Genesis 6:1-8:19

Notes compiled with my BSF group

SONS OF GOD WENT TO DAUGHTERS OF MEN (Genesis 6:1-4)

Humans are NOT Sons of God
Sons of God = direct creations of God = angels (2 Peter 2:4-9; 3:1–10; Jude 1:5–7)

We are NOT sons of God. We are sons of Adam. We become sons of God only when we are born-again in Jesus (1 John).

Daughters of men = women who were born of Adam and Eve and their descendants

The angels went after strange flesh, just as the men of Sodom and Gomorrah went after strange flesh
Jude 1:6-7
"And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in the darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

Here, Jesus’s own brother, Jude, compares angels going after "strange flesh" to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 1:7, KJV).

What is "strange flesh"? Flesh that was not meant to be had. For example, God defined the marriage as a sacred covenant between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:4-25). Men pursuing sexual relations with other men, women pursuing sexual relations with other women are thus people going after strange flesh. Here, we see angels going after strange flesh, because they were not meant to mate with humans.

Satan tried to corrupt the human genome... multiple times!
Why did angels mix with humans? This was a part of Satan’s plan to prevent the birth of Jesus! If Satan could corrupt the human genome (by making it impure through mixing it with non-human genome), then the Messiah couldn’t be born! (The Messiah needs to be 100% human.)

Genesis 6:4
"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."

The Nephilums = the fallen ones

"… and also afterward…"
The angels mixed with humans not just during Noah's time but thereafter as well!

God prophesied to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years... In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (Genesis 15:13-16).

This gave Satan 400 years to prepare his attack against God's people!

Satan has always tried to thwart God's plan. We saw how he tried to corrupt Adam's mind in Genesis 3. He succeeded and mankind fell. However, Satan knows the Bible. He even quoted Biblical verses to tempt Jesus to worship him (Matthew 4:1-14). And so, Satan knows of God's plan to redeem mankind. He thus tried to destroy the purity of the human genome by sending angels to mix with humans. We shall see, as we read on in Genesis 6, Satan does not succeed. However, this does not mean that Satan gives up. With the 400 years to work with before God's people returned to their land, Satan once again created Nephilims in the land who would await the return of God's people. The Canaanites weren't just sinners. They were the product of angels and man -- Their genome had been corrupted.

Why did God send the Flood? Why did God told Joshua to destroy the Canaanites? It wasn’t just because they were sinners. It was because their GENOME had been corrupted by Satan!

On a side note, the Angels left their habitation (Jude 1:6, KJV). The original Greek text was used only one other time in the New Testament -- 2 Corinthians 5:2 -- "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" (KJV). That same word is "clothed" in this passage.

What we aspire to in our resurrection bodies is what the the angels disrobed to indulge themselves with daughters of men on Earth!


MEN BECAME WICKED AND EVIL, INVOKING GOD'S JUDGMENT (Genesis 6:5-8)

"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" (Genesis 6:5).

This isn't just about judgment for sin. Satan took it beyond sin. Satan tried to corrupt the human genome, and God was not going to let that happen.


NOAH WAS BLAMELESS (Genesis 6:9)

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God" (Genesis 6:9).

"Blameless” (NIV) or “perfect" (KJV)
Noah's genome was not corrupted by Satan's attempt to corrupt the human race in order to prevent the birth of the Messiah. Noah's genealogy was not jeopardized, because Noah lived in the ways of the Lord.


GOD DOES NOT JUDGE THE RIGHTEOUS (Genesis 6:10-7:10)

Because of Noah's faith, the God warned Noah of the judgment to come and removed (raptured) the righteous from His judgment.

God instructed Noah to build an ark and make preparations
- Make an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out 
- 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. 
- Bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will be kept alive. 
- Take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for all

God warned Noah about the things to come
- Put an end to all people
- Destroy people and the earth 
- Bring flood waters 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

God promised Noah salvation
- Establish a covenant with Noah 
- Noah will enter the ark, including his sons and wife and his sons’ wives


THE FLOOD WAS UNIVERSAL

The Flood was universal: "I am going to bring flood waters 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" (Genesis 6:17).

There is geological and archeological proof:
http://aletheia-seekers.blogspot.com/2012/09/flood-legends-from-around-world.html



THE FLOOD JUDGMENT PRESERVED THE HUMAN GENOME

The human genome was preserved because the Flood destroyed all who were unrighteous -- including the Nephiliums, whose genome had been compromised. By preserving the human genome through Noah, mankind preserved the ability to bring the Messiah into the world.

JUST AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, SO IT WILL BE AT THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN

Matthew 24:37-39
"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Luke 17:26-30
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed."

These passages were prophesied by Jesus. He taught His disciples that at the end times, when He returns, people will be just as corrupted as the people back in Noah’s time.

Look at us as a society. We eat whatever we want. We drink and get drunk. We marry whoever we want. We divorce whenever we want. We break God’s marital covenant as if it is meaningless and has no worth. And just like men of Sodom and Gomorrah, we go after "strange flesh" and scorn anyone who dares to stand by the Word of God. Is this surprising? No, not at all -- Jesus prophesied it. Peter also prophesied this state of things in his letter (2 Peter 3:3-7).

