Genesis 6A (2011) We return to chapter 5 only briefly to see an introduction to Noah and the flood story

Transcription

1 Genesis 6A (2011) I have returned frm India... We return t chapter 5 nly briefly t see an intrductin t Nah and the fld stry Gen. 5:28 Lamech lived ne hundred and eighty-tw years, and became the father f a sn. Gen. 5:29 Nw he called his name Nah, saying, This ne will give us rest frm ur wrk and frm the til f ur hands arising frm the grund which the LORD has cursed. Gen. 5:30 Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father f Nah, and he had ther sns and daughters. Gen. 5:31 S all the days f Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. Gen. 5:32 Nah was five hundred years ld, and Nah became the father f Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Methuselah was the father f Lamech, and he lives lnger than his wn father, Ench and lnger than his sn, Lamech Lamech is intrduced here just lng enugh t cnnect the dts between Mathuselah and Lamech s famus sn We can see that Mses believes that Lamech s sn is wrth ur fcused attentin Because Mses ges ut f his way t tell us abut the naming f this particular by When Lamech named his sn, he called him Nah, saying he will give us rest frm ur wrk and frm the til f the curse n the Earth The by s name literally means cmfrt in the sense f rest But lk at Lamech s statement Is Nah ging t accmplish these things? Will Nah put an end t ur wrk and t the curse n the Earth? N But we can make sense f Lamech s statement in tw ways 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Genesis 6A! 2 First, he is likely making the same mistake that Eve made a few generatins earlier He must have received a indicatin frm Gd that Nah wuld play a special rle in Gd s plan fr redemptin But then Lamech went t far and assumed Nah was t be the prmised seed, the Messiah S Lamech names Nah and claims he will put an end t the curse and bring ur wrk t an end Clearly, he was wrng But by his statement, Lamech des create thrugh his sn a picture f the cming Messiah Fr the cming Messiah des give us rest frm ur wrk, the wrk f trying t earn ur wn salvatin And eventually, the Messiah s rein n Earth will bring the curse t an end S nw having inadvertently established his sn as a picture f Messiah s saving wrk, we begin the stry f the fld Gen. 6:1 Nw it came abut, when men began t multiply n the face f the land, and daughters were brn t them, Gen. 6:2 that the sns f Gd saw that the daughters f men were beautiful; and they tk wives fr themselves, whmever they chse. Gen. 6:3 Then the LORD said, My Spirit shall nt strive with man frever, because he als is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be ne hundred and twenty years. Gen. 6:4 The Nephilim were n the earth in thse days, and als afterward, when the sns f Gd came in t the daughters f men, and they bre children t them. Thse were the mighty men wh were f ld, men f renwn. Mses nw begins the stry f Nah and the Fld Mre specifically, Mses mves frm talking abut Adam s sns t the daughters f men And the daughters f men becme the backstry fr why the Fld was necessary 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Genesis 6A! 3 Mses sets the scene with an intriguing passage describing intermarriage between daughters f men and the sns f Gd There is sme debate cncerning what Mses is describing here, but I believe the answer is fairly straightfrward First, ntice that whatever Mses is describing in vv.1-2, the bvius pint is that this event is ntable and unusual Otherwise, why wuld Mses take effrt t describe marriage in the nrmal sense? Furthermre, the terms Mses uses tell us that this isn t a typical marriage He says daughters f men, which is easy enugh t understand Then Mses says these daughters were attracting the attentin f the sns f Gd (ben elhim) The Bible never refers t natural men as the sns f Gd The nly ther references t ben elhim are fund in Jb and all refer t angels Even the Septuagint translated sns f Gd as angels f Gd If these were angels, then we must als cnclude that these angels were f the demnic kind - disbedient, fallen angels Jude gives us a cnfirmatin f this event Jude 6 And angels wh did nt keep their wn dmain, but abandned their prper abde, He has kept in eternal bnds under darkness fr the judgment f the great day, Jude 7 just as Sdm and Gmrrah and the cities arund them, since they in the same