June 18, 2006
“Fathers of Our Faith”
Genesis 5:1-32

When we come to chapter 5 of Genesis many people, including preachers, skip it or try to speed through it. Yet, if we believe, what Scripture says about itself – 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 19:10 we will realize that it is well worth whatever time or effort we may devote to it. Not only that, but also these verses are history, even true and infallible history, describing our first fathers, first fathers of our world and here, first fathers of our faith!

Who were the men that were the first fathers of our faith?

I. Look at and consider their remarkably long lives:
1. They lived to extreme ages: Adam – 930, :5; Seth – 912, :8; Enosh – 905, :11; Cainan – 910, :14; Mahalalel – 895, :17; Jared – 962, :20; Enoch – 365 (but he did not die) :23-24; Methuselah – 969, :27; Lamech – 777, :31; Noah – 950, Genesis 9:28
2. These extreme ages were probably due to a very different climate – Genesis 2:5-6; God’s judgment brought in the flood also brought about a different world, where eventually life spans were much shorter – Psalm 90:9-10.
3. These extreme ages were based on a 360 rather than a 365-day calendar, on our calendar Methuselah would have been 956.
4. Note, though they lived long, all but one of them died – “and he died” is repeated nine tines in this chapter – Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:27
5. Note the long lives, most likely, meant they populated the world very quickly, God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply – Genesis 1:26-28. Now if each patriarch had an average of six children and their children began to have children by the time their parents we 80, you would have a population of at least 120,000 even 130 years before Adam died, before any one of our patriarchs died other than Abel. If this continued until the time of the flood 1,656 years after creation the world population would be at least 7 billion. Calculations gleaned from Henry M. Morris “The Genesis Record”

II. Consider too, these men were the godly men of this early world:
1. We know this because of the description given at the end of chapter 4:25-26 – “men began to call on the name of the LORD.”
2. We know this too because it is this line which produces faithful Noah – Genesis 5:28-29
3. These are distinguished (in description) from the line of Cain –
A. These seem more personal and carefully kept. We learn for each man, when they are born (exact dates) when their important son was born and when the die, none of this information is kept for Cain’s descendents, implying possibly what we read in Psalm 1:6
B. These are noted for godly exploits rather than worldly accomplishments:
(a.) the whole list is distinguished as men of God – Genesis 4:25-26
(b.) the name Seth means appointed one, referring to his being appointed to replace Abel as godly (Seed) implying ultimately that through this line our Redeemer would come – Genesis 3:15
(c.) Mahalalel means “God be praised”
(d.) Enoch’s father Jared who named his son “Dedication” the same as Cain’s son, probably had a entirely different idea in mind as this Enoch walked with God.
(e.) Even the two Lamechs “Conqueror” have totally different lives, one boasts of killing, the other names his son Noah (rest) as he is looking for relief from the curse – (compare Genesis 4

III. Consider two of these men excelled in their notoriety for godliness –
1. Noah – who we know and will study in the following chapters
2. Enoch –
3. Enoch prophesied through naming his son – Methuselah (when he dies, judgment) the great flood came shortly after Methuselah died.
A. After his son was born, he walked with God, pleased God and skipped death – Hebrews 11:5
4. Enoch also prophesies the final coming of Christ to judge this wicked world – Jude :14-15; Revelation 1:7
5. Methuselah’s long life, shows us God is patient – 2 Peter 3:9

Pastor Arnold Brevick