Sometimes when we pray, we offer a confession to God concerning
our own worship. The worship we offer is not the worship he
deserves. We know this. Our minds wander. Our thoughts flit to
other things. And how easy it is for our minds to wander when we
listen in worship to the reading of God's word, especially this
word.
Yet oddly enough, in a way your mind is supposed to wander when you hear this passage. Part of the point of this passage is that nothing much happens. There is little to hold your attention. So your thoughts flit to other things. Why then is this here? What does the Spirit have for you in this laborious list of names and numbers?
Here you have them, 10 in all, members of that cloud of witnesses concerning which your pastor spoke last week. They surround you, encouraging you by their example of faith to run with perseverance the race set before you. But what is their example? What exactly do they do?
Compare them to the line of Cain, mentioned in the previous chapter. Here we have two genealogies one after the other: the genealogy of unbelieving Cain and the genealogy of believing Adam. The seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.
The genealogies invite you to make this comparison. They reside side by side containing similar, sometimes identical names. 5 of the 6 names listed in the line of Cain ring bells when we get to chapter 5 and the line of Adam. Start with Cain. His name is quite similar to that of Kenan in chapter 5. It sounds even closer in the Hebrew.
Then Cain has a son name Enoch (4:17). The seventh in descent from Adam is named Enoch (5:21). Clearly these are two different men. Just as clearly, their names are the same. In the line of Cain, Irad (4:18). In the line of Adam, Yared (5:18) In the line of Cain, Methushael (4:18). In the line of Adam, Methuselah (5:25). In the line of Cain, Lamech (4:18). And in the line of Adam, another Lamech (5:28).
Clearly we are meant to compare these genealogies … and to contrast them. For Cain has demonstrated himself to be a man of sin, a man who rejects the ways of God. He killed his brother Abel, the man of faith. And why? Because God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's. Cain the murderer. Cain the blasphemer. Cain the hater of God.
He is no son of his father Adam. For though Adam sinned, he repented. Though Adam sinned, he believed the promise of God that the offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:16). Adam sinned, and so he was cursed. But in the midst of that curse, God smuggled in the Gospel. The offsrping of the woman, he said, would crush the serpent Satan's head. The offspring of the woman would reverse the curse, would take away the consequences of sin, would take away death, by taking away sin itself. Adam believed that promise, and in that hope he bore children with his wife, Eve.
No, Cain is no son of this faithful father. Cain is of his father the devil. He is the offspring of the serpent. Chapter 4 is Cain's genealogy. The children of Adam are not listed until chapter 5.
So, as we say, here they are, side by side. The genealogy of Cain, the son of the serpent; and the genealogy of Adam, the child of God.
How do Adam's children stack up in comparison to Cain's? Well, look at Cain and his children! Cain builds a city and names it after his son (4:17). The children of Cain invent things like keeping livestock (4:20), music (4:21), and metal-working (4:22).
What do Adam's children do? They bear children. And they die.
It's hardly a fair comparison. Clearly the children of Cain are the movers and the shakers of their day; the children of Cain are the ones doing the things that have lasting significance. If you were a conventional historian, there is no question which line you would find more interesting. In Cain's line you have architecture, animal husbandry, culture, and the making of tools. In Adam's line, you have … breeders. There hardly seems to be anything to report about the children of Adam.
Yes, clearly it is Cain's children who are the movers and the shakers. Yet it is they who will be moved; it is their world that will be shaken. In the days of Noah, last in line in chapter 5's genealogy of Adam, God will send a catastrophic flood, wiping out the line of Cain. And all their accomplishments will come to nothing. The things they valued will be no more. Only the line of Adam, waiting patiently for the offspring of the woman that was to come … only the line of Adam will survive that judgment.
What do the children of Cain testify to us? Let us imagine that they are the cloud of witness surrounding us. What do they say? They tell us that this world must be our home, and that we must make this home as comfortable as possible. They build cities. They settle in. They herd livestock; they play music; they make tools and weapons. Here is where their treasure is, here their hearts, and toward this world are all their efforts directed. "Come and make your home here!" they cry. "All that life can offer, we have taken for ourselves. We shall eat and drink and be merry." And in an instant, they are all wiped out by the flood.
What good then are their cities? What use are their techniques of caring for livestock? What value is their art? What purpose then for their tools?
Do not believe them. They have received no reward from the things of this earth which they so eagerly sought. They cannot testify to you that their trust in worldly goods has been vindicated.
Did not our Savior tell us that it would be for us as in the days of Noah? People eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, living as though this life is all there is and all they need, unaware that the day of judgment is about to come.
