There are many “holy books” today that claim to be “the word of God”:  the Bible, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, the Bagva-Gita.  But are all of these truly inspired of God, or is there one book – one integrated “message system” that truly separates itself from all others by virtue of its distinctive characteristics?

We submit that there is indeed One Book that distinguishes itself from all the rest:  the Bible.  Apart from the amazing amount of prophecy (both fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled) contained it the Bible, the amazing unity and consistency, the support evidenced by history, archeology, and science, the Bible contains some truly amazing patterns embedded in its pages! 

And why should this surprise us?  If the Bible truly is what it claims to be – the inspired written word of God, it should not surprise us that there are embedded patterns put there by the master Designer of them all – the Lord Himself!

Jesus Said of Moses: “He wrote about Me”

Jesus made a very curious remark to the Jewish leaders in the gospel of John.  They were questioning him about something, and He said to them: 

John 5:46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.”

We know of course that there are many explicit prophecies of the coming Messiah in the books of Moses – from the passage about the “seed of the woman crushing the serpents head”, to other passages.  But it turns out that Moses actually wrote the “gospel message” into the very genealogy expressed in Genesis Chapter five! How so? 

The Gospel Code in Genesis Chapter Five

Witness this seemingly trite passage concerning genealogy from Genesis chapter five ¹ which many of us just skip over, thinking its nothing more than a trite passage about genealogy.  But look again, and study the “meanings” of the Jewish names, and howthey comprise a pattern that makes the gospel statement – right there in front of your very eyes!

Genesis 5:2-32:  “This [is] the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat [a son] in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him.

And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This [same] shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Decoding the Gospel Message in Genesis

Adam

Adam’s name means man.

Seth

Seth, Adam’s sons, means appointed.  Note that Eve said, “For God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.“

Enosh

Enosh means mortal, frail, or miserable.  (from the root anash, to be incurable, used of a wound, grief, woe, sickness, or wickedness). It was in the days of Enosh that men began to defile the name of the Living God.²

Kenan

Kenan means sorrow, dirge, or elegy.

Mahalalel

Mahalalel comes from the root word Mahalal, which means blessed or praise; and El, the name for God. Thus, Mahalalel means the Blessed God.²

Jared

Jared’s name came from the verb yaradh, meaning shall come down.

Enoch

Jared’s son was named Enoch, which means teaching, or commencement. He was the first of four generations of preachers. In fact, the earliest recorded prophecy was by Enoch, which amazingly enough deals with the Second Coming of Christ (although it is quoted in the Book of Jude in the New Testament).

Methuselah

Methuselah comes from muth, a root that means “death”; and fromshalach, which means to bring, or to send forth. The name Methuselah means, “his death shall bring“. Indeed, the year that Methuselah died, the flood came.²

Lamech

Methuselah’s son was named Lamech, a root still evident today in our own English word, lament or lamentation. Lamech suggests despairing.

Noah

Lamech, of course, is the father of Noah, which is derived from nacham,to bring relief or comfort, as Lamech himself explains in Genesis 5:29.

The Gospel in Genesis Chapter Five

Putting it all together:

Hebrew	English
Adam	Man
Seth	Appointed
Enosh	Mortal
Kenan	Sorrow;
Mahalalel	The Blessed God
Jared	Shall come down
Enoch	Teaching
Methuselah	His death shall bring
Lamech	The Despairing
Noah	Rest, or comfort.

There it is – the Gospel embedded right in Genesis chapter 5:

“Man [is] appointed [to] mortal sorrow; [but] the Blessed God shall come
down teaching; His death shall bring the despairing rest, or comfort.”

Conclusion:  Evidence of Design in Genesis

This is just one example that demonstrates the absolute uniqueness of the Bible as God’s revealed message to His people.  Truly …

• The Bible is clearly unlike any other “holy book”
• We should pay special attention it, in contrast to other so-called holy books
• It is truly a message of extra-terrestrial origin, from a Creator who loves us and has a special message for each of us:  that He loves each and every one of us, and wants to bring us back into communion with Him for all eternity.

Sources:

1. Blue Letter Bible; Genesis Chapter 5: http://www.blueletterbible.org/

2. Chuck Missler:  “The Gospel in Genesis”, a hidden message – see article at http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/

For Chuck’s original articles see also:http://www.direct.ca/trinity/hidden.html