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The Origin of Babylon
RV186-01© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
Please open your Bibles to Revelation 14:8. We now begin studying a new subject: "The Fall of the Babylonian Systems."
An Angel
The apostle John has seen and heard an angel of God proclaiming the eternal gospel of grace salvation. This angel directed tribulation humanity
to fear God; to give Him glory; and, to worship Him as the Creator. The reason for this admonition was that the time of God's judgment against
unbelievers of the tribulation era had arrived. So, this was one more chance to believe the eternal gospel, and thus to trust in Jesus Christ as
one's Savior, and to escape the judgment of God and the lake of fire.
A Second Angel
Following the message of this angel. John's attention is then drawn to a second angel that comes on the scene, and this angel apparently also is
high in the earth's atmosphere. And, we read of that angel and his message in Revelation 14:8:" And another angel, a second one, followed, saying,
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who has made all nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality." In the Greek language, this
word, another is "allos." The word "allos" is the word in the Greek for "another," in the sense of "another of the same kind." So, this angel is
another angel, just like the one that we saw in verse 6 which introduced the first proclamation in the earth's atmosphere. This is an angel being,
but it is a second, and a separate, angel, but he's the same kind as the first angel; that is, he is one of the angels of God. We are told that
this second angel follows the first angel on the scene with another message.
The message of this second angel is a prophetic statement. It is saying something which is going to come to pass, which, at the point here in the
tribulation when he declares it, has not yet taken place. What he says is that something is falling. The Greek word is for "fallen" is "pipto."
This word connotes a catastrophic blow. It is at some point near the end of the tribulation. It's actually experienced by the city of Babylon
itself. It's a statement of fact.
The Repetition of Words in the Bible
This word, you will notice, is repeated: "Fallen, fallen." When the Bible does that, it's a language device to
stress the certainty of the event, which is being referred to. When a word is repeated, it's a way of saying that you can count on this happening.
It is true.
For example, in Genesis 41:32, in Pharaoh's dream about the coming seven-year famine period, the seriousness and the truthfulness of that event is
stressed to Pharaoh by the fact that the dream is repeated twice. Genesis 41:32: "Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means
that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about." Joseph is explaining to the Pharaoh the meaning of this strange dream
that he has had. The meaning, of course, is that the country is going to have seven years of abundant bonanza crops, but it's going to be followed
by the direst kind of famine and drought conditions for seven years after that. And God has determined that this is going to happen. There's no
discussing it. There's no possibility that it won't happen. Joseph said, "God made that clear to you by giving you this dream twice." So,
when a thing is repeated in the Scriptures, it's a way of stressing the fact that it's a reality. Babylon is doomed. Babylon is fallen, fallen. It
is going to fall.
This same device was repeatedly used by the Lord in His speaking. One example is in John 5:24-25. There he uses the word "truly." The old King
James Version used to use the word "verily:" "Verily, verily, I say to you:" "Truly, truly, I say to you. An hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live." And when Jesus says, "Truly, truly," He is saying, "I'm going to say
something, and it's going to be astounding. All the Greek philosophers tell you that this is crazy: a dead body can never come back to life. But
I'm assuring you, and I'm using this verbal device of repeating My assurance: Everybody who ever died is going to come back to life.
Verses 24: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word, and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but
has passed out of death into life." There, Jesus uses the word "truly" twice ("truly, twice") to stress that it is an established fact that anybody
who hears His Word (meaning anybody who believes His message of the gospel) has eternal life. He has it now. He has passed from judgment. He will
never come into eternal death. He now has the position of eternal life.
So, this device of repeating a word emphasizes the certainty of its execution.
Now, what this angel is actually doing is repeating a phrase from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 21:9: "Now behold, here comes a troop of riders,
horsemen in pairs. And one answered and said, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground." There you
have exactly that same phrase. The angel is actually repeating Scripture: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon," meaning that all the gods of Babylon, which
of course, is the source of all false religion, are doomed to total failure.
