EPITAPHS

Genesis 5
Bob Bonner
August 15, 2004

Cemeteries are wonderful places to visit. In fact, I would encourage all of you to take a walk through a cemetery sometime, preferably a really old cemetery, for the sole purpose of studying the headstones. When Becky and I lived in New Jersey, our home backed up to a very old cemetery. We loved the home, because our neighbors were always so quiet! We had many opportunities to walk through the cemetery and to read the inscriptions on many of the headstones. Now days, most headstones are small and simply give the name, date of birth and date of death. But every once in a while, there is a short epitaph on the headstone about the individual or the occasion that brought about the death of the individual. If it was a child who died of small pox, there would be a brief heart wrenching statement about the unnatural death of the child. When you read it, your heart ached for the loss the parents had to suffer. If the headstone was for a godly mother or father, there were loving comments describing their lives. If the deceased was an honored leader or had accomplished something significant, there would be a short statement about the person and or his accomplishment. If there was no significant mark left by the person’s life, it raised questions in my mind, like: “Did the person waste his or her life?” “Were there no significant contributions made by this person?” “Was the person just plain evil and no one had anything good to say about the person?” “Why no statement?” “Didn’t anybody care about this person?”

Recently, I had the opportunity to walk through Hillcrest Cemetery, where my late mentor; Ray Stedman’s remains were laid to rest. On Ray’s grave marker there is his name, date of birth and date of death. In addition, there is a picture of a Bible and this statement: “He was a faithful steward.” 1 Corinthians 4:1, 2. That brief statement summed up this great preacher’s life. The verse helps explain the statement. In short, it is stating that this man was a faithful teacher of God’s word, one who opened up the mysteries and truth of God to those who sought after God.

Every time I visit his grave site or others like it, I ask myself the question: “When I die, if there were to be a truthful statement about how I lived my life, or a statement reflecting my character or reputation, what would it say? Or, out of politeness, would it be left blank?”

This morning, as we look at Genesis 5, we are going to read about a new branch of Adam and Eve’s family line. It is the family line of Seth. As we read about the ten generations of Seth’s family, beginning with Adam and down to Noah, each person’s name reads like a typical epitaph on a headstone. There is the person’s name, the date he was born and how long he lived and the mentioning of his first born son. And that is it. But one of the men mentioned stands out as unique. Follow along as I read, and see if you can’t find the “stand out” among the 10 generations.

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. ²He created them male and female and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. ³When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. ⁴Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years and he had other sons and daughters. ⁵So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. ⁶Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh. ⁷Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh and he had other sons and daughters. ⁸So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. ⁹Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters. ¹¹So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died. ¹²Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel and he had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. ¹⁵Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared. ¹⁶Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. ¹⁸Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. ²⁰So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. ²¹Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. ²²Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. ²³So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. ²⁵Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. ²⁶Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. ²⁷So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. ²⁸Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. ²⁹Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” ³⁰Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. ³¹So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. ³²Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

As you read through those “epitaphs”, does any one of them stand out to you as unique? Which one? Enoch! Twice it is repeated about Enoch, that he “walked with God.” We will see the significance of this statement as we work through this passage together.

But first, for those of you who were not here last week, allow me to give you the backdrop to our study. This passage of scripture comes after chapter 3 and the Fall of the human race. God has judged Adam and Eve and sent them out of His garden. In chapter 4, we saw the first branch of Adam and Eve’s family line, that of Cain. The major theme of chapter 4 describes the spread of sin and evil across the planet, as a result of a godless leader of the family.

In chapter 5, we see Seth’s family line. The major theme of this chapter is not too encouraging either. Even though the character of Seth’s family line was godly, the theme of this chapter is the spread of the curse of death. Except for Enoch, this statement was tagged on to the end of each man’s life: “and then he died.”

By the time you get through chapter 5, you can’t help but feel disappointed or despairing as you see the condition of our world. There is such a spread of evil, death and disease.

However, if one remembers chapter 3 verse 15, one can see three glimmers of hope in the word “seed”=promised savior in this world that is crazy, immoral, and lacking value in human life. Now, back to our text; first, we see in 4:25, that Seth and his first son, Enosh reinstate genuine worship and praise for God. This represents a new beginning.

Then, in chapter 5, we see that because Enoch walked with God, he actually escapes the curse of physical death. That gives hope to all that we too can escape death and permanent separation from God.

And by the time we come to Noah, and what we will get into in chapter 6, we see that God is not going to allow evil to continue. Several times throughout history, God puts His foot down and says, “Enough is enough!” In chapter 6, we will see that God sets the stage to bring judgment. He is about to clean house with the flood, and with Seth’s line through Noah, rebuild the human race.

As we stand back to get God’s “birds eye view” we quickly see that all is right, even in this evil world, because the God of justice has not lost control. He still rules with sovereignty all of creation. Hence, with Him in charge, there is always hope. There is always a way out. He is the God of second chances.

The new beginning, the second chance actually begins at verse 3:15 with the promised seed, but we see another facet of God’s promised hope here, for the human race actually finds its seeds right here in chapter 5, with the birth of Adam’s son, Seth. Let’s look quickly at this new beginning by reviewing the names of the key figures that represent each of the 10 generations. If you remember any of the names we looked at last week from chapter 4, you can’t help but see the stark contrast between Seth’s family line and Cain’s family line.

