HEBREWS 1:1-2 )

GOD, WHO AT SUNDRY TIMES AND IN DIVERS MANNERS SPAKE IN TIMES PAST UNTO THE FATHERS BY THE PROPHETS, ( 2 ) HATH IN THESE LAST DAYS SPOKEN UNTO US BY HIS SON, WHOM HE HATH APPOINTED HEIR OF ALL THINGS, BY WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLDS;

We see in this verse that God the Father, at different times and, in different ways worked with man to bring about his will. What is God’s will for man? In essence, God’s whole desire is to have people that love him and walk with him because they, individually; choose to do so. Listen to this verse: ( Mark 12:30 ) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

God commanded that, but if he makes you do it, then it’s not what he truly desires. He desires for you to do it by choice, not by command. As we go through this whole lineup of different ways God has dealt with men, that is exactly what what he is trying to get each group of people to see.

Some of these things are things we never stop and consider, such as this first one. In ( Genesis 2:17-18 ) And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ( 18 ) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eastest thereof thou shalt surely die.

This is the first way God dealt with man. If you continue to read you will see that they did eat of that tree and, God expelled them from that garden. Now, when he expelled them he fixed it so they or, no one else could enter that garden. ( Gensis 3:23-24 ) Therefore the Lord God sent them forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. ( 24 ) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The reason I show you this is because we can see a beginning and; an end of this way God dealt with Adam and Eve. We can also see something God did to mark to exit from the garden. Another point is that we, as people don’t even consider that tree today do we? That’s not the way God deals with us today is it? We can call that period of time ( a time of innocence ). That time came and ended. So, once they left the garden, how did God deal with man then?

I’m going to show you a verse in a little while but, we must understand this. Adam and Eve were completely innocent until they eat the fruit. Once they eat the fruit, they clearly gained the knowledge of right and wrong. They took that knowledge with them beyond that garden. Now, I’m going to show you some verses that very few people ever mention. ( Genesis 5:3-4 ) And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: ( 4 ) And the days of Adam after he had begotten were eitht hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

In these verses we can see how the earth was populated. Of course, Seth and Cain had to either marry their sister or niece. None the less the world was populated and, the flaming sword kept the people out of that Garden. From this time until the flood in ( Genesis 6 ) we see no law or any direction on how man is to live.

I realize that you might think all this has nothing to do with ( Tribulation ). However, we must see the process as it unfolds up until that time. I feel that we must also make this point. I want you to notice that in an earlier chapter, Cain, Adam’s firat born killed Abel. In ( Genesis 4:13-15 ) Cain was driven out, he became a vagabond and a fugitive. As you continue to read in ( chapter 4 ) Cain marries and has a family.

However, I want you to notice in ( Genesis 5:3 ) ( and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth. From this point on, we follow the lineage of Seth, not Cain.

My whole point in saying this is because this second way God dealt with man is by ( Conscious ). Adam and Eve, using their knowledge, the knowledge from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, taught Seth about the God that created them. Seth in turn taught his children the same thing. Seth is the ( Godly line ) we follow through scripture. From the time they left the Garden of Eden until the flood of Noah man was simply guided by his own conscious. Although Adam taught and raised Seth in his spiritual knowledge and, Seth taught his children those same values, what happened as time moved foward?

If we look in ( Genesis 6:1-2 ) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, ( 2 ) ( THAT THE SONS OF GOD SAW THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN THAT THEY WERE FAIR; ) and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Now, let’s look at ( Genesis 6:5-6 ) And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ( 6 ) And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ( 7 ) And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

As we continue to read, we see this in ( verse 8 ) But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Therefore, we see the coming of the end of the second way God dealt with mankind. ( Conscious ). Just as God put a sword at the gate of the Garden of Eden, now he will create a great flood to destroy all living things. Only Noah, his wife, his two sons and , their wives were saved. Also two of each species of animals and so on.

You can read all about the flood. However, I’m seeking to bring about the time of ( Tribulation ) and why. Now, in ( Genesis 9 ) the Ark has settled back to earth. Noah has just built an alter unto the Lord and communed with him in the last part of ( Genesis 8 ). As you read in ( chapter 9 ) you will see that God gives Noah some guidelnes to live by. Again you understand that Noah had three sons and, these thing were taught to those sons. Now ( human government ) would be the way that God instructed men to live. He had instructed Noah in the way of righteousness and, also just a few guidelines to live by. You understand that Noah was also in the lineage of Seth ( the Godly line ).

