Day: September 12, 2021

God Judging the Corrupted World, 
Composed of Men Who Had Become Flesh, 
by the Deluge to Terminate the Age of Cain

God judged the corrupted world, composed of men who had become flesh, by the deluge to terminate the age of Cain (6:1-7, 11-13). The first age of human culture was the age of Cain, and that age, that part of the world, was terminated by the flood.

God Judging at Babel the World, 
Which Had Abandoned Him 
and Had Joined Satan as One, 
to Terminate the Race of Adam

God judged at Babel the world, which had abandoned Him and had joined Satan as one, to terminate the race of Adam (11:1-9). The judgment of the flood terminated the age of Cain. Then the judgment of Babel terminated the race of Adam. The race of Adam was through with God because they had abandoned God and had joined Satan as one.

God’s Judgment on the World 
Being a Strong Evidence 
That the God-created yet Rebelling World 
Is Still under His Sovereign Ruling

God’s judgment on the world is a strong evidence that the God-created yet rebelling world is still under God’s sovereign ruling. This is God’s work on the negative side to judge the world from Cain to Babel. This is also a negative part of God’s history.

The Above Being the Works That God Did 
before His Calling of Abraham

Before God called Abraham, God worked on His saints from Abel to Noah, the forefathers of God’s chosen people.

JUDGING THE WORLD FROM CAIN TO BABEL

God Judging the Rest of Adam’s Descendants 
Who Took Satan’s Way of Death

While working on His chosen saints positively, God was judging negatively the rest of Adam’s descendants who took Satan’s way of death based upon the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and became the world under God’s condemnation. The world is a negative term, referring to fallen mankind. Fallen mankind is the world under God’s condemnation. While God is working positively on His chosen ones, He is also working negatively on the rest of mankind who take Satan’s way of death. Fallen mankind has become the corrupted, rotten world under God’s condemnation.

God Having No Regard for Cain and for His Offering

God had regard for Abel and for his offering, but He had no regard for Cain and for his offering (Gen. 4:5). God rejected Cain, judging him because he did not take God’s way of life. Instead of offering the God-ordained sacrifice to God, he offered the produce of the earth to God. Cain forsook God’s way of salvation and offered according to his own concept and opinion. Cain did not take the way of God, so God judged him by rejecting him.

God Judging Cain, Causing Him to Become 
a Fugitive and a Wanderer on the Earth 
to Invent the Human, Godless Culture

After Cain murdered his brother Abel, God judged Cain even further. This judgment caused Cain to become a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth to invent the human, godless culture (vv. 10-22). The first culture invented by man was the culture under Cain. Cain built a city for his self-existence (v. 17). His descendants then invented cattle-raising for making a living, music for amusement, and weapons for defense (vv. 20-22). Human culture is the same in principle today. The primary thing in human culture is man taking care of his living. The second item of human culture is amusement. The United States today is filled with worldly amusement and entertainment. The third item is the making of weapons. Today on earth people are consumed with these three things: what to eat, how to have amusement, and how to fight, how to build up the national defense to protect themselves. These are the contents of human culture invented by the descendants of Cain. This was Cain’s culture.

God Gaining Noah to Walk with Him 
and to Prepare the Ark for the Salvation 
of Him and His Whole Family

God went on to gain another person named Noah (6:9-22). Noah was a great-grandson of Enoch. Enoch begot Methuselah, Methuselah begot Lamech, and Lamech begot Noah. Noah’s great-grandfather walked with God, and Noah followed him to also walk with God. God gained Noah not only to walk with Him but also to prepare the ark for the salvation of him and his whole family from the corrupted age through the deluge. It was Noah who made the ark, but it was God who motivated him. It was God who charged Noah to do this. This was again something of God’s work, of God’s move among men on the earth as a part of the history of God.

God Being Pleased with the Satisfying Fragrance 
of Noah’s Burnt Offerings

God was pleased with the satisfying fragrance of Noah’s burnt offerings to keep the earth with its systems and to covenant with Noah and his descendants and with all the living creatures that they all would not be destroyed anymore by a flood but would be multiplied and replenish the earth (8:20—9:17). This was all God’s doing.

God Prophesying through Noah 
concerning His Three Sons

God also prophesied through Noah concerning his three sons (vv. 18-27). Noah was a godly man, but he became loose. When we become successful and happy, it is easy for us to become loose. Noah planted a vineyard, drank of the wine, became drunk, and was uncovered within his tent. One of his three sons exposed his failure, but the others covered the nakedness of their father. When Noah awoke, God prophesied through him.

