Genesis 11 Series

Genesis 11

Hope is an amazing thing. Hope is more than an emotion. It’s more than fantasy. It’s more than just believing really hard.

“Hope is patiently waiting expectantly for the intangible to become reality.” Avery D. Miller said that. Hope is patiently waiting expectantly for the intangible to become reality.

Hope is what keeps prisoners of war from losing their minds. Hope that their rescue will soon come. Hope moves thousands of people every day to our country seeking a better life. Hope brings people to counseling desiring for a relationship to be mended. Hope brings people to a doctor wanting relief from sickness. And hope brings people to Jesus. Hope for forgiveness. Hope for a new direction. Hope for a new life.

But when there’s no hope people get depressed, people despair, and people give up. That’s the leading motivation behind the thousands of suicides every year – that people have no hope that their lives will get any better.

But because of the Lord we have hope! He’s shown us that because of Him in our lives there’s always reason to hope. We can patiently wait for the intangible to become reality. And even when things seem dark and hopeless, the Lord shows us that because of Him there’s always reason to hope.

Tonight’s passage will show us that hope from God loud and clear. But it’s really not one of those passages that we often look to for hope. You see, this is one of those passages that goes through the family line or the genealogy of a particular person. You know, the so-and-so begat so-and-so, and on and on the list goes passages. But in this family line there’s so much hope! So let me give you a little background into the passage of Genesis Chapter 5.

- First Patriarchs

- Covers about 1600 years

- Average lifespan of the first Patriarchs was 900 years

- Passage shows connection between Adam and Noah

- Spiritually dark time on earth

- Ten generations starting with Adam

- Death

- Hope

And we see the dichotomy between death and hope in the beginning of the passage.

[Read Genesis 5:1-3.]

Adam and Eve were created in the image of their heavenly Father:

- Morality - Intellect - Spiritual

- Will - Communication - Eternal

- Emotions - Relational

Seth came forth in the image of his earthly father:

- Moral struggles - Spiritually dead

- Communication issues - Eternal life not guaranteed

- Emotional problems - Relational problems

Adam was created to live and Seth was born to die. Adam was created in God’s image.

Seth was born in Adam’s image. And this sets the stage for the rest of the passage. But remember, throughout all this genealogy of life and death there is hope. But before we get to that, let’s read of the family line from Adam to Noah.

[Read Genesis 5:4-32.]

When you read that passage it seems like every generation had commonalities:

- All had sons and daughters

- All eventually died, (except Enoch)

God created man to live and fill the earth with life, but now everyone dies. But, amongst

all this death there is hope. Three rays of hope that come shining through the darkness.

I. Patriarch’s children

Every one of the Patriarch’s had children. Sons and daughters. And since they lived so long I’ll bet they had a lot, I mean a lot of kids! We don’t really know just how long the women could bear kids back then. But today, women can have children until their middle-aged. Back then middle-aged was 450 years old! Can you imagine how many kids a lady could have? That’s a lot of diapers, Christmas presents and runny noses.

But with every child born there’s hope. Hope that they’ll grow up and be somebody special. Hope that they’ll turn our alright. Hope that they won’t make the same mistakes we as parents make. Children bring hope to any family.

And just think about the hope that Seth brought to Adams family. One son was dead and the other was banished and off living in sin. But this new child brought hope to Adam and Eve.

When Lisette and I look at our kids one of the things we see is hope for the future of our extended families. Like most families, ours is riddle with divorce, ungodliness and strife. Now we love our families. And there are pockets of Christianity on both sides of the family tree. But our kids represent the next generation of the family. We have the chance, through them, to set new standards and trends for the family. Our kids give our family hope.

And it’s because everything’s new for them. They aren’t ruled by history and memories and traditions. They can start out fresh without anything holding them back. Kids bring hope to any family. And with the Patriarchs their children brought hope.