(Genesis) - Part 8 — Zac Poonen

Jerusalem and Babylon: Two Religious Streams

We saw in our last study that in Cain and Abel we see the beginning of two streams which end up in the book of Revelation as Babylon and Jerusalem. Both are religious streams. Cain was not an atheist.

Cain did not approach a false god. He approached the true God, but he approached the true God in a wrong way. Abel came with blood in his sacrifice, he came with faith in his heart, and he came with righteousness in his life.

And that's the thing that made the difference. There was blood in his sacrifice, faith in his heart, and righteousness in his life. And I think above everything else he had, what the Bible says, are the acceptable sacrifices of God, a broken and a contrite spirit.

And we can say that essentially the difference between Jerusalem and Babylon is this. Jerusalem comprises of those who have a broken and a contrite spirit. That is the sacrifice that God accepts. We need to compare this verse in Psalm 51 with the sacrifices that these two brothers brought.

It says in Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise. And if the word of God says that God had respect unto Abel and to his sacrifice, it must mean that Abel had a broken spirit.

Because behind that sacrifice was a broken spirit. That's what made it acceptable. Whereas behind the offering of Cain was an arrogant spirit, one who was self-confident and capable, and God rejected it.

It's the same today. There are those who come to God in faith with a broken spirit, and they are accepted. There are others who come in pride and self-sufficiency, and who are rejected no matter what they bring.

And we must never forget it. Because we live in the midst of a Christendom that does not place the emphasis on the heart behind the offering. Always the emphasis is on the offering. If a man gives one lakh to a Christian work, so much is made of that.

Oh, one lakh. It may be Cain giving that one lakh. That doesn't seem to disturb a lot of Christians. It does disturb God. Or someone gives something for the Lord's work, his full time, he gives up his job or something.

That's not the thing. The point is what's behind that sacrifice. Is it a broken spirit? Otherwise we can never build a church. And it is those who do not have a broken spirit who end up persecuting those who do have a broken spirit, calling them heretics, etc.

Babylon and the Blood of the Saints

It's a very interesting word we see in Revelation chapter 18 concerning Babylon, verse 24. Revelation 18 is all about Babylon. And in the last verse of this chapter on Babylon, Revelation 18, 24, it says,.

And in Babylon was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth. Who was the first? Abel. The blood of Abel, it says here, was found in Babylon. So we have New Testament confirmation of the fact that the religion Cain started was the religion of Babylon.

Revelation 18, 24 proves that beyond doubt. And that's why it's very important for us to study Cain, because then we have an understanding of Babylon today. Now we move on to Genesis chapter 4. We saw that Cain was also a picture of the Jews who crucified Christ.

Abel was a picture of Christ and Cain was a picture of the Jews. And we can say that the Jews had a Babylonian religion and Jesus had the religion of Jerusalem from above. And one persecuted the other.

It's the same thing happening today. When we proclaim the truth of Jerusalem and the true church, there is always the Babylonians who are there to persecute. But we read here that God had mercy on Cain like He's had mercy on the Jews.

And He spared him, He spared the Jews. But it says here finally, verse 16, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. This is hell. Hell means no presence of the Lord. There's a phrase in English called a God-forsaken place.

The only truly God-forsaken place is hell. That's really a God-forsaken place. What is the fire of hell? The fire of hell is the fact that God is not there. Mercy is not there. God's mercy is removed.

And that is what makes hell, hell. So we see here, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, which means wandering east of Eden, which means there was some manifestation of the Lord's presence, probably at the gate of Eden.

When he went out from the presence of the Lord means he went away from there. Maybe that was the place where they offered these sacrifices, at the gate of Eden. And then Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.

Now this is not the Enoch who walked with God. This is quite a contrast to that Enoch who comes later on in chapter 5. This is another man who was the son of Cain, the first son of Cain. It's very interesting to see what Cain did.

City Life and the Desire to Perpetuate a Name

He built a city. And there we have, as we go through this chapter, you'll see the rise of five things that begin with Cain's descendants. And the first thing that begins is the beginning of city life.

God made man to live in a garden. God made man to live by the sweat of his ground. But Cain was the first person who built a city. And we know that there is a lot of evil that has come through city life.

