በኮቪድ-19 እና በዓለም አቀፉ የመላላኪያ አገልግሎት መዛባት ምክንያት ‹ነጻ የታተመ መጽሐፍ አገልግሎታችንን› ለጊዜው አቋርጠናል፡፡
በዚህ ሁኔታ ምክንያት በዚህ ጊዜ መጽሐፎቻችንን ለእናንተ መላክ አንችልም፡፡
ይህ ወረርሽኝ በቅርቡ እንዲያበቃና የፖስታ አገልግሎት እንዲጀምር ጸልዩ፡፡
ይህ ወረርሽኝ በቅርቡ እንዲያበቃና የፖስታ አገልግሎት እንዲጀምር ጸልዩ፡፡
Subject 18 : GENESIS
[Chapter 4-14] Let’s Not Become the Descendants of Cain (Genesis 4:16-24)
(Genesis 4:16-24)
“Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah. Then Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’”
People Who Departed from God
Today’s Scripture passage tells us what the consequences are for the people who have departed from God. How have people who have departed from God lived in this world? Firstly it is written that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord God and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden, and he had a son there and built a city named Enoch. Cain faced the end of his life after living in the city he built. The consequence of his leaving God was that he became a wanderer. It says that God set a mark on Cain before he His left His presence. Genesis chapter 4:15 states, God did this “lest anyone finding him should kill him.” God set a mark of salvation on Cain so no one might kill him, but Cain left the Lord God regardless. The Scriptures tells us that the most treacherous sin is to leave God, who is doing everything to save him even to the very last moment.
Cain left God and dwelt in the land of Nod. The name ‘Nod’ means to wander and this implies that Cain died after living a life of a wanderer in this vain world. God’s Church is a place where people who have received a mark from Him dwell. It says that Cain did not dwell in God’s Church and he was eventually cursed after living a life of a wanderer. It also means that God’s people who have left His Church live without any meaning and roam about aimlessly here and there everywhere. They are not unable to fix their hearts in any one place and continue to roam from place to place. Through Genesis chapter 4, God tells us how a person who has left God lives and shows us the course and consequence of such a life. Where did Cain wander about after leaving God? It is none other than the world outside of Christ. To put it another way, it means that Cain left God’s Church and lived a life that belongs to this world.
Having departed from God, Cain had a child of his own flesh and named this child Enoch. Cain also built a city with walls around it and named that place, Enoch. In most modern societies these days, we can only see cities composed of skyscrapers or apartment complexes or residential areas of family homes and they no longer build a city walls. Walls may seem foreign to you. But they built walls with stones in ancient times. It was their sole objective to build these high walls with stones to defend against themselves against enemy invasion. High walls normally surround an impregnable fort, and are only able to enter the city only through castle gates. Because Cain built a castle city shows Cain’s state of severance from God, and also he became isolated from God and continuously lived only for the desires of his own flesh until he died. And that was the most treacherous act before the presence of God.
Therefore our hearts, our thoughts and our behaviors must always be open before God. We must listen to what God is saying to us and have the will to accept it into our hearts. Are you prepared to receive God’s Word into your heart? What I am really asking is whether your heart is ready to say, “Yes, I will” whenever God tells us something. We must always have our hearts open towards God, accept the Word He gives into our hearts, and always live with faith by holding fast onto His Word.
We must be mindful of this even when we are serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit. When ministers have meetings together, we must know how to go along with faith and unity when an appropriate conclusion has been reached. But God’s righteousness cannot be fulfilled if a person is unable to unite with the decision of the Church by not overcoming his own fleshly thinking and just persisting with his stubbornness. There is a regional dialect in Kangwon Province in our country Korea, and they often say “Sure, of course” to give consent. It’s a very good way of consenting to say “Sure, of course” with faith to what the leader is saying.
It is difficult to live spiritually when one has built a fleshly castle before God. Usually, people who have left God build a castle of their own flesh. They say, “I will live like this.” Ultimately, such people end up building their respective castles of their own flesh. Did Adam and Eve live with their castle built around them? No, they did not build a castle wall. Even though they had sinned, they received salvation from all their sins through the faith in believing in God’s Word and lived in unity with God. They lived with God’s special protection within God’s blessings. In the Scriptures, Cain was the first person to build a city wall. No one can live apart from God, but Cain did so from the depth of his stubborn heart. And he also built the castle wall of his flesh to protect himself on his own. Do you think it is difficult to build a castle wall of his flesh to live therein, or don’t you? It is very difficult. Cain left God and built his own castle and lived therein with his children. How did his children turn out to be? They all became people who stood against God.
