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Are there hidden messages in the Bible?
There many scholars that say there are no such things and unfortunately the Bible
Is of that view, is brutally assaulted by the facts!
Proverbs 25:2 says:
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing but it is the honor of kings to search out
a matter
God has put treasures here for our learning if we take the trouble to discover them
I want to give you a riddle:
Who is the oldest man in the Bible?
Anyone?
Methuselah! Right on exactly he lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, yet he died
before his father
Okay you looked ahead!
You are right everybody forgets his father's was Enoch
And Enoch did not die, he was excused by the expression 'The Rapture'
But at the age of 65 Enoch had an experience of some kind because from that day on it says
he walked with God he does so for over 300 years!
He lived to be 365 years so at age 65 something happened!
That caused him for the next three hundred years, the rest of his life to walk with God
Now, his son is named Methuselah.
The name 'Methuselah' comes from a root that means 'death', 'muth' means death it occurs
125 times in the Old Testament.
And the verb 'shalach' which means 'to bring' or 'send forth' that comes up sixty times
in the Old Testament
Usually, to bring forth a judgment so the name Methuselah, the combination of those
two roots means 'his death shall bring'
See boy that is a kind of strange name for a kid!
You see one of the things you need to understand we will go into this as we get to Chapter
six
The flood of Noah did not come as a surprise.
It had been preached on for four generations.
They knew a flood, those that were listening knew a judgment was coming.
Enoch was given a prophecy, he was given several times, I will tell you about the others when
I get to.
But he had a prophecy that as long as his son is alive
The judgment the flood would be withheld, so he named him:
'his death shall bring'- Methuselah
That is a pretty weird thing. Can you imagine girls raising that kid every time he caught
a cold.
The neighborhood would go into to panic right. (Audience laughs)
Methuselah lives 187 years, he has a son by the name of Lamech, we will talk more about
him in a minute.
And Lamech lives a hundred eighty-two years and he has a son by the name of Noah.
How many of you have heard of Noah?
About eighty percent, well we got a problem. (Audience laughs)
No, I am kidding, I am kidding
And of course, Noah it is in his six hundredth year that the flood comes.
If you do your Arithmetic you will discover that the year Methuselah dies, is the year
the flood came.
His life was a prophecy. His life was a prophecy of mercy.
If his life is a prophecy mercy, it is not accidental that his life is the longest lifetime
in the Bible.
Because the point that God is making is that He is a merciful God, his mercy extends beyond
that what you would expect.
But it is also finite, there is a point at which even that has its limits.
So I want to talk a little bit, in Genesis chapter 5 we are going to encounter a genealogy
Of ten people: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah.
Ten guys, if there is all this meaning tucked away behind the name of Methuselah:
what about the rest of these guys?
Now, we have a problem here, because there are very few people have the resources to
try to unravel proper names.
If you look at Strong's Concordance these typical concordances, they do not deal with
proper names.
We do not, ourselves translate proper names.
My formal legal name is Charles. What does Charles mean?
No one is quite sure. They try to link it to Charlemagne, there are all kinds of conjectures
and little pamphlets you might find.
But they do not know, it has been lost to antiquity.
Whatever your name means some of you, probably have names that which we do not know what
they mean.
In Hebrew, all the words in Hebrew are built a three-letter roots.
And the roots have meaning, in fact, I will not take the time tonight but it is worth
your while to discover that there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
And if you find how those letters were written before the Babylonian captivity.
They were written in a little different way, but in a way that represents something visual.
And and if you learn what those letters mean you can interpret about 80 percent the Hebrew.
The University of Arizona's Hebrew Department pointed this out to me.
They point out to me that, they discovered that if they teach the kids how the Hebrew
was originally written and learned what those letters mean.
Then they can read about 80 percent of the Hebrew, because the Hebrew alphabet is not
just phonetic.
Like most alphabets, it is also concept driven.
'Aleph', the first letter, of the alphabet. It is the first letter, so it means 'first'
or 'leader'
It is similar to our letter 'a'.
It is actually is written like an ox's head with a long horn, horns with a skull, so it
meant 'strength' or 'leader' that is what 'aleph' means.
