In our study of Genesis chapter six, we will look at the reason and the preparations for the flood that God used to judge the creatures of the earth. If someone were to ask you,: Why did God send the flood?, you would probably say because of sin and that is correct but we are going to go a little deeper into God's Word.
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In time, when men began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
At first glance, this seems good as man was designed to be married to a woman. To fully understand this chapter, we need to look at the meaning of "sons of God" and "daughters of men". Some have said that "sons of God" refers to angels but that is not correct because good angels would not sin and bad angels would not be called "sons of God" (they are called demons). The phrase is actually talking about the descendants of Adam through Seth which, as we saw in chapter 5, were the line of godly men. The phrase "daughters of men" refers to the descendants of Adam through Cain which, as we saw in chapter 4, were worldly men. We see that the godly men of Seth were tempted by the beauty of the daughters of the worldly men of Cain and they married them. We notice that they "chose" to marry them which is the opposite of the way God designed marriage to happen. As we saw in chapter 2, God's plan for marriage was that He would create a woman for a man and He would present the woman to the man (all the man had to do was to wait on God and accept the gift of the woman that was created specifically for him). In this short passage, we see the struggle that continues in the world today which is the inner struggle of man between the call of God (spirit) and the call of the world (flesh).
ADONAI said, "My Spirit will not live in human beings forever, for they too are flesh; therefore their life span is to be 120 years."
Why did the men and women mentioned in the previous chapters live so much longer than we do today? The answer is very simple and that is God, in his mercy, limits the number of years that we have to fight the battle here on the earth. We saw, in the previous passage, that the battle we face is between the Spirit of God in us and the ways of the world (flesh). Here, God limits our years on the earth and so limits the length of time that we struggle with the temptations of the flesh. Also, God was giving mankind another 120 years to repent of their evil ways before he brought judgement in the form of the flood.
The N'filim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the ancient heroes, men of renown.
Who were the Nephilim? The word actually comes from "napha" which means fallen. There are those who say they were aliens or fallen angels but what it actually is talking about is humans that have totally fallen from God and have been turned over to Satan. As we have seen, the "sons of God" refers to people that were following God which is the line of Seth and the "daughters of men" refers to the daughters of Cain's descendants who after a few generations were totally turned over to Satan. The Nephilim were the children of these unholy marriages and they were clearly under demonic control. We see that these children even became leaders of the world as they were known as "men of renown".
ADONAI saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only.
These "sons of God" probably did not intend to turn their backs on God and they may have even thought that they could bring these women to the Lord. Instead, what happened was these women led the men away from God and into idolatry, especially what we would call today "humanism". Like Cain's descendants, these "sons of God" and their children went into a downward spiral until they were completely controlled by sin and Satan.
ADONAI regretted that he had made humankind on the earth; it grieved his heart.
Just as we mourn at the death of a loved one, God was mourning the sad state of His creation. His heart ached for the people and all of the creatures that were under man's care. Just as a parent is filled with sorrow when they see their child going down the wrong path, God was pained to watch His children not only walking down the wrong path but even running in the wrong direction.
ADONAI said, "I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the whole earth; and not only human beings, but animals, creeping things and birds in the air; for I regret that I ever made them."
God is love and with the deepest of love comes the dark side of love which is jealousy (see Zephaniah). Man was created for God and He could not allow this complete disregard for Him to continue.
But Noach found grace in the sight of ADONAI.
This is the first case of God keeping a remnant of mankind for Himself. This is a pattern that we will see throughout the Old Testament as well as to the end of this age in Revelation.
Here is the history of Noach. In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God.
We see that Noah wanted to honor God and so did not do the things that the rest of the people around him were doing. We, as Christians, are God's remnant in this world today but too many people are forgetting the fact that a remnant does not get caught up in doing the same things as the rest of the world. A remnant stands out as being different instead of blending in with the crowd. The Hebrew word "tamim" is translated here as wholehearted and it speaks about being in a state of single-mindedness. So, what does that mean? It means that Noah recognized his own insufficiency and realized that he needed the direction of God for all things and at all times in his life. Walking with God was the focus of his life every day all day long.
Noach fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yefet.
Here, we see God's will for man displayed again in the fact that Noah had three sons.
The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and, yes, it was corrupt; for all living beings had corrupted their ways on the earth. God said to Noach, "The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the earth.
The Hebrew word "shachath" is translated here as corrupt but that does not really bring out the true Hebrew meaning. In reality, the word means that the earth was polluted to the point of ruin. Now, we see that this mixing of the children of God with those that were not has resulted not in more children of God but in God's people turning their back on Him. We also see that all living beings (including animals) were affected by this and so God told Noah that judgment was coming for all of them.
Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside. Here is how you are to build it: the length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width seventy-five feet and its height forty-five feet. You are to make an opening for daylight in the ark eighteen inches below its roof. Put a door in its side; and build it with lower, second and third decks.
The word "tevah" is translated as ark and it literally means a floating box without rudder or crew. God gives Noah specific instructions on building a large boat so that he may be saved from the coming flood. We see that God did not give him a selection of boat plans to choose from but instead gave him exact plans for the ark. That reminds us of the fact that there is only one way that we might be saved and that is through our ark which is Jesus Christ.
"Then I myself will bring the flood of water over the earth to destroy from under heaven every living thing that breathes; everything on earth will be destroyed. But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you.
God establishes a covenant (contract) with Noah. He tells him that every living thing on the earth is going to die but, if Noah builds the ark and enters it, he will be saved. This is a contract in that both parties have obligations that bind the other party.
"From everything living, from each kind of living being, you are to bring two into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they are to be male and female. Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive.
God's instructions to Noah included saving animals to repopulate the earth. In this is a picture of our job as Christians and the way people come to Christ who is our ark. We notice that Noah did not have to chase around after the animals to be saved but instead God brought them to him. Most of us will not be giving up our homes and moving to another country to be a "missionary" but, like Noah, God will bring people to us that He wants us to lead into the ark of Christ. Our part is in keeping our eyes open for those that God brings to us and showing them the door to the ark.
Also take from all the kinds of food that are eaten, and collect it for yourself; it is to be food for you and for them." This is what Noach did; he did all that God ordered him to do.
God also told Noah to gather food for his family and all of the animals. We see that he was obedient in everything that he was told. If he had not obeyed in the details, like the food, the ark would not have done them much good as they would have starved during the coming flood.
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