Cain and Abel

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Let's pray Blessed Lord You have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning grant that we may so hear them read mark learn and inwardly

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Digest them that by patience and comfort of your holy word We may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Amen All right. We've been working our way slowly through the book of Genesis and we're going to probably have our last peak at Genesis chapter 3 but I wanted to look at Genesis 3 in light of Genesis 4 kind of together and do a little bit of comparing and Contrasting and real quick.

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I wanted to typologically point out another little feature from the Genesis story Remember in the

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Garden of Eden, there are two trees There's two trees the tree of life and the other one you could call the tree of death

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Because on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die and Satan said you will not die and stop calling me surely so It's a terrible joke

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I should not have said that now another way to look at the two trees if you would Typologically all the way back in the

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Garden of Eden. We begin to see the New Testament distinctive that is drawn out between the law and the gospel but in the two trees the law says

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Obey and you will live and the gospel says no, it's all free gift It's all free gift.

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So already typologically in the two trees. We begin to see death life law gospel sin grace repentance forgiveness of sins the categories

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Exist there in the in the Genesis account now It's fascinating when you read the church fathers the church fathers were

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They like to really dig deep into the Old Testament to try to find Every way in which they could that would somehow relate back to Jesus in typology and type and shadow

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Do you remember in the beginning of Genesis how many rivers there were? for There were four rivers

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Right. There were four rivers the ghee hone the pea shown the Euphrates and the

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Tigris, right? Those are the four Well the church fathers say and this typologically points us to the four

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Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John And I think that's a good way to look at that just you know, all of this kind of prefiguring so Take a look now let's go back to Genesis chapter 3 and I want to point out a couple of things because as we get into for this is going to be critical and We'll start off With verse 8

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Genesis 3 verse 8, so they've already eaten they've been deceived They've sowed fig leaves and made loincloths for themselves and verse 8 says they heard the sound of the

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Lord God Walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the

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Lord God Among the trees of the garden, but God called to the man and said to him. Where are you? He said

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I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself He said who told you that you were naked.

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Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat again? Notice how sin has corrupted and changed human nature to where now we fear

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God Why because we know God is wrathful. We know that we're guilty We know that we have earned and deserve

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God's punishment. And so Adam plays this out perfectly the man said to the woman The woman whom you gave so he's blaming

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God to be with me She gave me fruit of the tree and I ate then the Lord God said to the woman What is this you have done the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate

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The Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this and now pay attention to these words right here cursed are you

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Watch with how the curses fall here because this comes into play then in Genesis 4 So the serpent is cursed.

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God says cursed are you Above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field on your belly

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You shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life I will put enmity between you and the woman between your offspring and her offspring again proto

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Evangelion pointing to Jesus He shall bruise your head. You shall bruise his heel

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To the woman he said I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing in pain.

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You shall bring forth children Notice God doesn't say cursed. Are you to Eve?

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He says no I'm going to in a sense curse childbearing make it difficult and Then the next part your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you now

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This is something that we have to keep in mind. Is that prior to the fall? male and female were equals after the fall

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God puts Eve under the authority of her husband. This is part of the curse if you would

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So the relationships that we have husband over wife Probably would not have been that same thing because this is part of the curse so she is put under submission of her husband and Society now has to be ordered and in a way in order for it to survive and move forward and this has authority structure

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So in the scripture, we hear wives submit to your husband's husbands. Love your wife's as Christ's love the church

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So the structure then that God has set up is that husbands are under Christ. The wife is under the husband

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This is how God has set this up. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you

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He will have authority over you. That's part of the fall and to Adam He said because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which

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I commanded you You shall not eat of it. Watch this Cursed is the ground because of you

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Notice how merciful God is He doesn't curse Adam. He doesn't curse

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Eve and In this sense, he says cursed is the ground Again showing his mercy curses the ground because of you in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life

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Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face

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You shall eat bread till You return to the ground So there's even a little gospel promise in there if you kind of can you hear it?

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You'll have to do these things until You return to the ground kind of a little hint there ever so slight hint of well

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Our labors are finished once we're dead for out of the ground you were taken for dust you are and dust you shall return

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The man called his wife Eve now this This always kind of fascinates me.