Babylon
The words "fallen" are directed against another word. This is a word that is going to be increasingly important in our day: "Babulon." In the Bible,
the word "Babylon" refers to the literal city on the Euphrates River. This is the place where, after the Noahic flood, the kingdom of man originated
in rebellion against the Kingdom of God on the earth. Here in the city on the Euphrates River is where all false religions begin. All the cults, and
all the false religions, and all the false doctrine that we know about today can be traced directly back to that city on the Euphrates. It was from
within that culture, begun by Nimrod after the Noahic flood, that Abraham came from. And Abraham had all the false religion; all the polls concepts;
and, all the misconceptions that the people of his day had.
So, first of all, when the Bible speaks about Babylon, it could refer to the literal city, but it is also used symbolically. It's used symbolically
as a religious system – a false system of religion. This is used in Revelation 17 in that way. It is also used symbolically of a satanic
political system. It is used in this way in Revelation 18. The word "great" is added: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great," which is stressing
Babylon's powerful influence over the centuries on mankind. Most people look at Babylon, and they say, "Oh yes, Saddam Hussein is rebuilding it,
and he's making it just like it used to be, and he's restoring it, and he intends to make it a kind of a Las Colinas commercial business center of
the world, and that's exactly what he's doing. And, oh yes, he's had his head bashed in, and he's been beaten to his knees, but the construction is
still going on on the Euphrates River. The restoration to the city of Babylon is still going on. Isn't that interesting? I wonder why that's
happening." This guy needs lots of dough. He's strapped for money. They won't let him sell all the oil that he could sell. They've got all kinds of
restrictions on him, but he's still building Babylon. He's still rebuilding.
Babylon, in the past, has had a great influence on the human race. And you have received considerable instruction about that. So, you have a frame
reference that the average American doesn't have. But Babylon is also going to play a big role in the end times. And that's why I suspect, in the
providence of God, while one might consider it a stupid military blunder on the part of the Americans that they did not finish off Saddam Hussein,
I suspect that there is a providential intervention there, because this guy is determined to restore Babylon to its great glory. That is because
Babylon is associated with his ancient kingdom of Persia, which is called Iraq today.
The destruction of Babylon, in its literal city destruction, and in its symbolic destruction of its religious and political connotations, all
takes place at the end of the tribulation with the return of Jesus Christ. This reference to divine judgment on Babylon here in this verse is
really just a short summary preview of what we will go into more extensively when we get to Revelation 17, and we look at religious Babylon; and,
in Revelation 18, when we look at political Babylon.
However, what this verse is telling us is that the time will come when Babylon, both literally and in its symbolic sense, will collapse as the
center of world government. It tells us that Babylon will collapse as the center of world religion. It tells us that ancient Babylon will probably
be rebuilt on the Euphrates River as a commercial center. That, of course, is in progress in Iraq today. What this verse does is that it predicts
the total collapse of the whole economic, religious, and political systems that men have invented; and, that will come to fruition in the day of
the antichrist.
She Made the Nations Drink
The angel says, "Babylon is going to fall" – this great city of such great influence. And the reason is because she has made the nations
drunk. She has made the nations drink something. And what they drink was: "The wine of the passion." The word "passion" is the Greek word "thumos,"
is better translated as "wrath:" "Drinking the wine of the wrath resulting from her immorality." And the word for "immorality" is "porneia" in the
Greek, and that means sexual sins – violations of God's sexual code. It doesn't make too much of a stretch of the imagination to see how
easily this is going to be the ground (the basic reason) for God's enormous destruction of all of the institutions of mankind – sexual
immorality.
Those of you who have lived through the so-called sexual revolution are old enough to have a frame of reference on how it used to be, and how
totally degrading it now is in terms of sexual relationships. Mankind has gone from the position of something which was ennobling, as those who
are made in the image of God, to those who are no different than a bunch of dogs meeting together in a back alley. The degradation is there, but
also the hand of death is there. God in heaven is tapping His foot. He's letting man run his course, but He is also interjecting the consequences
of this violation with the disease and the death that He has ordained for these things.
