Pushing the boundaries.

“And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”

When we are young we always try to push the boundaries so that we can have some excitement. However, the generation before us also pushed the boundaries so that they were at the place we found them. Our children will also start at the boundaries that we thought were extreme and push them even further. As time goes by the boundaries get pushed so far that we eventually reach the place where there are no boundaries. This is when every man does what is right in his own eyes (compare Judges 17: 6; 18: 1; 21: 25).

This sad state of decline is illustrated in the passage before us today. First Lamech took two wives when God had designed each person to have one spouse of the opposite gender. When a person takes more than one spouse they cause damage to his or her own soul and this leads to a lack of sensitivity in relationships. The people involved in these relationships think about themselves and not their partners. Eventually, the family becomes a war zone with every person fighting to serve his or her own interests and nothing else.

The second thing that happens is that people become self serving in their relationships with other people as well. This Lamech killed a man, following in Cain’s footsteps. We can assume that he had a similar motive to Cain and was motivated by anger. However, he pushed the boundaries for Cain was to be avenged sevenfold but this man decided that he had to be avenged seventy and sevenfold. He had such a high opinion of himself that he decided that he was seven times more important than Cain.

There is a sober lesson for us all when we think to push the boundaries for as we do that we are condemning our children or their children to a state of complete anarchy. If we look for a society that is based on greed by being greedy then we condemn our children or their children to financial hardship. The moment we choose the action we already choose the consequence.

There is reason for hope! (see Psalm 103: 10) The Lord Jesus Christ paid the consequences of our desire to push the boundaries and now we can be separated from the eternal consequences of our actions by the power of His blood. He paid the price but we can choose to have eternal life without doing anything at all, other than listening to the prompting of the Holy Ghost and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Actual history.

“And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.”

When you read these early chapters of Genesis it is obvious that that the writers believed that they were writing the truth. They don’t write in a way that betrays the work of much later generations who tries to reconstruct history for religious or other political reasons. This means that we either have to accept that these pages contain actual history or we have to imagine that there were some unknown people writing at an unknown time, who were extremely brilliant but also extremely humble, who wrote with such technical skill that they were able to write without betraying their existence at all. The second option is often believed by people who don’t believe in God or in miracles, however, the kind of person they imagine must have been some kind of god performing some kind of miracle.

The major issue about this passage is we can see that it was written before the Flood rather than after it. If these history was written after the Flood the writer would not say that certain people were the “father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle...” If it was written after the Flood they writer would have had to say that even though that family line did those things they were all destroyed in the Flood and then a new group of people arose who were descended from Noah. However, this isn’t written there. The fact that these things were written before the Flood and preserved in the ark give added weight to their veracity. All other evidence of any other writing was destroyed in the Flood. People who try to teach otherwise are adding imagination to conjecture superimposed upon prejudice.

These documents were preserved by the godly line that survived the Flood and eventually came into Abraham’s possession and were taken in Egypt by his descendants. When Moses, inspired by God, wrote the book of Genesis he was like a modern scholar and took advantage of the original documents to research his work and then added to these documents the rest of his personal recollections starting in the book of Exodus.

(These statements are properly argued and referenced in the book that is mentioned below if you would like to have more information.)

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The nature of a son.

“And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.”

Cain was condemned to be a wanderer and a vagabond all the days of his life. God protected him from vendetta by placing a mark upon him but Cain built a city. This is exactly the opposite of being a vagabond, he had a home in his city while he was meant to dwell with no fixed address. He was not able to give up his dominant nature even after God had punished him. It is interesting to note that he called the city after his son. This is the first time “son” occurs in the Bible and we learn from this that a son has the same nature as his father. The son was a city dweller even though he was the son of a man condemned to be a vagabond. However, the word son become important later in the Bible when we read about another “Son”, the Son of God. This son also had the same nature as His Father God. Pure, holy, righteous but full of love and tender mercy. Today we can become sons of God and inherit His nature, in an eternal legal sense before God because He became our substitute and paid the full price of our salvation. Praise God that, even though we are sons of Adam by birth and nature, we can become sons of God as far as everlasting life is concerned.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The Mark upon Cain.

