Are You Ready To Go Home? Series

Some of these genealogies are not in chronological order - that’s okay - the point is tracing a line from Adam to Noah.

Something to note - they died, they died, they died - except 1. Consequences of the fall.

Vs 1 - 2

God gave them the name "Adam" - which means mankind. They were both male and female - but together they were mankind.

Vs 1 - 20

It’s been suggested that this ends the direct account that Adam passed down, eventually to Moses, who edited and wrote Genesis.

Lamech died just before the flood. Adam was still alive shortly before the flood.

Long life spans (365-Enoch to 969-Methusalah)

Long lives are unprecedented in our time, but we do things that people of 150 years ago would have laughed at.

Possible reasons: water covering (flood - Free Radicals caused by UV rays.)

genes, effect of fall.

By the time of the flood there could have been a billion people on earth.

If the genealogies are intact, then Seth would have died when Noah was 14. Noah knew Adam’s son!

Vs 21 - 24

Enoch:

Enoch was "translated" into another dimension. There was no death. The thing that was said of him is that he walked with God - he lived for God. Amidst all the death he showed that there is a way to live forever.

Hebrews 11:5-6 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

So first we know that Enoch was brought alive into God’s presence - we don’t know if he was brought to Sheol or to heaven or what.

We know that he "walked" with God (Genesis)

We know that he "pleased" God. (Hebrews)

And we know that he had "faith" in God (also Hebrews)

We also know some things from Jude:

Jude 14-15 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

So Enoch was also a prophet

And he looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, even though he wouldn’t have used that term.

Enoch in many ways is a picture of the church. We walk with God through faith in His Son Jesus, and please Him because Jesus pleased God. And we look forward to the Lord returning, and know that we will be "caught up" to meet him if we are alive at that time.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

The words "caught up" come from the Greek word "harpadzo" which means to pluck violently - like pulling a ripe piece of fruit off a tree.

We get the word "rapture" from the Latin word "raptus" - which means the same thing.

This brings up the pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation - and a-tribulation points of view. I won’t go into detail on these here - but it seems no matter your flavor on that, that Jesus WILL pick us up and carry us off.

Will you be ready?

Karissa Edwards - one day she went to the beach and she was not because God took her. Would you be ready if God told you that today you were going home?

Vs 25 - 27

Methuselah lived longer than any human being - nearly a thousand years. Some think he died in the flood or in the same year as the flood.