I.　Abel was an overcoming martyr who cared only for God's purpose, not for his own existence:

A.　Cain was a tiller, a server, of the ground so that he might earn a living for himself, whereas Abel was a tender, a feeder, of sheep so that he might have an offering to present to God—Gen. 4:1-2.

B.　Before the flood man was permitted to eat only vegetables and fruits, not meat (1:29; cf. 9:3); thus, Abel's tending of sheep was his working not to produce food for his living but to provide offerings for God's satisfaction—cf. Heb. 10:5-10.

C.　Abel not only knew God but also took God's way of worshipping God according to God's divine revelation, not according to his concept; Abel's faith came from hearing the word of the gospel from his parents; therefore, what Abel did came out of revelation—11:4; Rom. 10:14, 17.

D.　According to God's foreordained redemption, Abel offered to God the firstlings of his flock, with the shedding of blood for his redemption, the burning of the fat for God's satisfaction, and the covering of the coats of skin for him to be justified by God—Gen. 4:4; Heb. 9:22; 11:4:

1.　What Abel did corresponds exactly to the requirements of theMosaiclaw, which was givenlater, proving that his way of worshipping God was according to God's revelation, not according to his concept—Lev. 3:2-5, 8-11, 13.

2.　What Abel did corresponds exactly to the gospel in the New Testament, which tells us to receive the cleansing of the blood, to denyourselves, to put ourselves aside, andto take Christ as our covering so that we might live in Christ to becometherighteousness of God—2 Cor. 5:21; Phil.1:19-21a.

3.　Abel was the first priest of God, living for God and by God and, in type, offering Christ to God—cf. Num. 18:17.

E.　The way of Cain is to do good to please God and to worship God presumptuously by man's own effort and according to man's own invention under the devil's motivation—Gen. 4:3:

1.　Cain did not follow the way of God's salvation through the anticipated redemption by the bleeding sacrifice (3:21; Heb.9:22) but continued man's fall by forsaking God's way of salvation and presumptuously offering the fruit of his own labor to God.

2.　Cain's way of worshipping God was to invent a religion according to his human concept and opinion, which were motivated by Satan—Jude 11; 1 John 3:12.

3.　Cain was in the flesh, trusting in the fruit of his labor, but Abel put his trust in his offering, boasting in Christ Jesus and having no confidence in the flesh—Phil. 3:3.

F.　Abel is the representative of all the overcoming martyrs; because Abel presented offerings with the shedding of blood according to God's revelation and was accepted by God, he incurred Cain's hatred and religious jealousy and was killed by Cain—Gen. 4:4-9; Matt. 23:34-35; John 16:2; Rev. 17:6.

G.　Abel was not only redeemed but also brought back to God to contact God and fellowship with God; Abel cared for the Lord's presence, but Cain went out from the Lord's presence to become a fugitive and a wanderer—Gen. 4:14, 16:

1.　If we are not in the presence of God, we will have the sense deep within that we are wanderers with nowhere to go.

2.　Our real dwelling place is the presence of God—Psa. 90:1.

3.　The people who follow God's way to live in the presence of God all have an uplifted countenance in contrast to Cain, who had a fallen countenance—Gen. 4:6-7a; cf. Psa. 42:5,11.

H.　The issue of Cain's going out from the Lord's presence was the producing of a culture without God—Gen. 4:16-24:

1.　God wants to be everything to man—his maintenance, supply, amusement, and protection—cf. 15:1.

2.　Man's loss of God forced him to invent an anti-God human culture, the main elements of which were cities for existence, cattle-raising for making a living, music for amusement, and weapons for defense—4:17, 20-22.

II.　In human history Enosh was the landmark of one who called upon the name of Jehovah—v. 26:

A.　Enosh was a frail believer who called upon the name of Jehovah to enjoy Him as his portion—Rom. 10:12; Eph. 3:8:

1.　The name Enosh means "frail, mortal man."

2.　Enosh realized that he was weak, frail, and mortal, so he had no trust in himself; if we realize both the vanity of human life and the frailty of man, we will have no trust in ourselves—Eccl. 1:2; 2:14, 17; 2 Cor. 1:9; Phil. 3:3.

B.　The Hebrew word for call means to "call out to," "to cry unto," that is, to cry out audibly; because men realized that their life was vanity and that they were frail and mortal, they spontaneously began to call upon the name of Jehovah, the eternal One.

