Category: early mankind

Paul and Dispensationalism #15

Saturday, August 22, 2015

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

God dealt with Israel as His people from Genesis chapter 12 onward. Romans 1:18-32 explains how God had given the nations (Gentiles) over to Satan and graphic sins at the Tower of Babel (Genesis chapter 11). This shameful behavior typified the Gentiles up through the entire Old Testament Scriptures (and even today!). While Israel’s activities during that time were equally sinful (Romans 2:17-29), Israel at least had direct access to the Creator God (Romans 9:4,5). At least Israel possessed the words—the Law—of the eternal JEHOVAH God (Romans 3:1,2). Contrariwise; the Gentiles groped around in spiritual darkness (Ephesians 4:17-19; cf. Acts 17:22-29); “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11,12); relishing Satan’s lifestyle (Romans 1:32); ignorantly worshipping stupid dead idols of wood, metal, and stone (Acts 17:29,30); “walking in their own ways” (Acts 14:16). Awful, just plain awful!

And then, God had pity on us! With Israel refusing to cooperate with Him, He activated a plan He had kept secret in Himself. He would turn to us Gentiles through Paul’s ministry. Paul preached to the Athenian idolaters: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). “Quit embracing foolishness, Gentiles! Change your mind! Trust that ‘Jesus Christ died for your sins, He was buried, and He rose again’ (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). This Gospel of Grace is the means whereby you can escape Satan, hellfire, idolatry, and your other vain behaviors!”

As today’s Scripture indicates, they (we) could literally become trophies of God’s grace. In contradistinction to their old, worthless lives of sin and death, their lifestyles could abound with truly good works—God’s life manifested in and through them (us) for all (especially Satan) to see!!! 🙂

Cain Came and Brought Shame #7

Saturday, June 28, 2014

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 KJV).

Can you identify the very significant phrase our King James Bible contains in today’s Scripture, and why it was said?

Jesus Christ forewarned Israel’s religious leaders: “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43). Christ was referring to the climax of Satan’s policy of evil, when “the man of sin, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) would arise in the world’s governmental structure. National Israel refused Jesus as their King; hence, God would give them what they wanted (Satan’s error, spiritual ignorance). Instead, Israel would receive an “antichrist,” a counterfeit Messiah, someone who would fool them into believing he was their true Redeemer.

Intriguingly, this significantly parallels the passages of Cain’s birth and his murder of Abel. Adam and Eve had high hopes for Cain, going so far as to name him in reference to the Redeemer (Genesis 3:15 cf. today’s Scripture). However, they thought little of Abel, who would actually become God’s prophet and believer (God’s spokesman; Luke 11:50,51)—the name “Abel” means “vanity, emptiness.” In a tragic reversal, Cain turned out to be a mere professing believer; he disappointed his parents by killing righteous Abel (God’s child)!

Similarly, Israel saw no value in the true Messiah, Jesus, but she will have such high hopes for the Antichrist, for he will promise Israel peace and deliverance (and like Cain, the Antichrist will be manifested to be a disappointment). As Cain founded a civilization built on false religion (Genesis 4:15-17), so the Antichrist will (Revelation 13:1-18). Like Cain, the Antichrist will initially fool mankind, and introduce his own religious system, “the way of Cain” (Jude 11). As there was a “mark” associated with Cain (Genesis 4:15), so a “mark” will be associated with the antichrist’s religion (Revelation 13:16,17). Like Cain murdering Abel for following the Lord, the antichrist and his followers will kill believing Israel, those who trust Jesus Christ and reject that false religious system….

Cain Came and Brought Shame #6

Friday, June 27, 2014

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 KJV).

Can you identify the very significant phrase our King James Bible contains in today’s Scripture, and why it was said?

Whilst Eve assumed that Cain would be a man who would serve the God of the Bible, 1 John 3:12 says, “Cain… was of that wicked one.” Cain was not a man of faith; he was eventually manifested to be Satan’s tool, not a believer in God’s Word. Like Satan (Isaiah 14:12-15), Cain wanted to be his own god, his own authority; moreover, like Satan, Cain wanted to get rid of God’s people, those who testified of God’s Word and who hindered the “progress” of Satan’s evil world system (the real reason why Cain killed Abel).

Spiritually, Cain was Satan’s son. Jesus commented to Israel’s lost religious leaders, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning…” (John 8:44). Beloved, the same godless, sinful spirit (attitude) that operated in Satan controlled Cain and Israel’s religious leaders. It operates in today’s religious people (Ephesians 2:1-3), and it will operate in future religious people. They all want to do what they want; they starkly disregard the will and instructions of the God of the Bible. Like Cain, they offer the sacrifice they want, the sacrifice God never instructed them to bring. They refuse to depend upon Jesus Christ’s blood sacrifice for acceptance before God (the ONLY sacrifice He will accept); they prefer to offer their own “good” works, the fruit of their own hands. The Bible is clear that they, like Cain, will be rejected of God.

Satan’s chief way of corrupting the nation Israel was to infiltrate it with pagan religion (spiritual lies had been successful with Adam and Eve in Eden, and with Cain; Satan uses the same old tactics!). Baal worship, pagan idol worship, began in Israel in Judges 2:11-13 and it has yet to lose its grip. Beyond our present day, after our dispensation, Satan will make one final attempt to bring about what Cain started, and many “Abels” will perish….

Cain Came and Brought Shame #4

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 KJV).

