#59 -- Gospel and Spiritual Growth

Valley – September 8, 2002 a.m.

THE PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO GOD

The world system came into existence after the fall of Adam not with the fall of Adam. Satan anticipated a controlling mankind similar to his controlling fallen spirit beings. He was faked out by the fact that man had a nature that didn't always conform to what he intended. This was evident with the murder of Abel by Cain. His plan was limited by its own failure. As a result, it was necessary for Satan to develop a system to maintain control over the fallen nature of mankind. The system was in its embryonic development shortly after Cain's act of murder and his independence from either God or Satan. Ultimately this development took place in open violation of the divine program for human beings pronounced in the Garden of Eden.

There were slow stages of development of the world system until it was destroyed by the flood. In Genesis 1:28 God had told mankind to be fruitful, to multiply and to fill full the earth. Immediately after Cain was cursed by God, he led a willful reaction to not only the curse but also to the original plan for the race. A part of the curse of Cain by God was the cursing of the ground. Cain was a tiller of the ground before the murder of Abel. He evidently had been very prosperous in this endeavor in that he offered the best produce of the ground to Jehovah even before Abel offered a blood sacrifice. He was a man bound to the land – a vegetable and fruit farmer. He was cursed to wander in the earth and was driven from the face of the ground and hidden from the face of God. In verse 14 God tells Cain that he will be a totterer and a wanderer in the earth. Of course he panicked expecting that any kinsmen that found him would kill him for the murder of Abel. God choose to mark him with a promise of protection and vengeance should anyone attempt to take his life.

In chapter four of Genesis Cain is seen as the person who arranged an early part of human government in a very simple form. Verse 16 says he went and dwelt in the land of Nod. He was a wanderer and vagabond who established residence in a specific land. Who named the land Nod? "Nod" is the root of the word translated "vagabond" and therefore means the land of the vagabond. In verse 17 Cain has a son named Enoch. Cain built a city and named it after his son. Isn't it interesting how many places (cities, states, buildings, schools, streets and etc.) in the world system are named for people and families? This city involved a limited form of the government of the world system based on family. In verse 18 there is a list of five generations before the world system is refined by specific individuals who had skills in its elements: commerce in agriculture, arts and entertainment, industry and manufacturing and government (cf. 19-24). From that point in history an urbanized society built around patriarchal city governments began to grow and establish its order in the world system. Ultimately it went completely out of control as elements of the world system demanded bigger and better things. As a result, heads of households were glad to give their daughters to the sons of God who as a result of their physical unions produced Nephalim ["giants"] (Gen. 6). These contributed greatly to the urbanized world system and its perpetuation. What Satan designed to pollute the human race became the basis for the flood. The condition of the race in a world system government run rampant is described in 6:5-7. "Then Jehovah proceeded to see that the evil of mankind was multiplied on the earth, and that every forming of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all day long, then it repented Jehovah that he had made mankind in the earth, and it proceeded to grieve him upon his heart. Then Jehovah proceeded to say, I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from upon the face of the ground; both man and beast [beasts were also corrupted] . . .. (vss. 5-7a)." All flesh was corrupted (for the worse) of its way or manner of life on the earth (vs. 12). "Violence" filled the earth. Violence involves the overturning that which is natural or normal. This is the direct result of the interference of fallen spirit beings with the gene pool of humans and animals and the mutation of the product. The result was the flood in which Jehovah removed all living humans and animals from the earth except those aboard the ark (cf. II.). The world system had violently failed and it was necessary for God to destroy it.

After the flood it was necessary for Satan to again establish human government in a new world system. At the end of the flood eight people experientially knew God. Romans 1:21 describes their attitude and shows how Satan found fertile ground for his system. "Because when they experientially knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor did they thank him, but were made useless in their reasoning processes and their undiscerning [lit. incapable of putting together] heart was darkened." Genesis ten gives hints at the development of government after the flood. It began with families as before the flood and these were organized into nations. After the division languages, an additional division in human governments was necessary. They had lands as a result of the division of the continents. They established mini dynasties after their generations.

IV. describes the great development of a consolidated kingdom three generations after the flood with Nimrod. Nimrod established Babel (10:9, 10). He was a Hamite who was a part of the curse of Canaan making him a slave of slaves. He became a king by hunting mighty ones before Jehovah (10:9) and so a slave became a king. The race gathered at Babel in the Land of Shinar (11:1, 2) and there a kingdom was established around a central city. They built a tower by which they worshiped the heavens and evidently the signs of the zodiac in the heavens. They built the city to make a name for themselves. Their intention was to keep from being scattered across the earth as God had intended from 1:28 and from 9:7. The big problem was that they spoke a single language with the same words or vocabulary (11:1, 6). Jehovah saw that there was nothing that would keep them from the perpetuation of evil if they remained in a single cosmopolitan society. As a result, he developed a program to force them to "scatter them abroad upon the face of the whole earth (11:8, 9)." His program involved divisions of languages, races and the continents. The divisions prevented a unified running free of the imagination of the race as a whole. The world system government was forced to divide into multiple entities. This is evident in Genesis 14 where there are nine kingdoms represented by kings none of which is large enough as to permit a king to do whatever he wanted to do. Abraham was able to defeat the four kings with 318 of the trained men of the household. The fragmented governments of the world system limited the ability of world system to go to the extremes evident in Genesis six and at Babel. Sometimes it is difficult for believers to understand the extent to which human government is a part of the world system on every level. It started working with families, then cities, and then small nations. These entities are as much a part of the system as state and federal governments.