We read about Adam in verses 1-5. Note that Adam’s name literally means “man.” But because this name was given to him before the Fall and the curse of death, it carries with it the idea of the eternalness of man. Hence, the name Adam represents eternal man. One created to live with God forever!

Understand, as verses 1-5 point out, that from the beginning it was and is God’s desire to bless “man” both male and female. It has always been God’s loving desire to gift us and provide for us those things that would produce meaningful life for all who seek Him. God gets no joy in disciplining His children or bringing judgment against us. That was never His first choice. He has always wanted to bless you.

But then the Fall came, and we pick up with verse three, that although God still desires to bless us, there had to be a new beginning, a new family line.

From verses 6-8, we read about Seth whose name means new beginning = new life plus a second chance. With Seth, we see a person who reinstates heartfelt worship and obedience of God. We see a man who loves God and wants others to love God as well, who taught his immediate family to love God.

In verses 9-11, we read about Enosh, whose name means “mortal frailty” and points to the fact that because of man’s moral frailty, man will physically die, in contrast to his proud uncle Lamechs’s “strong man.” Hence, man is now mortal man.

Next, in verse 12-14, is Kenan whose name means “sorrow”. Although Seth and Enosh were worshiping God, they could not help but be grieved and filled with sorrow as they looked around them to see how people were living their lives in absolute rebellion against God. This grieved them as well as God. They grieved over others’ foolish decisions that led to their own destruction.

Finally, in verses 21-24, we come to the star of the chapter, Enoch, whose name means dedicated one. This is the second individual in scripture who bears the name Enoch. The first was the son of Cain, who had dedicated his first born to himself, that Cain might not be forgotten, due to God’s curse against Cain. In vain, Cain wanted to be remembered throughout history. He wanted to make his mark on the world. And he did, albeit not a very good mark. But to be remembered, he named his son, dedicated one, meaning dedicated to his earthly father, Cain.

This second Enoch, however, was not like his contemporaries, his cousin, Enoch or his cousin Lamech, of chapter 4. This Enoch was a man, as his name depicts, that was dedicated to knowing and serving the living God. Thus we read, “Enoch walked with God”

Note, will you, that for the first 65 years, Enoch had not walked with God. But something happened to him, as it often does with many parents when their first child is born. They begin to think more seriously about the most important issues of life, because now they don’t just affect the adult’s life, but his child. Mainly, those issues are ones that begin and end with the purpose of life, morals and the reality that there is a God and He wants us to know Him. Furthermore, if we or our children choose not to know him, like most of those alive in Enoch’s generation, the outcome of that decision to rebel against God or to just plain ignore God, is not good. Hence, with the birth of Methuselah, Enoch makes a serious change in his life. He chooses to get serious about his relationship with God. He chooses to “walk with God.”

Note that Enoch went from living with God to walking with God. Walking with God is an expression that describes a step above just living in recognition that there is a God. It describes taking God much more seriously in one’s life.

As I understand this expression, “walking with God,” it describes a heart attitude of wanting to be a loyal friend with God, wanting to be with God because He loves you and you want to respond in kind. Walking with God means that as a loyal friend of God, you want to go in the same direction as God. The one who walks with God is one who knows which way God is going and goes the same way. He understands God’s principles and directions as spelled out in God’s word, and the one who walks with God, follows those directions. Hence, one who walks with God, must take seriously the reading and studying of God’s word, and be sure to apply what one knows to his or her life.

In addition, the direction that God moves is always in the direction of life, not death. The direction God moves is always toward righteous living, not mere existence which is the result of selfish living. One who walks with God stands in hostility against sin. He is opposed to that which destroys and wrecks human life. He refuses to submit to sin’s reign in his own life. One who walks with God has one priority in life, to do that which brings honor to God.

Along with being a loyal friend who travels in the same direction, walking with God means that as you travel through life, there is no conflict between you and God. As a loyal friend of God, you want your desires to be the same as God’s desires. When walking with God, there is agreement. A scriptural proverb asks, “Except two be in agreement, how can they walk together?” Walking with God requires your total submission and obedience to His will. There is no room for controversy. We must come to see things as He sees them. For in truth, only God sees things rightly. In turn, this produces fellowship and favor with God.

Enoch so desired to walk with God, to be friends with God, he so desired to go in the same direction as God, that he became a spokesman for God to his own generation. He was in such agreement with God’s opinion and God’s world view, He preached God’s truth. According to Jude 14-15, Enoch was a prophet who preached about God’s coming judgment to his own generation because of their rebellion against God. From what I read in Jude, these verses seem as though Enoch is preaching directly to his cousin Lamech’s wickedness, who we read about last week, who lived in the seventh generation following Adam. Listen to Jude 14-15. “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Enoch had become such a friend with God, such a faithful steward of God’s truth that God showed Enoch the ultimate favor in that He did not allow Enoch to go the way of all men. He did not allow Enoch to experience physical death. God “took” Enoch, the same verb used to describe God “taking” Elijah 25 centuries later, straight to heaven (2 Kings. 2:11). Hebrews 11:5 clearly tells us that Enoch never died.

