Genesis 4:16-26 by John Ryan

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Submitted by johnrhines on Mon, 10/08/2007 - 20:58.

Genesis, In the Beginning - I
Genesis 4:16-26
October 07, 2007
John Ryan

Genesis 4:16-17 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD ...
Cain's rebellion (sin) towards God and his unrepentant heart led to His judgment by God. He is cursed to be a wanderer (for the land will not yield fruit to him now) and cursed to be separated from the presence of God. In defiance, He SETTLES in Nod and builds a city that He names after His son Enoch. This is not the same Enoch who will be known for walking with the Lord. The other Enoch is a descendant of Seth.

Genesis 4:18-24 19And Lamech took two wives.
The generations born to Cain are a clear picture of the now fallen world that confronts God's creation. By God's common grace, that is that which God pours out on all people, good things come to these generation of sinful people. They have families, develop cities, create art, and build all sorts of tools for developing their society. However, even in the midst of good things rebellion to God continues. Lamech, seven generations from Adam, takes two wives and is the first one recorded to distort the marriage plan. In addition, he murders a young man and boasts about it claiming his revenge is ten times what Cain's was.

Common Grace, Common Story
Everyone in God's creation lives under God's common grace. That is - God grants undeserved gifts to all in His creation. God causes rain to fall on all ground, He feeds all people, He gives and sustains life in all families, He gives beauty to be enjoyed, and He gives peoples gifts of creative ability by which they produce music, weapons, tools, cities - culture. Yet, there is a common story even under this common grace - rebellion. People who should be thankful to a God who provides and gives even in their rebellion, respond with more rebellion. It is the common story of Adam's descendants. It is the common story throughout history. It is story of all of us without the intervention of God.

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She's got a smile that heals me - I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She's got a way about her - I don't know what it is
But I know that I can't live without her

– Billy Joel (Way About Her)
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Genesis 4:25 ... she bore a son and called his name Seth, and for she said, "God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel," ...
Adam and Eve undoubtedly had many children that we do not have mention of in the Bible. There had to be girls born to this family for the world to begin to grow. So, this may not be their third child. What we do know is this - this is the child who replaced Abel.

God's Restoration of Eve's Beauty (Genesis 3:20-21)
First, God gives her a new name: Adam's wife had been named by God through Adam as Eve. She is given the name living as a picture of God's grace that would ever point to the life ahead and not her sin in the past. God uses Adam to speak the grace of God into her life. He tells her "your past will not dictate your future. God will." Second, God gives her a picture of the covering as He kills an animal makes skins to cover her and Adams nakedness. Earlier, in the judgment of Satan, He had promised her that through her the Messiah would come that would conquer Satan and restore God and man. Now, He gives her a new son. God specifically appointed this son to restore the beauty of who she was under God's grace.
* This son would be a reminder that her name is true. She will be about life. This son's life in her presence would ease her grief in the loss of both her sons. Abel lost to death and Cain lost to sin and judgment.
* This son would continue the line of the Messiah to come who would eventually give forgiveness from sin and eternal life. This was necessary if God was to truly cover her.
* This was necessary if God was going to keep His promise that her life and her offspring would give life to the Messiah to come.
Three times God moves to heal the beauty that He created for her to reflect.

Adam was used by God to speak grace into His wife's life. It was a beautiful thing that God allowed Adam to do. He could have done it but He gave the task to Adam. No doubt - God was behind it but He used Adam. Men - what are we speaking into the lives around us. Specifically, what are we speaking into our wife and our daughter(s). God's message is grace and that our future in Him will not be determined by our past. God wants to use us to speak His grace. God was not done with Eve's restoration. The final step was the birth of Seth. Lady's, because we live in a fallen world, sin will continue to attack your life and those you love. The result will be death of lives, relationships, and ultimately your view of the beautiful image of God in you. Only God can restore this. Yes, He will use others to speak beauty and grace into you. But only God can forgive, cover, and give life. Only God can restore His image in you and He begins this in Christ as He comes into our heart and life to forgive and take up residence. However, it continues throughout your life as His presence heals and restores His glorious image within you. Sin will continue to devastate our world but it does not have to continue to devastate the image of God in you. Healing is in God alone. Come to Him and Him alone.

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but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. (I Peter 3:4)
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Genesis 4:26 At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Literally, people - those who were from Seth's line - began to cry to the name of Yahweh. [The meaning of the word appears from Ex. 3:14 to be "the unchanging, eternal, self-existent God," the "I am that I am," a convenant-keeping personal God.] Here Yahweh is known and called upon. What did it mean - "to call upon the name of the Lord"? Throughout scripture whenever this phrase is used it refers to two specific things - one it is a reference to an act of worship or it is a phrase that comes with a promise - you "shall be saved". This salvation included physical and spiritual salvation. David shows that worship and salvation was at the heart of this phrase in Psalm 18:3 - I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The prophet Joel speaking of the future and the salvation the Messiah will bring says that salvation is for those who call upon the name of the Lord. (Joel 2:32) Paul quotes this verse in Romans 10:13 when he speaks of the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. And in Zephaniah 3:9 God tells us that after God's people are gathered to Him in eternity, we will worship Him as we "call upon the name of the Lord". The act of calling or speaking the name of Yahweh is not a magic incantation. However, the holy name of God cried to by a repentant heart is much different than a mere act of worship. It revealed a heart abandoned to Yahweh. He was this person's only hope. What was going on in the time of Seth's birth? People were calling to the personal, intimate, unchanging, eternal, self-existent, covenant keeping God. The God who has been, the God who is, and the God who will be - saved many (by through faith in the Messiah to come) and drew many to worship Him. Lives were forever changed by the grace of Yahweh. Lives worshiped The God of all creation who had again drawn close to his ultimate creation - man and woman.

God has always been and always will be a Saving God who draws people to worship Him. What does this mean - really mean to worship God? Is it about songs, money, time, serving, or other acts? All these things can be acts of worship. However, what God longs for first is your life completely abandoned to Yahweh. He was and still longs for us to personally and intimately know Him. He longs for us to know He is unchanging, eternal, and self-existent. He longs for us to know He is different than us. He is beyond us. He is GOD - awesome and great. He longs for us to know that He is the God who makes, keeps, and draws us into an eternal covenant relationship with Him. Worship is our life abandoned to the Great and Awesome God who has saved us. Out of this abandonment - comes acts of worship. We want to sing songs of praise because He has saved us. We want to celebrate His goodness. We want to give back to Him so others can know Him. We want to serve Him by loving and ministering to others. What does your heart cry? My God, Jesus - save me, I want to be yours completely yours. Or is your heart silent. A desperate heart leads to the cry - God save. From this heart come acts of worship. What's the sound of your heart?

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