Yes, the professors in the liberal seminaries can reinterpret the Bible, and justify the gross violations (the perversions) of sexuality in the
human race, but God says that He will have the last word. So, don't be bowled over by the fact that you're bombarded with justifications for that
kind of immorality. The world is wrong, and you are right. You get that through your mind. Get it there, and never let go of it. The world is wrong,
and you are right. And they're going to rush off to their destruction, and you will have all of eternity to rejoice in the fact that you did not
follow their course.
The Example of Noah
This is not the first time in the history of the human race that the minority has been right. Noah is our great example. Everybody
thought he was a fool in every respect. He was right, and they were wrong. And when they were clutching and screaming and grabbing on the side of
his art, as the waters rose around them, they found out that they had crossed the point of no return, and that they were doomed, and within that
ark were eight people safe and snug as could be. There had denied up to the week before the flood. And number nine died the day the floodwaters
began falling – Methuselah, the oldest man that ever lived. So, they canceled his reservation on the ark, and gave it to one of the other
passengers, and they ended up with eight. It was great to be on-board in that security. All your food was provided, as well as all your evening
entertainment. There was very little work, and it was great fun. It was the kind of a voyage and a cruise that few of us have ever experienced.
But on the outside was total destruction and devastation. So, who was ahead: those who stood with the Word of God; or, those who thumbed their nose
at it?
"Porneia" is sexual immorality. What this verse is saying literally is: "The wine of the wrath of her fornication." Fornication brings down the
wrath of God, and that's what it's saying. You play with this game of sexual impurity, and you're drinking the wine of God's wrath. It connotes
that Babylon has made all nations to drink the wine which leads to fornication, and to the wrath of God.
What this angel is interesting doing is combining two ideas. He's combining Revelation 14:10, which says, "He also will drink of the wine of the
wrath of God;" with a statement in Revelation 17:2, which says, "With whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who
dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality." So, the concept of wine is associated both with the wrath of God, and with
the immorality of man. It's connected with the immorality of man, and consequently, with the immorality of God.
So, when you drink the delicious, sweet wine of sexual immorality, remember that the dregs at the bottom have the bitterness of the wrath of God
that you will consume as well.
Again I remind you that what we read in the book of the Revelation is interpreted in terms of symbols and references made in other places in the
Bible. This comparison of wine with being immorality and the wrath of God actually comes from Jeremiah 51:6-9. Here again, it is referring to
Babylon: "Flee from the midst of Babylon," Jeremiah says. "And each of you save his life. Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the
Lord's time of vengeance." He is going to render recompense to her. Here is God's judgment upon Babylon. Yes, it had a near fulfillment in their
day, but it is one of those prophetic statements that as a double-meaning in a future of fulfillment as well.
Verse 7: "Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine. Therefore, the
nations are going mad. Suddenly, Babylon has fallen and been broken. Wail over her. Bring balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. We applied
healing to Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us each go to his own country. For her judgment has reached to heaven, and towers
up to the very skies."
How interesting that it was in Babylon that they were going to build a tower up to the very sky itself so that they could dominate their world, and
use it as an observatory for worshiping the stars and the planets and the interstellar structures. God says, "I have built a tower, a tower of
judgment from which I will condemn you, and from which I will destroy you. And when your tower has crumbled into the dust, the tower of My
righteousness will be standing."
The intoxication of sexual sins drives mankind to its own destruction because it comes up against the wrath of God. This has been done to all
nations by Babylon, because the religion that Nimrod began in Babylon was a phallic religion. It was the worship of sex. And it expressed itself
in a variety of ways, so that this is not just some meaningless, poetic word. God is saying, "I know where this practice began. I know where whole
religions were built around sexual context, which is what pagan religions are to this very day. And Babylon, you have been the source of it, and My
judgment is going to come upon you."
