How Did We Get In This Mess In Our Lives – Part 6A
GENESIS 6 – NOAH AND THE SPIRITUAL SPIRAL DOWNWARD, OF THE WORLD – A NEW LEVEL OF “UNRIGHTEOUSNESS” COMES UPON MANKIND
The moral and spiritual conditions of the early descendants of the earth continued to deteriorate with the passing of years, not only among the descendants of Cain, but also among the descendants of Seth. VIOLENCE, MATERIALISM, AND GENERAL UNGODLINESS ABOUNDED; except for a small REMNANT, connected from the line of Seth and the promised “Seed of the Messiah”, that would come along and who may have been influenced by the witness of such men as Enoch.
GENESIS 6:1 – “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them”,
GENESIS 6:2 – “That the SONS OF GOD saw the DAUGHTERS OF MEN that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose”.
“SONS OF GOD” – The “Sons of God” (In Hebrew is “Bene Elohim”), were not the “Sons of men” because they were CREATED, NOT BORN NATURALLY. Such a description, of course, would apply only to ADAM AND EVE AND ALSO TO ANGELS (PSALMS 148:2, 5; PSALMS 104:4; COLOSSIANS 1:16).
The phrase “Bene Elohim” is used only three other times, ALL in the very ancient “Book of Job” (JOB 1:6; JOB 2:1; JOB 38:7). There is no doubt at all that in these passages, the meaning applies exclusively to “ANGELS”. A very similar form, “Bar Elohim”, is used in Daniel 3:25, and also refers to an “ANGEL”. The term “Sons of the Mighty” (Bene Elim) is used in PSALMS 29:1 and also in PSALMS 89:6 and again refers to “ANGELS”!
Yes, there seems no reasonable doubt that, so far as the language itself is concerned, the writer intended to convey the thought of “ANGELS” – “FALLEN ANGELS”, no doubt, since they were acting in opposition to God’s will, as “The Sons of God”.
* “The Sons of God”, as referred to as “ANGELS”, was the common understanding of the great Jewish historian “Josephus”, by the writer of the ancient Apocryphal book, “The Book of Enoch”, and by all the other ancient Jewish interpreters, and in the earliest of the Christian writers!
* SATAN’S ATTEMPT TO THWART “THE MESSIANIC BLOOD LINE” PROMISED IN GENESIS 3:15 – THAT IS FOUND IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS:
(1). Cain’s rebellion against God and the killing of his brother Abel – GENESIS 4
(2). THE MIXING OF HUMAN AND ANGELIC BLOODLINES – GENESIS 6
(3). The Tower of Babel Rebellion – GENESIS 11
(4). Abram giving Sarai to the Pharaoh – GENESIS 12
(5). Birth of Ishmael to Hagar (Sarah’s servant) – GENESIS 16
(6). Abram giving Sarah to Abimbelech – GENESIS 20
(7). Rivalry between Esau and Jacob – GENESIS 25, 32
(9). Trichery and rivalry of Laban – GENESIS 29 to 31
(10). Jacob merging with Shechem – GENESIS 34
(11). Rivery between Jacob’s children – GENESIS 37
(12). Judah’s faithlessness and promiscuity related to Tamar – GENESIS 38
GENESIS 6:3 – “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years”.
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. This means there is a point where God 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 in this life of “Another Day”, or that God will “Draw us”, some other day. “God’s Grace” has a limit, and we know that in Noah’s days, it was 120 years. One thing that I’m fairly confident in is that MANKIND DOES NOT HAVE 120 YEARS LEFT TODAY, BEFORE HE BRINGS JUDGMENT UPON MANKIND AGAIN!
This is what was written by the writer of “The Book of Hebrews” – Just 2 years before, about 1 million Jewish people were killed in the city of Jerusalem alone:
HEBREWS 3:12 – “Take heed, BRETHREN, lest there be in any of you AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, AND DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD”.
HEBREWS 3:13 – “But exhort ONE ANOTHER DAILY, but it’s called TODAY; lest any of you be hardened through the DECEITFULNESS OF SIN”.
“A HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS” – This was the time remaining before the flood, and when Noah got the message from God concerning the impending judgment upon the world. In the richness of God’s grace, God gave people more than enough time to REPENT. This concept aligns with the immediate preceding statement that God’s spirit would not strive with man forever – in the Lord’s patience, gave people time to be saved (2 PETER 3:15).
