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Ordinary Life and Certain Death: Jared (Genesis 5:18–20) · Reformed Thinking

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  Reformed thinking. Welcome back to the Dee Dive.
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  Our goal here is pretty simple really.
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  We take a stack of source material an often we look at
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  scripture that, well, tends to get overlooked.
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  And we try to excavate the theological architecture that's
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  holding up the whole story of redemption.
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  Today we're focusing on just three verses Genesis 5 verses 18
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  through 20. Now, if you've ever found
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  yourself just speed reading through the begats of Genesis,
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  you've almost certainly skimmed right over this man.
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  Jerk. Oh, absolutely.
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  It's very easy to do. You see the list of names and
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  numbers and your eyes just glaze over.
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  It's the biography of Jared, who was Enoch's father, a man who
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  lived 962 years and yet his entire entry in the Bible takes
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  up barely 40 words. Many readers, I think, just
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  assume this is numerical filler. You know, a historical data dump
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  that's only there to establish a timeline.
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  But our mission today is to show that this, this seemingly
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  silent, unremarkable entry for Jared is actually a crucial and
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  very carefully constructed theological device, right?
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  These verses are designed quite intentionally to show us two big
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  things working at the same time in tandem.
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  First, they powerfully display the universal verdicts of death.
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  This is the inescapable consequence of Adam's curse.
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  And 2nd, at the very same time, they trace this fragile yet
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  divinely preserved line of special grace that's already
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  anticipating the arrival of the Messiah of Christ.
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  So that deceptive simplicity of Genesis 5 is where all the
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  theological argument is really happening.
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  It is. We're not just dealing with an
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  archivalist. What we have here is a rhythmic
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  structural pattern that's designed to teach us about the
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  estate of fallen humanity under the Covenant of Works.
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  And at the same time, how God sovereignly maintains the
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  covenant of grace right in the middle of all that ruin.
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  So we need to pay very close attention to the structure
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  because the repetition is the point.
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  OK, so let's unpack this. I think the first thing to do is
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  establish where we are in the biblical narrative.
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  Good idea. We're right at the beginning in
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  the opening chapters of Scripture.
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  It's what's known as the primeval history, Genesis One
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  through 11. So what function does Genesis 5
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  actually perform inside this massive, sweeping story?
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  It works as a necessary continuity link.
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  It's a vital genealogical bridge.
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  A bridge between what and what? Well, think about it.
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  The narrative has moved so quickly from the perfection of
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  creation to the catastrophe of the fall and then to the early
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  spread of sin with Cain and Abel.
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  Genesis 5 connects the original man Adam, who received the
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  sentence of death, directly to the man who survives the great
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  flood, Noah. And that link is vital.
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  It is because it insists that the story of redemption and the
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  story of judgment are unfolding through real generations in real
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  time. It grounds the entire narrative
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  in a verifiable continuous history.
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  And Genesis 5 opens with a very specific phrase in verse one, it
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  says this is the book of the generations of Adam.
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  That phrasing itself is a kind of literary signal, isn't it?
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  It is. That's the totally dot formula.
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  It literally translates as generations or accounts.
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  And it pops up all through Genesis all.
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  Through it, it acts like a structural divider.
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  So when the author uses totally dot, he's signaling a shift in
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  literary focus. A shift from what to what we.
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  Move away from these isolated dramatic episodes, you know,
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  like the events in the garden or the conflict between Cain and
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  Abel and. We shift to we.
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  Shift to a continuous historical line of descent, a movement
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  across generations. So.
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  It's almost like a warning to the reader.
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  Stop looking for the high drama for a minute and start looking
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  for the pattern and the continuity that's.
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  A great way to put it. And Jared is embedded directly
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  in that historical movement from the fall to the flood.
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  Precisely and I think to really appreciate Jared's place and why
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  he's even included, we have to recognize the massive literary
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  contrast that's happening right before Genesis 5 you're.
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  Talking about chapter 4. I am.
