346: H.P. Mansfield - Enoch's Witness

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:03

   Welcome to good Chris Adelphian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News. Feed Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. This week’s class is the 5th class given by brother HP Mansfield at Idlewild Battle School in 1982. The title is Enoch’s Witness.

2. 0:54

   I listened to most of this series and we will post it on the extended podcast. That series title is Before the Deluge. It was a really a fun lesson kind of tough at points. Brother Mansfield is very negative about the state of the world throughout the class as he. You know, it’s a mindset I can understand even especially today, but it it did feel repetitive through the first few classes just how much of a kind of repeating the point that, you know, the the world is in a terrible place and the flood was needed.

3. 1:28

   Man was awful. And so change was coming to the world. And he makes the point repeatedly in the earlier classes and then a lot in this class, class 5 here that that our, you know, our current state of the world is really the same that we are nearing the end of the return of Christ in which he kind of, you know, uses as a symbol of the flood, you know, comparing it to Armageddon.

4. 1:49

   And that’s the encouraging part about this class. Is it kind of he he he kind of explains the background to Enoch. Enoch’s translation does a lot of interesting work on the meaning of some of the names in the Old Testament. So it’s all all really, really easy to listen to. He does have AI think a unique style. I mean it does feel like yelling sometimes. He doesn’t really change his the tone that often, but but I found this really easy to listen to in this class, particularly encouraging.

5. 2:19

   Idle 1982 is legendary because the speakers were HP Mansfield, Harry Tennant, and Bob Lloyd. I was not in attendance. I wasn’t born yet. My parents got married that year. That’s not even true. They got they met that year, they married, they got married a couple years later. But it’s a really neat kind of neat time to think back on. Actually, I thought about including a clip from Class 2 where Brother Mansfield spends a while talking about President Reagan and how many problems President Reagan has in the country.

6. 2:49

   And I thought you could just swap out the name of the current president and the point would have been the same. So we very interesting and and fun less and really glad to share it on the podcast. Thanks to Chris for digitizing these tapes in this series. So this is I I pulled this from Chris self in Bible talks. Brother Chris Atwood uploaded it a couple months ago. So these are kind of new to the to the world. And so it’s been really great.

7. 3:17

   I’ve been really thankful to Chris for all the work he’s done in digitizing so many tapes and preserving so much of our, of our heritage as Christadelphians. So if you do know of any tape libraries or any tape collections, Chris has really we, we’ve, we’ve done some work in arranging kind of storage space and he’s really set up to digitize tapes. You know, it helps us feed, feed the podcast. So thanks again to Chris.

8. 3:44

   Here is Class 5 from before the dailies by HP Mansfield, Enoch’s witness. But dear brother and sisters, this is Odwall 1982. Brother HP Mansfield will now continue with his studies. He will present his fifth address on the subject before the deluge. And so I would invite him to address us to the theme, Enoch’s Witness. Brother Mansfield.

9. 4:15

   My dear brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus, yesterday we introduced the 5th chapter of Genesis and to the book of the generations of Adam. We planted out a reoccurring theme of that chapter is the statement. And he died. And despite the long ages of the men that lived at the time, inevitably death was their destiny and he died. We also find that that particular chapter that there is outline the people that came in the line of Seth. And these, the very names of these people are an index of the state of the conditions of that particular time. I submit in this line, of course, you have the lines of the sons of God really constituting the ecclesia of that age.

10. 5:10

    Whilst the word Seth means appointed, the name of his son Inosh means. That would just wink and. Evidently A decline soon, said he, in as far as the ecclesia. Of God is. Concerned, Enoch Enos named his son Canaan after Canaan of all people, and so we can see a further decline. But Canaan’s son Malalil signifies praise God, and evidently there was a revival at that time. And we pointed out yesterday that the symbol in the Bible of the ecclesia is the moon, and the moon is always waxing and waning.

11. 5:52

    So are ecclesias. And there’s comfort and mourning in that. Because when things are going very well, then we imagine that the moon is that it’s full and it can decline. I’m rather fearful when brethren come to me and say things are going very well. I remember the words of Christ of the Laodiceans quite frequently in Australia at this present moment.

12. 6:16

    I have heard them say things are going very well. I heard that recently from a brother in a certain ecclesia in South Australia. Things are going very well. He told me at the present moment they’re not going very well with that eclesia, and there’s a need for very careful supervision of that Eclesia as they know and as they’re working on now, in order that it might be a revive, that there might be a revival there.