C.　Although they were vain and weak, by calling on the name of the Lord, they were made rich and strong, for they entered into the riches and strength of the One on whom they called.

D.　Jehovah is the name of intimacy, the name for God coming into an intimate relationship with man—Gen. 4:26; Exo. 3:13-14:

1.　The name Jehovah means "I am who I am," that is, the self-existing and ever-existing One, the One who now is and who forever is—v. 14:

a.　The name of our God is the verb to be; He is the eternalOne, and only He is—Lev. 19:3-4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 25,28, 30-32, 34, 36-37.

b.　As the self-existing and ever-existing One, God is everything; whatever we need, He is—John 8:58; 6:48; 8:12;11:25; 14:6; 15:1a; Hymns, #78.

2.　For Enosh to call upon the name of Jehovah indicates that this frail person lived not by himself but by the great I Am, the ever-existing, eternal One.

E.　The proper Christian life is a life of receiving the Spirit continually by exercising our spirit to call upon the name of the Lord—Gal. 3:2, 5; John 20:22; Rom. 10:12-13.

F.　When we breathe in the Spirit by calling upon the name of the Lord, we both exhale and inhale; we breathe out the negative things and breathe in the positive things of the Lord—Lam. 3:55-56; Hymns, #255.

G.　The way to live Christ is to breathe Him, and the way to breathe Himis to calluponHimwithout ceasing—Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Thes. 5:17.

III.　Enoch walked with God by faith to escape death and to obtain the testimony that he was well pleasing to God—Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5-6:

A.　To walk with God is to not override God, to not be presumptuous, to not do things according to our own concept and desire, to not do things according to the current of the age, and to not do anything without God—cf. Psa. 19:12-13; Josh. 9:14b; Luke24:15-17.

B.　To walk with God is to take Him as our center and everything, to live and do things according to God and with God, according to His revelation and leading, and to do everything with Him—Rom. 8:4, 13-14; Gal. 2:2a; 2 Cor. 5:14-15.

C.　To walk with God is to walk by faith; faith means that we believe that God is—v. 7; Heb. 11:5-6, 1-2; 2 Cor. 4:13, 18:

1.　Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to God, to make God happy—Heb. 11:6a.

2.　To believe that God is, is to believe that He is everything to us and that we are nothing—John 8:58; Eccl. 1:2.

3.　To believe that God is implies that we are not; He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything—Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5.

4.　To believe that God is, is to deny our self; in the whole universe He is, and all of us are nothing—Luke 9:23.

5.　I should not be anything; I should not exist; only He should exist—"it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ"—Gal. 2:20.

D.　Faith means that we believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him—Heb. 11:6; Gen. 15:1; Phil. 3:8, 14:

1.　Enoch's reward was the highest degree of life—escape from death—Heb. 11:5a; 2 Cor. 5:4; Rom. 8:6, 10-11; 5:17.

2.　The Lord is a rewarder, and we need to be His seekers—Psa. 27:4, 8; 42:1-2; 43:4; 73:25; 119:2, 10.

E.　Faith means that we believe in God's word—cf. Luke 1:38; Rom. 10:17:

1.　When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he had a son and gave him the name Methuselah (Gen. 5:21); this name has a prophetic significance, meaning "when he is dead, it will be sent":

a.　By naming his son Methuselah, Enoch prophesied of the coming judgment of the flood in the year that Methuselah died, which was Noah's six hundredth year—7:6;5:25-29a:

(1).　Methuselah begot Lamech at the age of one hundred eighty-seven (v. 25), Lamech begot Noah when he wasone hundred eighty-two (v. 28), andwhen Noah was six hundred, the deluge was sent (7:6, 11).

(2).　If we add these three figures together, we arrive at a total of nine hundred sixty-nine years, the age that Methuselah died—5:27.

b.　Enoch's prophecy was uttered when he was sixty-five, at which time he must have received God's revelation, been inspired with the divine will, and learned of the coming judgment upon the entire ungodly generation of mankind—cf. Jude 14-15.

2.　Thereafter, day andnight Enoch was expecting the fulfillment of that prophecy, and that expectation motivated him not to follow the current of the age but to walk with God and thus live a godly and holy life—cf. 2 Pet. 3:10-12:

a.　Our being raptured depends on our being mature in the divine life by our walking with God—Heb. 6:1a.

b.　Enoch continually walked upward with God day and night for three centuries, becoming closer to God and more one with God each day until "he was not, for God took him"—Gen. 5:24; cf. S. S. 8:5a.