Genesis 5:1-32

The antediluvian saints.

I. DESCENDANTS OF ADAM . AS such they were—

1. A sinful race. Adam's son Seth was begotten in his father's image. Though still retaining the Divine image ( 1 Corinthians 11:7 ) as to nature, in respect of purity man has lost it. Inexplicable as the mystery is of inherited corruption, it is still a fact that the moral deterioration of the head of the human family has transmitted itself to all the members. The doctrine of human depravity, however unpleasant and humbling to carnal pride, is asserted in Scripture ( Genesis 6:5 , Genesis 6:12 ; Genesis 8:21 ; Job 15:14 ; Job 25:4 ; Psalms 14:2 , Psalms 14:3 ; Psalms 51:5 ; Isaiah 53:6 ; Romans 3:28 ), implied in the universal prevalence of sin and death ( Romans 5:12-21 ), assumed in the doctrines of regeneration, which is declared to be necessary absolutely and universally ( John 3:3 ), and redemption, of which one part of the design was to deliver men from the power as well as guilt of sin ( Ephesians 5:25-27 ; Titus 2:14 ; Hebrews 9:12-14 ; Hebrews 13:12 ), and abundantly confirmed by experience, which testifies that "the wicked are estranged from the womb, and go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" ( Psalms 58:3 ).

2. A long-lived race. Whether their remarkable longevity was due to the original vigor of the primus homo, or to the influence of the tree of life, or to the eminency of the Sethites' piety, it was—

3. A dying race. Though a sinful, they were yet a pardoned race; but though a pardoned, they were yet a mortal race. A portion of the original penalty remains to remind man of his past history and present condition; and so although the Sethites "lived many hundred years, yet none of them filled up a thousand, lest they should have too much flattered themselves in long life; and seeing a thousand is a number of perfection, God would have none of them to attain to a thousand, that we might know that nothing is perfect here" (Willet).

II. MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH Or GOD . Great as was the former distinction, it is completely eclipsed by this. It is a great thing to be born, but a greater to be born again. To be in God's world is much, to be in God's Church is more. To be of the line of Adam by nature is questionable honor, to be of Adam's line by grace is unquestionable glory. These ten names from Adam to Noah represent the leaders of the Church of God in the primeval age of the world. Whether distinguished by rare talent, great wealth, or high position, whether they invented arts, built cities and composed hymns like the Cainites, is not said. Their chief distinction lay in—

1. Their possession of faith in God . Not perhaps all with the same tenacity, but all with the same reality, they clung to the promise of the woman's seed. This it was which made them members of the antediluvian Church. Without faith it is impossible to please God ( Hebrews 11:6 ).

2. Their observance of religious worship . From the beginning of the world the practice of sacrificial worship was maintained by believers. For two generations it appears to have been private rather than public in its character. In the days of Enos, according to one of the interpretations of Genesis 4:26 , the Sethites began to worship God in social assemblies, as a means at once of fostering their own piety and of defending themselves against the rising tide of ungodliness; and we cannot doubt the godly practice would continue till the number of believers became so small that Noah could discover no one of like heart and spirit with himself to participate in his devotions.

3. Their nonconformity to the world . According to another reading of Genesis 4:26 , in the third generation the holy seed began to make clearer and more distinct the lines of demarcation between themselves and the Cainites by calling themselves by the name of Jehovah, i.e. by adopting to themselves the appellation of the worshippers of the Lord. The fact that "the sons of God" are mentioned in Genesis 6:1 lends a sanction to this view. If it was so, doubtless the assumption of this particular title was only a sign or symptom of a great religious movement that began to effect the age,—a movement of separation in heart and life from the unbelievers of the time,—and that with a greater or lesser intensity perpetuated itself through each successive generation, not even dying 'away when there was only one man to be affected by it.

4. Their witness-bearing against the wickedness of the ungodly world . This comes out not indeed here, but in other Scriptures, in connection with two patriarchs, Enoch and Noah; the first of whom prophesied of the coming of the Lord (Jud Genesis 1:14 ), and the second of whom was a preacher of righteousness to the men of his generation ( 2 Peter 2:5 ); and what was true of them was doubtless characteristic in a measure of them all. They were unquestionably prophets, priests, and kings in their families and in relation to their contemporaries.

5. Their eminently godly lives . As much as this is implied in what has been already said. But of two of them it is distinctly stated that they walked with God: of Enoch, that before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God; and of Noah, that he was a perfect man and an upright; and though not perhaps entitled to say that all of them lived at the same spiritual elevation as did those two fathers, yet we are fairly warranted to conclude that all of them maintained a holy walk and conversation in a rapidly degenerating age.

III. PROGENITORS OF THE PROMISED SEED . This was the chief distinction of these saintly men, and the real reason why their names and ages have been so carefully preserved to the Church of God. They were all links in the chain leading on to the woman's seed. So to speak, they were the ten first heralds sent out to proclaim the approach of the king; the ten first shadows or adumbrations of the great Prophet, Priest, and King to whom the faith of the Church was looking forward. True, it is not much that we know about them beyond their names, and certainly there is consider able vagueness and uncertainty about their import; but still, accepting those meanings which have the greatest probability in their favor, it is interesting to note how they all indicate points of character or features of history which met in Christ. Adam we know was a prophecy of Christ, the second Adam, in more than his name ( 1 Corinthians 15:45 ). Abel, the first martyr, prefigured him m dying by a brother's hand. Seth, the Substituted One, was a shadow of him who took our room and stead ( Romans 5:8 ); Enos, the Frail One, of him who, as to his human nature, was as "a tender plant, and a root out of a dry ground" ( Isaiah 53:2 ); Cainan, Possession, of him who was the gift of God ( 2 Corinthians 9:15 ). Mahalaleel, Praise of God, of him who "was not ashamed to call us brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee" ( Hebrews 2:11 , Hebrews 2:12 ); Jared, Descent, of him who came down from heaven ( John 6:38 ); Enoch, the dedicated and instructed child who walked with God, and was translated that he should not see death, of him who for his people "sanctified himself" ( John 17:19 ), "in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' ( Colossians 2:3 ), who with regard to his Father could say, " I do always those things that please him" ( John 8:29 ), and who, after accomplishing his Divine mission on the earth, was received up into glory ( Acts 1:11 ); Methuselah, Man of the Dart, of him of whom the royal psalmist sang, "Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies" ( Psalms 45:5 ); Lamech, Strong Youth, of the strong One whom David saw in vision raised up for Israel's help ( Psalms 89:19 ); Noah, Rest, of him in whose sacrifice God smelled a sweet savor of rest ( Ephesians 5:2 ).

Lessons : —

1. As descendants of Adam, let us remember we are sinners, and, repenting, believe the gospel; let us measure our days, and, observing their shortness, apply our hearts unto wisdom; let us think of our mortality, and prepare for the narrow house appointed for all the living.

2. As members of the Church of Christ, have we the marks that distinguished these antediluvian saints?

3. As the spiritual posterity of Jesus Christ, do we reflect him as his progenitors foreshadowed him?