By His grace completely redeemed in Christ Jesus,

DKS

THE PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO GOD

1 John 2:15

Proposition: To evaluate the early development of the world system after the murder of Abel by Cain and through its early stages after the flood.

Introduction

A. The Fall of Adam

B. The Faking Out of Satan

C. The Failure of Satan's Plan with Murder

D. The Focus of the World System as a Replacement for God

TRANS: God gave Adam clear instructions concerning the purpose of the human race and His program for the race on earth. After the fall the race openly opposed the divine instructions. The world system took full advantage in its early stages to take the propensity of the race and to develop its own mechanisms to govern the race outside of God's program for government.

I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD SYSTEM FROM ABEL'S DEATH TO THE FLOOD IN THE DISPENSATION OF CONSCIENCE – THE ESTABLISHING OF A CITY BY CAIN – A REDIRECTING OF GOD'S PLAN BY CAIN IN ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF ENOCH – Genesis 4:17

A. The Original Expectation Before the Fall of Adam – Genesis 1:28 [Note: "Replenish" = "fill, fill full"]

B. The Key Elements of the Curse of Cain – Genesis 4:9-15

1. Cursed from the Ground = Will Not Add to Give Its Strength – vs. 11

2. Continue as a Wanderer in the Earth

3. Cain's Understanding of the Curse – vs. 14

a. Driven from the Face of the Ground

b. Hidden from the Face of God

c. A Totterer and Wanderer in the Earth

d. Potential and Probable Victim of Murder

C. The Progressive Establishing of a Simple Form of Government – Genesis 4:12, 16, 17

1. Dwelt in the Land of Nod (Who gave it this name?)

2. Had a Son and He Built a City Naming It After His Son

(Note: People in the world system tend to name places and things for people)

3. Organized a Government Based on Family

D. The Revealed Evidence of the Complete Failure of Primitive Human Government Governed by Conscience – Genesis 6:1-7

1. The Acceptance of the World System of Unnatural Unions – vss. 1-4

a. Progeny the Product of Pragmatism

b. The Prominence of "the Name"

2. The Analysis of the Condition of Mankind by Jehovah – vss. 5-7

a. Promotion of the Evil of Mankind in the Earth

b. Perversion of the Development of Thoughts

c. Pollution of Mankind and Beasts – vss. 6, 7

TRANS: When the universal flood came at Noah's time, the world system was destroyed in its primitive form.

II. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD SYSTEM AND ITS GOVERNMENT WITH THE FLOOD – THE ERASURE OF THE INITIAL CITY TYPE GOVERNMENT BY THE FLOOD – THE RUIN AND REMOVAL OF A FAILED WORLD SYSTEM GOVERNMENT LIMITING IT TO EIGHT PEOPLE – Genesis 6:8-9:17

A. The Condition Causing Ruin or Corruption and the Flood – 6:11-13

B. The Coming of the Flood and Its Results – 6:16-8:20

C. The Commitment of Jehovah at the End of the Flood – 8:21, 22

D. The Continuation of Jehovah's Expectation for Mankind – 9:1

E. The Covenant with Noah – 9:2-27

TRANS: Genesis 10 gives some important information about the way that government developed in the world system after the flood. Romans 1:21 described the general result in the attitude of the survivors of the flood and their thinking that contributed to the renewed development of the world system.

III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD SYSTEM AFTER THE FLOOD IN THE DISPENSATION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT – THE EXPANSION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT AFTER THE FLOOD – THE RESUMPTION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD SYSTEM – Genesis 10:1-31

A. After Their Families as Before – 10:5, 20, 31, 32

B. In Their Nations

C. After His Language (lit. "lip") [After Babel]

D. In Their Lands – 10:20, 31

E. After Their Generations

F. Nations Dispersed

TRANS: One of clearest steps in the development of the world system from antiquity is Nimrod's establishing his kingdom with a focus on Babel.

IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A KINGDOM THREE GENERATIONS AFTER THE FLOOD BY NIMROD IN THE LAND OF SHINAR – THE ELABORATION OF LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT AROUND BABEL – THE REFINEMENT OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD SYSTEM – Genesis 11:1-9

A. The Place = Built on a Plain in the Land of Shinar – vss. 1, 2

B. The Plan = Kingdom à City – vss. 3, 4

1. Build a City and a Tower

2. Make a Name for Ourselves

3. Prevent Being Scattered Upon the Face of All of the Earth

C. The Problem

1. One Language and Set of Vocabulary – vss. 1, 6

2. No Confinement in What They Do

3. Anticipated an Imagination Running Free in Action

D. The Program for Filling Full the Earth – vss. 7-9

TRANS: The pattern for the world system was established from families to kingdoms and nations. By the time we arrive in Genesis 14 we have kings and kingdoms scattered throughout the inhabited world as is seen related to Sodom and Gomorrah.

V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLE KINGDOMS IN THE DISPENSATION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD SYSTEM – THE EXPANSION OF THE WORLD SYSTEM TO MULTIPLE MONARCHIES – A RULE BY KINGS IN THE WORLD SYSTEM – G ENESIS 14:1-10

A. Four Kings Make War – vs. 1

B. Against Five Kings – vs. 2

C. Subservience of Five Kings to One King – vs. 4

D. The Aggression of Chedorlaomer – vss. 5-7

E. The Victory of the Four Kings Over the Five Kings – vss. 8-10

TRANS: The world system slowly developed as it progressed to the flood and after the flood. It moved from a head of family city-state to families and then to nations. These were monarchies with kings and kingdoms. As history moved along more and more kingdoms were established by the world system to maintain some order for families, cities, states and nations.

--DKS—

Valley Baptist Church

P. O. Box 99, Gaston, OR 97119