95. A Tale of Two Families: Genesis 4-5

G' day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Dave here.

Do you know there are lots of things you can try to do in two different ways?

For example, you can jump out of a plane in two different ways.

You can jump with a parachute or without a parachute.

One of those ways is very wise and possibly very fun.

The other way is very, very silly.

You can look at a shark's teeth in two ways.

You can go to a museum and look at the teeth of a shark that died 100 years ago.

Or you can find a live shark and stick your head inside its mouth while telling it to stay very still.

One of those ways is interesting and informative.

The other way is very, very silly.

You can do a Saturday morning in two ways.

One way is to wake up very early, quietly clean the kitchen, tidy a room, and make a yummy breakfast for the grown ups in the house, keeping it warm until they wake up.

The other way is to wake up very early, charge into your grown up's room, jump up and down on their bed, and ask them what fun thing you're going to do today.

One of those ways is kind and loving.

And the other way might mean I get lots of angry emails from the grown ups.

There are also two ways to live your life.

You can live your life trusting and following God, or you can try to live your life without God in charge.

In today's story, two families choose two very different ways and it leads to two very different results.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

The very first humans, Adam and Eve had two ways they could go.

They could trust God and have life forever, or they could ignore God and die.

They chose the wrong way.

Their very first son had two ways he could go.

He could trust God and work to do what's right, or he could ignore God and kill his brother.

He chose the wrong way.

At the end of our last episode, he had to go wandering for the rest of his life, cursed by God because of his evil.

Now he's going to have a family of his own.

Which way will they go?

Will they trust God or will they ignore him?

Genesis 4:17 says this.

Cain had intimate relations with his wife.

She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

At that time, Cain was building a city.

He named it after his son, Enoch.

Hmm.

Why is Cain building a city?

He's meant to be wandering the earth.

A city is where people stop wandering and settle down.

Is he ignoring God again?

Well, as time goes on, his son has a son who has a Son.

I suspect a lot of their names may sound a bit strange to us.

I wonder if you can spell them.

Remember, Cain's first son is Enoch.

And let me read what happens after Enoch from verse 18.

Enoch had a son named Irad.

Irad had a son named Mehujael.

Mehujael had a son named Methushael.

And Methushael had a son named Lamech.

Hmm, I don't know any Methushael's around today.

But what's happening in this family?

Which way are they living?

God's way or the wrong way?

We're not given much detail until we get to the last name on the list.

Lamech.

He's the seventh generation from Adam.

Generations are like.

Grandparents are one generation, parents are the next generation, kids are the next generation.

Lamech is in the seventh generation.

Now we get to hear about some of the choices he makes.

The first choice we hear about is not good.

Lamech takes two wives for himself at the same time.

This is a disaster.

God made marriage to happen between one man and one woman at a time.

That's the best way for them to be husband and wife.

But Lamech doesn't really care about his wife, he's just greedy for more.

So he takes two wives.

Their names are Ada and Zillah.

Soon both women give birth to children.

And those children do some pretty amazing things.

We're told in verse 20, Adah gave birth to Jabal.

He was the first person to live in tents and raise cattle.

Not many people live in tents when they're raising cattle anymore, but it used to happen a lot.

And if you've seen lots of people do it, you'd probably have a pretty good idea how to do it.

But this guy Jabal was the first ever man to work it out.

That's pretty impressive.

His brother Jubal is also pretty impressive.

He's the first ever person to play the harp and the flute.

The harp is a stringed instrument before they ever had guitars.

This guy actually invented those first instruments.

Well, Zilla also has a son.

He's called Tubal Cain.

And he works out how to make tools out of bronze and iron.

Just think next time you pick up a metal fork or a screwdriver or a nail.

There were times when none of them existed.

And this guy Tubal Cain worked out how to make metal tools for the first time time.

Tubal Cain also has a sister called Naama.

Now it seems like this family is doing lots of good stuff.

Unfortunately, just because you can invent cool stuff, it doesn't mean you're living the right way.

Lots of people think our society is really good because we have things like cars and mobile phones and computers and chocolate bars.

But you can have all that and still be evil, still be living the wrong way.

And that's exactly what Lamech, the father of all these creative guys, is doing.

He thinks he has the right to kill whoever he wants.

He thinks he doesn't need God to look after him.

He thinks he can do better than God.

One day he comes home and yells out to his wives these words in verse 23.

Ada and Zilla, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.

Listen to what I say.

I killed a man for wounding me.

I killed a young man for hitting me.

Cain's killer may be punished seven times.

Then Lamech's killer will be punished 77 times.

Oh, no.

Do you remember that God said, if anyone hurts Cain, God will punish him seven times over?

