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The First Family And Their Ancestors

Understanding that man is a created being and that he did not simply evolve through evolutionary process is extremely important and much is being done in our time to discredit the biblical account of creation. Much is being done to dismiss the accountable responsibility of man to a Supreme Creator who places moral and righteous standards of conduct on the object of His creation.

The biblical account of the creation of man, though perplexing to some and rejected by others, is really quite simple. When we accept the biblical account our lives begin to take on a quality of simplicity that allows us to begin living a life of faith that not only pleases our Creator but also helps us to place priority on the most important things that concern living lives that are at best temporal as long as we are in these natural bodies.

Genesis 1:26-27 says, "Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

THE FIRST FAMILY WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

What does it mean that man was created in the image of God?

It means:

1. Man was created a spiritual being capable of immortality.

2. Man was created a moral being bearing God's moral likeness.

3. Man was created an intellectual being with the capacity for reason and rulership.

George Herbert Livingston, B.D., PhD., in his commentary on Genesis says,

"One mark of the image was God's grant to man of the status and power of a ruler. Mans right to 'have dominion' points to the fact that God equipped him to act as a ruler. Fitness to rule implies an adequate intellectual capacity to reason, to organize, to plan, and to evaluate. Fitness to rule implies an adequate emotional capacity to desire the highest welfare of the subjects, to appreciate and to honor that which is good and true and beautiful, to dislike and to repudiate that which is cruel, false, and ugly, to have a deep concern for the well-being of all nature, and to love the God who created him. Fitness to rule implies an adequate volitional capacity to choose to do at all times that which is right, to obey God's command positively and quickly, to surrender gladly all powers to God in joyous worship, and to participate in wholesome fellowship with both nature and God." (1)

One of the erroneous doctrines that's being perpetrated upon people is the idea that men are "little gods". Benny Hinn, of notable fame in our day, Paul Crouch of TBN fame, and significant influencial others associated with the "Word of Faith Movement" have gone far in elevating man well above the status that he was created in. While it is not my intention to "flame" these treachers, although others have labeled them as "false teachers", it is my intention to point out that we are created beings and not little gods.

"Man was to be 'in our likeness', having general similarity to God but not being an exact duplicate. He was not to be a little God, but definitely he was to be related to God and was to be the bearer of spiritual distinctives which mark him as uniquely higher than the animals." (2)

Adam and Eve were purely perfect in their creation and placed in an enviroment that was purely perfect in its creation.

What follows in the history of creation seems indeed tragic considering the results of sin in that pristine state. The objective of this lesson though, rather than focusing on the fall of man, is to follow the lineage of Adam and see, not only the natural ancestry but also the spiritual relationship that links certain chosen men of God in ancient days to one another as an integral part of God's plan to bring about His pre-ordained will that is summed up in the words of Revelation 13:8 that says, "And all who dwell upon the earth (during the time of the Great Tribulation) will worhip him (the beast), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

It's important for us to understand that God is not having to work to get "one up" on Lucifer. Nor is He having to look for ways to get back into the "earth realm" or to enter into an "earth lease" as Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Price, Charles Capps and others of our fallen day teach. To intimate such would more than imply that God was not, is not, or ever will be Sovereign Lord.

The Scriptures, where this issue is concerned, plainly declares in Psalm 24:1, "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein."

Before God ever said, "Let there be" or "Let us make", His plan and purpose in creating man and His plan for the redemption of fallen man were already settled eternally in heaven.

