Who entered the eternal state first??

Adam and Eve lived for almost 1,000 years. Cain murdered his brother, Abel. Where did Abel go? Heaven?

Our pastor is doing a study on Hebrews 11 and 12. The faith heros chapters. But, it got me to thinking about who entered the eternal state, and when.

In Genesis, we are given very specific math about how old Adam was when he begat Seth, and then how many years he lived after and how he had other sons and daughters, and even a total. And if you graph them out, it looks like Abel then Enoch, then Adam. And Bob pointed out that Abel was a type of Christ, murdered on the cross for us. And Enoch walked home with God when He was 365. No record of his death, no body, no funeral. A picture of the rapture? or, another type of Christ in that he is a picture of the Ressurection??

a murder.
a walk.
a death.

They did not see death too much before the Flood. Their bodies were so fantastic that they could live and work and build and have big families. Some did not even father children until they were over 100 years old. It will be like that again in the millenium.

So who entered the eternal state first? Abel, Enoch, then Adam and Eve. And then every hundred years or so, the next generation started dying. Someday, in heaven, I'd like to ask whatall they did for a thousand years. We seem to pack in a full life in under a hundred years or so here. Sadly, the generations do evil and need wiped from the earth by the 10th generation, so God puts the task of ark building on Noah. It takes Noah and his sons a hundred years to build the ark, and sadly, only Noah, his wife, and sons and their wives, a total of 8 people, are preserved alive.

We are not told how many believed God's Promise of a Savior before the Flood. We could guess anywhere from twenty to a million or more. But, the first three:

Abel, Enoch, Adam...

It would be like your son being murdered by his brother, then your great-great-great-great-great-great grandson going missing, presumed dead, and then you die. In heaven reunited with the first one you lost and the last one you lost.

My grandpa lived to be almost 100 years old. He buried his parents, but, at the time of his death, all his four children were and are still alive, and all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and great-greats are being born now. One great-great attended his funeral as a six month old. And another great granddaughter was born just after he died. She lives in the same house and on the same farm where my grandpa was born and lived, and has a baby brother.