way as these indulged in grss immrality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in underging the punishment f eternal fire. Jude says that angels did nt keep their wn dmain but went after strange flesh These demns are nw underging punishment f eternal fire as examples 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Genesis 6A! 4 As we lk at the text in Gen 6, we can find an interesting parallel t Gen 3 In Gen 3 we re tld that the wman saw the fruit was gd and tk it In Gen 6:2, the demn realm des exactly the same thing t wman They lk, see that wman is beautiful and tk her It was an act f rebellin and sin The questin then becmes why wuld the demnic realm want t mate with wmen? The answer brings us back t the theme f the bk f Genesis: the seed that will fulfill Gd s prmise t redeem men frm sin The demns and their master Satan understand that Gd has prmised t crush them with a Messiah, a Seed wh cmes in keeping with Gd s prmise in the Garden But that Seed will cme thrugh wman specifically The prmise f the cming Messiah was given t Eve and was a privilege that wmen wuld share In fact, the desire f every Jewish girl s heart was that she might have the blessing f birthing the Messiah Therefre, the demns began t mate with wmen t crrupt the human race and the seed line t the Messiah If the lines f men were sufficiently crrupted, then there wuld be n seed line available fr Gd t carry thrugh n His prmise Hw culd such an unhly unin be pssible? We remember frm ther passages f Scripture that angels (demns) have the ability t appear t men in human frm And they can cnvey a cnvincing illusin In a later accunt f Abraham, we will see him eat with angels and nt knw wh they are at least at first 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Genesis 6A! 5 In the stry f Lt, he is visited by tw angels that appear t be men and take Lt by the hand t lead him ut f the city S we can accept that demns have the ability t imitate and cunterfeit human flesh including the seed f men S the prspect f demns mating with wmen isn t impssible t accept under these circumstances, but what f the ffspring The passage gives us a descriptin f the ffspring in v.4 The Bible calls them Nephelim, which means fallen nes in Hebrew But the Septuagint chse t translate the Hebrew wrd int gigentes in Greek rather than leaving it as a prper nun Gigentes means giant in English, but the riginal Hebrew was nt trying t suggest that the ffspring f angels and wmen were giants In fact, it wuld have been an even greater danger if the ffspring were indistinguishable frm nrmal men They wuld have mixed in mre easily and withut being easily detectable In the text f v.4 there is a ptentially cnfusing statement I want t clarify Mses says that the Nephelim were n earth in thse days and als afterward Sme think Mses is implying that this intermarriage cntinued after the fld They even cite Numbers and the stry f the ten spies wh reprted seeing Nephilim in the prmised land The reprt f the ten spies was nt accurate, as the stry in Numbers bears ut They were lying t persuade the peple f Israel nt t enter, since they were afraid f the Canaanites 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Genesis 6A! 6 Furthermre, the syntax f the Hebrew in Gen 6 is the cause fr ur cnfusin If we read it in the Hebrew, we find that the phrase and afterward is cnnected t the secnd half f the sentence, nt the first half Listen t the Sepuagint: Gen. 6:5 Nw the giants were upn the earth in thse days; and after that when the sns f Gd were wnt t g in t the daughters f men, they bre children t them, thse were the giants f ld, the men f renwn. S, the afterward is simply a cnnecting wrd in Hebrew t intrduce what happened after the demns mated with wmen The ffspring are called Nephilim, fallen nes, but they pse a new and significant threat t Gd s plan fr mankind The intrductin f fallen angels int the genealgy f mankind wuld interfere with Gd s plan t bring Messiah int the wrld as a man Messiah must share in the nature f man in rder t redeem man If man s nature has been crrupted int ne that shares the demn nature, Gd s plan t bring Messiah wuld be thwarted S in v.3, Gd says His Spirit shall nt strive with men frever The Hebrew wrd fr strive is unique, making it difficult t define since it nly ccurs here in the entire Bible It prbably means t remain with man, as in t keep his