Gary Gleans

As the population of man began to grow and the length of man’s life was so prolonged, it seems that the sinfulness of man knew no boundaries.   The intent of man’s heart was to continually do evil.   This saddened the heart of God and caused Him to burn with anger towards man.   God decided to interrupt the history of man and judge him.   However, God also made a way for man to escape from this judgment.   This establishes a pattern that God will follow throughout the history of man.   It is a pattern to which we must pay close attention and about which we must warn the world. THE PROLIFERATION OF SINNERS: The sins of men were growing more and more abundant and the number of sinners on the earth were multiplying at an ever increasing rate.   This passage talks about the sons of God and the Nephilim cohabitating with the daughters of men.   I have yet to hear an explanation of this that I am convinced is the correct interpretation.   The Nephi...

When I read the genealogies, it always amazes me how much attention to time God records for us about these men.   There is a lot of information about how long they lived but not much information about how these men lived.   This genealogy records for us the descendants of Adam through Seth up until the time of Noah.   Here are a few tidbits that I gleaned from this chapter. MAN REPRODUCES AFTER HIS LIKENESS: God makes it clear that Adam was created in the image and likeness of God and that Adam’s children were then born with that same likeness.   All human beings are image bearers of the almighty God.   We are uniquely gifted by God for the purpose of glorifying Him.   Adam and all of us have this same resource and responsibility. MEN HAD CHILDREN LATE AND LIVED LONG: It is amazing to think that these men lived at least into their sixties before having children and many of them well into their hundreds.   Then they lived hundreds of years after that. ...

The actions that we choose bring about consequences that we cannot choose and would not choose if we could.   God has allowed us the freedom to choose what we do but the consequences of those choices rest with Him.   Sin never settles for a small part of our lives.   Once sin takes root in the heart of men it begins to reproduce over and over again and grows until it dominates our lives.   This is not God’s desire for our lives but it is the reality of man who turns from the grace of God to embrace a life of sin.   We see a clear pattern of choices and the consequences that these choices bring in today’s text. DISOBEDIENCE BRINGS DEPRESSION: God had instructed Adam’s family as to what and how they were to sacrifice.   Cain, the first son of Adam, decided he wanted to sacrifice his own way.   Abel, the younger brother, obeyed God and sacrificed from the animals he raised.   God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s.   This caused Cain t...

If there were a day in history that we wish could have been relived, it would be this day.   The fall of Adam into sin it, without a doubt, the darkest day in history.   All sin and its many consequences owe their origin to this original sin on the part of man. All of nature and every fiber of our beings have been infected by the sin that started on this day.   The glorious news is that in Christ we can be saved from sin and as a result of Christ’s salvation our eternal fate will be far superior to that of Adam and Eve prior to sin.   However, until that glorious day, we would do well to learn from the lessons about sin that we learn from this passage. THE DECEPTION BY SIN: Sin always starts with some form of deception.   Satan shows up in the garden in the form of a snake and begins to question Eve about the commandment of God.   Satan is constantly doubting and distorting the Word of God in an attempt to deceive us about God and His Word.   Eventuall...

When God brought Eve to Adam, he said something like “WOW!”   After naming the animals and not finding someone who was similar to him, he was ready for the relationship that God provided for him.   Marriage is a wonderful gift from God that He planned, blessed and ordained.   Unfortunately the bliss of marriage didn’t last very long as we shall see in the following chapter.   However, in this passage we see what I call the four pillars of marriage.   These pillars of marriage are keys to sustaining a marriage that is both lasting and loving.   Whenever things are not right in a marriage you can almost always trace the problem back to a weakness or lack in one of these four pillars. CONSECRATION: We must realize that marriage was designed by God and that it is for the purpose of God’s glory.   When God looked for an illustration of the love of Christ for the church He used marriage.   Our marriages should reflect the love of Christ and be dedicated...

God did not simply create the world and abandon it.   He supplied all that was needed for His creation to function properly and according to His design.   This chapter demonstrates some of the steps God took to care for His creation.   These help us to understand much about who God is and how it is that we should continue to relate to Him today.   I think that it is important to note that all of these truths were established by God prior to the entrance of sin into the world.   We catch a brief glimpse into how God created this world to work and what He wants us to understand and appreciate about Him and His creation. THE PRINCIPLE OF REST: I think that it is very interesting that an omnipotent God set time aside to rest.   Unfortunately, man has had a tendency to take this principle to an extreme and created rules and regulations about rest that are more work to keep than it would be to just keep on working as we do on other days.   The Jews of Christ...

God is the great assumption of the Bible.   Scripture does not seek to defend the existence of God, but starts out simply assuming His existence.   He has always existed and always will exist; which is difficult for us to grasp.   In fact we know that there is much about God that is difficult for us to grasp.   We are finite beings struggling under the curse of sin to know an infinite God through His supernatural revelation of Scripture.   As wonderful as the Scriptures are, they are inspired in the limited languages of men and will never be adequate for us to fully understand the grandeur of God.   We start with creation of the world.   I believe that these are literal days and that this is a supernatural creation not a process of natural evolution with days that last billions of years.   It seems impossible to me to try to reconcile the account of Scripture with the theory of evolution. GOD ORIGINATED THE ACTIVITY OF CREATION: It is hard for us ...