God is Faithful and Just in all Generations

Open: Humanity’s pursuit of immortality is seen in the search for the Fountain of Youth, and even in movies like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The search to extend life is not just found in old tales and fanciful movies; there are several high-tech R&D firms who are pursuing this. Calico labs in California, founded in 2013 seeks to find answers in biology to slow down or stop the aging process. They have spent billions in this effort and show no signs of slowing down.

Transition: There is nothing wrong with the medical science community developing treatments to improve health and alleviate suffering. However, when the goal is to extend life in an attempt to evade death, that goal goes against the decree of God.

Our text deals with the sobering subject of the inescapable reality of death and dying. It is not a pleasant theme on which to dwell, but it is one that teaches us much about the justice and faithfulness of the Creator God.

READ the Text: Genesis 5:1-32 (entire chapter)

Important features of the Text:

The book of Genesis makes use of generational markers to bring unity to the account. This text begins with “this is the book of the generations of Adam.” This is one of 10 uses of the word generations in the book (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:9; and 27:2)

Each generation had opportunity to respond to God. Some were godly, while others were not. How is OUR generation responding to the goodness of God?

There is a renewed emphasis on the Image of God presented in v. 2. Note the creation categories of male and female. This is a serious reminder that gender is a creation ordinance based on God’s design of biological reality. Gender IS NOT a social construct or a fluid concept!

God’s Justice is seen in the generational death of Adam’s line

Explanation: Adam’s son Seth is described as being “in his own likeness” (v. 3). While Adam was created as a perfect man directly by the Hand of God (Gen: 1:31), his descendants inherit a sin nature as part of the curse for the sin in the Garden. God told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but if he disobeyed God told him “thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17b). The 5th chapter of Genesis is a testimony to the justice of God. The repeated phrase “and he died” is a sobering reminder that God will not be mocked and that sin has consequences

Argument: The 10 men in the genealogy of Genesis 5 lived incredibly long lives. But, as Voddie Baucham points out, their long lives is not the point of this account. Genesis 5 is not about trivia questions about who lived the longest (answer: Methusaleh at 969); instead it is a declaration of God’s justice against sin. He decreed that rebellion would bring death and Genesis 5 is proof positive that God is a just and holy God.

Application: We can try to bypass death, but it will be a futile effort. What we CAN do, however, is to be ready to die. At funerals I often point to the casket and say, “as Jesus tarries, we will all one day have this spot for ourselves. The question is, will we be ready to face the Creator God of the Universe when our time comes?”

The only positive provision for death is to be IN Christ. Believers still die (the temporal effect of sin), but those who are trusting in the finished work of Christ will be delivered, and death will only be a door to Eternity in a wonderful place called Heaven.

God’s faithfulness and Grace is seen in the life of Enoch (Gen 5:21-24)

Explanation: Including Adam, Enoch occupies the 7th spot in the genealogies. Enoch stands in vivid contrast to Lamech who occupies the same spot through the descent of Cain. Whereas Lamech was a bigamist and a murderer who bragged about his sins, Enoch is presented as a man who “walked with God” (5:22 & 5:24). Lamech experienced condemnation; Enoch experienced grace.

The others in the lineage of the Adam - Seth tree were of the godly line. They were believers, yet only Enoch was chosen by God to bypass physical death. Enoch is the only person in Genesis 5 who does not have a biography that includes “and he died.” Enoch was translated by God to bypass death and enter glory.

The point of this account is not to try to isolate some feature of Enoch’s lifestyle and try to repeat it. This was a very special exception (the only other is Elijah: see 2 Kings 2:11). The text does not give any details about HOW Enoch walked with God. The point is to show that God is gracious even in His judgment. God demonstrates that there is life beyond the grave with Him. The understanding is that God took Enoch home with Him so that Enoch could continue his life in a different (and better) form.

This understanding leads us to the 3rd point:

God is faithful in providing a Deliverer (Genesis 5:29)

Explanation: The genealogy of Genesis 5 displays the line of faith from Adam to Noah. God promised Eve that seed from her line would crush the head of satan (Gen. 3:15), and it is possible that there was a belief that Noah might be that man; that he might be the one to deliver the godly people from wickedness.

Argument: We read the direct line from Adam to Noah and we already know that Noah will be the one to deliver the godly line through the flood. What is easy to miss, but very important, is to realize the faithful witness that each of these men portrayed to the next generation. Based on the numbers from Genesis 5, the flood took place about 1650 years after creation. The unbroken line should encourage us! They remained faithful over the long years as the world around them grew dark and wicked. The godly line was outnumbered back then as well as now, but they remained faithful until Noah’s day.

Noah was indeed a deliver, but he was not the ultimate deliverer. In His providence and faithfulness, God sent His son in the fulness of time (Galatians 4:4) for our full deliverance - not just from the presence of sin as Noah did in his generation, but Jesus delivers from the power and penalty of sin!

Conclusion: I mentioned those that are trying to prevent or stop death from coming, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of people just think that they can face death on their own. They realize that death is inevitable, but that they can face it on their own terms and do just fine.

In spite of poem’s like Invictus and hit songs like My Way, the reality is that no one can face death on their own terms and come out a winner. Only Jesus can deliver us from the power of sin and death; only Jesus can provide the righteousness we need to stand in the presence of a Holy God