Adam's Descendents (Gen 5)
Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
If you haven’t already, please turn you Bible to Genesis 5.
As you have probably already noticed, we’re in a precarious chapter in the book of Genesis. I say that it is precarious for two primary reasons: (1) it is a passage that (for most people) is skipped in the Bible. A lot of people see passages like this and they aren’t really sure what to do with it between stumbling over the names and not quite understanding what the point of the passage is—so, they skip the chapter and they continue with the narrative in ch. 6. (2) Because the point of a passage like this is often unknown to people, most people struggle to find any application out of a passage like this—it might be read, but more than likely the response is, “oh, that’s nice” and then we continue through to the narrative in ch. 6. So, it makes a passage like this rather difficult.
Now, for some folks, a passage like this becomes an exercise in their ability to intellectually connect dots, so they can spend days just trying to tie the names to their historical account in Scripture, but let me simply assure you that to do that isn’t actually the point of the passage. It might seem like a good idea because you might not understand the actual point of it being here, but the point isn’t to go through each name, look them up, and then go and read their account in Scripture.
Rather, there are specific purposes for passages like Genesis 5—occasionally, these passages, which are known as genealogies simply bolster the historicity of the Bible—or, in other words, some genealogies are in Scripture simply to add credibility to what the Bible says (for instance, seeing that Adam and Eve had children named Cain and Abel; and then eventually Seth show us that Adam and Eve were real people; and thus, the coming of sin into the lives of Adam and Eve then continues down their family tree eventually even to us). Occasionally, genealogies are used in the Bible to confirm prophecy, as we see in the Gospel according to Matthew and Luke—it is Jesus’ genealogy that confirms Old Testament prophecy and proves to us that Jesus is genuinely Messiah. A handful of times, genealogies are used to provide insight into the character of God like when we read Jabez’s prayer for God’s blessing in which God gives, which is recorded in the middle of a genealogy.
Or, in other words, when we come to a passage like Genesis 5, we must remember that it is a part of Scripture and as 2 Timothy 3:16–17 says “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” And this statement concerning all Scripture being profitable includes genealogies in Scripture.
So, the question for a passage like this, the real question concerning a genealogy like this, is what does this passage show us? And let me be abundantly clear, it isn’t just a simple list of names and numbers, there is a purpose here and the purpose for this passage relates to the overarching theme of Genesis and the overarching message of the Bible, but I’ll get back to that idea later on.
As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) God is Merciful even in the Midst of our Sin (1-27) and (2) God is Gracious even in the Midst of our Sin (28-32). Now, you probably just heard me make those two statements and it might not connect in your mind to the passage yet, but you’ll see these ideas as we continue through the passage—that even when we sin, God is still merciful and He is still gracious.
Prayer for Illumination
God is Merciful even in the Midst of our Sin (1-27)
God is Merciful even in the Midst of our Sin (1-27)
Our text starts with a simple statement, “This is the book of the generations of Adam,” which simply clues us into three different ideas:
First, that this is a record and not a continuation of the previous narrative.
This is important because it changes the way that we interpret the passage in contrast to the passages before and the passages after this point.
The passages surrounding ch. 5 are primarily narrative with a hint of poetry, which we interpret as narrative with a hint of poetry; this passage is not narrative nor is it poetry and to treat it exactly like we would treat narrative or poetry would cause us to come to some unusual ideas about what this passage means.
No, this is an historical record and we need to interpret it as an historical record.
Second, this statement tells us that this historical record concerns something about Adam. We’re told that it concerns Adam’s genealogy or his family tree or what we might call his lineage.
This is important because we know that Adam and Eve are responsible for the advent of sin into the world; and we know that the curse that was given because of the advent of sin continues through the lineage of Adam and Eve’s children (we call this the idea of original sin that sin is passed on through the generations.
We also call this the idea of Adam being our federal head, which simply means that as the first man, Adam acted as representative of the human race; so, when he sinned, all of mankind fell into sin.
This idea is elaborated on by Paul in Romans 5:12-14, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned-for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not counted e against anyone when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the violation committed by Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” (NASB)
Or, in other words, because Adam and Eve sinned, sin is passed along to their children, who we now read about in Genesis 5.
Third, from this simple statement that this is a record of the generations of Adam, we see a connection to the previous chapters and the later chapters of Genesis.
This isn’t the first time that the terminology of generations is used in Genesis nor will it be the last.
The first time we see this concept, “these are the generations of” is in Genesis 2 when we’re told that “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth” before reading about God’s act of creation.