Because of their disobedience, the first family found themselves evicted from the estate that God has prepared for them to live in. Not long after their eviction from the Garden of Eden the biblical account records the birth of their first two sons - Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2) - and we see the jealousy and hatred that grew in the heart of Cain, jealousy and hatred that was rooted in the fact that Abel was respectful of the principle of "blood sacrifice" for sins that was established by God in the Garden. (Genesis 3:21)

Abel was righteous. Cain was unrighteous. Abel's sacrifice was one that pointed to the grace of God for forgiveness of sins through the offering of a blood sacrifice (Genesis 3:15, 3:21, John 1:29). Cain's sacrifice was merely an offering of his own works neglecting the necessity of a blood sacrifice which called for repentance on the part of the offerer. God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's. For this, Cain killed his brother and found himself cursed by God and living away from the presence of God and giving rise to descendants who were ungodly and pagan. (Genesis 4:8-16)

Adam and Eve were blessed with a third son and named him Seth. (Genesis 4:25) Seth became the father of Enosh and the descendents of Seth were people who had a heart for God. (Genesis 4:26)

It's important for us to see what's taking place in this account.

Disobedience in the Garden of Eden didn't destroy the knowledge of God. But because of sin entering into the world, the offspring of Adam and Eve were dramatically affected by it. So much so that Cain chose sin and disobedience as a way of life while Abel chose repentance and obedience. Seth's descendents also recognized the necessity to "call upon the name of the Lord."

It's also important for us to see that, in all of the biblical account, only those people whose family lineage is traced back to Seth, are ever called of the Lord to perpetuate God's righteous nature.

Here's some examples of this.

Enoch, is a descendant of Seth. (Genesis 5:24)

Noah is a descendant of Seth. (Genesis 5:29)

Shem is a descendant of Seth through Noah. (Genesis 9:18)

Terah is a descendant of Seth through Shem and became the father of Abram (Abraham). Genesis 11:26.

Isaac is a descendant of Seth through Abraham. (Genesis 21:3)

Jacob is a descendant of Seth through Isaac. (Genesis 25:19-26) Where Isaac is concerned it's also important to see that Isaac's mother, Rebekah is also a descendant of Seth. (Genesis 24)

David is a descendent of Seth and his lineage can be traced through Abraham. (Matthew 1:1-6)

Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, is a descendant of Seth and his lineage can be traced through Abraham. (Matthew 1:1-16)

At first glance, some of the most boring reading in the Bible is the chronologies and lists. But these are included in the Bible for a very real and distinct purpose. They are included to show us that God's plan is not one that's taking place arbitrarily. They are included to show us how God's will and plan are taking place in an orchestrated and calculated fashion. When we see the Sovereign hand of God at work in the world we are drawn into a place of deeper trust and commitment.

None of us want to follow a leader who has no plan. God has a plan and He's taken the time to show us His plan. God is working His plan and the consummation of His plan for man is imminently on the immediate horizon.

So how do we fit into God's scheme of things. All of us aren't able to trace our family lineage to Seth naturally. Noah had two other sons also. Ham and Japheth and their spiritual regress was one of ungodliness and pagan idolotry. (Genesis 10:1-20)

Our conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ places us in the lineage of the holy and chosen ones called by God - regardless of our natural lineage.

Galatians 3:26-29 tells us, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Paul, writing to the Romans, natural descendants of Japheth and the lineage the Anti-Christ, Gog and Magog, says in Romans 8:12-17, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors - not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (Carnality is evidence of the Cainish nature and also that of Ham and Japheth) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out 'Abba, Father'. The Spirit Himself bears withness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

I want to conclude this study on the first family and their ancestors by saying that Abel was hated by his brother because of his right standing with God through the blood sacrifice.

Throughout history it is blaringly obvious that the people of God in right standing with Him have always been hated by those whose hearts are set on doing unrighteousness and ungodliness. One of the great temptations of God's people in all ages has been to compromise, accomodate, and facilitate the ways of the ungodly in an attempt to co-exist with those who exalt their Cainish ways.

It just doesn't work out well when we do. There is a definite difference in those whose hearts are set on following God and those whose hearts are set on following sinful disobedience. We are only deceiving ourselves if we think we can sleep with an untamed lion without being eaten.

(2) P. Heinisch, Theology of the Old Testament, trans. by W.G. Heidt, (Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1955), p.170.

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