But Cain was the one who began that. And he called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. This desire to perpetuate one's name there began with Cain. He wanted to glorify the name of his son.

This city will be called Enoch, so that for generations people will remember my son. We see it today also, so-and-so memorial building. You know where it began? With Cain's son. So-and-so memorial church.

You see, Babylon is there right from there, naming something after a person. This room was donated by so-and-so. It's there. Cain began that type of stuff. This fan was donated by so-and-so. I've seen it.

It's amazing. This chair was donated by so-and-so in some church building. It started with Cain, who put a name to that city to perpetuate one's name. It's a terrific lust. Grandfathers who are very eager that their grandchildren should be named after them.

Cain started this business. This name must be perpetuated. Why can't we just live and die and let it be forgotten? Why this great lust, this spirit of Babylon? It's permeated all over. It began with Cain.

And yet, what about Abel? No city was named after him. But do you know what the word of God says about Abel? Turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and you'll see a contrast. There you see the difference between Abel and Cain.

The difference between Jerusalem and Babylon. Hebrews 11 .4. By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts.

And through faith, listen to this, though no city was built after his name. Though he is dead, 4000 years later and now 6000 years later, he's still speaking. He's still speaking more than that other son of Cain's called Enoch.

That city which Cain built for his son is destroyed long ago. In fact, most people don't even know about it. But Abel, his life still speaks. What do we see the contrast in these two things? Abel speaks by his life, whereas Cain wanted his son's name to be exalted.

And that is the difference. Do you want people to know your name? Your name should be well known. Or are you more concerned that your life should bless others? This is the difference between Jerusalem and Babylon.

And we need to see it. Never mind if nobody knows our name. Never mind if people forget all about our name. But if our life can make an impression on them that even after we are dead and gone, even if no grandchild of mine is ever named after my name, I'm not interested in that.

But that the influence of my life should carry on to generations, that's much more important than having a silly name carried on. That's something we need to be gripped by. It's not a small thing. Because we all love our own names.

There is a book written by a world famous man in America called Dale Carnegie, who wrote a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's written for businessmen, how to promote your business, how to be a good speaker and all.

One of the things he says in that book is, the sweetest word in the English language to any human being is his own name. He studied human character and he said that. So when you speak to a man, he says, frequently use his name and he'll really be happy with you.

It's really, he studied human character. We love our own name. And when people speak about our name, it means something to us. Unless we have cleansed ourselves from this spirit of Cain and of Babylon, that it means nothing.

That we are only interested in our life. Think of that my brothers and sisters. The rise of city life and promoting one's own name. There's a verse in Proverbs 10 .7 which says, the memory of the righteous is blessed.

That is Abel. This contrast actually in Proverbs 10 .7 is between Abel and Cain. Son, the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. It's not a name. It's a memory of a righteous, God-fearing, humble, kind, pure, upright man.

We don't know what his name was, but the influence of his life really blessed me. Covet that my brothers and sisters. That we leave that impression when we leave the earth like Abel. Instead of having some room donated by us or some fan donated by us which informs everybody about our name.

That will rot. So that's the first thing we see here. The next thing we see in Genesis 4 is in verse 18. Now Enoch was born Erad and Erad became the father of Mehujael and Mehujael became the father of Methuselah.

Methuselah became the father of Lamech in Genesis 4 .19. And Lamech took to himself two wives. The name of the one was Adah and the name of the other Sillah. Once you begin to move away from God, you begin to perpetuate your own name and you begin to move into immorality.

Sexual Sin and Marital Unfaithfulness

Two wives. One is not enough. Coveting another woman after being married to one. Maybe society does not permit people to have two wives now. People are scared to do that. There were no rules those days.

But the spirit can still be there in a man today. Though he's married to one, he's not happy with that one. And sometimes he wishes he had married somebody else. What spirit does he have? He has the spirit of Lamech who wants another wife.

But he won't take one because society does not permit it. If he were living in Lamech's day, he would have had two wives. Lots of people living today, even so-called believers. If they were living in Lamech's day, they'd have had two wives.

Because they're not happy with the one they have. My dear brothers, if you're not happy with the wife you had, you've got the spirit of Lamech. You're married to somebody else. And the chances are, if you were living there, you'd have married another one.

