Genesis 17– The Covenant with Abraham

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.

Here is some information on covenants in the Bible.

BIBLICAL COVENANTS

A. Definition of a covenant: an arrangement or agreement

B. Two Classifications

1. Conditional covenants

“One in which God’s action is made to be contingent upon some action on the part of those to whom the covenant is addressed.” – Chafer

2. Unconditional covenants

“A declaration on the part of God as to what He is going to do and is made without reference to human action, purpose, or merit.”– Chafer 11

C. Major Covenants in Scripture

1. ADAMIC covenant (Gen 1:26-31; 2:16,17) – This was a conditional covenant “with Adam in which life and blessing or death and cursing were made to depend on the faithfulness of Adam. Human failure followed and the terms of the covenant were executed in righteousness.” – Chafer

2. Covenant with FALLEN MAN (Gen 3:16-19) – “This is an unconditional covenant in which God declares to man what his lot in life will be because of his sin.” – Chafer

3. NOAHIC covenant (Gen 9:1-18 – esp. v. 9-11) – An unconditional covenant that promised mankind that the world would never again be destroyed by water.

4. ABRAHAMIC covenant (Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:1-7; 17:1-8) –

a. Provision:

i. Individual promise made to Abraham that he would become a great nation. Emphasis is on his seed.

ii. National promise to Abraham’s seed. Emphasis is on the land.

iii. Universal promise – blessing for all nations.

b. Character: It is an unconditional, eternal covenant (Gen 15:18; 17:7).

5. MOSAIC covenant (Ex 20:1-31:18) –A conditional covenant where God is basically saying to Israel that if they keep His commandments He would bless them, if they do not keep His commandments, He would curse them (see Deut 28:1-62, esp. 63-68).

6. PALESTINIAN covenant (Deut 28-30; esp. 30:1-10) –

a. Importance:

i. Reaffirms to Israel the title deed to Palestine. (Israel had been out of the land for over 400 years.)

ii. It pointed to the Mosaic covenant. This covenant did not set aside God’s promises to Abraham.

iii. It confirms and enlarges upon the provisions of the Abrahamic covenant.

b. Provisions of this covenant (Deut 30:1-10):

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i. The nation will be removed from the land for unfaithfulness (Deut 30:1-3).

ii. There will be a repentance of the nation (30:1-3).

iii. Israel will be restored to the land (Deut 30:3-6).

iv. Israel will be converted as a nation (30:6, 8).

v. Enemies of Israel will be judged (30:7).

vi. Israel will receive her full blessing (30:9).

c. Character of this covenant:

i. Unconditional (Ezek 16:60)

ii. Eternal (Ezek 16:60)

iii. Conditional blessings (Deut 30:10)

iv. Amplification of Abrahamic covenant

7. DAVIDIC covenant (II Sam 7:4-17) –

a. Importance: Guarantees to Israel a King and a Kingdom.

b. Provisions:

i. David is promised an unending royal lineage, a throne, and a kingdom – all of which are to endure forever.

ii. Jehovah reserved the right to interrupt the actual reign of David’s sons if chastisement is required (II Sam 7:14,15; Ps 89:20-37).

iii. But the perpetuity of the covenant cannot be broken.

iv. Christ will yet sit on this Throne (Lk 1:31-33). This is an eternal, unconditional covenant (Ps 89; Isa 55:3; Ezek 37:25; Lk 1:31-33).

8. NEW covenant –

a. Guarantees Israel that God is going to yet work with them. God is going to give them a new heart – based on blood – anticipates the death of Christ (Jeremiah 30-33).

b. Provisions (Jeremiah 31:31-34):

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i. God is going to give Israel a new mind and a new heart (31:33).

ii. Restoration to the favor and blessings of God (Hosea 2:19,20).

iii. Forgiveness of sin (31:34).

iv. Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (31:33 see II Cor 3:3,6).

v. Material blessing from the land (32:41).

vi. Sanctuary will be rebuilt in Jerusalem (Ezek 37:26,28).

vii. War will cease, peace will reign (Isa 2:4).

c. Character:

i. Eternal (Jer 31:36)

ii. Depends on God – not man (Jer 31:33)

iii. Unconditional covenant

Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael the command was issued to Abraham that he put the sign of the covenant upon his body and upon the bodies of the male members of his household. Abraham was reluctant at first to do the bidding of God, for he feared that the circumcision of his flesh would raise a barrier between himself and the rest of mankind. But God said unto him, “Let it suffice thee that I am thy God and thy Lord, as it sufficeth the world that I am its God and its Lord.”[123]

Abraham then consulted with his three true friends, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, regarding the command of the circumcision. The first one spoke, and said, “Thou art nigh unto a hundred years old, and thou considerest inflicting such pain upon thyself?” The advice of the second was also against it. “What,” said Eshcol, “thou choosest to mark thyself so that thy enemies may recognize thee without fail?” Mamre, the third, was the only one to advise obedience to the command of God. “God succored thee from the fiery furnace,” he said, “He helped thee in the combat with the kings, He provided for thee during the famine, and thou dost hesitate to execute His behest concerning the circumcision?[124] Accordingly, Abraham did as God had commanded, in bright daylight, bidding defiance to all, that none might say, “Had we seen him attempt it, we should have prevented him.”[125]

The circumcision was performed on the tenth day of Tishri, the Day of Atonement, and upon the spot on which the altar was later to be erected in the Temple, for the act of Abraham remains a never-ceasing atonement for Israel.[126]

The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg

Volume I

Bible Times and Characters from the Creation to Jacob

The Abrahamic Three-Fold Covenant was foundational to all other Biblical Covenants between Yahweh and His people:

• The promise of land: Israel’s possession of the Promised Land — Deuteronomy 30:1-10
• The promise of kingly descendants in the Davidic Covenant through which the Messiah is promised — 2 Samuel 7:12-16
• The promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham is fulfilled in the New Covenant in Christ — Jeremiah 31:31-40; Luke 22:17-20

As New Covenant believers we become the heirs of Abraham: Romans 9:6-8 “For not all Israelites are true Israelites nor are all Abraham’s descendants his children, but as Scripture says, ‘through Isaac shall your descendants be called.’ That means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; it is the children of the promise who are to be considered descendants.”

