Human History - Adam to Abraham :- 1 Chronicles 1:1-27

Human History - Adam to Abraham     1 Chronicles 1:1-27

Who we are and where we have come from is an innate disposition in all of us. When there is a disconnect, the heart almost without exception longs to know the truth and whereabouts of our parents. We have heard a number of times where children, when they have grown and seek to find their biological parents, are joined with a rush of emotion as there is a joining of the dots and a settling of questions that have long been in their hearts and minds.

History, truth and identity matter. The connection we have with our family, and ultimately with each other, matters at the very heart of every human. It’s then important for us all that we know with certainty who we are and where we came from. So, with what we read, the text simply begins with a name – Adam – goes through other names then gets to one that everyone accepts as being historically accurate and traceable without too much concern – Abraham. This chapter basically summarises all the characters that took centre stage from Genesis chapter 1 to Genesis chapter 12. But some fairly significant events in history happened in there. When these names, their ages and the timeline of the events are compiled to Christ, we get a date of 4000BC. Add 2000 years since Jesus and get a date of 6000 years from Adam to you.

You’ll notice in 1Chronicles 1:4, it simply says, “Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Those four names cover Genesis 6 through to 9. We know them as the events around Noah, the building of the ark and the flood that covered the earth. But did it actually happen, do you believe it? Why? Or why not? One of the names is Methuselah in 1Chronicles 1:3. Genesis 4 says this man lived to the age of 969. Do you believe it? Why? Why not? Genesis 5 tells us that when his father Enoch was 365 years old, “He was not, for God took him.” Do you believe it? Why? Why not?

Then, of course, we read of the first man recorded in 1Chronicles 1:1 – Adam. We know the story. God took of the dust of the earth and formed man. Then God breathed unto him and he became a living being. God said that man is made in His image – he has a spirit. Do you believe it? Why/why not?

We know that this man, while it doesn’t say it here in Chronicles, it says in Genesis 2:21, that the Lord put him to sleep and took one of his ribs. From this he made woman – whom he called Eve. Do you believe it? Why, why not?

In Genesis 3, we read that they were placed in a garden with 2 trees. One called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the other the Tree of Life. They were not to eat of the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, yet they did. It says that from that point they were separated from God and that they started dying physically even though it took centuries to eventuate, all from Adam even down to Abraham who himself died at 175 years – all died. Do you believe it? Why, why not?

If you say, “Well yes, Jay. I do believe it. I believe all these things as they are written in the Scriptures. I believe the timelines, the names, the number of years lived, the events. Yes, of course.” Then can I say that you probably already know that you are in the vast minority. In fact, this history and these names and events, that we have read and spoken about this morning, are rarely, if at all, considered in our secular schooling systems or halls of learning. If they are, it is with an air of myth or irrelevancy, even to the point of disdain.

Now, as we have just said, we all know the need at the core of every human that who we are, where we have come from and ultimately where we are going is essential to a peace and a presence of mind that nothing else can provide.

So, if this is the case and this is true, accurate human history, most people on this planet, most people in Australia and certainly within our city, do not know the very foundations of their origin, status or purpose in life. In fact, we know the narrative has been derailed for years by evolutionary thought and understanding. This has three outcomes, the third of which is the most concerning.

The first is that if we don’t teach true human origin and history coming from God through the creation of Adam and Eve, we don’t see order. Disorder is the base. The fundamental understanding of who we are and who we are accountable to is taken away. Direction and purpose are therefore seen as not being essential – as a whole within the human race.

Secondly, our true state is not understood. True history as we know it says that we rebelled against the Lord. We ate from the wrong tree; our spirit was separated through this event called the fall – we all now have the result – sin from the very point of conception. It flowed from Adam and Eve to us all. But because this is not fully understood, we accept our condition as normal. We don’t see that at a fundamental level that we are broken.

As such thirdly, we don’t see the consequences of this condition. In fact, we treat them as a fairy tale. The initial consequence cost the lives of all those who were alive on the earth at the time – likely many millions, lost in a global flood, along with all other animal life above ground. That is serious. We talk about a global pandemic. The worst one nobody talks about – sin which cost the lives of everyone at the time of Noah.

We miss the original fruit of the rebellion – murder. Cain taking the life of his brother Abel. And all the history of the characters, if you study them, each one ends in death.

But here’s the thing. We need to understand and know these things. But that’s not where the story ends. You see Jesus, who eventually came through this line, is the One who blesses the whole of humanity through the line of Abraham. John 3:16 - “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”.

A reminder every year of God’s purpose and timeline. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4, 5)