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Taken from CreationMoments dot com

A Message from Adam to Noah 

First Chronicles 1.1–4

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • September 22, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019 

Prelude

  1. You probably know that in the Bible 
    1. it is normal to find meaning or a reason for 
    2. someone’s name or the name of a place. 
  2. You undoubtedly know also that the Bible has many messages. 
    1. Those messages come in many forms, 
    2. as Hebrews 1.1 says:

      1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets…

      – Hebrews 1.1
  3. Some people wonder if the genealogy from Adam to Noah has a message:

    1 Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2 Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4 Noah…

    – 1 Chronicles 1.1–4

Persuasion

  1. Adam – Man, Mankind 
    1. Adam was the first human, and 
      1. his name means man or mankind. 
      2. God named him as the representative of all who would follow. 
    2. Although, according to Genesis 5.5, 
      1. Adam lived for 930 years, 
        1. Wow, that is a long time, 
      2. the thing that we know him for the most 
        1. is that he brought sin and death into the world. 
          1. No doubt he did many things in over 900 years, 
          2. even as we do in one tenth of that time. 
        2. As Paul said:

          12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

          – Romans 5.12
    3. Since he was the first man, and 
      1. since we have all descended from him, 
      2. the Bible speaks of him often. 
        1. The following Bible Books make mention of him: 
          1. Genesis: 17x 
          2. Deuteronomy: 1x 
          3. Joshua: 1x
          4. 1 Chronicles: 1x
          5. Job: 1x
          6. Luke: 1x
          7. Romans: 2x 
            1. Although Paul mentions Adam frequently in chapter 5, but 
            2. not necessarily by name. 
              1. The apostle built a whole doctrine on how Adam 
              2. was a type of Christ. 
          8. 1 Corinthians: 3x
            1. Same thing here as in Romans 5. 
            2. In First Corinthians 15, Paul again built a doctrine upon Adam. 
          9. 1 Timothy: 2x
          10. 1x
    4. Think of how much Adam must have done in 930 years, yet 
      1. not much is really said about him. 
      2. Although what is said is more than what the Bible says about you! 
  2. Seth – Appointed 
    1. Adam’s two oldest sons were Cain and Abel, but 
      1. Cain killed Abel, and 
      2. the Lord banished Cain from his family. 
    2. Later, God gave Adam and his wife, Eve, another son:

      25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth,  “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

      – Genesis 4.25
    3. The only mentions of Seth in the Bible are 
      1. in Genesis 5 as Moses explained Adam’s age when Seth was born, and 
      2. in First Chronicles 1 and Luke 3 in the genealogy. 
  3. Enosh – Mortal  
    1. The Bible says does not furnish a story for the meaning of the name of Enosh. 
    2. The Bible does say something significant started happening during his days:

      26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.

      – Genesis 4.26
      1. Had men not been calling on the name of the Lord? 
      2. We know that Cain and Abel were, and 
        1. Eve certainly was by giving God credit for the birth of Seth. 
        2. So this must have been in a wider sense. 
    3. Anyway, the name of Enosh means mortal or mortality. 
  4. Cainan – Possessor, Possession, Lance-maker 
    1. The same thing can be said about Cainan 
    2. that I said about Enosh. 
      1. No story provides a background to his name. 
      2. The Bible only mentions him in 
        1. genealogies and 
        2. to let us know of his age when his son was born and 
        3. how long Cainan lived.

          12 Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. 13 After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. 14 So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.

          – Genesis 5.12–14
  5. Mahalalel – Praise of God 
    1. This man’s name means “Praise of God.” 
    2. There was another man by this same name in the Book of Nehemiah. 
    3. Anyway, same thing again. 
      1. No story. 
      2. Nothing else about his 895 years except this:

        15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. 16 After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters. 17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

        – Genesis 5.15–17
  6. Jared – Descent 
    1. Guess what? 
    2. His name means descent, but 
    3. it is the same story of 
      1. no story, 
      2. only in genealogies, but 
        1. we do know the length of his life and 
        2. his son that God wanted included in the genealogy:

          18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19 After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

          – Genesis 5.18–20
  7. VII.Enoch – Dedicated 
    1. Enoch’s name means dedicated and 
      1. the Bible shows that he was indeed dedicated. 
      2. It gives a little more information about him, 
        1. although again not much compared to how long he lived. 
        2. However, though his life was short compared to the previous ones, 
          1. he was a man of God 
          2. who lived and spoke boldly. 
    2. Twice in Genesis, the Bible references the quality of life that he lived:

