We’re in the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis, and if you have your Bible and will turn there to the sixth verse.  And we have seen that Cain and Abel have together to worship God.  And these two boys that were identical, I think—some actually think they were twins; I think that was the position of the later Dr. Harry Rimmer.  But I think they were maybe closer than twins because of the fact that they had no blood stream that reached way back on both sides that might cause a difference.  They were the sons of Adam and Eve.  But there’s a great divergence between the two, and it’s not necessarily a character divergence.  It happened to be on the basis of one accepted because of his sacrifice which he brought by faith; the other, Cain, brought his without any recognition at all.  Now we find that Cain is angry.  Verse 6:

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

Why is he angry?  Well, notice what he says.  Let me read on what God says and then we’ll go on.

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.  (Genesis 4:6-7)

Now the important thing to notice is that Cain was angry.  Why was he angry?  Well, he’s angry enough that he’s going to slay his brother, and back of murder always there’s anger.  Our Lord said once you’re angry with your brother, you’re guilty of murder.  And back of anger is jealousy.  Back of jealousy is pride.  And spiritual pride means there’s no sense of sin whatsoever in that.  You will recall that James put it in language like this in James 1:15:  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.  

So this man here is angry, and it led to murder; but back of that was his jealousy and also his pride.  And God deals with him like that.  He says, “If you do well, shall you not be accepted?”  Actually, the meaning is better to translate like this:  “Shalt thou not have excellency?”  That seems to me to be a much better translation.  And what it means is this:  That the eldest son always occupied a place of pre-eminence and this boy thought now he’d lose that.  God says there’s no reason for you to lose it if you do well, and what would be to do well would be to bring that which God had accepted from Abel; a sacrifice and acknowledgment that he was a sinner.  But not this boy.  He’s just angry, you see.  And he says sin lies at the door.  

Now there are those who have interpreted that as means sin offering lies at the door; that is, there’s the little lamb.  Now that, may I say to you, it makes sense alright because that was true, but I don’t think it means sin offering here.  Up to this time and beyond this time—in fact, up until Moses, as far as I can tell from the Word of God, there was no sin offering.  You find a sin offering, instructions given for it, in the Book of Leviticus.  In the first part, why you have these five offerings, and one of them is a sin offering.  And the sin offering did not come into existence until the law was given.  You remember that that is the thing that Paul had said in Romans 3:20.  “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”  So that the offerings that were brought up to that were burnt offerings.  You find Job in his day, which obviously was before Moses; he brought a burnt offering.  It was not in any way a sin offering.  And I think if you go through the Scripture you’ll find that that is true.  

And it is said of Cain, 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.  “…if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”  Well, to do well would be to bring the kind of offering that Abel had and that would be a burnt offering; that would be the one that was offered, and you find Abraham offering that type.  And as we say, there could be no sin until the law was given; that is, sin would not become a trespass against law until then.  And, therefore, you’ll notice God actually protected this man.  

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.  And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:8-10)

It’s practically an impudent answer.  As you can see, he had, frankly, no regard at all. 

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

You see, he’s trying to cover it.  And the Scripture says there’s nothing covered that shall not be revealed and neither hid that will not be known.  That’s something think over if you have any secret sins.  You better deal with them down here because they’re all going to come out in His presence someday anyway, and He already knows about them.  You just as well tell Him about them; couldn’t hide it from Him anyway.  And, therefore, this fellow tries to say that he’s not guilty.  Am I my brother’s keeper?  What an impudent answer. 

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.  (Genesis 4:11)

And the writer to the Hebrews uses it then in Hebrews 12:24.  “And Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”  Abel’s blood spoke of murder committed.  The blood of Christ speaks of redemption; it speaks of salvation.  Now I read on in verse 11-12 of Chapter 4 of Genesis.

