In His ImageSample

Day 25: Genealogies from Adam

Discover: Today, we complete the genealogies of chapter 5, which starts with Adam and ends with Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. During this time, Methuselah lived to 969 years – the longest lifespan recorded in history. The shortest recorded life was that of Enoch, the only person who did not die in this chapter. All that is known about Enoch is that he lived 365 years, walked with God, and God took him before he died. Because the life spans were so long, keep in mind that many generations lived at the same time.

Learn: The focus of this week’s study is Satan’s attack on the image of God. This chapter displays a fifteen-hundred-year timeline of the devastation caused by sin’s effect on humanity. Except for Enoch, who is taken up while walking with the Lord, every person mentioned in this passage experiences death. Many of these men are devoted and Godly, yet death is inevitable. This was not part of God’s original plan but rather a corruption of humanity aimed to push us further from God’s image. This chapter, however, leaves us with two important truths. First is the reminder that God does not give up on us even in our sinful nature. For every death we read about, new life is created as God’s people continue to populate the earth. Second, we learn through Enoch that we can walk with and have a relationship with our Creator.

Apply: Reading through 1,500 years in just 32 verses puts the brevity of life into a new perspective. It is true that we have just a short time on this earth, but this time can be so fruitful in many ways! Just in this chapter, we see the gift of new life and the ability to walk with our Creator. Walking with God and sharing the new life He gives us are the two best uses of our time here on earth. Many of us know this to a degree, but the big picture becomes blurred when life is moving at full speed. How can we better focus on the big picture when so many other things matter? How does being made in the image of God change your perspective of the big picture? Despite Satan's attempts to diminish God's likeness in His people, God gives hope at the end of Genesis 5. Noah's birth is highlighted as a transition point before the flood narrative in Genesis 6-9. How does Noah’s lineage (through Lamech) show God’s preservation of the faithful amid increasing wickedness?