Jul 31, 2016
Genesis 6:1-22


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Outline:


As we approach Genesis 6 it’ll be helpful if we take just a second and recap how the human story has unfolded in such a way as to bring us to the events of this chapter.


Flowing from the events of Genesis 3 and the murder of Abel by his older brother Cain, chapter 4 documents the Godless society that soon develops. And yet… While the world at large was progressing away from Almighty God, not all men were swept up in this tide. 


In this world dominated by the rebellious descendants of Cain Genesis 5 let’s us know that God still had a remnant of the faithful descending from yet another one of Adam and Eve’s sons - Seth. While there is no doubt things were quickly moving to a point of crisis - a point of coming judgment, these generations of men were used by God to be light bearers in the midst of darkness. They willingly rejected the things of this world instead desiring to live as a witness unto the world of a better way. May the same to said of you and I!




Genesis 6:1-4, “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”




Admittedly these four verses present one of the more complex historical events recorded in the entire Bible. With that said let’s work through the text as best as we can. To begin with these verses present three clear realities of this Godless society founded by Cain.


First… We’re told, “Men began to multiply on the face of the earth.” What this tells us is that a population explosion was occurring. Note: Not only have 1600 years of human history  transpired since Genesis 4, but with incredibly long life-expectancies coupled with prolonged childbearing-years some speculate the population of the earth could have topped 7 billion.


Secondly… During this time “there were giants on the earth” who “were the mighty men of old, men of renown.” This Hebrew word “giants” can be translated as “Nephilim.” It would appear from our text that during this population growth the human genome was altered in such a way that not only could men grow to incredible statures, but that they also possessed the ability to achieve supernatural exercises and feats of which they were “renown.”


And how did this happen? Our text records that this took place “when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and bore children to them.” While there seems to be little confusion as to the plain reading of this phrase “the daughters of men,” the controversy of our text undoubtedly centers upon the identity of these “sons of God.”


One view claims the “sons of God” were the descendants of this righteous line of Seth. The implication being that what’s taking place in these four verses is a tragic un-holy union occurring between the Godly men of Seth’s line and the ungodly lineage of Cain. 


And yet, there are three glaring issues with this position: 

1. Nowhere in Scripture do we find a “righteous line of Seth,” but instead a Messianic lineage descending through a specific collection of men recorded in Genesis 5.

2. While the position removes some of the “strangeness” from our text, it doesn’t explain how this natural union would have created these supernatural “giants.” 

3. The biggest problem with such a position concerning this text boils down to the simple reality the phrase “sons of God” is never used in Scripture to refer to human beings. Aside from this passage, we only find this phrase used in Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7. And in all three instances “sons of God” or “ben ‘elohiym” in the Hebrew is used as a direct reference to angelic beings. Note: The scholars behind the Septuagint translate this phrase as the “angels of God.”


As weird as it initially seems what Genesis 6 seems to imply is that during this incredible population explosion before Noah’s Flood some type of strange sexual interaction took place between fallen angels (whom we refer to as demons) and human women producing a whole new genetic code within mankind that produced these “giants” and “men of renown.” 


Now before you turn me off or write this off as lunacy, consider the logic behind this Satanic strategy. If you recall that in Genesis 3:15 God declared that it would be through the “Seed of the woman” that He’d not only provide a Savior for mankind, but through whom Satan would ultimately be defeated. 


With that in mind doesn’t it seem logical that Satan would employ such a strategy to destroy the human gene pool thereby making it impossible for a Savior to be born? Note: This view is not only in line with the record of first-century historian Josephus in addition to the vast majority of Biblical interpretation, but could also serve to explain the origins of many of the mythological stores of the Greeks and other cultures.


Beyond that… While the angelic host is asexual we do know according to the author of Hebrews that angels have the ability to take on human form. Aside from this sexual perversions of the highest order are commonplace in the occult and Satanism.


Though I don’t recommend you Google “Sex with demons” I did and aside from the fact there were 11,200,000 results what I found in the very first article was terribly disturbing. The article was titled, “Incubi and Succubi: Sexual Relations With Demons” and this is how the author begins, “Spirit sex is real. It requires some psychic work in order to open your mind to senses not normally accessible to the average person, but the way to do this is much easier than with other methods and a lot more pleasurable.” 


