Chuck Larsen

Between the fall and the flood, there are three passages that reveal to us the actual anticipation of the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3:15 regarding the coming of the seed of the woman that would save them from their sin and be victorious over the serpent. First, it’s in Eve’s exclamation at the birth of her first son. Most translations say something like, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” But most of that phrase is added by translators. As Arnold Fruchtenbaum points out, the literal rendering of the Hebrew phrase should be “I have gotten a man: Jehovah” (Genesis 4:1). She was expecting Cain to be their deliverer.  Imagine her disappointment in her son!

In Genesis 5:21, the Righteous Enoch (the one who walked with God) named his son Methuselah. The name has been understood to mean that when he dies, “it” will refer to the flood. But it appears that a few generations later, Lamech, the father of Noah, misunderstood the prophecy to refer to his son Noah. Fruchtenbaum argues, “Lamech hopes that Noah, meaning ‘comfort,’ will be the longed-for Messiah. From the ages and years given in Genesis 5, Lamech was 56 years old when Adam died. Lamech would therefore have been given a clear firsthand account of all that happened in the Garden of Eden and all the words that God had spoken.” Lamech’s words at Noah’s birth make this clear: “(Lamech) called his name Noah, saying, ‘Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and the painful toil of our hands” (Genesis 5:29). He expected Noah to be the great deliverer. Like Eve. He was wrong.

In Genesis 6:1-4, we read about “sons of God” cohabitating with women and producing the Nephilim creatures. I believe they are fallen, angels. Peter and Jesus’ brother Jude both refer to them during the time of Noah as angels who left their domains. The prophecy talks to us of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, Satan. Let me rest on the comments of Arnold Fruchtenbaum (a Messianic Jew). Arnold writes, “In order to try to corrupt the Seed of the Woman, at Satan’s command, fallen evil angels, ‘the sons of God,’ intermarry with human women, foreshadowing the supernatural conception of the Antichrist… The results of these marriages were grotesque creatures—the Nephilim. It was the appearance of these diabolic creatures which brought the judgment of the flood upon the earth. By means of this flood God destroyed all the Nephilim and preserved a line through which Messiah would be born.”

When God created us, male and female, He created us in His own image.  Genesis 1:26 makes this clear: “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” He took dirt and formed our bodies. Now God’s image isn’t to be found in our bodies. Instead it’s to be found in our spirits. Both the Hebrew and Greek words for spirit are also translated as wind or breath.  In Genesis 2:7 we read, “…the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

One way to determine if a body still has life is to check to see if the person is breathing.  If you and I can fog a mirror we’re still alive. If we were deprived of air we wouldn’t last very long. Breathing, breath, is a gift from God and a constant reminder of our dependence on Him.  Try holding your breath and you will soon find that air-hunger becomes painful after only a minute or even less. We will die in just a few minutes unless our “breath” supply is restored.  But there is more to real life than this physical existence. God never intended for mankind to die. Death became part of our experience when Adam sinned.  God warned Adam that if they chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, death would become part of their experience. They would no longer enjoy the real “life” God had intended. Death would be the shadow that would color all the days of their physical existence. So it is today!

As I’ve wrestled with this passage in Genesis, John 20:21-22 came to mind. It reads, “Jesus said to them again, ‘As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”  Whereas the breath of life, physical breathing, is something everyone needs to survive, Jesus gives us something that is more than just physical life. He breathes out “holy breath.”  In John 10:10, Jesus said he came, not just to give us life, but to give us life to the fullest extent possible. Jesus was not promising just a better human life. He was offering to give us the very life of God, the eternal, indestructible, incorruptible, divine life. This is the life that is in God Himself.  In John 5:26, we read, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” It is the kind of life that’s not limited in quality or quantity! It’s the way back into the graces of the God who made us. Jesus offers access to everyone. In John 14:6, He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Genesis tells us that the earth was “tohu vabohu.” That’s Hebrew for “Formless and Void.” But then God spoke and brought order out of Chaos.  First, He created the categories by separating one from another. He made divisions between the waters above, the waters below, the sky, the dry ground, the seas, and the land.  Even though there were distinctions between space, time, and matter, the distinctions needed content. They were empty. They were void of anything meaningful. So God filled each with content. He put planets and stars in space along with the sun and moon.  He put birds in the sky, fish in the sea, and plants and animals on the dry ground.  He did this so that each life form in each arena would reproduce itself with the intent of filling the whole earth. In Genesis 1:11, God said,  “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.

This creative process of God, His Word, brought meaning to space. It brought meaning to the skies; it brought meaning to the seas; it brought meaning to dry ground. Further, God created man to manage it all and to recognize and understand the purpose of life. Indeed the voids were all filled. Man had dominion over it all. But man’s meaning was not found in the fullness of the earth! Man’s purpose was found in the fullness of His communion with the God who created it all. He shared the joys of life with the God who made Him. Male and Female, God created them to have an intimate relationship with Him. When man broke that communion through sin, life’s meaning, purpose, and significance was lost. Chaos reigned again in creation, and man was lost and alone. But He was left with a promise that one day the seed of the woman would come forth and bring meaning back to life.

Then God sent Jesus!  He fills the voids once again and gives meaning and purpose to our lives once more by receiving the judgment for our rebellion on the cross. He restores our intimate connection with God, and things matter once again.  God’s Word can once again fill the voids of lives.  Look at all these verses. John 2:1-12 – Jesus fills our empty lives with joy…Luke 5:1-11 Jesus fills our empty nets…John 4:7-42 – Jesus fills our life with living water… John 6:1-14 – Jesus fills our hungry souls…John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”