'Beth' was like a little line with a teepee (tent) on it, it later becomes our 'b'.
'Beth' in Hebrew, meant 'house'
So, with both the 'aleph' and the 'beth' it means the 'leader of the house'. 'Aleph' and
'Beth' is 'Abba', it is the name for 'father'.
You take 'heh', which is a breath, which means 'spirit'. You put that in the middle of the
word, it is the essence that word.
If you take a 'heh' and put it between the 'aleph' and the 'beth' you have 'The Spirit'
the essence of The Father (God).
It is 'Ahab', the word for 'love', 'love' is the essence of the Father (God).
See what I am getting at is that you can build the meaning of the words if you understand
the meaning of the letters.
In English or most other languages the letters are strictly phonetic and you have to put
them together and then learn what that word means.
But the Hebrew is built from roots, and so to try and figure out what proper names mean.
You have got to get him into the Hebrew roots and there are sources for that but they're
usually hard to come by.
But let us take a look at see we can put together for the genealogy here. Genesis 5:1-3:
"This is the book of the generations (genealogy) of Adam. In the day that God created man,
in the likeness of God made he him;..."
"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam,..."
Note Well: Adam is not the guy, it is the combination, they are one flesh. You can get
into a whole thing (message) there but another day.
"...in the day when they were created."
"And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after
his image and called his name Seth:"
I want you to notice something. Adam, both Mr. and Mrs. Adam were in the likeness of
God.
He created them directly.
They are sons of God, 'bene elohim'
Seth is not a Son of God, he was a son of Adam. You and I are sons of Adam, we are not
Sons of God.
Unless we have been born again!
John chapter 1:11-12, speaking about Jesus here: He came unto his own and his own receiveth
him not but as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the Sons of God.
That is not just a spiritual phrase, it is a very definitve statement, that is explained
in Chapter three of John.
Being born again is not just a spiritual idiom it is a very very important event.
You are a new creation in Christ
But let us get moving on here:
He called his name Seth, okay.
Now what does 'Seth' mean did you remember what 'Seth' meant? What did Eve tell you Seth
meant?
'Appointed' (Audience)
Good for you!
'Adam' is easy 'adam' means 'man'. I could have asked you that and most of you will say
'adomah', it means 'man'.
Genesis 5:4-6:
"And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat
sons and daughters:
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos (Enosh):"
Now, Seth means appointed as Eve explained back in Genesis 4:25.
Genesis 5:7,8:
"And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and
daughters:
And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died."
You know many people, will read Genesis 5 and many of the commentators and all the see
is 'he died' so and so 'he died'. So it is a book of death.
No! That is because they have not done the home work to translate it.
See you and I have it all translated except for the proper names!
Seth, Enosh, those are all untranslated, they are transliterated!
They are English approximations of how they are pronounced but their untranslated.
We are going to try and translate them.
We got Adam and Seth, let us take Enosh. What does 'Enosh' mean?
It comes from a root which means: 'mortal', 'frail' or 'miserable'.
It comes from the root 'anash', which is a root which means 'incurable' it is usually
used for a wound, or grief, or woe, or sickness, or wickedness.
It is incurable. Let us call it 'mortal'.
Genesis 5:9-11:
"And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:..."
And this is an unfortunate translation because Cainan is actually Aramaic, the Hebrew word
would be 'Kenan'.
But anyway:
"...And Enos lived after he begat Cainan (Kenan) eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat
sons and daughters:"
"And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years and he died."
'Kenan', which can mean 'sorrow', or 'dirge', or 'elegy'. Pretty grim words actually.
Now, can you imagine, raising that kid (child).
Choosing of basketball teams, "Hey 'Sorrow' your in our team".
Does not work, now does it? (Audience chuckles)
Well, all you need is Enosh, your 'incurable' but you are on our side now! (Audience laughs)
Genesis 5:12-14:
"And Cainan (Kenan) lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:"
Now, I assume that he got tired of he and his father and grandfather these these grim
names so when he got his son.
He gave him a mouthful, but boy it is a great name: Mahalalel, and I will comment in a little
while.
"And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons
and daughters:
...And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years and he died."