 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

The earth today, by man’s use, loses its fertility.  It has to be renewed as man goes along in the use of the land.  Verse 13:

And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Well, why didn’t he then, if it’s greater than he could bear—why didn’t he just turn to God and confess his sin and cast himself upon God?  It was too great for him to bear, but God was providing a savior for him if he’d only turn to him.  Verse 14:

Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

And he says now that he’s to be hidden from the face of God.  And that’s exactly, of course, what happened.  That was a suggestion here in I John 3:12, “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, slew his brother.  Wherefore, slew he him?  Because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous.”  That is the picture that’s presented to us.  And he’s now hidden from the face of God.  

But now notice God protects him.  And this is strange.  God is actually harboring a murderer, a criminal.

And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.  (Genesis 4:15)

I don’t know what the mark is.  There’s been a lot of speculation, and I don’t know why I should add my speculation to all of this.  But God protects him.  There’s no law given.  He’s a sinner, but he’s not a transgressor, because there’s been no law given about murder, you see.  But his great sin is he didn’t bring the offering that was acceptable to God.  His deeds were evil.  In what way?  In what he brought to God.  And he manifested that evil nature in slaying his brother.  

THE CHILDREN OF CAIN

Now, we find him moving out from God and he establishes a civilization that is apart from God altogether, and the children of Cain establish a godless civilization.  Let me just lift out two or three things, and we’ll pass on.  We find in verse 16:

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

I know a lot of folk in church that dwell in the land of Nod during church.  But, frankly, I don’t know where the land of Nod really is.  I’ve often wondered just where it is.  Now, again, there’s speculation about this.  But he went out; he moved out of that area.  

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.  (Genesis 4:17)

And men have been doing that ever since.  They like to call cities by their own name, streets by their own names.  And even in Christian work, you have schools named for individuals.  Men love to do that.  Now whether they’re Christian or after the order of Cain, but here’s where it all began, and here’s where urban life begins; city life.  “Builded a city and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.”  And the cities have become one of the biggest problems that man has today.  The cities, they say, are dying and yet the people are flooding to the cities from all over this land—in fact, from all over the world.

Now we find here there are other things in this section I’ll just lift out because I think they’re important to lift out.  

And Lamech took unto him two wives: (Here’s the beginning of polygamy; two wives.) the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.  (Genesis 4:19)  

And we could have a lot of fun here with these two, but I don’t know whether I should spend time with that or not because of the fact that we would like to move right on.  But it might be well to notice that this man now does that.  That also is contrary to what God intends, what God had for man.  And you’ll never find anywhere in the Scripture that God approves of polygamy.  The thing is that if you read the accounts accurately, you find out He condemns it.  He gives the record of it because He’s giving us a historical record here.  And we find that is the basis on which it’s given to us here.  Now actually Adah means “pleasure or adornment,” and she was the first one to make it to the beauty parlor, I guess.  And Zila means “to hide”.  She was a coquette.  My, what two girls he had for wives.  No wonder he had problems, and you wonder why that later on we’ll see here something happened.  

Then we find something else began.  Here’s the beginning of civilization, the Cainitic civilization.  Verse 20 of Genesis 4:

And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, (Well, Paul was a tentmaker, you’ll see later on.  And here’s the first contractor.) and of such as have cattle.  (Here’s the first ranchers you see.)  And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.  (Here’s the beginning of the musicians.  And believe me we could well understand when we hear some of the modern music today.  Well, I’m sure that there are not many that’d argue that it didn’t begin with Cain’s civilization.  Now we have here in…)

And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron:  (And here are the ones that are craftsmen) and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.  And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.  If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. (Genesis 4:20-24)

This fellow here says, “Well, if Cain got by with it, I can get by with it.  After all, Cain did not slay in self defense, but I have.”  And I don’t know whether he did or not, but he said that that’s what he did; that he slew in self defense.  And so we have these two wives—I do not know whether they entered into this or not; whether he was defending one of them or not, but be that as it may, we’re not told.  We find here that he feels he’ll be avenged seventy and seven fold.  But our Lord said that to Simon Peter that’s how much you ought to forgive your enemy.  