As men began, once again to multipy, look what happened in ( Genesis 11 ). What God had given to Noah in a covenant was beginning to fail. We see that; at that time every man spoke the same language. Again ( God came down ) and created confusion by making different men speak different languages. Within this, it became the responsibility of each group to ( see the things ) given to Noah by God and build their governments accordingly. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the governments paid any attention to what he said. Now, this that I’m going to say is something ( I believe ). that means you don’t have to see just as I do. However, just like in any community or, langualge speaking people, there are those that were part of the ( lineage of God ). That means that those people still shared the truth, as they seen it all the way back to Adam. Whether people believed it or not, established their governments according to what they shared or not was up to the leaders. What ( I believe ) is that slowly but surely, God’s way was dying out. If you follow the geneology of people just before Noah you’ll see that there were people that believed However, when Noah was building the Arc, only he and his family were in the Arc when it began to rain.

It’s so much to teach here, however, I trying to lay out what the ( Tribulation ) is all about. Do you realize that up until the ( flood of Noah ) it had never rained? That means that what Noah was preaching and, the work he was doing had to be excepted completely by faith.

One other thing ( I believe ) as we look at this. Look at this verse: ( Genesis 5:26 ) And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. If you will study the numbers we see here, you will see that Methuselah lived longer that his son ( Lamech ) which was ( Noah’s ) father.He also lived longer than any other person on the face of this earth.

My point is here that ( I believe ) that Methuselah is a ( type of the Holy Spirit ). Just as: when Methuselah left or died ( the flood ) came, also; the Church is the ( house of the Holy Spirit ) when it is ( Raptured from this earth ) ( Tribulation comes ).

Now, back to the timeline. We can read about the ( flood of Noah ) in ( Genesis 6-9 ). We notice in the last part of ( Genesis 8 ) and the first part of ( Genesis 9 ) the flood is over. God makes his covenant with Noah. One other thing we can see is that Noah and his children, althought they believed and had faith, they also had sin. That sin was also on the Ark.

However, as we continue to ( Genesis 10 ) we see another geneology. This time it leads to a man named Abram. Through this man, God ushers in ( the age of law ). This being to fourth way God chose to deal with mankind. We see him in ( Genesis 12 ). I want you to realize that up to this point, God the Father has only spoken to three people that we see in scripture. He spoke to Adam, then Noah and in ( Genesis 12 ) he speaks to Abram. If I were to just give ( my opinion ) I’d say that, even from Noah up until Abram we would see the same picture. as time moved foward, less and less people ( believed God ). We know God created Adam, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and, Abram, which became Abraham ( Believed God ) and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. ( Romans 4:3 ) We must remember, none of these people were sinless, they simply trusted God at his word.

This time God does something totally different. He chooses a people. If you will study Abram, he is still in the lineage of Seth ( the Godly ) line. From that Godly line God seeks to separate his people from the rest of the sinful world. We see in ( Genesis 12 ) that God tells Abram to take he, his wife and go to a land I will show you. God wanted Abram to leave every person, just he and his wife. Complete separation. His desire was for through, he, Abram and his wife to bring about a people he could call his own. The Nation of Israel.

Within this fourth way God deals with mankind, we learn that there is, not only sin found in those that are not his but, also within God’s own children. The rest of the Old Testament is all about these people he ( God ) had chosen and, their inability to live according to the laws God had given them. Up until now, God has left those that believed him out among the rest of the world. Now, he is building his own people and also, he will give them, ( his people ) ( a law ) to live by.

In closing this segment; we will see the ( Tribulation ) in this segment of God’s dealing with people and why. Seperation is a very important thing to God the Father. That’s even true within the days to which we live.

The next segment will take us all the way up until the birth of Jesus Christ. Although the last book we see in ( The Old Testament ) is ( Malachi ); the Old Testament actually ended at the death of Jesus Christ. In a real sense, Jesus Christ died in the ( Old Testament ) and rose again in the ( New Testament ). Can you see another ( seperating point ) there? WHAT A BLESSING!

Marshall Clayton

2 Timothy 1:7