The Latter-day Saint definition of the Abrahamic Covenant goes further than the common definition shared by most Christians and Jews. According to Jewish tradition, Abraham is the father of the Jewish people, bound by covenant to keep the laws of God and bless the earth with their knowledge and talent. As part of the covenant, Abraham was assured numerous descendants and the Land of Canaan as a legacy for them. The token of the covenant was circumcision. According to Christian belief, loyalty to God and personal righteousness qualify a person as a child of Abraham. Thus, when Christ was teaching among the Jews, He counted his dedicated followers as “children of Abraham,” and claimed that the unrighteous, no matter what their lineage, could not be accepted into Abraham’s family.

For Latter-day Saints the Abrahamic Covenant is the covenant God made with Abraham, the great patriarch of the Old Testament, promising him and his literal and adopted descendants throughout the world all gospel blessings, including the priesthood and eternal life, if they are faithful. The Abrahamic covenant includes celestial marriage, which enables people to form eternal families. Another part of this covenant involves the eternal possession of the land of Canaan by Abraham and his righteous posterity. It also includes the foreknowledge of God that Abraham’s posterity would eventually be spread throughout the earth and would have a spiritual inclination to accept the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to share the gospel with all of mankind.

The Abrahamic covenant is introduced in Genesis 12 and Abraham 2 in the Pearl of Great Price, when the Lord told Abram (Abraham) to leave the land of his father (Ur, then Haran) and go into the land of Canaan, where “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

When Abraham arrived in Canaan, the Lord told him: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8).

The Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price adds additional insight into the covenant promises Jehovah made to Abraham:

And thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations; And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. (Abraham 2:9-11)

Mormonism teaches that Abraham was blessed with these covenant promises because he sought to regain the true priesthood and the true gospel possessed by his ancestors but lost through apostasy by his father’s people, and because he was willing to follow the Lord’s guidance and direction in all things, not withholding anything. Later, when he was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in similitude of the atoning sacrifice which God the Father offers to mankind through the sacrifice of His Beloved Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Abraham showed his willingness to obey that directive and his faith in the resurrection of his son, Isaac.

Abraham became, by example and by covenant, the “father of the faithful.” Mormonism explains that those who receive the “fullness of the everlasting gospel” and its covenants and priesthood have responded to spiritual promptings that Abraham was promised that his posterity and the Gentile nations among them would receive (See 3 Nephi 20:25-27).

The “everlasting possession” promised to Abraham’s seed is this earth, which will become the sanctified dwelling place of those who inherit eternal life through their faithfulness in all things (Doctrine and Covenants 130:9).

An interesting and inspiring insight gleaned from the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price is his “fore-ordination” to be a great prophet. In other words, the Lord knew Abraham in the pre-mortal world and chose him from His most illustrious spirit children for his calling on earth:

Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. (Abraham 3:22-23)

www.mormonwiki.com

Abrahamic religions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Abrahamic religions (also known as Abrahamic faiths, Abrahamic traditions,religions of Abraham and semitic religions) are historically the world’s three primarymonotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common origin and values. For some 1,300 years their histories and thought have been intertwined. They are considered inextricably linked to one another because of a ‘family likeness’ and a certain commonality in theology. They are faiths that recognize a spiritual tradition identified with Abraham. The sacred narratives of all three of these religions feature many of the same figures, histories and places in each, although they often present them with slightly different roles, perspectives and meanings.

Today, there are an estimated 3.8 billion followers of these three Abrahamic religions, accounting for more than half of the world’s population.

Recently, some have asserted that certain younger smaller religions qualify as Abrahamic, including the Bahá’í Faith.

Circumcision

This means “cutting around” and is considered a minor operation.

The oldest recordings of circumcision come from Egypt. There are also many myths and conceptions as to why different cultures would use circumcision.

1. A form of sacrifice to a god or goddess as an act of submission or for fertility
2. A mark of tribal identification
3. A rite of passage for adulthood
4. A means of humiliating or marking a slave or captured enemy

In Deuteronomy we learn that this is an outward sign that stood for an inward commitment

Deuteronomy 10:12-20

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

Paul also backs this up by giving us the spiritual implications.

Romans 2:25-29

For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

So we see that is the Old Testament was a picture book for us to learn from and that circumcision as a physical act was not as important as an inward act. But what of the fact that this was a ritual that occurred from the time of the commandment from God and is still a ritual that takes place today.

It would also seem that God meant what He said when He gave this commandment to Abraham

And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Exodus 4:24-26

And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

Moses had been sent by God to speak with Pharoah. Now this is after he learns that he is an Israelite but after he has children with Zipporah, a Midianite. They would only circumcise a male the night before marriage. The real truth is not known but it is speculated that Moses had not circumcised his son in order to appease his wife, yet this act of neglect was still deserving of death, which shows it’s seriousness to God.

Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggests

http://www.livescience.com/history/earliest-hebrew-text-100115.html

Interesting story about a recent finding

Genesis 16:6-9 Why are you running?

Gen 16:6  But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

Gen 16:7  And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

Gen 16:8  And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

Gen 16:9  And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

I would guess that this chapter would be the beginning documentation of one of the biggest controversies in the known world. We see here the beginning of the war of religion and birthright. On one side you have Abraham eventually giving birth to Isaac and the Jewish peoples and on the other we see Abraham giving birth to Ishmael and the Islamic nation thus entering these two nations into a war that has lasted to our generation with both sides claiming to have the official birthright to the land of Israel or Palestine depending on who you are talking too.

Gen 16:6  But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

Gen 16:7  And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur

Now Sarai has dealt harshly with her mistress, Hagar because of something that she actually started and now Hagar is running for her life. The angel of the Lord finds her in the wilderness by a spring.

Gen 16:8  And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

Gen 16:9  And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

On several occasions this passage states that the angel of the Lord spoke directly to Hagar. We know that this is not just an angel but THE angel of the Lord speaking to her. Some say that this is Jesus Christ and this is what would be called a Christophany, or an appearance of the incarnate Christ in the Old Testament and after His ascension in the New Testament.  Notice how the Lord always speaks directly. He never beats around the bush when He is dealing with people.

Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go?

He knows the answer to these questions but they are always for our own benefit.

