1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,320 Welcome again everyone to the Methodist Voice podcast and Happy Thanksgiving to you this 2 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,040 year of 2023. 3 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:24,000 Today we are going to delve into some conjecture that is drawing conclusions that are formed 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,760 on the basis of incomplete or unsure information. 5 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:35,200 For the record, I do not consider any of the other information I have shared to be conjecture. 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:41,400 I believe that information is based on solid evidence and thinking, but I'll be upfront 7 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,320 about more speculative information we share here. 8 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:50,720 So that being said, I wouldn't be sharing this if I didn't think it was true. 9 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,240 So we're not just off in La La Land here. 10 00:00:54,240 --> 00:01:00,600 I have been reading several books by an author I just stumbled upon named Ken Johnson. 11 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:06,520 I discovered him through the Remnant Radio podcast, a very good podcast you should check 12 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:07,520 out. 13 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:13,400 So the insights I'm going to be sharing today on the genealogies of Genesis 5 are based upon 14 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:19,320 his research into the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as other ancient texts that quite frankly 15 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,920 are not as reliable as the Dead Sea Scrolls are. 16 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,880 It's for that reason that I call this information conjecture. 17 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:33,320 Some of these documents like the ancient book of Jasher are suspect. 18 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:39,840 Now just because the book itself is suspicious doesn't mean the information it contains is 19 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:41,380 inaccurate. 20 00:01:41,380 --> 00:01:48,360 In fact, much of the information in Jasher can be resourced also in Second Temple Jewish 21 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,400 scholarship. 22 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:58,580 So it isn't fabricated, it isn't legend, it just isn't as reliable as other texts such 23 00:01:58,580 --> 00:02:00,940 as the Dead Sea Scrolls. 24 00:02:00,940 --> 00:02:06,600 We know these documents are very important even though they aren't authoritative like 25 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:12,880 canonized scripture is authoritative because much of the information found in those documents 26 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:18,320 functions as source material for what we find in canonized scripture. 27 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,660 So let me give you an example of that. 28 00:02:20,660 --> 00:02:28,560 In 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 5 Noah is called a preacher of righteousness. 29 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,840 Now upon reading that I always wondered where did Peter get that from? 30 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:39,560 It doesn't say anywhere in Genesis, the Genesis stories that Noah preached to anyone. 31 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:45,460 Well like a lot of other New Testament commentary on the Old Testament, that information can 32 00:02:45,460 --> 00:02:52,660 be found in extra biblical sources like the Book of Jubilees found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. 33 00:02:52,660 --> 00:02:58,520 You will also find it recorded in Second Temple Jewish literature like the Babylonian Talmud. 34 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:04,400 And since the Holy Spirit guided Peter to record this information in actual scripture, 35 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,520 it's right and it's useful source material. 36 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,160 Now I could give you several other examples but I don't want to beat a dead horse and 37 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:13,880 I want to move on. 38 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:21,520 So according to Ken Johnson's research from his book The Ancient Mysteries of the Essenes, 39 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:29,040 what Genesis chapter 5 is communicating isn't just the godly bloodline of Adam as most commentators 40 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:37,160 will point out, but it is also detailing an ancient line of prophet-priest kings that 41 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:45,200 Adam would eventually be represented by the mysterious Melchizedek figure found in Genesis 14. 42 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:50,600 We can deduce from scripture that Adam was a king from Genesis chapter 1 because he's 43 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,840 commissioned to have dominion over all the earth. 44 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,400 That is what kings do. 45 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:02,160 His priestly duties become necessary as a consequence of the fall. 46 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,960 Now mediation between God and man is necessary. 47 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:10,520 That's what a priest does, mediates between God and human beings. 48 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:16,200 That's necessary as a consequence of the fall, but before the fall no mediation is required 49 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,880 so that priestly office would not have been necessary. 50 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:26,760 As we mentioned on a previous episode, Adam learns animal sacrifice, a priestly duty, 51 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:34,520 from God himself as God kills an animal to make a covering for Adam and his nakedness. 52 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:40,400 It's likely on the threshing floor of Arana or Mount Moriah or Mount Zion, whatever you 53 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:46,400 want to call it, that's where the original Jewish temple once stood is currently occupied 54 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:52,400 by the Al-Aqsa mosque that this instruction from God took place. 55 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:57,520 Now it says that according to the Babylonian Talmud, it was close to here on the side of 56 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:04,360 the altar, the threshing floor of Arana, that God gathered the earth was formed into Adam. 57 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:15,960 It was on this rock that Adam and later Cain and Abel and Noah offered sacrifices to God. 58 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:23,400 Now these men listed in Genesis 5 were also prophets in that God instructed them in advance 59 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,040 what was going to come in the future. 60 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:32,920 So here's what is recorded in the book of Jasher about the prophet-priest-king mentioned 61 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:37,480 in Antiquity after Adam. 62 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:44,640 And Canaan, Canaan is the son of Enos, Enos is the son of Seth, and Canaan grew up and 63 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:50,400 he was 40 years old and he became wise and had knowledge and skill and all wisdom. 64 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:57,800 And he reigned over all the sons of men and he led the sons of men in wisdom and knowledge. 65 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:03,120 And Canaan knew by his wisdom that God would destroy the sons of men for having sinned 66 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:07,760 upon the earth and that the Lord would in the latter days bring upon them the waters 67 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,240 of the flood. 