Sean C. Capparuccia

9 August 2026

Sermon VIII in the Genesis series

Genesis 5; Hebrews 11:5-6; Psalm 90; John 14:1-6

                   How easy it would be to simply gloss over this chapter? I mean, be honest, did anyone find it just a little bit boring, or maybe monotonous, to go through that list of names? We do tend to get bored when we hear the same thing over and over and over, I get that. It’s fairly easy to tune it out. Yet when we do that, we also tune out the important parts, in this case, the names and the ages. I bet some of you got so focused on the repetitive parts that you didn’t meet the people whom we were reading about. And so, I am half tempted to read it to you again!

The chapter begins with these words, “This is the book of the the generations of Adam.” In chapter 2:4 it said, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth…” In chapter 6 we will read, “These are the generations of Noah” (Gen. 6:9); Then, “These are the generations of Noah’s sons” (Gen. 10:1); and finally, “These are the generations of Shem” (Gen. 11:10). The Hebrew word for generations is ‘toledoth.’ In Jewish reckoning, the use of this ‘toledoth’ for the universe as well as for people suggests “that every individual constitutes a whole world.”[1] In other words, to God, you are that important.  And this is why murder is so terrible – a world has been destroyed. In fact, Jesus said of that if you so much as say “raca!” to your brother, you “will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:21-22). Some translate the word “raca” as “you fool” or even “you obstinate fool,” but a more accurate translation today would be dumb *ss, or retard; possibly even idiot.  Because, you see, when you’re called one of those things by someone you love, it kills a part of you inside. Repeatedly, it is tantamount to abuse, and that is what our Lord was driving at. We are destroying a little universe when we abuse and kill each other.  

I will talk about the names in just a moment but there are a few other things that I want to bring out. One of those things is the final verse from chapter 4, “And to Seth a son was born; then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” Chapter 4 was all about Cain and Cain’s descendants, and although we didn’t discuss it much last time, those verses from 19-22talk about the achievements of mankind – architecture, music, metal working, keeping herds, and in the case of Lamech – lechery and murder.

Then the Bible turns our attention to another line of descendants – the line of Seth.  Notice this line is not lauded for the things it achieved, or made, or produced; it is lauded for its unwavering relationship with God, their Creator, and the Giver of the Promise. Through the prophet Jeremiah God said,

“…but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (9:24).

The Apostle Paul quoted this in his first letter to the Corinthians saying,

“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (I Cor. 1:31). 

And so right here from the beginning two kingdoms are being built: the kingdom of men and the kingdom of God. As we said last week, it is either man’s way or it is God’s way, and only one of those two ways is the one that will lead to contentment, peace, and rest, both now and eternally. And though it might be easy to think about this in the context of “us” versus “them,” or the “churched” versus the “unchurched,” I have come to the realization that it is more about what I was versus what I now am. Saved by grace! Even these guys in Genesis 5 were saved by grace; they weren’t saved by being descendants of Seth. Now let’s look at the line of Seth.  

                   The structure of this chapter is quite remarkable. Each person named gets three verses stating:

1. how old he was when his son was born

2. how long he lived after the son was born

3. the total number of years he lived

There are three extra verses put in that are outside the repeating pattern: verses 24 about Enoch, verse 29 about Noah’s name, and verse 32 about Noah’s age.  

Now, obviously the most remarkable thing about this chapter is the ages of these patriarchs, and no doubt their lovely wives lived just as long. If you look on the back of your Psalm insert, you will see a little chart depicting these long ages. Now we cannot say that these were the first sons born or even the only children either, in fact sometimes it says, “and he had other sons and daughters”; this is just the lineage of the ‘godly’ line from Adam to Noah – the line through which the Saviour would eventually come; a fact that Moses, the author, would have had no knowledge, by the way.

I want you to notice first of all that most of them lived contemporary with each other. Adam was Noah’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather (that’s 7 greats!) Now, little Noah never met Adam, but he only missed him by 126 years. In fact, he only missed Pepaw Seth by 14 years. But Noah’s dad, Lamech, knew Adam, in fact, Lamech was 56 when Adam died.

“Grandpa?” 

“Yes, Lamech?” 

“Why is that funny looking thing called a platypus?”

“Well, son, because that’s what I wanted to name it.”[2]

 No, Noah didn’t know Adam, but he did know Grandpa Enosh, Adam’s grandson, who didn’t die until little Noah was only 84 years old. Are you following that? It’s mind-boggling!

Imagine Living With Them!

