CHAPTER SIX
THE LESSONS OF THE AGES FROM
ADAM TO ABRAHAM

       Whatever lessons we can learn in the Bible from the Pre-Adamic Ages of the earth had to be learned afresh by Adam and his progeny, for no account of the ruined past was available to them. But history repeated itself, and the sin of Cain spread such violence through the earth that once again the Lord sent a flood, which swept away a whole civilisation. Yet even after such a tremendous lesson and the kindly promises and warnings of God to Noah and his family, a corrupt society again rose up. Men preferred their own handiwork to the loving provision of the Almighty, and simple country life degenerated into the dangerous pleasures of city life, which proved so alluring that not even the memories of the flood were sufficient to deter men from their selfishness and cruelty. They built the Tower of Babel to reach unto Heaven and so save themselves from another flood, and God was obliged (by the confusion of tongues) to separate them into mutually hostile camps lest together they should exceed in evil. Thus it again became apparent that men could turn a Paradise into a nightmare of fear and cruelty, if they so desired, and that free will had its dangers!

       It was, however, in this gross darkness that God lit a small candle which, though dim at first, was to blaze into the full glory of Calvary. Thus began at God's behest a system of sacrifice for sin (Genesis 4:4-7 and 8:20). True that at first

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it was only the blood of an animal that was shed, but it spoke eloquently of the fact that sin's wages are death! It was the acceptance or rejection of this vital truth that separated Cain from Abel, and has since, wherever it has been preached, divided the human race into the saved and the lost. Satan will not work except for his wages, the death of those for whom he works; it is only God who delights to give freely. Neither God nor man liked the endless slaughtering of beasts, which was of course costly. But with the passage of years men's hearts grew so hard that they imagined that the Lord God enjoyed seeing the blood of bulls and goats (Isaiah 1:10-15), and failed altogether to understand that the necessity laid upon the sinner publicly to slay an animal was meant to be, and to the soft-hearted actually was, a great deterrent.

       So far astray, however, did their cruel and wicked hearts lead them, that both Gentiles (2 Kings 3.27) and even Judah in the end (Jeremiah 17:2; 19:5; 32:35) resorted to human sacrifice to please God! It is a fearful truth that false religion is more cruel than atheism; for at the head of atheism is man, but religions are inspired by Satan, who does not hesitate to teach that God is cruel and even savage, for he himself delights to watch the agonies of humanity. Yet in all this the Majesty of the Law of Love was made apparent, "The soul that sinneth it shall die", and the connection between sin and death was emphasised.

       It was also made plain that sin not only destroyed our neighbour's happiness but also our own! For by slaying Abel, Cain raised up the antagonism of all around, who felt unsafe so long as he was alive. It was actually God who had to protect him from his neighbours (Genesis 4:15). Thus began, and developed into full growth after Babel, that system of mutual fear and antagonism, which has ever since

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dominated society, and threatens today to put an end to human existence.

       It also became clear that even the most dramatic and fearful punishment was not sufficient to keep men from sin. The second flood exhausted the possibilities of that sort of intervention on the part of God, and left a big question-mark in the world. Could anything be done by the Lord sufficient to overcome the attractions of selfishness? There arose, however, two other small lights in the world at this time in spite of the surrounding gloom. If the serpent of Genesis 3 had wrought such havoc, it should not last for ever. The seed of the woman should trample the serpent to death, though not without suffering to Himself. And to Enoch was given the wonderful hope that the God who had been, as it were, chased out of the Garden, should one day return to it, and have the delight of fellowship with His Creatures after He had finally destroyed the wicked (Jude vv.14 and 15).

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