Joseph Prince - God's Message For You In Genesis 5
This excerpt is from the sermon, Hope For The End Times, preached on Oct 9, 2022.
I'm going to share with you real quick, a principle of studying the Bible before we close. Okay? Are you with me so far? Alright, let's look at the principle of Bible names. Names in the Bible carry meanings. Now, after the service, please don't go and change your name. You don't have to change your name. In the Bible days, God changed people's name because there's a meaning for their life or their purpose. But if you want to study and find more truth in the Bible, sometimes it is not out there on the on the surface. You can't see the truth. But if you study the names, you can yield rich profits for you, if you study God's Word.
So one of the principles, and I was quite astounded by the fact that many people who teaches on how to study the Bible, they don't teach the significance of names in the Bible. There's one chapter that I am going to show you, a case in point. And, you know, God showed this to me, in the early 1990s. I wasn't even married yet at a time. And since then, this has gone far and wide. But let me just share with you real quick, okay. There's a chapter for example, there's no redundant chapter or verse in the Bible. Everything is there for a purpose. If you read Genesis 5, the first book of the Bible, you'll find this, it tells us that the first man: "So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters, and he died". (Genesis 5:5-8)
And then Seth brought forth somemore: Cainan and all the rest, and Mahalalel. And you can follow on all the way in chapter five alone, all the way to Noah. and at Noah it stopped. Because at Noah's time was when the flood came. Amen. And after Noah's generation, by the way, there's also a a man called Peleg. His name is called Peleg because in his day, the continents were divided. His name means division. And if you look carefully at South America, you look at Africa, you can join them together, even the top. Which means once upon a time, the whole earth was one land mass. So the bottom of the earth, during the flood was broke apart, releasing poisonous gas. The firmament, the "raqia" here in Hebrew, was broken. The canopy that protected men from the harmful rays of the sun was broken. And that's why after the flood, instead of hundreds of years, man's life became half.
And then another half, all the way until what God said to Noah: "Men's days will be a 120 years". In our day and age, it has come all the way to, its pretty good if you could live till 78 or 80. But the Bible says that those people who are under God's wrath in Psalms 90, the people who are in the wilderness, and the word "wrath" is used more than one time. So it's specifically it's for the people who are under God's wrath. They live 70 years and by reason of strength, 80 years. But we are not under God's wrath. We are under God's grace. Through Jesus Christ, we are under God's favor and under God's grace. We will never be under God's wrath. Are you hearing?
We don't live in Psalms 90. We live in Psalms 91. And Psalm 91 says: "With long life I will satisfy him;" (Psalm 91:16) You're not satisfied at 80 years old, tell the Lord: "I'm not satisfied". Go onto 90, and 90 to 100 if you want. Amen. The criteria is your satisfaction. God says "With long life I will satisfy him;" Amen. Not excited? Angels taking down notes you know. Those who say Amen, God takes down notes. "With long life I will satisfy him". Praise God. Amen.
So everything goes back to the original plan. Back to Eden. You want to learn God's plan—it's always good to follow God's plan. For example, if you make a car, you manufacture a car, and you tried to put orange juice into the place where you're supposed to put petrol or fuel. It won't work. Put any other liquid, it won't work. You can argue that it's not politically correct—it's correct to put orange juice. I don't care how you argue it. The way it functions must go back to the manufacturers handbook. He knows how it functions best. So the whole chapter is about names. So what is God trying to say? What is the revelation here? Once you see the names and the meanings, it's so beautiful.
So the name start with Adam, the first man. All the way down to Noah, when the flood came. But look at the names. I saved you from reading the entire chapter five (Genesis 5). Adam, his name means men. Alright. Adam brought forth Seth. Seth brought forth Enosh. Enosh brought forth Canaan. Canaan brought forth Mahalalel. Mahalalel. You can see God's name there right? "El", God's name. Jared, he brought Jared. Jared brought forth Enoch, Enoch brought forth Methuselah. Alright, Methuselah. From Methuselah came Lamech. Lamech, (then) Noah. We end with Noah. So this whole chapter five (Genesis 5) is just genealogy. By the way, Adam lived hundreds of years. Adam lived over 900 years. But you know, the oldest men that ever lived and recorded in the Bible, is Methuselah. And you know what his name means? When he dies, it will happen. When he dies, it will come. What will come? The flood. The judgement.
God said, when this boy dies, when Methuselah came forth, alright, notice that he came forth from Enoch. No wonder Enoch walked with God and he was not. He had a personal rapture, because he had a revelation of His son's name. God said: "Call your son Methuselah, which means when he dies, then the judgement will come". You know what, you know what? Every time this boy cough, he fell sick, the whole place is like: "Woah". Alright. When he entered his teen years, every time he hurt himself, "don't die, don't die, don't die". Because when he dies, the judgement will come. Do you know he lived—he is the longest living men. 969 years. I think it is 969 years, he lived longer than Adam. What does that tell you about God? God, even though God has to execute justice, his heart is love.
If God doesn't execute justice, if there's no justice, civilization will fall apart. Amen. The nation will be destroyed. Right? The fabric of our society is law and order. Evildoers must be punished. Amen. So that it's not propagated. Amen. So God has to execute justice on sin, but God's heart is love. And God says: "when this boy dies, the judgement will come". And God made him live so long. What does that tell you about God? He's very patient. He's not willing that any should perish. Amen. I can just see the angels asking: "Is it time yet, God? To send judgement? Is it time yet? God says wait. I believe they will turnaround. Wait". God always waits. He believed the best of men. Only when finally all the resources are exhausted. Then the judgement comes. And this boy became the longest living man.
Don't you know, my friend, the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Amen. Okay, then we have a look at all the names. Noah. Okay, so Adam. let's look at the meaning of the names. Adam means man, Seth means appointed. Enosh means frail or mortal. Kanaan means sorrow. I told you just now, Mahalalel has the name of God, "El". Like Joel, right. Mahalalel means the blessed God. Jared or "Yered" means shall come down. By the way, the River Jordan in Israel, Jordan comes from this word Jared. "Yarden" and "Yered". "Yered" means the descending river. Alright, the River Jordan starts from the highest peak, the highest mountain of Israel, Mount Hermon, and goes down right into the Dead Sea. The lowest place on planet Earth. It's a picture of descending. Amen.
So here it says, Jared shall come down, that's the idea. Enoch means teaching. Methuselah, his name means his death shall bring. Lamech means powerful. Noah's name means rest. Now look at this. Is there a message? People, is there a message? Yes, it's the gospel. The love story of God written in blood. For you and I. Look at this. Man is appointed mortal sorrow. Ever since man sinned, man is appointed mortal sorrow. But the Blessed God shall come down teaching. Who is that? Jesus. Very good. He shall come down teaching. His death will bring powerful rest. Hallelujah. That's the message. Man is appointed mortal sorrow but the Blessed God shall come down teaching, His death shall bring powerful rest. Can you believe that? Every one of these names is in one chapter. Genesis 5. Starting from from Adam all the way to Noah. So God hides meanings in names.