13. 6:42

    So you see in the line of men from the South onwards, you have a decline and you have a revival and so forth. And it’s really not the history of an ecclesia. When you come, for example, to Mallaliel, his name means praise God. And I am sure that if there’s an index at the time when there was a revival among the sons of God, but his son was called Jared, which means the decliner, and evidently there was another decline there.

14. 7:11

    And so things are not going very well with the sons of God leaving to leading to the apostasy of the 6th chapter of Genesis. We read in this chapter concerning the death of Adam and it’s very interesting to find out that Adam died around about the time when Lamech the Father. Of Noah was born. So Adam lasted the long epoch of time to see the fruits of his own disobedience manifested among the sons of God. He had the distressing experience of seeing all that had happened during those epoch of time, the murder of his own son, the decline in the ecclesia among the sons of God, the varying fortunes that took place there until at last death claims.

15. 8:03

    He died about 50-7 years before Enoch was translated that he should not see death. And it’s almost as though there was a choice set before the sons of God at that particular time. They can follow Adam to death or they can follow Enoch and his example to life. There was that anyway in the fact that he lived for such a long period of time so that he was able to hear the voice of Lamac and the song of Lamac and the situation that was developed in the family of Lamac, the arrogance and the power that he manifested in supporting the things of flesh. And he also saw the witness of another descendant of his by name of Enoch.

16. 8:49

    Now let us remember again what happened as far as Lamac was concerned, because we see in that a foreshadowing of the state of life about us. Lamac was noted for Belugnamy, his first son for Prophet, his second son for pleasure, his third son for Tubal came for power and his daughter for permissiveness. There was the empire of Lamech and all the power of Lamech at that time.

17. 9:17

    His son was a commercial genius. Another son exercised power. There was pleasure. Everything was catered for as far as the flesh is concerned, and as he surveyed his empire at that particular time and he could see no one that could match him anywhere. With blatant arrogance, Lamac composed that song that he gave to his wives and doubtless his son put to music. I will slay a man if he wounds me. I will murder anyone or kill anyone or destroy anyone if I am attacked.

18. 9:55

    If pain is avenged 7 times, I will avenge myself. 70 * 7. I, Lamac, do not need God to predict me. I have the power to do it myself and I will do it just 70 * 7. I Lamac have spoken. And, you know, that was the song that he composed and the attitude of the world at that particular time as far as they’re concerned.

19. 10:23

    That brethren and sisters, it’s the song of the present world today. And we see in Lamech and he needs family and all that was established there, a foreshadowing of what we see in the earth today. And it’s a challenge, you know, to the truth itself. Because the very environment, as I have tried to stress that is about us at this time is that very environment.

20. 10:44

    It it comprises a danger that can undermine the truth itself. I see it on all sides. I see it in my own country and I see it in all parts of the world. And the truth can be undermined with that sort of thing. And there was a very, very definite and determined declaration by Leymac as to what.

21. 11:04

    He would do. If anyone stood in his path now, a man did stand in his path. A man did stand up to oppose him. And he witnessed against Lamac with a voice of truth. And he stood up to warn his contemporaries not to be misled by the prosperity of Lamac, not to be misled by the arrogance of Lamac and the power that he witnessed and manifested at that time.

22. 11:29

    That man was enough. And we read concerning Enoch in verse 21 of that 5th chapter. And Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years, and he begat sons and daughters he. Walked with God. We read it there. What a wonderful statement in an age of corruption and wickedness, in an age where the sons of God were imitating the ways of the world.

23. 12:05

    And there’s no doubt about that. You read again the list of names that you have in that 5th chapter, the list of names of the sons of God, and see how they imitate the names of the sons of Cain. So here was an age of which the ecclesia itself as being being affected by the way of life about them, and they’re imitating the ways of the world.

24. 12:26

    And this man stands up and he’s unique almost. He walks with God. That was a challenge that he issued to Lamech and do all the cleaver at that time. He walked with God. The last time we read about that is in the Garden of Eden. So he restored the fellowship with God in that way. He walked with God, which means that to him God was a reality. He recognized the power of God greater than the power of Lamac, and God to him was a reality.

25. 13:00

    He walked with God. It is so God was at his side. While he walked along, he didn’t. Mean he mean merely talk about God. He didn’t have a statement of faith in which it stated what God is. To him God was a reality and he walked with God, and that is a sign of true maturity.

