- Okay, so we've got the story
of Adam and Eve developing, actually, the way this is written is the story is developing on
four levels simultaneously. So, it's like, imagine you've
got a movie or something. You've got four camera angles, so you got four cameras looking at the same thing from different angles. And, if you remember that idea, if you remember the idea of the same story being told from four different angles, it'll help you as you
read through the passages, you know, as the changes shift. In movie you've got a script that says, camera one and then this angle, camera two, but in Genesis
there's no such direction. You have to figure out, oh, now they've backed up and
given us the big story. So here are some of the angles, first up there's the close-up. And, the close-up of the first family, you know, Adam and Eve. The creation, their disobedience, the effect of their
disobedience on their family, the loss of their Garden home, the loss of the relationship
that they had with God, the conflict between the brothers. You know, we talked that, Cain and Abel, we talked about that last week. That's the close-up shot, okay? Then we have another angle and that is, kind of looking at society, back up a little bit and
getting a bigger picture. And, what Genesis shows
us is the beginning of the deterioration of the world. Now, it's slow at first, merely a harder task, if you wish, of drawing a living from the earth. 'Cause God said to Adam, you know, the earth gave you but now you're gonna earn your living by
the sweat of your brow, so we see that. And also the disintegration of
the family because of murder, and then later on we'll see new patterns of social breakdown because of polygamy. So there you have bit of a back up, a bit of a broader view. Then, the third angle is the
idea of the Seed of Promise. So, we have the first mention and the tracking of God's
promise of salvation. And that's like a thread that runs from Genesis all the way to Revelation, this idea that God has made a promise that He'll save man and so
on and so forth, you know? In Genesis we refer to it
as the Seed of Promise. So, you've got that angle, every once in a while
the story's being told and all of a sudden they switch over and they focus in on this Seed, it's like, how is this
Seed of Promise doing? How is that coming along, okay? So we have that particular angle. And then, the fourth one is
the War of the two Seeds, okay? So the first mention and the tracking of God's promise of salvation, God's promise to Eve
regarding her offspring, a witness that, that promise was believed as we see Abel offering sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice to God, of course that's not the Seed of Promise, and then we see the War of
the Seeds that I mentioned between the Seed of Woman
and the Seed of Satan. So, not to get confused
here, four different angles, close-up, a little backing up, a wider panoramic view of society, then two other angles: one, the Seed of Promise, how God is fulfilling that
promise throughout the ages, and then the War of the Seeds, that's a whole other thing, how this war is continuously going on. Actually, beginning in Genesis and working it's way all
throughout the Bible. And we see the ongoing struggle for dominance over man in
every generation, you know? The woman is deceived at
first and then what happens? Well, Cain is seduced to anger and murder, we see the war continuing
in the next generation. And we see each generation,
the same struggle continue, until Christ comes, He's
the Seed of Promise, and wins the final victory,
He crushes the head of Satan. The Promise that God made in Genesis. And, how does He crush the head of Satan? Well, He beats death, He
resurrects from the dead. Let's read Hebrews, chapter
two, verses 14 and 15, where we see, in the New Testament, a reference to this Seed, you know, this promised Seed that would
ultimately be victorious. The Hebrew writes about it, he says, "Therefore, since the children
share in flesh and blood, "He Himself likewise
also partook of the same, "that through death He
might render powerless "him who had the power of
death, that is, the devil, "and might free those
who through fear of death "were subject to slavery all their lives." And so, the Hebrew writer summarizes, in just a few verses, the victory, the Seed of Promise has the victory, and what is the victory? He takes away the power
of death from Satan, now that there is the resurrection. And of course, the struggle
continues today with the Seed. But, it's to lure away
people from the truth. The actual battle has already been fought, it's already been won on the cross. I think the idea is, we say
it this way in modern terms, the game is ours to lose. The game is ours to lose, you know? The Lord has already had
a victory over Satan. Death has already been destroyed. We have the Promise that we are saved because of our faith in Christ. I mean, it's ours to lose
after that, you know? And, so many people I have to say, you know, personal experience, I've watched so many Christians
just throw their faith away, just throw it away, you know? And, usually by neglect, not by some huge terrible
thing that happened, one bad thing after another and eventually they're worn out and they just can't continue anymore. I mean, just carelessly just throw their faith away, you know? Because they're not paying attention or they're not careful with it. Okay, so tonight we're gonna
continues in chapter four and we're gonna, you know, we're gonna look at the family level. We're gonna look at the
close-up here, a close-up shot. As we see the result of Cain's act and how God deals with Cain. Then, we're gonna move to a wider shot of society and the development. So, we're gonna look
at two angles tonight. The close-up and then the wider shot of society and how it developed. So, let's go to Genesis,
chapter four, verse nine. It says, "Then the Lord," now we know what's happened right? I mean, Cain has brought
Abel out into the field and murdered him, okay? So, now, God is speaking to Cain. "Then the Lord said to Cain,
'Where is Abel your brother?' "And he said, 'I do not know.