Hagar tells Him that she is fleeing from her mistress. Perhaps she is reeling in the effects of hypocrisy shown her by her master and mistress. Two obviously blessed and Godly people. This leads me to a question:

Do we make unbelievers run or falter because of our own hypocrisy?  Do we make them run because we are running from the Lord? We all say things or do things from time to time where we don’t practice what we preach to people.

The fact is that we are all human and fallible and we do dumb things when we are acting out of selfishness and our own instincts.

Don’t judge others, don’t assume things about them, don’t act selfishly towards them but instead act and do everything out of love for them. Only when we can allow Jesus to work in and through us will people run to get others instead of running as far away from us as possible

Joh 4:5  Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Joh 4:6  Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

Joh 4:7  There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

Joh 4:8  (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Joh 4:9  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Joh 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Joh 4:11  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

Joh 4:12  Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Joh 4:15  The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Joh 4:16  Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

Joh 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

Joh 4:18  For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

Joh 4:19  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

Joh 4:20  Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Joh 4:25  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

Joh 4:26  Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Joh 4:27  And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

Joh 4:28  The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

Joh 4:29  Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

Joh 4:30  Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

Genesis Chapter 11:5-9 – The Confusion of All Things

Genesis 11: v5-9 The Confusion of All Things

 

5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

 7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

In this passage we see man coming together and beginning the task of staying together. We see man becoming one in every way.

Here is a profound statement by God concerning man and his potential. Now one might ask, “Why would God confound and confuse these people?”

Why would He turn what was called “The Gate of Deity” to “Confusion” ?

“Why would He scatter them just because it seems that they are doing something together?”

Why is God being so harsh on these people?

Here are a few reasons:

1)  Man was evil from the beginning – Genesis 3

 

 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Mankind did not need the serpent to force them to sin. They willfully took from the tree because man has always been only interested in SELF! Even before sin was released into the world!

God says something similar toward mankind that we see in our recent episode.

22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

God had to save mankind from himself and it was through His mercy that we are not eternally lost because of our self love

2)  Man is continually evil – Genesis 6:5-7

 

5 Then the LORD^[b] saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

First God has sent man out of his original beautiful garden for his own good. Now man has become so corrupt that God has to destroy him in order to save him from self again. It is out of shear mercy that God takes man back down in order to keep him from becoming so deplorable that he has no hope.

3) Man will always be evil – Genesis 11

 

Now we come to our most recent episode of the depravity of mankind. Man has come together under the rule of Nimrod and because man has become so perverse again, God must do something about it in order to save him. It is also evident that man needed to scatter over the earth because, had he not, there would not have been an avenue, physically for the Promised Seed to be born. Evidently they were all together and had to be separated and repopulated

So we see that in Genesis 3, the Savior is promised.

In Genesis 6, it seems that the bloodline of the Savior is purposely muddled and mankind needed to be brought back to one line, Noah

And now man is scattered so that the lineage of the Savior can be brought forth.

We can learn something from this episode today. In chapter 11 man has come together, not for God, not for a good cause, but to promote self and become gods. Man is in the process of his self love and God just would stand in the way of that.

Yet what could we do as the church, if we, who call Jesus Lord, were together. Could God say such a thing about His church, if she did come together?

What could we do if we were all one?

Granted this means the true church of Jesus.

Who is this church? Who is the real bride of Christ?

Simply those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and who are His own. Those who call Him Lord and mean it!!!

Nothing could stand in our way of we were all one!

John 17

 1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should^[a] give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

   
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,^[b] that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world,^[c] I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept;^[d] and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

   
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will^[e] believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

This is the burden of our Lord.

He came to this earth and He died upon the cross in order for us, as believers, to become one in Him, through Him, and only by Him.

He is the Author and Finisher of our faith

Hebrews 12

 1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

It is interesting that, what the first Adam ruined in the garden of Eden, when he decided to choose self over service, when he chose his own love over the love of God.

It is also interesting that the Last Adam, decided to make everything right, in another garden.

Matthew 26 

36Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

 37And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

 38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

 39And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

 40And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

 41Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

 42He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

The first Adam chose self. He chose his own way.

The Last Adam chose the will of God and He died for our sins. He chose us!!!!

1 Corinthians 15

45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

 46Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

 47The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

 

Romans 5

14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

 15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

 17For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

 20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Genesis 4 – The Way of Cain Part 2

The following is taken from:

http://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol1/three.htm#6

The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg

Volume I

THE TEN GENERATIONS

THE BIRTH OF CAIN

There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show how long-suffering is the Lord, for all the generations provoked Him unto wrath, until He brought the deluge upon them.[1] By reason of their impiousness God changed His plan of calling one thousand generations into being between the creation of the world and the revelation of the law at Mount Sinai; nine hundred and seventy-four He suppressed before the flood.[2]

Wickedness came into the world with the first being born of woman, Cain, the oldest son of Adam. When God bestowed Paradise upon the first pair of mankind, He warned them particularly against carnal intercourse with each other. But after the fall of Eve, Satan, in the guise of the serpent, approached her, and the fruit of their union was Cain, the ancestor of all the impious generations that were rebellious toward God, and rose up against Him. Cain’s descent from Satan, who is the angel Samael, was revealed in his seraphic appearance. At his birth, the exclamation was wrung from Eve, “I have gotten a man through an angel of the Lord.”[3]

Adam was not in the company of Eve during the time of her pregnancy with Cain. After she had succumbed a second time to the temptations of Satan, and permitted herself to be interrupted in her penance,[4] she left her husband and journeyed westward, because she feared her presence might continue to bring him misery. Adam remained in the east. When the days of Eve to be delivered were fulfilled, and she began to feel the pangs of travailing, she prayed to God for help. But He hearkened not unto her supplications. “Who will carry the report to my lord Adam?” she asked herself. “Ye luminaries in the sky, I beg you, tell it to my master Adam when ye return to the east!” In that self same hour, Adam cried out: “The lamentation of Eve has pierced to my ear! Mayhap the serpent has again assaulted her,” and he hastened to his wife. Finding her in grievous pain, he besought God in her behalf, and twelve angels appeared, together with two heavenly powers.[5] All these took up their post to right of her and to left of her, while Michael, also standing on her right side, passed his hand over her, from her face downward to her breast, and said to her, “Be thou blessed, Eve, for the sake of Adam. Because of his solicitations and his prayers I was sent to grant thee our assistance. Make ready to give birth to thy child!” Immediately her son was born, a radiant figure.[6] A little while and the babe stood upon his feet, ran off, and returned holding in his hands a stalk of straw, which he gave to his mother. For this reason he was named Cain, the Hebrew word for stalk of straw.

