Jan 14:23

Human history – part 1

 

You can listen to the whole sermon on the website www.jan1423.pl

We’re happy that the day has come again and we can talk about us, about our experiences and about our Lord. We’re happy that we’re alive, that we have a chance to get rid of what’s bad and to accept what’s good. We know that good is to love one another and to build ourselves to be a home for God. Evil is not to love one another and to build ourselves to be a home for the devil. As we’ve said before, there are two types of construction and it’s best to take part in the good one. If you want to take part in the good construction, you need to have pure intentions towards your brother, sister and you can’t have any bad or insidious intentions. It must be the Spirit of the Lord who came from Jesus, who loved us to the end and who went to the cross to give us the opportunity to finish our thinking about ourselves and begin His life in us. That’s all we want and nothing more than that, but to be filled with Him, with His Spirit and to tread on the snakes and scorpions that bite in the power of His Spirit – “strike him, take offence at that one, show that you can do it too”. Snakes and scorpions release venom and if a man isn’t safe in the Lord, he immediately reacts to it.

Today, we will talk about human history. Human history begins on earth where we live. When man came into existence, he was a very good creature. He had pure eyes, pure ears and pure heart. Adam had no bad intentions towards Eve and Eve had no bad intentions towards Adam. They were together in Eden. The animals weren’t afraid of them and they weren’t afraid of animals either. No dog bared their teeth at a man and no man tied a dog to the doghouse. Everything was free and everyone was free to move around Eden. God used to come to this wonderful place, walked around this place and had a fellowship with His creatures whose lord He had appointed man to be.

The problem began when the man, knowing God and His love, was deceived by his enemy and gave himself to him in testing God to see if He was telling the truth. He just picked it from the tree and he tried it. We don’t have to try whether evil is evil and whether it will be bad for us because it’s certain that it will be bad. Evil creates evil and good creates good. Let’s fill ourselves with good as much as possible, but we should stay away from evil. Let’s test ourselves and experience whether it’s Christ or whether it’s a man who sins. How do we behave towards our brother? Like Joab who deceived Amasa and wanted to embrace him like a friend while his real intention was to kill him? Or maybe like Jesus who comes to meet us gives us the possibility of salvation?

Thus, we see the man in experience. We see that human sinned and he was expelled from Eden. Human is already different, he is already changed. His eyes see in a different way, his thoughts move in a different way. His intentions are also contaminated. It’s not yet the contamination that is today on earth, but there is the beginning of evil, the beginning of contamination.

Now, we will trace back one thing. I’ve written out our ancestors according to the flesh. The reproduction was progressing.

Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old. Enos was born when Set was 105 years old. Adam was 235 years old when Enos was born to Seth and then Adam became a grandfather. Kenan was born when Enos was 90 years old. At that time, Seth as grandfather was 195 years old and Adam as great-grandfather was 325 years old. Here, we can see how years progress.

Mahalalel was born when Kenan was 70 years old. At that time, Enos was already 160 years old, Seth was 265 years old and Adam was 395 years old. The family is getting bigger.

Jared was born when Mahalalel was 65 years old. At that time, Adam was already 460 years old. He was already a great-great-great-grandfather.

They are all together. They all know about Eden. Adam and Eve know Eden. They used to go there, they were there and talk about it. Everyone knows about Eden.

Enoch is born when Jared is already 162 years old. When Enoch is born, Adam is 622 years old, his son Seth is 492 years old, Enos is 387 years old. Kenan is 297 years old, Mahalalel is 227 years old.

They all still have an informant who was in Eden. Not stories, but the informant who saw Eden, who walked there in fellowship with God, who saw the peace that man had with God, who saw the peace among animals and who saw the beauty of God’s creation. Adam and Eve were still alive and they told about what they saw and experienced there. They already experienced how Cain killed Abel. They know who God is and what sin does.

Therefore, the man is informed and he can already draw conclusions. He isn’t without information. We can see here that Enoch draws right conclusions. Enoch walks with God. He uses information from his great-great-great-great-grandfather. We know that they conveyed information, events and history orally, as we do now in writing. One generation told the other about it all, just as it was in Israel.

Therefore, the man had all the time information about what the relationship with God was like before sin and after sin. So man should always have a great need to return to peace with God.

When we talk about human history, we should also think about the history of the new man.

Methuselah is born when Enoch is 65 years old. At that time, Adam is already 687 years old. Methuselah has a son quite late – at the age of 187. At that time, Adam is already 874 years old. So more descendants are born and Adam is still alive.

Lamech is born when Methuselah is 187 years old. Noah is born when Lamech is 182 years old. Adam is gone when Noah is born. Adam is already dead. Seth, Adam’s son, is also dead. He dies 14 years before Noah is born.

Enos, the third generation after Adam, is still alive and he still has very strong and reliable information that he can also convey to Noah.

When Lamech and his wife named Noah, they gave him this name for some reason. This name means: “he found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. With Noah, they connected their hearts, their desires and their love. It’s an interesting experience. We read that Noah, at the age of 500, had sons – Shem, Ham and Japheth. At that time, his father is 682 years old and his grandfather is 869 years old. And only they remain on earth. We know that Enoch dies earlier. Jared, Mahalalel, Kenan, Enos, Seth and Adam are also dead. At that time, the oldest living man was Methuselah.