Why Do People Live Separate from God?
Genesis chapter 4 speaks about how Cain’s descendants lived and established civilization afterwards. But before we move on from this issue, I would like to ponder more on the account that Cain left God. And we must consider whether or not we have built our own castle before the presence of God. We are building our own castles before the presence of God when we think, “I will live in this way. I will follow the Lord, but I will do so at a reasonable distance. What I really mean is I will follow the Lord with my own style, and not in a way the Lord requires from me.” If you do that you are certainly entering onto a road of death. Cain built his own castle because he left God, but he would not have needed to build his own castle if he did not leave God; he would not have the need to devise his life by his own strength because God would have helped him.
It says that Cain departed from God and built his own castle and city. Likewise, even the saints and God’s workers would have to build their own castles of the flesh if they try to live for themselves apart from God’s Church. They have to work diligently to get the materials needed to live for themselves and have good relationships with worldly people to get along in this world, and give lots of effort to keep good relationships with them. Before being born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, did you not also live in this world while building a castle of flesh around you? Believing in your own strength and putting emphasis on human relationships is really building your own castle of flesh. But what kind of results did it reap? You have diligently built a castle for yourself, but did not this castle eventually collapse around you. A trusted friend or a truly dependable colleague betrays you, and your lover leaves you when you need their help so desperately. The castle built with one’s own flesh is bound to collapse.
We should understand that anyone who departs from God consequentially builds his own castle. Therefore we should not follow after our own fleshly thinking and we should live with consideration of what aspect of us God is most happy about and also what God wants us to do. That means that we should live with consideration of what God’s will is, and how we should obey God’s will. We must not live with our own standards before the presence of God. God knows all of our thoughts, hearts, and even our future and leads us onto the righteous path. Therefore if we really desire to follow after God, we must deny our fleshly thinking and live with faith of believing in God’s Word, rather than insisting on our fleshly thinking.
We who have been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must live with spiritual faith and not depart from God. We must have faith of believing in God’s Word and not depart from God. If we don’t do this we will for sure depart from God. And we will surely be cursed if we leave God by not believing in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. The curse will be handed down to our descendants from generation to generation as an inheritance due to our departure from God if we were to leave God who is the source of all blessings.
The Origin of Human Civilization
Cain killed his brother Abel and left God. What then is left for him to do? There is only curses and destruction left for him. Cain departed from the presence of God and slept with his wife and had Enoch. Cain inevitably had to marry one of his own sisters. He took one of the females born from Adam and Eve, and in the ancient times, they all married like this. Enoch the son of Cain and Enoch the son of Jaret are really not the same people.
Cain built a castle city after he left God, but it eventually collapsed. We read, “A child was born to Cain in the city he built and his name was Enoch, and to Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.” And it is recorded, “Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah” (Genesis 4:19-22).
What is this passage trying to convey to us? Because Cain left God and built the city for himself and had his own children in that city, means the beginning of human civilization. It says, “Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron.” When people leave God and live in this world in the flesh, they seek to take care of the problem of food, clothing, and shelter as foremost. To have livestock means that they raised livestock and used the raw skin and fur for clothing and tents and used its meat for food. They attempted to resolve the problem of food, clothing, and shelter by raising livestock.
What Do Humans Seek to Solve the Problem of Food, Clothing and Shelter?
It tells us that Jubal was the father of all those who play the harp and flute, and it shows us clearly that people seek after pleasure when the basic needs of food and shelter are taken care of. That’s how the human history unfolded. When humans did not have much to eat and lived poorly, they laid great stress on taking care of the basic needs of food and clothing. However, when humans lived well, they turned their sights to pleasure and absorbed themselves to satisfying themselves with the pleasures of this world. And from another point, they turned their sights to war and killing each other. That’s why the Scriptures recorded these words, “She also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron.”
Do you feel the atmosphere of war like a thick cloud throughout the world these days? Because people essentially have a desire for murder in their hearts (Mark 7:21), they like war. Tacitly people have a wish in their hearts for a war to break out and they feel a surge of joy seeing people limping away after being shot up by their weapons. Because they like war, many people want to wage war when they are called to take part in a war. I wonder if hunting down animals and killing them also comes from the same human nature. Human history has unfolded in that manner.
Genesis chapter 4 tells us how and what people who have departed from God seek after. How do people who have departed from God are eventually destroyed? They are destroyed by war and famine. Firstly they live for the basic needs of food and shelter, and they seek after fleshly pleasures when that basic need is taken care of. To satisfy the fleshly pleasures even more and to have greater possessions, they will turn their eyes to war, the killing fields, which is the development of human history. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of mankind is a history of war. The First and Second World War which occurred last century was not something that just happened. This happened due to the results of the struggle for supremacy among the powerful countries of the world. Is this true or not?
