had the passing away of one generation in death been normal , could it at the same time have been listed with vanity of vanities ? when Adam by his disobedience let sin into the world and death by sin , man made in the image of God became subject to vanity ( Rom 8 : 20 ) , not willingly certainly , and in hope most blessedly , but subject to vanity nevertheless . the doom pronounced in Genesis 3 : 19 dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return is seen by Ecclesiastes as something that reduced man to the level of the beast of the field . he comments as the one dieth , so dieth the other ( 3 : 19 ) . if the coming of death has necessitated the successive passing and coming of the generations of men , then the question arises , what would have been the state of things had Adam remained unfallen ? now we readily admit that from one point of view , this argument based upon what might have happened but which did not , is often futile , and we are well advised to face things as they are . if , however , we approach such a question with a chastened spirit , admitting all the time that what we say may nevertheless be very wide of the mark , some light upon the vexed state of affairs that now obtain may repay our modest inquiry . it is categorically stated that God made man upright , but that men have sought out many inventions ( Eccles 7 : 29 ) , so that we can go behind the record of the fall in Eden with this fact in mind . the unfallen Adam was commanded by his creator to be fruitful , and multiply , and replenish the earth ( Gen 1 : 28 ) , yet it is very evident that , if time went on and the population of the earth continued to increase , nations and rulers would soon be facing a most serious problem of feeding and supporting these teeming millions . only by the sad fact now that one generation passes , can the earth continue to support the generations that come . it appears therefore that had man not fallen and death not intervened , the succeeding generations that would have made up the number of the elect seed would have appeared without break , and that the earth would have provided abundant accommodation for them all . there would then have not been necessary the thousands of years which the ages span , and none of the tares would have challenged the true seed and occupied so much of their territory . it is safe to say , however , that no inheritance set aside for those predestinated by divine grace , ever has written across it with vacant possession . in every case a usurper has to be dispossessed before the true heirs can take possession ; see Deuteronomy two for this in type . the multiplication of man after the fall , was not made up entirely by the true seed ; Satan sowed his tares , and those tares outnumbered the true seed so disproportionately that by the time that Noah was grown to manhood all flesh with the exception of one family of eight souls ( 1 Pet 3 : 20 ) had so corrupted his way upon the earth , that they were completely destroyed from the earth ( Gen 6 : 13 ) , everything that is in the earth shall die was the verdict ( Gen 6 : 17 ) and Noah only remained alive , and they that were with him in the Ark ( Gen 7 : 23 ) . again , upon emerging on to dry land , Noah is commanded , as was Adam before him , be fruitful , and multiply , and replenish the earth ( Gen 9 : 1 ) . this increase in number however was not limited to the true seed , for we read the Midianites and the Amalekites came as grasshoppers for multitude ( Judges 6 : 5,7 : 12 ) whereas Israel were greatly impoverished . the multitude of the Canaanites ( Judges 4 : 7 ) ; of the Syrians ( 1 Kings 20 : 13 ) ; of the Ethiopians ( 2 Chron 14 : 11 ) ; of the children of Moab and of Ammon ( 2 Chron 20 : 2 ) ; of the Assyrians ( 2 Chron 32 : 7 ) ; of Babylon ( Isa 13 : 4 ) ; of the nations ( Isa 29 : 7 ) ; of Egypt , of Elam , of Meshech and Tubal and of Gog ; and finally the multitudes in the valley of decision ( Joel 3 : 14 ) , indicate something of the menace to the true seed in the earth that the multiplying of these nations must have been . the picture before the mind is a field of wheat , smothered by the growth of charlock and poppy . the passages which speak of Israel being a multitude are well known , two passages , namely Genesis 28 : 3 and 48 : 4 need to be corrected in the A.V for the word there translated multitude is the Hebrew word gahal meaning a called out assembly , or as Stephen says the church in the wilderness ( Acts 7 : 38 ) , and has no connexion with the question of number . while the promise was made to Abraham that his seed should be like the stars , the dust and the sand that can not be numbered , we know that the Lord had said of them ye were the fewest of all people ( Deut 7 : 7 ) although from being three score and ten persons they had become by the time Moses wrote as the stars of heaven for multitude ( Deut 10 : 22 ) . at the time of the end of the millennium the evil seed are so numerous that they are likened in number to the sand of the sea , and went up on the breadth of the earth ( Rev 20 : 8,9 ) . at last , however , the nations of the earth will become so decimated by war , famine and self destruction that Zechariah speaks of every one that is left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem ( Zech 14 : 16 ) ! it is thus that Israel , as the vehicle of the true seed on earth , come into their own , for then Israel shall blossom , and bud , and fill the face of the world with fruit ( Isa 27 : 6 ) ; it is then that they enlarge the place of their tent and their seed shall inherit the gentiles ( Isa 54 : 3 ) even as their fathers in small yet typical measure inherited the land held by the Amorite ( Deut 2 : 31 ) . coming