It is clear to every man that sin, with all its attendant sufferings, exists throughout the world.
Adam (the first man created by God) and Eve (the first woman) gave birth to their first son outside the Garden of Eden and they named him “Cain,” which means, “possession, to acquire, or get.”
Probably, in their mind, Cain was the promised deliverer because they declared (cf. Genesis 3:15):
“I have gotten a man, the Lord or Jehovah (cf. Genesis 4).
But, soon the couple realized their disappointment when a second son followed; they named him “Abel,” which means, “vapor or vanity” a sign of their disappointment.
Adam gave birth to daughters, but their names are not given in the Scriptures – “Biblical narrative is never concerned with the mere lapse of time and genealogy, but with the moral significance of events:”
“And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:4).
How the human race progressed from Adam in history actually began with these two natural born sons of the earth.
The human race progressed through the two lines of sin and righteousness through Cain and Abel with fallen Adam being the focal point.
In Cain, we see the nature of the rebellious and unrighteous man unfolds, for Cain lived outside the will of God.
In Abel, we see the nature of righteousness, and how the unrighteous persecutes the righteous.
Cain chose the way of evil, but Abel chose the will of God.
The first murderer in human history
Briefly, this is what happened to these two sons of the earth and the paths they chose:
On a particular day the two men, Cain and Abel, voluntarily decided to offer free-will offering to God.
Cain, who was a farmer, offered the fruit of the ground as his sacrifice to God, and Abel the shepherd, offered the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof as his sacrifice.
But, God accepted Abel’s offering, and rejected the sacrifice of Cain simply because of Cain’s improper attitude and lack of faith (“Without faith, it is impossible to please God”).
The Scriptures declare:
“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4; cf. 1 John 3:12; cf. Hebrews 11:6).
Cain became angry as a result, but instead of repentance through doing the right thing he decided to take his anger on his only brother Abel.
God warned Cain of the intention of sin to rule over him, and encouraged him to rise above it for he is well able to overcome. However, Cain would not be talked out of the evil he had purposed in his heart to do.
Cain had the tendency and the will power to do what was right, but chose to do evil:
“The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:6-7).
A correct view of God demonstrates itself in a right attitude toward God and fellow man; likewise, a wrong view of God shows itself in a mere paucity and empty religious rites. Further, “right behavior results in good feelings and vice versa” (cf. Genesis 4:7).
Surely, on a certain day, while the two were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and slew him: “Jealousy is cruel as the grave.” (cf. Jude 11).
Cain, out of envy, killed his brother because his ways were evil, and that of his brother righteous:
“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous” (1 John 3:12).
No man is free from sin – the struggle between good and evil within the human soul exist throughout life, but through God we can have mastery over it.
Man has the power to speak right and act right, but to do this every one of us must exercise faith in God to master sin.
God called Cain to account for his brother, but finding him still un-repented, impudent and full of hate passed judgment upon him:
“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth” (Genesis 4:11-12).
Cain, the first natural born son of the earth, chose the path of evil – a life without God is a life of total defeat and purposelessness, and always ends in ruin.
Driven from the presence of God, “Cain went out and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden,” and there he formed the first godless society, and the first city, which he named after his son Enoch (cf. Genesis 4).
The descendants of Cain were men of great skills, who developed impressive worldly arts, culture, and sciences that were advanced well into the future.
Yet, despite their blessings and advancements, they were evil. They were men who did what was right in their own eyes, and had no fear of God in them.
Among the notables of Cain’s descendants is Lamech, seven generations from Cain who became the first polygamist and the first recorded bigamist. He sang the first recorded poetry, which was a confession of boastful arrogance against God to his wives (cf. Genesis 5:23).
Lamech had three sons Jubal, Jabal, and Tubal-Chain. Jubal became both a herdsman and a trader of cattle. Jabal invented diver’s musical instruments like the harp and flute, and instituted music and other fine arts. Tubal-chain was mechanically endowed, and invented tools out of stones and iron.
God, being so good, after Abel, Eve had another son and named him “Seth,” which means “appointed.” It was during the time of Seth, and especially after the birth of Seth’s son Enos, that men began to call upon the name of the Lord – men began to worship God:
“And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth” (Genesis 5:3).
Through divine revelation, Seth’s line came to know God not only as the all-powerful Creator or Elohim, but Jehovah the covenant keeping God, who wants to be or is with His people.
But, mark, the saying that Cain’s line were ungodly may not mean that every single individual was evil, and neither does it imply that every single one of Seth’s line were godly, but this saying reflects on taking the family lines as a whole.
People lived much longer in the days of Seth. Enoch is the father of Methuselah (the oldest man who lived), and the great grandfather of Noah. Methuselah lived 965 years and did not die until the very year of the flood.
Enoch, for his godliness “was not for God took him;” he was translated alive into the abode of God: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mathew 5:8).
Racial division
Over the time period between Adam and Noah, two sets of people with different beliefs and worldview had again emerged – the sons of God (those who referenced God), and the sons of disobedience (those who served the flesh).
Whereas the descendents of Cain “spent their energies in the vain attempt to improve a cursed world” (cf. Genesis 3:17), Seth’s line, the sons of God, sought for a better world – a heavenly habitation and called upon the name of the Lord (cf. Revelation 21-22):
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 14-15).