“And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”

Cain was concerned about the vendetta but God had decreed that he be punished for his sin. We live in a day when people are concerned about rehabilitation without worrying about retribution. Retribution is not the same as vengeance. Vengeance belongs to the Lord (see Rom 12: 19). Even though Romans was written to the church there are certain principles that belong to people of every age. The Lord sought to exact vengeance upon Cain, as His Divine justice required but God made sure that anyone else would be excluded from exacting vengeance. We can ask a reasonable question her: if there were only Adam, Eve and Cain at this time who would exact vengeance? However we can assume that Adam and Eve had other children and their gene pool was a rich and varied as it has ever been so there would be no inbreeding until the effects of sin had worked its way through the human population for thousands of years. The brothers and sisters that were not specifically mentioned in the text, but were certainly there would be seeking to exact the price of God. This may seem a very simple answer to question but we can also ask ourselves, did every person who lived during the time of King David have their name mentioned? The answer is no, but we do know that there were far more people living than were mentioned in David’s history. He did number the people and we do get an idea of the number of Israelites alive but they weren’t the only people living at the time. All the people living were not an essential part of the story of redemption so they remain anonymous, just as the vast majority of people remain anonymous today. To take this argument one step further, this is why the Lord Jesus Christ mad himself no reputation during the time of His incarnation. The vast majority of people alive at that time were of no reputation and He had come to seek and to save the lost (those of no reputation) (Matt 18: 11). This naturally leads to the “whosoever believeth” of John 3: 16.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Greater than I can bear

And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.”

Finally Cain realised the truth of his situation. He had allowed his anger to control his thoughts, then he acted out his anger and pretended that he hadn’t done anything when God confronted him. Finally he realised that there were consequences and that he would not be able to avoid them for the rest of his life. This is a sad situation to find yourself in, you chose certain consequences and then you find that you are experiencing them and cannot escape. However, Cain’s situation is much better than that of many people. They have chosen certain consequences but they are not willing to accept that they have made a choice and try to blame other people or be like Cain and avoid the issue altogether. If we suffer consequences then we need to admit that we have made a mistake or a bad choice and then seek to resolve the issue.

Throughout this entire section of human history there is evidence of God’s hand offered in grace but rejected and the people involved don’t ever experience the grace that is offered.

We can always own our choices and repent of them then we can begin to deal with the unsavoury consequences but we will always be bound to our suffering if we don’t make the effort. Sometimes we just have to confess to God but at other times we need to go to the person we have hurt and confess our sin to them as well (see Matt 5: 23, 24).

Cain lived in a day when the burden of vengeance was still on the family of the dead person so he was concerned that one of his relatives might kill him.

We must be careful that we don’t wait until it is too late to resolve our issues. The great pain of hell is being separated from God and knowing that we can’t do anything about it. We should make the effort to resolve our problems with God before we find ourselves being punished more than we can bear but being unable to do anything about it.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

A fugitive and a vagabond.

“And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”

Cain was extremely angry when his brother’s sacrifice was accepted and his wasn’t. After all, Cain was the most important son while Abel was just there to do the things that Cain didn’t want to do. However, God didn’t agree with Cain’s opinion of himself. This situation can be likened to the situation the Lord Jesus Christ discussed in Luke 18: 10-14; Cain was like the Pharisee while Abel was like the publican. Cain had come in his own pride and expected God to be impressed with his goodness. Abel came in humility and the Lord accepted the humble man. Cain was so proud that he couldn’t accept God’s verdict so he killed his brother and then lied about it. When God questioned him about his activity he tried to avoid the issue but God knew.

Then Cain was faced with the consequences that he had chosen the moment he put his plan into action. We are reminded again of Gal 6: 7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” This is God’s unavoidable law which no man can change. He was the first murderer and he was cursed for this crime against his brother. He would never again be able to farm the land because the earth was cursed so he became a wanderer and fugitive. A vagabond is quite different to a nomad. A nomad had animals and moves around to feed them or he moves to find new food as his food runs out. A vagabond is someone who has no fixed address and had to do whatever he can to survive.

It is interesting to note that the first time a crime is committed God acts with special justice to warn all others who would sin in that way in the future. Achan was the first to disobey the Lord in the Promised Land and he was specially punished. Ananias and Sapphira were to first ones to sin in the church and they were punished as a warning. However, everyone else will receive the same eternal punishment, unless they confess their sin, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

God knows.

“And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”

God warned Cain about the consequences of his attitude to his brother. Cain ignored God and assumed that he could commit his crime without anyone knowing about it. After all, there were no witnesses to the crime so who would know what had happened? Well, God knows everything. Adam and Eve tried to hide after they sinned but God knew what had happened. He gave them the chance to acknowledge their sin but they chose the blame game. In this case Cain committed the crime but he tried to avoid the question that God asked him by trying to avoid responsibility. However, God knew exactly what had happened and He brought Cain face to face with his sin.

It is good for us to remember that the moment we choose to think about doing something we are opening the door to doing it. When we choose an activity we also choose the consequences, even if we don’t think about the consequence. When Cain chose to kill his brother, he chose everything that followed from that.

Sometimes we feel that people get away with crimes because they are never forced to pay the penalty. However, God sees the crime and unless a person confesses their sin, repents of their sin and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ they will spend eternity in hell. There is nothing more final than that. Every person who spends eternity in hell has made that choice when the choose to ignore God’s wonderful Grace as it was displayed at Calvary.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)