34. "Live godly, fall not to sin." Genesis 5:1-21

 34. "Live godly, fall not to sin."

Genesis 5:1-21, This is the written account of Adamʼs family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.  When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.  When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.  When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.  When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.  When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.  When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.  When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

Genesis 5:25-27, When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

The generations of the saved revealing the ultimate issue of man's fall and the way to escape it. The ultimate issue of man's fall—death.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens(Genesis 2:4), then the mankind.

At first we know, God’s desire and purpose to have a corporate man to express Him in His image and to represent Him with His authority to the earth. God reveals the way, the procedure, God takes to accomplish His purpose. This way is life. In order for man to express God and represent God, he must have God as his life.

The genealogy recorded in this chapter of Genesis 5 includes the first ten generations of mankind, from Adam to Noah. According to Luke 3:23-38, human genealogy began with God and issued in Jesus Christ.

The history in the entire Old Testament is God’s preparation for the carrying out of His eternal economy. This preparation was initiated in a man, Adam (Genesis 1:1—11:26), and eventually issued in three persons, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph (Genesis 11:27—50:26), who resulted in one people, Israel (Exodus—Malakai). The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament reveal the preparation for bringing forth Christ, the God-man, the complete God mingled with the perfect man (Matthew 1), for the producing of the Body of Christ (Ephessians 1—4).

The Body of Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal enlargement of Christ -the eternal mingling of God with man or the mutual dwelling of God and man, for the expression of God in His nature and glory in the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified man for eternity.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

God’s image, referring to God’s inner being, is the expression of the inward essence of God’s attributes, the most prominent of which are love, light, holiness and righteousness. God’s likeness, referring to God’s form, is the expression of the essence and nature of God’s person. Thus, God’s image and God’s likeness should not be considered as two separate things. Man’s inward virtues, created in man’s spirit, are copies of God’s attributes and are the means for man to express God’s attributes. Man’s outward form, created as man’s body, is a copy of God’s form. Thus, God created man to be a duplication of Himself that man may have the capacity to contain God and express Him. All the other living things were created “according to their kind”, but man was created according to God’s kind.

Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)

-The pronouns them here indicate that Adam was a corporate man, a collective man, including all mankind. God did not create many men; He created mankind collectively in one person, Adam. God created such a corporate man in His image and according to His likeness so that mankind might express God corporately.

And when Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. (Genesis 5:3)

-This genealogy does not record the deeds and activities of the people; it records only that they lived and begot. Man’s living and begetting were for man’s multiplication (Genesis 1:28) to fulfill God’s eternal purpose through mankind. Likewise, in the spiritual sense the believers today should live and beget for God’s multiplication (John 1:12-13) to fulfill God’s purpose through the church.

We must to live in God's image and likeness, and beget through discipleship or preaching the gospel to the whole world.

Like disciple Paul to Timothy who discipled others, in 1 Corinthians 4:15-17 Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

To be able to do that we must to be guided, trained or being taught first by trusted disciple of Christ to teach us the way of Christ, and as we learn this apply it by teaching and guiding others, like Paul to Timothy and Timothy to others. 

Timothy functioned as a guide, child-conductor, gave instructions and directions to the children who are under their guardianship; as Like fathers who will impart life to their children whom they beget. The apostle was such a father; he had begotten the Corinthian believers in Christ through the gospel, imparting the divine life into them so that they became children of God and members of Christ.

Apostle Paul refered Timothy to the church in Corinthian, as he said in confident, " For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

Timothy became a loyal disciple of Paul, imitating the teaching of Paul about Christ, and agreed and applied his teachings in Timothy's life. Also, this expression indicates two things: (1) that the apostle’s teaching was the same universally, not varying from place to place; and (2) that everywhere equals every church, and every church, everywhere. Supposed that there must not have any divination among the churches of Christ as it ministered by the apostles of Christ with the same teachings of Christ, for they are all children of God. 

Yet to all who did receive Christ, to those who believed in Jesus name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbandʼs will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

"After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters." (Genesis 5:4). Adam, Seth then Enosh. (Genesis 5:5) Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

Death is the ultimate result of man’s fall. Man’s spirit was deadened first, and eventually his body also died. Death and sin cannot be separated; where one is, the other will be found. Furthermore, death is not only a physical suffering in the future; it is something in which man is involved daily.

Read Romans 5:12, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Without God that restraint and keep us away from sin makes man suffers from deadening life. No peace and rest, emotional burnouts, financial bankcrupt, and having negative perspective of life, may equal to death and the main source of it is sin in man's life.

And Adam, the first man, the father of the entire human race, who brought in death through sin. In contrast to Adam is Christ, the second man, who brought in life through righteousness.

So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:45-48)

-Sin is not merely an action; it is like a person who can enter, reign, lord it over people, deceive and kill people, and dwell in people and cause them to do things against their will. It is quite alive and exceedingly active; hence, it must be the evil nature of Satan, the evil one, who, having injected himself into man through Adam’s fall, has now become the very sinful nature dwelling, acting, and working in fallen man. This indwelling, personified sinful nature is the root of all the outward sinful acts and resulted to death. 

Unless a man learn to acknowledge God in his life as everything to him, he cannot escape from the curse of sin. "When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh."(Genesis 5:6).

Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord . (Genesis 4:26) from Seth up to Enoch, people learnt to call unto God, and Enoch not just call upon the name of the Lord but he walked with God (Genesis 5:22) and Enoch didn't experience death for he was taken by God being exempted by the punishment of sin which is death. 

Genesis 5:21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

Methuselah has the meaning 'when he is dead, it will be sent'. This name has a prophetic significance. By naming his son Methuselah, Enoch prophesied of the coming of the flood in the year that Methuselah died, which was Noah’s six hundredth year (Genesis 7:6). Enoch had received the revelation from God that He would judge the entire ungodly generation of mankind ( Jude 14-16). This motivated Enoch not to follow the current of the age but to walk with God and thus live a godly and holy life.

Jude 1:14-16 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”  These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

To spare your life from death, live a godly and holy life like Enoch did. For, "...the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:10-14)

What kind of people ought you to be? The Family line of Adam teaches us about that they live and died. But it is not about just live and after this to die. 

Live holy and godly life. For God promise us life in new heavens which is not on earth. All who lived ungodly, their sins will cause them eternal death. All will be judged according to their deeds and if they are found ungodly will be trown in the lake of fire and will tormented day and night. But we don't need to experience it, for Jesus came into the world to save those who will believe in Him and walk with Him. Apostle Paul taught us how to be saved from the death. Also, apostle Peter answered it, in the book of Acts 2:38, "Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless by walking by the spirit and not in our sinful flesh and be at peace with Jesus, for with Jesus there is eternal life. Death is the main issue of sin in man, but our Lord Jesus issues us eternal life. Choose life not death. Amen.

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