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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When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them 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 five, 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 four, 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 two, 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).
Then the Lord said, 'My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty 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.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, 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. We see that these children even became leaders of the world as they were known as "men of renown".
The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
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.
The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
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.
So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am grieved that I have 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 Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
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.
This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he 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.
Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Here, we see God's will for man displayed again in the fact that Noah had three sons.
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all of the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.'
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. God told Noah that judgment was coming for all of them and the same thing is true for us today.
'So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.'
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.
'I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your sons and 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.
You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to 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.
'You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.' Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
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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