For me this is strange that Noah’s father, Lamech, lived to the age of 777 and this is the first person who dies earlier than the father. I think this is the language of God who wants to say something to us. Lamech dies five years before the flood. When Noah is 600 years old, Methuselah, Lamech’s father, is 969 years old and the Word of God tells that this is also the end of his life.

We learn from the Bible that Shem’s son, Arpachshad, was born to him when Shem was 100 years old. When we subtract the age, we know that Shem was 97 years old before the flood. Two years after the flood, he was 100 years old.

Later, there is a story going on from Noah. We know that when Noah was 600 years old, the flood came and it lasted a year. When the flood ends, Noah is 601 years old.

Methuselah and Lamech (Noah’s grandfather and father) saw Noah building an ark. They were together. How do you imagine people on earth and their lives at that time? I want to say that these projections are often wrong. This is one big family all the time. When Noah enters the ark together with his family – with his wife, sons, daughters-in-law, they leave the rest of their family. They weren’t strangers. It was one big family starting from Adam – brothers, cousins and further relationships. It was one big family.

Therefore, what evil was it that God decided to end the lives of most of the people who lived on earth at that time and He decided to do it with the flood? In Genesis 6,1-6, we can read:

“Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

Thus man, although he knew about Eden, he knew that he had been expelled because of sin, he didn’t look for God to be with Him and who would help him, but he began to be satisfied with this sin. Rebel angels join it. Hence, we can see that they were enormous before and after the flood. Otherwise, they would have died. The Word of God tells us that they abused women both before and after. That’s why, we also see giants later on.

We can see that the man was in this experience. We remember the words of Jesus who said that it would be like in Noah’s day – they would get married. There was peace on earth. People really lived peacefully on earth. Sin multiplied, but, in general, they enjoyed their lives (but these were lives without God) and they became more and more evil instead of becoming more and more good. They didn’t save themselves. By following this path, people became more and more evil.

God intervened in this one family. He took Noah from that family and made him build the ark. When Noah built the ark, he passed sentence on his entire family. When he entered the ark, the sentence was passed. Everyone was already condemned and they were on their way to death. Noah knew about it, but he obeyed God. God was more important to him than blood relationship.

We can read about it in the New Testament when Jesus says: “If you want to save yourself, I have to be the most important to you. Then, you will be able to go over. And if blood relationship is stronger, then you won’t shelter in Me, you will constantly try to save these people on your own and finally, you will get lost with them”.

In this experience we can see that every other bloodline dies in the flood. Only the line of Seth, Adam’s son, remains. Only those in the line from Seth go to Enoch and on to Noah. All the others, who were born and who give birth to subsequent children, died. God gave man a huge opportunity. God left only one branch from Seth. All the others He cut off.

We see that when Noah leaves the ark with his family, the corruption is passed very quickly.

If we count from the beginning, the flood began in 1656. It lasted one year and ended in 1657.

After the flood, there is Shem, Noah’s son, to whom Arpachshad is born when he is 100 years old. The year is 1659. From that point, when Arpachshad is born, the order of birth of the next descendants is greatly accelerated. Shelah is born when Arpachshad is 35 years old. Their lifespan is also decreasing. Arpachshad lives only 438 years, Shelah – 433 years.

Eber is born when Shelah is 30 years old. Eber lives 464 years. Eber’s son, Peleg, is born when Eber is 34 years old. Peleg lives 239 years. When Peleg is 30 years old, his son Reu is born. Reu also lives 239 years.

Serug is born when Reu is 32 years old. Serug lives 230 years. Nahor is born when Serug is 30 years old. Nahor lives 138 years. Terah is born when Nahor is 29 years old. Terah lives 205 years. Abram, Nahor and Haran, who dies during his father’s lifetime, are born when Terah is 70 years old. Lot is the son of Haran who dies.

At the time Abraham is born, it’s the year 1949 of the earth century. This is the 10^th generation from Noah. It’s an interesting experience, isn’t it? There are 10 generations to Noah and 10 generations to Abram.

Isaac is born when Abram is 100 years old. And it’s already the year 2049. The twins Esau and Jacob are born when Isaac is 60 years old. Abraham lives 15 more years with his grandchildren. They could listen to the stories of the man who was so close with God and with whom God talked so much. God told him a lot of beautiful things. Abraham endured a test with his son Isaac and is the father of faith.

How good it is to have good fathers and good grandfathers who walk with God, talk and who can get over to their offspring what God says more than what the world says.

We can see that God calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They conveyed the truth well. We can read that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were prophets. Their sons always had some experience because they had to meet in their fathers those who always knew more than they did. We remember when Joseph brings over his two sons to Jacob to give his blessing to them so that the older one was on his left and so that Jacob could put his right hand on the older son and the left hand on the younger son. Jacob does it differently and Joseph wants to transfer his father’s hands. Jacob says: “No, my son. The younger one will be taller than the older one.” Certain things exist and we can see that Joseph is also the prophet. He has revelations of God, signs from God and he can read dreams. However, God gives it to Jacob at this point.

These are beautiful experiences of the genealogy of mankind when, among this genealogy, appeared people for whom God was the most precious, the most important and they fell in love with Him. They had to leave their home to follow God’s call, just as Abram walked with God and just as he learned God. (…)