So, the fall of the religious, political, and economic systems of Babylon in the tribulation are simply due to her sinfulness. Her worldwide
influence will have caused the gentile nations to join her drunken orgy of evil. These nations are going to share in God's wrath against Babylon,
and his judgments of destruction upon her.
This inevitable future is indicated by the repetition of the word "fallen." This inevitable, future, divine judgment on Satan's world system does
bring comfort to believers who will be suffering persecution under the beast empire in the tribulation. Any believer who has a knowledge of the
Word of God will understand, like Noah did: "I'm being made out to be a buffoon. I'm suffering abuse in various ways, but I am going to be the
winner. They will be the losers."
During the tribulation, the combination of sexual sins; religious apostasy; and, economic socialism will control the nations. Get that clearly in
your mind, and you'll see the reference point we have today. During the tribulation, the power of the antichrist will be upon a threefold attraction:
sexual sins, openly promoted and tolerated; religious apostasy, where man is exalted to his own godhood; and, third, economic socialism. A powerful
government will run social programs to redistribute wealth from those who earn it to those that the government decides should have it. That is
exactly the world in which we live today. Going into the tribulation will be just as easy as falling off of a log. Everything is now in place.
This was not true as much as 10 or 12 years ago. A dramatic change has taken place.
Hitler
During the tribulation, this combination will be a powerful impact on all of humanity. People in the tribulation are going to be intoxicated with
their evil ways. They'll be intoxicated with the false doctrines of the false prophet, and so they will go to their own destruction. I suspect
that the antichrist is going to be big on dramatics. I suspect that he is going to know how to tap into human emotions like Hitler did in Germany.
Have you ever watched some of the old films which were made (on-site documentaries) during the Nazi era, when they would hold their great rallies
at Nuremberg? Have you ever seen the torchlight parade on January 30th, 1933, when Hitler finally became the chancellor of Germany, now in the
position of power he was looking for so long, and to see this enormous line of his Stormtroopers with the torches overhead? That's pageantry.
When they'd hold the rallies at Nuremberg, thousands of men were holding this banner with the swastika on it, as far as the eye could see, and
then marching in step with the thump on the pavement, and singing the military songs. That was pageantry.
It was no wonder that you would see the streets lined with people who were in a frenzy of euphoria, cheering and screaming. Hitler knew how to
raise the masses to an excited level. I bet you the antichrist is going to do the same thing. He's going to be big on pageantry. He's going to
rebuild a magnificent city in Babylon, and people will be in awe of him. Therefore, they will be eager to subject themselves to him, and to
tolerate the grossest evils, just as the people of Germany unbelievably would tolerate the grossest of evils done by the government, not the least
of which was the persecution of the Jews. The antichrist is going to do exactly that.
Ancient Babylon's religion, in all of its heritage, of course, is preserved for us today in the Roman Catholic Church, which is guilty of the
spiritual adultery of mystery Babylon. Mystery Babylon was the religion of ancient Babylon, begun by Nimrod. "Mystery" meant that it was secret.
Like in Masonry, you didn't get to know what the secrets were until you were brought in. Then, when you got in, you discovered, as you do in
Masonry, the gross evils and the satanic bases and concepts that are involved in the system.
A society which is set free from the restraints of God's built-in moral laws is its worst enemy, and that society cannot survive?
Let's go back in history. Babylon is going to fall. How could this kind of a system come into being in the first place? There were men at that time
who knew God. There were men associated with people like Noah. People heard God speak. People knew Adam, who lived for almost 1,000 years, and they
kept passing on the information of his personal contact with God. How could such men have turned their backs upon that? How could Adam's own son do
that? He reared two boys with the same influence, in the same home, with the same instruction – Cain and Abel. Yet, he found that one turns
into a rebel against God, while the other is in humble subjection to that God.
Adam
Turn to Genesis 4:17. The first man was Adam.