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  We're talking about the contrast between the two developing lines
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  of humanity, the line of Cain in Genesis 4 and the line of Seth
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  in Genesis 5. And that contrast is
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  deliberately stark. It couldn't be clear.
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  How so? Well, Cain's line is described
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  as restless Wanderers. They're marked by undeniable
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  cultural achievements. Right Lamech, a descendant of
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  Cain. He boasts about his escalating
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  violence. He does, and we see the
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  beginnings of city building, the development of music and string
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  instruments through Jabal and Jubal, the forging of tools by
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  Tubal Cain. So it's a line that's very
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  focused on human progress, on cultural self-sufficiency, on
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  self glorification. It's the beginning of the
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  culture of man, if you will, being built outside of the
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  immediate influence of God's covenant instruction.
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  And that culture is defined by rebellion and spiraling
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  violence. OK, so contrast that with the
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  line Jared belongs to the line of Seth the.
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  Contrast is sharp. This covenantal stream is
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  defined not by metallurgy or architecture, but by something
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  far more critical. Worship.
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  Worship. The sources highlight that in
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  Genesis 4.26, right after Seth is born, we read that at that
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  time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
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  And that distinction is the theological device at work.
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  It separates the two destinies. Absolutely.
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  One line pursues human achievement and spirals toward
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  judgment. The other maintains the practice
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  of calling on the name of the Lord and is chosen to carry the
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  divine promise. And Jared stands firmly in the
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  second line, the covenantal stream of the worshippers.
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  Which tells us that these genealogies are so much more
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  than archival lists. They are sophisticated
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  theological devices. They.
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  Have a specific singular mission that goes way beyond simple
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  record keeping, especially here in chapter 5.
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  And that mission is defined all the way back in Genesis 3.15
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  with the promise of the seed of the woman.
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  Right. So Genesis 5 is specifically
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  tracing the line of promise. It's narrowing the reader's
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  attention it. Is I mean, think about the
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  billions of people who must have been born in those early
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  centuries, a. Huge number.
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  And yet the inspired author is incredibly selective.
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  He focuses only on this specific branch of the human family.
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  Adam to Seth to Enosh, to Keenan, to Mahaloel and then to
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  Jared. That selectivity shows the
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  meticulous hand of God governing history to narrow down the
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  pathway for the Redeemer. It does so Jared's inclusion and
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  his fatherhood of Enoch places him right in the middle of that
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  covenantal stream. He's not defined by any personal
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  heroic actions. Not at all.
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  His importance is his position in the structure.
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  It signals that he is an indispensable link in the chain
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  that leads to Noah, to Abraham, to David, and then eventually,
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  in the fullness of time, to Christ himself.
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  Now that we've established that crucial context that Jared is a
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  selected figure in the covenant line, let's zero in on his three
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  verses. As we said, the structure of
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  Genesis 5 is doing half the theological work.
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  The entire chapter adheres to this rigid, repetitive formula.
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  And this sameness is so critical.
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  If the account had provided, you know, unique, detailed
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  narratives for each person, the message would be
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  individualistic. It would be about them.
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  But the relentless regularity of this pattern is designed to
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  create a collective universal picture.
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  It is. It's meant to allow the reader
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  to hear the steady, rhythmic drum beat of mortality under the
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  curse, while at the same time tracing a clear, unbroken
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  genealogical line of hope. So let's break down the four
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  specific rigid elements of this formula, using Jared's entry as
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  the standard model. We find it in Genesis 5 versus
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  18 to 20. OK, the first element is the age
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  at birth of named son. Jared's entry opens with this
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  specific calculation. When Jared had lived 162 years,
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  he fathered Enoch. So why is that specific age,
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  162, important enough to be recorded?
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  If the purpose were only to show that he lived a long life, why
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  not just say that? Why bother with the precise
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  year? Well, the precision serves
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  multiple functions. Theologically, it establishes A
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  chronology linking Adam directly to Enoch and Noah's generation.
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  This is about historical continuity, but.
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  There's more to it. Oh yes.
