ANCESTRY DOT GOD Every Word in the Bible Is Inspired • 2 Timothy 3:16 Tells Us All Scripture Is God Breathed G
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__________________________________________________ GENESIS INTRODUCTION: ANCESTRY DOT GOD Every word in the Bible is inspired • 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us all scripture is God breathed • Tonight we are going to look at the first genealogies in the Bible... the genealogy of Cain and the genealogy of Abel • Before we do, I want to establish the importance of genealogies? • Why should we care? The first reason is because genealogies demonstrate the historical accuracy of the Bible • Every name in a genealogy is a person who existed in history • By knowing family histories, we can trace the historical accuracy and truth of the scripture • Adam was an actual man and Eve was an actual woman and together they made real babies and had actual descendants • We also see through the genealogy the actual consequences of sin Second, genealogies confirm prophecy • The Bible tells us Messiah would be a descendant of Adam and would crush Satan’s skull • Luke’s genealogy in Luke 3:23-38 shows the lineage of Jesus through Mary all the way back to Adam • Thus confirming the prophecy given in Genesis 3:15 • The Davidic Covenant says Messiah would be a descendant of David and both Matthew and Luke demonstrate Jesus’ connection to David proving Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy Third, genealogies demonstrate God’s loves for people • Every name tells a story and every name is important to God • God didn’t call a nation, He called people who formed a nation and the detail of listing individual names shows how God selected each person with precision and detail • In the genealogy of Jesus, we even read names with questionable character • Jacob stole his brother’s birthright • Rahab was a prostitute • David committed adultery and murder THROUGH THE BIBLE / GENESIS © 2019 Holland Davis __________________________________________________ GENESIS • Solomon disobeyed God by taking foreign wives and allowing idolatry • Ruth wasn’t even a Hebrew, she was a Moabite • Yet, God included them in the lineage of Messiah • The first genealogy we come to is the genealogy of Cain But first... we need to answer the question... what happened to Cain? • Last time we covered vs. 1-15 where Cain murder’s Abel • Cain is cursed from the ground for murdering Abel meaning the ground will no longer produce crops for Cain • Now, this wasn’t a curse from God... this is the response of the ground to Cain’s actions • This makes sense given the fact that God is sovereign and as a sovereign God has the right and authority to make law and the power to enforce law The laws of nature include consequences for breaking God’s law • Leviticus 18:28 says if you defile the land, it will vomit you out • Leviticus 26:21-22 says if you walk contrary to God will beasts will come among you and rob you of your children, destroy your livestock and make you few in number • 2 Kings 17:25 we see this law of nature implemented after the King of Assyria removed the Israelites from the Northern Kingdom and settled the land with pagans who walked contrary to God • Lions came in and began killing the people... so the King of Assyria brought back priests to teach the people how to fear the Lord and the attacks stopped • Although Cain predates the law, the laws that govern nature are in place and the consequence for cursing the ground with Abel’s blood are informed by God and implemented... • The ground will no longer produce crops for Cain God says to Cain... you will be a fugitive and a vagabond • A fugitive lives in fear and wanders from place to place to avoid punishment • A vagabond is someone who wanders aimlessly and has no home • The Lord set a mark of protection on Cain to assure him that no one will seek vengeance on him • There is nothing in scripture that tells us what this mark was THROUGH THE BIBLE / GENESIS © 2019 Holland Davis __________________________________________________ GENESIS • The 5th century book “The Armenian Apocryphal Adam Literature” teaches the mark of Cain is black skin • Augustine connected the mark of Cain to the observance of Jewish Law • Isidore of Seville believed the mark of Cain was circumcision • The Midrash teaches Cain grew a horn as a mark of identity and a defensive weapon • It also teaches the mark of Cain was a guard dog • The Zohar (Kabbalah) suggests God inscribed a letter on Cain’s arm... this would be the first tattoo in the Bible • A Targum (an Aramaic paraphrase of the Bible) suggests God inscribed His name YWHW on Cain’s forehead • We don’t know... we’re not told... but I wanted to give you an idea of how man’s imagination can create doctrines that are not backed by scripture • When you move away from scripture and