How the Righteous Roll: The Pre-Flood Saints (Heb 1:4-7)

How the Righteous Roll: The Pre-Flood Saints
(Heb 1:4-7)
I. A Shepherd (v.4)
A. Abel offered a superior sacrifice to God.
a. Abel exercised faith in God while Cain was discharging a religious duty. What they sacrificed was irrelevant. Later Levitical sin offerings comprised the both blood and grain sacrifices:
1. High Priest - A Bull without defects (Lev 4:3-12)
2. The Congregation of Israel - A Bull without defects (Lev 4:3-12)
3. Israel’s Leaders or Rulers - A male goat w/o defects (Lev 4:22-26)
4. A Commoner - A female goat or lamb w/o defects (Lev 4:27-35)
5. A Poor Man - Two pigeons (one for a sin offering, the other a burnt offering) (Lev 5:7-9)
6. Cases of Extreme Poverty - Fine flour could be substituted for a blood sacrifice (Lev 5:11-13)
b. The Issue with Cain was not his sacrifice but His heart motivation.
B. Abel’s faith became a testimony for and through the Scriptures. [cf., Mt 23:35]
II. A Scribe (v.5-6)
A. Enoch believed in God and on God. (v.5)
a. Tradition holds that Enoch was a writer, a “scribe of righteousness” - (1 Enoch 12:4).
1. The Ethiopic Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) may be one of the first apocalypses written.
2. The Slavonic Secrets of Enoch (2 Enoch)
3. The Hebrew Book of Enoch (3 Enoch) though many believed it was most likely written by a Rabbi named Ishmael in the sixth or seventh century AD (Alexander, “3 Enoch,” 223-54).
b. Enoch was also a prophet (Jude 1:14-15).
B. Enoch was the first person raptured to Heaven. [cf., 1 Thes 4:13-18]
C. Enoch understood that a faithful life leads to blessings. [cf., 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 22:12] (v.6)
III. A Shipbuilder (v.7)
A. Noah believed God and built a boat on dry land.
B. Noah had two ministries which showed his faith, a ship builder and a preacher.
Points to Ponder:
1. Faith is transitive, it always has an object. In the case of the Christian faith, our faith rests on and in God.
2. Sanctifying faith produces two products in a believer’s life, obedience and steadfast endurance. If you do not see that in your own life then what does that say about your capacity to trust in God? How will you change that?
John Calvin, “Commentary on Hebrews,” Online. Accessed 12/8/23. www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calc....
J. Dwight Pentecost and Ken Durham, Faith That Endures: A Practical Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2000), 178.
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Jewish Epistles: Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, Jude, 1st ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2005), 152.
R. L. Hymers, Jr. “Serious Words from the Prophet Enoch!” Online. Accessed 12/8/23. www.rlhymersjr.com/Online_Ser...
Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Jewish Epistle, 153.

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