Cain
Here in Genesis 4:17, we have the line of the descendants of Cain (Adam' son): "And Cain had
relations with his wife, and she conceived." This wife that Cain had was the daughter of Adam, which was one of Cain's sisters. At this point in
human history, it was not forbidden for you to marry a close relative. When the dispensation of the Jews was established later, this was forbidden
as it is to this day. This is now considered, by divine edict, a serious sexual sin to marry your sister or your brother.
Leviticus 18:6ff spelled out the divine prohibition against this. But at this point in time, at the beginning (the dawn) of human history was not
prohibited for you to marry a sister. So, Cain's wife is one of his sisters. That's always one of the cute attacks upon the Bible: "How could Cain
have a wife? There were no girls but his sisters. That's right.
Enoch
So, Cain married his sister, and she conceived. They had a son, and his name was Enoch. "Enoch" means "consecration." Isn't that an interesting
name? Consecration. We think of the word as being consecrated to the Creator God. But this man was not walking with God, as did the Enoch of the
Seth line. Don't get this man confused with the "Enoch" in the line of Seth. This is Cain's Enoch, and there was a dramatic difference between the
two. But the Enoch of Cain was a godless man, and he was consecrated not to God, but to promoting the unbeliever's way of life in this city, which
his father had built and named after him. Cain built a city and named it "Enoch," and it was a city of great sin. And Enoch was very prominent in
that sin. So, Cain and his descendants could enter into this sin as an indulgence of the old sin nature.
Irad
Verse 18: "Now to Enoch was born Irad (the fourth in line from Adam), and "Irad" means "townsman." This word connotes somebody who is in the know;
sophisticated; and, worldly wise. We would call him a wheeler-dealer. People who don't have any use for God are not stupid. They are intelligent.
They have great abilities. And here these people are: beginning the line of civilization; building the kingdom of man upon this earth; and, turning
their backs upon God. They've learned their lesson well from their father, Cain. He has taught them, "Forget all this bunko baloney about God and
about sacrificing your life for some future blessing on the other side after death. Go for all the gusto you can get now." It was Cain who invented
and who first put together that phrase: "You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can." I think that it was Cain who said that
the first time. In any case, this was the lifestyle of his descendants.
Mehujael
Irad was a man about town. Irad became the father of Mehujael. "Mehujael" means "smitten of God." Do you see the "el" part in his name? That's the
Hebrew for "God." This name does not refer to the true god, but to the god of his own religion that Satan has put in the place of the worship of the
true God. This is the principle that Paul enunciated to Timothy. In 2 Timothy 3:5, Paul said, "Holding to a form of godliness, although they have
denied its power, avoid such men as these." These men have such a form of godliness that they even named their sons with a god name on the end of it.
And it means someone who is smitten of God. Well, these were the God of their own idols that they created.
Methushael
Verse 18 also says, "That Mehujael became the father of Methushael. You should write these names down. Those of you who may have sons, this may come
in useful for you in the future. These are very unusual names. You won't get your kid mixed up with somebody else in school if you give names like
this – that's for sure. Well, "Methushael" is also kind of an interesting word. Again, you see the "el" at the end, the God term. This name
means "man of God." I mean, these are gutsy people. Have you ever noticed how the people of the world who are irreligious, who don't give a Fig
Newton about God – they're very bold in their religious beliefs in what they think about God.
Have you ever heard of a guy named Donahue? There is Methushael, if you ever heard of one. He is very confident that he is a man of God. Well, this
is just a religious person. Methushael, I can assure you, rejected the Lord Jesus Christ – the promise of the future Messiah of Genesis 3:15.
To belong to God, and really to be a man of God, one has to accept Christ as Savior. Acts 4:12 and Acts 16:31 tells us that. This is one thing that
this man did not do.