Well, now Lamech thinks he can do heaps better than that.

Better than God.

He can punish someone 77 times.

He's such a nasty, evil man, just like Cain.

He reckons he can kill someone just because they made him angry.

It seems like this family has gone completely the wrong way.

Way.

But then we're told about another family.

I mean, they all come from Adam and Eve, but this new family comes from a new son of Adam and eve.

In verse 25, we're told Adam had intimate relations with his wife Eve again, and she gave birth to a son.

She named him Seth.

Eve said, God has given me another child.

He will take the place of Abel, who was killed by Cain.

Seth also had a son.

They named him Enosh.

At that time, people began to pray to the Lord.

How wonderful for God to give them a new son.

And as this new son's family grows, something wonderful happens.

The people begin to pray to the Lord.

Suddenly people are saying, we need God.

We can't live without God.

We can't be like Cain and Lamech.

This family has chosen a different, better way.

And so now we're told about the first seven generations of this family.

The family that's gone a different way.

They all get to live very long lives.

No one today lives as long as these guys did.

But eventually they die.

Even though they've chosen a better way, they still sin and they still die.

As I read it out to you, though, I want you to listen really carefully, because when we reach the seventh generation, the same generation as evil Lamech, something amazing happens.

See if you can pick it up.

And as we go join in with the words.

If you hear the pattern.

Here we go from chapter five, verse one.

This is the family history of Adam.

When God created human beings, he made them in God's likeness.

He created them male and female, and on that day, he blessed them and named them human beings.

When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of another son.

He was in the likeness and image of Adam.

Adam named him Seth.

After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Adam lived a total of 930 years.

Then he died.

When Seth was 105 years old, Adam, he had a son named Enosh.

After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 years.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Seth lived a total of 912 years.

Then he died.

When Enosh was 90 years old, he had a son named Kenan.

After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 years.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Enosh lived a total of 905 years.

Then he died.

When Kenan was 70 years old, he had a son named Mahalalel.

After Mahalalel was born, Keinan lived 840 years.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Keinan lived a total of 910 years.

Then he died.

When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he had a son named Jared.

After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 years.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years.

Then he died.

When Jared was 162 years old, he had a son named Enoch.

After Enoch was born, Jared lived 800 years.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Jared lived a total of 962 years.

Then he died.

When Enoch was 65 years old, he had a son named Methuselah.

After Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God 300 years more.

During that time, he had other sons and daughters.

So Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

Enoch walked with God.

One day, Enoch could not be found because God took him.

Hang on.

Wait just a second.

Where's the bit about him dying?

It's not there.

It just says one day, Enoch could not be found because God took him.

Which means Enoch didn't die.

God took him straight to heaven.

Far out Brussels sprout.

Imagine someone never dying.

And did you hear the other really important thing we learn about Enoch?

We're told that Enoch walked With God.

I don't think that just means they went for a lovely afternoon stroll together.

It means that Enoch lived for God.

He loved and obeyed and glorified God.

He trusted God.

It doesn't mean he was perfect, but he even trusted God to deal with his sin.

He's in the seventh generation, just like evil Lamech.

But how different is he to Lamech?

Lamech and Enoch show us two different ways to live.

One with God and one against God.

To live with God brings joy and life.

To go against God leads to more and more evil.

That doesn't mean if you trust God, you'll never die at all.

Like Enoch, I think God was showing us that if you stick with him, he'll help you beat death, which he does through the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's why Jesus said in John 11:25 these words, he says, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will have life even if he dies.

And in another place, in John's Gospel, we're told the two ways to live really clearly.

In John 3.

36, we're told, he who believes in the Son, that's Jesus.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life.

But he who does not obey the Son will never have that life.

God's anger stays with him.

I hope you choose the best way to live, the only way to have life forever, by trusting Jesus.

But you know it's not just you who needs to choose that way.

It's everyone else as well.

Is there someone you know who's living the way that leads away from God, away from Jesus?

Perhaps you could tell them about the much better way, the way that leads to life forever with God.

Back in Genesis, the family that chose the right way keeps growing until a very special child is born.

His father says about him, this boy will comfort us from the pain of our work.

The pain is because God has cursed the ground.

The name of the boy who will bring comfort is Noah.

But that's a story for next time.

Thanks everyone for listening.

Don't forget, you can download colouring sheets from the website for this episode, or you can make your own picture.

You can use paint or Lego or sand or whatever.

Send it to me@daveaithfulgod.net I'd love to see your work.

If you'd like me to come and speak to kids or adults at an event or training.

I always love talking about Jesus face to face.

Just head to the contact page@faithfulgod.net and send me a message.

For now, keep trusting Jesus and we'll talk again soon.