      21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

      – Genesis 5.21–24
      1. He walked with God. 
        1. This man had a unique relationship with God, 
        2. a kind of relationship that was disappearing from the earth. 
      2. Then God did something special for him and 
        1. took him, 
        2. meaning that Enoch did not die, but 
          1. like Elijah, 
          2. God took him straight to heaven, bypassing death. 
    3. The Bible says more about Enoch than those from Seth to Lamech. 
      1. The New Testament speaks of him twice. 
      2. In this first quote, 
        1. the New Testament helps us to understand 
        2. what it meant that Enoch walked with God:

          5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

          – Hebrews 11.5
          1. He lived by faith and 
          2. he pleased God. 
      3. In the second quote, the Bible shows that he was a prophet, 
        1. who undoubtedly spoke to his generation, but 
        2. you will notice that he also spoke to generations 
          1. thousands of years after the Flood. 
          2. Jude shows Enoch’s prophecy having fulfillment, 
            1. starting in the first century and 
            2. it continues wherever false teachers show up:

              14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

              – Jude 14–15
    4. As his name implies, Enoch was certainly dedicated. 
  8. VIII.Methuselah – Man of the dart 
    1. Methuselah, this man of the dart, 
      1. was the grandfather of Noah, but 
      2. we know him as the oldest biblically recorded person ever to live. 
    2. As with most of the others, 
      1. there is no story revealing the reason for his name, and 
      2. the Bible only mentions 
        1. his ages at a couple of points in his life, and 
        2. as part of genealogies. 
    3. The Bible says of the man of the dart:

      25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.  26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. 27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

      – Genesis 5.25–27
      1. Do you think he was ready to die after 969 years of life? 
      2. Most Christians living one tenth that long are ready to die. 
    4. By the way, Methuselah died the year of the Flood. 
      1. That does not mean that he was wicked. 
      2. It just means that is when he died. 
        1. It was time for him to go, and 
        2. it may be that God spared him the agonies of 
          1. being on the ark for over 1 year, 
            1. you need a young guy like 600-year-old Noah for that, and 
          2. God spared him the ravages of the Flood we hope. 
  9. Lamech – A Strong Youth; Weary; Taught 
    1. We have the same kind of information on Lamech 
      1. as the others listed. 
      2. This Lamech is not the same Lamech in chapter 4, a descendant of Cain. 
    2. Finding the meaning of his name was not easy. 
      1. I came up with three: 
      2. A Strong Youth; Weary; Taught 
    3. This man was the father of Noah:

      28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son.

      – Genesis 5.28

      30 After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. 31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

      – Genesis 5.30–31
      1. Notice that Lamech had other sons and daughters. 
      2. Noah had brothers and sisters. 
        1. It must be that they all got caught up in 
        2. the great wickedness of the earth and 
          1. died in the Flood. 
          2. If only they had been as their brother. 
  10. Noah – Rest or Comfort 
    1. As you know the Bible mentions Noah frequently. 
      1. Genesis 6–9 is all about him and the Flood. 
      2. Genesis 10 lists him as part of the genealogy 
        1. from which the earth was repopulated. 
        2. In Numbers and Joshua there is a woman named Noah. 
    2. Noah also appears in genealogies in 
      1. Genesis 10, 
      2. First Chronicles 1, and 
      3. Luke 3. 
    3. Both Isaiah and Ezekiel make mention of him. 
      1. In Isaiah, the Bible talks about the waters of Noah. 
      2. Ezekiel speaks of Noah as a great righteous man in the caliber of Daniel and Job. 
    4. In the New Testament, 
      1. Jesus used Noah and the Flood to illustrate the Second Coming. 
      2. Hebrews 11 uses him as an example of faith. 
      3. First Peter 3 compares the waters of the Flood to the water of baptism. 
      4. Second Peter 2 uses Noah to show that even as God did not spare Noah’s generation so the Lord will not spare the wicked today. 
    5. With Noah, we do have a reason listed for why he got his name:

      29 And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

      – Genesis 5.29

Exhortation

  1. When you put all these men together, 
    1. some people say that you discover a message. 
    2. Man appointed mortality to possess but the praise of God shall descend, the dedicated man of the dart, a strong youth shall give us comfort. 
  2. That is the story of the first ten men in the genealogy. 
    1. Adam and Eve had access to the Tree of Life, 
    2. which if they had eaten of it, 
      1. they would have lived forever on the earth. 
      2. However, they sinned, and 
        1. their sin brought death, and 
        2. all the suffering that accompanies death, 
          1. into the world. 
          2. The story of these ten men show 
            1. that man’s body has the ability to live forever, 
            2. that God’s original intent was not for us to die, but to live, 
            3. that sin has the most horrible of consequences. 
    3. However, all along, 
      1. as each of those generations was living out its part on the earth, and 
      2. right up to the generation that gave us Jesus Christ, 
        1. God was showing His plan to bring man comfort.