physical bdy alive Remember that Gd breather his spirit int man t bring Adam t life But that jining f spirit and flesh was n lnger permanent Flesh was nt destined t perish because f the curse S Gd is saying that all flesh is destined t die sner r later And nw the flesh f men was being systematically crrupted by angels 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Genesis 6A! 7 S Gd declares that if an end t flesh is inevitable anyway, He nw sets a limit t hw lng flesh will remain n the earth S after 120 years, Gd will put an end t all crrupted flesh n Earth This becmes the cuntdwn timer until the fld strikes the Earth And it explains the need fr such a drastic respnse n Gd s part If man s sin alne was reasn enugh t destry the wrld, we shuld have expected t see it happen many times ver Gen. 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness f man was great n the earth, and that every intent f the thughts f his heart was nly evil cntinually. Gen. 6:6 The LORD was srry that He had made man n the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Gen. 6:7 The LORD said, I will blt ut man whm I have created frm the face f the land, frm man t animals t creeping things and t birds f the sky; fr I am srry that I have made them. Gen. 6:8 But Nah fund favr in the eyes f the LORD. T ensure we have a prper understanding fr why the fld ccurs, Mses describes a secnd reasn fr Gd s actin While the demnic realm was wrking t undermine Gd s plan, the sin f men was als grwing t unsustainable levels n the earth The wickedness f men was great we re tld Men have always been sinful But in the wrld the existed after the Garden, there was little t restrain the pwer f sin in sciety The nly means Gd prvided fr the restraint f sin after the Fall was the cnscience f man Gd has nt instituted gvernment nr the death penalty Gd has nt yet delivered His Law S man s sin is nly gverned by his wn cnscience 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Genesis 6A! 8 Mses explains that man s internal thughts and imaginatin were evil cntinually The wrd imaginatin is yatzar It s the same wrd used in Gen 2:7 t describe hw Gd created (yatsar) man ut f the dust f the grund Gd used His creative pwers t prduce smething gd But crrupted man nw uses his creative pwers t cnstruct evil cntinually The pint f Mses descriptin is that man s cnscience has been shwn unable t restrain man s sin Apart frm the chsen seed line thrugh Seth, men became entirely evil, because the sin nature cannt be restrained by ur cnscience And nw the sheer number f peple cmbined with their unrestrained sinfulness has reached a level Gd n lnger can accept Then Mses said that Gd was sad and He regretted making man Sme English versin may even say Gd repented f making man Whenever we see this descriptin f Gd, we must understand it in light f all Scripture Fr example, Scripture teaches clearly that Gd des nt change His mind in the sense f a man We change ur mind when we learn new infrmatin that alters ur understanding and leads us t different cnclusins This never happens with Gd S we must understand v.6 in light f this Biblical truth In this case, Mses says Gd was srry He made man, but the sense f it, in light f all Scripture, is that Gd was regretful fr hw His creatin had deterirated 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Genesis 6A! 9 This statement des nt imply surprise ver circumstances, much less a changed attitude tward creatin The fact that Gd planned fr this mment desn t mean that it desn t pain Him when it finally arrives Rather, Gd always displays regret r srrw in the face f sin And s He displays srrw when He witnesses hw man s sin prgresses t extreme levels In fact, ntice in v.7 that Gd s srrw extends beynd man t include land animals and birds Clearly, srrw desn t mean that Gd feels He made a mistake r changed His mind His srrw is dissatisfactin in the way sin is vertaking creatin And that disappintment was s great that Gd was grieved and frced t act in respnse Gd s respnse is a wrldwide judgment that will blt ut all these creatures Gd s respnse will result in the eliminatin f all creatures that have chay nephesh, r the life bld Ntice that fish are excluded, further cnfirming they are nt cnsidered t be creatures with chay nephesh S this will be a wrldwide judgment frm which there is n escape As we prgress thrugh the stry f Nah, we re als ging t take