SCRIPTURE: Genesis 5" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=51&passage=Genesis+4">Genesis 5
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
This is more than just a family tree (and a boring list of names), it is the line of hope, the lineage of a coming King. Not all the sons are listed, just the firstborn offspring. This ties in with the promise that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:14-15). For Jews this list of names was a line of hope, a promise that one day the messiah would come. Jacob later points to this when blessing his sons, especially Judah (Genesis 49:8-10). And Luke shows us how it all comes together in Jesus’ family tree (Luke 3). In others words, every firstborn son becomes a sign of God’s promise to rescue His people and rebuild His kingdom!
I am inspired by Enoch’s example, “walking in close fellowship with God”. We don’t know what happened to him in the end (“he disappeared”) but it’s probably similar to what happened to Elijah (2 Kings 2:11-12) or to Jesus (Acts 1:9-10). My personal mission statement, developed in the early years of my ministry, is based on his example: to have a close, personal relationship with God, and to help others do the same.
We also see an anticipation of God’s help through this line of hope in the birth of Noah, whose name sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘relief’ or ‘comfort’.
None of this is by chance. God has always been at work through the outworking of history to bring about His plan, to come into the world through Jesus and to set things right, thereby giving relief and comfort!
What if we saw our own family tree as a part of the unfolding of God’s promise? Not just for our firstborn (since Jesus has come and fulfilled that position), but for all of our children, and their children. God raises up every generation to inspire hope, and our role as parents is to raise them up in close fellowship with God, that they too can bring relief and comfort to the world in their day.
*** Note, the long lives that people lived in those days is not an issue for me: either they counted years differently, or God allowed them to live longer in those early years, perhaps to get the population started.
PRAYER:
Lord, You are the promised messiah. You are my relief and comfort, my only hope. Help me to also bring relief and comfort to others by pointing them to You.
It intrigues me to see the ages of these heirs …
Adam, lived 930 years (130 years old when he had Seth)
Seth, lived 912 years (105 years old when he Enosh)
Enosh, lived 905 years (90 years old when he had Kenan)
… and so on …
So were they really that old when they started becoming parents or were they just that old when they actually had their heir to pass on the geneology through?
I do love that phrase with Enoch … “he walked with God and he was not for God took him”
… thats how I tend to look back on my son Davids life …
LORD, thank You for my family tree. As I take a moment to reflect I can see that some walk / walked very closely with You and others, well, I pray that those whom are living shall come to know You in that way. Direct my prayers LORD…..
Society pushes today for success in such material ways. I pray that when my life is over, that my life will be known for the life I lived for You, for the desire to grow in You, that I too will have walked closely with You. LORD, I pray that my children and my children’s children will walk closely with You and that they will know the power of Your love, the Hope that You are and all that this means for them and the world around them. Help us be Your voice of love, hope and comfort in this broken and hurting world. LORD, may our family trees be planted and rooted in YOU!
Here are the patriarchs. Here is God’s line up of faithfulness. Adam sees his children’s children born up to Noah. What a blessing to see that your children walk with the Lord .That was said of Enoch twice. Enoch walked with God which reminds me of how God walked with Adam in the garden. All too often man’s worth today is defined by his work. It needs to be defined by his walk with the Lord which is the most excellent way.
Just think of the stories of God’s faithfulness Adam could tell to his children and children’s children. So I too need to tell my story of my God and His faithfulness in my life to my children and my children’s children. As these patriarchs lived in His presence and acknowledged that presence in their lives of obedience, so I too must live for Jesus each day and walk with Him. Help me Lord to be Your disciple – follower – a living witness for all to see.
O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!