Now Adam took Eve and the boy to his home in the east. God sent him various kinds of seeds by the hand of the angel Michael, and he was taught how to cultivate the ground and make it yield produce and fruits, to sustain himself and his family and his posterity.[7]

After a while, Eve bore her second son, whom she named Hebel, because, she said, he was born but to die.

FRATRICIDE

The slaying of Abel by Cain did not come as a wholly unexpected event to his parents. In a dream Eve had seen the blood of Abel flow into the mouth of Cain, who drank it with avidity, though his brother entreated him not to take all. When she told her dream to Adam, he said, lamenting, “O that this may not portend the death of Abel at the hand of Cain!” He separated the two lads, assigning to each an abode of his own, and to each he taught a different occupation. Cain became a tiller of the ground, and Abel a keeper of sheep. It was all in vain. In spite of these precautions, Cain slew his brother.[9]

His hostility toward Abel had more than one reason. It began when God had respect unto the offering of Abel, and accepted it by sending heavenly fire down to consume it, while the offering of Cain was rejected.[10] They brought their sacrifices on the fourteenth day of Nisan, at the instance of their father, who had spoken thus to his sons: “This is the day on which, in times to come, Israel will offer sacrifices. Therefore, do ye, too, bring sacrifices to your Creator on this day, that He may take pleasure in you.” The place of offering which they chose was the spot whereon the altar of the Temple at Jerusalem stood later.[11] Abel selected the best of his flocks for his sacrifice, but Cain ate his meal first, and after he had satisfied his appetite, he offered unto God what was left over, a few grains of flax seed. As though his offense had not been great enough in offering unto God fruit of the ground which had been cursed by God![12] What wonder that his sacrifice was not received with favor! Besides, a chastisement was inflicted upon him. His face turned black as smoke.[13] Nevertheless, his disposition underwent no change, even when God spoke to him thus: “If thou wilt amend thy ways, thy guilt will be forgiven thee; if not, thou wilt be delivered into the power of the evil inclination. It coucheth at the door of thy heart, yet it depends upon thee whether thou shalt be master over it, or it shall be master over thee.”[14]

Cain thought he had been wronged, and a dispute followed between him and Abel. “I believed,” he said, “that the world was created through goodness,[15] but I see that good deeds bear no fruit. God rules the world with arbitrary power, else why had He respect unto thy offering, and not unto mine also?” Abel opposed him; he maintained that God rewards good deeds, without having respect unto persons. If his sacrifice had been accepted graciously by God, and Cain’s not, it was because his deeds were good, and his brother’s wicked.[16]

But this was not the only cause of Cain’s hatred toward Abel. Partly love for a woman brought about the crime. To ensure the propagation of the human race, a girl, destined to be his wife, was born together with each of the sons of Adam. Abel’s twin sister was of exquisite beauty, and Cain desired her.[17] Therefore he was constantly brooding over ways and means of ridding himself of his brother.

The opportunity presented itself ere long. One day a sheep belonging to Abel tramped over a field that had been planted by Cain. In a rage, the latter called out, “What right hast thou to live upon my land and let thy sheep pasture yonder?” Abel retorted: “What right hast thou to use the products of my sheep, to make garments for thyself from their wool? If thou wilt take off the wool of my sheep wherein thou art arrayed, and wilt pay me for the flesh of the flocks which thou hast eaten, then I will quit thy land as thou desirest, and fly into the air, if I can do it.” Cain thereupon said, “And if I were to kill thee, who is there to demand thy blood of me?” Abel replied: “God, who brought us into the world, will avenge me. He will require my blood at thine hand, if thou shouldst slay me. God is the Judge, who will visit their wicked deeds upon the wicked, and their evil deeds upon the evil. Shouldst thou slay me, God will know thy secret, and He will deal out punishment unto thee.”

These words but added to the anger of Cain, and he threw himself upon his brother.[18] Abel was stronger than he, and he would have got the worst of it, but at the last moment he begged for mercy, and the gentle Abel released his hold upon him. Scarcely did he feel himself free, when he turned against Abel once more, and slew him. So true is the saying, “Do the evil no good, lest evil fall upon thee.”[19]

THE PUNISHMENT OF CAIN

The manner of Abel’s death was the most cruel conceivable. Not knowing what injury was fatal, Cain pelted all parts of his body with stones, until one struck him on the neck and inflicted death.

After committing the murder, Cain resolved to flee, saying, “My parents will demand account of me concerning Abel, for there is no other human being on earth.” This thought had but passed through his mind when God appeared unto him, and addressed him in these words: “Before thy parents thou canst flee, but canst thou go out from My presence, too? ‘Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?’ Alas for Abel that he showed thee mercy, and refrained from killing thee, when he had thee in his power! Alas that he granted thee the opportunity of slaying him!”

Questioned by God, “Where is Abel thy brother?” Cain answered: “Am I my brother’s keeper? Thou art He who holdest watch over all creatures, and yet Thou demandest account of me! True, I slew him, but Thou didst create the evil inclination in me. Thou guardest all things; why, then, didst Thou permit me to slay him? Thou didst Thyself slay him, for hadst Thou looked with a favorable countenance toward my offering as toward his, I had had no reason for envying him, and I had not slain him.” But God said, “The voice of thy brother’s blood issuing from his many wounds crieth out against thee,[20] and likewise the blood of all the pious who might have sprung from the loins of Abel.”

