Weekly Bible Study – January 23, 2017

The Doctrine of Dispensations. Part 4.
Dispensation of Conscience.
The Mystery of the mark of Cain.

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

Doctrinal Statement

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings

STUDY TITLE:

The Doctrine of Dispensations. Part 4.
Dispensation of Conscience.
The mystery behind the Noahic genealogy.

Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
Old Sin Nature = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine [Bible Truth]
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotes and references are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible. However, a few may be corrected translations developed from the exegetical study of the original languages; for this reason, hover-popups of NASB95 are also available if you wish to compare them. Hover-popups are just a preview, some may not contain multiple verses, in that case, just left click the “more” button inside the popup and a new tab or window will open, when finished reading it, just “X” out and you will return to the study or sermon.

The Doctrine of Dispensations. Part 4.
Dispensation of Conscience.
The mystery behind the Noahic genealogy.

We have now come to one of the visible heroes of this dispensation who is a man called Noah. Noah was one of the greatest witnesses for the Lord in the midst of angelic conflict of the Old Testament that he is mentioned with and Daniel and Job. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel identified three men as one of the greatest believers of all time in Eze 14:12-14. For when the nation of Israel and the Jews had gone so apostate and were about to destroyed by God, that the prophet Ezekiel wrote concerning the client nation in Eze 14:12-14, Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves, declares the Lord God.”

In other words, even if these three were a part of the pivot, the nation could still not been spared, though they would have been. This means that God is declaring Noah, Daniel and Job as mature winner believers and that in times of the fifth cycle of discipline when God destroys a nation that they would only be able to deliver themselves. However, that is not our subject, what I want you to see is what type of believer Noah was known as…this was his eulogy, as it were. To be put into the same category as Job and Daniel, one a Gentile, the other a Jew, is a great compliment to Noah!

So, we need to take a look at Noah’s place in the dispensation of the conscience. The first 500 years of his life are passed off in silence. We assume that during that time he was going back and forth and never reaching the objective of spiritual maturity and super-grace. During that time he reached different stages of spiritual growth only to be pushed back and lose the advantage. The apostle John warned us of this in 2Jo 1:8, Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

So after 500 years of going back and forth, all of a sudden dramatically Noah and his three sons are mentioned in Gen 5:32; Gen 6:9-10. Gen 5:32, And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Then in Gen 6:9-10, These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Noah is mentioned in such a way as to indicate that the last 450 years of his life were years of spiritual maturity and super-grace. Now, the name Noah means rest or relief. And the line of descent from Adam to Noah was as follows: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared. Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. By the way, all these individuals were direct descendants of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have seen the importance of this before but let mention it again. Ten represents the number of completion of the divine order.

Gen 5, God the Holy Spirit who is the author of divine inspiration gives us the genealogy from Adam to Noah! Our problem is that it is not translated, it is transliterated! Translation means to describe or interpret the word whereas transliteration is the conversion of a text from one language to another. And all of these Hebrew names are special significance when you interpret what they mean and Noah is a vital part of this illustration.

Let’s take a look at what the names mean in the original language.

Gen 5:1, This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.

Adam is pretty easy to define, most of you know that his name means man.

Adam = man

Gen 5:3, When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

What does Seth mean?

Well, we get a clue of what it means in Gen 4:25, And Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel; for Cain killed him.”


Eve felt that Seth was appointed to be a replacement for Abel who was murdered by Cain. So she named him Seth and his name means appointed!

So we have:
Adam = man
Seth = appointed

Gen 5:6, And Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.

Enosh, according to the Biblical Library means human.

Gen 5:9, And Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.

Kenan means a curse referring to man’s curse of having to work etc.

Adam = man
Seth = appointed
Enosh = human
Kenan = curse

Gen 5:12, And Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.

Now, the word “el” you recognize as the name of God. The Hebrews put the name of God in their names like Daniel, Bethel, etc. Mahalalel means “the blessed God” says Gesenius a Hebrew scholar.

Gen 5:15, And Mahalalel lived sixty five years, and became the father of Jared.

Jared is a verb meaning “shall come down.”

Adam = man
Seth = appointed
Enosh = human
Kenan = curse
Mahalalel = The blessed God.
Jared = shall come down

Gen 5:18, And Jared lived one hundred and sixty two years, and became the father of Enoch.

Enoch means to consecrate one self.

Gen 5:21, And Enoch lived sixty five years, and became the father of Methuselah.