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I want to show you this in the Hebrew Eve's name in Hebrew is not even remotely close to pronounced

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Eve. It's hawa hawa Okay, and the reason why he names her that is because she's the mother of the living so it's just fascinating me that it gets transliterated into English as Eve But her real name is hawa

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For she was the mother of all the living and the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them first sacrifice

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First another hint of the gospel God clothes their nakedness God clothes us in the righteousness of Christ He clothes us.

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This is what scripture tells us So then the Lord God said behold the man has become like one of us.

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This is the Trinity speaking Knowing good and evil now lest you reach out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever

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And it tails off. This is that incomplete sentence This is like the unthinkable thing and the

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ESV you'll notice it picks up on this with this thing right here It just kind of notes that this is just kind of an incomplete thought in Hebrew.

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It doesn't it's like This is like unthinkable to God that man would eat of the tree of life and live forever in a sinful state

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So therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken

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He drove out the man and at the east of the Garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life

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Now we get to this Next account now Adam knew his wife.

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Now. This is important. It says his wife She wasn't his live -in, honey

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Right, they weren't shacking up They were married God wants us to know this God is the one who establishes marriage, right?

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So now Adam and Adam knew his wife and I love the Hebrew word yodea

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To know it's it's it's an intimate knowledge and it's just a wonderful world word in the sense that it

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It's it's it's modest. It's chaste. It doesn't give away too much information We all kind of know what it means

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Of course, we all know what it means because she gets pregnant by this but even Scripture in talking about Man and woman intimate relations talks about it in a way that's modest.

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That's chaste that isn't x -rated, right? So Adam knew his wife she conceived and bore

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Cain saying I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord Now this is where there is a lot of ink spilled on this a lot of ink is spilled on this

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And I think Luther has it, right the Hebrew here Actually says I have gotten a man

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With the Lord is what the Hebrew kind of literally says and the question is what does it mean and Cain?

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You know, it means to possess I've gotten Able, let's read it. And again, she bore his brother

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Abel Havel means vanity Cain means like possession

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Able means vanity. So you see this setup here going on in this text where there's there seems to be some kind of expectation put on Cain he's

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The way I read this Eve is expecting in some sense that Cain is the son of the promise

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He's great Magnificent. I've gotten him with the Lord Then there's

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Abel Vanity worthless who needs this kid and watch who follows his father in his father's footsteps as to You know who does the work of his father?

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What is Adam at this point? Farmer So and again, she bore his brother

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Abel now Abel was a keeper of the sheep Cain a worker of the ground who follows dad in the trade

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Cain does what's Abel doing? He's doing that lowly job of keeping the sheep. Ah So you kind of see what's going on here one is exalted one is the one who's the son of the promise and then we

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Got vanity over here. We got the worthless kid. He gets the cleanup job And so this is kind of like the first instance of this the concept of what's called primogenitor firstborn

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He is fantastic. And then there's the other kid right? Have any of you ever read that book called

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Ricky tiki -tembo? It's a funny little book kids book It's called

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Ricky tiki -tembo and it's a story about a Chinese family and this Chinese family the firstborn son

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Of course, he's the honored son and his name is Ricky tiki -tembo. No, saw Rambo cherry berry root.

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You pit Perry Pembo What a great name right and his brother's name was Chang Right and so it's a cute little story about how

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Ricky tiki -tembo. No, saw Rambo cherry berry root. You pit Perry Pembo fell into a well and almost died because poor

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Chang went to go Tell everybody that he had fallen into the well But he had to keep saying his name and they wouldn't let him just abbreviate it

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He had to say ah old man Ricky tiki -tembo. No, saw Rambo cherry berry root. You pit Perry Pembo fell into the well

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Okay Well, how long does he have it's like they have to he has to keep telling everybody in his brother almost dies because of this

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Fantastic name so that is just kind of an illustration of what's going on here You can think of Cain as Ricky tiki -tembo.