Being called to preach about God’s coming judgment to his own generation may explain why Enoch named his son “Methuselah”. “Methuselah” means “when he dies, judgment.” What’s truly interesting about Methuselah’s life and his father’s preaching about God’s coming judgment, is that the very year that Methuselah died was the year that God brought judgment in the form of the flood that covered the whole earth. Both Methuselah and Enoch were spared from the flood.

To Methuselah was born a second man named Lamech= strong man—“the most dominant man on earth.” Different than his cousin from Cain’s family line in Chapter 4, Lamech was strong man in the Lord, not in himself.

According to verse 28-31, Lamech gave birth to Noah, and named him Noah which means “rest”. Lamech, having seen the curse of toiling for food, suffering, disease and death, hoped somehow with Noah, there would be deliverance from the consequences of sin. He was hoping that through Noah, mankind would find rest from the relentless toil of working the earth.

Allow me to point out three quick lessons from this passage. Each lesson is a reflection of a different attribute of God. First, we learn from these chapters that God is very long-suffering. From the Fall of the human race to the flood there were approximately 900 plus years. That’s a long time for God to wait for us to quit walking in rebellion against Him. It tells us that God does not want any to perish; hence He gives each individual ample time to figure things out and choose to walk with God.

And because God is long suffering, each person has the opportunity to walk with God, to be a friend to God. Anyone who genuinely desires to walk with God, in step with God and on God’s terms, will be welcomed by God. He will not reject any who genuinely seek after Him.

Secondly, as we can see from Enoch’s warning about the coming judgment and the subsequent flood taking place the very year God promised that judgment, what God says about judgment is true. That one day all evil will stop and all persons will be judged. Because of God’s holy nature, God cannot allow wickedness to continue or to be left without judgment. The God of justice will bring justice.

However, the God of justice is also the same God of mercy, who provides a way of escape to all of us; even though we don’t deserve a way of escape, nor is He obligated to give us one. But out of God’s mercy He provides for us a savior, an “arch.” We see a clue to this way of escape and God’s mercy by providing a savior, Jesus Christ, represented by each of these names listed in Seth’s line. Every name speaks of Jesus, who He is, what He will do, and what He has done. A collage of the names in Seth’s line points to The savior, while a collage of the names in Cain’s line spells out evil in man’s heart.

Adam was the first eternal, sinless man. Jesus is the second Adam, the second sinless eternal Man. After the Fall, there could be only one sinless eternal man, Jesus.

Seth means new beginning. When a person puts their trust in Christ, that person becomes a new creation in Christ. He/she has a new beginning.

As Enosh means mortal man, so Jesus left heaven to put on mortality that he might die for our sins.

As Kenan means sorrows, so Jesus, according to Isaiah 53:3, would become the “man of sorrows” for us. He would grieve, weep and be tortured for us.

As Mahalalel means God be praised, that’s exactly what Jesus life was all about, according to John 17. His life pointed to, glorified and praised His Father on earth.

As Jared means “came down,” Jesus is God, Immanuel, God with us, who lowered and humbled himself to be found in the form of a mere man and came down from heaven to walk with us on earth.

As Enoch means “dedicated one,” Jesus is the only dedicated one who can be the only dedicated way, truth and life of the Father.

As Methuselah means “when he dies, judgment,” Jesus death brought judgment on Satan and the entire human race. For all intent and purposes, the game is over, all except for the shouting. The victory has been won. Satan and death have been conquered. Judgment is just around the corner.

As Lamech means “strong one,” Jesus is the only true strong one. He is the pronounced victor over the evil one, Satan, and will soon cast him permanently into hell.

As Noah means “rest,” it is in Jesus alone, that one can find true rest. We no longer have to labor to earn God’s acceptance. We no longer have to fear God’s rejection of us, when we put our complete trust and lives in the hands of Jesus. We can rest in His transforming power right now and for eternity.

In short, all of these names point to Jesus Christ. In light of this chapter’s theme being the spread of death throughout the human race, it is no coincidence that Jesus says in John 11:26, “He who believes in me will never die.” Jesus is our only hope for true meaning in life here and now, and in the here after.

We are left with the very question that Jesus asked his audience there in John 11:26. He finished that verse with “Do you believe this?”

Are you, like Enoch, walking with God? Do you believe you need Jesus and want to walk with the only one who can save you? Do you want to be like Enoch, who walked with God, was a friend of God and who was favored by God because he walked with God amidst his evil generation?

When you die, how will your epitaph read? Could someone honestly write on your headstone that “you walked with God”? Could they say that you grabbed a hold of His only way of escape, Jesus Christ, and that you walked with Jesus? Was it obvious by the way you lived and by the priorities of your life, that Jesus was in charge of your life? In the midst of this evil generation, God invites you to join those godly persons of the past, like those represented here in Seth’s family line, to walk with God, to know Him intimately, and to be His friend. Have you or will you take advantage of His invitation to you today, tomorrow and for the rest of your earthly life?

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