Mahalalel which is two words: 'mahalal' which means 'blessed' or 'praised' one
And 'el' which is the name of God
So 'Mahalalel' means 'The Blessed God' or'The Praised God"
A mouthful but a great name. Can you imagine having the name of God in your name? That
is pretty good.
Genesis 5:15-17:
"And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:
And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat
sons and daughters:
And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died."
Now, 'Jared' ('Yared') is an easy one because 'yaradh' is a Hebrew verb meaning 'shall come
down'
Now, when you get to Genesis 6 you learn about some strange things that came down (fallen
angels) upon the earth and it could be it is conjectured by some that that stuff may
have started in the days of this kid that is why his name is 'Jared' or 'shall come
down'.
That may be prophetic, we don't know but anyways he is called Jared.
Genesis 5:18-20
"And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:
And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years and he died."
Now we have, Enoch, we talked about Enoch.
This is one of the most interesting guys in the Bible by the way
Now we have, Enoch, we talked about Enoch.
This is one of the most interesting guys in the Bible by the way
But his name 'Enoch' means it is an academic term meaning 'commencement', or 'teaching'
It is interesting the oldest prophecy in the Bible uttered by a prophet is by Enoch
You will find it not in the Torah, you will find it in the Book of Jude, the one (book)
just before the Book of Revelation.
Jude, the brother of Jesus Christ, he wrote an epistle and it says in Jude 14,15:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these (End Times), saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints,
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him.
It seems to have a vocabulary restriction here on part of the translators
(Audience laughs)
But anyway, 'ungodly' shows up four times in one sentence but the point is this is an
interesting prophecy.
It is a prophecy of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ that was uttered before the flood of
Noah!
I think that is kind of interesting! It tell us four things:
We know that the Lord's coming is sure. It is absolutely certain it is even mentioned
in the past tense and that is exactly the way the Bible often talks about it.
Even Revelation 19 is in the past tense.
So, it is like history, you know, we can not change it.
Because you know when He (Jesus) speaks to Phillip, he said that he will subdue all things
And the second thing we know, we know who will accompany Him.
His holy myriads and who are they?
We find the 'myriads' in other passaged like Zechariah 14:5, Revelation 19:14, Daniel 7:10
and so forth.
And Moses talk about in Deuteronomy 33, the myriads of his holy ones, angels in the sense
of Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19
And Christ return in Matthew 25:31, all the holy angels that will come with him and yet
the believers also:
According to Colosians 3:4 and 1 Thessalonians 3:13.
The third thing we know from this prophecy is that we know the purpose of His Coming.
And both the first and last prophecies in the Bible focus on the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ.
And He will come to bring judgment and according to Hebrews 9:26 and so forth
A result of His Coming, of course, is that all the ungodly will be convicted for all
the works of ungodliness and so forth
Pretty straightforward all the books open and the final judgment.
I might mention by the way that there are three groups that face the flood of Noah,
we are going to talk about that in Chapter 6, next time.
Those who perished in the flood, of course. Those who were preserved through the flood
and those that were removed prior to the flood.
And I will suggest to you that Enoch, was not post-flood or mid-flood, but he was pre-flood.
Okay.
Did that went by you? Okay I am sorry. (Audience laughs)
It is interesting at the debt of apostasy we have Enoch who was translated, that was
midway between Adam and Abraham.
Elijah was translated midway between Abraham and Christ.
Both ministering and during the apostasy (at the time) were both translated
That is kind of interesting, now the Church (Chrisitans of God) will be translated in
the middle of Apostasy.
Which we are rapidly, plunging to. We got one of the most conservative channels on television
do a week on the war of Christianity.
The reality of the war against Christians.Anyway!
Genesis 5:21-24:
"And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daugthers:
And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
So I will call that being 'Raptured'
In Hebrews 11:4, we look at that well Hebrews 11:5 says:
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.
Oh! If that could be said of us, if we somehow, through intense prayer, commitment and resolve.
Could just walk solely to please God. Enoch walking with God.
That was not a casual stroll that lasted 300 years
And that include of course Amos 3:3 which involve: agreement, surrender and witness.
Those are three important things.
That privilege that Enoch had is available to you and me: Colosians 2:6, Galatians 5:25
and 2 Corinthians 5:7.