It’s interesting to note that Methuselah lived longer than anyone in all of human history, 969 years, probably because of blessing by association to his father Enoch. Methuselah died the year that the flood occurred and as we noted in the past, his death was a warning that this was the year of the flood. Enoch was told as long as his son was alive, the flood would be withheld! So Enoch, who was a prophet, named his son Methuwshelach translated Methuselah and his name means “his death shall bring.” Methu means to die. Shelach means to bring. So when he died the flood was brought forth or sent. Now, you ladies are probably thinking it must have been tough to bring up that kid because every time he caught a cold the neighborhood would go into panic!

Methuselah’s name means “his death shall bring.”

Adam = man
Seth = appointed
Enosh = human
Kenan = curse
Mahalalel = the blessed God.
Jared = shall come down
Enoch = to consecrate oneself.
Methuselah = “his death shall bring”

Gen 5:25, And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty seven years, and became the father of Lamech.

Lamech = conquering

Gen 5:28-9, And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one shall give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.”

Just as this verse says, Noah’s name means rest. So here is a chart of the description of the names God the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write.

Adam = man
Seth = appointed
Enosh = human
Kenan = curse
Mahalalel = the blessed God.
Jared = shall come down
Enoch = to consecrate oneself.
Methuselah = “his death shall bring”
Lamech = conquering
Noah = rest

Man is appointed a human curse. The blessed God shall come down to consecrate himself. His death shall bring conquering rest.

So we have just gone through quickly ten names, the number of completion in the Bible, and these ten names mean something very precisely in the original language. Now, I picked this passage for few reasons. First of all, there’s no way that you could ever convince me that a group of Jewish Rabbi’s would have contrive to hide the Christian Gospel in a genealogy of the Torah. Remember the Jews do not believe in the New Testament and the Christian Gospel.

Secondly, this passage also points out the importance of going back to the original language and discovering what was really said.

And thirdly, I think this is another passage that reveals the integrity of the Bible and the fact that this book was divinely inspired by God!

This is why we go back to the original language to see what the Bible really has to say!

Noah lived at a time when the whole earth was filled with violence and corruption. Yet, what made Noah great is that Noah did not allow the evil standards of his day to rob him of His relationship and fellowship with God. For we read in Gen 6:11-13, Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

He stood out as the only one who “walked with God” at that time in Gen 6:9, as was true of his great grandfather Enoch. However, to really get a short synopsis of Noah’s life we need to go to Heb 11:7, By faith or by means of doctrine, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

As we noted on Friday the verb for “being warned” means to be divinely instructed doctrine. It took many teachings and warnings to prepare Noah for what the Lord was about to do. Noah received the doctrine, believed it and then applied it, so that he became spiritually mature from the divine warnings from God concerning the future. And one of the most overlooked functions of Noah’s life is that he had to go against the majority and appear to be a fool for our Lord’s sake.

Noah teaches us that when you have doctrine in the soul, you can take the proper action, even though you are in the minority. Even though people say that you are crazy, Noah was in the minority. We know that from certain passages of scripture like Gen 6:5, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Heb 11:7, By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah, having been warned about things not yet seen,

The phrase “not yet seen” is the Greek word blepo which refers to being warned about things that have not yet occurred in human history. In fact, they were things that had never occurred in history before. Do you realize that it never rained before the flood? Rain began at the flood. Not only that, but most scholars believe that there were not even boats before the flood. And so as a super-grace believer, Noah received doctrinal information about the termination of the antediluvian (before the flood) civilization.

Heb 11:7, By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah, having been warned about things not yet seen [the future of human history], in reverence [having been motivated by reverence or his respect toward God] constructed an ark for the salvation of his household,

It took Noah 120 years to build this ship. One day sitting up on dry land was a completed construction, a ship designed for water. Noah was motivated by the doctrine in his soul to build the ship. The word for ark is kiboton which refers to an ark, a wooden chest, or a ship.

The seven members of his family were all delivered by the building of the ship by Noah. And this is blessing by association to the super-grace believer. Some of you will never reach super-grace or spiritual maturity and so the best thing for you to do is to hook up with a mature believer and get blessing by association. In fact, that’s the only way that some believers ever get happiness as believers, association with a spiritually mature believer. In Noah’s family, the other seven were not spiritually mature. Noah’s wife was not spiritually mature. Noah’s sons were not in super-grace but Noah was and there is the principle of blessing by association. Super-grace blessing is the means of blessing those in the periphery who are not super-grace types. And in some cases, not even saved.

And he did all of this in view of the strongest possible human opposition as well as Satanic, with the Nephilim on the earth. Remember that these were the days of rampant visible demonism, half-human, half angelic creatures as well as evil vile humanity, and all of these beings were in opposition to Noah.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.