26. 13:23

    When a person can walk with God, I can. Talk to you about God. I can. Turn to the scriptures about God. I can explain how God is 1, but to walk with God is a different thing to that. You know, the main, the main. Commandment. The first commandment to Israel was they were to love Yahweh their God with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their soul, and with all their strength. Love Yahweh thy God.

27. 13:53

    What does that mean? Ever thought it out? If you love a person, don’t you want others to respect them and love them too? If you. Love a person? Don’t you speak about their good qualities? And aren’t you drawn to them by their good qualities? How do we love God with all our hearts? Because we say we love God.

28. 14:22

    We love God with all our heart, where we respect and honour Him in our lives. We love Him with all our heart and all our strength, where we know of His good qualities, where we want to hearken to His Word and understand what that word means. When we are prepared to go and speak to others about the grand qualities of Yahweh, our God, where we are prepared to maintain the standards that He has set in the Word of God, then we love Him.

29. 14:50

    If a man loves me, saith the Lord Jesus Christ, he will keep my commandments. That’s the measure of love. And to keep the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ or to love our God, I must sacrifice self. I must do more for him than I will for myself. And that’s a challenge. A challenge every day of my life.

30. 15:11

    This. Man. Walked with God. God was with him as he went through life. He was with Enoch. He walked with God. What does that mean? In the first epistle of John chapter 1 and verse 5, we read that God is light, so He walked in light. In the first of John chapter 4 and eight, we read that God is love, so He walked in love. In the first of John chapter 5 of verse 26, we read that God is life.

31. 15:46

    So He manifested that life. He walked with God because he walked in life, He walked in love and he walked with a true life before him. He was manifested in his life and that has been that is what it’s meant by walking with God.

32. 16:06

    In the 17th chapter of Genesis and verse 1, Abraham was told walk before me and grow up, be perfect, be mature, walk before me, walk as though you are conscious of my eyes upon you. That’s what Abraham was told. And we are told later on in the 24th chapter of Genesis of verse 40 that Abraham did that very thing. He walked before God and Jacob when he was dying, and he brought his grandsons deep before him. He said in the 48th chapter of Genesis and verse 15, the Angel before whom I have walked, he was conscious of the presence of that Angel and of God, and he walked before him in that way. In the 26th chapter of Leviticus of verse 12, we read that God walked with Israel.

33. 17:11

    They were to build a Tabernacle that He might walk in their midst. What a wonderful thing was that He was an encampment and God was in the midst of it. And they looked at the Tabernacle, they looked at the cloud, they looked at the fire and they had there the visible presence of God day after day. They knew that until brethren and sisters, I believe they came like we might cut become.

34. 17:36

    They became so familiar with it, they took it all for granted and the power and the awe inspiring realization that God was in their presence was forgotten by them. Until the time came that God said to Moses, Truly I live.

35. 17:53

    And all the earth shall be. Filled with my glory. But they didn’t realize he lived. They now the words of God. They went into the Tabernacle. They bought their sacrifices there, but God live he and their presence of God. We’re hungry and.

36. 18:10

    We want water. And who’s this Moses, anyway? And look at the difficulties of life. And what we’ve got. And Jesus Christ says in Revelation chapter 2 and verse one, Jesus Christ says, I am here that walk from the midst of the ecclesias.

37. 18:33

    We need to remember that, don’t we, when we come before the Lord in worship? That in that. Audience there is Jesus Christ quite a controversy once in the Adelaide ecclesia because we used to say or some used to say that this is the table of our absent Lord was quite an issue because they said he wasn’t absent, which is true enough.

38. 19:01

    So you see this is this is walking with God in the 86th Psalm and that verse 11, the Psalmist speaks concerning our attitude towards God and he says this Psalm 86 and verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Yahweh, I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. And there should be fear and reverence in our approach to the Father.

39. 19:39

    Teach me Thy way because we don’t know it. And Moses, you know, on one occasion when God came to him and things were bad in Israel and he’s pleading with God, he said show me thy way. Even Moses wanted to know that way. And here we have the psalmist. Teach me thy way. And we need to continuously learn about that. If we’re going to walk with God, we need to show humility, seeking out what God requires of us and try to build it into our lives.

40. 20:10

    In the 6th chapter of Micah and verse 8, the prophet was told, He shall show thee, O man, what is good, and what doth Yahweh requires thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and then to take the marginal rendition, to humble thyself to walk with thy God, to humble thyself to walk with thy God.