68 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:14,520 And in those days Canaan wrote upon tablets of stone what was to take place in time to 69 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,960 come and he put them in his treasures. 70 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:22,720 That's from the ancient book of Jasher. 71 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:27,760 Ken Johnson goes on to point out, Canaan reigned over the whole earth and he turned some of 72 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,120 the sons of men to the service of God. 73 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,640 The next king after Canaan was a man named Enoch. 74 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,400 Here's what Jasher, the book of Jasher says about Enoch. 75 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:45,440 Enoch reigned over the sons of men 243 years and he did justice and righteousness with 76 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,960 all his people and he led them in the ways of the Lord. 77 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,400 Now we know this is correct information because it's verified in scripture in Genesis chapter 78 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,200 five. 79 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:01,200 But we have an ancient book of Enoch that was found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. 80 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:07,160 Not only that, the book of Enoch is cited by the Bible, the New Testament, in two places 81 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,320 and is directly quoted in one of the books. 82 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,540 So this is no unimportant book. 83 00:07:13,540 --> 00:07:17,720 It was hotly debated by the early church fathers as to whether or not it should be included 84 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,800 in the canon, which it wasn't, and it probably shouldn't have been. 85 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:27,880 But keep in mind, the Dead Sea Scrolls predate the books of the New Testament by orders of 86 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,900 hundreds of years. 87 00:07:30,900 --> 00:07:35,920 So I want to read to you a prophecy from the book of Enoch. 88 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:44,040 God gave Enoch a prophecy that the Messiah would come 70 generations from his time. 89 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,080 And so here's what that prophecy actually says. 90 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,160 This is from Enoch 10-11. 91 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:54,880 The Lord said to Michael, Michael the Archangel, go tell Simeazah, Simeazah is one of the angels 92 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:59,660 that rebelled against God that we're going to read about in Genesis six. 93 00:07:59,660 --> 00:08:04,760 Go tell Simeazah and his associates who have defiled themselves by marrying women that 94 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,040 they and all those they contaminated will be destroyed. 95 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:15,080 When they have seen their sons slay one another and all their loved ones destroyed, bind them 96 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:22,800 for 70 generations under the valleys of the earth, that would be a place called Tartarus, 97 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:28,680 that word is used in the New Testament, until the day of their judgment and of their end 98 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:33,560 till their last judgment be passed for all eternity. 99 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:36,040 So they're to be bound in this prison called Tartarus. 100 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:39,640 You'll find that in ancient Greek mythology. 101 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:44,280 So Greek mythology kind of overlaps with the Bible in some of these stories because they're 102 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,880 all based upon real events as we'll read about in Genesis chapter six and we'll also read 103 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:49,880 from the book of Enoch. 104 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:57,480 But the point for here is this is a prophecy Enoch receives hundreds of years, the oldest 105 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,200 documents we have of Enoch are hundreds of years older than the New Testament, found 106 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:02,480 with the Dead Sea Scrolls. 107 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:12,240 We know they have authority and it says 70 generations from Enoch, these beings that 108 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,000 rebelled against God, we're going to read about in Genesis chapter six, are going to 109 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,160 receive their final judgment. 110 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,120 Now I want to read to you a passage from the New Testament. 111 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,760 This is from first Peter chapter 318. 112 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,640 It says for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that 113 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:38,400 he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit 114 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:48,080 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey 115 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:52,820 when God's patient waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which 116 00:09:52,820 --> 00:09:58,920 a few, that is eight persons were brought safely through in water. 117 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,640 Now listen, think about this. 118 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:09,360 Jesus Christ, once he died and made atonement for humanity, went to those spirits to give 119 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:14,760 them the orders that they had been defeated, their work had been defeated and they were 120 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,640 finally judged. 121 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:24,360 What is most remarkable of all about this story is that in the genealogy of Luke of 122 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:32,080 Jesus, that's Luke chapter three verses 23 through 28, it verifies in Luke that Jesus 123 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:38,200 Christ is the 70th generation from Enoch. 124 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,880 Wow. 125 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:43,880 That's amazing. 126 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:50,600 And it says in the book of Genesis chapter five, Enoch walked with God and he was not 127 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:52,400 for God took him. 128 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,440 So Enoch was an amazing prophet. 129 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,560 He named his son Methuselah. 130 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:03,760 Now that name, we're getting back to Ken Johnson's work now. 131 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,520 That name is made up of two Hebrew words. 132 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,920 First one is meth, meaning death. 133 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:15,720 I wonder why they, that's why they call it crystal meth, crystal death. 134 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,560 Meth meaning death and seila meaning to send. 135 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:21,160 These two words put together form a Hebrew sentence. 