That is Babylon. Unfaithfulness in married life is the essence of Babylon. The essence of Babylon. And there's a lot of this marital unfaithfulness in the thought life of lots of so-called believers.

God's not fooled just because some of them talk about the new and living ways. The spirit of Lamech. You see what began to rise when Cain went out from the presence of the Lord? God's grace left him. And then all the spirit of Babylon developed so quickly.

Marital unfaithfulness, the development of city life, and the man naming the city after his own son. Then, verse 20, Hara gave birth to Jebel. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe. Then we see the rise of musical instruments. Very interesting to note that musical instruments were not invented by the descendants of Abel or set after him.

They were invented by the descendants of Cain after he went out from the presence of the Lord. I'm not saying, therefore, musical instruments are sinful, just like I'm not saying that living in a city is sinful.

Even though the first city was built by Cain, we're all living in a city now. But we must remember that city life began with Cain. There are dangers we need to beware of. Musical instruments began with Cain's children.

Never forget that. Then you've got to keep that in mind even when we have music in the church, or so-called Christian music. The spirit of the word can easily come in, just because the words are Christian.

So much of so-called Christian music today is absolutely godless. I can't imagine Jesus Christ sitting and listening to any of that rubbish. All Christian because they put the name of Jesus in it. I'm sure Jubal would have been glad to put such names also in it if it made his music more popular.

It's the spirit, not the words. We've often said in the church, when you listen to a man preach, don't listen to the words. Listen to the spirit of the man. Gauge the spirit of the man. Remember this, my brothers and sisters, wherever you listen to people speaking, if you just listen to the words, I've heard believers, even so-called new and living way believers as they call themselves, saying, oh, so-and-so is alright, he's speaking the right thing.

Nill discernment. Nill. They can't discern his spirit. They can't discern the way he begs for money. They can't discern the way he violates scriptural principles. But he says so many nice things, he's so kind, he's so good.

When will they have discernment? Listen to the spirit of a man. The same thing in music. It is not the words. It's the spirit behind it. It can never be justified by words. Just like preaching cannot be justified by words.

The spirit. And there we have to judge ourselves to be able to get discernment. When man or a woman doesn't have discernment, can be pretty sure they are not judging themselves in their private life. That's why God doesn't give them discernment.

They remain undiscerning, only listening to words. Undiscerning about music, undiscerning about so many so-called Christian preachers. So there's the rise of musical instruments, string instruments, breath instruments, lyre and pipe.

Industry, Violence, and False Grace

Verse 22. As for Zilla, she also gave birth to Tubal Cain. Here's one of the grandchildren being named after the grandfather, Cain. I'm sure Cain would have been quite delighted that this chap named his son Tubal Cain.

He was a big shot, Cain. Think of that. Godless. Rejected by God. And they honored him. Man had drifted away, that whole generation of people. The forger of all implements of bronze and iron. The rise of industry.

That's another thing that began with Cain's children. Industry. Implements of bronze and iron. I think mostly for fighting. Fighting with one another. The beginning of all these instruments of war began with Cain's children.

And for other purposes. Cain was obviously admired for this chap to name his son Tubal Cain. And the sister of Tubal Cain was Neema. And Lennox said to his wife, here's another thing. We've seen the rise of city life, the rise of bigamy, marital unfaithfulness, the rise of musical instruments, the rise of industry.

And now one more thing. The rise of false grace. False grace began here. And watch it. Lamech said to his wife, Adanzilla, listen to my voice. You wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me.

But do you think God will judge me for that? No. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, like God said in verse fifteen, Lamech, me, seventy-sevenfold God will protect me. Even though I've killed somebody. What is that?

The beginning of false grace. Quoting what? Quoting God's word. Because you read in verse fifteen, it was God who said to Cain, if anybody kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And here is Lamech, who's got a hold of one word of God, and he says, God has said, vengeance will be taken sevenfold, much more on me seventy-sevenfold.

The beginning of misquoting God's word, the perversion of God's word, to justify and protect oneself even though one is a murderer. Think of that. That's Babylon. God, he will protect you, brothers. Even though you've sinned so much.

And we see here why this man murdered. It's quite amazing. I killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. Can you imagine? This grown-up man, that some boy came and hit him, and he killed him just for that.