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No, saw Rambo cherry berry root. You pit Perry Pembo and then Abel while he's Chang Here's that's the setup

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Abel was a keeper of the sheep Cain a worker of the ground in the course of time Cain brought to the

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Lord Yahweh an offering of the fruit of the ground Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions and The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain and his offering he had no regard and then the big question

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Well, why? Why is there anything inherently wrong with bringing a grain offering to the

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Lord? Nope, in fact in the Mosaic Covenant, there are grain offerings

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Is there anything inherently great er about bringing? You know a slaughtered sacrificial animal to the

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Lord. Nope. The Lord receives in both so what's the deal

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Why is it? that The Lord accepts one and not the other but see here's the thing

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Where you put the emphasis if you put it on the wrong syllable, you're gonna miss the point here.

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Let's watch how this text works Abel also brought to the firstborn of his flock and their part and the

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Lord had regard for Abel the

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Lord had regard for Abel and His offering so who's first in the sentence?

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Abel watch this but for Cain for Cain He had no regard the reason why the sacrifices

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Were accepted or not accepted had to do with the person bringing it the

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Lord had regard for Abel He had no regard for Cain because he had no regard for Cain He had no regard for Cain sacrifice because God had regard for Abel.

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He had regard for Abel sacrifice So what's the difference? Scripture tells us

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Flip on over to Hebrews chapter 11 This is known as the great hall of faith passage

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Hebrews 11 verse 1 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for The conviction or the certainty you can say the certainty of things not seen

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For by it by faith the people of old received their condemn

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Commendation by faith We understand that the universe was created by the Word of God So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible by faith

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Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as Righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though.

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He died He still speaks. Let me keep reading for a little bit by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him now before he was

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Taken he was commended as having pleased God verse 6 and without faith it is

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Impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards

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Those who seek him It doesn't say without faith it's difficult to please

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God somewhat hard challenging it says without faith it is

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Impossible to please God and this text explains what's going on in Genesis 4.

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Why was Abel Why did God have regard for Abel and then his sacrifice?

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Why did God have no regard for Cain and his sacrifice? Answer one had faith and the other didn't one trusted and Believed God to be merciful because of the promised seed the other didn't

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So in other words, Ricky Tiki Tembo. No saw Rambo Cherry Berry Ruchi Pit Perry Bumbo and all of his glory

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Who was he really? trusting Himself He thought he was all of that.

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He was the son of promise here. I'm the guy I'm gonna I'm the dude and then there's

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Chang That's what The in the names bear that out the names bear that out

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You know Cain means Possession I've gotten this possession with God with the

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Lord and then Abel Havel means vanity So already in the names you can see this being being played out

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So but the one who is despised the one who is humble the one who has the lowly duties he's the one whom

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God has regard for not because he's lowly but because he has faith and The one who is exalted himself the one who thinks he's all of that in a bag of rice

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Well The Lord has no regard for him at all One has faith the other doesn't now notice here also then

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This this is also comes into play kind of the setup here. Let me give myself a new

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Page here. Hold on We had Eden now we have not paradise but a cursed earth and With the cursed earth

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There is now religion, right?

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so notice that chapter 4 you cannot understand it apart from Well, you can even talk about it in this sense.

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Let's talk about it as church in Church there they have the

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Word of God Because Abel he trusts he believes in the promises of God where was that promise given in the garden?

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So and then you in that church, we also have sacrifices and This is all in a religious context now

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So, how do we get through the curse? Well, there's worship.

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There's a promise to believe their sacrifices this is all in the context of really kind of an ancient church and If you see what's going on here in light of that a good way to view what we see going on in chapter 4 is

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Really two different religions one religion humbly confesses sin and Trusts in the

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Lord for the forgiveness of sins the other Exalts itself. This is the difference of what we call the theology of glory or self glory versus the theology of the cross and All the way back in the garden you begin to see this playing out so there's a religious conflict going on in this text and this then comes into play then in how

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Cain is Ultimately punished in this regard and we'll pay attention to the details.

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So the Lord had regard for Abel and His offering he had no regard for Cain so Cain was very angry and his face fell

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Very upset very sullen unconsolable he's miffed

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He's ricky -ticky Tembo. No, saw a rainbow cherry berry root. You pit Perry Pembo and God has no regard for him

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So the Lord said to Cain notice who's talking Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen

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Notice the pattern here. He's angry and his upset. He's self -focused. He's arrogant

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He's prideful and God comes to him the same way that God came to Adam and Eve After they had eaten right?