back from this survey to the time of Adam , and supposing , for the sake of argument , that Adam did not fall , that neither sin nor death were factors in the purpose , and that consequently redemption by the shedding of blood would be unknown and unnecessary , let us think further along this line . Hebrews 2 : 14 makes it clear that the saviour took part in flesh and blood in order that he might be the kinsman-redeemer of all the seed , but John 1 : 14 reveals that he was made flesh so that of his fulness we all might receive , and that as the word made flesh revealed to man the Father ( John 1 : 18 ) . is it something that is impossible of belief that , had there been no sin , even then God would still have been manifest in the flesh ? was the virgin birth that took place about 4,000 years after the creation of man , but the postponement of a most glorious and miraculous event , that had it not been for sin , would have taken place in the garden of Eden before any other children were born ? was it this that lies behind the mystery of the temptation and the fall , with its close connexion with the two seeds , the immediate reference to childbirth , and the birth of Cain who turned out to be of the wicked one ? we ask these questions , we may entertain our theories , but questions and theories they must remain . had the coming in of death not made the successive generations follow the death of those that preceded them , the full tale of those chosen either before or since the overthrow of the world would have been early reached , and the translation from Adam to Christ effected and the different spheres of predestinated glory entered . as it is , the evil seed jostle the true heirs for room and many times overrun them and keep them down both in number and in possessions . the very character of this age turns the true heirs into pilgrims and strangers yet it still stands written the meek shall inherit the earth and that not only in the sermon on the mount , but in psalm thirty-seven where the believer is told to fret not because of evil doers &amp;hellip; for yet a little while and the wicked shall not be ( Ps 37 : 9,10 ) . as a consequence of what actually occurred in Genesis three , Christ , the true seed , is revealed as the kinsman-redeemer , and resurrection now becomes the gate to glory . doubtless all has been overruled by divine love . the rugged pathway that we have been called upon to walk , the attacks and the snares of the evil one , all contribute to that essential experience which arising out of patience , ultimately leads to a hope that maketh not ashamed ( Rom 5 : 4,5 ) . the scripture speaks more than once of a book of life , Paul speaks of it saying , my fellow labourers , whose names are in the book of life ( Phil 4 : 3 ) , showing that those called during his prison ministry have their names therein . in Revelation 3 : 5 the divine promise strengthens the overcomer in his fight by assuring him that I will not blot out his name out of the book of life and the reader may find his mind turning to Revelation 22 : 19 where we read in the A.V God shall take away his part out of the book of life whereas the R.V reads from the tree of life with the critical texts . those whose names are not written in the book of life will worship the beast ( Rev 13 : 8 ) , even as Revelation 17 : 8 reveals . at the great white throne the book of life is brought forward , and to keep close to the wording of the inspired original we read and if any one was not found written in the book of life , he was cast into the lake of fire ( Rev 10 : 15 ) . the prominence given to the book of life in the Revelation may be because the emergence of the true seed is imminent . it refers particularly to the overcomer . see millennial studies in Vol 39 . the true seed whose names are in that book will never apostatize ; the false seed whose names were never in that book will follow their own course . some of the true seed will miss the glory of the millennial kingdom and other spheres of blessing , and will not emerge until the great white throne is set up , but even there , it is revealed that some will be found written , and pass on into life that is life indeed . a prayerful reading of psalm 139 would be extremely helpful at this point , of which the following is a quotation : my substance was not hid from thee , when I was made in secret , and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth . thine eyes did see my substance , yet being unperfect ; and in thy book all my members were written , which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them ( Ps 139 : 15,16 ) . the conflict between the two seeds arose out of the disobedience of man in relation to the knowledge of good and evil ( Gen 3 ) . when writing to the believers at Rome , the apostle Paul said concerning some that by good words and fair speeches they deceived the heart of the simple ( Rom 16 : 18 ) . he then went on to speak of their obedience saying that he would have them wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil . now this word simple akeraios occurs in the proverb wise as serpents , and harmless as doves ( Matt 10 : 16 ) , where it is evident that the simplicity inculcated by the apostle is in marked contrast to the subtlety of the serpent . these words occur just before the concluding section which deals with the revelation of the mystery which had been kept in silence ( Rom 16 : 25-27 ) . this mystery we have shown elsewhere refers to the relationship that exists between Adam , his fall and his seed . it is therefore no surprise to us to find in Romans 16 : 20 immediately following these words that remind us of the fall , a most definite reference to Genesis three . 