Can you imagine how man, when they go away from the presence of the Lord, he, his children, grandchildren, they just become more and more evil. What are the sins we see in this chapter? Notice the sins that come forth first after Cain has gone away from the presence of the Lord.

Marital unfaithfulness, sexual sin, and the second is making a man violent. Keep that in mind. These were the two sins that come forth in the descendants of Cain. Sexual sin and violent anger. That's why we say, in Jerusalem, we speak about total victory in these two areas.

A man who doesn't seek victory, complete victory in the sexual area, complete victory over his outbursts of temper, he can sit here, as I've often said for twenty-five years, he'll be a pillar in Babylon in the final day.

Without a doubt. It doesn't matter where he sits. We need to see the development of Babylon here. And Adam had relations with his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth. For she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.

And to Seth, to him also was a son born, and he called his name Enosh. And then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. This is a contrast to all these other children, that on the other side, another generation of people were calling on the name of God.

They were not naming cities after their sons, they were calling on the name of God. There was a God-fearing seed. It's interesting to see there, something, a principle that comes very often in scripture of God choosing the younger son.

God Chooses the Weak and the Younger

Very often. We see that in the case of Cain and Abel. We see that in the case of Ishmael and Isaac. In the case of Esau and Jacob. And in the case of the ten older children of Jacob and Joseph, the younger.

In the case of Aaron and Moses, Moses was younger to Aaron. In the case of David, who was younger to his seven brothers. The first will be last. The last will be first. We can't understand that in the day in which we live, because in our day, in our generation, there's not so much difference between the older son and the younger son.

Nowadays, all our children sort of call each other by their first names and grow up. But in the older generations, the older son was like a real big shot. He was fierce. He was like the big brother, the boss in the family, who ruled everybody.

And all the other brothers were like small little punes running around to do his errands for him. There are a few people like that today, also remnants of that stone age still living in these days. But God bypasses all this.

These big shots who think they are the head of the family, you know, big brother, and chooses the one who is despised and being pushed around by everyone. And if you are one of those who is being pushed around by others, you can take hope, take heart from these examples that God picks up the weak and the despised and the rejected, not the ones who are big and push their way around.

The point is not where you were born in the family. It's not your fault if you were born first, second or third. The point is an attitude. God despises all those who have a big brother attitude towards others, whether it's in a family or in a church or anywhere.

He bypasses them completely. And I think Cain was like that, probably fostered by his parents, foolishly. But there was another seed, a younger seed, they began to call on the name of the Lord. Now we come to chapter 5 and verse 1.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. It's a very interesting contrast. In Matthew 1 .1 we read, this is the book of the generations of Jesus Christ. In the King James Version, that's how it's translated.

We can say the Bible has got two books. The book of the generations of Adam, what Adam produced, and the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, Matthew 1 .1, what Jesus Christ produced. The old creation and the new creation.

In the day when God created him, he made him in the likeness of God. Now see this. He created them male and female. That is, man and woman. And he blessed them. And to both of them he gave one name. It's very interesting that the word of God says he named them, the margin, Adam.

And that is why a woman takes the name of her husband when she gets married. Because God named both of them Adam. Even though her name was Eve. It meant that she had to leave her old connections to her father and mother.

That's the meaning of cutting off that name of the father in order to take on the name of the husband. Some people do it, but they don't do it in spirit. When you take on the name of your husband, you have to cut off the name of your father.

That's how it was. That's how God intended it, so that you can be totally united to your husband. And when Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness. You saw the contrast there?

Children Reflect the Nature of Their Parents

Verse 1, God made Adam in his likeness. And Adam produced a son, verse 3, in his own likeness. Quite different from the way he was made by God. Teaching us right from the beginning of scripture that we produce children with the same nature as...

When you see a stubbornness in your child, you see yourself. You're looking into a mirror. When you see disobedience in your child, you're looking into a mirror. Yeah, think of that parent when you see something in your child.

Remember this verse. You have produced a son in your own likeness. You have done a wonderful job of producing a stubborn, disobedient creature just like yourself. So, don't blame that one. You've got to discipline him, of course.