Also the soul of Abel denounced the murderer, for she could find rest nowhere. She could neither soar heavenward, nor abide in the grave with her body, for no human soul had done either before.[21] But Cain still refused to confess his guilt. He insisted that he had never seen a man killed, and how was he to suppose that the stones which he threw at Abel would take his life? Then, on account of Cain, God cursed the ground, that it might not yield fruit unto him.[22] With a single punishment both Cain and the earth were chastised, the earth because it retained the corpse of Abel, and did not cast it above ground.[23]

In the obduracy of his heart, Cain spake: “O Lord of the world! Are there informers who denounce men before Thee? My parents are the only living human beings, and they know naught of my deed. Thou abidest in the heavens, and how shouldst Thou know what things happen on earth?” God said in reply: “Thou fool! I carry the whole world. I have made it, and I will bear it”–a reply that gave Cain the opportunity of feigning repentance. “Thou bearest the whole world,” he said, “and my sin Thou canst not bear?[24] Verily, mine iniquity is too great to be borne! Yet, yesterday Thou didst banish my father from Thy presence, to-day Thou dost banish me. In sooth, it will be said, it is Thy way to banish.”[25]

Although this was but dissimulation, and not true repentance, yet God granted Cain pardon, and removed the half of his chastisement from him. Originally, the decree had condemned him to be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Now he was no longer to roam about forever, but a fugitive he was to remain. And so much was hard enough to have to suffer, for the earth quaked under Cain, and all the animals, the wild and the tame, among them the accursed serpent, gathered together and essayed to devour him in order to avenge the innocent blood of Abel. Finally Cain could bear it no longer, and, breaking out in tears, he cried: “Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?”[26] To protect him from the onslaught of the beasts, God inscribed one letter of His Holy Name upon his forehead,” and furthermore He addressed the animals: “Cain’s punishment shall not be like unto the punishment of future murderers. He has shed blood, but there was none to give him instruction. Henceforth, however, he who slays another shall himself be slain.” Then God gave him the dog as a protection against the wild beasts, and to mark him as a sinner, He afflicted him with leprosy.

Cain’s repentance, insincere though it was, bore a good result. When Adam met him, and inquired what doom had been decreed against him, Cain told how his repentance had propitiated God, and Adam exclaimed, “So potent is repentance, and I knew it not!” Thereupon he composed a hymn of praise to God, beginning with the words, “It is a good thing to confess thy sins unto the Lord!”[29]

The crime committed by Cain had baneful consequences, not for himself alone, but for the whole of nature also. Before, the fruits which the earth bore unto him when he tilled the ground had tasted like the fruits of Paradise. Now his labor produced naught but thorns and thistles.[29] The ground changed and deteriorated at the very moment of Abel’s violent end. The trees and the plants in the part of the earth whereon the victim lived refused to yield their fruits, on account of their grief over him, and only at the birth of Seth those that grew in the portion belonging to Abel began to flourish and bear again. But never did they resume their former powers. While, before, the vine had borne nine hundred and twenty-six different varieties of fruit, it now brought forth but one kind. And so it was with all other species. They will regain their pristine powers only in the world to come.[30]

Nature was modified also by the burial of the corpse of Abel. For a long time it lay there exposed, above ground, because Adam and Eve knew not what to do with it. They sat beside it and wept, while the faithful dog of Abel kept guard that birds and beasts did it no harm. On a sudden, the mourning parents observed how a raven scratched the earth away in one spot, and then hid a dead bird of his own kind in the ground. Adam, following the example of the raven, buried the body of Abel, and the raven was rewarded by God. His young are born with white feathers, wherefore the old birds desert them, not recognizing them as their offspring. They take them for serpents. God feeds them until their plumage turns black, and the parent birds return to them. As an additional reward, God grants their petition when the ravens pray for rain.[31]

THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEVEN EARTHS

When Adam was cast out of Paradise, he first reached the lowest of the seven earths, the Erez, which is dark, without a ray of light, and utterly void. Adam was terrified, particularly by the flames of the ever-turning sword, which is on this earth. After he had done penance, God led him to the second earth, the Adamah, where there is light reflected from its own sky and from its phantom-like stars and constellations. Here dwell the phantom-like beings that issued from the union of Adam with the spirits.” They are always sad; the emotion of joy is not known to them. They leave their own earth and repair to the one inhabited by men, where they are changed into evil spirits. Then they return to their abode for good, repent of their wicked deeds, and till the ground, which, however, bears neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.[34] In this Adamah, Cain, Abel, and Seth were born. After the murder of Abel, Cain was sent back to the Erez, where he was frightened into repentance by its darkness and by the flames of the ever-turning sword. Accepting his penitence, God permitted him to ascend to the third earth, the Arka, which receives some light from the sun. The Arka was surrendered to the Cainites forever, as their perpetual domain. They till the ground, and plant trees, but they have neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.

Some of the Cainites are giants, some of them are dwarfs. They have two heads, wherefore they can never arrive at a decision; they are always at loggerheads with themselves.[34] It may happen that they are pious now, only to be inclined to do evil the next moment.

In the Ge, the fourth earth, live the generation of the Tower of Babel and their descendants. God banished them thither because the fourth earth is not far from Gehenna, and therefore close to the flaming fire.[35] The inhabitants of the Ge are skilful in all arts, and accomplished in all departments of science and knowledge, and their abode overflows with wealth. When an inhabitant of our earth visits them, they give him the most precious thing in their possession, but then they lead him to the Neshiah, the fifth earth, where he becomes oblivious of his origin and his home. The Neshiah is inhabited by dwarfs without noses; they breathe through two holes instead. They have no memory; once a thing has happened, they forget it completely, whence their earth is called Neshiah, “forgetting.” The fourth and fifth earths are like the Arka; they have trees, but neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.

The sixth earth, the Ziah, is inhabited by handsome men, who are the owners of abundant wealth, and live in palatial residences, but they lack water, as the name of their territory, Ziah, “drought,” indicates. Hence vegetation is sparse with them, and their tree culture meets with indifferent success. They hasten to any waterspring that is discovered, and sometimes they succeed in slipping through it up to our earth, where they satisfy their sharp appetite for the food eaten by the inhabitants of our earth. For the rest, they are men of steadfast faith, more than any other class of mankind.[36]

Adam remained in the Adamah until after the birth of Seth. Then, passing the third earth, the Arka, the abiding place of the Cainites, and the next three earths as well, the Ge, the Neshiah, and the Ziah, God transported him to the Tebel, the seventh earth, the earth inhabited by men.

THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN

Cain knew only too well that his blood-guiltiness would be visited upon him in the seventh generation. Thus had God decreed against him.[37] He endeavored, therefore, to immortalize his name by means of monuments,[38] and he became a builder of cities. The first of them he called Enoch, after his son, because it was at the birth of Enoch that he began to enjoy a measure of rest and peace.[39] Besides, he founded six other cities.[40] This building of cities was a godless deed, for he surrounded them with a wall, forcing his family to remain within. All his other doings were equally impious. The punishment God had ordained for him did not effect any improvement. He sinned in order to secure his own pleasure, though his neighbors suffered injury thereby. He augmented his household substance by rapine and violence; he excited his acquaintances to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and he became a great leader of men into wicked courses. He also introduced a change in the ways of simplicity wherein men had lived before, and he was the author of measures and weights. And whereas men lived innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed the world into cunning craftiness.[41]

Like unto Cain were all his descendants, impious and godless, wherefore God resolved to destroy them.[42]

The end of Cain overtook him in the seventh generation of men, and it was inflicted upon him by the hand of his great-grandson Lamech. This Lamech was blind, and when he went a-hunting, he was led by his young son, who would apprise his father when game came in sight, and Lamech would then shoot at it with his bow and arrow. Once upon a time he and his son went on the chase, and the lad discerned something horned in the distance. He naturally took it to be a beast of one kind or another, and he told the blind Lamech to let his arrow fly. The aim was good, and the quarry dropped to the ground. When they came close to the victim, the lad exclaimed: “Father, thou hast killed something that resembles a human being in all respects, except it carries a horn on its forehead!” Lamech knew at once what had happened–he had killed his ancestor Cain, who had been marked by God with a horn.[43] In despair he smote his hands together, inadvertently killing his son as he clasped them. Misfortune still followed upon misfortune. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the four generations sprung from Cain–Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael. Lamech, sightless as he was, could not go home; he had to remain by the side of Cain’s corpse and his son’s. Toward evening, his wives, seeking him, found him there. When they heard what he had done, they wanted to separate from him, all the more as they knew that whoever was descended from Cain was doomed to annihilation. But Lamech argued, “If Cain, who committed murder of malice aforethought, was punished only in the seventh generation, then I, who had no intention of killing a human being, may hope that retribution will be averted for seventy and seven generations.” With his wives, Lamech repaired to Adam, who heard both parties, and decided the case in favor of Lamech.[44]

The corruptness of the times, and especially the depravity of Cain’s stock, appears in the fact that Lamech, as well as all the men in the generation of the deluge, married two wives, one with the purpose of rearing children, the other in order to pursue carnal indulgences, for which reason the latter was rendered sterile by artificial means. As the men of the time were intent upon pleasure rather than desirous of doing their duty to the human race, they gave all their love and attention to the barren women, while their other wives spent their days like widows, joyless and in gloom.

The two wives of Lamech, Adah and Zillah, bore him each two children, Adah two sons, Jabal and Jubal, and Zillah a son, Tubal-cain, and a daughter, Naamah. Jabal was the first among men to erect temples to idols, and Jubal invented the music sung and played therein. Tubal-cain was rightly named, for he completed the work of his ancestor Cain. Cain committed murder, and Tubal-cain, the first who knew how to sharpen iron and copper, furnished the instruments used in wars and combats. Naamah, “the lovely,” earned her name from the sweet sounds which she drew from her cymbals when she called the worshippers to pay homage to idols.[45]

THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM AND LILITH

When the wives of Lamech heard the decision of Adam, that they were to continue to live with their husband, they turned upon him, saying, “O physician, heal thine own lameness!” They were alluding to the fact that he himself had been living apart from his wife since the death of Abel, for he had said, “Why should I beget children, if it is but to expose them to death?”[46]

Though he avoided intercourse with Eve, he was visited in his sleep by female spirits, and from his union with them sprang shades and demons of various kinds,[47] and they were endowed with peculiar gifts.

Genesis 6: The Life of Noah Part 4

The life of Noah

 

Characteristic Number 3

 

3) On the shelf of God

Noah dies at the age of 950. The ultimate tragedy is that no accomplishments are recorded during his last 350 years. He could have experienced that thing so dreaded by men of faith, which is to be placed on the shelf by God

 

1Co 9:19  For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

1Co 9:20  And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

1Co 9:21  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

1Co 9:22  To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

1Co 9:23  And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

 

Genesis 6: The Life of Noah Part 3

The life of Noah

 

Here we see the next characteristic of Noah

 

2) In the salvation of God.

Noah and his family were saved through the ark. He was an end time believer just as we are today.

2Pe 3:1  This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

2Pe 3:2  That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

His time and ours are very similar.

Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you before.

Mat 24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

Mat 24:39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:40  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Mat 24:41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Mat 24:42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Mat 24:43  But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Mat 24:44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Mat 24:45  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Mat 24:46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

 

4 characteristics then and now

 

1)      Men began and will begin to have a population explosion(6:4) This happened in Noah’s time and it will happen before the second coming of Christ

2)      There was and will be a terrible outpouring of sexual activity mixed with satanism(6:2)

3)      The wickedness of man was great(6:5)

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The television images reflect the state of things in our times.

4)      The earth was filled with violence(6:13)

Gen 6:13  And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

 

How did their age compare with ours?

Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

 

Dr. Henry Morris:

1)      A preocupation with physical appearance

Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

 

2)      A rapid advance of technology

Gen 4:22  And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

 

3)      A grossly materialistic attitude and interest.

Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

 

4)      A uniformitarian philosophies

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

 

5)      An inordinate devotion to pleasure and comfort

Gen 4:21  And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

 

6)      There was no concern for God in either belief or conduct

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

2Pe 2:3  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

2Pe 2:5  And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

 

7)      A disregard for the sacredness of the marriage relationship

 

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

God had seen in chapter 1:21 that everything was good. Now God sees that the wickedness of man was corrupting everything

 

Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

In these two verses we see the result of the unholy alliances.

 

Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Rom 1:26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Rom 1:27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Rom 1:29  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Rom 1:30  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Rom 1:31  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Rom 1:32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

 

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;

Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Eph 4:25  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

 

Notice that every listing of wickedness always begins with sex.

It is all around us, in movies, commercials, magazines, books, and even cartoons

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

 

This wickedness in Noah’s day was a continual wickedness- not a spontaneous or localized occurance. It was everywhere. It was the mark of an evil culture. This outward wickedness was an example of the deeper wickedness inside. We see the same today.