GENESIS 6:4 – “THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS; AND ALSO AFTER THAT, when the SONS OF GOD came in unto the DAUGHTERS OF MEN, and THEY BARE CHILDREN TO THEM, THE SAME BECAME MIGHTY MEN WHICH WERE OF OLD, MEN OF RENOWN”.
GENESIS 6:5 – “AND GOD SAW that the WICKEDNESS OF MAN WAS GREAT IN THE EARTH, wickedness of man was great in the earth and that EVERY IMAGINATION OF THE THOUGHTS OF HIS HEART WAS EVIL CONTINUALLY”.
“AND GOD SAW” – Brings the reader to a bitter contrast, to the “Creation story” of GENESIS 1:31, where God had said that all of creation was “Very Good”. Man’s evil is represented intensely by the words: “EVERY”… “ONLY”… CONTINUALLY”.
* “IMAGINATION” is the Strong’s Hebrew word # 3336 and is derived from “Pottery Makers” and the verb “Formed”, first used in GENESIS 2:7 and implies “a design or purpose – “The final product or result”. What an indictment, against the hearts of fallen mankind!
* THE WICKEDNESS OF MANKIND AT THIS TIME WAS “GREAT” AND THEREFORE WHAT CAME “FORTH” (WHAT WAS FORMED) WAS THAT “EVIL WAS IN THE HEART OF MANKIND CONTINUALLY” (THEY WERE “ADDICTED” TO DOING “EVIL”, IN THEIR THOUGHTS AND DEEDS)!
THE WICKEDNESS OF MANKIND AT THIS TIME WAS “GREAT,” AND THEREFORE WHAT CAME FORTH (WHAT WAS “FORMED”) BY GOD WAS A PLAN TO JUDGE MANKIND AND “SAVE” THOSE WHO HAD FOUND “GRACE WITH GOD” – THAT GOD SHARED WITH NOAH.
THE SPIRITUAL OPPOSITE OF THIS WORD IS FOUND IN ISAIAH 26:3:
ISAIAH 26:3 – “Thou will keep him in PERFECT PEACE, whose MIND (#3336) is STAYED ON THEE because he TRUSTETH IN THEE”.
*WHEN OUR “MIND” IS “STAYED ON GOD” AND WE “TRUST IN HIM”, WE HAVE (WHAT IS “FORMED”), AND THAT IS, THAT OUR HEART AND MIND IS AT “PERFECT PEACE (BOTH THE PERFECT “PEACE WITH GOD” AND THE PERFECT “PEACE OF GOD”)!
GENESIS 6:6 – “And it REPENTED the Lord that he had made men on the earth, and grieved Him at his heart”.
The word “REPENTED” does not mean that God made a mistake or had done something wrong, in His dealings with mankind, but rather indicates a change in DIVINE DIRECTION, resulting from the actions of mankind.
GENESIS 6:7 – “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repented me that I have made them”.
GENESIS 6:8 – “BUT NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD”.
“THE GREAT TURNAROUND” IN LIFE
“NOAH FOUND GRACE” – “FOUND” is in the Hebrew here, and means “TO DISCOVER OR TO FIND WITHOUT SEEKING”. Given that Noah was a “Sinner” with “Adam Seed” (ROMANS 5:12), clearly it was true of him also; the Apostle Paul wrote this about the “INHERENT FALLEN NATURE” of mankind:
ROMANS 10:10 – “It is written, there is none righteous, no, NOT ONE”:
ROMANS 3:11: “There is NONE THAT UNDERSTANDETH, there is NONE THAT SEEKETH AFTER GOD”.
* “NO ONE, that is born – was/is LOOKING FOR GOD! But God was looking for Noah and drew Noah to Himself – THE SAME IS TRUE FOR EACH AND EVERY PERSON SINCE ADAM AND EVE (JOHN 6:44, 65). Noah, of course, still had the CHOICE, TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE, because God does not desire robots but hearts of men and women, who love him for WHO HE IS (ROMANS 1:21).
Noah demonstrated that his faith was genuine by his WORK, by his 120 years of constructing an “ARK”. “GOOD WORKS” GENERALLY VERIFIES ONE’S FAITH, BUT REMEMBER, THAT “FAITH” ALONE IN GOD, AND HEEDING HIS WORD, IS WHAT “SAVES US”!
