dancing skeleton

Satan, in his effort to make the coming of a Savior impossible, corrupted mankind to the point that the flood became necessary.

.....................................Noah, who knew God, was spared and his family. He preserved the true faith in Jehovah and handed it to his sons.

We traced the working of the God's grace
......from the time He gave man the promise of a Savior
......to the time of the flood, as He preserved a righteous line thru which the Redeemer could come.

We have seen that after man died spiritually,
..............his need for a Mediator,
....................................Righteousness and
....................................Eternal Life,
......could only be met by a Savior, God's Son.

We haven't understood God's working toward the coming Savior and the destruction of mankind by the flood has been hard for us to understand also.

.........................Seeing that man's need could only be met by a coming Savior, we can see why the flood was necessary.

If God was to keep a righteous line on the earth and
a knowledge of Himself;
He would have to destroy the human race and
continue the line that He would have the
Redeemer come....which would be through Moses.

It seemed as if Satan had won in his efforts to destroy the line of righteousness, but God's purpose was not going to be stopped.

..........It was a small matter for Him to bring an end to the human race in its corrupt condition.

..............................Genesis 6:11-13
"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

If man had been left in that evil condition, after Noah's death, the knowledge of God would have been completely lost.

.............................................The Righteous line would have been destroyed and the coming of a Savior would have been impossible.

Satan had destroyed the knowledge of God in the heart of man.

......The thought of every man's heart was evil continually.

............Only Noah knew and walked with the true God.

.............................Genesis 6:8-9
"8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."

In Genesis chapter 6, Satan is again working to prevent God's purpose.

.............He causes the line of Cain to marry into the righteous line.

.............................This corrupts the line in which the Redeemer will come to the extent that only Noah is left in the worship of the Covenant of God.

................................Genesis 6:5
"And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the heart was evil continually."

The seventh in line of Seth was Enoch, a man who had a testimony that he pleased God and was translated. Read Genesis 5:6-24

...................................Hebrews 11:5
"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."

The seventh in line from Adam through Cain was Lamech. He was a polygamist, murderer, and a worshipper of the god of forces.

Read Genesis 4:16-24

Genesis 4:26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

.....................'Lord' is in capital letters indicating that the original is Jehovah, the Covenant name of God.

...............................................Those who believed and had hope in His promise knew and loved that name!

There is a noticable distinction between the Cainites and the Sethites [the Righteous line].

..........The Cainites built cities, invented arts and devised amusements to justify the curse of sin.
Genesis 4:21-22

......The Sethites walked with God. ...Genesis 4:26

When we read chapter four of Genesis, we will notice two things.

..........................................After seeing Cain murdering his brother Abel, the result of his life is traced for just a little ways and ends in Lamech who was also a nurderer. Genesis 4:17-23

............................Then we are shown another man. The third son born to Adam and Eve, named Seth.
Genesis 4:24

.............In this line came Noah, Shem, Abraham, Jacob and then Jesus Himself.

.....This shows us God's working now with this line.

Jesus the coming Savior!

Genesis 5 gives us the genealogy of Noah.

..............God is preserving a line through which the Redeemer shall come.

.....He is working toward the coming Redeemer of man.

.........Satan works to destroy the righteous line.

The history of Israel shows the efforts Satan made directly toward
..........the seed of Abraham,
..........then to the seed of David and
..........then his bitter hatred and persecution of Jesus Christ, born of the Mary.

Isaiah 7:14 makes the coming of a Redeemer even more specific.

........."Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call His Name Immanuel."

.............................God said 'the virgin' just as though He had pointed her out. An individual is specified.

Psalm 89:3
"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah."

..........................Here he is called the "seed of David." He shall come from the family of David. ....A specific family.

In Genesis 12:7
" And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him."

.............Now God has gotten a little more specific. The promised Redeemer is said to be "the seed of Abraham".

In Genesis 3:15
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

........................Here the mention of a coming Redeemer or Savior called the seed of the woman is a very general term.

Later, God makes the promise of the Redeemer more specific.

..................................Then Satan's working of the destruction of the righteous line named by God becomes more specific.

The only promise given so far in reference to the coming Savior was very general.

..............So Satan's war against the seed of the woman was general.

1 John 4:11

As the generations go by, Spiritual Death is at work in man's life, causing him to be separated from God and his mind blinded. Ephesians 4:17-18

........................ Satan is trying to get man, the seed of the woman so far from God that He will never be able to send a Redeemer through mankind.

Seth was born to Adam and Eve.

....................Eve seemed to realize that through Abel a righteouse line had existed and had been destroyed.

She felt that Seth had been given to fulfill Abel's place.

..........She named him Seth, which means 'substitute' and said, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, for Cain slew him." Genesis 4:25

Abel had witness borne to him that he was righteous by offering a sacrifice in faith according to the revelation that God had given to him.

..........................Hebrews 11:4
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh"

Satan's first attempt to go after God's plan for man, was to get Cain to kill Abel.

....................Satan didn't know but what Abel would be man's Redeemer, so he destroyed his life. By doing this he did destroy the righteous line that existed.

Read Genesis 4:1-15

Satan worked to spoil the purpose of God by
trying to destroy the knowledge of God on the earth,
and destroy a Righteous line of mankind.

...............Doing this he will make it impossible for a Redeemer to ever come through man.

He wants to separate man from God permanently!

Satan thought that crucifixion would destroy Jesus Christ's life.

.........He didn't know that it was the way of man's Redemption.

..............But Satan must have realized that a Redeemer was coming who would break his dominion over man, because he tried to destroy the plan of God. He must of figured that if Jesus died that would end God's plan.

We don't know if Satan really realized God's plan for man's Redemption that man was given in the promised Redeemer.

..........We do know that Satan didn't fully understand it or he wouldn't have crucified Him.

....................1 Corinthians 2:8
"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."