 

This wickedness repented God. It grieved Him that He had even created man. This repentance was not like ours. He can will to change. God created life and it is His right to destroy it. The problem is that most people take His power away. They say He makes mistakes and that He violated His own will. These folks look at God and see that big kid with a magnifying glass setting over the anthill waiting for them to come out.

God’s grief was out of love. He loves all mankind and it grieves Him to punish.

Eph 4:29  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Eph 4:31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

 

God is the creator of life. There was no hasty action on His part. He did not just loose His composure and act out of haste or anger or impulse. He gave man 120 years

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

 

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

1Pe 3:19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

1Pe 3:20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

1Pe 3:21  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

1Pe 3:22  Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

 

Noah preached the gospel for 120 years. The people knew that this was coming.

How much spiritual light did the pre-flood civilization have?

 

1)      They had the witness of nature.

Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

 

2)      They had the witness of conscience

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

 

3)      They had the promise of a redeemer

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

 

4)      They had the knowledge of the sacrifice

Gen 4:4  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

 

5)      They had the preaching of Enoch

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

 

6)      They had the preaching of Noah

2Pe 2:5  And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

 

7)      They had the ministry of the Holy Spirit

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

 

The love of God and the wrath of God are one and the same. He loves without merit and He is a God of love but those who do not react to this grace receive the same means of wrath in judgment

Genesis 6: The Life of Noah Part 2

Noah walked in a faith that was grounded in God and he found grace in the eyes of the lord.

 

Peter looked into the eyes of the Lord.

We find in the following passage that he is in a place where he will soon deny the Lord 3 times.

How did he get here, better yet hoe do we find ourselves in these situations because we are no better than Peter. How many times have you found yourself in a somewhat similar situation. Embarressed to be called a Christian in front of certain people, Don’t let your co-workers see you pray before lunch, or those strangers around you. They might say something to you. We can learn a lot from the following passage.

 

Mat 26:69  Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.

Mat 26:70  But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.

Mat 26:71  And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.

Mat 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.

Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.

Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

 

Luk 22:61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

Luk 22:62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

 

So how does peter find himself in this situation?

 

Step 1 – When he argues with the Lord

“Not me – I won’t deny you!”

Mat 26:33  Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

“These other guys will fail you – but I won’t” Peter was setting himself up for failure.

 

Step 2 – He was prideful

“Simon – Simon”

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Luk 22:33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

Luk 22:34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

But notice what Jesus says.

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Peter’s love didn’t fail Jesus but his hope did. He was prideful in this instance. He had confidence in his own strength.

 

Step 3 – Sleeping instead of praying

“Tary with me”

Mat 26:36  Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

Mat 26:37  And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Mat 26:38  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Mat 26:39  And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Mat 26:40  And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Mat 26:43  And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

Mat 26:44  And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Mat 26:45  Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Mat 26:46  Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

3 times Peter was sleeping instead of praying.

 

Step 4 – Using fleshly weapons to fight spiritual battles

“ Put up again thy sword into his place “

Mat 26:51  And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Joh 18:10  Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

Joh 18:11  Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

 

We need to have on our spiritual armor.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Eph 6:19  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Eph 6:20  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

 

This armor comes from God.

Notice where the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness comes from.

Isa 59:15  Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Isa 59:16  And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

Isa 59:17  For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

It comes from Jesus Christ!!!!!!

We must also remember that out armor has to be our own and not the armor of others (Family, friends, etc)

1Sa 17:38  And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

1Sa 17:39  And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

1Sa 17:40  And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

1Sa 17:41  And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

 

Step 5 – he followed from afar.

“ I know him not.”

Luk 22:54  Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.

You are no longer in action when you follow from afar. Notice that John followed too but he stayed with Jesus.

Joh 18:15  And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.

Joh 18:16  But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter

 

Step 6 – he warmed himself with the enemy. When we warm ourselves to the world.

“Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man”

Jam 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Then Jesus looks into his eyes. Many times we see and read this look as a mad hateful glare. A look that says “What a waste of time you were!” “What a fool, what a failure!” “ I can’t believe that you are betraying Me!”

We always  see a condemning look. A look that convicts.

But this look was  a look of grace!!! He was seeing Peter through his trouble. He was not condemning Peter Jesus was carrying him with prayer.

Jesus already knew what would happen

 

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Genesis 6: The Life of Noah Part 1

Genesis Chapter 6

 

The life of Noah

 

In Genesis6:8-9 we see three characteristics of Noah.

 

1) On the side of God

            Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord

Noah was far from perfect. He could not have been perfect on his own, it had to come from God. He had problems just like ours yet Hebrews tells us that he was a saved man because of the grace that he found in the eyes of God. This does not mean that God looked down and said “I am going to show grace to you and only you, Noah.” He had showed grace to all mankind before the flood by giving them 120 years to heed the message that Noah was preaching.

 

A)    Noah was a just man (v9)

 

He was declared right by God.

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

 

B) Noah had faith

He believed God

 

C) Noah walked with God.

He walked in obedience to God in unbroken fellowship.

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

 

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

His faith was grounded in God.

Is my faith grounded in God or in something else?

Noah walked by faith and not sight.

 

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Gal 5:2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

Gal 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

Gal 5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Gal 5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Gal 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Gal 5:7  Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

Gal 5:8  This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

Gal 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Gal 5:10  I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

Gal 5:11  And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.

Gal 5:12  I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Gal 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Gal 5:15  But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Genesis 6: The Sons of God Part 2

2) Some believe that the “Sons of God” is the godly line of Seth and the “daughters of men” is the ungodly line of Cain.

A) Basic arguments for this view:

This would seem to be the most natural way to interpret the passage.

This is supported by a statement from Jesus

Mat 22:30  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Because of the law of bio-genesis – Life begets similar life

The two don’t seem to be able to be mixed

 

1Co 15:38  But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

            1Co 15:39  All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh       of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

            1Co 15:40  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the       celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

 

             “Mighty men” is the Hebrew word “Gibber” (Genesis6:4) which is used dozens of times       in the Old testament to refer to human man

Jdg 6:12  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

 

The previous chapters provide us with the details of the contrast between the two lines of Seth and Cain.

 

Genesis 4:26 says that after Seth began his line, that men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

 

Warnings against marriage between believers and non-believers is a common theme in Genesis (24:3-4, 27:46,28:1-3)

 

In Genesis 6:3-5 we learn that it is the wickedness of man which brings about the judgment of the flood. Nothing is said about angels or the sons of God being judged.

