SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 5

Most people skip the genealogies when they’re reading their Bibles. Right? Is this a safe place? I was going to have you raise your hand if you always read the genealogies, but I think I’d be setting you up to lie in church.

Most skip genealogies. Why? They’re long. We don’t know how to pronounce the names. It seems irrelevant to our daily lives. And let’s be honest, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him pray.” (James 5:13) or “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23) seem more relevant to our daily lives than a genealogy. And they are. But there are some hidden gems in God’s wisdom found in genealogies. They are important. They have a lot to teach us as I believe you’ll see today.

So what’s the importance of this genealogy? I believe you’re going to see several things: This is our only information about things between the Fall and the Flood.
Genesis 4 & 5 are it. If you do the math between Adam’s creation and the Flood, you have 1,650 years. That’s a long time, yet this is all we have about it. There were a lot of people. Conservative scholars believe around 7 billion people on the planet. That’s exactly what we have now. So any imaginations that there were a few hundred people alive is a wildly inaccurate misconception.

Instead, we have the evidence that they were fruitful and multiplied as the LORD commanded. You may ask how that many people are estimated? Enoch had a son at 65 and Noah had three sons at 500. There was a lot of time to produce children. People lived close to 1,000 years old. How? This is early in history. Humans aged slower.
This shows the reality of death.

The mention of death occurs eight times in this chapter. This is the judgment of sin promised in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve sinned. They may have lived longer, but they knew the pain of loved ones returning to the dust.
We often imagine our experience in the world is unique. And it's true, Enoch didn’t have a TikTok account or wear LuLuLemon, but these folks experienced the same human emotions and conditions of a post-Fallen world.
This struggle and pain would have produced the same longing in them as it does in us. A longing for the world to be put right. A longing for redemption. A longing for the Promised One. We’re going to come back to that later.

Why did they die? Genesis 5:1-3. Adam & Eve were made in the likeness of God. No Sin. But notice in verse 3, Adam and Eve produced offspring made in the likeness of them: sinners. Sin is passed from each generation. This is the Doctrine of Original Sin. It's important for understanding the world. It’s a universal doctrine at all times and places. We are born into the curse passed from our parents, namely our fathers. We need salvation and forgiveness that comes only by grace. We can’t earn it. We can’t accomplish it.

This shows us the source of Biblical revelation.
A question some ask is how Moses knew these stories of what happened before the Flood. But we have the answer in the genealogy.

First, let me show you how this genealogy is verified in Scripture as accurate:
1 Chronicles 1
Luke 3
Jude 14

Second, when you lay out these people and dates you discover interesting things. Adam overlapped Methuselah for 200 years. They could have met! Methuselah overlaps Noah by 600 years. So on man bridges from Adam to Noah. Why does that matter? They could pass on accurate information. Noah overlapped his Son, Shem, by 400 years. Abraham died before Shem. Shem could have told Abraham first-hand about the Flood. Shem is likely alive in the lifetime of Jacob. That means you only need 4 people to get from Adam to Abraham. Creation to Covenant. Why is this all so important? God is passing down His truth to us. In fact, at some point, it is recorded, that’s likely how Moses has it. Notice verse 1, “the book of generations.”
This points to Christ.
Notice as we begin chapter 5, we are getting the genealogy of Seth. In chapter 4, verse 25, we see the LORD give them another son. Remember, it is from the seed of Eve that the Redeemer will come. Is Seth the Redeemer? Eve may have hoped so. But he wasn’t. However, he was the one the Redeemer would come from. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 3, shows us this genealogy that Jesus descends from.
Verse 24 - Enoch
There is one in this lineage who walked with God in such a way that he never tasted death.
Hebrews tells us he never died. God took him.
This points us to Christ who defies death through His resurrection and goes to God. Enoch is a disruption that should cause us to pause.

Also notice this goes to Noah who will be the only family on earth out of 7 billion that survives the Flood. Judgment falls on the earth. God’s wrath falls and the Earth is destroyed, decimated. But Noah’s family survives. Why? Because God made a promise in Genesis 3:15 of a Redeemer. He’s not going to only punish the wicked. He’s going to ultimately save and redeem. Genesis 5 shows that God was faithful to preserve for Himself a righteous line from Seth. God always keeps for Himself a people in the world. He always preserves a remnant. He will until the end of time.

Watch this, if you are in Christ, you can trace yourself into this genealogy. The line from Adam to Seth to Noah to Abraham to David to Christ is YOUR line. If you are in Christ, you are children of Abraham. This “random” genealogy is actually showing us God’s faithful working to redeem a people for Himself.

REVIEW:
❖ What does it mean that Adam fathered Seth in his likeness?
❖ How was Enoch different from other descendents of Adam?
❖ What does it mean that God took Enoch?
❖ Why did Lamech think Noah would bring them relief?

REFLECT:
❖ How could people live so long at this time?

RESPOND:
❖ How can you walk more faithfully with God?

MEDITATE:
❖ Genesis 5:22-24 - 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

MEMORIZE:
❖ Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

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