Now, to maintain the true knowledge of God throughout the generations, it was necessary that these two lines remained separated.
The line of Cain must be kept separated and free from the line of Seth if the worship and the fear of God were to be maintained.
A man can only be saved or unsaved (righteous or sinner) before God. Righteousness and unrighteousness cannot live together; therefore, they must be kept apart. Examine this Scripture:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth (Revelations 3:15-16).
Unfortunately, the period when these two lifestyles remained separated was brief because the descendants of Seth and Cain intermarried and tragedy struck.
The sons of God, Seth’s line, intermarried women of Cain’s line and the evil of Cain’s line, like a small yeast in a batch of dough, grew until Seth’s line became like that of Cain with the exception of eight souls.
Here is the Biblical narrative of what took place:
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee (Genesis 6:1-3; cf. verse 8).
Some people have suggested that the “sons of God” in the passage above were angels, while the “daughters of men” were human beings, but this is over-stretching the message.
Nevertheless, regardless of their identifications, the period prior to the flood became such that there was none that followed after God with the exception of one man – Noah and his family of eight souls.
The judgment of flood
In fact, what happened to these antediluvian people is a classic example of what happens when the barriers that separates the righteous from the unrighteous breaks down.
This is when the apostolic people of God, through compromises and flirtations, become indistinct from the unbelieving population. Sadly, we are increasingly witnessing this amalgamation in this end of time.
The lukewarm attitude of the church today is the result of unholy alliances and flirtations with natural religion and the world. One wonders if the church, which is the salt and the light of the world, has ceased to be the salt and the light.
Our Lord Jesus Christ described our time as paralleling the days of Noah in the following:
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Mathew 24:37-39).
Again, the Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle Paul, said this about our generation:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was” (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
The “way of Cain” in the passage above includes the rejection of God, faithlessness, refusal to repent, fratricide, and worldliness.
Jude, also speaking through the Holy Spirit, warned our generation saying:
“Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core” (Jude 11).
The separation of church and non-church is essential to stay off moral corruption and judgment.
God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked (unrighteous), but that the wicked repent and be saved:
“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Noah preached the Gospel for one hundred and twenty years before the flood that divulged the whole earth came, but failed to win a single convert and the heart of God grieved over what man had become:
“And the LORD said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).
To save the human race, God sent the flood both as an act of judgment and divine mercy:
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7-8).
The flood wiped out every living thing with the exception Noah and his family, who God spared by grace, to begin a new generation of godly people:
“Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark” (Genesis 7:23).
Only Noah and his family of eight persons were saved from the destruction of judgment by flood to demonstrate that God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked:
“And (God) spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5).
The flood is the first great lesson on the need for separation and no-compromise on the part of God’s people.
Some historians and theologians estimate that the world’s population at the time of Noah’s flood to be around three billion. If their assessment is true, how can we over emphasize the need for our generation to pay heed to the Biblical warnings of impending judgment?
Although there are many who assert that the flood was only a local phenomenon, the Scriptures lean towards a universal judgment. For example, “water, which seeks its own level, could not continue to rise for 150 days in a local Mesopotamian valley flood.” Examine the following Scriptures:
“And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 7:19-23).
The first act of Noah, after being saved from the flood and coming out of the ark, was to offer burnt sacrifice to God.
God smelt his sacrifice, and being so pleased, promised never to destroy the earth by flood (Genesis 9):
“And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:21-22).
Nature would continue in the orderly fashion as it was before the flood.
Also, God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants (which include you and me) in the following:
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, and I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth” (Genesis 9:1-17).
God reiterated the original blessings He gave to humanity through Adam with some additions and prohibitions.
Meat was added to man’s diet, but the blood of the slaughtered animal must not be eaten for it is sacrosanct (Leviticus 17). The life of the flesh is the blood; therefore, life must not be eaten but poured upon the face of the earth.
Further, man is forbidden to kill fellow man. To slay a man is an assault on the very God whom the man’s image represents – it is to destroy God’s property:
“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
The injunction not to kill sets forth the foundations for civil authority or human government.
Noah, the second father of the human race, and his descendants, must recognize the holiness of God and be obedient to Him.
Man must acknowledge his own subservience to God:
“And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.”
Further, man was given dominion over the creatures of the earth.
The sign of rainbow
God sealed His Covenant with Noah with the sign of a rainbow as a reminder of His faithfulness. Henceforth, whenever man sees the sign of the rainbow in the sky, he is to take heart that the Covenant keeping God would not destroy the earth by flood again.
Man can wholly trust the promises of God and be obedient:
“And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”
But, beware, the saying “God would not destroy the earth by flood” does not mean He would not destroy it by other means.
In fact, a greater punishment would befall the human race if man continues in sin without repentance. Yes, God would not destroy the earth by flood, but He would by fire.
The Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Peter spoke of God destroying the world with fiery judgment at the end of the age:
“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3-8).
Through the mercy of God in the flood, the human race, through Noah and his sons with their wives, was given a new beginning – man was given a clean slate and a new beginning.
To be continued. Thanks for reading.
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