Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Female): Are you one of those people who thinks the genealogies in the Bible are boring? Well, you may change your mind after you hear today's edition of Messianic Perspectives.

This is Messianic Perspectives, where we look into the Scriptures from a distinctly Messianic point of view. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is leading our Bible study with the ten Gentile patriarchs who lived before the flood. If you have your Bible handy, we invite you to turn to Genesis chapter 5 and join in. I'll be back at the close of the program with news about a special offer. Now with today's message, here's Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you and welcome, listening friends, to another edition of the program. We're talking about the significance of Bible names, and we said God often used a person's name to reveal aspects of his background, character, or destiny. In the case of the genealogy of Genesis chapter 5, God used the names of these ten Gentile patriarchs to reveal in a most amazing way his wonderful plan of salvation by grace. What we're going to find when we get into this remarkable chapter is that God revealed in capsule form his plan of redemption thousands of years before Messiah Jesus was ever born.

You say, why do you call these patriarchs Gentiles? I thought all these major Old Testament characters were Jewish? No, they weren't. This was before Abraham was ever born. There were no Jews or Hebrews. It was before Jacob was born, so there were no Israelites at this time. There were only Gentiles. Adam, the first man, wasn't Jewish; he was a Gentile. Noah, who saved the human race from destruction through the building of an ark, wasn't Jewish; he was a Gentile.

Let's look at it here in Genesis chapter 5 beginning in verse 1. If you have a Bible handy, follow along with me. It says, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him." Verse 2: "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created." So it all starts with Adam.

Then it says Adam begat Seth (verse 3). Then Seth begat Enos (verse 6). Enos begat Cainan (verse 9). Cainan begat Mahalaleel (verse 12). Mahalaleel begat Jared (verse 15). Jared begat Enoch (verse 18). Enoch begat Methuselah (verse 21). Methuselah begat Lamech (verse 25). And Lamech begat Noah (verse 28). Those are the ten Gentile patriarchs of the human race, spanning nine generations from Adam to Noah.

By the way, the ancient rabbis did not count Adam as a generation because he was created, not born. So there are ten patriarchs, but in Jewish reckoning, only nine generations from Adam to Noah. Now you might say, "I don't like all these begats. I think they're boring." There are a lot of people who would agree with you. But let me tell you something: there are some powerful truths recessed in these Old Testament genealogies.

You know, the Bible says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. All Scripture. And that includes these boring begats. It includes the Old Testament genealogies, and we're going to find something rather astonishing as we go through this list of ten patriarchs here in Genesis chapter 5. We're going to find that when we place these ten Hebrew names in sequence, they form a message. A message that, when properly understood, becomes the earliest explicit statement of the gospel in the entire Bible.

Now, let's begin. Patriarch number one is Adam, the first man. You say, "Do you really believe Adam was the first man created by the hand of God?" Yes, I do. In fact, there is no other way to read the first three chapters of Genesis without doing extreme violence to the text. This is not an epic, or a legend, or an allegory. It's history. In the opening chapters of Genesis, the Holy Spirit is revealing through Moses how God created the world and everything in it, including man.

You say, state-of-the-art science says we evolved over millions and millions of years. Yeah, and it was only a few hundred years ago that state-of-the-art science said the Earth was flat. Let me tell you something, my friend: there is a sense in which the first verse of Genesis is the most important verse in the entire Bible because your attitude toward the first verse of Genesis will determine whether you are a believer or an unbeliever. It's as simple as that.

What you think of this verse, where it says, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth"—what you do with that verse will determine your attitude toward the rest of the Bible. If I can believe this simple statement, "In the beginning God created" (in Hebrew it's Bereshit Bara Elohim), if I can believe this simple statement, then I shall have no difficulty with the rest of Scripture.

Are you still with me? If God, who always was before the beginning, could create out of nothing but himself the whole universe—the earth and the heavens, from the tiny atom to the greatest red giant star in the universe, millions of light-years from Earth—if I can believe that, then surely I will not doubt that a God who could create the universe by simply speaking a word could also turn water into blood, part the Red Sea, rain manna from heaven, walk on the water, raise the dead, cast out demons, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, make the sun stand still, and raise the dead.