'Am I my brother's keeper?'" How many times have we heard that, people say that thing? So, at first, God had met Cain at the sacrifice alter, remember? And told him your sacrifice
is not acceptable, you're not acceptable, and He warned him, you better be careful,
you're heading for trouble. But now, there is no
sacrifice, there is no worship, because sin dulls our interest
and desire for worship. The Lord finds Cain, h\He doesn't find him worshiping anywhere, He just finds him. And so now, God finds
Cain to deal with him. God doesn't really need the information. But, like Adam and Eve,
He opens up the question in order to elicit from
Cain some kind of answer, some sort of repentance, you know? It's like, a bad thing has happened, you know, you've done
that with your children, you know what they've
done, whatever it is. You know, they poured milk on the cat or something like that. You know what's happened
and you know who did it. But you wanna give them a chance, right? You wanna say, "Do you
know what happened here?" [laughing] "Do you know what happened to the cat?" To give them the opportunity and say, "Well mom, I didn't do it on purpose, "I had my glass, and you know." Whatever, the story, it's the same thing. You know, God, kind of approaches him. Obviously, Cain has not come to God to confess and ask for mercy, that would have been the
thing he should have done. I lost my temper, I was jealous, I was in a rage, what I did was foolish, and harmful, and stupid,
and how could this be fixed? Can You help me? No, that's not his attitude. Cain responds to God in two ways. First of all, he lies, he says, "I don't know." Well, he just killed him in
the field, of course he knows. And, that, to me, "I don't know," that's the answer most
teenagers give to their parents when their parents asks them, "How come there's a dent in my car?" "I dunno." You know what I'm saying? "Who trashed the," you know. "Who stripped the gears on the lawnmower?" "I dunno." So Cain, if you wanted to know,
where does that come from? Cain, he's the first one
that said to God, "I dunno." And then, of course, he challenges God. Imagine, he challenges
God's right to question him. He's saying to God, "Hey,
he's not my responsibility, "he's your responsibility,
I'm not my brother's keeper, "what are you asking me for? "That's your job." Pretty bold, huh? And so, in verse 10, let's read. "He said," God is saying,
"'What have you done? "'The voice of your brother's blood "'is crying to Me from the ground.'" So now God is no longer gonna speak to him in tones of mercy, that
ship has sailed now, with Cain's attitude. Now it's going to be
with a tone of judgment that is gonna come forth. Abel is not there, but God's
law, through Abel's blood, must be satisfied, there is a law there. The blood itself, in a way,
appeals to God for justice. An eye for an eye, and you know, later on, in Genesis, chapter 9,
verse 6, God will articulate the law of capital punishment,
here He demonstrates the idea that He is allowed to judge him, and there will be a judgment
for capital punishment, but later on, the law for capital
punishment is articulated, and we'll get there when we
get to Genesis chapter 9. And so we read in verse
11 and 12, it says, now God is speaking to
Cain, "Now you are cursed "from the ground, which has
opened its mouth to receive "your brother's blood from your hand. "When you cultivate the
ground, it will no longer yield "its strength to you;
you will be a vagrant "and a wanderer on the earth." So, in this case, murder, God
does not execute punishment that is due immediately, but
he lists the consequences of this sin in Cain's life. And so what will happen,
what is the curse? Well first of all, the
land, which was already more difficulty than it was in the Garden, will no longer respond to him, because he shed innocent blood. You've shed innocent
blood into the ground, and so the ground where you got your food, it's not going to work for you anymore. A nation, you know, always pays, there's an eternal principle here. A nation always pays
the price for its sins, just like individuals pay a price for sin. Nations also pay a heavy
price for their sins, Japan in the war, you know,
Germany reduced to rubble, most of it, much of it, after the war. Thankfully, we've never
had a war in that sense in the modern age, we had
the Civil War, of course, but we never had a war
here, where enemies came, other than 9/11, but you
know what I'm saying, like World War 2, where