But never forget that he got all that from you. He got all that from you. That'll teach us to be a little more merciful to our children, and to judge ourselves a little more. And named him Seth. Now here it says he was 130 years, and as far as we know, Seth was born immediately after Abel was killed, or soon after.

That's how we know that Cain and Abel must have been around 130 years old when Cain killed Abel. Both had crossed 100 years. They were not small boys. Cain was over 100, and Abel was over 100 when they killed each other.

When one killed the other, rather. When Cain killed Abel. And since, generally speaking, in the Old Testament the daughters are not mentioned, it doesn't mean that Adam didn't have any daughters. As we said the other day, by this time, by the time Seth was born, the population of the earth must have been around 50 ,000 people at least.

That's why Cain says, if somebody sees me, he may kill me. So Seth was not just the third human being born into the world. He was born after Adam and Eve had lived 130 years, and they had children, and the children got married, and they had grandchildren, and the grandchildren got married.

They probably spread all over that part of the earth. And then the days of Adam, after he became the father of Seth, were 800 years, and he had other sons. And Seth lived 105 years and became the father of Enosh.

And Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. All the days of Seth were 912, and he died. And Enosh lived 90 years and became the father of Kenan. Enosh lived 815 years, and had other sons and daughters.

He lived up to 905, and he died. And so on it speaks about Kenan's son Mahalil, verse 12. He had other sons and daughters, and then he died, verse 14. And then Mahalil's son Jared, verse 15. And then, verse 17, Mahalil died.

And Jared, verse 18. Here we come to the one we want to think about. He lived 100, verse 18, 162 years, and became the father of Enoch. This was the sixth generation after Adam. Enoch is called the seventh from Adam, and you can total it up here.

Adam was first, Seth was second. You come down the line, Enoch was number seven, the seventh generation, counting Adam as the first. Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and then he died.

The Meaning of Death Before a Thousand Years

Now, and Enoch lived 65 years. Now I want you to notice one thing here. Have you noticed that none of these people crossed 1000 years? Very interesting. Adam lived to 930, verse 5. Seth, 912, verse 8.

Enoch, 905, verse 11. Kenan, 910, verse 14. Mahalil, verse 16, 895, verse 17. And Jared, verse 2962. That's something very interesting. But all of them, it says, they nearly reached a thousand, and they died.

Nearly reached a thousand, and they died. God told Adam, in Genesis 2, 17, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. That means in the same day that you eat, you will die. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3, one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.

So within a thousand years, you're going to die. You won't live beyond a thousand. And we see that never in the human race has anyone lived beyond one day in God's eyes. In the day that Adam ate, he died spiritually immediately, and he died physically within a thousand years.

And all his descendants, God is very faithful and exact to His word. What He says will come true exactly in generation after generation after generation after generation. That's something interesting that we need to take note of.

Enoch's Crisis and Three Hundred Years of Faithfulness

Then we come to Enoch. And it says here, Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. And Methuselah means, the meaning of that word is, at his death, it will come. What will come? The judgment will come.

At his death, it will come. And we see something. Then, verse 22, then, then means from the birth of his son. After the birth of his son, Enoch walked with God. He didn't walk with God for the first 65 years.

But something happened when his son was being born, when his son was born. Some crisis came into his life when his son was born. That can happen sometimes. People who don't think about God, suddenly their wife is going in for their first delivery and the doctor says she might die, and suddenly they begin to think about God.

People who are never interested in God till then, they suddenly, there's a crisis. But usually what happens is, after the child is born, they forget all about it and go back to their old way of life. But not Enoch.

Not Enoch. That's the difference. He had a crisis that changed the whole direction of his life from that time he meant business. He said, Oh God, you've given me a revelation of the birth of this son, and I'll be true to you.

And he kept that vow for 300 years. What an example. We have so-called crises in our life here and there, and we forget about it so quickly. Not Enoch. He took it seriously. And after that, he walked with God for 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

There's a number of things that we can learn here. It means that at the birth of this son, God gave Enoch some revelation, that I'm going to judge this world, and when this little child, whom you've got, dies, that time the world will be judged.

And if you calculate it, you know that Methuselah lived for 969 years. He was the longest person to live. And the ages are all written here, you can calculate it. In the year when Methuselah died, Noah was 600 years old.

