This lesson is compatible with the "Enoch, Noah, and Babel" Flash-A-Cards from Abeka Books.
Scripture References: Genesis 5:18-24; Hebrews 11:5-6
Cain was feeling angry. He always seemed to be angry lately. First, his brother’s sacrifice was accepted by God, and now he was punished by God for killing Abel! God had spoken to him after he killed Abel. “Where is your brother?” God asked. (We know God already knew what happened, but God was giving Cain a chance to tell the truth and ask forgiveness.)
Cain angrily replied “I don’t know where he is! Am I in charge of him? How should I know?”
Cain was speaking with God, the one who created the mountains, and hung the stars in space! And Cain lied to him! And what’s more, Cain was speaking without reverence. That means he didn’t have any respect for God. We must always have reverence for God. He made us. He is perfect. We are sinners! God deserves every bit of our respect!
God had given Cain a chance to tell the truth, but Cain lied, saying he didn’t know where Abel was. God knew, though. God said, “I hear the blood of your brother cry out to me from the ground.” God was saying he knew exactly what happened, and where it happened. “Now, Cain, you are cursed just as the Earth is cursed. When you try to plant vegetables, nothing will grow. You won’t be able to plant fruits, either. You will be a fugitive, a man without a home.”
Cain said “God, this punishment is too much to bear! I will be a fugitive, and have no home, and I will not have your protection, so anyone who finds me will kill me!” Cain wanted God to protect him, but he did not want a relationship with God. We are often guilty of the same thing. We want things from God, but we don’t want to spend time with Him.
“I will put a mark on you, and anyone who kills you will be punished seven times more than you have been punished.” Said God.
Isn’t God GOOD?! Even though Cain didn’t deserve any mercy, God was still merciful to him. He made a way for Cain to be protected from his family, who might have killed him for murdering Abel. He was still giving Cain a chance to do right. I personally don’t think Cain ever did right, and obeyed God in making the correct sacrifice. The Bible doesn’t mention it. So, if that is true, Cain did not get to go to heaven when he died. How very sad, to know God, but not to serve and love Him. How sad do you think it made God? I think it made Him very sad. God loves each one of us so very much and wants a relationship with all of us. That is exactly why Jesus, God the Son, came to die for our sins. When we accept Him, we can have a relationship with God. And it is WONDERFUL!
Cain moved to a different place that his parents and had children of his own.
Adam and Even had another son, after the death of Abel. His name was Seth! Eve called him Seth because she said God gave her a son to replace Abel. I’m sure Adam and Eve hoped Seth would love God, as Abel had loved God.
When Seth was born, Adam was 130 years old! After Seth was born, Adam and Eve had many more sons and daughters. He lived to be 930 years old! How many children do you think he and Eve could have in that time? LOTS! We don’t know exactly how many kids they had, but it was a lot. By the time some kids were grown up, there was a new baby on the way!
Seth had kids of his own, too! Many of them. He had a son named Enos, and Enos had a son named Cainan. Cainan had a son named Mahalaleel, who had a son named Jared. Jared had a son named Enoch.
Enoch learned about God from his family. He might have heard his father Jared speak about God. He might have heard his great grandfather, Mahalaleel speak about God, because he was still alive. He might have even heard his great, great grandfather, Cainan speak about God. In fact, his great, great, great grandfather Enos, and his great, great, great, great grandfather tell Adam and Eve’s story. In fact, he could have even heard Adam himself talk about how God created everything, and how God sent he and Eve away from the garden because of their sin! Adam was still alive when Enoch was born and was growing up. Adam was 687 years old when Enoch had his own first child, Methuselah!
I can imagine the day Methuselah was born. “Enoch, you must tell Methuselah all about the way God made everything. Teach him how much God love him. Teach him how we are sinners, but that God will send someone to save us some day.” Adam might have said.
So, Enoch did just that. He taught his children about God. He prayed to God. He made the correct sacrifices to God for his sins. Can anyone remember what the correct sacrifice was? An animal with blood. Without the spilling of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Enoch had faith that God was going to send someone someday to shed their blood for our sins. It wouldn’t happen for thousands of years, but God would keep His promise. Who was the promised one? Jesus!
The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the life of Enoch, other than the fact that he had Methuselah when he was 65 years old, and then he had more sons and daughters. Enoch lived to be 365-year-old. That wasn’t very old for that time. Remember how old Adam was when he died? Over 900! Enoch was very special, though. Enoch didn’t die! God had a special purpose for Enoch. God took Enoch to heaven to live with Him there. Enoch didn’t die! Everyone else died back then. And everyone else dies today. But God took Enoch to heaven. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:5 that Enoch pleased God. He made God happy. Any everyone on earth knew that Enoch lived a life that pleased God. Not many people were praying to God anymore. They didn’t have any respect for Him. They had stopped making sacrifices for their sins. But Enoch prayed. He sacrificed. He pleased God by having faith that Jesus would one day die for him. Enoch pleased God.
Last week we learned a verse “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently see him.”
The verse just before this one in the Bible says, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Now add “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently see him.”
We know that to please God, we must have faith in God. We must believe God exists, and we must believe God sent His Son to die for our sins. When we believe and accept Jesus, God rewards us with forgiveness of sins! We don’t deserve it, but God rewards us with it anyway.
Have you ever gotten a reward for playing a sport, even though your team didn’t win? Or did you get a certificate in school, even though you know you didn’t really deserve it? This is exactly like forgiveness of sins. We don’t deserve it. We won’t ever deserve it. No matter how good we think we are. We are still sinners. And sin separates us from God. But God gives us forgiveness anyway. Not because we deserve it, but because we have faith in Jesus!
This is so wonderful of God! This is such a beautiful thing! I’m so glad we can have the reward of forgiveness of sins. Let’s pray and thank God for such a great gift!