(last edited 11/1/08)Jan's Bible Notes
Genesis 5
A genealogical section.
1-2 This genealogy begins with Adam's origin. In what way was Adam made in the likeness of God? He was without sin. Adam's descendants were not, as we will see in 5:3. The term "create" is again used three times, like 1:27. No mistaking the meaning--no evolution here. 2, are they cursed? No, but they do suffer the consequences of the curse.
Him/them/Man/they. Radical feminists have a real problem with “man/him,” but it has always been understood as in INCLUSIVE term. They are now making it out to be an exclusive term. Humans include what and what, 2?
3 In Gen. 4, we had the rejected line given first--Cain. His line is dropped and we are given the chosen line--Seth. Now we will follow the chosen line further. Eventually this line leads to the Messiah. This is an important theme of the Old Testament.
How many of Adam's children are mentioned? Was Seth the third child? How many might they have had? Was Seth in the likeness of God, as Adam was created? What was different? All mankind is born with Adam's inherited sinful nature. This is explained in Rom. 5:12-21.
4-20 For each father, only one son is mentioned, the one through whom the line is being traced. Does it say these are the firstborn? How could people live so long? Life spans become gradually shorter after the flood. Something was different before the flood. Many scientists believe that before the flood, there was a vapor canopy surrounding the earth, 1:6-8 and 7:11, which would have protected humans from the aging effects of ultraviolet rays.
21-24 The next interesting character is Enoch. Who was his son? Was Enoch a godly man? At least he became so at some point, apparently after the birth of Methuselah, whose name means "when he dies, it shall come, or, a sending." What came, what did God send, after his death, Gen. 6? According to Jude 14-15, what did Enoch do? What was his message about? Even back then, the Lord revealed that He would return some day, and that judgment was coming. Apparently God told him about a judgment coming after the death of his son. Apparently Enoch was a preacher and a prophet.
Did Enoch die like other men? Heb. 11:5. What other man did not die but was taken up alive? II Kings 2:1-12. These are a "type" of the "rapture," a word translated from the Greek "harpazo," that can also be translated as "caught up" or "snatched." The New Testament tells that before the second coming of Christ, He will catch up the church, His bride, all believers who are alive at that time, I Thes. 4:13-18. They will be caught up--spirit, soul and body, I Thes. 5:23--and instantly changed, I Cor. 15:51-52.
The Old Testament has many symbols, pictures, types and foreshadowing of truth that God will not reveal until later. (When God reveals more truth than He had previously revealed, the New Testament refers to this as a "mystery." Rom.16:25, I Cor. 2:7, Eph. 3:9.
What does Jesus tell His disciples in John 14:3? This can’t be the Second Coming when He comes to earth to reign over His kingdom for 1,000 years. Compare this verse with I Thes. 4:16-17. They are apparently describing the same event, when Christ snatches up all believers on the earth (the church) before the judgment and destruction of the wicked.
Many Christians do not believe the church will be snatched away; this doctrine is often referred to as the "rapture," a term that comes from an old English translation of the Greek word "harpazo." But it is amazing to see how many places the Bible teaches this concept. It is foreshadowed in the Old Testament here, in Gen. 7:7-10, II Kings 2:11, Song of Solomon 2:8-13, and Is. 26:19-20. We find the same word used in Acts 8:39 to tell how Philip was snatched away by the Lord. Compare the New Testament passages of I Cor. 15:51-53, I Thes. 1:10, 3:13, 4:14-18, 5:23. Note the chronological order of I Thes. 4 and 5, with chapter 5 speaking of the time immediately following the removal of the church. Especially note 5:9, which promises that the church will not experience the pouring out of God’s wrath. If God poured out His wrath on the church (the body of Christ, I Cor. 12:27, Eph. 4:12), He would be pouring out His wrath on His Son, who already paid for our sins ONCE FOR ALL, Heb. 10:10. This same promise is found in Rev. 3:10.
Paul also teaches this in II Thes. 2:1,3,6-8. "Our gathering together to Him" does not refer to the Second Coming because He will come here, whereas at the catching up, we will be gathered to Him. In 2:3, the "apostasy" (KJV, "falling away") can’t refer to apostasy from the faith, for that has always been around. Paul is speaking of a particular event (THE apostasy), well-known to his readers because he has taught them about it. The seven English translations of the Bible prior to the King James Version all translated "apostasia" as "departure" or "departing." For more on this interpretation, click here. The departure of the church comes first, then the Antichrist will be revealed. Paul repeats this teaching in 2:7-8. The Holy Spirit, indwelling believers in the church age, thereby restrains evil in the world; when the church is snatched away, the restraining influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit will cease, releasing the full power of evil in the form of the lawless one, the man of sin—the Antichrist. The Holy Spirit will continue to operate on earth as He did in the Old Testament, and because God is omnipresent, He IS still present on the earth, but not in the same way He was in all the individuals known collectively as the church.
25-27 How long did Methuselah live? This is the longest age recorded in the Bible. What had God said would happen at the end of his life? Is this why God allowed him to live longer than perhaps any other man, to allow as many as possible to repent before this happened? But we will see in Gen. 6 how many actually repented. Because of the overlap of these long life spans, many of these Bible characters lived during the same periods of time. According to charts of this genealogy, Methuselah was born before Adam died. All men before the flood had access to direct knowledge of God (IF men were passing on that knowledge as they should be). Adam and Methuselah bridged the time span from creation to the flood.
28-29 Who was Methuselah's grandson? There seemed to be something special about Noah. Who in Noah's line would ultimately bring this prophesied rest from work and freedom from the curse? Heb. 4:9-14, Rev. 22:1-4.
32 Why are we told of three of Noah's sons instead of just one, like the others in the list? We will find out in the next few chapters.
Copyright 2003 Jan Young