Lessons on Faith from a List of Names

When I mentioned the idea of preaching through Genesis, one of the elders in our church asked me, “Are you going to preach all of Genesis?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Even the genealogies?” he questioned with a slightly nervous look.

“Well, yeah,” I said. “They’re part of God’s inspired Word, too.”

Like this dear brother, do you get nervous when you think about Old Testament genealogies? What’s the point of this? Why don’t I understand it? How do I even pronounce these names?!

Perhaps you don’t think about biblical genealogies much at all because your eyes glaze over when you read them. We’d probably never admit that we find them boring (they’re part of the Bible, after all), but we do tend to treat them a bit like uncooked, unseasoned broccoli—a necessary but bland side item.

If all Scripture is profitable (2 Tim. 3:16–17), how can believers profit from an Old Testament genealogy? As an example, let’s look at Genesis 5, which traces Adam’s lineage from God creating him, down through his son Seth, all the way to Noah. This humble list of names teaches us five lessons on faith.

Faith Trusts God’s “Mundane” Work

Genealogies seem too ordinary to deserve much attention. Some guy whose name I can barely pronounce lived this long and gave birth to another guy whose name I definitely can’t pronounce. Over and over again. Something of a vicious cycle, right?

Yet all those repetitious routines of birth, life, and death are records of God’s work. Genesis 5 details the specific lineage God would use to wage war against the serpent and his seed, and all those births keep us on the lookout for the promised serpent-crusher (Gen. 3:15).

From a human perspective, Genesis 5 is full of ordinary details like names, ages, births, and deaths. From God’s perspective, he was working through those mundane details to advance his redemption.

In the same way, God assures us that if we perform life’s ordinary activities in faith, he is pleased with them, they are not in vain, and he will reward them (Eph. 5:22–6:9; Col. 1:10; 3:18–4:1). What details of your life do you think are too ordinary for God to use? Your job? Raising children? Cleaning your house? Managing your finances?

No detail—even how we eat and drink—is too small or ordinary to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Faith Trusts God’s Timetable

Genesis 5 zooms through hundreds of years of human history, and by the end of it, God’s promised Savior hasn’t arrived. If the timing were up to us, we probably would’ve fulfilled that promise in the first generation after Adam and Eve. But God always has a bigger, wiser, and better plan.

On this side of the cross, we know the Savior has come, but his church has been anticipating his return for 2,000 years. Don’t grow weary in waiting. Trust that he will come again, just as he came the first time.

Has waiting on God ever made you discouraged or doubtful? Let Genesis 5 encourage you that God is still working as you wait, even if you can’t see it, even if you think your timing would be better.

Faith Walks with God

In the middle of this list, one man breaks the pattern. “Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him” (24). Walking with God is a metaphor for living your life in fellowship with God. It’s the picture of taking a stroll with your best friend, and when you reach the end of your route, you turn around and keep walking because you enjoy each other’s company. How did Enoch do this? Hebrews 11:5–6 tells us it was all “by faith.”

While you wait in faith, walk with God in faith. As we’ve seen, trust God’s timing and his work in life’s ordinary details. Cultivate intimacy with God through prayer, Bible study, and Christian community.

When illness, fatigue, or other difficulties invade, do you trust that God’s grace is sufficient and his power perfect (2 Cor. 12:7–10)? When someone sins against you, do you trust that vengeance belongs to God (Rom. 12:19–21)? When needs tempt you to worry, do you trust your heavenly Father’s provision (Matt. 6:19–34)? In every situation, do you treasure Christ above all and trust that he will never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5)?

Faith Finds Hope in God’s Promises

At the end of Genesis 5, a man named Lamech expresses hope that his son Noah “will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed” (29). Why would Lamech have hope that Noah would rid them of the Genesis 3 curse? Because Lamech also knew about God’s first gospel promise in Genesis 3:15, that one of Eve’s descendants would crush Satan the serpent, remove the curse, and free us from sin and death.

Even though Noah wasn’t the woman’s promised seed, Lamech was right to have hope in God’s promise. This is especially striking considering the two problems Genesis 5 focuses on. Lamech mentions the curse, and the genealogy mentions death eight times. “He died . . . He died . . . He died.” Death is the drumbeat to which human history marches forward.

Even when confronted with the curse and death, Lamech still had hope. How? Because of his faith in God’s promises.

Similarly, when you taste the bitterness of the curse and feel the weight of death, you can have hope through faith in God’s promises. The Bible contains an entire arsenal of promises you can wield to defend your soul as you live in a sin-cursed world.

Specifically for the curse and death, God promises that someday there will be no more curse (Rev. 22:3). Jesus promises that all who believe in him will live forever, even when they die physically, and someday we’ll be resurrected in glory like him (John 11:25–26; 1 Cor. 15). The drumbeat of death will be forever silenced and replaced with songs of unending joy! When you suffer, do you cling to God’s promises in faith and find hope in them?

Faith Transmits Itself

How did Lamech know about God’s curse and promise? He lived hundreds of years after God spoke them to Adam and Eve. This knowledge must have been passed down from generation to generation through Seth’s lineage. Faithful families transmitted their faith to their children.

We, too, have the responsibility to share the faith with others. This includes passing along God’s truth to our own children and the next generation (Ps. 78:1–8). It also extends to the lost in general. Christ calls all believers to follow him in making disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19–20). As Genesis 5 encourages you to live out your own faith, are you sharing that faith with others?

Like all biblical genealogies, Genesis 5 is more than a list of names. Let it encourage you that God is working through your life’s ordinary details in his own perfect timing. Let it draw you closer to God and spark hope in God’s promises. Let it move you to share the gospel so that, in eternity, another list will have many, many more names from every tribe, language, and nation who’ve been saved by grace through faith (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 21:27).