time alng the way t examine prphetic clues Gd has left behind in his stry By clues, I m referring t symbls, pictures, shadws, and ther markers taken frm the accunt f Nah that pint prphetically t a future mment S as we begin the stry f Nah, I want t set the stage fr this cmparisn by highlighting the first clue r marker tday Mses has pened the stry f Nah by describing the times and circumstances f that day 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Genesis 6A! 10 And these times share an an interesting parallel with smething Jesus describes in the Gspels Matt. 24:37 Fr the cming f the Sn f Man will be just like the days f Nah. Matt. 24:38 Fr as in thse days befre the fld they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Nah entered the ark, Matt. 24:39 and they did nt understand until the fld came and tk them all away; s will the cming f the Sn f Man be. Jesus tells us that His secnd cming will ccur at a time and under circumstances similar t the days f Nah In what way are they similar? There are three ways in which they are cmparable, ne f which Jesus gives us in vv First, the days f Nah are marked by hyperactivity amng the demnic realm In Nah s day, demns were mating with wmen In the days immediately befre Jesus return, the Bible in Revelatin describes a wrld in which the antichrist has been revealed And this man will die in the middle f the seven year tribulatin, and after three days his bdy will cme back t life The surce f his new life is actually the indwelling f Satan The antichrist s sul remains in hell, but the bdy is used by Satan t cnstruct a cunterfeit resurrectin This is the kind f extreme demnic mixing with humans that mirrrs the activity f Nah s day Secndly, the depravity f men will reach extreme levels Paul describes the seriusness f this future in 2 Tim 3 2Tim. 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will cme. 2Tim. 3:2 Fr men will be lvers f self, lvers f mney, bastful, arrgant, revilers, disbedient t parents, ungrateful, unhly, 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Genesis 6A! 11 2Tim. 3:3 unlving, irrecncilable, malicius gssips, withut self-cntrl, brutal, haters f gd, 2Tim. 3:4 treacherus, reckless, cnceited, lvers f pleasure rather than lvers f Gd, 2Tim. 3:5 hlding t a frm f gdliness, althugh they have denied its pwer; Avid such men as these. Remember, Paul isn t saying that these kinds f sin are unique t the end times He s saying that the last days are marked because all men becme this way The wrld as a whle acts this way, rather than just the wrst f sciety It seems clear t me that we re mving steadily in this directin Finally, Jesus gives us a third way in which the circumstances f Nah s day mirrr the times f His return The wrld is blivius and even hstile t the ntin f His return In v.39, Jesus says they didn t understand until the Fld came They didn t understand that Nah s warnings were true They didn t understand that Gd wuld bring judgment fr sin They didn t understand that they wuld be included in the judgment Tday it s easy t see the same kind f attitude in the wrld The recent predictins f a Rapture by false teachers and their misguided and deceived fllwers gives us memrable prf A Facebk page titled "Pst rapture lting" ffers this invitatin: "When everyne is gne and gd's nt lking, we need t pick up sme sweet stere equipment and maybe sme new furniture fr the mansin we're ging t squat in." By Wednesday afternn, mre than 175,000 peple indicated they wuld be "attending" the "public event." 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Genesis 6A! 12 The predictin is als being mcked in the cmic strip "Dnesbury" and has inspired "Rapture parties" t celebrate what hsts expect will be the failure f the wrld t cme t an end. In the Army twn f Fayetteville, N.C., the lcal chapter f the American Humanist Assciatin has turned the event int a tw-day extravaganza, with a Saturday night party fllwed by a day-after cncert. The Rapture -- the belief that Christ will bring the faithful int paradise prir t a perid f tribulatin n earth that precedes the end f time -- is a relatively new ntin cmpared t Christianity itself, and mst Christians dn't believe in it. And even believers rarely attempt t set a date fr the event. S as we dive int the stry f Nah next week, we will cntinue t lk fr these parallels 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.