* “GRACE” OR “FAVOR” FROM GOD IS MENTIONED 170 TIMES, IN 159 VERSES, AND IS, IN FACT, MENTIONED FIRST, IN GENESIS 6:8, IN THE BIBLE. “GRACE” MEANS “UNDESERVED FAVOR”, this describes the blessing God gives to those who do not DESERVE IT. It is no accident that in this narrative, “GRACE” comes in GENESIS 6:8 and “RIGHTEOUSNESS” in GENESIS 6:9. THE ONLY “PATHWAY” TO “RIGHTEOUSNESS” IS BY GOD’S “PROVISION” OF “GRACE” – AND THAT “PATTERN” NEVER CHANGES!
“NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD” – Is used of several key people in the Old Testament Bible: NOAH (GENESIS 6:8); MOSES (EXODUS 33:12, 13,16, 17, EXODUS 34:9; NUMBERS 11:11, 15); GIDEON (JUDGES 6:17); DAVID (2 SAMUEL 15:25).
GENESIS 6:9 – “These are the generations of Noah: NOAH WAS A JUST MAN AND PERFECT IN HIS GENERATION, and NOAH WALKED WITH GOD”.
STANDING ALONE FOR GOD IN A GODLESS WORLD
This is a tough but achievable assignment. Noah, like you, lived in a wicked society. But he lived “Victoriously” and so can you! God now has and will always have a “Godly Remnant”. You may be “Standing Alone”, in your school, in your family, in your job, in your church, in your city, in the country, but God is expecting you to be “Victorious”, because of the “Grace (Favor) of God” in your life!
ROMANS 5:20 – “Moreover, the law entered, that the OFFENSE MIGHT ABOUND, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND”:
ROMANS 5:21 – “That as SIN HATH REIGNED UNTO DEATH, even so might GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BY JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD”.
* JUST LIKE IN NOAH’S TIME, WE ARE LIVING IN THE MIDST OF A SOCIETY THAT IS “COLORED”, AND “COVERED”, AND IS DEFINED BY OUR “SINS” – BUT NOAH “STOOD UP AND WAS COUNTED” AND WE MUST ALSO!
“Noah found grace in the eyes of God” – That is, he was pleasing to God! (GENESIS 6:8)
“Noah was a righteous man” – That is, he was lawful and just before God! (GENESIS 6:9)
“Noah was blameless in his time” – That is, he lived a life of integrity before his fellow man (GENESIS 6:9)
“Noah walked with God” – That is, he was conversant with God. They had a relationship (GENESIS 6:9)
“STANDING ALONE” FOR GOD IS A TOUGH BUT ACHIEVABLE ASSIGNMENT WHICH GOD EXPECTS US TO ACCOMPLISH!
1 JOHN 4:4 – “YE ARE OF GOD, little children, and have overcome them: BECAUSE GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD”.
* There are only TWO MEN in Scripture who are said to have “WALKED WITH GOD”. ENOCH (GENESIS 5:22) and NOAH (GENESIS 6:9). When God promised judgment upon the world, these TWO MEN HAVE A SYMBOLIC MEANING, before the next judgment that falls upon the earth – Before “The Second Coming of Christ Jesus”. Here are some of the symbolic meanings that these TWO MEN may have concerning the judgment that we are facing now, in the near future:
* THE TWO “JUDGMENTS” AND THE TWO MEN WHO “WALKED WITH GOD” AND WHAT THEY SYMBOLIZE
“ENOCH” – IS A SYMBOL OF “THE BODY OF CHRIST” THAT IS “RAPTURED” (JUDGED) BEFORE THE JUDGMENT THAT FALLS ON MANKIND, ON THE EARTH.
“NOAH” – IS A SYMBOL OF “THE BODY OF CHRIST”, THAT IS “SAVED” DURING “THE GREAT TRIBULATION” AND ARE TAKEN THROUGH THE JUDGMENT OF GOD.
* GENESIS 6: 10 – 22 – GOD WARNS NOAH ABOUT THE COMING JUDGMENT UPON MANKIND (GENESIS 6: 12, 13) AND TELLS HIM TO BUILD A “ARK” (GENESIS 6:14) AND SAYS HE WILL ESTABLISH A “COVENANT” WITH NOAH (GENESIS 6:18).