This idea of demons committing the grouse act of impregnating human women in order two spawn a superhuman race also seems to provide insight on two New Testament passages… 


Jude 1:6-7, “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”


1 Peter 3:18-20, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”


One more observation that is important concerning this topic… Our text is clear that this demonic act that created “giants” took place “in those days, and also afterward…” While it seems this trend was emblematic of the pre-diluvian world, this text insinuates this terrible practice still occurred in isolated communities even after the flood.


Consider that while Abraham’s descendants were growing into a nation while being held captive in Egypt, the land of Canaan that God had promised him became populated with a collection of people groups spawned from this same un-holy union found in Genesis 6.


Numbers 13:32-33, “And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.’”


Deuteronomy 3:11, “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.”


1 Samuel 17:4, “And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.” 

2 Samuel 21:19, “Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”


With all of this in mind it should therefore come as no surprise that the final reality concerning this Godless and perverse world summarized in these first four verses was that God could no longer sit on the sidelines and allow things to continue unabated… 




Genesis 6:5-7, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” 




This combination of Cain’s rebellion and the Godless society that resulted coupled with this bizarre demonic intrusion created a world that God determined was completely and utterly “wicked.” As we’ve seen with the rise of Atheism in our own time, when a society progress further and further from God human depravity and degradation grows all the more perverse.


The summation of this world presents a three-fold recipe for disaster. “Every intent… only evil… continually!” Note: This word “wickedness” doesn’t describe the actions of man, but instead the core condition of man that manifests his actions. As David Guzik wrote, “No aspect of man’s nature was not corrupted by sin.” Darkness clearly dominated!


Notice God’s reaction to all of this… First we read that “the Lord saw!” Understand, nothing was taking place in this world outside the providential eye of God. This decent into chaos hadn’t occurred because God was unaware. He sees all and knows all. None of what was occurring took Him by surprise. And yet, because man had placed Him on the sidelines God was forced to watch idly by as the gem of His creation grew in the depths of lechery. His order was descending into uncontrollable chaos.


We’re also told that as a result “the Lord was sorry!” This doesn’t mean God was sorry He had made man, but rather He was sorry what had become of the man He had created. The Hebrew word “nacham” literally means God was “moved to pity and compassion.”


Because He loved mankind and was witnessing the tragic results of man’s rebellion, God’s compassion yielded incredible grief! As a result of these things, “The Lord was grieved in His heart!” Literally, the word means God was cut to the heart. Note: Grief is different than anger. Grief possesses an emotional investment. Genuine grief is born out of sincere love.


I hope you know this morning that God sees your wickedness and rebellion… He’s sitting on the front row watching your world digress into chaos… He surveys how your sinful behaviors and choices are destroying the life He created… And you know it effects Him deeply! 


Understand, while God wants nothing more than to intervene, as a divine gentleman who’ll never force Himself upon a person who doesn’t want His involvement, you’re forcing Him to watch sin destroy your life from a distance and He takes no delight in this! He grieves over the way this world is robbing you of the life He sent His Son to die so that you could enjoy!


Well it’s with all of this in mind that “the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years…’” Adding a few verses later that He’d “destroy man from the face of the earth.”


When the movie “Noah” recently hit theaters Comedian Bill Maher made this observation about Genesis 6 on his HBO show, “The thing that's really disturbing about Noah isn't the silly. It's that's it's immoral. It's about a psychotic mass murderer who gets away with it, and his name is God. Genesis says God was so angry with himself for screwing up when he made mankind so flawed that he sent the flood to kill everyone! Everyone! Men, women, children, babies. What kind of tyrant punishes everyone just to get back at the few he's mad at? I mean, besides Chris Christie. Hey God, you know you're kind of a jerk when you're in a movie with Russell Crowe, and you're the one with anger issues.”


And while it is true that God was giving mankind 120 years to repent of his sin before He put an end to the madness by destroying the world, Maher’s understanding of what was wrong and why God had to act is completely ignorant to the text! God was not angry. His judgment didn’t flow from animosity. It was from the basis of His compassion and love for man that He had to act to preserve the integrity of His plan for salvation. Would a God be moral if He sat back and allowed humanity to ruin his only chance of salvation?


