In yesterday’s story, we saw how sin entered the perfect, utopian world. God then curses, the snake (Satan), all women and men as well as the earth itself. He tells them that the seed of Satan will always be in conflict with the seed of Eve (Genesis 3:15). Hence we have the bad seed and the good seed and when the two conflict, it leads to envy, evil, violence, indifference and the first murder. Let’s dig in…
Genesis 4 — Cain and Abel
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Genesis 4:1-16 NLT
God Sees EVERYTHING!
- Abel was the good seed and Cain was the bad seed.
- Abel gave the best of his flock as an offering to God with a faithful heart.
- Cain gave some of his crop, but as an obligation with no faith. That’s kind of like I used to go to church. As an obligation. Because I had to. Definitely not because I was faithful.
- God tells Cain, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” That is our challenge every single day! We have to do what is right, but the temptation to sin is around every corner and we need to overcome it. The good news for us is that if we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, then we have His power in us to overcome anything.
- After Cain killed Abel, God knew what he did, but like with his parents, He asked him, “Where is your brother?” to which Cain replies “Am I my brother’s keeper?” That’s where we get that line. That shows indifference. The I don’t care or the “whatever” attitude.
- Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
6 Generations between Adam and Noah
The rest of chapter 4 and then chapter 5 are rather boring genealogies or family trees. We learn about Cain’s descendants as the bad seed keeps growing. But in the very last paragraph we read about the good seed….
25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 4:25 NLT
Chapter 5 – The Roots of Our Family Tree
This is the written account of Adam’s family line.
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.
Genesis 5:1-2 NLT
I won’t bore you with the rest of the generations, except this one is rather interesting….
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Genesis 5:21-24 NLT
The First Rapture
That must have been something! Imagine Enoch was alive on earth one minute, and the next minute he’s gone. That’s exactly what’s going to happen when God calls His true, born-again believers Home in the Rapture — any time now!
Two generations later, Noah was born.
Genesis 6 — Evil Rules the World
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God (fallen angels) saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:1-8 NLT
So, these Nephilim, who were the offspring of spiritual beings / fallen angels, who mated with human women. Having studied Greek Mythology, this is very similar to the Greek gods mixing with human women. It was a generation of half-breeds that were unnatural. Below is a video that explains who exactly these Nephilim were as well as where Satan came from.
God was Grief-stricken
Grieve is a love word. You can anger anyone, but you can only grieve someone who you love. God looked at the evil, wickedness, lawlessness, and rampant sin and He must have felt almost hopeless. He regretted even creating everything — everything that He called “good” in Genesis 1 and 2!
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. That is the one shining light in a dark world and we’ll delve into the story of the great flood tomorrow.
But first I want to fast forward to the New Testament and the Letter to the Hebrews which recaps these first few chapters of Genesis as a reminder to the Jews and us…
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 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.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
Hebrews 11:1-7 NLT
As in the Days of Noah
Look around the world today and you’d think that the Nephilim have run rampant again. No, it’s not the Nephilim, but Satan’s Storm Troopers as Pete Garcia writes in “Lawless: End Times War Against The Spirit of Antichrist” — which is a great read. It’s available here. Garcia writes…
“To the pagan, the period before the Flood was an idyllic time of monsters and magic. It was a time of heroes and mythological tales of lore so fantastical that, even to this day, they tease at our deepest desires…. we have regressed…
…”They began teaching humans things they weren’t meant to know, much like teaching children how to do evil things before they have the ability to comprehend the consequences….
“According to scripture, people lived for centuries and became increasingly wicked and violent. As there was no seeming barrier between the natural and the supernatural realms, fallen angels began to interact physically with mankind. Because of this divine violation, a line had been crossed. Something occurred there that could not be undone, and the world was rapidly plunged into darkness.”
Pete Garcia, Lawless
Jesus told us that the last days would be like it was during the days of Noah!
We live in scary times and there is no time to waste! If you’re not following Jesus, what are you waiting for?
Invite Jesus into Your Heart and Receive the Gift of Grace, Joy, Peace, and the Confident Hope of Eternal Life…
Who are the Fallen Angels and the Nephilim?
Soli Deo Gloria! To God Alone Be the Glory!
Top image from Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