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  But more importantly, theologically, this clause
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  establishes Jared as the father of Enoch, who is the critical
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  figure who will later break the death pattern.
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  The verb used for fathered, which is way shield in the
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  Hebrew, is the precise standard term used all through the
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  chapter. This ensures the continuity of
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  the legal line. It confirms that Enoch, the
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  greatest exception in the chapter, belongs squarely to the
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  line of promise maintained through Jared.
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  So the formula situates the exception Enoch right within the
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  rule, which is Jared's conforming dying line.
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  It does. From the very start it does OK.
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  The second element follows in verse 19, detailing the life
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  after name, son and other offspring.
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  And the text reads, Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800
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  years and had other sons and daughters so.
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  This inclusion of the 800 years it immediately divides Jared's
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  almost millennial life into two periods it.
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  Does and that subtly highlights the theological significance of
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  the year 162, the year the covenant line continued through
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  Enoch and the. Phrase other sons and daughters
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  is fascinating to me It keeps the text honest about the
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  reality of the situation while maintaining its tight
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  theological focus that's a. Key point It acknowledges the
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  multiplication of humanity, the original.
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  Creation mandate to. Be fruitful and multiply right?
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  It remains operative even in the crushing weight of the curse and
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  death Life continues, families are raised, the earth is
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  populated. That is God's common kindness at
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  work. But the.
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  Inspired author is rigorously selective.
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  He doesn't name the daughters or any of the other sons precisely.
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  And that signals that this is not meant to be a full
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  demographic report of the ancient world.
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  The author is focusing only on the specific singular line
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  necessary to connect Adam to Noah.
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  Those. Other children are certainly
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  real people, of course. But they aren't relevant to the
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  covenant of grace narrative that's unfolding in Scripture.
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  It shows the careful, narrow path God is maintaining.
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  Then the third. Element summarizes the total
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  lifespan Genesis 5.20 a states. Thus all the days of Jared were
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  962 years 9. 162 years. It is an almost incomprehensible
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  amount of time for us as modern readers.
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  It is. The sources refer to the way
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  this extraordinary longevity is stated with an austere
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  simplicity. There's no celebration, no
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  comment, no elaboration at all about what he did during those 9
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  centuries. It's just.
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  A number. It gives us a sense of divine
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  patience, maybe some forbearance.
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  But the text refuses to glorify the length of the life itself.
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  That's right. It maintains this steady, flat
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  tone because the focus is not on the sheer length of the life,
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  but on what follows it Which. Brings us to the 4th and truly
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  climactic element, the conclusion of mortality, the
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  final clause of the verse and he.
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  Died that. Single concise phrase Wayomet in
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  Hebrew, a three letter verb that just closes a 962 year biography
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  is the. Ultimate verdict It closes
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  Jared's life, and nearly every other life in Genesis 5 with
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  absolute finality. After 962 years of history, of
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  experience, family, cultural observation, the climactic event
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  of his entire biography is that single decisive verb.
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  He died. It's meant.
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  To be jarring, it is. The meticulous accounting of
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  years immediately yields to this brief, unceremonious conclusion.
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  We have to. Pause here, because the entire
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  theological weight of Jared's entry rests on that one final
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  phrase. And he died.
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  The sources call this the theological punchline.
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  They do. And it's the right term.
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  That phrase is the inevitable outcome for every life lived
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  under the headship of Adam, say, for one exception.
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  In this chapter. Grammatically and rhetorically,
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  it is presented as the climactic event of his life.
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  So. Everything that comes before the
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  962 years, the sons and daughters, the culture he
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  participated in, all of that is just background to this final
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  decisive verdict. Exactly.
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  Now when? We read this today.
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  Especially in our secular context.
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  We tend to view death as a natural process, you know, a
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  biological exploration. But the Bible argues
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  fundamentally against that idea. It does.
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  So how does Jared's death function as a theological
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  commentary on the fall? It functions as a judicial
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  sentence, not a natural process. This is the heart of reformed
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  theology concerning death. So it's not.
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  Biological. It's legal.
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  It's. Legal.