Noah was, by the way, Methuselah's grandson. And that year, the flood came. The year Methuselah died, the flood came. That was in his name. Methuselah, when he dies, the judgment will come. Now the thing is, we know that he lived up to 969, but when Enoch took that little baby, he didn't realize he was going to live up to 969 years of age.

When you hold a baby in your hand, you don't know how long he's going to live. Because every time Enoch looked at that baby, he would have realized, when this baby dies, this world's going to be judged.

And he saw that, maybe that boy growing up and getting hurt one day, got fever, and again Enoch realized, when this baby dies, that's the end of the world. You can imagine how this man lived. Because he believed God's word.

He believed that revelation that God gave at the birth of his son, that when your son dies, it will come, and he believed it. He believed that that judgment will come, and therefore, Enoch lost all interest in this world.

And he said, Lord, I want to live for You then. I want to live my life on this earth in a worthwhile way. And he walked with God. You know, when Enoch was alive, Adam was just about 600 years old. Adam was still alive.

Adam died only when Enoch was about 308. All the ages are here, you can calculate it. So, Enoch must have met Adam, and Adam must have told him how it was in Eden, how glorious it was there, and how he got thrown out.

And Enoch must have longed, said, Lord, I can't go back to Eden. But is it possible here on this earth, outside of Eden, to walk with You, like Adam walked with You inside Eden? Is it possible? And God saw the longing of that man's heart, and He said, it's possible.

Even though you're not in Eden. And he walked with God. We see there of a man in the midst of all these other ungodly people, groping after God, and getting a revelation. Why do I say the others were ungodly?

Enoch's Prophecy of Judgment

Turn to the book of Jude, in the New Testament. Jude, and verse 14. And about these, also, whom is he talking about? Verse 11. All three religious people, various aspects of Babylon. And about such people, it says in verse 14, Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied.

Saying, the Lord came, he prophesied about the second coming of Christ. Think what a revelation God gave him. Not only about the flood, but about the second coming of Christ. Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment on all, to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Enoch was a prophet of judgment in his generation. That's why I say the others were evil around him. Think! Adam did not have what Enoch had. He could have had it. He lived for 300 years, and during those 300 years, at least 240 of those years, Enoch was walking with God, and Adam was watching them.

But it couldn't be said about Adam, but it was said about Enoch. And there was Enoch, one lone man, standing against a generation of ungodly people, saying that God's going to come in judgment. Enoch is the first preacher mentioned in the word of God.

And what did he preach? He preached judgment against sin. The first preacher in the world didn't preach comforting messages. He preached judgment against sinners for their ungodly word, for their ungodly action, for their ungodly attitude towards God.

Read that in Jude 14 and see. And he spoke about the second coming of Christ, the judgment would come, the Lord would come, the 10 ,000 of His saints, and judge the world. That's good for us to remember, that when we walk with God, we stand against all the ungodliness of people around us.

Now you can imagine, Enoch was not popular. He didn't have time to sit around with all his ungodly relatives, and crack dirty jokes, and all the filthy things they were in. I think Enoch must have been a very lonely man.

Very lonely man. Because he couldn't have fellowship with his own relatives. And they were all his cousins in those days. He was only the seventh generation from Adam. Everybody on earth was a cousin of his.

And he couldn't have fellowship with them. He walked with God in loneliness. And he preached. He didn't just keep quiet. He didn't live like a hermit in a mountain. He preached to the people around him about God coming to judge them for their ungodliness.

He was preparing the way for Noah, his great-grandson, who would later on take the basin from him and carry on that weary race. God's always had a witness. When Abel died, there was Enoch. And when Enoch died, there would be a Noah.

When Noah died, there'd be an Abraham, and so on. So there was a witness for God. And I can imagine that the presence of Methuselah, as I said, played a great part. And it says here in Genesis 5 .22, something else about Enoch, that he was a family man.

Walking With God in Family Life

It says he had other sons and daughters. You can walk with God and have sons and daughters. There's a false teaching, which is called the doctrine of the devil, by Paul in 1 Timothy 4, which says, if you want to be holy, you must not get married.

And some people even have the idea that if you want to be holy, you must have maybe just one or two children, because then you can spend more time reading the Bible and praying. It's a lot of garbage, all these human ideas.