But what happens to humanity in the end? Lamech said this to his wife. In Genesis chapter 4:23-24 is a prophecy about the future of the humanity:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
People are killing each other in this manner, but they think they will not be punished and they believe that they will not receive judgment before the presence of God, so they continue to harbor such evilness. This Scripture passage is telling us that all of humanity will become very evil. People believe that they will not receive judgment even though they have sin. That is the most terrifying evil.
But it is recorded in the Bible, “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” Cain would not have been killed if he had accepted the mark God gave him, and he would have lived freely in the presence of God. But Cain did not believe God’s Word and left God. And as a result his descendants did even greater evil than Cain. The descendants of Cain will always disrespect God’s grace and live by their own strength and eventually receive greater judgment. The hearts of the people become more and more obstinate and refuse to believe in God’s Word, as the Lord said in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on earth?” This is how the history of mankind will end in total destruction. Humanity will face the end as they utterly disrespect God’s people and God’s grace.
The history of mankind may seem great, but the end result of people’s departure from God is very clear. God will burn up all things mankind has built up. When human beings leave God and become utterly evil, they will in the end receive the judgment of God. God is showing us through this Scripture passage how human beings unfold their own tragic history in which they do evil acts which is increasing until they will be utterly destroyed, for the wages of their evilness.
Chapters 4 and 5 of Genesis shows us how people who departed from God lived, also how people lived in God’s grace, and also what the end results were waiting for those who left God. People who leave God do not receive the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. Those who do not receive this genuine gospel are the ones who have departed from God and gone into the world. Not believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is equal to not believing in God. God has perfected the gospel of the water and the Spirit and blotted out all the sins of the entire humanity and sought to unite with us. Therefore from a human standpoint not believing it is to be isolated from God and to dwell in the land of Nod like Cain, no longer believing in God.
And to all of us who cannot help but to sin, God gave us this mark so that we will not be killed, and this mark is likened to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Many people do not receive the gospel of the water and the Spirit that I, the God-given mark of salvation and live as the descendants of Cain. The moment we refuse to receive the gospel of the water and the Spirit which God gave, we become severed from God and our descendants will also cursed. That is why we must live with God’s strength, not our own strength. And we must live with the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And we must hold onto the true faith and not depart from God, and we must always believe in God. We must believe that God is our Father and pray with faith and seek and live with His help.
Although Abel is dead, he was a man of faith. Because he believed in the Truth God gave, he could cry out to the Lord even after being killed. Because “Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground” (Genesis 4:10) means his faith did not die. Abel will be resurrected again and live with God forever, and people like Cain and his descendants who do not believe in the righteousness of God and leave God will be destroyed because they do not believe in the God-given gospel of the water and the Spirit. Today’s Scripture passage tells us that they will not be able to escape from destruction because of doing even more evil.
What is the age we live in now likened to? To what age is this lustful generation heading for? The period of Jubal has passed. This is the period of Tubal-Cain. It is telling us that people who leave God and seek only after fleshly desires live only for the basic needs of food and shelter. When the problem of food, clothing and shelter is taken care of, then they live for the enjoyment of pleasure. And when even that doesn’t satisfy them anymore, they will start to wage war. That’s why nations all over the world are making new technologically advanced mass-killing weapons. They tell us a drop of a particular bomb can kill all the organisms within the perimeter of a 5km range by ripping apart their eardrums. They say that this newest bomb can blow up and kill all animals within a perimeter of 5 km range. It has an incredible explosion results in them dying with there eyes popped out, tongue ripped out, and eardrums blown apart. People make such a terrible bomb and really use them. They tell us that American soldiers used it during the Vietnam War. We are also informed that they will also use this bomb in the Afghanistan War. When a bomb like this is dropped it destroys all oxygen and burns up and kills all animals or anyone in that area. Because all oxygen is sucked up in an instant, people who need oxygen to live are suffocated in an instant and die. People who made this bomb are very pleased with it. Leaders of every country yearn to have weapons like this and do a backdoor deal for them. They pay huge amounts of money to purchase them and then test them by designating some countries to cause a dispute and then carry out the indiscriminate testing of this weapon. It is amazing that they can kill many people with the manipulation of air even though they don’t hit the target directly with a gun or a missile. People who are not yet born again live for such enjoyment. For sinners, harassing others, killing and stepping on other people is more than ordinary fun. We who are born again are not like this, but those who are not yet born again are like this. This is the period of Jubal who plays the harp and flute. But where is this age heading for? It is heading speedily to the period of Tubal-Cain.