But now listen to me. Once you reject the first five words of Scripture ("In the beginning God created"), which are just three words in the original Hebrew—once you reject those first three words, you cannot believe anything else in the Bible. How can you take a book seriously that starts out in its first three words with an erroneous statement? No wonder these opening chapters of Genesis have been so furiously assailed by the critics because they know when the book of Genesis falls, the rest of the Bible comes crumbling down with it.

Listen, Genesis lays the foundation for the whole revelation in the book of God. It contains an authoritative answer for the human race concerning matters of everlasting import: the being of God, the origin of the universe, the creation of man, the origin of the soul, the introduction of sin, the promise of salvation, the division of the human race, the outcalling of Israel, and the outworking of God's redemptive plan.

So when the Bible says Adam was the first man and Eve was the first woman, we believe it. In Hebrew, God called the first man ha-adam. Genesis 2:19: "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam." And brought them el-ha-adam—brought them to the man—to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. So ha-adam means "the man." That's what Adam's name means. He's a man.

Adam comes from a Hebrew root which means literally "to show blood in the face," suggesting one of two things. The first possibility is that Adam was a man of color with a ruddy or red complexion. Or secondly, Adam could refer to the act of blushing, which is uniquely human, and in which case Adam would have had a light complexion. In either case, the meaning is the same. Adam identifies Adam as uniquely human, distinct from the rest of the creation. Adam was created in the image of God. That's patriarch number one here in Genesis 5: Adam.

Now, patriarch number two is Seth, who was Adam's third son. Look at Genesis chapter 5, verse 3. It says, "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." In Hebrew, it's only two letters: Shin and Tav. Shet in Hebrew. You say, "Why does it list Adam's third son?" Simply because the first son, Abel, was killed by the second son, who was Cain. Abel was dead, and Cain was exiled for killing him. That eliminated the first two sons.

So God sent a third son to fulfill the Messianic promise. In fact, when you read here in Genesis 4:25, it sounds like Eve had expected Abel to be the promised Messiah. Remember, in Genesis 3:15, God had prophesied that a future seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." That was the Messianic promise: the promise of a coming deliverer who would vanquish the devil once and for all.

I believe Adam and Eve understood far more about the Messianic promise than most of us give them credit for. Listen to this. Genesis 4:25: "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God," said she, "hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." You see, God had prophesied that the Messiah would be the seed of the woman. Eve thought Abel was the seed. So when Cain killed Abel, she must have wondered whether or not the Messianic plan was still on track.

Then God gave her a third son, Seth, and she said, "God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel." Well, as it turned out, Seth was not the Messiah, but he did become a descendant of the Messiah. The line of Seth became the Messianic line through which Jesus Christ was born. That's what the word Seth means. It means "to set up" or "appoint." Seth was appointed by God to carry on the Messianic line. That's why Eve said, "God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel."

So that established two main genealogical lines: the godly line of Seth and the ungodly line of Cain. It's interesting that if you start with these two brothers, Seth and Cain, and count forward seven generations, what do you have? The seventh generation from Cain is a man named Lamech, whom the Bible tells us was a murderer, just like his ancestor Cain. The seventh generation from Seth is a man named Enoch, who was not only an ancestor of the Messiah but also was raptured and became a wonderful Old Testament type of the church of Jesus Christ.

Those are the first two patriarchs: Adam and Seth—Adam and Shet. The first part of the message here in Genesis chapter 5 is: Man is appointed. Adam is man; Shet is appointed. Well, that's all we have time for today. We'll continue unraveling this message in Genesis chapter 5 on the next program. Until then, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you, take care, bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in to Messianic Perspectives. It was good to have you with us today, and if you're one of our newer listeners, we hope you'll make our program a part of your daily routine. If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you'll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on one compact disc. The title is simply What's in a Name?, and it's available for your gift this week of just $6.

Or if you prefer to have it in printed form, you can order the pamphlet. The pamphlet includes a helpful chart with the Hebrew names of the ten Gentile patriarchs. It shows how those names together form a remarkable acrostic that may be the first mention of the plan of salvation in your entire Bible. Again, the title of the pamphlet is What's in a Name?, and it's available for your contribution of any amount to help us keep this program on your radio station.

Just visit our online store at messianicspecialties.com. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. As always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too.

This is Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series on What's in a Name? right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the freewill contributions of our listeners in this area.