“And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore him a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.” Genesis 4:25-26
The antithesis becomes clearly revealed right at the beginning of human existence with Cain and Abel. Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, becomes the “seed” of the serpent by murdering his brother Abel. I John 3:12 says that we should love the brethren and, “…not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.” And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous..” Cain was “of the wicked one” and Abel was of the righteous.
Cain is then exiled from the land of Eden, out from before the presence of the Lord, no longer authorized to live before the Cherubim who guarded and separated man from the holy presence of God. The Genesis narrative then gives an account of his descendants, the ungodly line, the “seed” of the serpent. Lamech is the great example of Cain/Satan’s descendants. He is a murderer like both Cain and Satan. In John 8:44 Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are of their father Satan too, who was a murderer from the beginning. Lamech also becomes the first polygamist. So, the ungodly line, the seed of Satan, lived in the lands outside of Eden, growing in their unrighteousness and wickedness. But what of the godly line?
This is where our weekly verse comes in. Seth is born and Eve says she has been given another “seed” in the place of righteous Abel. The godly line is resurrected through the birth of Seth and men began to call upon the name of the Lord. These are the sons of God, the seed of the woman. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” The sons of God are those who call upon the name of God, who are authorized to live in Eden before the presence of Cherubim.
The Genesis narrative then gives an account of the godly line, the line of the seed, starting with Adam. Enoch is the great example of the godly seed as one who walked with God in Eden, whose ways pleased God so that he did not taste death. (Hebrews11:5) But Enoch is not the only example. The godly line continues down to Noah. Ultimately, the godly line goes all the way down to Jesus who is the true “seed,” the true son of God. As we saw last week, this genealogy in Luke 3 begins with Jesus and goes all the way to “…Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” Luke 3:38
The godly line is the line of faith of those who have God as their Father. The godly line is our ancestry as members of the body of Christ. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba Father.” The Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are indeed the children of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ of the eternal inheritance. (Romans 8)
Next week we’ll look at the antithesis in Noah and Abraham as this theme continues to be played out in history.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn