Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 36

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The theme of the sons of God is central and foundational in Scriptures as God progressively channels the focus to His elect. It is through this elect that He is going to bring forth all in the first man Adam to be conformed to the spiritual image of the last Adam, even Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29, 1Co 15:45-49). Within this whole process God works and uses all things and every moment to fulfill that one purpose (Eph 1:11). Everything God created is functional and purposeful as they have a ‘very good’ purpose, even if it is just temporal in this regard:

Gen 1:31 (a) And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

In Genesis the foundations are laid for the two main generational lines within the first Adam which God is using to work the process of the eventual salvation of all in Christ (Eph 1:10, 1Co 15:22). God placed a clear distinction between the darkness and the light right in the beginning which is further expounded by the “enmity” between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman (Gen 1:1-5, Gal 5:17):

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity [Hebrew: wə·’ê·ḇāh = hatred/ hostility] between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The very first child of Adam and Eve, Cain, manifested this hatred and hostility first which represents the darkness and the evil in all flesh through which God generates the spiritual offspring of the serpent (Gen 3:14). From the natural perspective, the flesh will always be the first on the scene, so to speak, and in that way exposes its own carnal eagerness “but not according to knowledge” (1Co 15:46, Act 26:9-11, Mat 19:30, Mat 10:17, Rom 10:2). Cain and his generation typify the seed of the wicked one in our own flesh (with its carnal mind) which hate, persecute and even kill the righteous seed of the woman (Gen 4:17-24).

1Jn 3:12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother [Abel]. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

God appointed Seth ‘instead of’ Abel to typify the true spiritually resurrected sons of God, the elect in Christ, who call on the name of the Lord and are led by the spirit of God (Gen 4:26, Rom 8:14,19, Php 2:15). The elect in Christ knows that “now we are the sons of God”, and they do not marvel “suffer[ing] reproach, because [they] trust in the living God” (1Jn 3:1-2, 1Ti 4:10, Heb 13:13). In scripture God always repeats His warning about being complacent and ignorant to think that the deceitfulness of sin can be underestimated at any stage (1Co 10:1-12).

Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

The deceitfulness of sin also affects the sons of God. This is typified for us in the days of Seth’s generation when they were seduced by the daughters of men, those in the line of the hostile murderer Cain. Cain’s name means ‘a man from the Lord’ which is referring to the deceitful carnal heart of the natural man in all of us which will always try to entice us into the philosophies and vain deceits of the world (Gen 4:1-2, Jer 17:9, 1Co 3:3, Gal 4:10, Mat 21:25, Col 2:8, Jas 4:4, 1Jn 2:16).

Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

The “sons of God” in Seth’s generation were to be the messengers of God in the sense that they, like the true sons of God, were sent as God’s sheep and lambs “in the midst of a crooked and perverse [generation], among whom [they had to] shine as lights in the world” (Mat 10:16, Luk 10:3, Act 20:29, Php 2:15). This also links with physical Israel who was also commanded to keep themselves separate from the morals and customs of the other nations as God’s spiritual elect also is admonished to do (Rom 12:2, Rom 13:14, 1Co 6;19, 2Co 6:17, Col 4:5).

Deu 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
Deu 7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Seth’s generation had to keep their calling or ‘estate’ separate from the line of Cain. Just as physical Israel failed in this commission, so also the generation of Seth in their earthly conversation or walk, for our learning, also “left their own habitation” of being the house or city of light to those around them (Mat 5:14).

Jud 1:6 And the angels [Greek: aggello = one who is sent (commissioned), or a messenger from God] which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels [Greek: aggellos = messengers] that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Greek: tartaroo = imprisonment in spiritual darkness], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
2Pe 2:5 And 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;

This section in Jude and Peter links to the same period of when the generation of Seth intermarried with the generation of Cain as explained here in Genesis 6. It also points to our own times of fornication with the false doctrines and the “weak and beggarly elements…of the world” (Gal 4:1-10). The ‘old world’ is our first Adam and our first “corrupt… conversation” in the deceitful natural lusts and pride which all in the first Adam will “put off” at the appointed time (1Jn 2:16).

Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.

The time in the first Adam is our time in ‘the night’ or spiritual darkness when these spiritual chains of lust and pride are placed on us by God. These chains of darkness can only be taken off in the day of judgment when those in the first Adam will be taught and given the Light of His righteousness (Luk 4:17-21, Isa 26:9):

Psa 9:16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

God is bringing this all-important judgment first to His church or elect, and that is the reason for bringing one man into focus at this early stage in the book of Genesis (1Pe 4:17). Within this time of darkness and interaction between the lines of Seth and Cain, God kept one man, Noah, faithful in that whole generation of Seth. Noah and his household are types of Christ and His elected ones in this respect:

Gen 6:7 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.
Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Gen 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

“I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth” is again emphasizing the truth that all physical things have a temporary existence and function in God’s plan, and that includes mankind. The sum of God’s Word witnesses over and over that God never changed His mind on this. No action of any creature, good or evil, can make God repent of His one original plan (Jer 18:4, Rom 8:20, 1Co 15:50).