Concerning this phrase “My Spirit will not strive forever” David Guzik makes an important observation that carries with it a stark warning. He writes, “God did not allow the human race to stay in this rebellious place forever. This means there is a ‘point of no return’ in our rejection of God. God will not woo us forever; there is a point where He will say ‘no more.’ All the more reason for us to say today is the day we will respond to Jesus instead of waiting for another day. We have no promise God will draw us some other day.”


2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”


And while this statement presents an incredible warning to those still rebelling against God there is another important point we should consider… In light of everything that was going on in this wicked world the fact God’s was striving to the point He was willing to prolong His judgment another 120 years is nothing shy of an incredible demonstration of His love and amazing grace!


2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is… longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”




Genesis 6:8-22, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” 


Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 


And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 


Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”




Though there is a ton to discuss about the Ark and this coming flood we’re going to push that discussion off to next week so that we can address a much more important issue. Look back at verse 8… While we’ve seen the grace of God weave itself through the first five chapters of Genesis, it is here, as it pertains to Noah, that we find the first mention of this central, revolutionary Biblical concept. “Noah found grace…” 


This word “found” presents such a fascinating reality. The idea isn’t that Noah somehow stubbled upon God’s grace, but rather that God’s grace “found” Noah! He didn’t “earn” grace, nor does the text imply he “deserved” grace. The word “found” implies God’s unmerited favor simply “came upon” Noah independent of Noah’s involvement.


Additionally, the order of our text presents another incredible reality… The presentation of Noah as a “just man, perfect,” a man who “walked with God,” and ultimately “did according to all that God commanded him” comes after he had been given the grace of God! 


Amazingly, God’s grace being extended to Noah proceeds all other details about him!This means God didn’t show Noah grace because of these things; rather “Noah found grace” and it was God’s grace that manifested these results in and through his life!


Because of God’s grace Noah was a “just man…” Pause for a minute because this is a terrible translation into English from the Hebrew. Though this word “just” implies Noah did what was right based upon God’s determinations, the word is being used to describe Noah and not his behaviors… A “just man!” You see while this Hebrew word is translated as “just” 42 times in the Old Testament in an astounding 162 instances it’s translated as “righteous!”


The better reading of this verse should be that “Noah was a righteous man!” To this point in Genesis 7:1 we find the same word used when God says to Noah, “I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.”


Now to understand how Noah could have such a status before God we look to Hebrews 11:7 where we’re told, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” 


As is the case with all of us Noah received the grace of God because of his faith in God which then attributed to him a righteous standing before God. Romans 5:1-2, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.”


We’re also told because of God’s grace and his righteous standing before God manifesting from his faith, Noah was “perfect in his generation.” This word “perfect” in the Hebrew is translated into English 44 times in the Old Testament as “without blemish.” 


Because of his righteous standing in God’s eyes brought forth from his faith and God’s grace, Noah was positionally perfect. This meant while Noah would still sin he was no longer a sinner! 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”


Because of God’s grace we’re told “Noah walked with God.” Noah’s life was transformed not by what he did (behavioral modification), but instead by whom He knew. Just as Enoch several generations before him, Noah enjoyed a personal relationship with God and it was this relationship that changed his priorities and transformed his life.


Finally, because of God’s grace Noah was able to obey the commands of God“Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” While we’ll dig into the radicle nature of Noah’s obedience next Sunday, I don’t want you to miss the implications of this! God’s grace coupled with his faith deepened in the fact he possessed a relationship with God manifested through his life in obedience.


How is it that you’re made righteous before God? Your works, efforts, or merit… Nope! Noah teaches us it’s only by God’s grace and your faith in His Word! 


How is it that you’re positionally perfect in the eyes of God? Laws, religion, or sacrifices… Nope! Noah teaches us it’s only by God’s grace and your faith in His Word!


How is it that you’re able to walk with God? Disciplines, greater devotion, or behavioral modification… Nope! Noah teaches us it’s only by God’s grace and your faith in His Word!


How is it that you’re able to obey the commands of God? Your best attempts, strategies, or will-power… Nope! Noah teaches us it’s only by God’s grace and your faith in His Word!


Finally… How is it that you’re ultimately spared the judgment of God? Being good enough, moral, or sincere… Nope! Noah teaches us it’s only by God’s grace and your faith in His Word! While the world was on a one way track towards destruction, Noah was saved for one reason and one reason alone… “He found grace in the eyes of the Lord!” 


As with Noah Ephesians 2:8 makes this incredible proclamation about you and I, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

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