Lamech
Now Methushael had a son, and his name was Lamech. "Lamech" means "powerful" or "energetic one." Lamech broke the law of monogamy. Lamech broke the
rules one wife to one man, and he had two wives. He had a wife named Adah. We read about her in Genesis 4:20-21. And she bore two children: Jubal;
and, Jabal. These were the two children by Adah. Then Lamech had another wife. Her name was Zillah. In verse 22, she gave birth to a son, Tubal-cain,
and to a daughter, Naamah. "Tubal-cain" means "metalsmith, and he was the forger of all implements of bronze and iron.
These people are developing a culture and developing skills. These are these are people of great technological competency. And Tubal-cain had a
sister named Naamah, which meant "graceful beauty pleasure."
Seth
Going through these generations, we've come down seven generations from Adam to Lamech. On the other side, Seth was born to replace the murdered
Abel. And in Genesis 5:3, we have the development of this line: "When Adam had 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness,
according to his image, and named him Seth." That tells us that Seth was born with a sin nature. Seth was born just like the nature of his father,
Adam, who was a sinner by nature, and the child was now a sinner by nature. Had Adam and Eve not sinned, and had a child, that child would have
been born sinless just as they were.
Now, Seth comes along, and the name "Seth" means "substitution" in the Hebrew. This was very understandable because Genesis 4:25 explicitly says
that he was the replacement for the dead Abel. So, God didn't allow Satan to have his way – to cut off the line of the promised Savior that
was given in Genesis 3:15. Abel was to be the line through which the Savior came. Satan got him killed, and he thought that he finished that off.
But God gave another child who became the head of that line – Seth.
Enosh
This godly line of descent runs parallel to the ungodly line of Cain. Seth had a son, and his name was Enos in Genesis 4:26: "And to Seth, to him
also a son was born. He called his name Enosh. "Enosh" means "moral" or "weakness," which is stressing the fact that you need some help from the
grace of God to make it as a human being.
It was interesting that Seth, the godly man, called his son Enosh to remind the boy that he needed the grace of God. He couldn't make it on his own.
They weren't doing that over on the Cain side. The Cain side was building the culture that eventually was going to become the Babylonian system. The
Seth side was building the culture that is going to become the millennial system of the Kingdom of God on this earth. So, this stressed the
dependence on God's grace.
Kenan
In Genesis 5:9, we're told that Enosh lived 90 years, and then he became the father of Kenan. "Kenan" means "deplorable." That's a terrible thing
to call your son: "Come over here, Deplorable." These people named their children, in part, by what they thought their kids would be, but also to
teach them a lesson. Why would they call them deplorable? Well, again, it was to remind him what his true condition is without God. Without God,
you're deplorable. I'm sick and tired of Elizabeth Taylor being called one of the beautiful people. I'm sick and tired of the Kennedy family being
described as America's royal family. America's royal family is sitting right here in this room. The beautiful people are here, and they are the
beautiful people because Liz is not here. And they are the royal family because the Kennedy family is are not here. This Cain line is all balled
up in its outlook, but it's headed right for Babylon.
Mahalalel
The Seth line, who knows God, and who knows doctrine, knows how to have a perspective for themselves and their children. In Genesis 5:12, we're
told that Keenan live for 70 years, and he became the father of Mahalalel. Here is the "el" this boy's name. "Mahalalel" means "praise of God." Here
it expressed the true purpose of life – to reflect the glory of God, the principle of Ephesians 1:12, bringing glory to God. This boy was
named to be reminded that he is to be a praise to God.
Jared
Genesis 5:15 says that Mahalalel lived 65 years, and at 65, he had a son, and his name was Jared. "Jared" means "descent" – one who had
descended. It is simply identifying him as the descendant of the line of Seth.