1Sa 15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

Noah received favor or grace from God as it was not Noah’s works that brought on him this favor. It was God’s works in Noah that kept him faithful in his generation (Php 2:12-13, Rom 9:16, Jer 10:23). This is how all in the first Adam will receive favor or salvation from God:

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Faith in God is not to be found on the earth if God does not give it to a person. Without God’s shield of faith, the natural man is an open target for the ‘fiery darts’ of the wicked (Eph 6:16). Noah is shown as the type of those who are given this shield to be faithful until the end and who can work and labour with diligence amid scorn and reproach (Pro 11:27, 2Ti 2:15, 2Pe 3:14).

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Noah is the type of the worker whose faith did not waver as he was warned by God of “things not seen” yet. This is what faith is also defined as:

Heb 11:1 (ASV) Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

God is indeed a rewarder of them who serve Him in all diligence and fear (Pro 12:24, Pro 22:29, 1Co 15:58). This reminds us of Nehemiah and his faithful workers who were of one mind to rebuild the wall and the temple of God amid the subtle detractors who tried every trick in the book to subvert them from their task:

Neh 4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Neh 4:7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

The Apostle Paul was diligent to work amid extreme trials and tribulations, even when several who were close to him left him, and others opposed him openly (2Ti 4:9-17, 2Co 11:23-33):

2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

When God’s Word is revealed and received in a heart which God prepares, that word produces faith, faithfulness and diligence, among other godly attributes (Gal 5:22-23).

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith instills and activates the ‘doing’ part after one hears the word, as it also brings about the fear of God to do what He commands:

Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

Noah diligently prepared the ark, and in so doing he was preaching by his actions also. He displayed his faith by his works. Christ’s spirit in Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years with the darkness of man of his days, even as the spirit of God “moved upon the face of the [dark] waters” and “the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea” (Gen 1:2, Dan 7:2):

Gen 6:3 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.

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he [Christ] went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

As already alluded to, a spirit ‘in prison’ is referring to the spirit of the first man Adam. This spirit of fleshly man is in spiritual darkness and in spiritual chains from its creation, as per God’s design (Psa 51:5, Psa 142:7, Isa 24:21-22, Isa 61:1, Gen 1:2, Gen 6:3). The ‘hundred and twenty years’ mentioned here is not referring to the life span of human beings who lived during Noah’s time, as many lived either shorter or longer than one hundred twenty years before and after the flood. The ‘hundred and twenty years’ has a spiritual meaning as the number twelve (the number of spiritual foundations) combining with the number ten (the completion of flesh). This is telling us that man has a foundation in temporary dust or sand as this foundation, and the house built on it will be destroyed. Earthy man cannot do the Word of God even if his natural ear can hear it and his mouth can speak or quote it numerous times:

Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

This is the very position in which fleshly man was made by God, and when the house on this earthy sandy foundation ‘falls’, it actually just exposes what it was the whole time. The exposing of the old foundations of flesh brings the new foundations of the new man into focus:

1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

All the time that God has to deal with mankind (spiritually referring to one hundred twenty years) is also called “the longsuffering of God” to have evil in His creation (1Pe 3:20). Flesh and carnality is the very evil and darkness He first created to bring the first Adam through a humbling evil experience to become the true spiritual sons of God:

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

No one on earth before Noah’s generation ever experienced rain from the heaven, which spiritually means that earthy men’s ways are according to their own wicked thoughts (Isa 55:8-11, Pro 16:25). Those on the earth generally are very immature and ‘weak in the faith’ in the sense a soft mist is needed to water everything on the earth:

Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Gen 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Gen 2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

All creatures, including mankind, only eat green plants or herbs before judgment comes, and this judgment was foreshadowed by the global flood in Noah’s day (Gen 1:29-30):

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

“Noah walked with God” is emphasizing that Noah stood out in his generation, as he typifies the true sons of God who also are the salt and the light to the world:

Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[Questions and comments for the writer can be directed to: glgroenewald@gmail.com]

[Detailed studies and emails written relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:]

The Fallen Angels
What are Angels?
Tartaroo and the Bottomless Pit
Number Ten – Completeness of the Flesh
Number Twelve – Foundations

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