41. 20:34

    That’s what that man Enoch did as he witnessed against the the Lamech at that day. He humbled himself to walk with his God. You know the Lord Jesus Christ needed the presence of God. He could not have conquered unless God was with him. And at every moment of his life, even whilst he hung up on the cross, that Father was with the Son. He said to the these apostles in the 16th chapter of John and at verse 32 he said to his apostles, all you are going to flee for my presence.

42. 21:06

    But I’m not going to be left on my own. I won’t be on the own, my own because the Father will be with me. The Father will be with me. And in all the torture that came upon him, in all the end, the accusations that were pressed against him, in all that he suffered, the Lord Jesus Christ was able to lift his mind above those things to the Father on high.

43. 21:26

    And that’s the way to conquer in anything given that. And a person can conquer if he lifts his mind up and fills his mind upon the things of God. You know, years ago I was, I was called into an ecclesia. An ecclesia was breaking up. It was very, very severe, very, very difficult in Australia.

44. 21:43

    This was not in SA. And they called me over to do something about this. And my word, they talk about antagonism. It was very, very marked there on both sides really. But one side was worse than the other, terrible really. And I met that that company, the Brazil and the sisters there, and they were telling me things and saying this and plowing me with ideas about this and about the wickedness of the other group.

45. 22:07

    And I was trying to reason with them on this sort of thing, whether they will look, we can do this or do that do the other one man stood up in the midst of that. He stood over me with express like this. And he was. Talking like that I could do nothing. So I sat down and they’re going.

46. 22:27

    They’re still going. They’re, I think going two or three of them going at once. I could do nothing. I just sat down. You know this. I sat down and I let my mind get on the other things. I lifted it to the Father. I prayed unto God at that particular time not to solve anything, but merely that I myself wanted to be confident. And you know, I’m a tendency to flare up and I didn’t want to do that and ruin everything.

47. 22:52

    So I got my mind on that, do you know, before that meeting was over and I cannot. Tell you the processes. Now before that meeting was over, I had an offer to the other group in my hand for these. Sight and by that means the situation was saved. It’s amazing in that regard. And you see here we have the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father is with me.

48. 23:16

    There are certain requirements necessary to have the Father with us and in the second of Corinthians chapter 6 of verse 16 we have one such This incidentally used to be a means that we used to use in the courts when we appeared on behalf of our young people because we had the we used to be able to do that. And in the second of Corinthians chapter 6 of verse 16, verse says well there it says.

49. 23:44

    I will dwell. With them and walk with them, says God, that ye are the temple of the living God. I will dwell. With them and walk with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now in verse 17 Paul says, therefore come out from among them, and be ye separate and touched up the unclean thing, and I will receive you see there were conditions.

50. 24:04

    God says I will be with you. I will dwell with you. I will be your God. ‘S own conditions therefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. There are conditions, and if we follow those conditions, He will be for us a father.

51. 24:30

    And so you see. God will dwell with us, and we will walk with God. And then as John says in the first of John one and seven, then shall we have fellowship with the Father, Fellowship with the Father, the most precious thing that we can possibly have. Because if one has fellowship with the Father, it really doesn’t matter much what happens because you can share it with God.

52. 24:57

    If one has fellowship with the Father, then we are going to gain a great benefit in our lives now. And let us understand that that does not necessarily necessarily mean that we will be saved from every problem and every trouble that faces us by no means. But we will be able to gain comfort in trouble and we will be able to gain the strength to surmount trouble. And I think I want to show you, and I’m going to say it now, it’s out of turn, but in case I forget it, when you come through Hebrews Chapter 11, you have two men of faith mentioned, and then you have a break.

53. 25:31

    You have Abel and Enoch and then a break. And Paul says without faith it is impossible to please him for God. For if without faith it is impossible to please God, for what?

54. 25:56

    Without faith it is impossible to please him, For he that cometh to God must believe that God is and will become a reward. Now Abel knew that God is he. God was a reality to him. Enoch found that God. Was a rewarder. Abel died, he was murdered. God didn’t save him. Enoch was translated. Both were moved by faith, but God acted towards each one in a different way.

