Religious vs. Spiritual

(Class Notes)

• Religious Vanity - Religious Lamech (Genesis 4:19-24)
  • The religious Lamech takes two wives in lust (Genesis 4:19) rather than being joined together in love as one flesh with one wife (Genesis 2:23-24)
  • The religious Lamech puts himself forth in place of God as the authority, "Hear my voice . . . Hearken unto my speech" (Genesis 4:23)
  • The religious Lamech deceived his wives just as the Serpent deceived Eve:
    • Lamech to his wives (Genesis 4:23-24):
      • "I can kill a man for wounding me"
      • "I can kill a young man for hurting me"
      • "Truly, God shall avenge me" (70 times more than the cold-blooded murderer, Cain)
    • The Serpent to Eve (Genesis 3:4-5):
      • "Ye shall not surely die"
      • "Your eyes shall be opened"
      • "God knows ye shall be as gods" (knowing good and evil like Him)
  • The religious Lamech makes this sin-cursed earth his home like his father Cain who built a city in honor of his son, Enoch (Genesis 4:17):
    • His son Jabal (Genesis 4:20)
      • The father of the livestock industry
    • His son Jubal (Genesis 4:21)
      • The father of the entertainment industry
    • His son Tubalcain (Genesis 4:22)
      • The father of the construction industry

• Spiritual Hope - Spiritual Lamech (Genesis 5:28-29)
  • The spiritual Lamech anticipates deliverance from this sin-cursed earth (Genesis 5:29) just as his father Enoch walked with God and was delivered from death (Genesis 5:24 cf. Hebrews 11:5):
    • Named his son Noah ("rest, comfort, consolation") by faith just as his father Enoch named his son Methuselah ("when he is dead it shall be sent", i.e. the Flood)
  • Noah's sacrifice upon the altar after the Flood is a "sweet smelling savour" to God and brings forth God's promise, "I will not curse the ground anymore for man's sake" (Genesis 8:20-21)

• Religious Vanity - Religious Worship (Genesis 11:1-9)
  • Religious man worships the creation above the Creator (Genesis 11:4)
    • Tower of Babel - birthplace of idolatry (Romans 1:21-23)
    • Idolatry impossible before the Flood due to visible display of God's presence (Genesis 3:24) - the first tabernacle with altar of sacrifice (Genesis 4:7)
  • Religious man desires to make a name for himself (Genesis 11:4)
    • Tower of Babel - type of Antichrist's kingdom (Romans 1:25 cf. II Thessalonians 2:9-12)
    • Nimrod (Genesis 11:1-4 cp. Genesis 10:8-9) - first type of Antichrist (Micah 5:6-9)
  • God judges religious man's vanity, i.e. religious man's evil imagination (Genesis 11:5-9)
    • "God gave them up" (Romans 1:24,26)

• Spiritual Hope - Spiritual Worship (Genesis 12:1-8)
  • Spiritual man worships the God of Glory Who reveals Himself to him (Genesis 12:7-8 cf. Acts 7:2)
  • Spiritual man receives a name from God in obedience to His Revelation (Genesis 12:1-2)
    • The Divine promise to the Tribulation overcomers (Revelation 2:17; Revelation 3:12)
  • God blesses spiritual man's obedience to His Revelation (Genesis 12:3-6)
    • The Divine blessing for "hearing the words of this prophecy" (Revelation 1:3)
    • The Divine blessing for "keeping the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:7)

Study Outline

Audio Message