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So here we see this playing out again. Why is your face fallen? Remember the question? Where are you?

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Why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? That's a terrible translation

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Let me show you what the note says here in the ESV If you do well Will there not be a lifting up?

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That's a Hebrew idiom That idiom will there not be a lifting up is actually pointing us to forgiveness a good way to translate this

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That kind of gets at what's going on with this Hebrew idiom if you do well, will you will you not be forgiven?

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What does it mean to do? Well then in this context to do? Well is the is the singular work of God, you know

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The Greeks came to Jesus and said what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus says the work

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Tan Aragon the one and only work is to believe in the one whom he has sent So a good way to you know to get at what the meaning of this is if you do well if you trust if you believe

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Will there not be forgiveness? That's a good way to render this text and if you do not do well

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Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it

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The only way out of this is repent believe trust humble yourself

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Be forgiven So in this context again, this is a religious context now.

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This is all about religion Cain spoke to Abel his brother and when they were in the field notice he speaks well to him.

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Hey Cain Why don't we go out in the field, you know, I need a little bit of help, you know I'm trying to you know, drain a pond or you know trying to get some, you know part of my field working, right?

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Oh, no problem, bro. I'll come and help you Right. So Cain Abel has no knowledge whatsoever

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About what's about to transpire. So just think of the duplicity here. This is first -degree murder

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This isn't an accident first -degree murder is when somebody plans and plots in their heart in their mind and then executes it and Makes it happen

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Mercilessly, that's what's going on. And this is not a very good thing here. Notice that The effects of sin they begin all the way back in the garden first kids born first son born

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Talk about a dysfunctional family. Anyway, you feel like my family's dysfunctional Adam and Eve had that same thing

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Okay, right Cain spoke to his brother Abel and When they were in the field

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Cain rose up against his brother and killed him Killed is a little bit weak

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It's like slew him slaughtered What it says? So the

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Lord said to Cain Where is your brother? Now watch this.

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I Don't know my my brother's keeper You don't you don't know you think you're gonna get away with that with God Really so he literally says to the

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Lord's face I don't know and he probably said it like that too because that's how the kids say now.

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Why did you do that? I don't know. I don't know.

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Am I my brother's keeper? The answer to that question, by the way, is yes, you are Love your neighbor as yourself

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You are your brother's keeper So the Lord said what have you done?

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The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground

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Now that has got that had to have caused Cain's blood to run cold

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If you think about what God is saying here is that God is literally saying your brother had no one to defend him and You slew him you slaughtered him like an animal like a pig

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But his voice is crying to me from the ground and God is literally saying I will be his Avenger There is no one greater in all of the universe to have as one to avenge your blood than God than God himself and Notice what he says and now

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You are cursed He doesn't say cursed is the ground.

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He gives the same Punishment he gives to the serpent. He said to the serpent you are cursed

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He says to Adam the ground is cursed to Eve Childbearing is now going to be difficult and you're gonna be put under the authority of your husband

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Which is really a difficult thing for any woman to endure but for Cain The curse falls on Cain You are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand

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When you work the ground it shall no longer yield its strength to you

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You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Now. This is important fugitive and a wanderer

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Which basically is not saying that he's you know, you know, it's it's not like that song. Oh Never mind.

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Anyway, it's not quite like that, but it's along the lines of there's no sure place that he can go

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No sure place that he can go where he will not be in danger And so he says when you work the ground and shall no longer yield to you its strength

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You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth Where's the place he needs to be to hear the word of the

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Lord to hear the forgiveness of sins be assured of the promises And have his faith focus on the one who will come to rescue him church church then is conducted by Adam and So he's this is in a sense in the real truest sense of the word.

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This is an excommunication He's Excommunicated from the church.

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He's excommunicated from his family and even the earth is against him Cain said to the

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Lord This is another indicator Remember when we point out a couple weeks ago Sin has this really funny thing that it does when you confront somebody with their sin

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If they're impenitent and they don't trust Christ for the forgiveness of their sins Who are they gonna blame for their sins everybody else except for themselves?