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  Yeah, This is the narrative exposition of Genesis 3.19.
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  For you are dust, and dust you shall return.
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  Death is the legal consequence, the wages for the broken
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  covenant of works. Jared's death is evidence that
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  the curse is still fully active and applies to everyone, which
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  means. Jared isn't dying because his
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  body simply wore out after 962 years, but because he stands
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  guilty legally. Under the covenant that was made
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  with Adam, that is. Exactly right.
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  And we see this affirmed later, of course, in the New Testament.
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  Jared is not being singled out for some unique moral failure.
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  He shares Adam's original guilt and the corrupted nature that's
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  passed down by ordinary generation.
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  So his. Long life was just a delayed
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  sentence. It was.
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  You could almost imagine Jared's 962 years like a long stay of
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  execution. 1 granted by a very patient judge, but the ultimate
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  sentence, the legal verdict, it must still be carried out so
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  the. Judicial sentence proves the
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  theological point. Death reigns universally because
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  sin reigns universally. Under Adam's headship, he.
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  Is the representative man for all of fallen humanity if death
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  could be avoided by human virtue or cultural progress, or even
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  sheer longevity, well, Jared would have avoided it.
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  But he. Couldn't he represents the
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  common fate, his life? Illustrates with stark clarity
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  the truth that the Apostle Paul later summarizes in Adam all
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  die. His existence is the proof that
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  the curse knows no limits, not in terms of human achievement or
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  lifespan. And.
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  The repetition of this phrase for Adam, for Seth, for Enos,
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  Keenan, Mahalalel, Jared, it creates this undeniable rhythmic
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  pattern. The sources describe this
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  repetition as a liturgical refrain, or even the drum beat
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  of mortality, and it's. Meant to feel like a tolling
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  bell, one that rings over every single life mentioned in this
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  chapter, this insistent, continuous tolling presses home
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  the relentless reality of death dominating human history.
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  The structure itself is a powerful rhetorical tool.
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  It confronts the reader with the inexorable reality that all
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  lives lived in Adam, regardless of their length or their virtue.
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  And that same single phrase and the.
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  Brevity of the death clause, right after that detailed count
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  of years. It just amplifies the jarring
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  nature of the verdict. Yeah, it does.
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  You spend a moment counting up 962 years, and then you are
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  immediately slapped with the finality of three little words.
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  And he died the. Author deliberately gives us the
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  statistics. He establishes the scale of
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  these lives only to dismiss the scale entirely with the single
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  word we amount. It shows that no matter the
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  volume of time lived, time itself is irrelevant before the
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  legal verdict of sin. So.
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  Jared's detailed biography is really a quiet sermon on the
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  absolute necessity of a Redeemer it.
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  Is because he clearly shows that no human innovation, no physical
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  resilience can get around the curse the.
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  Relentless regularity is the dark background that has to be
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  established so that when the solution finally arrives, the
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  reader understands the gravity of the problem being solved.
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  Exactly. Jared's death sets the absolute
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  necessity of Messiah in sharp, sharp focus.
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  So if. The drum beat of mortality is
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  the theological punchline. We can't miss the fact that God
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  sustains Jared's life for nearly 1000 years.
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  This shows the persistence of grace woven right into the very
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  same verses. Jared's entry displays God's act
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  of sustenance right in the middle of the curse and we.
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  Have to divide the sustaining action into two categories of
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  grace. First, we see common grace and
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  divine patience. The sheer length of Jared's
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  life, 962 years, is astounding. It testifies that God had not
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  abandoned creation even after the fall, and even as wickedness
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  was beginning to grow on the earth.
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  OK. I understand the structural
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  argument, but pragmatically, if God wanted to show that death
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  reigns, why not just make everyone die young, like 50 or
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  70 years old? Why the 962 years?
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  Doesn't the longevity sort of undermine the immediate power of
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  the curse that. Is an excellent question, and
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  the answer, I think, is rooted in divine forbearance.
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  This extraordinary lifespan is a primary display of God's common
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  kindness. How so?