The idea of generations continues (and on the screen you can see a list of passages that include this terminology) in 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 9, and 37:2.
Now, this might seem like a minor detail, but this detail clues us into the meaning of this passage, which will then help us to apply it, but we’ll get back to that a little later.
As our text continues, it reminds us of the historical background leading up to this point, that “God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”
It reminds us that Adam and Eve had children, but note that it doesn’t mention Cain and Abel.
V. 3 simply tells us that Adam “fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”
V. 4 tells us that Adam continued his life having other sons and daughters before telling us of his death in v. 5.
This pattern of pointing out how long the person lived before having a son and then telling us how long they lived after having their son continues throughout the rest of the text with a few details that are worth noting.
We see in v. 6 that Seth fathered Enosh; and then v. 9, Enosh fathers Kenan; v. 12, Kana fathers Mahalalel; v. 15, Mahalalel fathers Jared; v. 18, Jared fathered Enoch; v. 21, Enoch father Methuselah; v. 25, Methuselah fathered Lamech; 28, Lamech fathered Noah.
Note a couple details from these verses:
First, as we continue through the genealogy, the amount of years that a person lives is slowly declining; I say slowly because it’s more of the average that’s declining rather than a steady decline (though, if you notice Lamech’s life is quite a bit shorter than his own father’s).
That average of lifespan will continue to lessen as we continue in the Bible, the effects of sin will continue to degrade the lifespan of mankind.
Second, there is someone here that doesn’t actually die, vv. 21-24 talk about Enoch who lived 365 years before God simply took him.
Third, it would be beneficial for you to know that these aren’t linear timeframes—meaning, many of these people are living at the same time, which is important to know because it helps us to better organize the details in our mind.
Now, I hope that as we’ve quickly worked through this part of the passage that you reflected a bit on how big of a deal it is that the lineage of Adam and Eve is even possible. Let’s take a step back:
When God places Adam and Eve in the garden He tells them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if they do, they will surely die.
That statement alone doesn’t necessarily provide a timeframe for the death that they are to experience—all it does is provide the truth that they will die.
And God as the only holy, righteous, and completely just being at the beginning of time has the right and the authority to simply end Adam and Eve as soon as they break that command.
And yet, He doesn’t—He shows them mercy.
They deserve immediate death for their transgression, but He chooses not to enact justice at that very moment.
Rather, He allows them to continue their life albeit outside of the garden in a world that isn’t quite as good as it was created to be.
And despite the impending physical death, He promises them a spiritual life through the seed of the woman.
He’s being merciful despite their sin.
He’s being merciful even in the midst of our sin.
Now, let’s take a few minutes to take a closer look at the last five verses of the passage; I’m going to re-read those for us.
God is Gracious even in the Midst of our Sin (28-32)
God is Gracious even in the Midst of our Sin (28-32)
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The passage ends by calling our attention to someone in particular. Lamech has a son named Noah and he says this about his son, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
Lamech is actually giving us the reasoning for Noah’s name. His name is Noah because he shall bring them relief or rest—Noah sounds like the Hebrew word for rest.
Now, that might sound unusual in that we know that Noah doesn’t necessarily provide rest in the same sense that we would think of rest—in fact, Noah experiences essentially the effects of God’s wrath on sin, not on himself, but on mankind who was known for being notoriously wicked and corrupt.
And if we’re looking purely on that one event—the flood, we’ll find it rather difficult to understand how Lamech would think of Noah’s situation as that of comfort, but if we think about God’s blessing on Noah, it aids in our understanding of what Lamech meant.
The flood itself is not what gives relief or rest, it’s the saving of Noah and his family on the ark through the flood waters that gives rest.
Or, in other words, it is God’s saving of Noah’s life (and his family’s lives) that provides the rest or the relief that Lamech is looking forward to and hoping in.
Now, again, that might sound unusual, but take a step back and consider the promise of God to Eve in the garden despite mankind’s sin—that through Eve’s seed, Messiah would come.
And then consider what life was like in Genesis 5-6 when the effects of sin had taken root in mankind and people were progressively succumbing to their sins further and further into degradation and into the consequences of sin.
So much so, that Genesis 6:5 says that the wickedness of man was so great that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
It was through the flood that God enacted judgment concerning the evil of mankind, which still doesn’t quite sound like rest or the relief that Lamech was talking about concerning Noah until we remember that God provided Noah and His family safe passage through this judgment.
Noah’s family experienced rest and relief despite the judgment of God surrounding them.
Likewise, despite the judgment of God and the wrath of God being poured out onto those surrounding them, it is through the lineage of Noah that Messiah is born.