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It's the woman that you gave me God, right, that's how that works So knows we says my punishment is greater than I can bear

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He doesn't lament his sin. He laments his punishment

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It's not that I'm sorry I've sinned against you Lord have mercy on me

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Instead it's oh, I can't bear this punishment rather than seeing sin itself as the thing that is

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Evil and wicked he Didn't see that. Oh, this is a terrible punishment behold.

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You've driven me today away from the ground and From your face I shall be hidden. There's another key that what we're dealing with is also

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Church in The Old Testament when it talks about being face to face with God pale Pale face to face with God that means having

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God's mercy his favor his countenance Remember that in the benediction may the Lord bless you and keep you may the

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Lord make his face To shine upon you and be gracious to you So in saying that you have driven me from the ground and from your face

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I shall be hidden He knows that he's being cut off from God's mercy, but he's lamenting the punishment not his sin

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I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on earth and whoever finds me will kill me notice how

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Sin has this funny way of when it works in you. It causes this fear oftentimes almost an irrational fear

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So what he's worried about oh, there's gonna be people now who want to kill me because of what I've done and That's the thing first -degree murder according to the

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Mosaic Covenant earns you what? death it is a capital crime and Notice here that God is even merciful to Cain He's slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and patient God could have executed judgment on him and Been the one who basically says

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I'm going to avenge your brother's blood and You're dead And no one would have thought the lesser of God But notice

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God stays the execution He stays the execution he excommunicates him

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He's no longer before his face no longer there to hear the word no longer there for sacrifices

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No longer to expect God's mercy and grace But God does not kill him and he says the

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Lord said to him well not so if Anyone kills Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold now notice.

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God doesn't say I promise. No one will kill you Instead he says well anyone who kills you

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I will curse them sevenfold So it's not exactly an absolute promise here, and we don't know what happens to Cain We don't know what happens to him.

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It's rather fascinating We keep reading so the Lord put a mark on Cain lest any who found him should attack him no clue what that mark is

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No clue whatsoever You know when you read the writings of the church fathers they

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They well they speculate that what ended up happening was is that God made it so that Cain had like a tremor

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You know he came up He looked weak and feeble and that that was the mark and of course that's just pure speculation

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We have no idea what it was We don't know if it was a big scarlet letter M for murderer, you know we'd have no idea

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None whatsoever, but there's there's some way in which Cain is marked then Cain went away from the presence of the

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Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden and Cain knew his wife now.

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This is where it gets interesting. Where did she come from? See I was thinking ahead before we get there question mark

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Whoever finds me will kill me who was around Okay Now this the way to think about it is this is that this is a story that tells us about Cain and Abel But we're not told the rest of the story.

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We're only given the details that are necessary for us regarding Salvation and life. So here's the thing

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Adam and Eve They had Cain and Abel What it doesn't tell us and we have to surmise from this text is that Adam and Eve continued to have children and That they were prolific in their

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X, you know They were commanded by God to be fruitful and multiply So you can imagine how that went for you know,

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Adam and Eve Adam would come in from the field and say honey Well, we've got a commandment. We've got a fulfill. So they were fulfilling the commandment so that means that that they had brothers and sisters and Most likely

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Cain Cain's wife is going to be one of his sisters Okay, now this is the question that there's two possibility possibilities here possibility number one

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Cain was married prior to the murderer Option number two after the murder

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Adam and Eve went to one of their daughters and said honey Would you be a good sport and marry your brother

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Cain? Those are your two options Yeah, well that's the reality of the situation if humanity begins with only two people

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Adam and Eve in order for the human race to propagate Well early on Sisters and brothers that's what happened now.