bombers were bombing cities, we hadn't had that, but, in our history, in the history of America,
there have been national sins, collective sins, right? Slavery, for example. Institutionalized legalized
slavery, that was wrong, that was sinful, and aren't
we paying for that sin? Generations later, the
outcome of that particular sin still, you know, bothers the nation today. What other innocent blood
do we shed every single day? Millions of times a year? Yeah, little babies that
are aborted, you know? You don't think that there's
gonna be a price to pay one day for all of that
innocent blood shed? Kinda scary, but anyways, the point here is that God tells him,
you've shed innocent blood in the ground, you are a farmer, you know, the ground's not going
to work for you anymore. And then secondly, he
will become a wanderer. He's allowed to live, contrary
to the law of, you know, capital punishment,
God allows him to live, but his life is going
to be an unpleasant one. His life will be a state of restlessness. This word "wanderer" doesn't
just mean geographically but inside, a state of restlessness. You know how you feel
sometimes, you just don't know where to go and what to do. We have those feelings from time to time, but this was going to be his
state of being from now on. Interesting that, in Buddhism,
the Buddhist religion, the Buddhist religion claims
that the essential problem with mankind is restlessness. And everything in that
religion, their teaching, their training, meditation,
so on and so forth, is all meant, all designed to deal with the essential problem
of man's restlessness, and hopefully, well not hopefully, but what they try to do is
get individuals to a point where they do not feel
that restlessness anymore. Anyways, this, um, this state has a hold on him, and will continue to follow him wherever he goes. Perhaps a reason for this
punishment is that Cain would be a visible reminder of the effects of sin and God's justice. Again, speculating, but
you know, if you're asking, why did He allow him to live? Well, perhaps as a sign to others. Verse 13, it says, "Cain said to the Lord, "'My punishment is too great to bear! "'Behold, You have driven
me this day from the face "'of the ground; and from
Your face I will be hidden, "'and I will be a vagrant
and a wanderer on the earth, "'and whoever finds me will kill me.'" So finally, He gets Cain's, you know, He gets his attention with the curse. Cain finally cries out for help. He is less proud now, less rebellion, and he comes to grips with the punishment that he needs to bear. Verse 14, he reviews the
punishment, and in his words, we see the third and most
painful part of the curse on him, and that is, he will no longer
behold the face of the Lord. He will no longer commune with the Lord as he did in the past. You know, at least, when he
was speaking with the Lord, he may have been in disagreement, he may have been in
rebellion, so on and so forth, but at least he was having
a dialogue with Him. Before he was rebellious
and arrogant, but at least, as I mentioned, there was a relationship. Now, even that is taken away. Sin, the lesson here, always
separates us from God, always. It always does that. And there is always a
psychological, you know, when we hurt spiritually, we
also hurt psychologically. It also seems that the people
of his time knew the law of justice for killing, and
Cain saw his life as being a constant fugitive from
those in society who would justify the taking of his life in order to satisfy innocent blood. You wanna have a modern counterpart? Without mentioning names here, because this is going to be on video, but you know that individual,
those two individuals that had that altercation
where a young man was shot to death, and
another one went on trial, and he claimed, you know, self-defense? Remember the Martin trial, self-defense? Well, the young man that
was shot and killed, I mean, he's dead, he's dead and gone, but the one who went to trial, he was found innocent, wasn't he? The court absolved him of a crime, okay? However, if you read stories or reports about his life after the trial, he
lives in constant fear. He carries a weapon with him, and he doesn't give his address out, because he's always
afraid that somebody will, because of their anger,
because they believe he killed that young man who was innocent, will just take justice
into their own hands, and kill him themselves. And so, if you're wondering,
you know, how did Cain feel? Well, there's a modern
