davidbowerkingwood

What Would Justify Such Devastation?

We now come to the Genesis flood during which all but 8 people (0.00000000088% of the population)  perished from the face of the earth. In my last blog I mentioned the number of deaths at 8,999,999,992 to illustrate the massive loss of life involved in the flood. As we read in Revelation it does not appear the earth will again experience that number of deaths and at the very least the percentage of lives spared to those taken appears to be much greater at the end of the Tribulation.

There are two schools of interpretation concerning the first verses of Genesis 6 where the problem is described. The point of disagreement has to do with the identity of “the sons of God.” In Genesis 6:1-2 we read, “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.”

One line of interpretation sees these sons of God as part of the Godly line of Seth and the daughters of men as unbelieving women, which I believe is incorrect. The major verse used to support that view is taken from Matthew 22:30 which reads, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” The context of this comment was the challenge the Sadducees, who did not believe in a resurrection, had made to our Lord concerning a woman who had a succession of earthly husbands. To extend this to mean angels in human form are sexless is rather a stretch in my opinion.

Fallen Angels

The second view, which I hold, maintains the sons of God were angels who “kept not their first estate.” The offspring of those unions became remarkable men. In Genesis 6:4 we read “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.”

Many, who hold this position, see the Greek and Roman mythological stories as remnants of memories about this period in the history of man. Verses used to support this view include Job 1:6 which reads, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” It is also interesting to note that some translations translate the Hebrew phrase used here and in Genesis 6:2 & 4, “B’nai HaElohim” which means sons of God, as angels.

Other verses are found in Jude 6-7, “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home–these he has kept in 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.” Sexual immorality and perversion is the context for these two verses and that aptly describes the sons of God in Genesis 6.

There are a number of other convincing arguments involving identifying the sons of God as angels; if you have an interest in exploring this further please let me know in your comments and I’ll be happy to discuss it with you.

The next important question pertains to the why of this aberration. I believe this involved a Satanic effort to corrupt the DNA of the human race and make a completely human descendant of Adam and Eve which would bruise the head of the serpent an impossibility. Considering the judgment that was coming Satan’s efforts must have met with considerable success.

Noah

This brings us to Noah; in Genesis 6:9 we read, “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” This is understood to mean that Noah and the other seven that were delivered from death had pure human DNA from Adam and Eve and were free from the corruption of any angelic DNA. This passage is sometimes translated as “perfect in his generations.

It is evident to me that something drastic had to be taking place for God to consider the total destruction of mankind; in Genesis 6:7 we read, “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.”

To say that the marriage of godly men and ungodly women called for the total destruction of mankind is impossible for me to believe. I can, however, believe that a corruption of mankind with angelic DNA thereby preventing the pure seed of Adam and Eve to eventually produce mankind’s kinsman-redeemer makes complete sense to me.

To be continued.