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They didn't have the genetic problems that we have today with such marriages and later on in the

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Old Testament that then becomes Forbidden by law you can't marry close kin according to scripture

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So Well, the way the text reads is that Cain is the one he and his wife

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They head to the other side of the Garden of Eden and they're the ones who established Nod This is not a community that exists prior to Cain's rebellion and murder

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Everybody's together. This is important because this is where the face of God is shining This is where there's mercy and forgiveness and the promise and this is something to keep in mind

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Not one of Cain's descendants not one of them survives the flood. So this is how the story then begins to unfold and It's important to keep in mind that this conflict

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At its core is religious It's religious It's the difference between the one who exalts himself the theology of glory versus the one who humbles himself and receives

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Forgiveness the one who tries to conquer and to earn versus the one who has nothing and only receives that's the difference and Hebrews 11 and Jesus himself make it clear that Abel the one whose name means vanity

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The one who's just like Chang To his brother Rikki Tiki Tembo. No, Sal Rambo.

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Cherry Berry Ruchi Pit Perry Pembo that guy he's the first martyr and the first saint and He's the first one

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To finish his course return to the ground and is no longer under the curse This is the right way to view

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Abel. So verse 17 Cain knew his wife's. Yes, sir Okay Well, the question is what is the do what's right?

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That's the hinge go back and take a look The Lord said it came. Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen if you do?

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Well, will you not be accepted again the Hebrew there? Will there not be a lifting up? What does it mean to do?

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Well in this case to do well is to believe Because without faith, it's impossible to please

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God. So the thing to do well is to believe to have the faith of Abel So if you do well, if you believe you will you not be forgiven as a good way to put that and if you do

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Not well, if you refuse to believe you refuse to trust you refuse to have faith Well, then sin is crouching at the door.

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Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it Well, how are you supposed to do that? without faith

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Yeah, well here's the idea is is that Christ says and this is this is a good question that you bring up Jesus says be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.

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How you work it. How's that working out for you? Okay now just because God commands it doesn't mean that it's possible

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Does that make sense a commandment does not imply that you have the power to obey it Same applies here think of it in that context.

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All right, so he's saying okay if you do well If you do not do well sin is crouching at the door its desires for you, but you must master it

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You must rule over it. Well, good luck on that How are you gonna do that? If you refuse to believe without faith, it's impossible to please

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God You remain dead in trespasses and sins as long as you were impenitent and don't have faith.

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Yes Right, will you will there not be a lifting up if you do well will there not be a lifting up It's It goes back to faith without faith it's impossible to please

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God so the thing to do well is to believe And you can even look at Cain Cain's almost like us in a real way to except for we do do well

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Cain has you know, and except for instead of doing like Cain didn't run away from the face of the Lord We looked at the face of the

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Lord before the forgiveness of our sins. Right exactly. So well, there's mercy and forgiveness So notice though they're coming back to this then notice the big difference

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Adam and Eve when they fall. There's mercy and There's God's face There and they're saved by their faith by grace because of God's grace

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Cain persists in sin and unbelief and as a result of it He himself is cursed and he's excommunicated from the only place where the where God's face is shining

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Which is basically an eternal death sentence, but he doesn't lament his sin. He just laments the punishment

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Yes, he did Mm -hmm.

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Yep, he did but he wouldn't have anything to do with it Verse 17 again

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Cain knew his wife she conceived and bore Enoch when he built a city he called the name of that city after the name of his son

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Enoch, so He heads off to Nod his first son born is named

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Enoch and he names that city Enoch Enoch was born to Iraq Iraq fathered Mahusha l Mahusha l fathered

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Mathusha l Mathusha L fathered Lamech and Lamech took two wives. The name of one was at a the other was

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Zilla at a board Jabal and he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock

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His brother's name was Jubal and he was the father of all those who played the lyre and the pipe Zilla also bore to Balkan He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron and the sister of two

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Balkan was not a month Now this is kind of fascinating here when you start to compare now the the descendants of Cain we get a few names

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And what they were doing everything focuses on the here and the now and we don't hear anything about when they were born or when they died

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Notice who's already gone off the scene at this point is Cain mentioned again here We don't know what happened to him no clue, but we know this that his descendants

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Well, they kind of follow in the footsteps of their father and this becomes one of the major reasons why there's the flood

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Lamech said to his wives at anzilla hear my voice you wives of Lamech.