You and I should be aspiring to walk with God, to please him.
and I think that would make us eligible, for the Rapture too wouldn't it? Would not that
be exciting? Interesting parallel there.
But 'Methuselah' as we talked about means 'his death shall bring'. I have talked about
that.
He lived a 187 years, begat Lamech, then lived after he begat Lamech 782 years and begat
sons and daughters. All the years of Methuselah was 969 years and then he died.
A lot of people have trouble with these longevities by the way, but you will notice that they
will gradually decline.
There are all kinds of scientific conjectures as to why.
Some of this has to do to radiation, some of this has to do with the decline of the
human genome.
And so forth, we are all victims of these little diagrams in National Geographic and
what-have-you of the 'Ascent of Man'.
From apes, up and so forth. We (Christians) reject Evolution but we still fall prey to
that mentality.
We assume that these guys (ancient men) were idiots and not as smart as we are.
It may be the other way around! (Audience cries: Amen!)
They were much closer to God, there are things they knew, that we are still beginning to
discover.
Not necessarily in technology but anyway so I'm not going to get into genealogy.
Except to say that I think we have no embarrassment in just accepting what they say.
And I told you that I explained that in the year of the flood it was the year that Methuselah
died
When we go to Lamech, here is one root that we have that is still in our language today
a 'lament', or 'lamentation' its root means 'despairing'.
I think it echoes with what we read in chapter 4 with the poem that Lamech read to his wives
(Genesis 4:23)
Lamech, well this Lamech lived 182 years, begot a son and called his Noah, saying:
This same will comfort us (Genesis 5:29). What does the word 'Noah' mean?
You can tell from this verse (Genesis 5:29) that it means 'comfort' or 'rest'.
Okay so this is from the word 'nacham' which means 'to bring relief' or 'comfort'
or 'rest'.
So now you say.
Gee Chuck you have given us a lot of dry vocabulary work here.
Why? Well we have a genealogy in Genesis chapter 5
That untranslated in your Bible, it is transliterated:
Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah
Knowing what we now know, having explored the roots and the meanings of these words
as revealed in Scripture
Oh, I forgot to mention I think I slipped by Kenan by the way.
Kenan, the Kenites, when Baalim in the Book of Numbers was looking over, he made a pun
on the Kenites. So we know, some of this is from the scripture but we miss that.
Anyway 'Adam' means 'man', 'Seth' means 'appointed':
'Man (is) Appointed Mortal Sorrow (but) the Blessed God Shall come down Teaching
That His death shall bring: whose death? God's Death!
Shall bring the Despairing Comfort or Rest.
Man is appointed mortal sorrow but the Blessed God shall come down teaching that His death
shall bring the despairing comfort or rest!
If these words were in any other order it would not make sense and here it is!
A summary of the Christian Gospel!
Tucked away here in the Torah in Genesis 5.
Now this has a lot of implications.
First of all, there is no way you will ever convince me that a group of Jewish rabbis
contrived to hide.
A summary of the Christian Gospel in a genealogy within their highly venerated Torah, the Books
of Moses.
No way no way and many will quibble
That some of these roots could mean something in defiance
From my point of view it is like you are in an ancient garden and you approach the ivy,
there is a wall, a door on the wall.
Down in the ivy you find a key
You can argue all day whether that key works the door or the easy way is to put the key
in the door. If it opens the door then it is the key that opens the door!
So that is how I regard this anyways
But there is another implication here too and that is, that God's plan of redemption
was not a knee-jerk reaction or surprise that Adam failed.
When did God, first start dealing with you? Ephesians 1:4 tells you from BEFORE the very
foundation of the world!
God had you on his mind and God knew that Adam would get us all in a predicament that
nothing less!
Than the death of God would prevail to get us out of this predicament.
And yet he went forward in this, as a demonstration of just how much that God can love!
We talk about infinite power, infinite knowledge, all these infinitudes about God!
How do you demonstrate infinite love?
Jesus told us, greater love has no man but he that lays down his life for his friends!
Jesus Christ willing went to the cross for you and me!
One integrated Design! The New Testament is the Old Testament concealed;
The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
End