Enoch
In Genesis 5:18, Jared had a son: "And Jared lived 162 years, and then he became the father of Enoch. Enoch is one person that you know a great
deal of. Notice the contrast to the vile Enoch over on the Cain side. Here's a boy with the same name, but what a difference in this son. This is
the Enoch who grew up to be 365 years of age, and then something dramatic happened to him that had never happened to anybody in the human race
before, because Enoch was one of those gems of a boy who grew up to be a noble man that was just the apple of God's eye. He was just after God's
own heart: "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." God just said, "Enoch, you're such a terrific man. I want you in heaven right
now." He didn't even bother letting Enoch die. He was just a kid – 365 years old. But God said, "Come on up, Enoch. I want you up here with
Me. I need you to help Me in heaven." And He took him alive, like Elijah was to do later. So, what an experience that was!
Methuselah
However, before Enoch was taken to heaven, he had a son. In Genesis 5:21, we read, "Enoch lived 65 years, and he became the father of Methuselah."
That's a man that we know a little more about. And there's the "el" again in his name. "Methuselah" means something interesting. This has kind of
a long meaning. "Methuselah means, "When he is dead, it shall be sent." Just contracting it, his name meant "dead sent." What in the world could
that mean? What it was predicting was the end of the pre-flood civilization. Methuselah was God's sign point. Every time people looked at
Methuselah, as long as he was alive, the grace of God was still in force. You still had a chance to go to heaven. While Methuselah walked the earth,
they still had a chance. But once Methuselah was dead, "It shall be sent," and what the "it" refers to was the Noahic flood fled, when all of
mankind except eight were destroyed. That's why when, the week before the flood, suddenly Methuselah, the oldest man that ever lived, suddenly died,
and the signal was given that the flood was going to come. Verse 27: "All the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died." And when he died, the
signal was given that God's judgment was about to come.
Lamech
Methuselah had also had a son, and his name was Lamech.
Noah
Genesis 5:28-29 tell us that Lamech lived 182 years and he became the father of a son, and he called his name Noah, saying, "This one shall give us
rest from our work, and from toil of our hands, arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed. Noah was also marked for a great destiny, and his
father knew it. So, Lamech had the son Noah, and he called him rest, quiet, and comfort, because by this time, the world was a zoo. It was a jungle.
As you know, you read the description of that pre-flood world, and it was violence; it was hatred; it was murder; and, it was sexual immorality run
rampant. The whole human race was self-destructing. The Bible says that every thought that crossed the human mind had to do with something dirty,
vile, and evil. There was no ennobling thinking in the race of humanity. And anybody who was godly, as this line was, was persecuted. You know what
it is like to have to be in a workplace where you live with somebody who is always pouring out foul curse words, or somebody who thinks it's cute to
tell dirty stories, or somebody who's doing something that is just morally degrading before you.
Well, the people of God wanted to rest from this. They were fed up with it. Somehow God told Lamech, "This boy Noah is going to put the earth to
rest." And, boy, did he ever do it? I think Noah called his ark "rest in peace." That would have been and appropriate name, except they couldn't
have. But he put the earth to rest. That was for sure.
Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Noah was to be a blessing to his father, and also to mankind as a whole. Noah, as you know, had three sons: Shem; Ham; and, Japheth. They were the
ones who went on the ark with him. Genesis 5:32: Noah was 500 years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These three sons then
became the three patriarchs from which all the streams of humanity have since come down. All of us are associated with one of these.
The culture of the antediluvian civilization was made up of many impressive believers and unbelievers. That was what I was trying to show you in the
previous session. People who live in those days were very skilled. They knew a lot. They were doing exactly what God said: "Find out how the
creation works that I made, and turn it to your blessing and your use." So, they had many outstanding believers and unbelievers. From a human
viewpoint, this civilization had achieved an impressive record of adapting to the curse which God had put upon the earth. We're told in Genesis 4:17
that cities were founded. Man had prospered in material possessions. He had advanced in culture.
We're told in Genesis 4:20 that they moved out from the fields, and started living in tents, and eventually in houses. Genesis 4:20 tells us that
herds of livestock were developed so that they were no longer roamers and gatherers. A low level of culture is a people who roams from place to
place, eating what they can off the fields, and finding food that is growing on trees. When a culture begins to develop, they begin to have a stable
livestock. They begin planting fields. They begin to have a stable source of food, and they settle down.