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Listen to what I say I have killed a man for wounding me and a young man for striking me if Cain's revenge is sevenfold and lab

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X is Seventy -fold you're thinking what is going on here? Well a good way to look at this is is that notice that the curse of Cain isn't seen as a curse

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It kind of gets flipped and so here with this this character

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Lamech He's he's he confesses to his wives almost in a bragging fashion

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You know, I killed a man for wounding me A young man for striking me if Cain's revenge is sevenfold.

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Well, then Lamech's is 7d7 fold this is a brag a brag regarding a murder

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Things have really gone poorly for the Cainites Sin compounds into more sin

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What's seen as a curse now turns into a brag? Everything is backwards upside down inside out and this shows you how

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Sin operates in the life of human beings and even in the descendants verse 25

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Notice the difference though and how God speaks about Adam Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and called his name

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Seth where she said God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel for Cain killed him

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Notice it says God has appointed me another offspring for Abel not for Cain but for Abel and By the way, this then begins in the truest sense

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What we talked about as the scarlet thread Of the

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Old Testament scarlet thread of the Old Testament you finger Why are these stories in the

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Old Testament? Why not other stories? Why are we following these people? Well, the answer is really kind of simple and I'll use red here just to kind of make the point

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This is the scarlet thread and Here's the idea here.

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We got Adam and the thread now goes to Seth what do these two have in common?

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That's most important Both of them are direct descendants of the promised seed of the woman

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Jesus So from here the thread we're going to follow this thread and so one of the things you have to do as you're reading your

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Old Testament if you kind of want to get you kind Of get situational awareness get your bearings ask the question.

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Where's Jesus in this text and by that I mean Jesus at this point in In the story he is resting hidden in the loins of Seth When you get to the story of like David and Goliath Where's Jesus in that story answer in the story of David and Goliath?

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Jesus is resting quietly in the loins unborn of his father

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David So over and again these people when they step on to history

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You almost have to think of them as is that it's not just this person stepping under the story

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It's that person and Jesus because Jesus is the one who is going who's a direct descendant of this person

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This is Jesus's lineage. This is why we're following. So this is the scarlet thread that we talked about here coming back

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She bore a son called his name Seth for she said God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel for Cain killed him to Seth also was born

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Also a son was born and he called his name Enosh at that time people began to call on the name of the

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Lord So here there's a religious thing going on here at this point So quotes from Seth to Enosh at this time people begin to call on the name of the

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Lord Now this is the book of the generations of Adam when God created man He made him in the likeness of God male and female

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He created them and he blessed them and named them man when they were created

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When Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, he fathered his son in his own Likeness after his own image.

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This is an important sentence man was created in the likeness of God, but man fell and So this verse verse 3 says that Adam fathered a son in whose likeness not in God's but in Adam's likeness

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This again goes back to the idea that because of sin were born dead and trespasses and sins

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There's a corruption of our human nature What little image that we can reflect of the image of God is broken fractured splintered in ruins?

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and so the text says that while Seth was born in the likeness of Adam not in the likeness of God So the days of Adam after he fathered

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Seth notices we know what happens to Adam. We had the Cainites Cain just disappears.

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We get a little bit of a list. They're really into things that have to do with the temporal world They build cities.

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They're great musicians and yada yada yada, and we have no idea what when were they born? When did they die none of that?

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Here's the difference the days of Adam after he fathered Seth for 800 years and he had other sons and daughters thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died when

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Seth had lived 105 years. He fathered Enos So here's the scarlet thread now Enos now is the son of promise

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Seth lived after he fathered Enos 807 years and he had other sons and daughters. That's all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died when

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Enos lived 90 years. He fathered Kenan Enos lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and he had other sons and daughters.

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Remember that they people began to call on the name of the Lord These are the people who have faith.

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This is notice that God in telling their stories. He gives us details about their lives

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When who they fathered when they were born, we don't get any of these details with the Cainites You know,

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I just lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters so about For guys at this time about the year 400 is when they would have their midlife crisis so I Don't know what that means

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That's all the days of Enos were 905 years and he died when Kenan had lived 70 years.

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He fathered Mahalalal Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalal 840 years and had other sons and daughters.

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That's all the days of Kenan were 910 years and he died But Mahalalal had lived 65 years.

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He fathered Jared Mahalalal lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Mahalalal were 895 years and he died when

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Jared lived 162 years he fathered Enoch So you're thinking why all these names?