counterpart, he's thinking, "Wow, I spilled innocent blood, "maybe somebody's going to take my life." After all, we have to
remember, Abel was known, and he was loved as a righteous man. So it's not like Abel, nobody knew him. People knew him. So we read in verse 15,
"So the Lord said to him, "'Therefore whoever kills
Cain, vengeance will be taken "'on him sevenfold.' "And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, "so that no one finding
him would slay him." And so to guarantee that
his life would be spared, I mean, if God did not
execute him, he would not allow anyone else to execute him, God gave him a sign or a mark. And people say, "Well, what is it?" Uh, I dunno. The Bible doesn't say. The Hebrew word is "sign." We don't know what it was, but with time, others knew of God's provision for Cain, and so the sign must have been effective. Some people say that the sign was a color or something like that, but
we don't know what it is. All we know is that it was obvious to the people of that time that
Cain was under the protection of God in some way, and
they were not allowed to take vengeance on him. It seems from what we know
about Cain's later life that even the sign he had did
not give him peace of mind, and he did indeed wander
and left the ground for living in the city,
or living in cities. Just like that other
individual we're talking about who constantly carries a weapon with him, and so on and so forth, the trial is over, the event is passed, but he
always fears for his life. Alright, so now, from
the close-up perspective, that camera angle
featuring the relationship of Cain and God, the story now refocuses on the development and the
deterioration of society. So we had a close-up,
now the camera backs up and takes a wide view of
what's going on in society, largely caused by what
has taken place with Cain. Now I want you to remember
that this is the world before the flood, in an
environment where both nature and man are
relatively free from illness and harmful environmental
factors that cause decay. Most of archeology deals
with events and artifacts that were present after the flood. So we're examining a life and
a society and an environment that is very, very strange to us, okay? And we have only
information from the Bible that describes it to us,
so just keep that in mind as we go forward here. So Genesis, chapter 4, verse 16, it says, "Then Cain went out from
the presence of the Lord, "and settled in the land
of Nod, east of Eden." The word "Nod" means "wandering," and so it would suggest that
Cain left the proximate area of the Garden, and began to
wander, or he lived in a place called Nod, but he lived as a
nomad, without affixed roots. Verse 17, "Cain had
relations with his wife "and she conceived, and
gave birth to Enoch; "and he built a city, and he
called the name of the city "Enoch, after the name of his son." So now, Cain begins his family line. The sign is fulfilling its purpose. He lives long enough to produce children. Now, Cain's wife was related
to him somehow, obviously, but in that time, it was
genetically possible. It was socially necessary. How else are you going to multiply? How else are you going
to populate the Earth? And it was morally
acceptable, because God said to multiply, so this was the only way, so there was no moral, you know, there was no immorality involved in intermarrying in families. Now, I believe that this was
the manner, since Genesis, chapter 5, verse 2, says that Adam and Eve were the first and only persons
created, so the only option then is for intermarrying with families. That changes later on,
and we'll see in the Bible where that idea changes, but
for now, before the flood, this is the way it works. Now, we see this inter-family relationship in the early times, in other situations, you know, Abraham marries his half-sister. No one says anything. Lot, Lot's daughters conceive
through their father. Okay? So, again, not the best thing, but nothing is said of it here. So Cain builds, or begins to build, because the verb here is indefinite, means he was building this city. Perhaps it's an effort to
stabilize his own wandering life. The city is named after his son Enoch, who becomes the first born city-dweller, and it's left to him to rule the city, and continue Cain's line. Verse 18, it says, "Now
to Enoch was born Irad, "and Irad became the father of Mehujael," Mehujael, that's a hard one, "and Mehujael became the
father of Methushael, "and Methushael became
the father of Lamech." And so the Cain family
line is described here to provide a time bridge
