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Writer's pictureJoe Durso

CREATION AND THE GOSPEL VI

From Adam to Noah


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Because Adam was created in the image of God and the progenitor of the human race there was no need for any further “evolution,” therefore there is no warrant to say the years from Adam to the present day are in the millions.  To answer the question were there cave men we will look to the encyclopedia first.

“Cavemen are portrayed as wearing shaggy animal hides, armed with rocks or cattle bone clubs, unintelligent, and aggressive. The image of them living in caves arises from that fact that caves are where the preponderance of ritual paintings and artifacts from pre-historic cultures have been found, although this most likely reflects the degree of preservation that caves provide over the millennia rather than an indication of their typical form of shelter. Expressions such as "living in a cave" have become cultural metaphors for a modern human who displays traits of extreme ignorance or uncivilized behavior.”
Biblically speaking Adam was intelligent enough to give all the animals names, and he was given authority over all the earth. Unless of course we do not believe the Biblical account of Adam, in which case what do we do with Romans 5?
“Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed. But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!” (Romans 5:14-15)

I am afraid that cave men are nowhere to be found in the Bible.  According to the New Testament teaching Adam transgressed exactly as we are taught in the Genesis record, and because there was an Adam even so there is Jesus Christ. We are clearly taught in the above passage that Adam was one man, and by his one transgression all those who followed paid the consequence of his sin, which was death. Fortunately, because we are one race and Christ became a part of that same race His death is counted toward the righteousness of those who believe. If there was no literal Adam there is no reason to believe there was a literal Jesus Christ.
I have already showed in previous blogs that it is impossible to evolve into the image of God from lower forms of life such brute beasts; equally there is no room in the Gospel to believe in a long time period between Adam and Noah.

Are the genealogies of Genesis 5 precise or should we believe in some unspecified number of years?

The bible gives a precise rendering of the years of men from Adam to Noah, which includes the year each child was born and the year of the flood. Some have suggested the genealogies in Mathew’s Gospel for instance were altered to focus on the Kingly ministry of Jesus Christ; that is to say, they are given as generalities rather than a precise rendering.
God is the author of the Bible and He is the architect of history. Certain men in history were given names, such as, Peter that means rock bed, this was not a coincidence but preordained by the sovereign Lord of the universe. There are times when the Bible uses a word, such as “all,” which needs to be defined by its context, or certain parameters set by God, each text needs to stand alone and be interpreted as it is. However, because 14 generations are recorded 3 times in the genealogies of Christ, it does not mean that God could not or did not design history just that way.
It is important we understand the sovereign power of the God of all creation and that no laws, circumstance, creature, time, or any other created thing can overrule His sovereign purposes. God can always do exactly what He wants and when; it makes no difference whether names or numbers, God is in control.
We interpret the scripture well when we add or delete nothing from the text, and it is important we not interpret from the white spaces. It is an irrelevant questioned to ask if the genealogies were longer because all that we need to know is found in the text of Scripture. He is not wise who ventures outside of what God said and calls it truth, particularly when the two can be seen in opposition to one another. Science must bow the knee to God or else we will surely give no honor to Him.

The Genealogies of Genesis 5 – From Adam to Noah


                                              Year of birth
Adam created in the year       0 Fathered Seth at 130 lived 930 yrs died in 930
Seth born in the year                 130 Fathered Enosh at 105 lived 807 yrs died in 937
Enosh born in the year              235 Fathered Kenan at 90 lived 905 yrs died in 1140
Kenan born in the year             325 Fathered Mahalalel at 70 lived 910 yrs died in 1235
Mahalalel born in the year      395 Fathered Jared at 65 lived 895 yrs died in 1290
Jared born in the year               460 Fathered Enoch at 162 lived 962 yrs died in 1422
Enoch born in the year              622 Fathered Methuselah at 65 lived 365 yrs and was taken
Methuselah born in the year 687 Fathered Lamech at 187 lived 969 yrs died in 1656 Flood
Lamech born in the year          874 Fathered Noah at 182 lived 777 yrs died in 959
Noah born in the year              1056 Fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth at 500 lived 950 yrs
Shem born in the year             1556
Noah lived 350 years after the flood died in 2006 Genesis 9:28
Noah was 600 years in 1656 when the floodwaters came.  (Genesis 7:6)
“On the precise day named, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of Noah’s sons had entered the ark.” (Genesis 7:13) It would appear that God spared no words to make the time of the flood on earth very precise, which begs the question, what is the point of giving men’s ages if they are not precise?

