Category Archives: Genesis

Two Types of Religion

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Genesis 4:1-8 – Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Many years ago, I heard a Bible teacher describe the following five contrasts between the religion of Abel and the religion of Cain.

(1) Abel’s religion was based on divine revelation – According to Heb. 11:4, Abel’s offering was given in faith, and according to Rom. 10:17, the way faith comes is through the means of hearing the word of God.
Cain rejected divine revelation.

(2) Abel acknowledged the need for a substitutionary sacrifice.
Cain denied the need for a substitutionary sacrifice.

(3) Abel received supernatural attestation – it was clear to both brothers that Abel’s offering was accepted by God (through what means we are not told).
Cain received no supernatural attestation.

(4) Abel’s religion produced a martyr.
Cain’s religion produced a murderer.

(5) Abel’s religion will bring forth the bride.
Cain’s religion will bring forth the harlot.
Since the dawn of time, the greatest enemy of the true Church has always been the false Church. This will always be the case until the return of Jesus (Rev 17:6 – And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus)

FIVE FURTHER CONTRASTS
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Genesis in the 21st Century

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If, like me, you believe the Bible to be the (theopneustos – God breathed) word of God, then you believe some fairly amazing things – things that just sound incredible to so many in our generation.

Take the book of Genesis for example. If you believe Genesis to be the word of God, as I also do, then you are in some good company. The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men…” Rom. 5:12.

Jesus also seemed to be convinced that Genesis was literal history. Matthew 19:3-6: 3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH ‘? 6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

If you believe that Genesis is literal history, then think about the ramifications of this in the 21st century. You believe that some guy by eating a piece of fruit in some garden, thousands of years ago, thousands of miles away, is the cause of all the suffering experienced in this world. Do we realize how this sounds to our sophisticated, technologically advanced society around us? It not only sounds quite ridiculous but it seems to indicate a total over-reaction on God’s part! God plunged the entire human race and in fact, all of creation, into a dramatic and terrible corruption. Every human being and every animal experiences death now. Creation itself longs to be released from the dreadful penalty of Adam’s sin (see Romans 8:19-22).

Well, either we believe a ridiculous notion here, or else, we have not in any way understood the serious nature of sin. Sin is cosmic treason! Sin is an assault on the unblemished and infinitely holy character of God. God obviously felt He had every right to punish sin in the severe way He did. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), not because God is mean and nasty, but because sin deserves this kind of punishment. And this is not just true of sin in general, but every sin in particular. Every one of my sins deserve this, as does yours. And if for one moment we think the punishment is extreme, I think it is because we have never fully grasped the sheer and utter magnitude of the glory and holiness of God.

If we start with the holiness of God.. and then begin to view sin and its consequences in the light of it, then all begins to make sense. What should amaze us is not that God punishes sin severely. That’s just a manifestation of justice. No, what should amaze us is that God sent His Son into the world to redeem rebels that have not only committed high treason against Him, but loved the fact that they did so. We loved the darkness rather than the light. We were dead in trespasses and sins, and but for the grace of God, would have loved our sin until we were eternally punished for it in a place of torment with no possibility of parole, a place called hell.

Next time you might be tempted to think God has been severe in His dealings with sin, let it remind you instead of just how serious God is about His holiness, and just how serious we should be about it.

What must amaze the angels is not the fact that sin is punished. They know this all too well. No, what must amaze them is that even one sinner will be found around the throne of God in eternity, rejoicing in the Lamb who was slain for him, who purchased his redemption. No fallen angel will ever be numbered amongst the redeemed. Yet, there will not be just have one sinner singing the song of redemption in the heavenly throng, but such a number that no man can count, out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation (Rev. 7:9; 5:9). Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The End of Racism

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Question: How many “races” are there in the world?

What is the Answer?: One? Four? Six? More than six?

And where the rubber meets the road…

“What if a Chinese person were to marry a Polynesian, or an African with black skin were to marry a Japanese, or a person from India were to marry a person from America with white skin—would these marriages be in accord with biblical principles? A significant number of Christians would claim that such “interracial” marriages directly violate God’s principles in the Bible and should not be allowed. Does the Word of God really condemn the marriages mentioned above? Is there ultimately any such thing as interracial marriage?

In an article in the Journal of Counseling and Development, 12 researchers argued that the term “race” is basically so meaningless that it should be discarded. More recently, those working on mapping the human genome announced “that they had put together a draft of the entire sequence of the human genome, and the researchers had unanimously declared, there is only one race—the human race.”

Personally, because of the influences of Darwinian evolution and the resulting prejudices, I believe everyone (and especially Christians) should abandon the term “race(s).” We could refer instead to the different “people groups” around the world…

The Bible does not even use the word race in reference to people, but it does describe all human beings as being of “one blood” (Acts 17:26). This of course emphasizes that we are all related, as all humans are descendants of the first man, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), who was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). The Last Adam, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45) also became a descendant of Adam. Any descendant of Adam can be saved because our mutual relative by blood (Jesus Christ) died and rose again. This is why the gospel can (and should) be preached to all tribes and nations…

If one wants to use the term “interracial,” then the real interracial marriage that God says we should not enter into is when a child of the Last Adam (one who is a new creation in Christ—a Christian) marries one who is an unconverted child of the First Adam (one who is dead in trespasses and sin—a non-Christian).”

Properly understood (as Ken Ham explains in the video below), the Biblical account of our origins found in the book of Genesis provides the basis for the end of all racism. I encourage everyone to read this article here and to watch the following video. Both contain great insight.