Genesis 4:17-26
The City of Man and the Pilgrims of God

  1. Cain and his seed
    1. The city of Cain
      1. Cain has been condemned to wander the earth
      2. He sets up a city in defiance of God's judgment, attempting to make a home for himself in the earth
      3. He takes a wife and bears a son
        1. Where'd she come from?
        2. One of his sisters, obviously
        3. More importantly, she's one of those about whom he whined to God, saying everyone will seek to kill me
        4. So God says, I won't let that happen, Cain. He interposes Common Grace, not subjecting Cain to the anarchy he has introduced.
      4. And what does Cain do? He takes advantage of God's kindness - a kindness that should have led to repentance - to spit in God's face and glorify himself.
        1. As noted, he builds a city even though God condemned him to wander. He's going to do everything he can to flout God's judgment. And apparently God lets him get away with it for a while.
        2. And how does he name the city? After his son, Enoch.
        3. Well, that's nice, isn't it? He didn't name it after himself
        4. But Enoch means "dedication." To whom is Enoch dedicated? Cain! To whom is the city dedicated? Cain!
        5. Cain is proclaiming his own power and his own permanence
          1. He begot a son, but unlike Eve, he doesn't acknowledge that this came through the help of the Lord
          2. The son is there to glorify Cain, to make a permanent name and reputation for Cain upon the earth
        6. The city is a sign of Cain's power and glory, built by the son Cain brought into the world.
        7. The city is a sign that Cain has turned away from God and put his hope in this world. What need does he have of the heavenly rest, of a home with God? He's got everything he needs right here.
        8. His power is here. His hope is here. His life is here. His prideful desire to be recognized can only be gratified here.
        9. What arrogance! What stupidity! He has lost all sense of value. Once at least, he had the sense to be put out that God had not accepted his sacrifice. Now he thinks he can get along without God, never acknowledging that God gave him his son and granted that son strength to build a city.
        10. Yet for all that, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait a few generations.
      5. So is the city a bad thing?
        1. No. But it's not sufficient and it can't be the focus of our hopes and desires.
        2. The first city was built in defiance of God
        3. Later we will see city builders trying to build a tower up into the heavens to be like God.
        4. Yet the city also provides for the development of culture. And culture is not a bad thing.
        5. So the city is something we share with unbelievers
          1. It is not the focus of the Christian hope
          2. We are not looking for a day when the perfect Christian earthly city is established
          3. We are looking for the City of the living God, the new Jerusalem.
    2. The culture of the sons of Lamech
      1. The passage mentions 4 more descendants, in quick succession
        1. Probably not mentioning every generation between Cain and Lamech
        2. Biblical genealogies are almost never complete. They list the highlights.
        3. In this case, the highlights would be prominent rulers of the city of Cain, culminating in Lamech who will boast of his abuse of authority
        4. This provides for a neat 7 generations from Adam to Lamech
          1. The Biblical number of completeness
            • God rested on the 7th day
            • Cain will be avenged 7fold
          2. So this the completeness of sin - Adam sinned, then Cain, so on down to Lamech who is the full expression of sin and sinfulness.
        5. We'll deal more with this when we hit Lamech, but his children actually get mentioned first.
      2. The children are responsible for establishing the basic components of culture
        1. Jabal - tent dwellers and livestock
          1. How ironic! Why weren't there any cultivators of livestock already around?
          2. Because Cain killed the first one!
        2. Jubal - harp and flute
        3. Tubal-Cain -
          1. NKJV "Instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron"
          2. Go with one of the other versions - a "maker", "forger", "sharpener" of "tools", "implements" of bronze and iron.
      3. Why are we told this?
        1. They're certainly getting cozy down here on this earth
        2. They're really settling in.
      4. So is culture evil? After all it came from these evil descendants of Cain and Lamech. And it's a product of the Cain produced city.
        1. No. But it's not sufficient and it can't be the focus of our hopes and desires.
        2. Livestock are fine
          1. Abel raised sheep
          2. They are a sign of God's blessing on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God's chosen ones
        3. Harp and flute are dandy
          1. The Psalms use them to praise God
            • Psalm 32.2 - Praise the Lord with the harp
            • Psalm 150.4 - Praise him with strings and pipe
          2. Clearly, these things can be put to good use
          3. But they were invented by the son of an evil man who was not trying to please God.
          4. Clearly music and the arts are somethig we share with unbelievers as well and not the distinct Christian hope.
        4. And bronze and iron are wonderful
          1. The tabernacle and the altar are filled with bronze implements
          2. Axe-heads and swords are made of iron
      5. How did all this get started?
        1. by the seed of the Serpent in the city of man
        2. By those who loved this world or the things in it.
        3. Yet the fault is not in the things themselves, the iron and the bronze and the harp and the flute and livestock and tents
          1. They can be put to good use by those who know how to value them properly
          2. But they are not what God holds out to us for our hope
          3. The mission of believers is not to renovate culture, but to...
    3. The sinfulness of Lamech
      1. Lamech takes two wives, violating the creation ordinance of marriage
      2. He "rules over" those wives, just as God had cursed him to
      3. And he brags about his power which is exhibited in cruelty.
        1. Cain never bragged about killing Abel
        2. In fact, he tried to hide that fact
          1. Took him out into the field
          2. And lied to God when God asked where Abel was
      4. Lamech deliberately makes sure everyone knows about his murder
      5. And his murder is overkill
      6. the Law says Eye for eye, wound for wound, hurt for hurt, life for life. That's justice
      7. Lamech says life for wound, life for hurt
      8. He makes up his own system of justice
      9. Isn't this the logical downward spiral from the garden?
        1. Woman judges for self
        2. Now Lamech judges for himself
        3. And his judgment is harsh - 77fold
      10. He deliberately compares his authority with God's
        1. If God avenges fully
        2. I will avenge to the utmost degree
        3. He is spitting in God's face just like his father, Cain
  2. The woman and her seed
    1. The new seed of the woman
      1. The woman bears Seth
        1. She acknowledges that he came from God
        2. And she sees him as a replacement for Abel, the faithful seed who was slain by the seed of the serpent, Cain
        3. So she calls him a "seed" from God, remembering the promise of a serpent-crushing woman seed
        4. Yet she is subdued. She refers to "God" rather than the "Lord"
        5. She wonders and dares not presume that she has a relationship with the Lord.
        6. She is shaken by the Cain incident.
        7. So she waits to see what God will do and whether the whole ugly business will repeat.
    2. The restoration of worship
      1. But then Seth bears a son
        1. This is good news!
        2. The new seed has grown up and produced a child of his own
        3. It appears that God will indeed perpetuate the line of the woman and make good on his promise.
      2. Those who have faith gain confidence. They again begin to call on the name of the Lord.
      3. True worship had, in a sense, died with Abel whose sacrifice the Lord accepted
      4. Seth is truly Abel's replacement, bringing that worship back.
    3. The lack of a city

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