WORSHIP IN GENESIS:

TWO CLASSES OF WORSHIPERS

Lesson 1 for July 2, 2011

HOW DID THE TWO LINES OF WORSHIPPERS EMERGE?
In the beginning, worshipping God was a spontaneous
act of men.
Worship came with a personal encounter with God face
to face; everyday and especially on Sabbath which God
set aside for Him.
When Adam and Eve sinned, worship was immediately
affected.
Then, instead of coming to God, they ran from Him.
Sin opened a breach between God and man and then
two lines of worshippers emerged:
1. Those who worshipped God
following the standard He had set.
2. Those who didn’t want to follow
guidelines and invented their own
kind of worship, following a
wrong worship method.
 TWO LINES OF
WORSHIPPERS
FOLLOWING GOD’S FOLLOWING THEIR
ORDER OWN CRITERIA
God ordered that He Cain disobeyed God’s
must be worshipped by order and offered the
sacrificing an animal as fruit of his own effort.
a representation of
Abel offered a sacrifice
Jesus’ blood that
by faith, but Cain
would be shed at the
offered his own works
cross for our sins.
as a sacrifice.
Abel presented that
kind of offer before
God.

All true worship must center on the realization that we are helpless to save
ourselves and that all our attempts at salvation by works are manifestations of
Cain’s action here. True worship must be based on a realization that only through
God’s grace can we have any hope of eternal life.
 TWO LINES OF WORSHIPPERS
Since Abel died, the existence of two lines of worshippers became clear: Cain’s and Seth’s
children. The lasts followed the living God, but the others followed their own impulses.
That is very clear in the song of the seventh human generation: Lamech y Enoch.

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam,

“Then Lamech said to his wives:
prophesied about these men also, saying,
Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
"Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
His saints, to execute judgment on all, to
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
convict all who are ungodly among them of all
Even a young man for hurting me.
their ungodly deeds which they have
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
committed in an ungodly way, and of all the
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold”
harsh things which ungodly sinners have
(Genesis, 4: 23-24) spoken against Him.” (Judas, 14-15)

Lamech chose Cain as his example of

worship. He only accepted God to save Enoch, on the other hand, worshipped God in the
him (to avenge him) from his enemies. context of His Second Coming and His fair judgment.
“For some time the two classes remained separate. The race of Cain, spreading
from the place of their first settlement, dispersed over the plains and valleys where
the children of Seth had dwelt; and the latter, in order to escape from their
contaminating influence, withdrew to the mountains, and there made their home.
So long as this separation continued, they maintained the worship of God in its
purity. But in the lapse of time they ventured, little by little, to mingle with the
inhabitants of the valleys. This association was productive of the worst results.
“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair.” The children of
Seth, attracted by the beauty of the daughters of Cain’s descendants, displeased the
Lord by intermarrying with them. Many of the worshipers of God were beguiled
into sin by the allurements that were now constantly before them, and they lost
their peculiar, holy character. Mingling with the depraved, they became like them
in spirit and in deeds; the restrictions of the seventh commandment were
disregarded, “and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The children of
Seth went “in the way of Cain” (Jude 11); they fixed their minds upon worldly
prosperity and enjoyment and neglected the commandments of the Lord. Men “did
not like to retain God in their knowledge;” they “became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1:21. Therefore “God
gave them over to a mind void of judgment.” Verse 28, margin. Sin spread abroad
in the earth like a deadly leprosy.”
E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 6, pg. 81)
 NOAH’S WORSHIP
When evil filled all the earth, God destroyed the Earth with the Flood, but saved Noah and his
family. When the Flood ended and the waters went down, Noah went out the ark and
worshipped God. He built an altar and offered a sacrifice on it.
His first thought was to thank God for saving them, recognizing his total dependence on God
and showing his belief in the coming of the Messiah to redeem the human race.
 ABRAHAM’S WORSHIP
God called Abraham to go out his land, so he could move away from idols
and be able to freely worship the true God.

The answer was: “Abraham obeyed My voice

and kept My charge, My commandments,
My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis, 26: 5); “And
he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it
to him for righteousness” (Genesis, 15: 6)
Once God’s promises had been fulfilled,
Abraham was subjected to a severe test of
faith.
In that test, he understood how God felt
when He had to give His Son to save this
world. He understood how it’s only through
Jesus –represented by the lamb God
provided– that we can obtain salvation.
Jacob passed himself off as his brother Esau and deceived his
father to get the birthright. His brother threatened to kill
JACOB’S
him, so hi runaway to Haran. WORSHIP
“The evening of the second day found him far away from his father’s tents. He felt that he
was an outcast, and he knew that all this trouble had been brought upon him by his own
wrong course. The darkness of despair pressed upon his soul, and he hardly dared to pray.
But he was so utterly lonely that he felt the need of
protection from God as he had never felt it before. With
weeping and deep humiliation he confessed his sin, and
entreated for some evidence that he was not utterly
forsaken. Still his burdened heart found no relief. He
had lost all confidence in himself, and he feared that the
God of his fathers had cast him off.
But God did not forsake Jacob. His mercy was still
extended to his erring, distrustful servant. The Lord
compassionately revealed just what Jacob needed—a
Saviour. He had sinned, but his heart was filled with
gratitude as he saw revealed a way by which he could
be restored to the favor of God.”

E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 17, pg. 182-183)

 Jacob’s response to the divine
JACOB’S WORSHIP revelation was an act of worship.
He recognized the holiness of that
place by calling it “House of God”.
He made a pact of obedience and
loyalty to God.
He promised to return God the tithe of
all that God would give him.
Jacob felt the greatness of God and his
own smallness. Worship is not about
approaching God as you would some
buddy or pal. Our attitude should be
that of a sinner in dire need of grace,
falling before our Maker with a sense
of need, fear, and gratefulness that
God, the Creator of the universe,
would love us and do so much in order
to redeem us.
 What do the stories of Noah, Abraham and Jacob tell us when we
try to answer to these questions?

Noah Because we want to thank His salvation

Why do we worship
Abraham Because He ordered it
God?
Jacob
Because we show reverence before His
presence

Noah
Saving us from danger and giving us another
chance
What has He done that
makes Him worthy of Abraham He offered his Son to give us salvation
worship?
Jacob He promises protection

Noah Showing gratitude

What purpose does our
Abraham Showing faith
worship of God serve?
Jacob
Showing the desire of acting according to His
will