136 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:26,120 Methuselah's name means when he is dead, it shall be sent. 137 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:31,080 If you look carefully at the genealogical records given in Genesis five, Jasher five 138 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:39,440 through six, the Cedar of Olam, it is clear that Methuselah died in the year of the flood. 139 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,560 Think about that. 140 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:49,080 After Enoch is taken, his son Methuselah was made the next king of righteousness. 141 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,240 All the days that Enoch lived upon the earth were 365 years. 142 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:57,920 And when Enoch had ascended into heaven, all the kings of the earth rose and took Methuselah 143 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:59,760 his son and anointed him. 144 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,200 And they caused him to reign over them in the place of his father. 145 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,160 And Methuselah acted uprightly in the sight of the God as his father Enoch had taught 146 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:08,160 him. 147 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,640 And he likewise during the whole of his life taught the sons of men wisdom, knowledge and 148 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:12,640 the fear of God. 149 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,360 And he did not turn from the good way either to the right or to the left. 150 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,360 That was a quote from the ancient book of Jasher. 151 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:24,360 But it was not long until another apostasy came and the people turned away from God and 152 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:25,480 his ways. 153 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,120 So here's another quote from Jasher. 154 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,960 But in the days of Methuselah, the sons of men turned from the Lord, they corrupted the 155 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,320 earth, they robbed and plundered each other and they rebelled against God and they transgressed 156 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:41,760 and they corrupted their ways and would not harken to the voice of Methuselah, but rebelled 157 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,400 against him. 158 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,960 So Methuselah had a son whom he called Lamech. 159 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,200 Lamech then had a son whom he named Noah. 160 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,520 Noah was born in 1056, year 1056. 161 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:59,040 We're not told much of Lamech, but Jewish legend states that he was not a very godly 162 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:00,040 man. 163 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:05,360 Methuselah knew by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that his grandson Noah would be the 164 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:11,560 one, not the Messiah, who would be 70 generations from his father Enoch, but that Noah would 165 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:19,680 be the next king of righteousness, the next prophet, priest, king in the line. 166 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:25,040 Noah grew up and followed the ways of God as taught by his grandfather, Methuselah. 167 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:29,980 Noah was given all the patriarchal writings from Adam to his time. 168 00:13:29,980 --> 00:13:35,120 During this time, even the descendants of Seth became corrupt. 169 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:38,880 Now this is from, I'm reading to you now from Josephus Antiquities. 170 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:45,120 Josephus was a famous Jewish historian around the time of Jesus. 171 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:51,280 Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the universe and to have 172 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,240 an entire regard to virtue for seven generations. 173 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,720 But in the process of time, they were perverted and forsook the practices of their forefathers 174 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:04,760 and did neither pay those honors to God, which were appointed them, nor had they any concern 175 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,040 to do justice towards men. 176 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:11,280 But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their 177 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:17,520 actions a double degree of wickedness whereby they made God their enemy. 178 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:23,680 So in closing out this chapter, that's the genealogy from Adam to Noah. 179 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:29,760 So what we have in chapter five, it is listing a line of prophet, priest, kings that are 180 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:35,200 inherited based upon worthiness. 181 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:42,920 And so we've identified the Melchizedekian priests, because Melchizedek is the priest 182 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:49,000 and the king and the prophet all rolled into one. 183 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:57,160 And that list includes Adam, Canaan, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah. 184 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:01,040 And we'll be discussing this line of thinking a little bit later because it continues on 185 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:06,640 in the story and it's actually really important in regards to things like what we're talking 186 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,760 about in church on Sundays, for instance. 187 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:16,000 If you go to the foundrypress.org, I've got a series on the book of Ezekiel where this 188 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:24,560 obscure group of priests known as the priests of Zadok are kind of a continuation of the 189 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:30,540 Melchizedekian idea and how God has eternal plans and purposes to combine these offices 190 00:15:30,540 --> 00:15:40,000 into one and for people to continue this tradition of ruling politically and religiously as a 191 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:49,160 mediator between God and other people and to teach and instruct in the wisdom, the correct 192 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:54,480 thinking, the deep wisdom of God and communicating that and growing in it with other people. 193 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,000 So it's an important idea and I've been fascinated by it. 194 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,800 So we're going to talk more about it in the future. 195 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:03,360 Next week we'll cover Genesis 6. 196 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,440 That gets a little weird but it's not obscure. 197 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:08,240 It's not hard to figure out. 198 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,640 It's a consistent testimony in all of antiquity as to what that story is telling. 199 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:18,240 So we'll tell it next week and look forward to sharing that information with you when 200 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:19,240 the time comes. 201 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:20,240 Be blessed. 202 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:21,240 Have a great Thanksgiving. 203 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:22,240 Enjoy your family. 204 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:23,240 Love each other and hope all the best for you. 205 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:24,240 Blessings. 206 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:38,680 Bye bye.