to a man called Lamech, who is a significant
person in Cain's lineage. Now, let's look at Lamech, verse
19, got a few minutes left. Lamech is the first recorded
one to begin polygamy. Up until this time, there is no polygamy. And polygamy is a direct
disobedience of God's law, considering, or regarding marriage. Now the names of his wives
mean "ornament" and "shadow," suggesting their beauty,
and his attraction. I don't know if I read this
verse yet, it says here, "Lamech took to himself two
wives: the name of the one "was Adah, and the name
of the other, Zillah." Of course, the reason for this may not have been sexual
lust, but rather the desire to have a larger family, and faster, guaranteeing safety,
prosperity in numbers, and strength in the community. Verse 20 to 22. "Adah gave birth to Jabal;
and he was the father "of those who dwell in
tents and have livestock. "And his brother's name was
Jubal; he was the father "of all those who play the lyre and pipe. "As for Zillah, she also
gave birth to Tubal-cain, "the forger of all implements
of bronze and iron; "and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah." Naamah. So we get a glimpse of
the origins of various social developments as
they take place in the era. You know, again, the Bible
doesn't give a whole long description of all the
things, it's like looking at the peaks, at the mountaintops
of different points in the development of human beings. And so, Jabal, for example, invents tents that allow nomads to take their home with them. Also the keeping of cattle
for commercial purposes. Jubal, this is so interesting,
I'll talk about this a little later on, the
word Jubal means sound. Sound. So his ability to produce both
stringed and reed instruments and the development of this art of music. And then they talk about Tubal-cain. Not sure of his name,
but he developed metal, and the use of these
types of metal products. Again, remember, these
are city dwellers now, as opposed to farming individuals. So the descendants of Cain,
these are not the only ones, but they mention these
for a specific reason, the descendants of Cain no longer farm, but they begin to earn their
living through commerce and manufacturing in a very basic way, and they were the prototype for those who live in the cities today. Now, Henry Morris, and
I've mentioned him before, The Genesis Flood, he's
written other books, but he's a creationist,
he says that man's attempt to thwart God's curse,
remember what the curse is, you can't live from the
ground, you'll be a wanderer, so what does man do,
instead of being a wanderer? He establishes a city. He tries to be in one
place, God says, "No, no, "You're gonna wander,"
no, no, they're gonna stay in one place, same thing with
the Tower of Babel, you know? God said, "Go ahead and
multiply, and cover the Earth," and they went, "No, no, we're
all gonna go to one place, "and we're gonna build this tower." So it's always man fighting God's command. So Henry Morris says that
man's attempt to thwart God's curse is illustrated
by the development of Cain's ancestors, ending with the seventh generation, at Lamech. So here are some of the
comparisons he makes. First of all, social development. You remember I said, we're
backing up, we're looking at social development, so let's
look at the social development. Well, first of all, urban
life vs. country life. Urban life is now preferred
over tilling of the ground, and eating the produce from the ground, now it's urban life that
is becoming prevalent, beginning to develop. The second one is nomadic life
preferred over settled life. And we're not talking about things that happened in a day here,
we're just talking about trends that begin as we see
the lineage of Cain evolve. Meat eating vs. vegetarian. Cattle-raising is now developed to satisfy man's appetite for meat, in
rejection of God's command regarding vegetation for food. Up until this point, God has said, "I've given you all the trees,
the fruit, the vegetation, "I've given you all of
this for your food." He has not authorized
the eating of animals. That only comes in
Genesis, after the flood, and we'll see that afterwards. So this also, the diet begins to change. Metalworking or manufacturing is developed to ease the curse of the
toiling of the ground. The ground is not
favorable to them anymore, so they developed tools,
and so on and so forth, to kinda overcome that obstacle. Interesting, music vs. prayer. Musical instruments and