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Why this when I was a kid, you know, you get to these parts of scripture and you just go next page right

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Next page didn't want, you know, it's verbal gymnastics to boot and it's like wine. Oh, yeah

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Well, this is the reason why this is important is because the scarlet thread we're following the sons of the promise

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You know, okay Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years he had other sons that's all the days of Jared 962 years and he died when

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Enoch had lived 65 years. He fathered Methuselah Enoch walked with God now this kind of a fascinating note here

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Just a little bit of a tidbit who are the two people in the Old Testament who never died?

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Enoch and Elijah Enoch and Elijah now a little bit of Eschatological speculation since scripture says that has appointed man to Die and then face the judgment.

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There's two men who have technically not died So throughout church history people have speculated that when you read in the book of Revelation in the book of Revelation There are two witnesses

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There are two witnesses and they are martyred in Jerusalem and on the day that they're martyred

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Everybody in the world is so happy that they're gone that they actually have it celebrate Christmas They are everybody exchanges gifts and it becomes like a worldwide holiday that these two have died many have speculated that the two witnesses prophesied in the book of Revelation are

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None other than Enoch and Elijah due to the fact that they have yet to die Just a little historical note.

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I am NOT saying that's right or wrong. I'm just saying what people say along these lines So Enoch walked with God after he fathered

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Methuselah 300 years he had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years

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Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him Yeah Yeah, God took him remember

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Elijah to you know, probably one of those flaming fiery chariot things Right, right see in other words

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Enoch he was spared the midlife crisis so yeah All right when

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Methuselah lived 187 years he fathered Lamech and Methuselah lived after he fathered

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Lamech 782 years and he had other sons and daughters us all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died.

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He's the oldest guy recorded in Scripture Methuselah Lamech lived 182 years

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He fathered a son and called his name Noah Saying out of the ground the

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Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief From our work and from the painful toil of our hands

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Gives us a little bit of a peek as to what's going on at the time, right? so Noah is

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He's the son of promise at this point. So when we look at Noah We're looking at two people

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Noah and Jesus Jesus is unborn, but it's fascinating his name out of the ground

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That the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief Always that hope always that hope maybe this one is the

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Messiah. Maybe this one will bring us relief and This then plays into our gospel text this morning from Mark Hosanna.

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Blessed is the coming kingdom of David Hosanna Save us we pray

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Hosanna So Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years he had other sons and daughters thus all the days of Lamech were 770 years and he died

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After Noah was 500 years old Noah fathered Shem Ham and Japheth Which of the three by the way becomes the son of promise, which is it?

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Shem it's Shem and We've heard of the term anti -semitic

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Right. This actually refers to Shem Shem is He's Shemitic These are the descendants of Shem after the flood they are considered

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Semites or Shemites, right? so this all plays together then in the history, but we'll stop here and Next week.

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We'll take a look at the flood any questions on what we've covered today Oh Yeah Yeah But it's kind of it's kind of plays out then if you were to then take a look at at Cain and Abel and kind of Prototypes of two religions theology of glory the versus the theology of the cross play that out today

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Play that out today How many people are piously evil? Good way to think about it, right?

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They refuse to humble themselves persist in sin and unbelief and they persecute those

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Who have penitent faith in Christ and trust in him for the forgiveness of their sins? And believe they're saved only by what

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Jesus has done this plays out even to this day and in a in a sense unbelief

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Atheism is still a form of that canine religion Atheism is in a true sense a real religion

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You just have to you have to learn how to see it as for what it is Their religion is suppressing the truth to deny

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God's existence yet knowing that he does exist But everybody who persists in sin and unbelief they ultimately do that They continue to suppress the truth that they know that God exists, you know in order to say, you know

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I don't know if God exists No, actually everybody knows that God's exists everybody and an atheist has to spend an inordinate amount of time

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Basically denying what they already know is true Yep, so we'll pick this up next week and next week we get it

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We're gonna get into kind of that thorny question. What do we do with this Nephilim stuff? What do we do with these the

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Nephilim I'll show you what not to do and I'll show you Textually how to rightly kind of parse this out so that you don't end up with some weird