The first great landmark of the human race was Adam, who fell away from God. We should not forget that he was the first generation of mankind. He was the father of all of us, and he was made in the image of God. God intended that Adam would take the divine life into himself, and that he would have the flowing of the river within him to be transformed into gold, bdellium, and onyx stone for the building up of a bride. But he got fallen away from God, in other words he lost God. That was a real loss. If you lose God, you lose everything. In Genesis 2 God charged him to be careful about his eating. There were two categories of food. One would issue in life, and the other in death. And Adam ate the wrong one. After eating the wrong tree, he realized that he was about to die. That threatened him so he kept himself away from God’s presence and hid himself under a covering.
But God is eternal, and He would never give up His intention. After man’s fall God came in to find Adam. The first word that God spoke to fallen man was, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). After God found Adam He gave him a promise that the seed of woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Such a word to them was the gospel! That was good news, because after Eve and Adam had eaten of the wrong tree, they were scared and prepared to die. They thought that their destiny was nothing but death. But God spoke to them about the seed. The seed indicates life-giving. Instead of death, life was there. So this was good news! This was the gospel! This was the first preaching of the gospel in the entire universe. This gospel preaching was concerning Christ being the seed of woman. Eventually Christ came through a virgin. He was the Son of a virgin. The Son of a virgin is just the seed of the woman. Surely Eve and Adam were scared and they hated that serpent, so God promised them that the seed of woman would bruise the head of the serpent. Hallelujah for such a gospel! We know that Adam believed this gospel because he called his wife’s name Eve, indicating she would be the mother of all who live (Gen. 3:20). That was the strong sign that Adam believed in God’s promise as the gospel. Adam believed, and God also did something. He made a coat of the skin of an animal sacrifice to cover Adam (Gen. 3:21). We know that the coat of the skin of the sacrifice was a type of Christ being our righteousness. So in the first great landmark of human history, Adam, you can see the fall of man, the gospel, and redemption.
From Adam we go on to Abel. Revelation with all of these great men was progressive. It was advancing from one level to another level until it reached the top. Abel was the continuation of Adam. Adam was redeemed. Abel was not only redeemed, but also brought back to God, through the offering typifying Christ (Gen. 4:4). We too were not only redeemed, but also brought back to God to contact God and to fellowship with God. Abel’s offering was not for sins. His offerings were for fellowship with God. Through these offerings, which were types of Christ, he was fully accepted by God. But he suffered the persecution, the martyrdom for God’s testimony (Gen. 4:5-8). It is the same today. If we bear God’s testimony that we can fellowship with God through Christ we will suffer the persecution.
From Abel we go on to Enosh. The word Enosh indicates a fragile man. I do believe that Seth, Enosh’s father, realized that they were fragile men, so he named his son Enosh, meaning a fragile man. Enosh realized that he was weak and fragile, so he had no trust in himself. He called upon the name of Jehovah (v. 26). He did not call upon the name of God the Almighty, but upon the name of Jehovah, the Eternal One, the One who was, who is, and who will be, the One who is the great I Am. He is the great to be. In the entire universe everything is vanity. Everything is not to be. Everything is to vanish away. Only this Eternal One is to be; only He is. He is the reality. He exists forever. Yesterday, today, and forever, He is the same, without any change. He is the self-existing and ever-existing One. He is everything. Whatever you need, He is. His name is I Am.
In John 8 the Lord Jesus used the name, I Am, several times. In verse 24 He said, “I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins.” The Lord was saying, “To get out of sin, you must believe that I am.” In verse 58 the Lord Jesus said, “I say to you, before Abraham came into being, I am.” The Lord is the great I Am. He is Jehovah.
In Genesis 4 Enosh realized that he was weak and fragile, so he called upon the name of this ever-existing One. This means that this fragile man did not live by himself. He lived by the ever-existing One. This is like saying, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Enosh lived, not by his fragile man, but by the great I Am, the ever-existing, eternal Lord. How did he live this life? It was by calling on this name. So you can see that to call upon the name of the Lord is an ancient matter. It is not our invention today. We are so weak, so fragile, so easy to be broken. Just a long face from our wife can put us down. Just one half sentence from our boy can break us. We are so fragile, we have no way to live, so we call upon His name. When we call upon Him, He lives for us! We are fragile, but He is so strong. So we call upon His name. Calling on the Lord’s name makes us happy, strong, and even victorious. This was the landmark of Enosh. Hallelujah for such a landmark! In human history that was the landmark of one who called upon the name of the Lord.