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  Well, the judgment of death was immediate in the sense that
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  mortality entered the human condition, but the final
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  temporal judgement of the flood was delayed so.
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  Every extra century of Jared's life was a gift.
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  A gift. Of divine forbearance, delaying
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  that final judgement, giving humanity more room to repent so
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  the. Longevity itself is a grace, a
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  sign of God's slowness to anger. Exactly.
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  This aligns perfectly with the doctrine of Providence, that God
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  directs and governs all things, even the timeline of judgement.
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  God is. Patient he is.
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  Patient giving seasons and family joys and opportunities
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  for life, even to those who deserve immediate judgement.
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  Every added year that Jared lived was a display of mercy,
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  even while textually we know human wickedness was growing and
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  the. Simple continuation of the human
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  race is a related expression of common grace.
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  The fact that Jared had other sons and daughters shows that
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  the original creation mandate is still being honored by God right
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  the. Be fruitful and multiply command
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  life continues families multiply society's form that's stability
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  despite the universal sinfulness is God sustaining the natural
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  order but while. Common grace is clearly
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  operating. There is a second and far more
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  significant display of special grace in these verses, and that
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  is the. Preservation of the covenant
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  line, Jared. 'S theological value is not just
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  that he lived a long time, but that he held a specific position
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  as a necessary link in the gracious chain of the covenant
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  of grace. He's a.
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  Quiet, yet absolutely vital title.
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  Witness to God's redemptive plan.
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  Notice again the distinction the text makes between.
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  The name Son and the others it. Distinguishes between the
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  anonymous other sons and daughters and the one named Son
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  Enoch, through whom the line is traced.
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  This selectivity reveals that God is meticulously governing
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  history not just to sustain humanity in general, but to
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  preserve a specific lineage. God is quietly maintaining a
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  lineage through these obscure figures like Jared to ensure the
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  promise progresses. Yes.
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  And this line is the only channel through which the
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  promised seed of the woman first promised back in Genesis 3.15
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  will ultimately come so his. Life, therefore, is an argument
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  against randomness. It shows us that God's special
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  saving grace operates through history, selecting and
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  preserving a particular continuous line.
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  A line through which blessing will flow to the entire world.
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  And Jared, though he's not a prophet or king, is an
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  indispensable structural link leading from Adam to Noah and
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  ultimately to the ultimate head of the covenant.
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  You know it. Becomes so evident the more we
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  study this that Jared's entry is not an arbitrary piece of data.
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  It is, as the sources define it, canonical scaffolding.
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  It's a foundational piece that holds up the whole structure of
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  redemptive history. The.
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  Structure is immense when you think about it.
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  Jareds name appears within the genealogical networks that
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  stretch from Adam to Noah right here in Genesis 5 from.
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  Shem to Abraham in Genesis 11 and throughout.
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  The history of Israel in those massive genealogies of first
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  chronicles 1 and this. Entire framework teaches a
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  crucial lesson, doesn't it, that God saving work comes in history
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  through a particular chosen, continuous and divinely governed
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  line It's. Historical, not mythical.
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  That's the key. And this.
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  Lineage isn't just Old Testament scaffolding, it provides the
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  very historical framework that leads directly into the New
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  Testament narrative of Christ. Exactly.
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  We see this explicit connection in the opening of the Gospels.
• 19:32
  Luke's genealogy carefully traces Jesus backward past.
• 19:36
  Abraham past Noah all the. Way to Adam the Son of God.
• 19:40
  And Jared is there faithfully linking the failure of Adam, the
• 19:43
  head of fallen humanity, to the victorious hedge of Christ.
• 19:46
  So. Christ stands as the true and
• 19:48
  final son who succeeds where all his ancestors, Jared included,
• 19:52
  succumbed to the curse. You could.
• 19:54
  Say the genealogy is there for a legal chain of title.
• 19:57
  It proves Christ's right to stand as the second Adam
• 20:00
  Absolutely. Jared's name proves that
• 20:03
  Christ's lineage isn't spiritualized.