It is through Noah’s lineage that we all experience true rest and relief.
It is through Noah’s lineage, which ties back through to Adam and Eve’s lineage, which ties forward to the lineage of Jesus that we all experience grace despite our sins.
Or, in other words, let’s take a step back and look at the overarching storyline of Scripture.
Let’s consider Genesis 5 in light of the overarching storyline of Scripture.
In Genesis 2, we see God create mankind and place Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden that was very good.
In Genesis 3, we see mankind sin and we see that sin start to effect every aspect of all of creation, but we also see God’s promise to make all things new and right again; to make everything very good.
In Genesis 4, we see Cain and Abel, which shows us how mankind is progressively getting worse and worse.
Today, we read a genealogy that shows us the timeline from Adam and Eve to Noah.
From this point on throughout the Old Testament, we see this lineage continue.
The rest of Genesis shows us what happens as this lineage grows and expands—and really, the rest of the Pentateuch, the five books written by Moses, continues this path.
As we continue through the historical books of the Old Testament, we see how that lineage includes the nation of Israel. The wisdom books then show us different ideas concerning how they are meant to view life and how they were to worship the Lord.
The major and minor prophets are people chosen by God to confront this lineage of Adam and Eve concerning their veering from the truth in hopes of bringing them back to where they were supposed to be.
In the overarching storyline of Scripture, Genesis 5 stands as a testament of God’s gracious willingness to keep His word.
It is a reminder that even when we sin, God is still working things out to fulfill His purpose.
It is a reminder that even when we aren’t faithful to Him, He is still faithful to HIs people.
It is a statement that even when we sin, we don’t thwart God’s plan for us, everything that He has promised will actually happen.
Which leads us to our application for this morning. Genealogies can be tough passages of Scripture to understand and most people tend to just skip over and yet, I think you can already see how a passage like this can teach us and reprove us, and correct us, and train us in righteousness. A passage like Genesis 5 shows us God’s goodness and His mercy and His grace.
And again, I want us to look at the overarching storyline of Scripture particularly the things that have occured prior to this point in Genesis 5.
Application
Application
Consider all the sin issues that we’ve witnessed in Scripture so far. In Genesis 1-4, we’ve witnessed the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden, we’ve witnessed the sin of Cain against Abel (the murder of his brother), we’ve witnessed the sins of Lamech (both the marrying of multiple wives and the murder that he admits to them). And according to the Bible, mankind is progressively getting worse and worse as sin continues to have its effects on us and God’s creation around us. What Genesis 5 teaches us is that despite all these different sins being committed, God is still merciful and God is still gracious.
He’s merciful in that He doesn’t immediately enact justice upon those that sin.
It is completely within His right and it is His prerogative to enact justice the moment anyone sins because He created all things including us—thus, He inherently has a right to dictate right and wrong and the punishments for sin.
It is completely within His power to enact justice immediately because He is the only being with the authority to enact eternal and spiritual judgment upon man for their sins.
Likewise, because He is holy and righteous, He is the only being who can do this immediately and be completely right in His judgment of mankind.
And yet, He doesn’t because He is merciful.
Mercy, of course, is the idea that though we are deserving of punishment for our sins, He withholds the judgment until a later time. Mercy is God choosing to not give us what we actually deserve.
God is absolutely merciful and we experience His mercy every time we sin and He doesn’t immediately strike us down as punishment for what we do in rebellion against Him.
God is gracious in that even though it may appear as if all is lost, God is still fulfilling His promise as seen through the genealogy.
After all that happened with Adam and Even, Cain and Abel, and the continued growth of sin in mankind in Genesis 1-4, one could make the assumption that all is lost and there’s nothing that can be done.
And yet, we still see God working through the lives of these people; and we still can trace the fulfillment of God’s promise to Eve through these generations.
We still see Messiah born of a virgin in a manger several thousand years after Genesis 5 to live a perfect and sinless life and to die on a cross as a substitutionary atonement for the sins of those who believe.
We still see Jesus being buried, but then rising from the grave and reigning at the right hand of the Father.
And we still see that as God works all these things out to fulfill His promise, mankind is living in a way that is still in rebellion against God throughout the Bible.
We see even the men and women that Hebrews 11 call faithful struggling with temptation and falling into sin.
We see this cycle of Israel turning away from God, being temporally judged for their sin, before repenting and returning to God over and over throughout the Old Testament.
And yet, God still bestows grace upon His people, as Ephesians 1:7-8, which speaking of Jesus says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.”