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: it was on that day that all the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.” (Genesis 7:11) The Bible is viewed as strictly a spiritual book and not a scientific one to some, however, the God who created time is capable of measuring it and giving man a precise account of what took place next. Why would anyone want to alter such an accurate account of the flood?

The Genealogies of Genesis 11 – From Noah to Abraham


Arpachshad born in the year 1558 Fathered Shelah at 35 lived 438 yrs to 1996
Shelah born in the year 1593 Fathered Eber at 30 lived 433 yrs to 2026
Eber born in the year 1623 Fathered Peleg at 34 lived 464 yrs to 2087
Peleg born in the year 1657 Fathered Reu at 30 lived 239 yrs to 1866
Reu born in the year 1687 Fathered Serug at 32 lived 239 yrs to 1926
Serug born in the year 1719 Father Nahor at 30 lived 230 yrs to 1949
Nahor born in the year 1749 Fathered Terah at 29 lived 148 yrs to 1897
Terah born in the year 1778 Fathered Abram at 70 lived 205 yrs to 1983
Abram born in the year 1848 Fathered Isaac at 100 lived 175 yrs to 2023      (Genesis 25:7)

The bible records a drastic change in the lifespan of men following the Great Deluge, which left the earth in a radically different condition. There is no reason to believe the genealogies of Genesis are anything other than precise because there is no need for additional time; man was created in the image of God in the day he was created. Man did not and could not evolve into the image of God. The Gospel is clear about the reason for death, which is sin, and the reason for the present condition of the earth, which is the worldwide catastrophic event of the flood.
There is an interesting verse found in the book of Genesis at the time Jacob was brought down to Egypt, Pharaoh asked him how long he had lived to which he replied, “All the years of my travels are 130. All the years of my life have been few and painful; the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors”  (47:9)Jacob under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit validated the Genesis account so far as the extensive ages of those who lived prior to the fall. At 130 Jacob considered his years to have been few, how many would like to say that today?
HOW EVOLUTION DISTORTS THE GOSPEL
The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died for those whom the Father gave Him, so that, they might not face the eternal wrath of God’s holiness, when He comes to judge all men of every generation and cast them into eternal punishment. It does not matter that some professing Christians believe in an old earth and claim the universe was created by God through some evolutionary method; such capitulation does help evolutionists to believe one tiny bit. Natural evolutionists understand that an old earth translates into no God or coming judgment, no Jesus Christ or substitutionary death, and no sinful state of man; evolution was devised to eliminate such beliefs.
As a side note, Henry Morris in his book, The Long War Against God, states the reason for evolution was not science but the desire by numerous men to do away with the crown and tyranny and form a new government where democracy would reign. A noble idea but in order to do so the king would have to be removed, and in order to remove the king from his seat of authority, which was arranged by God, God would have to be removed. Enter Darwin’s grandfather, who was born too close to the French revolution, hence it had to wait for his grandson Charles.
The Gospel must include man created in the image of God, holy and sinless in the day he was created. There were no consequences such as death in the day he was created because there was no sin. Sin brings judgment and alienation from God because sin is rebellion against God, His moral law, and His authority to judge. The flood was such a judgment that brought destruction upon the earth at that time, which the Apostle used as an example of the judgment that is to come.
“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3:3-7  emphasis added)

Evolution as a teaching of science would not be important if it did not contradict the Bible, the Gospel and specifically the consequences of sin, which is death. When Jesus rose from the dead He conquered death, after he lived a perfectly holy life, took our place as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin, thus He defeated the grave. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55) Evolution does not allow for such a glorious truth, then why believe in evolution?

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