Before we continue with the names in Genesis chapter five, let us review what we have covered so far. We have seen that at the beginning of the Bible, in God's creation, there were two trees. One was the tree of life, and the other was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. These two trees represent the two possible manners of life for mankind. Then after the fall of man Adam and Eve begot two sons, Cain and Abel, who also represent the two manners of life. Cain and Abel were on two different “lines.” Cain was on the line of knowledge, and Abel was on the line of life.

Cain means “gain,” and Abel means “emptiness.” God had promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. When Adam and Eve begot their first son they believed that he was the answer to God's promise. But as Cain grew up they realized that he could not possibly be the one to bruise the head of the serpent. They were so disappointed that when their second son was born they named him Abel, “vanity.” These two sons, Cain and Abel, were the beginning of the two lines of Adam's descendants. These two lines, the line of knowledge and the line of life, represent two distinct manners of life.

Both Cain and Abel offered something to God. Cain offered something from the field in which he farmed, and Abel offered something from his shepherding. God rejected Cain's offering and accepted Abel's offering, which caused Cain to become so jealous and angry that he killed his brother. After Cain murdered Abel, God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth. The line of life which began with Abel continued with Seth, whose name means “appointed.” Seth represents Abel in resurrection. Out of the death of Abel there was the appointing of Seth. Seth then begot Enosh, whose name means “weak” or “mortal.” Enosh begot Kenan, whose name means “gain.” Kenan begot Mahalaleel, whose name means “praise of God” or “God is splendor.” Then Mahalaleel begot Jared, whose name means “descending.” These names make up a progression of our experiences on the line of life.

All of these names and matters we have covered so far should not just be doctrines to us. They must become experiential. For example, we as believers were “appointed.” Seth was appointed, and we also were appointed. We are the same as Seth. We were predestinated before the foundation of the world. Then we were saved through Christ's death and resurrection. By His resurrection we were regenerated. We were brought forth into a completely new realm, which we call the divine and mystical realm. Now we are one with the resurrected and ascended Christ. This is the experience of Seth.

Most Christians, after experiencing the appointment of Seth through their regeneration, unfortunately join themselves to the line of the knowledge of good and evil. Very few Christians realize that to continue living the Christian life after their regeneration they must progress to Enosh. They must learn that they are weak and mortal. As those who endeavor to live on the line of life, after we experience the appointment of Seth we must experience the mortality of Enosh. We must realize, “I am fragile. I am weak. I need the Lord, and I need the Lord's mercy.” How many Christians can say, “I am so fragile”? All of us are proud by nature. We like to think that we are “somebody.” That is why Enosh must become experiential.

One of the deepest blessings that the Lord can give us is to show us who we really are. We are fragile, mortal, and weak. What then can we do? We can only call upon Him. To call on the Lord means that we know we desperately need help. We call on Him because we need Him. We realize that without Him we cannot possibly go on. When we know that we are Enosh we are able to grow in the line of life. Then the more we grow, in turn the more we realize that we are Enosh. Instead of growing stronger, it seems that we grow weaker. We become more limited. Perhaps before in our Christian experience we could subdue everyone, but now it seems everyone else subdues us. The more we grow in the line of life, the more we will realize our weakness and mortality. Everything we gain spiritually must come from the realization, “I am Enosh.” Only then can we truly follow the Lord and be used by Him.

The more we know how weak we really are, the more we are able to apprehend spiritual things. It is foolish for Christians to boast, “I've got it! I see it!” Such Christians don't realize that no matter how much they see, or how much they've gained, it cannot possibly compare with the unsearchable riches of Christ. What does it mean to “know the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8)? It means to confess that we are Enosh. All those who say “now I see” do not really see. But when we say, “Lord, I am just Enosh,” then the Lord will say, “Now you are qualified to experience Me and gain Me.” This is how Enosh begets Kenan in our experience. Out of the realization of our weakness we gain Christ.

The more we follow the Lord, the more we should realize, “I am so limited. I am so mortal. I am just Enosh. I am just fragile and weak.” No one can boast in anything to the Lord. We can only say, “Lord, thank You for Your mercy.” Then out of this realization Kenan will come. When we want to enjoy and explore all the riches of Christ, the first thing we must know is that we are Enosh. Then we will have the real “gain” and become Kenan. We will enjoy and gain the riches of Christ.

The next person on the line of life is Mahalaleel. Out of our gaining of Christ we will realize that “God is splendor,” and we will praise Him. The attitude of many Christians is, “God is marvelous, and so am I!” But God only likes to hear that He is marvelous. He doesn't like to hear that we are so good. Whenever God hears from us that we are so good, He will allow us to fall down for awhile. He may even allow us to fall into the world for a period of time. Eventually we will come back to Him again and say, “Lord, forgive me. I am nothing. I need Your mercy.” We will be reminded that we are Enosh so that we can once again beget Kenan in our experience. Then as we gain the Lord, we will also realize, “God, You are splendor! You are magnificent!” This is Mahalaleel. Now we know who we are, and we know who God is. We know that only God Himself is splendor.

After we see that God is splendor we must then pay a price to become Jared. Jared's name means “descending,” to come down. No one likes to descend. We prefer to be Mahalaleel, enjoying that God is splendor. The problem is that we can become peculiar. We lose our normality. We even make others feel that something is wrong with them because we are so “spiritual” and they are not. Many weak Christians are forced to remain weak because all around them are “Mahalaleel's.” There is no one willing to descend and be so normal around them. This is not healthy. The more spiritual we are, the more we must learn to be Jared and descend. We must learn to come down and be someone easy to approach and talk to. We must even know how to descend to ones who are in the world or in sin. This doesn't mean that we partake of those things with them. It just means that we love them, and are able to be normal around them. We know how to reach them and properly bring them back to the Lord's testimony. When we are with weak or backslidden Christians we must be Jared, not Mahalaleel. Then they will know that we care for them. This is a hard lesson to learn. After enjoying that God is splendor we must also know how to descend so that we can be with all the different brothers and sisters, and with all different kinds of people. Then we can become a blessing to them.

When the Lord Jesus was on the earth He was the real “Jared.” Philippians 2:6-9 gives us the best description of the Lord's descending humanity. The Lord Jesus existed in the form of God, but then He emptied Himself. He took the form of a slave, and became in the likeness of men. He was found in fashion as a man. Then He humbled Himself and became obedient. Eventually He was obedient even unto the death of a cross. The Lord was constantly descending. In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus was always with the tax collectors and sinners. He was even called “the friend of sinners” (Matt. 11:19). He was so lovable and approachable to them, yet He didn't partake of their sin or their worldliness. This is to be Jared.

Descending isn't something we do, it is who we are in our person. If by the Lord's mercy we have some growth and genuine spiritual attainment, then we will simply learn to be with people. It should become very normal. We don't need to consider so much about how we should humble ourselves. The Lord didn't have to think, “I'm going to be a man. Then I'm going to be a slave. Then I'm going to humble myself, and then I'm going to be obedient unto death.” If this was the way He descended He would have been a very peculiar Jesus. Descending just came to Him normally. He was by nature a descending person. The more we grow on the line of life, the more this should become our experience. As we are growing spiritually we are also learning how to take care of all kinds of people. We are learning how to spend our time with them and be so normal around them. This is the experience of Jared.