Genesis 4:21, interestingly enough, tells us that there was a great advancement in the arts and in entertainment: "His brother's name was Jubal. He
was the father of all those who play the liar and the pipe."
In Genesis 4:22, we're told that Tubal-cain, the child of Zillah, was skilled in metalworking, and no doubt, this skill was being taught to others.
So, along with livestock came agriculture for a stable society, and people began using the world around them.
The moral condition, however, steadily deteriorated. We're heading for Babylon after the flood. Man's inventions and discoveries led only to pride
and to self-sufficiency. And the more he invented, the less concerned he had about God. The better his life became, the less concern he had for God.
Under the guise of enlightenment, the old sin nature increasingly indulged itself in violating the moral code of God. So, humanity became steadily
corrupt. The more money they had, the worse they became. The better their living conditions were, the worse they became. More and more, what God
had taught them of doctrine no longer occupy their minds. They were too sophisticated for that kind of thinking.
The divine institution of marriage came under attack. Genesis 4:19 tells us that Lamech of the line of Cain took two wives. This then became the
common practice. In Genesis 4:23-24, we're showed how cheap life became. Here we have recorded the second murder that is recorded for us in the
Bible. Genesis 4:23: "Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, 'Listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech.'" Now, he has just done something, and
in your Bibles, verse 23 is a poem. He sat down and wrote a poem to commemorate what he did. And he says, "Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice.
You wives of Lamech give heed to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me, and a boy for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then
Lamech 77-fold."
Lamech, the bigamist, bragged to his wives about murdering a man who had some injury. He was a younger man than himself, so he was proud that he
could beat up on somebody like that, even though the man was younger and stronger. His conscience justified the act in some way, and he wrote a
poem to commemorate it. He said, "If Cain was to be justified sevenfold in any vengeance, he was going to be justified 77-fold.
So, where did all of this lead? It led to Genesis 6:11: "Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence."
God's estimate of Cain's civilization was that it was totally vile.
Verse 12 says, "God looked upon the earth. Behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their ways upon the earth." Isn't this is a contrast
here between the seventh from Adam and the seventh from Seth? Lamech is boasting about his act of murder, over against the seventh in the line of
Seth from Adam, Enoch, whom God took such pride in that He took him to heaven alive? That's the stark contrast between a cultured, advanced society
with positive thinking, and the culture which has godly believers who are immersed in doctrine. Which of the two are really smart?
The death of the descendants of Cain are not mentioned, but the death of Seth is noted. Cain's line was spiritually dead, so they're under the
divine condemnation. John 3:36 said, "They're under the wrath of God."
I think it's interesting that the Bible makes no observation that these people died. It was like, "Oh, yeah, my dog died. Somebody killed my frog.
They're just dead. They're just pieces of dead meat, because they were not born again. Their lives were filled with works that were of no value to
God. This is just as people in the tribulation, when they stand before the great white throne, are going to find what their lives amounted to –
those unbelievers.
So, this line of Cain, and all the similar people to this day are just marking time in God's eyes on this earth, waiting for their judgment in hell.
And their deaths are not even noted by God.
However, Seth's line was redeeming the time. They were using their lives in the service of God. Therefore, when one of these people died, it marks
his age, and then it observes that he died. Why? Psalm 116:15 tells us: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones." In the
sight of God, the death of one of His own godly ones is a precious thing. The death of the unbelievers was not a precious thing.
So, all the human race must legitimately ask itself: how stand you this day, in terms of your death, in the evaluation of God? Were you to die as
an unbeliever, it would be like some animal dying. Were you to die as a believer, your death is a precious thing in the sight of God. Why? Because
He's going to have you in heaven with Him, and He's looking forward to that. Are you?
Dr. John E. Danish, 1992
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