The Promise Marches On

October 18, 2012

Genesis 4:26“When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.“

The Bible is, ultimately, one Book. Like a good book, we must read the beginning to understand the middle and end. This truth applies to individual chapters as well. To understand Genesis 4:26, we must understand what precedes it.

Genesis 3:15 states, “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,…and between your offspring(“your seed”), and her offspring(“her seed”),.He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."(and Satan will seek to harm her offspring but Eves sees will ultimately prevail, a bruise to the head would be a crushing blow.):

Based on these verses, we should expect to find many accounts in Scripture describing attacks of Satan on the seed of the woman.

The first such attack arrived quickly. Adam and Eve had two children

Genesis 4:1-2Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, "With the Lord's help, I have produced a man!"Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.

one was righteous– Abel

Matthew 23:35As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time-from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar.

the other was a child of Satan ├ö├ç├┤ Cain…1 John 3:10-15So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. So don't be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.

Though death was promised as a punishment for sin (Genesis 2:17), the first death was not from natural causes; Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:8). Clearly, Satan was trying to destroy the righteous seed of the woman.

Did God’s promise fail? This chapter’s closing verses gave the answer: “She bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son . . . then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.” Satan’s plan was foiled; God granted righteous seed.

God’s promises will never be thwarted. What a cause for rejoicing!