Can you identify the very significant phrase our King James Bible contains in today’s Scripture, and why it was said?

The Bible says, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4). Abel brought the blood sacrifice that God specified, but Cain did not believe God’s Word, so he did not bring the proper sacrifice (Genesis 4:1-5). Cain simply did what he wanted, and literally offered the fruit of his own efforts; thus, God rejected him.

Verses 6-8 continue, “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 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. 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.”

Despite Adam and Eve’s high hopes for their firstborn son Cain, he brought them unspeakable heartache: he mercilessly murdered his younger brother, Abel. Moreover, the son they once thought was the Redeemer (“a man from the LORD;” today’s Scripture cf. Genesis 3:15), Cain, was now exposed to be a Bible-rejecter and a murderer. What disappointment they felt that he exacerbated Satan’s corruption of creation, and especially of mankind! Adam and Eve were now bereaved of one son due to fratricide, and they would soon lose their remaining son to organized false religion (see Genesis 4:9-17).

The historical narrative of Cain and Abel—yes, it literally happened—seems to many to be nothing more than “boring antiquity.” We fervently disagree. Dear friends, there is a prophetic significance to this account, and it affects the world even today. We should not think of the account of Cain and Abel as “a thing of the past….”

Cain Came and Brought Shame #3

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 KJV).

Can you identify the very significant phrase our King James Bible contains in today’s Scripture, and why it was said?

At Cain’s birth, Eve said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD” (today’s Scripture). Eve and her husband, Adam, had great hopes for Cain, their firstborn son (they named him with Genesis 3:15 in mind, assuming he was the Redeemer whom God had promised, the Man who would undo what they did). Genesis 4:1,2 says Cain matured and worked with his father as a tiller of the ground; Abel, growing up in his older brother’s “shadow,” was overlooked, and thus had the lowly task of tending sheep.

When Cain and Abel were old enough to be accountable to God, they brought sacrifices to Him. Genesis 4:3-5 explicates: “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

The Bible says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Hebrews 11:4 explains what happened in Genesis chapter 4: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” The Bible says Abel brought a blood sacrifice by faith, so that means that Cain brought his sacrifice of vegetation in unbelief. Cain brought a sacrifice that God never instructed him to bring, whereas Abel did exactly as God said. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and He rejected Cain’s. (Cain should not have been surprised at his rejection, for he knew God’s decree.)

Still, Cain was determined to avenge himself… even if it meant murder… even if it meant Abel….

Cain Came and Brought Shame #2

Monday, June 23, 2014

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 KJV).

Can you identify the very significant phrase our King James Bible contains in today’s Scripture, and why it was said?

Moments after Adam and Eve—literally, all of mankind—fell into sin, the wise Creator God promised the first Good News (or Gospel) recorded in Scripture: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Essentially, God promised that He would send a Man who would destroy Satan’s works, a Man who would do what Adam failed to do.

We see Adam’s faith demonstrated in verse 20: he called his wife’s name “Eve” (meaning “life-giver,” or “the mother of all living”). Adam knew that he and Eve would physically die as the result of sin (verse 19), but he believed God’s promise that he and Eve would live long enough to have children (verse 16).

An indeterminate period of time passes, and Adam and Eve have two sons (Genesis 4:1,2). Cain is “a tiller of the ground” (farmer) and Abel is “a keeper of sheep” (shepherd). Recall that God had placed Adam on the earth to “dress and keep” (cultivate and reign over) the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). Cain works with his father Adam in the “family business” of farming, while Abel is an outcast and a herder of (stinky!) sheep. These facts provide insight into why Eve said in today’s Scripture, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.”

When Eve conceived her first son, both she and Adam remembered the Good News God had spoken to them just after their fall, that “her seed” (one of her descendants) would defeat Satan. Adam and Eve concluded that Cain was that special Man, which is why they named him what they did (“Cain” in Hebrew is related to a Hebrew word meaning, “recover, redeem, possess”).

Nonetheless, to Adam and Eve’s heartache, Cain would not destroy Satan’s plan of evil. Cain would actually advance it….

Enoch the Bible Teacher

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

“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” (Genesis 5:23,24 KJV).

How did this most enigmatic Bible character “walk with God?”

Scripture says very little about Enoch, the father of the oldest man in the Bible (Methuselah). The genealogical records of Genesis indicate that Enoch was born about 600 years after creation (he lived contemporaneously with Adam for 300 years, so they doubtless knew each other!). Enoch “walked with God,” lived to age 365 years, and “he was not, for God took him” (today’s Scripture)—he disappeared from earth hundreds of years prior to the Great Flood (God spared him from witnessing such a horrific sight!).

Through the writer of the book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit elaborates: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him:…” (11:5,6a). Enoch “walked with God” by having faith in God’s Word to him; moreover, interestingly, the Bible confirms that Enoch never experienced physical death.

Although Enoch certainly did not have a written, completed Bible like we do, Jude explains what revelation Enoch had from God: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (verses 14,15).

Enoch was a prophet, someone who preached God’s Word. Now, in hindsight, with a completed Bible in hand, we can see that Enoch foresaw the Lord Jesus Christ returning to earth at His Second Coming with all the holy angels with Him, to pour out His wrath on unbelieving mankind. Enoch was a Bible teacher in the midst of that most wicked primitive world. This is most interesting, seeing as to “Enoch” means, “teach,” “train up,” “discipline.”