 

3) The “Sons of God” are the line of Seth and the “Daughters of man” is the line of Cain.

The twist here is that it is believed that one or the other line had been possessed by fallen angels or “demons” in order to mix the pure godly line of Seth by sexual intercourse. Satan in his quest to stop the line of the Messiah has tried murder and now he tries mixture

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

 

A) Reasons for this argument:

1) Only good angels can be called “Sons of God”

1)                 Bodies are called dwelling places

 

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

             1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,          which are God’s.

The believer is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Demons do have the ability to possess and effect the body of the unsaved.

 

 There are two kinds of fallen angels:

The unchained – These have access to high places and to the bodies of unsaved men.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Luk 8:27  And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.

Mar 1:23  And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

 

The chained – These are in prison

2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Jud 1:5  I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

            Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath                  reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

      Jud 1:7  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

The thought is that those mentioned are chained because of their involvment in Genesis 6.

The fallen angels are referred to as demons because they chose to leave their original place or habitat

Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

They broke their relationship with God and they were cast out of heaven and they must dwell somewhere

Mar 5:1  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

Mar 5:2  And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

Mar 5:3  Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

Mar 5:4  Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

Mar 5:5  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

Mar 5:6  But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

Mar 5:7  And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

Mar 5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

Mar 5:9  And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

Mar 5:10  And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

Mar 5:11  Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

Mar 5:12  And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

Mar 5:13  And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Mar 5:14  And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

Mar 5:15  And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Mar 5:16  And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.

Why did they ask to go into the swine? Because they must dwell somewhere. They left their original place and now they need a body or someplace to dwell because they can’t create one.

 

Recently there has risen the ideas that the “Sons of God” are actually aliens.

 

The following is taken from:

 

http://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol1/three.htm#7

The Legends of the Jews
by Louis Ginzberg

Volume I

THE TEN GENERATIONS

THE FALL OF THE ANGELS

The depravity of mankind, which began to show itself in the time of Enosh, had increased monstrously in the time of his grandson Jared, by reason of the fallen angels. When the angels saw the beautiful, attractive daughters of men, they lusted after them, and spoke: “We will choose wives for ourselves only from among the daughters of men, and beget children with them.” Their chief Shemhazai said, “I fear me, ye will not put this plan of yours into execution, and I alone shall have to suffer the consequences of a great sin.” Then they answered him, and said: “We will all swear an oath, and we will bind ourselves, separately and together, not to abandon the plan, but to carry it through to the end.”

Two hundred angels descended to the summit of Mount Hermon, which owes its name to this very occurrence, because they bound themselves there to fulfil their purpose, on the penalty of Herem, anathema. Under the leadership of twenty captains they defiled themselves with the daughters of men, unto whom they taught charms, conjuring formulas, how to cut roots, and the efficacy of plants. The issue from these mixed marriages was a race of giants, three thousand ells tall, who consumed the possessions of men. When all had vanished, and they could obtain nothing more from them, the giants turned against men and devoured many of them, and the remnant of men began to trespass against the birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, eating their flesh and drinking their blood.

Then the earth complained about the impious evil-doers. But the fallen angels continued to corrupt mankind. Azazel taught men how to make slaughtering knives, arms, shields, and coats of mail. He showed them metals and how to work them, and armlets and all sorts of trinkets, and the use of rouge for the eyes, and how to beautify the eyelids, and how to ornament themselves with the rarest and most precious jewels and all sorts of paints. The chief of the fallen angels, Shemhazai, instructed them in exorcisms and how to cut roots; Armaros taught them how to raise spells; Barakel, divination from the stars; Kawkabel, astrology; Ezekeel, augury from the clouds; Arakiel, the signs of the earth; Samsaweel, the signs of the sun; and Seriel, the signs of the moon.[57]

While all these abominations defiled the earth, the pious Enoch lived in a secret place. None among men knew his abode, or what had become of him, for he was sojourning with the angel watchers and holy ones. Once he heard the call addressed to him: “Enoch, thou scribe of justice, go unto the watchers of the heavens, who have left the high heavens, the eternal place of holiness, defiling themselves with women, doing as men do, taking wives unto themselves, and casting themselves into the arms of destruction upon earth. Go and proclaim unto them that they shall find neither peace nor pardon. For every time they take joy in their offspring, they shall see the violent death of their sons, and sigh over the ruin of their children. They will pray and supplicate evermore, but never shall they attain to mercy or peace.”

Enoch repaired to Azazel and the other fallen angels, to announce the doom uttered against them. They all were filled with fear. Trembling seized upon them, and they implored Enoch to set up a petition for them and read it to the Lord of heaven, for they could not speak with God as aforetime, nor even raise their eyes heavenward, for shame on account of their sins. Enoch granted their request, and in a vision he was vouchsafed the answer which he was to carry back to the angels. It appeared to Enoch that he was wafted into heaven upon clouds, and was set down before the throne of God. God spake: “Go forth and say to the watchers of heaven who have sent thee hither to intercede for them: Verily, it is you who ought to plead in behalf of men, not men in behalf of you I Why did ye forsake the high, holy, and eternal heavens, to pollute yourselves with the daughters of men, taking wives unto yourselves, doing like the races of the earth, and begetting giant sons? Giants begotten by flesh and spirits will be called evil spirits on earth, and on the earth will be their dwelling-place. Evil spirits proceed from their bodies, because they are created from above, and from the holy watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they will be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits they will be named. And the spirits of heaven have their dwelling in heaven, but the spirits of the earth, which were born upon the earth, have their dwelling on the earth. And the spirits of the giants will devour, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and cause destruction on the earth, and work affliction. They will take no kind of food, nor will they thirst, and they will be invisible. And these spirits will rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them. Since the days of murder and destruction and the death of the giants, when the spirits went forth from the soul of their flesh, in order to destroy without incurring judgment–thus will they destroy until the day when the great consummation of the great world be consummated. And now as to the watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who had been aforetime in heaven, say to them: You have been in heaven, and though the hidden things had not yet been revealed to you, you know worthless mysteries, and in the hardness of your hearts you have recounted these to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on earth. Say to them therefore: You have no peace!”[58]