To put it in a bit of a different perspective, if we were just thinking in terms of the years covered by these generations, it would be like us today having a relationship with grandparents from the 1200’s. [Obviously, we don’t live as long, but imagine having ancestors spanning 800 years living with each other] Every generation from the 13^th century till now would be represented at the Thanksgiving dinner table! Or if we were to think of it strictly in terms of the relationship, the number of “great greats,” it would be similar to having grandpa George Washington over. The oldest ones would be from the Revolutionary War era, and we could all celebrate America 250 and listen to the old-timers say, “you know, in my day, we fought a war over a measly 3% tax! You kids today are a bunch of wimps for putting up with 25% taxes and 82-cent postage stamps!” (I’m just sayin’.)  The point is just how awesome it would be to share stories and actually learn history from great great greats who lived it. Wow.

Another thing we can take away from this is, is that Noah, who alone with his family of seven others, came through the Great Flood having learned the history of the world from the ones who were there. And then this was passed on to the next generations. And, as we will see when we get to the Flood, this is how many ancient civilizations have a Flood story that agrees with the Biblical account in many areas. It’s all pretty amazing, really.

But this chapter tells us that this genealogy is the historical record; it is what happened.  Allow me to digress for just a moment. I recently read an article by one of my former seminary professors who was explaining that we shouldn’t take this chapter literally, what with its long lifespans and or even its order of descendants. According to him, these are just “representative” figures who lived in certain “ages.” In other words, it’s how ignorant ol’ Moses reckoned millions of years from just a few names that had been passed down to him. You know what? Professor ___ may be right, but as of today there is absolutely no proof that it isn’t just as the Scriptures say it is; there is nothing to argue a literal interpretation of this except that others in the academic field might  laugh at him because it isn’t fashionable to believe what Genesis says. It is much more fashionable and legit to interpret God’s word through the lens of humanism; we call it an anthropological theology as opposed to a theological anthropology. God… or man, folks?   

This is the line of Seth. Remember from last week that Abel was killed and Cain was the father of ungodliness. The Promised One who would restore the curse would depend on another offspring of Adam and Eve, and it fell to Seth.  The Bible is a record of salvation history. It is not just the “holy book” of the Jews and the Christians. It is the story, from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, of how God, in His mercy, saves His people from sin and death.

Death came through Adam, and so all people will die physically. But the Savior who has come will save all those who believe in Him from spiritual death. And this chapter bridges the gap from Seth to Noah, who carried God’s Promise through the Flood, which was the re-creation of the earth. 

And again, this is history, not myth. In Matthew’s gospel, he took Jesus’ lineage back to Abraham to show how Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise given to the Jews. Luke takes Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Adam to show that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promise to the world. So, while theologians are arguing over whether this genealogy in Genesis 5 is true, clearly it was accurate enough for Luke and the Christians of the early Church. And let me throw something else out there, too, to think about. Matthew and Luke were looking back through the genealogical record; they were showing us how Jesus Christ was related to Abraham, the father of the Jews, and to Adam, the father of the human race. Moses, who wrote the Pentateuch was writing forward. He was simply telling us the line of descendants[3]; he did not know Jesus nor was he attempting to show how this line of men would produce a Savior. He was simply stating the facts of history.

Imago Dei Obscurata

Verse 3 tells us that Adam “became the father of a son in his own likeness…” This phrase takes us back to Genesis 1:26 when God said, “Let us make man in our image.”  This doesn’t mean that the imago Dei, the image of God, disappeared – all are still made in God’s image – but it does mean that all are also born with Adam’s fallen nature.  Just as Romans 5:12 says, “Since, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned…” and I Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  Thank you, Jesus; no weapon that’s formed against me shall prosper (Is. 54:17), not even death.  We did not lose the image of God completely through Adam’s fault, although it has been greatly obscured.  

Walking with God

But one of the great consequences of that sin was death as we see here in this passage over and over again: “and he died,” “and he died,” “and he died.” I think there are two reasons for this repetition. One is to show us that this person lived, for you can’t die unless you have lived. It’s a pretty short epitaph, but it is proof of life nonetheless. The other reason is to show that the curse of sin is continuing. Death has come upon each of these, and it will visit each of us, too. Yet right there in verse 24 is a break in the dread pattern: “Enoch walked with God; and he was taken up and he was no more.” For some reason, in His abundant mercy, God decided to just take Enoch from the earth without passing through the veil of death. As one person said it, “One day Enoch and God were walking together, and God finally said, ‘You know what, Enoch, we’re closer to My house than yours. Why don’t you just come home with Me?’” Isn’t that a beautiful picture?  (The only other person in Scripture that escaped physical death was Elijah – II Kings 2:11.) We should note that all of the patriarchs mentioned here were living for God, but Enoch especially is an example to us to shun what is evil and run after what is good. Enoch’s life teaches us to “regard God more than men.”[4]^,[5]  Again, God… or man, folks?