Do not be deceived. Do not lay up your treasure on earth, for the earth and all it offers will be destroyed in an instant. Do not heed the testimony of the children of Cain.
The fate of the world does not hang on the decisions or actions of the children of Cain, numerous though they are. Rather, all history hangs in the balance on this slender thread of hope, passed down from father to son, culminating in a single man, Noah, and his family. This is the real story! This is where the excitement and suspense are! Will the few who hold onto the promise in faith survive long enough to produce the promised offspring? The fate of the world hangs in the balance. We hold our breath and wait.
So let us turn to the children of Adam, the outwardly unexciting, patiently child-bearing, children of Adam. They will testify truly, for their faith has been vindicated. They testify to you from heaven, not from a watery grave.
Though your mind may have wandered during the reading of this word, you must nevertheless have heard several things of interest. You must have heard that Adam brought forth a son in his own image. (This happened before the passage got repetitive and even a little boring.) You must have heard the repetition of the sentence, "And so he died." Over and over again. And you must have heard-and been shocked, and surprised, and rejoiced to hear-when this phrase did not recur. For Enoch, there was no "And so he died." Enoch was taken bodily into heaven. And you must have heard the hope of Lamech as he named Noah, saying perhaps this one will take away the curse with which God has cursed mankind.
These are the elements we must explore. For in them we will find the testimony of faith in Christ.
We read in verse 3 that Adam bore a son, Seth. And we know that he must have borne this son in hope-a hope that flew in the face of the evidence. Adam had already borne two sons, you see. He had borne Cain. And he had borne Abel. He had borne these children in hope because he knew that God had promised that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent's head. His hope for salvation lay in a child who was yet to be borne. So cursed though he was, judged though he was, Adam bore children in hope.
But Adam's first child, Cain, was not the promised offspring. Cain was rather, a son of the devil as we have said. And this son of the devil turned and killed the faithful son, the son of hope, so that one might be tempted to believe the devil had triumphed after all. Resisting that temptation, Adam bore another son. Perhaps this one, Seth, would be the promised offspring. Appearances were contrary to what Adam laid hold of by faith. But Adam did not lose heart. Rather, with greater vigor he entrusted himself to the promises of God. The apostasy of one son and the murder of another could not turn him from his confidence that God would fulfil his promises.
This is what Adam testifies to you across the centuries-that the promise of God are sure. You may rely upon it. Adam testifies that even when it seems that God has failed and Satan has triumphed, even then you may be sure that God will have the victory at last. And if Adam believed that and knew that, how much more shall we? For we have seen God's victory in Christ. The offspring of the woman has come and the offspring of the serpent bruised him, putting him to death. But in that apparent weakness, Christ won the victory over sin; and rising again, he won the victory over death, overturned the ancient curse, and brought in a new creation. How can we now doubt that this new creation will be revealed at the last day and the head of the serpent crushed forever.
"Believe in the offspring of the woman!" That is what Adam says to you. "I waited for him in hope. You have received him with joy. Do not fear to commit everything you have and everything you are to him. For he does not disappoint the greatest hope."
The one Adam longed for when he bore Seth … that one is here and is triumphant! What can you fear? Will they kill you as Cain slew Abel? But your Savior has conquered even death. Do not be afraid. Only live your life as one who believes and knows that Christ has the victory over sin and death and is reigning forever at the right hand of God. Why should you sin when such victory is yours? And why should the worst miseries disturb you when already you have as a sure inheritance the day when all tears will be wiped away? That day is coming! It has been earned and secured by the offspring of Adam, Christ, the one who reigns. What a glorious day you live in, this day which Adam longed to see, this day for which Adam bore children in the certainty that it would come!
So Adam bore a child in his image (verse 3). We hear this language and we think back to the day that God created Adam in his image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And we know that Adam partially lost that image when he fell. Yet here he is, imparting that corrupted image to his son. And this also testifies of Adam's faith. For what good is it to transfer the corrupted image of God to another-unless you believe that that image may somehow be restored? To bear a sinner, marked for death-what good is that? But to bear a child in the hope of redemption-that is faith indeed! Seth represents that hope. He is the offspring of the woman who will perpetuate the godly line.
And again this faith testifies to us. The image of God has been restored in Christ, the second Adam. In Christ we have all that we lost in Adam-true knowledge of God, a righteousness that is acceptable before him, and holiness (a special "set apart"ness for the purposes of God.) Adam longed for the day when the image of God would be restored. You live in the day when it has been. Therefore, be of good cheer and take courage. When you clothe yourself with Christ, you look like your Father in heaven, for in Christ you are the very image of God. God does not see your many sins, your numerous imperfections, your constant failings. He sees Christ, and it's like looking in a mirror.
