendants were interested in making money through
bronze and iron works, making string instruments for pleasure and keeping lives
stock but no one had concern for God. Lamech killed a man for wounding him and seems
to abuse the patience of God in sparing Cain, into an encouragement that he may
sin unpunished.
Adam and Eve gave birth to another child Seth which means
“settled” or “placed” in whose seed mankind will continue till the messiah
should descend. The worshippers of God began to do more in religion through the
descendants of Seth.
The bible says Adam fathered a son named Seth in his own
likeness, after his image. So Seth was not only like Adam with body and soul
but he was a sinner like his father Adam (Gen 5:3). This was the reverse of the
Divine likeness in which Adam was made; having lost it, he could not convey it
to his seed. Adam died at 930 years according to the sentence passed upon him,
“To dust thou shalt return.” Though he did not die the same day he disobeyed
God, he became mortal that same day and so was wasting out with time.
All the other people mentioned in the genealogy lived and
died but Enoch who was the seventh from Adam did not die but was taken up by
God without seeing death. Because he walked with God, meaning he set God always
before him, to act as always under God’s eyes. God had translated Enoch and he
was not found (Heb 11:5) and his faith in walking with God was commended as
righteousness.
Comparing to the ages of people who lived at that time, 365
years of Enoch was small. God often takes soonest those he loves best. The time
they lose on earth is gained in heaven, to their unspeakable advantage; “He was
not, for God took him.” He was changed as the saints shall be, who are alive at
Christ’s second coming. Noah was born to Lamech from the generation of Seth and
his name signifies “rest.” His father hoped for comfort in his son and today we
need a better comforter who is Christ.
The wickedness of the world was too much provoking God’s
wrath, but Noah found grace by faith and obedience. When the sons of God
married the daughters of man, the marriage was cursed. If we say we are sons
and daughters of the Lord almighty, we must not marry without His consent. He
will never give His blessing, if we prefer beauty, wealth, honour from men,
power, to faith and holiness. Anyone could see the wickedness of man, but God
saw that every imagination or purpose, of the thought’s of man’s heart was only
evil continually. That was the root of the corrupt life. God hates sin and can
we not go back to Him with repentant hearts? God repented that He had made man,
but He never repented that He redeemed man. After God’s spirit has been long
striving with unrepentant and disobedient people who hate to be reformed by the
grace of God, then they can be punished; but the secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him (Psalms 25:14). God told Noah His intentions to destroy the
wicked world by water. God could have saved Noah without asking him to build a
big ark by himself, but he allowed that for the trial of his faith and
obedience. Our struggles in the way to eternal life is to improve us. Jesus
Christ the true Noah, had by his suffering prepare the ark and is inviting us
by faith to enter in. Listen and obey His voice.
Matthew chapter 2 tells us how Jesus, the true Noah came into
earth. The wise men were revealed the truth by God and they worshipped the king
in the manger with only one attendant, the mother. They offered him gold, which
I think is what helped the poor carpenter to take his family to Egypt. They
also gave frankincense representing the priesthood of the messiah just as the
gold represents his kingship. Then myrrh was used to embalm the death; but the
child was not death. This signify that he was to die to save mankind. Egypt has
been a place of bondage to Israel and now it is to be used as a place of refuge
to the Holy child Jesus. God can make the worst of places serve the best of
purposes. Joseph and Mary confirmed their faith in this trial to take the baby
to Egypt. Herod killed all the little children in Bethlehem and the villages in
the city in the hope of aborting Old Testament prophecies but the counsel of
the Lord shall stand. We shall all be glorified with Him, if we suffer with
Him.
Prayer: Holy and merciful God, I bow down my heard to worship
you. I thank you Lord for the opportunity you’ve given me, poor in holiness,
with nothing desirable that I could come before you in prayer. Lord your mercy
has no limit for you loved us even when we were yet sinners that in your blood
oh Jesus you made us right with you and the Father. Holy Spirit of God, come
into my life and take your throne at the center of my heart, reigning in my
life. Have your way in my life and be my reward. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