 The translation [taking up] of Enoch taught another thing of significance, as we heard from the Gospel of John, and that is, if anyone should be troubled about death, Jesus has assured us that there is a place being prepared for God’s people. All those who walk with God have an abode – ‘mansions in glory’ as many of our old hymns say.

 One other part of this chapter that strikes me as significant is the name given to Methuselah. Now, all the names have a certain significance, but the name of Methuselah sticks out because it is generally accepted as meaning, “when he dies, it shall come.” So, we look at that and think, well, God must have told Enoch something special. When he dies, it shall come.  What shall come?

Well, we know, but they didn’t.  And so we skip ahead to Methuselah’s grandson, Noah, which means, “One who will give rest from our work.”  Next week we will talk about Noah and the coming judgement and then, in two weeks, we’ll discuss the Flood. But, in order for Methuselah to make sense, we have to have a spoiler – “When he dies, it shall come” is most likely a prophecy of the Flood.  It was a prophecy in a name. Remember that Enoch walked very closely with God and perhaps God laid it on his heart to name his son Methuselah.  Well, if that is what it meant, then it is no surprise that Methuselah died just before the Flood happened.  In fact, it is almost as if God, in His longsuffering, was waiting for him to die before sending the devastating rains – and more.

As II Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  As we will see next week, God gave people time to repent, but they didn’t.  God does not take delight in the destruction of people, but He most certainly allows it, that we cannot argue.  Think of it this way: Methuselah, whose death would signal that “something drastic would come,” was the longest living soul in the history of the world. 969 years he lived and every year that he lived was a year that God did not send the Flood. For almost a whole millennium God held off on sending that Flood, giving people time to repent and turn from their wickedness. 

I wonder if it would have been different if people knew what was going to happen?  Well, the answer is “no” because Noah spent hundreds of years preaching and warning people. They didn’t listen.

Is Your Name in the Book of Life?

Death is called “the great equalizer.” It is the part of the journey that everyone must take eventually. And just as each person named here in Genesis 5 is important, each one was a saint of God, an individual made after His image, someone who lived a life and learned from his parents and taught his children, Beloved, so are each of you important. We will soon go out into our cemetery here and record the names of all those laid to rest here. We will see two dates with a dash in between; born, dash, died. And so it will be on each of our stones someday.  The most important thing about us is that dash, though, isn’t it?  And I am just thinking how beautiful it would be, instead of a dash, for it to say, “he walked with the Lord.”

Names Remembered

As people of faith, as a family of faith, we are so blessed to have these names written for us, because these are our ancestors. Who would have known of Enosh, Mahalalel, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, had their names not been written down here? But they aren’t just names written in the Bible or characters that teach a lesson; they were persons. They were babies who grew up and learned how to talk and got spankings for talking back, and learned how to do stuff, and then got wives and jobs and had kids and had problems in their marriages and troubles raising their kids, especially the disobedient ones. They had lives that they lived and, really, apart from the time and place, they weren’t a whole lot different from us: humanity is humanity and is pretty consistent over the ages. Yet here they are, their lives written for us to remember them.  

Who can know who will be remembered generations from now?; whose deeds will change the world and whose name will endure time? We can’t know that. And really it is vain to strive for that. In all probability our names won’t be written in a book that is remembered hundreds of years from now, but there is a book that will be remembered into eternity. What is important is to have your name written in the Book of Life.  That somewhere in the time represented by that dash you gave your heart to Jesus and surrendered your life to Him. The Apostle John, telling us about the New Jerusalem, when all of this is burned away and the Lord God makes all things new, he says,

“nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27).

Beloved, is your name written there?

Next week we will hear about the ungodliness that was spreading over the earth and Noah, the preacher of righteousness (II Peter 2:5) who preached repentance in the midst of it. Billions upon billions of people have lived and died; and each one has had time to repent of his or her sins and live for God. This week I encourage you to spend at least a little time thinking about your life and not only what you have done with it, but what you can do with the  – hopefully – many years you have left. Amen.  

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[1] Dennis Prager, Genesis, 77.

[2] Obviously, the names we have for animals and plants are not what Adam himself named them as he spoke an ancient dialect lost since Babel (unless, of course, it was Hebrew). The names we generally have for things is based on a system of classification developed by Carl Linnaeus, a devout German Protestant Christian in the 1700s. He wrote Systema Naturae in 1735 and, Genera Plantarum in 1737, and Species Plantarum in 1753.

[3] This by oral tradition, for sure, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

[4] Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries vol. 1, Genesis, 230.

[5] Cf., Christian Faith and Doctrine, Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, questions 67-69.