Genesis – “Heaven”
Heaven
Genesis 5
Genesis 4: The stage is set
- There are two types of people:
- Those who know God’s love and seek relationship with him (Abel and Seth)
- Those who don’t understand God’s love and seek to use Him (Cain)
- There are two agendas:
- Satan’s agenda is to discourage, disrupt and destroy God’s agenda for mankind (Cain).
- God’s agenda for mankind always gets restored (Seth).
Genesis 5: The Noteworthy
- Long ages – No reason to suspect the literalness of the ages.
- Genealogy spans more than 1400 years suggesting a relatively young earth.
- Little details indicate history and not myth or legend.
- The chapter is a toledoth, a connecting genealogy between narratives.
- A major theme of the toledoth is the reign of death over human beings.
- Within the chapter is a hope of eternal life and restoration of life to mankind.
Enoch
- Walked with God…God took him.
- Suggests there has to be a place after death.
- If so, this is the first suggestion of existence after human life.
Afterlife
- Ancient Jews did not have a developed view of the afterlife.
- Sheol, the pit or grave, was a vague concept of afterlife where both good and bad went.
- Jesus explained Sheol (or Hades) in a story found in Luke 16:19ff
- Hades had two sections: one for the good and one for the bad.
- It was temporary: Jesus taught about the eternity of heaven and hell.
- Jesus descended into Hades to “proclaim to the spirits in prison.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)
- Seems to still be there (Rev 20:14)
Heaven
- Jesus clearly taught about heaven
- Heaven is a place (Matt 6:19-21)
- Place prepared for us (John 3:1-4)
- A place of joy and reward (Matt 25)
- A place of justice (Luke 16:1-13)
- A place of single community (Matt 22:1-14)
Only those clothed for a wedding…
- Jesus is the only way (John 14:6)
- One must be clothed in the righteousness Jesus provides (2 Cor 5:21)
- Evidence of such righteousness are the good deeds we do (Rev 19:6-8)