Cain represents sinners who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit even though they believe in Jesus. How do these people live? They find a terrible end from following the path of the Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-Cain. They have become as evil as they can possibly be, and they are people who are not yet born again and live in such a period without accepting the God given gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Therefore, we must preach this gospel of the water and the Spirit to them and live totally for the gospel. We will accrue necessary funds by running some businesses and we will use that money to print Christian books for the evangelization of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. These days we are receiving many orders for our free books from all over the world. Many people are showing positive responses after ordering the books and reading them. We must continue to evangelize the gospel of the water and the Spirit for our Lord.
Everything in this universe is the Lord’s and therefore you should not leave God and build your own city. It means that a person must not depart from God. Anyone who accepts and believes the blessings God gives, follows Him with faith and lives with faith is the happiest person; but he will surely be destroyed when he should depart from God. All people of this world have the right to be happy, and the reason why most of them do not enjoy this happiness is because they have left God. God has saved us through the gospel of the water and the Spirit and those who do not depart from Him by believing in this gospel will live happily.
Will you live apart from God’s righteousness? Even though we have shortcomings, we must not depart from God’s righteousness. Regardless of whether one’s shortcomings and weaknesses are revealed, we must not be bound by them, and we must believe in the righteousness of God and do not depart from God’s love. We must never leave God’s Church; but if we do leave God’s Church it will be like leaving God’s righteousness. We must remember that because Cain killed his brother and tried to escape from God, he fell into deeper sin and his descendants were all destroyed.
The Church of God is the place where two or more of the righteous are gathered together. God works through His Church, and those who leave God who have been born again will eventually face their spiritual death. What happened to the people who left God’s Church? They have no presence of mind to think of anything else because they are so busy trying to feed their own family. They would not have to worry about those things if they lived within God’s Church. But now they cannot help themselves but live with all kinds of worries and anxieties of this world. Because Cain built the castle and city means that he lived a life of struggles moving heavy stones and building it with his own strength. One may have some strength in the beginning when one goes out into the world, but soon after a while, he finds that he lacks the strength in himself. When his own strength has expired, he cannot endure this world any longer and then dies. That is what happens to all those who leave God.
You must know how important God’s Church is to you. Can you continue to live out your faith if you leave God’s Church? No, you cannot. I know that you won’t have motives and time like this. How can one offer up a worship service all by himself apart from ‘God’s Church’? If one does not worship God and does not attend meetings, that person will automatically not be able to listen to God’s Word and he will therefore be completely cut off from God. Because Jesus is the Master of God’s Church, to dwell in God’s Church means to dwell in Jesus. Because he became a wanderer due to not believing in the righteousness of Jesus and departed from Him means that he chose a path of destruction all on his own.
These days there are some weird people who deify themselves and tell their followers not to leave them. In the Gospel of John 15:5 Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches,” and “I” here denotes Jesus. But these cult leaders say they are the vine. However the truth is, Jesus is the vine and we who have become God’s children by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are His branches. It means that God has allowed this Church to grow with Jesus as the Head of the Church. When a branch dies and then it is cut off, we the saints will also die when we fall away from God’s Church.
I also remained outside of God’s Church for a while after being born again. At that time, God held me so fast and I was able to keep my faith and preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but it is not easy to live in a place without the Church or fellow saints. Because of this I earnestly pray that God have His special protection over all the saints throughout the world who have been born again after reading our books and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. They can keep their faith when God guards their faith and protects their hearts just like He has held me fast to evangelize the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the world.
If it were not for God’s Church, we would be nothing. We cannot live adequately for even a week without God’s Church. When we cannot attend a true worship service because God’s Church has as yet not been established, our hearts become quickly spoiled. Is that true, or not true? What would happen if we don’t join together in the Church and do the work of serving God? We would soon depart from God and build a castle city like Cain. The castles that people build are nothing to rave about, but they try so hard to build it. No matter how well we build a castle in this world, the enemy comes along and tears it down in one stroke. That is because the castle wall where God does not dwell in together with you is not a formidable one.
You must not leave the gospel of the water and the Spirit and God’s Church. You must remember that Cain is a person who did not believe in the blessing God has given and departed from God. And the end result of Cain’s way was only curses and destruction. Therefore we must never leave God no matter what happens. Whether we live or die, we must live and die in God’s Church and follow Him. We must never depart from God’s Church. Now you and I alike, live with the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the pleasure of preaching and serving that gospel.
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