We are scoffers. Scoffers who are prideful and do not think the Word of God applies to them. They say, "God? Who is God? There is no God! You keep telling me He’s coming, but where is He? He’s not coming! Don’t be stupid. Come and have fun with me!"

Scoffers ignore the Word of God. They ignore God’s wisdom. Instead, they choose to follow their own wisdom. They think they know what's best. They live by their own rules. They pridefully think to themselves, "Look at me. I can do whatever I want, and God is nowhere! He’s not judging me! There is no God! I am God!"


Just as God judged the earth in Noah's day, God will once again judge the earth of our day.

Do not think that God does not see or that God will not do anything. God has His plans (read the Bible!), and He will enforce justice and righteousness at HIS TIME.

Do not be prideful. Know who God is. Know our place.

Just like the people of Noah’s time were prideful and godless, so too are today's people. And just as all those against God were judged in the Flood, all those against God will be judged when Jesus returns.


GOD KNOWS HIS CHILDREN (Genesis 8:1-19)

"God remembered Noah" (Genesis 8:1)
Here, "remember" is not suggesting that God "forgets" some of us and "remembers" others. God KNOWS ALL of us -- including non-believers!

I believe that "remember" here means that Noah's name is in the Book of Life.

Every person that is born, his/her name is entered into God's Book of Life. When a person decides to reject God completely, his/her is blotted out in that Book.

Noah continued to walk with God, and therefore his name remained in the Book of Life.


NOAH WAS IN THE ARK FOR A LONG TIME

Noah entered the Ark when he was 600 years old, on the 17th day of the 2nd month (Genesis 7:11-13). Noah left the Ark on the 27th day of the 2nd month of the following year (Genesis 8:14-15). Using the Hebrew lunar calendar of 360 days, that comes to 370 days.

Additionally, Noah was told to go into the Ark 7 days before it started to rain. Thus, Noah was on the Ark for 377 days. 

Reference:
http://www.godspointofview.com/public/qanda/how_long_was_noah_in_the_ark.htm


When the dove Noah sent out did not return to the Ark, Noah knew there was dry land.


AFTERTHOUGHTS

God is perfectly just. God is perfectly loving.
As we learn more about God, we must be careful about judging God. It is very easy for us to look at Biblical events and say, "If God is so loving, why would He destroy so many lives?"

Who do we think we are? How dare we point our fingers at God and think we can do better? What caused us to fall? Was it not sin? We are sinners, and yet, instead of repenting and turning to God, we continue to bathe in our pride, and we dare even to point our fingers at God?

This is why I continually stress that understanding sin is so critical. We MUST learn from Adam and Eve. We MUST learn how to see this world through God’s eyes.

God is perfect, just, and loving. Because God is perfectly just, He cannot tolerate ANY sin. NOT ONE. This is why James said, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2:10).

We simply must understand that in God's eyes, things are black and white. There is no gray area. We are either sinners or we are not. There is no maybe. There is no "Well, I’m a better person than she is! At least I don’t do this and that!" Well, if we ever had a sinful thought, if we've ever had acted selfishly, even if it was just one second, then according to James, we are just as much of a sinner as the cruelest criminal!

In our human eyes, we can compare. We can say we are better than this person and that person. To us, we think that there are levels of sin. In fact, our laws reflect that. Someone who got caught stealing isn't going to be punished nearly as severely as someone who got convicted of murder.

We judge BEHAVIOR. God judges the HEART.

A sinful heart is a sinful heart is a sinful heart. Be it from stealing a candy to killing a person, the consequences of those actions are vastly different, but the root of those actions are the same: A SINFUL HEART!

Hence, from God's perspective, WE ARE ALL SINNERS. None of us are perfect. We are flawed.

Lucky for us, God is also perfectly LOVING. And because He is loving, He sacrificed his only son to die for our sins! He knew that we would never be able to cleanse ourselves, and so, He had His son die for us!

Can any one of us imagine sacrificing our child for mankind? We might be able to if that sacrifice led to the saving of good people -- But, what about criminals? Can we imagine killing our child to save criminals -- people who have no appreciation for anything but themselves, people whose sole desire is to bring pain to others?

And yet, that is exactly what God did! We spat in Jesus's face as we hung him on the cross. We mocked him. We taunted him. And we abused him. He was so abused that his face was so distorted, no one could recognize who he was!

And yet, God sent Jesus to die for us. We are prideful, ungrateful sinners, and yet, God sacrificed his son for us.

To the people who point their fingers at God and say, "How could a loving God do these things," I'd like to respond: You do not understand the seriousness and the severity of sin. And worse, you have absolutely no idea the amount of love God has for us.

God is perfectly just; God is perfectly loving.

Because God is perfectly just, He cannot tolerate sin. ALL sin will be judged. The Flood judgment judged sinful people of Noah’s day. Similarly, Jesus will return to Earth and judge the sinful people in the very near future.

Because God is perfectly loving, He provided a way for us to reach salvation. We could not save ourselves, and so He came to save us. We are not worthy and do not deserve His sacrifice, but because of His love for us, He still gives us the gift of eternal life. Just as He protected Noah, the righteous, from His judgement, so too will He provide safety for His righteous people in the end days. He provided Noah with the Ark. Today, our safe haven is Jesus!

Which side do you want to be on? Satan and the sinners or God and Jesus? I really don’t think it is a tough decision.