teach your experience or teach your opinion as doctrine... you’re on dangerous ground • Paul said even if we or an angel of heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8) • The Bible is the standard that we measure everything by... spiritual experiences, opinions, doctrines, angelic visitations, visions, dreams or church practices... • If it’s not main and plain in scripture it’s not doctrine, it’s just opinion Genesis 4:16 (NKJV) 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. • This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible • Cain went out from the Presence of the Lord and enters a life of alienation from God • God says I will be hidden from your face... you will lose your consciousness of God, your awareness of God • Cain dwells east of Eden of the land of Nod (Node) • Nod means “wandering” and here we see the establishment of the first human civilization inspired by Satan and seeking to live independently of God and the Bible defines this as walking in darkness • To walk in darkness is to live without any awareness of God THROUGH THE BIBLE / GENESIS © 2019 Holland Davis __________________________________________________ GENESIS 1 John 2:11 (NKJV) 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. • The natural man is blinded by darkness, does not know where he is going, has no awareness of his eternal purpose • The person who hates, dislikes, has an aversion to his brother is in darkness and lives without any awareness of God • The natural man is not conscious of God’s love for him • Like Cain, they are wandering through life, living in fear and this produces in man a deep insecurity and a sense of worthlessness... I’m not worthy • As we said last time... whenever man moves towards the east, He is moving away from God Genesis 4:17 (NKJV) 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. • Cain knew his wife and she conceived... where did Cain’s wife come from? • Genesis 3:20 says Eve is the mother of all living • We are also told that Adam lived over 900 years • If Eve pumped out a baby every 9 months... that would be over 1200 kids • Most likely, Cain married one of the daughters of Adam mentioned in Genesis 5:4 • Bible critics quickly point out this would result in genetic problems • But we must understand that in the first generations, all marriages were from one set of parents... Adam and Eve • Because the blood line was initially pure, there were no mutant genes and thus no genetic harm could have resulted from the first marriages • It’s not until the time of Moses, many generations later, that mutations had accumulated to the point that such unions were genetically dangerous so incest was prohibited in the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 18:9) • Genesis 4:17-24 contains the genealogy of Cain and the accomplishments of his descendants THROUGH THE BIBLE / GENESIS © 2019 Holland Davis __________________________________________________ GENESIS • This is symbolic of the power of human achievement living independently of God and not recognizing His sovereignty over the affairs of man as a result of being deceived by Satan Cain’s first son is Enoch • In the Hebrew it’s Chanock and it means initiated or dedicated one • This is not the same Enoch that we read about in Genesis 5:18-24 who was a prophet and walked with God • This Enoch was an unbeliever and did not worship God • Cain attempted to build the first city and named it after his son Enoch, signifying Cain was “establishing” life on his own terms in defiance of God • Remember God said... you would be a fugitive and a vagabond • Now I say he attempted to build the city because in the Hebrew, the verb “to build” is in the participle form and the Hebrew participle expresses a type of verbal action... such as running or studying • Thus, this is better translated Cain was building a city, he didn’t complete it • The word city refers to a walled city or a fortress, which suggests he didn’t believe God would protect him and so he built a fortress to protect himself • NOTICE: Cain honored himself by naming the city after his son, rather than honor the Lord... a practice that man continues to this day Genesis 4:18 (NKJV) 18 To Enoch was born Irad (“ee-rawd” translated “fugitive”); and Irad begot Mehujael (“meck-oo-yaw-ale” translated “smitten by God”), and Mehujael begot Methushael (“meth-oo-shaw-ale” translated “man who is of God”), and Methushael begot Lamech (“leh-mek” translated “one who brings low or humiliates”) • The name Lamech indicates he was a tyrant and he leads the Cainites in open rebellion against God, manifested by Lamech taking two wives Genesis 4:19–22 (NKJV) 19 Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah (“aw-daw” translated “ornament”), and the name of the second was Zillah (“Tsil-law” translated “shade or shadow” referring to something transitory).