• 20:05
  It's concrete, it's historical, and it goes right through the
• 20:08
  line that suffered the curse. He's a.
• 20:10
  Structural beam supporting the entire redemptive timeline.
• 20:13
  But he also serves a unique, immediate purpose right here in
• 20:16
  Genesis 5 itself, creating narrative tension.
• 20:19
  What? Stands out to me is how Jared's
• 20:21
  story sets up his son Enoch's story, Jared's exact conformity
• 20:26
  to the death pattern. He lives 962 years, he begets
• 20:30
  Enoch and he dies. That serves as the dark
• 20:32
  background and this. Strict, almost mathematical
• 20:35
  regularity establishes death as the absolute, expected and
• 20:39
  universal norm. It trains the reader's ear to
• 20:42
  expect that phrase, and he died. This conformity is crucial
• 20:46
  because it makes the eventual breaking of the pattern so much
• 20:48
  more shocking. So.
• 20:49
  Jared's and he died is the expected conclusion, the final
• 20:52
  tick on the clock. It is, but Enoch's entry
• 20:55
  immediately interrupts this pattern.
• 20:57
  The. Contrast is magnificent.
• 20:59
  Instead of that climactic death verb, the text reports that
• 21:02
  Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
• 21:06
  This. Introduces an immediate
• 21:08
  narrative tension and more. Than that a hint of his ghetto
• 21:11
  logical hope. It suggests that even under the
• 21:14
  reign of death, a fellowship with God holds a destiny
• 21:17
  stronger than the grave. So.
• 21:18
  Enoch is the exception. He's a temporary glimpse of
• 21:21
  redemption that prevents the genealogy from just being a
• 21:24
  document of pure, unrelieved despair.
• 21:26
  And this. Heightens the stakes for the
• 21:28
  entire history. The relentless repetition of and
• 21:31
  he died 4 figures like Jared establishes the universality of
• 21:35
  the problem and the absolute non negotiable necessity of a
• 21:38
  Redeemer. This.
• 21:40
  Repetition creates the underlying systemic tension that
• 21:42
  the whole history of Israel and the arrival of the Messiah must
• 21:45
  resolve the. Line preserved through Jared is
• 21:48
  the very channel through which the one will eventually come,
• 21:51
  who will finally, once and for all, overturn the refrain.
• 21:55
  And he died. And the New Testament confirms
• 21:57
  that the pattern established so rigidly in Genesis Five, death
• 22:01
  as the inevitable conclusion of life in Adam, is decisively
• 22:05
  broken in Christ's resurrection. Where?
• 22:07
  Jared secured only an eventual death sentence.
• 22:10
  Christ secures everlasting life. The dark, conforming background
• 22:14
  of Jared's fate makes the light of Christ's triumph over
• 22:17
  mortality stand out in blinding relief.
• 22:20
  You know. Jared's brief biography, written
• 22:22
  4 millennia ago, is far from irrelevant.
• 22:25
  It presses some powerful theological and existential
• 22:28
  truth upon us today. It really.
• 22:30
  Does first. It confronts us with the stark
• 22:32
  reality of death. The stark conclusion of Genesis
• 22:34
  5 just cuts through modern illusions of permanence and
• 22:37
  unending progress. We live.
• 22:39
  In a society that is obsessed with extending life, with
• 22:42
  optimizing health, even with chasing biological immortality,
• 22:45
  we tend to treat death as a medical failure.
• 22:47
  You know, problem science just hasn't solved yet.
• 22:49
  But Jared? 'S story is a constant
• 22:51
  refutation of that secular optimism it.
• 22:54
  Is death is not a biological accident, it is a judicial
• 22:57
  sentence for sin. Even 962 years did not exempt
• 23:01
  him from the divine verdict. It's brutally honest.
• 23:04
  It confirms that life east of Eden, even under God's common
• 23:07
  kindness, is a temporary ticking clock marked by an inescapable
• 23:11
  end in death. The wages of sin must be paid.