the development of music used to mitigate sorrow. We know that works, don't we? Have you ever been in a car
on a beautiful summer day, and your favorite song comes on, and everybody's favorite
song is different, but your favorite song comes on, you go, "Oh, I like that one,"
you crank that baby up, and the windows go down,
and the pedal to the metal. Or a song you hear, and
it kinda brings you back to when you were a kid, "Oh,
man, those were the days," or another song that's "our
song," you know, married people, we all have "our song," when we hear that, it makes us feel either nostalgic, or sad, or happy, or whatever. The idea I'm getting across
is that music has a way of affecting our emotions. What did King Saul do when he was sad, when he was disturbed,
when he was troubled? What did he do? Well, he went and found the
guy who played an instrument, David, right, would come
and play and sing for him, to try to soothe his soul. Now, there's nothing wrong
with music, obviously. But the use of that type
of activity, to replace the thing that really
does work in helping us when we're sad, or afraid, or sorrowful, and that is prayer. And it's not an either-or thing. Music is good, prayer is better for that particular issue. Polygamy vs. monogamy. Especially introduced, again,
not just from sexual reasons, but introduced to gain
advantage in social class. And if you go to countries
that still practice polygamy today, the major
reason for polygamy is class. The more wives you have,
the more respect you have. The richer you are. Okay? So, we're seeing that development there. Metallic weapons are introduced
to guarantee positions, and to establish positions. Where there's sin, there's war. Where there's war, there are weapons, and whoever's got the
biggest weapons, you know, they're the big dog, so again, we just see the evolution of those things. And then writing and art used to rail against God. In other words, Humanism vs. Theism. And you wonder, where does that come from? Humanism vs. theism, using art to rail against God? Let's read Lamech's poem. In chapter 4, verse 23 and 24. It says, "Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, "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; "If Cain is avenged sevenfold, "Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." So what does he do? He boasts of his strength as a warrior, and the fact that he has killed
someone for attacking him. Have we come far from
the original creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden? He boasts that he is greater
than his ancestor, Cain, because God would only avenge
Cain's killer seven times, but, boy, if anybody attacks
me, it's seventy times seven. And that was simply a way
of saying the vengeance would be unending, powerful. Anyone attacking him would give back seventy times that much. And so we see poetry here,
used in a blasphemous manner. And you know, have all poets done that? Well, of course not. Have all musicians do that? Well, of course not. You know, Beethoven, in
every one of his manuscripts would begin by writing,
"To God be the glory," because he understood
that the gift that he had, the gift of music, and
the genius that he had to create music was a gift
from God, so he believed that he ought to honor God
with the gift that he had. Amen, we can say amen to that. But we also know that
there are people today, yes, and he was deaf
on top of that, right? We also know that people
today also use art and music to do exactly the opposite,
and we don't even have to go through that, we've heard it on the radio, with the language that is
used, the idea, the misogyny, and the hatred, and the
violence that is glamorized, and movies that are made, pornography, all of that is, quote, "a form of art." But you wonder, where does that start? Well, we see a kind of
a glimpse of it here, seven generations from Cain,
this is where we're at. We're using art to blaspheme God. So, in these developments,
we see the seed of Cain influenced by Satan, and
the steady deterioration not only of one man, but
of society in general, and that's what Genesis is doing here, it's showing us the
slow decline of society. They're looking less and less
like the people in the Garden, and seven generations later, as I mention, they're actually producing
blasphemous poetry. Okay, so that's our lesson for this time. Next time, we're gonna go back, you know, to a personal close-up view, take a look at the Seed of Woman, and follow that particular trajectory. Alright, that's it for this session. Thank you very much.