55. 26:27

    So don’t let us presume upon anything that maybe that God will save us out of trouble, maybe He will not. But whether He does or whether He doesn’t, we will gain the great benefit of fellowship with Him, a sharing of our troubles, a resting upon Him, and a comfort in the midst of misery that nothing else can give us. And that is what fellowship with the Father means. And finally, in the 4th chapter of Proverbs and at verses 18 and 19, we have the benefits of walking with God, because we read there the path of the justice as a shining light that shone of more and more unto the perfect day, a shining light that shine of more and more.

56. 27:12

    When we come and embrace the truth, the light begins to shine. If we pursue a course of study of the Word and application of that Word, irrespective as to the darkness that might crowd us in our path will be a shining light. And we will find by experiences that that shining light will shine brighter and brighter towards the perfect day, and we will be looking with anticipation and joy to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

57. 27:44

    On the other hand, the way of the wickedness as darkness, they don’t even know at what they stumble. So there we have. In that age of darkness, when Lamech was standing up with his bold boasts, when the sons of God could see the prosperity of the wicked and wondered whether they were doing right in their way of life, there was a man who walked with God like a shining light in the midst of darkness.

58. 28:08

    He walked with God. He wasn’t a silent man. Understand we come over to the the epistle of Jude and we find that the way in which he conducted himself in that age in Jude’s record. So in the epistle of Jude, we read these words in verse 14 and Enoch also the 7th format of prophesied of these saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

59. 28:52

    That’s the witness of the of Enoch try to create the drama of the situation. On the one hand you have lame act with his tongue. I will Slayer man if he wounds me, I will destroy anyone that stands in my path. If Kane is avenged, 7 * I lame that will avenge myself. 70 * 7 The Lord Thomas with 10,000 of his Saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have an ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. There was the challenge of Enoch standing up boldly, defiantly before Lamech, sitting before the world, the truth in Christ Jesus, warning them of judgment to come, because he knew the judgment was coming.

60. 29:48

    He realized that judgment was on the way, and there was his witness to that end. They. Enoch lived at a time when he recognized the signs of the times, and he knew that the time was rapidly coming when judgement would be poured out upon that evil generation. That’s why he called his son Methuselah, the oldest man that ever lived. Methuselah, whose name means when he dies it shall come. And the year in which Methuselah died, the flood came. So there was a set time, you see, as far as that period was concerned.

61. 30:27

    And evidently Enoch had received the revelation from God, and he knew. What he was talking about so that when his son was born, he called. Him, Methuselah, and Methuselah stood as a witness to all their generation, that they were living in the set time when judgment would be brought about upon that generation.

62. 30:47

    He not witnessed like that the. 7th. From Adam. Why should Jude say that? Well, as a matter of fact. He is the 7th from Adam if you add up the numbers that from Adam down. And on the other side, Lamech was the 7th from Adam too, but in the line of cave. So there you have your contemporaries, the 7th from Adam.

63. 31:10

    But in a measure, I think that what Judas telling us is that he’s really a type of those that live at the epoch of the 7th Millennium ourselves. And there is the form of witness against an evil world against which we must battle. You know, I think that today is never before the truth should go forth in a forthright, belligerent fashion, so that the world about us understands exactly what is required of us.

64. 31:39

    And this is the witness of Enoch. He spake out plainly and showed the people the error of their ways and directed them to judgments about to fall upon that generation. He is mentioned, as we saw before, in this 11th chapter of Hebrews. And here we have a. Further commentary upon this man even Enoch the 7th from Adam. And here we read in verse 5 of Hebrews Chapter 11 that by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and he was not found because God had translated him. Before his translation.

65. 32:22

    He had this testimony that he pleased God. So you see, there’s a witness that he pleased God. He walked with God, and God has given that testimony. It’s a sort of a judgment. Upon him, and then having. Given that judgment, he translated him that he should not see there, and we read in that verse those words and was not found and was not found, which means that there was a search made for him and they could not find him.

66. 33:00

    One day Enoch was there proclaiming the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his Saints, a familiar figure to that generation, and then he’s not there and people ask, where’s Enoch? They can’t find him, so a search is made for him, but they can’t find me not he’s not. To be fair, that says it here.

67. 33:25

    He was not found. He’s the 7th from Adam. He seems to be a type of this generation and the time is coming, brethren of sisters, when a search will be made for us and we won’t be found when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Paul says in the Second of Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse one that we will be gathered unto him.

68. 33:49

    We will be taken unto the Lord Jesus. We will be taken out out of our immediate circles and to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and our voices will be stilled as far as the witness of the world is concerned. The doors of our halls will be kept locked and closed. Our homes will not be will be vacated.