Jesus pours out His grace abundantly on His people through the salvation that He gives His people.
Even when we stumble in sin and struggle to follow Him as we should, God gives us more grace.
God is merciful and He is gracious.
Now, consider your own life—we all struggle with sin and we all struggle with the temporal consequences of our sin.
There’s no point in trying to deny it, Paul says it best when he makes the statement that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Likewise, David makes a clear statement in Psalm 53 concerning the sinful nature of mankind, “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God, [but no] they have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
We all struggle with sin and truthfully, we all succumb to our own sinful desire more often than what most of us would really want to admit. To the extent that some of us struggle with understanding how God could possibly want us or how could God possibly use in to fulfill His purpose.
And yet, God is merciful and He is gracious, and through His Son, Jesus Christ; He has provided for us the solution to our sin—and it’s Him.
And in His mercy and in His grace, He still chooses us—to work in and to work through.
It is a lie of the devil to assume or to think that your sin prevents God from using you through your life and it doesn’t take much to find examples of God utilizing sinful people in Scripture to achieve His own purposes:
You can see these examples throughout both Old and New Testaments—God uses people like David who murdered and was an adulterer to lead His people.
He uses people like Peter who had a continuous problem of putting his foot in his mouth and speaking before he should’ve to spread the Gospel amongst the Jews.
God only ever uses people who aren’t great and He equips them to fulfill His purposes.
God only ever uses people who struggle with sin to fulfill His purposes and He is jealously yearning for His people despite their sin.
God in His mercy and in His grace, still chooses you and still works in you and still works through you. Your sin doesn’t stop God from fulfilling what He has purposed for your life. Consider Psalm 135:5-6, “For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Your sin doesn’t stop God from doing exactly what He wants through you and in you. Likewise, your sin doesn’t stop God from achieving His promises for you.
What He has promised will occur, even when you struggle with your sin. What He has promised will happen despite your sins and your struggle with your sin.
Or, in other words, you’re not going to sin so much that all of a sudden, God can’t accomplish what He has already planned. We see those promises really in passages like Romans 8:28–30 “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
We see it in passages like Ephesians 1:11–14 “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
To those who believe and follow Jesus Christ, even if there’s a struggle with sin that seems unending, there is hope because God still will do what He says He will do and God still has the ability to accomplish His purposes for you and within you.
Now, that doesn’t give us an excuse to continue in our sins and Paul confronts that idea in Romans 6:1–12,“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died in sin still live in it? . . . We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin . . . you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.”
It is simply assurance that as a believer, your genuine struggle with sin will not prohibit God from working within you. Your sin will not thwart God’s plan for your life.
Your sin will not prevent God from holding you in His hand, from loving you, or from continuing the process of sanctification in your life.
What He has promised you (as well as all who genuinely believe in Him) through His Word is absolutely reliable because He, Himself is faithful.
As Hebrews 10:23 says, we ought to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
God is worth trusting and His promises are worth having faith in because He, Himself keeps His Word.
And even when we struggle with our sin, when we succumb to our sinful desires and appetites; even when life itself seems overwhelmingly difficult and hard, even when things don’t go our way, He is faithful to His people.
The prime example of this is Hosea who is told to marry a woman known for being adulterous—Hosea is told by God to marry a woman who God already knows won’t be faithful to Hosea.
And Hosea does, he marries Gomer, they have children, and Hosea’s wife continuously cheats on Hosea to the extent that she sells herself into slavery.
God uses the account of Hosea and Gomer—and Hosea’s willingness to keep loving Gomer despite her sin against him as a picture for how God pursues His people.
God uses the imagery of His people committing adultery, which is such a personal affront to show how He faithfully pursues His people even when His people choose to reject Him, even when His people choose to follow false gods, even when His people choose to continue in their sin rather than obey Him.
He is faithful to His people because He keeps His Word; and that makes Him abundantly worth our trust.
Put Simply, passages like Genesis 5 reminds us that God is still merciful and gracious; and God can still accomplish His purposes in your life and through your life despite your struggle with sin. Don’t allow Satan to convince you that your sin thwarts God’s ability to love you, to use you, and to grow you. Stop thinking that your struggle with sin prevents God from accomplishing His will in your life. Don’t allow your struggling with sin to hold you back; likewise, don’t think that God still holds you accountable for the sins that you’ve succumbed to; He is merciful and gracious and He has already forgiven you. Rather, keep the posture of repentance in your life, keep following Jesus, keep serving Him knowing that He is merciful, He is gracious, and He is faithful.
Pastoral Prayer