• 23:14
  And. Human ingenuity cannot repeal
• 23:16
  the curse, right? And this leads to a second
• 23:19
  powerful application, one that I think validates everyday
• 23:22
  Christian living the dignity of ordinary life.
• 23:26
  Jared had no recorded heroic deeds, no grand military
• 23:30
  campaigns, no prophetic platform.
• 23:32
  His legacy is simply that he lived.
• 23:35
  He begot a son who mattered, and he died.
• 23:37
  Yet his name is preserved in the history of redemption.
• 23:40
  In a culture that worships visibility and influence and
• 23:43
  impact, a culture really not unlike the culture of King,
• 23:46
  Jared's lack of a narrative chapter is actually his
• 23:48
  strength. It is.
• 23:49
  His theological significance rests not on his own
• 23:51
  achievement, but on his faithful link in the line of promise, his
• 23:54
  quiet. Life validates the experience of
• 23:56
  the vast majority of believers today.
• 23:58
  It really. Does most Christians live Jared
• 24:00
  like lives? They work.
• 24:01
  They raise families quietly, pass the faith to the next
• 24:04
  generation, often completely unseen by the broader world and.
• 24:07
  Genesis 5 dignifies that kind of quiet, faithful perseverance.
• 24:13
  It shows. That God's great works were
• 24:14
  carried forward not by charismatic celebrities, but by
• 24:17
  long chains of obscure believers who simply live and trust and
• 24:22
  obey and ensure that the line of promise continues, that is.
• 24:25
  A wonderful reassurance that faithfulness and obscurity is
• 24:28
  actually how God structures redemptive history.
• 24:31
  It is. And his biography also forces us
• 24:33
  to consider the crucial systematic issue of headship,
• 24:37
  which is central to reformed theology and IT.
• 24:39
  Poses a personal urgent question to you, the listener under.
• 24:42
  Which head do you stand, Adam or Christ, Jared?
• 24:45
  'S life illustrates the universal certainty of the
• 24:48
  verdict under the first Adam in Adam, even a life extended for
• 24:51
  962 years ends in the same judicial verdict, and he died
• 24:56
  the. Curse is inescapable under the
• 24:58
  covenant of works the. Entire genealogy of Genesis 5 is
• 25:01
  essentially a register of those who died in Adam the New.
• 25:04
  Testament, however, sets over against this the new humanity
• 25:07
  found in Christ, the last Adam. It teaches that Christ entered
• 25:10
  that genealogy. He bore the full curse that
• 25:12
  Jared inherited, and he definitively rose again.
• 25:15
  So in. Christ alone, the verdict is
• 25:17
  overturned. And Jared?
• 25:18
  'S death therefore functions as a powerful summons to be united
• 25:22
  to the one who breaks the pattern of death and secures
• 25:25
  life everlasting. What a.
• 25:27
  Striking and, as we said, often overlooked chapter, Jared's
• 25:30
  biography provides this dual function.
• 25:33
  It illustrates the certainty of universal death as the verdict
• 25:36
  on sin, while simultaneously preserving, in the face of all
• 25:39
  that mortality, the line of God's preserving grace.
• 25:43
  Jared's quiet life lived for almost a Millennium and yet
• 25:46
  ending in a single decisive verb.
• 25:49
  It really shows us the necessity and the beauty of God's plan
• 25:52
  operating through human history. It does.
• 25:54
  It shows us that God's Providence meticulously guides
• 25:57
  every single generation toward the Redeemer, even when the
• 26:00
  human actors are only noted for being a link in a chain.
• 26:03
  The life of Jared serves as a sober reminder.
• 26:06
  And it makes you ask, what does the fact that God meticulously
• 26:09
  recorded the lifespan of man who lived almost 1000 years, only to
• 26:12
  conclude with a sobering verdict and he died, tell you about how
• 26:16
  precious yet fleeting the opportunity to repent and trust
• 26:20
  in the Messiah truly is, that is.
• 26:21
  The question we are left with. Thank you for joining us for
• 26:24
  this deep dive into Genesis 5.