69. 34:10

    We will not be there and people. Will wonder what? Will happen. You imagine the scene. It’s a real scene. But when the Lord returns and we’re taken out of our homes, people are going to ask what’s gone wrong? Where’s these people? Where have they gone? And like in the days of Enoch, it will be a seven days wonder. A search will be made.

70. 34:33

    Have they all gone away? There may be mortgages to be paid. There may be commitments to be fulfilled. They can’t do that and they’re not there to do it. And people will wonder what is the matter. There will be the halls closed and ultimately I suppose somewhere will say, well look, we’re going to force those upon the hall and they will open the hall and then they’ll see the herald of a coming age or something like that. And then they will know what’s happened. We’ve been taken away.

71. 35:00

    The Lord has come. The witness will be fulfilled. And I believe it’s good to set forth that witness that the Lord is coming and this is going to happen, and let the world know it’s. Going to happen. Whether we let the world know it or not, that’s going to happen. It’s going to be they’re going to return.

72. 35:18

    We’re going to be called to him. These places are going to be locked. Our opportunities will be closed. We will no longer be gathered in Bible school. We will be no longer gathered at our meetings. The chance the opportunity will cease and it will be like this and the possibilities are that we like Enoch maybe translator that we should not see there.

73. 35:39

    Thank God that that will be our destiny at that particular time. That we should be like him in that that faithful witness that he has set forth before all mankind at that particular time. So that in the case of Enoch and in the case of of layback, the way of the world and the way of truth is faithfully set before us at the beginnings of creation.

74. 36:08

    So that God has laid it down there what we should do and how we should act in the face of the growing climax of these times, in the face of the growing crime and immorality, the decline in the things of God that is manifested in the world, the repudiation of principles of righteousness.

75. 36:33

    Let us walk with God and let us witness faithfully in relation to the future that God has designed to set up upon this earth. You see that little verse? And Enoch walked with God and he was not. This is back in Genesis chapter 5. He was not. That is not sound, for God took him. And so you see that was Enoch’s witness. He had witnessed for for his, the days of Enoch were 365 years.

76. 37:12

    It’s like a lunar. It’s like a year, a solar year of years, 360 years. And there in the midst of darkness, there was light. You know, just in passing, there’s a very interesting statement in the 24th chapter of Isaiah in which actually our witness, at least in these times, is the foreshadowed or foretold predicted by eyes are the prophet. The chapter starts with the emptying of the land of Israel, scattering of the people of Israel because of their wicked, their disobedience, their wickedness. And when that happens, we read in verse 13, when it shall be in the midst of the land, among the people, the people of Israel, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree and as the gleaming grapes when the vintage is done, a few berries. You see, they shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of Yahweh.

77. 38:11

    They shall cry around from the sea. It means from the from land far removed, Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of Yahweh, they shall fly all out from the coasts for the far extremities of the earth. And the excitation is to glorify Him in the fires.

78. 38:35

    Verse 15. But the word in the Hebrew is you. You, The lights glorify Him as lights. Even the name of Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, glorify Him as lights. That’s the point the brother Lloyd brought out when he referred us to the statement in Philippians where we should shine as lights in the world. That’s what Enoch did.

79. 38:58

    He walked with God. His way of life as well as his witness by the word of mouth was a testimony to the world that he knew of what he was speaking. He walked with God. He lived with a purpose and that purpose was clearly set before his mind. It was the Kingdom of God.

80. 39:17

    And so in that place in Hebrews we have Abel, and then Enoch, and then the emphasis. Without faith it is impossible to please God. So back in Genesis we read concerning Methuselah. The. Oldest man that ever lived. His name means when he died it shall come. And the record shows that Methuselah died in the same year as the flood.

81. 39:45

    What a dramatic moment that would have been for those who understood. Here is a boy or a man now whose name means when he dies, it shall come. He would know what that name meant because his father would have told him. His relations would have understood that. But year after year after year after year, rolls die as far as he is concerned, for he lived a nearly 1000 years. Not quite.

82. 40:16

    He didn’t live a Millennium. He lived, however, over 900 years, about 969 years of playing. Remember writers down here, he lived for that period of time, year after year after year, until what would happen. People would get used to it. They’d take it for granted. I think he’s never going to die. Or they would lose that sense of urgency. You know, time and time again in the Bible that’s emphasized. Do you remember when Joseph died? Joseph died and he says God shall surely visit you and you shall take up my bones from hence. So they put him in a coffin and put him in in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, in some dark recess.