First, God cursed the son of the one who exposed his father’s failure. Canaan, Ham’s son, was cursed to be a servant to Shem and Japheth (v. 25). Ham is also the father of Cush (10:6) and Cush is the forefather of the Ethiopians. Cush later begot Nimrod (v. 8), who built up both Assyria with Nineveh as its capital and Babylon with Babel as its capital (vv. 8-11; Micah 5:6). Assyria and Babylon became the primary nations opposing God’s people. The first nation that invaded Israel was Assyria, and that nation was built up by Nimrod.

Canaan, the son of Ham, was cursed, but Shem and Japheth received the blessing (Gen. 9:26-27). Japheth is the forefather of the Europeans. God gave him the blessing of being enlarged. The Europeans, especially in the last five centuries since the time of Columbus, have been enlarged, spreading throughout the whole world. But regardless of how much Japheth has been enlarged, God said that he would dwell in the tents of Shem. A tent is a place where people may dwell, rest, and have peace and enjoyment. Japheth’s tent is with his brother Shem.

All the Jews are of Shem. Shem received the blessing of having God. God became his blessing, and this God is the rest to man, the peace to man, the enjoyment to man, and the salvation to man. All the Europeans today are strong and enlarged, but they must dwell in the tents of Shem. If they are going to worship God, they must believe in the God of the Jews, receiving rest, peace, enjoyment, and salvation in the Jewish tent.

The Old Testament was written by the Jews. The New Testament was also written by the Jews except for one Gentile, Luke. But Luke got all the teachings from the Jews. Eventually, the New Jerusalem bears the names of the twelve tribes and of the twelve apostles, all of whom were Jews (Rev. 21:12-14). Thus, the New Jerusalem bears the names of the Jews. Furthermore, all the Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ, as the new creation, are the real Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).

Today we are in the tent of Shem. The Lord Jesus, one of Shem’s descendants, was the tabernacle, a tent (John 1:14). Eventually, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate tent of Shem, the tabernacle of God with men for eternity (Rev. 21:3). What a great blessing it is to be in the tent of Shem! All the Europeans, regardless of how strong they are, have to take the Jewish God. They have to enjoy their salvation in the Jewish tent, the tent of Shem.

This prophecy concerning Shem and Japheth is part of God’s marvelous work. Today we have gone to Russia to bring the descendants of Japheth into the tent of Shem. They are homeless, but we are bringing them into the tent of the Jews, the tent of Shem. Now many of them are in this tent, and they are happy and restfully enjoying God in Christ. Thus, we can see that God prophesied through Noah concerning his three sons that Ham’s son Canaan would be a servant to Shem and Japheth, that Shem would have God as his God, and that Japheth would be enlarged by God and dwell in the tents of Shem. This is also a part of God’s history. (I would encourage us to read Message 33 of the Life-study of Genesis, for a more thorough view of this part of God’s history.)

God Prophesying concerning the Deluge 
through Enoch Naming His Son Methuselah

God prophesied concerning the deluge through Enoch naming his son Methuselah, which means “when he is dead, it [the deluge] will be sent” (5:21). This is the first prophecy after God prophesied concerning Christ as the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15. Enoch brought forth a son and named his son Methuselah. This means that when Methuselah died, God would send the deluge to judge the world.

Methuselah lived nine hundred sixty-nine years (5:27). When he had lived one hundred eighty-seven years, he begot a son named Lamech (v. 25). When his son Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, he begot a son by the name of Noah (vv. 28-29). At that time Methuselah was three hundred sixty-nine years old. Then when Noah had lived up to six hundred years of age, Methuselah died, and the deluge came (7:11). That was exactly nine hundred sixty-nine years after the birth of Methuselah. Enoch’s naming of his son was actually God’s prophesying of the coming deluge.

God Gaining Enoch to Walk with Him 
for Three Hundred Years and 
Taking Enoch Away from the Earth before the Deluge

At the age of sixty-five Enoch begot Methuselah. Afterward, he still lived for three hundred years, and during these three hundred years, he walked with God (5:22-24). This implies that God also walked with Enoch. God took Enoch away from the earth before the deluge. It was a great thing for God to walk with a person on the earth for three hundred years. Walking implies living. God and Enoch lived together and walked together for three hundred years.

Enoch and God surely conversed with each other during that time. Enoch could have said, “God, look at the world today. All the people have become flesh, and the world is totally evil and corrupted.” God could have responded, “Enoch, be at peace. One day I’ll send the flood to judge this world. But you should not worry. Before that time, I’ll take you away from the earth.” I believe that Enoch and God should have conversed in this way. The book of Jude tells us that Enoch as the seventh from Adam also prophesied concerning the Lord coming with myriads of His saints (v. 14). Enoch lived with God. He walked with God. He and God were together for three hundred years. This was part of God’s working in His history in time.