It was in the hope of such a day that Adam bore his son, Seth. And in the hope of such a day, not yet having received what was promised, Adam died.
And with Adam's death, the refrain begins. "and he died." "and he died." "and he died." Adam lives to a ripe old age, 930 years!, But he dies. He is able to bear a son in his image but he dies. He bears other sons and daughters but he dies. Seth lives to be 912 years but he dies. He bears Enosh and other sons and daughters but he dies. Enosh lives 905 years but he dies. He bears Cainan and other sons and daughters but he dies. Cainan lives 910 years but he dies. He bears Mahalalel and other sons and daughters but he dies. Mahalalel lives 895 years but he dies. He bears Jared and other sons and daughters but he dies. Jared lives 962 years (!!!!) but he dies. He bears Enoch and other sons and daughters but he dies.
This is death, the opposite of that eternal rest God had promised. This is death, the ultimate consequence of sin. This is death, the worst and seemingly permanent effect of the curse. What good is it for the offspring of the woman, the children of faith, to be born if they must die? What good is it for them to be in the image of God if they go down to the dust. They go down to the dust, and will the dust praise God? "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?" David the psalmist will later cry. "Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? 10Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!" (Psalm 30.9ff.)
When will an offspring of woman be born who does not die? When will an offspring be born who reverses the curse, who does not suffer the consequences of sin, who enters God's eternal rest?
With each successive birth, these witnesses strain and yearn for the day of Christ. And with each successive death, they demonstrate that it has not yet come. Yet still they hope. Yet still they believe. Yet still they bear children, resting in the promise of God. They do not bear these children merely to see them returned to the dust. They bear them in hope of a day when death will not reign.
And so, like Adam, though they are dead, by faith they still speak. Across the centuries they testify to you that the offspring of the woman is the only answer and the only hope. However glorious their lives may have been, if death has the final word, they lived for nothing! But they did not live for nothing! Christ, the offspring of the woman, has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of all who have fallen asleep.
Hear this testimony, child of God, and value your Savior! They never saw this Savior, yet they loved him from afar and waited for his day. You know him, for you live in the day of his glory and rest in his love and take confidence in his might. What they longed for, you have received.
Therefore, you also bear children in hope. Bear children in hope that you may offer them to God as precious lambs who belong to the Son of God, the offspring of the woman, Jesus your Lord. You do not bear them to hand them over to sin and death in despair. You bear these precious little ones that you may train them to know their Savior and to marvel that they have received what all these children of Adam were waiting for-Christ himself.
Therefore, you also live in hope. The curse shall not have the victory, though it may appear to. Poor health may plague you. Pain and sorrow may overwhelm you. Death itself may seem to overtake you. Yet live like these children of Adam, as though the curse and death itself do not have the final word. They lived such lives, knowing that the offspring of the woman would come. With what greater confidence may you live such lives, knowing that he is here!
Even in the passage we see a foreshadowing of the day that Christ brings with him. We hear the numbing refrain "And he died" again and again. And then … we don't. Enoch is born and he does not die. The phrase "And he died" does not occur. What a sweet relief that is! What a burden that repeated sentence was! How lovely to have that sentence lifted.
Enoch also bears a child, Methuselah, in hope. And then Enoch does not die. Enoch, our passage says, "walked with God" (v. 24). That is, Enoch had fellowship with God. Enoch had, by God's pure grace, what Adam forfeited when he sinned, an intimate relationship with his Maker. And then … "he was not, for God took him." God invited Enoch into his own presence. Enoch went up into the eternal rest without seeing death.
By this he obtained a testimony that he pleased God.
How? How did this sinner please God? How did this human marked for death become caught up into eternal life?
By faith.
By faith he endured as seeing him who is unseen and was one day caught up into his presence. (This is what Hebrews 11 tells us.) And when we say "by faith" we don't mean that Enoch just gritted his teeth and tried really hard to believe. Faith is nothing in itself, but derives all its power from its object. That object of faith is Christ. Enoch by faith laid hold of Christ, the offspring of the woman who was to come, and so by faith he received and advance payment on the gift that Christ would bring-victory over death.
Compare him to the other Enoch (4:17). Enoch, son of Cain, lives in the city his father built that was named after him. He is a child of this earth, his home and hope are here
He wants nothing more than to live happily and to die at a very old age. He has no hope of heaven no desire of fellowship with God. His city came, and it is gone, crushed to nothing by the flood of God's judgment. And Enoch, son of Cain, is gone with it. So much for what this world offers.
But this Enoch, here in chapter 5 in the genealogy of Adam, where is his city? Here, he has none. H he is looking for the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. The children of Cain can make this life as comfortable as they want; Enoch will wait for what God brings, which lasts forever.
So Enoch has the privilege of being a testimony of faith in Christ. And he has the privilege of being a picture of Christ himself. Enoch is not the true offspring of the woman who will conquer death and sin. But in one important way, he looks like him. Like his Savior, Enoch has a sort of victory over death and goes into the presence of God. His very biography is a testimony that God will keep his promise and bring true victory over sin and death.
Believe, then, the biography of Enoch. Believe the testimony of his life. Was Enoch sad because he only had 365 years in this world and his son Methuselah had 969? Did Enoch feel cheated? You know that he did not. He valued the things that are above, and so had nothing to cling to in this world. He was delighted to be brought into the presence of God where all his treasure was.
Children of God, do not cling to the treasures of this world and the pleasures of this life, as though you were Enoch, son of Cain. But like Enoch, son of Adam, commit yourself to the life that is to come so that, if you were taken up into it now, you would lose nothing and gain everything.
Children of God, how much more confidence may we have, even than Enoch. Enoch set aside this world, knowing that the promises of God would be fulfilled. You may set aside this world, knowing that all the promises of God are "yes" in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not fear to lose anything, even life itself, if only you may gain Christ.
As we noted, Enoch's victory over death is not the true and final victory that comes in Christ. So death reigns after Enoch's victory just as much as before. Enoch's son lives to a ripe old age-969 years!-but he dies. And the refrain of "And he died" starts up again.
Methuselah has a son, Lamech, borne in the hope that the offspring of the woman would come. Then Methuselah dies. Lamech also bears a son, Noah, in hope. The name "Noah" is itself a name of hope, for "Noah" means "rest" or "comfort." Lamech explains the name and the hope in this way, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed."
When God came in judgment against Adam's sin, he cursed the ground. He said, "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19In 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."
Lamech expresses his hope that Noah will be the offspring of the woman, the one who will turn back that curse, thus granting rest and comfort to his people. Perhaps with Noah, the day will come when toil is no longer miserable and futile. Lamech's hope, then, ultimately is not that crops will grow without difficulty, but that death itself shall be overthrown. For the greatest curse on the ground is that the children of Adam who were taken from it will return to it.
Compare this Lamech to the one in chapter 4. That Lamech is content with this life and brags about his own power. ""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. 24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold" (Gen 4:23,24). That Lamech uses the curse to his advantage by killing others. That Lamech despises the judgment of God and thinks he can do better. That Lamech is a true son of his father, Cain, a son of this world, offspring of the serpent.
This Lamech, the son of Adam, looks at this world and says it is not enough, for it is cursed. By faith he cries out to God in the naming of his son. "Give us rest! Give us comfort! Restore what we have lost because of Adam's sin!" And in that hope, Lamech died, 777 years old.
Hear him! What this world offers is not enough, nor can it be! Cling to the one who offers you comfort and rest from the terrible curse. Lamech longed for the day of Christ and died without seeing it. You live in the day of Christ. Be glad! The toils and miseries of this life are nothing! Already you know that they do not have the final word. Already you know that Christ, your comforter and rest-giver, the true Noah has arrived and accomplished his work. Therefore put sin and despair behind you and wait patiently for the day of his appearing.
In a way, Lamech got his wish, didn't he? For in Noah's day, the wicked were destroyed by the judgment of God in a great flood. In Noah's day, the world was washed clean and a new creation was ushered in. Noah, like Christ, passed through the judgment of God and emerged unscathed.
Yet Noah is not Christ, the true offspring of the woman. Noah is a sinner. Noah will die. The new creation that Noah brings in will turn out to be no better than the old one. For all its glory, what happens to Noah is only a picture of the reality that has come in Christ Jesus.
Yet what a glorious picture! With good reason does the passage culminate with the arrival of Noah and his sons. It is as though all of history has been straining forward to the day of Noah and we breathe a sigh of relief when it arrives.
And in reality, of course, all of history was straining forward to the day of Christ. You live in that day! Rejoice and be glad! Love the world that is to come. Like Adam, do not be overwhelmed by the greatness of the curse, but live in the knowledge that the curse has been overcome. Like Enoch, do not love the world and all it offers you. You are not children of Cain. Rather love the world that is to come and walk in fellowship with God in Christ as you wait for that world to appear. Then sin shall have no hold on you, for Christ has triumphed over sin. And like Lamech, do not be deceived by this life as though things can be happy enough and good enough here. But rest in the one who gives you rest. Take comfort in him when the curse seems to have the victory, and know that the victory of Christ has been won. All this shall certainly be made apparent in the day of Christ Jesus. Amen.