THE BIRTH & GENERATIONS OF SETH

Now in verses 25 and 26:

 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.  

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.

Now apparently this was the beginning of men calling upon the name of the LORD.

CHAPTER 5

Now we come in Chapter 5 to the first section of the Book of Genesis, Genesis 1-11.  We have here the first section world events and creation, the fall, and now the flood from 5-9, and this gives us the background.  And we have here in Chapter 5 the book of the generation of Adam through Seth.  

Cain’s line has been given to us and it’s dropped.   It will not be mentioned only as it crosses the godly line, and that will be a pattern that will be set in the Book of Genesis.  

Now Chapter 5 in one sense is one of the most discouraging and despondent chapters in the Bible.  And the reason is just simply this:  It’s like walking through a cemetery, and you find out that when God said “…in the day that you eat thereof you’ll die” (Genesis 2:17), they all died that were the sons of Adam.  “For as in Adam all die…” Paul says (I Corinthians 15:22).  And now I’m reading Chapter 5 of Genesis, Verse 1-2.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

Male and female created he them; (Now will you notice) …and blessed them, and called their name Adam (Not the Adames, but Adam), in the day when they were created.  

She’s the other half of him.  But we have this strange expression the book of the generations of Adam.  It only occurs in the beginning of the New Testament, and there it’s the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.  Now, there are these two books, and we’re already seeing there are two lines, two seeds that are against each other.  And their struggle’s going to be long—the line of Satan and the line of Christ, the accepted line.  

Now we have here that the line we’re following now is the one through Seth, and we’re told:

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).

Now when Adam was 130 years old, how old was he?  When God created Adam, did he create him 30 years old or 14 or 45?  I don’t know.  Anything would be speculation.  And if he created him that old, was he that old?  And, of course, God could create him that old.  That, may I say—that answers a lot of the questions about the age of the earth.  My, somebody says, “Why these rocks are billions of years old.”  Maybe you just don’t know.  Maybe God when he created them, created them two or three billion years old; he could have done that, of course.  I do not know.  

But what we’re saying here that when Adam had been here 130 years, he begot a son in his own likeness.  Now Adam was made in the likeness of God, but his son is born in his likeness, and he called his name Seth.  

Now we start through the graveyard.  What happened to Seth?  Well, he lived, begat sons and daughters and Adam did too.  And we read that what happened to Adam.

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: What happened?  …and he died.  (Genesis 5:5)

And then Verse 8, why, what happened to Seth?  …and he died.  And he had a son known by the name Enos.  What happened to him?  Verse 11:  …he died.  But he had a son, and Cainan was his son.  And what happened to old Cainan?  What happened to him?  Verse 14:  He died too.  And he had a son Mahalaleel.  And what happened to him?  Verse 17:  …and he died.  But he had a son.  His name was Jared.  Well, he died too, Verse 20.

And then he had a son by the name Enoch (Verse 21):   And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah, and then he died—No, he didn’t die.  This is a dark chapter, but this is the bright spot in it.  

Verses 22-24:  And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years, and Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.

May I say to you this is one of the most remarkable things; that in the midst of death, one man is removed from this earth.  And it is said of him that he walked with God.  That is quite remarkable, by the way.  Only two men walked with God.  We’ll see in the next chapter Noah walked with God.  And now we find that Enoch walked with God.  These were the two antediluvians.  And there are actually only two men who did not die here in the Old Testament.  And we find one of them was Enoch, and the other, of course, was Elijah.  And, by the way, this is one of the few before flood that we have any record of him at all.  And we’re told here that he didn’t die; that God took him.  He was translated.

Now what do we mean by translation?  Well, translation means you take out of language a word and put it in another language, meaning the same thing.  And so Enoch was removed from this earth, translated.  You see, he had to get rid of this old body he had.  He had to be a different individual, but he had to be the same individual because he was translated, and the word has to be the same.  Enoch was taken to heaven.  We’ll have more to say about that next time, but our time is up for today.