Genesis 4: 26b
Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
For further study – Genesis 4:1-26
The extended reading for today’s devotional is the account of a number of “first” in the book of Genesis and, in fact, in the entire Bible. The account found in our reading is the record of the first-mentioned children of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel.
Abel was a “keeper of sheep” and Cain was a “tiller of the ground”. Both of the boys, the first boys of Eve, both brought their sacrifices to the Lord and each expected the reception that only one son would receive from the Lord, the reception that Abel received.
The Lord respected the offering from Abel, the “firstlings of the flock”, verse 4, and Cain brought “the fruit of the ground”, which was not respected by the Lord, which caused Cain to be angry. This anger displayed by Cain resulted in the first “murder” recorded in the Bible, verse 8.
Cain would then go out from the presence of the Lord, verse 16, and travel into the land of “Nod” which would be to the east of the Garden of Eden. Sin always keeps us from the “presence of the Lord”.
We do not know exactly where Nod is located, only that it was “east of Eden” in the Middle East somewhere. When Cain arrived in Nod and he built the first city, he called it after his first son, Enoch. It was in this land and city that Cain became the “fugitive and vagabond on the earth” that he had been sentenced too as the first murderer, verse 12.
The “last first” in Genesis 4 is a part of the record of the one who is listed as the third child, son, of Adam and Eve, the boy named Seth. When Seth grew up he became a preacher, as the text seems to indicate.
It was in the days of Seth when men began “to call upon the name of the Lord”, verse 26. I say he was a “preacher” because of the passage in Romans 10:11-15. How shall they “call” unless they “hear” and how shall they hear unless one “preach”.
The example Seth set by preaching the “word of the Lord” and having man call upon “the name of the Lord” is how we should spend these days before Jesus calls us to be with Him at the Rapture.
II Peter 3:12 reveals to us that we can hasten the coming of the Lord by winning people to the Lord. Jesus is not slack concerning His coming, II Peter 3:9, but He is not willing that any should perish but all should come to Him as the Saviour.
What a way to be found when Jesus shouts for us to join Him in the air at the Rapture, winning someone to the Lord, having them “call upon the name of the Lord”.
PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for all of your Word, so that I can learn of your ways and the examples that the ones before us have left for us to follow. Help me to spread the Word so that “men will call upon the name of the Lord” and hasten your return.