83. 40:59

    And for year after year after that, I am sure people would say, look, that confident is a witness to us that God is going to visit us. But by the time that God did visit them, they’d forgotten, and Moses had to wake themselves and wake them up to the realization of it. They’d forgotten and they were fully immersed with the things of Egypt. There was an evidence there.

84. 41:23

    Take the taking of Jericho. You’ll imagine the people locked up in the city of Jericho, and they see the army of Israel moving across from the river Jordan. But the army only goes and it encircles the city and goes back. Curious thing that next morning, the same thing, very curious. The 3rd morning, the 4th morning, they didn’t even worry to watch it, the title.

85. 41:47

    And by the time the 7th day comes, and in fact the walls fall down, they’re all taken off guard. The walls like that. The voice of the trumpet, the trumpet of the apocalypse is sounding full. But it’s been so continuous that we take it all for granted. 30 years ago, if we would see the things happening, what we see today, we would be alerted. And so we are to measure today.

86. 42:13

    But they happen so continuously, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, here’s well the worst, the common market, everything, so much of it that we taking it all for granted and therefore that we may lose that sense of urgency. So it was here. So it was here because the sons of God did not take heed to that Lamac, we are told in verse 28 and lived for 182 years and began a son and he called his name Noah, saying this plane shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which Yahweh cursed. They next looking for the Messiah. He’s looking for the seed that will blaze the serpent’s head. He calls his son’s name Noah.

87. 43:14

    And there was kept alive the messianic hope, and his statement is really a hope that this one Noah may be the promised seed. And in type he was the promised seed. As we know, his name means rest. And he brought rest and comfort to that generation, when of course it would be washed clean by the flood.

88. 43:40

    And so that brings us to the 6th chapter of Genesis and the record of the flood. When we come to the 6th chapter of Genesis, there is a summary, first of all of what has taken place. It came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth. Now in the Hebrew, I think I may have mentioned this before, the definite article is given, and in the Hebrew it reads, It came to pass when the atom began to multiply upon the earth.

89. 44:10

    Now the atom is called male and female. So it became to pass, when they began to multiply upon the earth, and daughters were born unto them. So they not only had Cain and Abel, they had daughters as well that were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men. And here again the word is rendered elsewhere, the daughters of other men, that they were fair. This was the condition in which they saw themselves, and I think it possibly would have been that daughter of Lamech, Naima, that led the way in this.

90. 44:45

    The statement they were fair, actually in the Hebrew can be rendered. They made themselves fair. They gave particular attention to that aspect of life. They made themselves beautiful outward, but not inward. And that was a pity, and it always is a pity. Nothing wrong with beauty, I like it very much, but it’s beauty within that counts for most.

91. 45:12

    Sarah was a beautiful woman, we are taught. She was a beautiful woman in every regard. She was a beautiful woman inwardly and outwardly as well, and therefore she helped her husband in that way. The bride of Christ is mentioned in the 45th chapter of the Psalms, and it says concerning her, the bride of Christ, verse 13, the King’s daughter is all glorious within.

92. 45:44

    She has a personality that is pleasing to her husband, Christ. He sees in her a reflection of himself, and she’s beautiful within. It’s not me the port with outside that counts. It’s real motivation from within. And that is the difference between them and the daughters of other men here who had made themselves fair externally but not internally.

93. 46:15

    Now archaeologists who have excavated an ear of the cow these and have suggested that this may have been the period before the flood, point out that there is no real evidence of paganism. So when we come to this part of the gods revelation, the 6th chapter of Genesis, it’s not so much a Pagan or idolatrous race that we’re considering, but a godless 1. And that’s more difficult.

94. 46:41

    It’s a godless one. It’s the worship of flesh. It’s the worship of self. And so we have a a godless race. We have a people that are proud and arrogant. We have a people that are lawless and totally unconcerned about God, his revelation or his will. We have a people that are progressing in material things, that are clever in their way, but as far as spiritual qualities are concerned, they are utterly bankrupt.

95. 47:11

    That’s the position that presents itself in chapter 6, which is the climax of what we’ve read in chapters four and five. There was also an ecclesial problem, that separateness was being destroyed. The sons of God took the daughters of men and they married them. There was a marriage problem, as we have it at the present time throughout the world, so that there was a breakdown even in the family life within the ecclesia, so that there was a picture of the world in the days of Noah. And Jesus Christ said as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. So you had externally in the family of Lamac and his descendants, an attitude of mind and a way of life that is permitted to us today.

96. 48:00

    And the challenge on this ecclesia in the days of of Noah in his day, the challenge on the ecclesia right likewise was affected thereby. The truth was corrupt, and possibly the long lives of the antediluvians had induced in them a sense of permanency and power. Be that as it may, God says this, My Spirit shall not always strive with man for that also He is flesh.

97. 48:37

    God is saying He’s only flair, she’s only flesh, and being only flesh will get rid of Him. You see, when Abraham prayed unto the Father, he said I am but dust and ashes, and he approached the Father, recognizing his low estate. I am but dust and ashes, and I presume to come before this.

98. 49:07

    What do we do with dust and ashes? You did a vacuum cleaner, pick it up and pulling it away. And that’s all we’re worth unless we put something in it.

99. 49:21

    Now what we can put in it we’ve been virtually told this morning in that reading from Jeremiah, because there He tells us what He did for Israel, and we are in the place of Israel. And in that 13th chapter of Jeremiah and the verse 11, we read as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man.

100. 49:44

     So have I caused the Cleveland to be the whole House of Israel and the whole House of Judah, that they might be unto me for a people, and a name, and a praise and a glory. But they should live to themselves, they should live under God. They should build into their lives the qualities of God. They should know what those qualities are, be familiar with them, and build them into their lives. Then they will be for him a people and a name and a praise and a glory.

101. 50:15

     But he said they wouldn’t hear because it’s by the process of hearing that we will learn those qualities and build them into our lives. The more we study the Word of God objectively and think about that Word of God, the more our mind is going to reflect to it. And as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The more we fill our mind with the things of God, the less we will have time to think of the things of flesh. It’s in the mind that the battle of life has won or lost. In the mind where that is done, I can say I’m going to do this for God.

102. 50:48

     I’m going to do that for God, but it’s in the mind that I’m going to act for God or against God. And if I allow things to creep into my mind, as unfortunately I do, if I allow that to happen, then I’m not going to be pleasing unto God because it’s there in the mind that my will govern my action. Now you see, Israel was called out. What for?

103. 51:10

     Why did He do that? Why did He pour out the flags on Egypt? Why did He open the Red Sea and take them through? Why did He give the matter in the wilderness of water out of the lot? What for? That they might be unto me a people and a name and a praise and a glory, that they failed and they rotted in the wilderness. 2 million people on the other side of the Red Sea. The song of victory.

104. 51:44

     The song of victory. A glorious thing. We will choose Yahweh for his goodness. The horse and the rider. His clash into the sea we’ll save three days later. You’ve brought it in the real earth that we might die. That’s flesh. And here God is saying that he’s only flesh. He’s but flesh that his days shall be 120 years.

105. 52:14

     So is a set time now a set time for affirmation. Peter says in the first of Peter chapter 3 he says God waited in the days of Noah. And in the second epistle of Peter chapter 3, he said, account the long-suffering of God, our salvation, the 1st as relation of Noah’s day, the last two hours. This is salvation.

106. 52:41

     God’s God is waiting as he did then, but in the meantime there is a time of salvation. So you see 120 years and there’s a set time, you know, there’s a set time to favour Zion today. We’re told that in Psalm 102 and this term, the set time is used frequently in the Scriptures. In Psalm 102 and these words in verse 13, thou shall the rise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to say for her, yeah, the set time has come.

107. 53:21

     Then again in context, verse 16, when the Lord shall build up Zion, we seen that He shall appear in His glory the next verse. This shall be written for the generation to come, not that generation ours, and the people that shall be created shall praise Him. Psalm 75 at the set time that I appoint, I will judge.

108. 53:53

     That’s the House of Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse four. I think it is. The times are thoroughly adjusted to God’s command. Romans Chapter 11 where the apostle Paul says if the casting away of them be the riches of the world, what does the receiving of them be what we see in Israel today? Paul says what does that mean?

109. 54:18

     It means life from the dead, the token of the resurrection in the land of Israel today, the total of the time of the end, the witness of Almighty God to ask him for the whole that he’s about to move. As it was in the days of Noah, 120 years were appointed and what happened then we hope to outline tomorrow. Thank you for listening to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast.

110. 55:01

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111. 55:18

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112. 55:51

     God bless and talk to you next week.