Genesis Sermons (written)

Genesis 7:1-24
The Flood of Noah

Introduction: Here we are… 7^th chapter into the Bible and another seemingly incredulous story. We’ve come across others though. The six days of creation presented a problem with today’s thinking about evolution and things being billions of years old.

We talked about man being created from the dust instead of evolving from slime, and then woman being created from a rib of man. We’ve peered into the account of men who lived almost a thousand years and we’ve seen people grow to be immense in size.

All of these things have been coming at us so quickly in the book of beginnings. And now we’re going to look into the Flood of Noah. It’s a story most people know about and yet it’s so hard for us to accept. Is the story true?

The Bible is the foundation of our lives and Genesis is the foundation of the Bible. It would be incredulous for God’s word to start a bunch of myths, exaggerations, or lies.

Last week we looked at verses which confirmed that the New Testament writers believed that this story was 100% true. And this includes Jesus our Lord as well. He spoke of Noah as a real person and the account as literal. And so we are left with only 2 possibilities – either He was merely accommodating His audience, or He was telling us that the account is truth.

If you believe, as I do, that Jesus is God incarnate and the basis of our faith, then you cannot say He was accommodating His audience; the Lord doesn’t lie. We, as believers in the word of God, are left with the only possible answer concerning the question as to whether the flood really occurred or not. It did.

And it is a story of immense love and faithfulness in the midst of judgment – love for the work of the Creator’s hands and faithfulness to those who have been likewise just, righteous, and above all faithful.

Text Verse: “For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
⁸ With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹ “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. Isaiah 54:7-9

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Noah was a Righteous Man

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. ² You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; ³ also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” ⁵ And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.

Noah was righteous before God in his generations. What does this mean in the context of the Bible and what are we to learn from it?

The free on-line dictionary, which means I didn’t have to pay a penny to get you this, defines “righteous” this way – “moral. concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles; “moral sense”; “a moral scrutiny”; “a moral lesson”; “a moral quandary”; “moral convictions”; “a moral life.”

There are lots of other definitions out there which would suffice, but this one is particularly good because it continuously repeats the word “moral.” If Noah was righteous before God in his generation, then that righteousness deals with Noah’s morality being aligned with God’s morality. How can you know this?

Morality must stem from somewhere. If I love my wife, that didn’t come out of an apple tree. Instead, it came from somewhere else and is defined based on a perfect standard. Love doesn’t simply occur by chance. And it’s true for all other moral virtues.

If someone bumps into my car with their car through negligence, I will get upset. Why? Because there is a sense of justice and righteousness in me. And that is based on a perfect standard of these things. If this wasn’t the case, then we would bounce off each other like bumper cars and it wouldn’t matter…but it does.

I argue against abortion; someone else argues for it. The very fact that we are concerned about the issue at all is because there is a standard on which we are arguing. One is closer to this standard and one is further from it, but it most certainly exists.

If an objective law, such as truth, justice, or Noah’s righteousness exists independent of our individual minds – and it does – then it must come from a perfect Mind.

Someone might say, “I disagree, everything is meaningless.” What’s the problem with that? It’s self-defeating, because the statement is assumed to be meaningful. Even when we try to get away from meaning, we only demonstrate more meaning.

This isn’t meant to be an exercise in philosophy, but an explanation of why Noah was righteous in his generation. It was because his moral code and his moral standard which was aligned with that of the Creator. This is what we need to know about the account to understand it in the context in which it is given.

Remember what it said in
Genesis 6. There we had three important verses –

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

This is what God wants us to know at this point in the story. But maybe there’s more God wants us to infer if we’re looking at things with open eyes.

What was it that Adam needed in order to be clothed by God after the fall? What was it that made Abel’s offering more acceptable than Cain’s? What was it that led to men calling on the Lord at the end of Chapter 4? What was it that made Methuselah’s parents give him a prophetic name about the flood to come?

All of these were based on faith. So in the three verses we just read from chapter 6, we can infer that the wickedness of man on the earth was from a lack of faith. We can also infer that Noah was considered righteous by faith. And we can infer that the grace he received was because of this faith.

Noah’s morality came from faith and therefore it was properly directed morality. Not everyone who opposes abortion does it because they believe that it is God’s standard. It is based on God’s standard, we already saw that, but it is the faith in the fact that it’s God’s standard that makes the decision righteous with God. Not that fact that the standard is held.

If an atheist doesn’t believe in abortion, it means nothing to God. He might as well eat children for breakfast. Only when faith and deeds are working together are they acceptable to God. In other words, the deeds are – by definition – deeds of faith. As Paul says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” Of all the people on earth at his time, Noah was this man.

Last week, Noah built an ark. Was that based on faith or sight? It was faith. God said the flood was coming and Noah could have said, “Flood, flood, what flood? Get out of my head you voice about the flood.” Instead, without ever having seen such a flood, he began to build an ark.

Remember Hebrews 11 – “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

So Noah was faithful in his life and he responded faithfully to the divine warning with more faith. After responding by building an ark, we saw in verses 2-6 that Noah was told to fill the ark with the animals sent to him by God and that he was 600 years old at that time. This was 1656AM and the flood was coming in just 7 days

II. Noah was an Obedient Man

⁷ So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, ⁹ two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

In obedience to the divine command, Noah entered the ark. And with him went the animals and birds and everything that creeps on the earth. Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth doesn’t mean that politicians were carried along. Instead, it’s speaking of reptiles.

 ¹⁰ And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. ¹² And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— ¹⁴ they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. ¹⁵ And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. ¹⁶ So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.

Again and again in these 9 verses, Noah’s obedience is brought up. Noah was an obedient man. He was told to build the ark and he built it. It would have taken a long time, a lot of effort, and more than probably a lot of verbal abuse. I can see the conversations around the morning coffee table. But through it all, Noah obeyed.

“Noah you crazy nut, with all the wood you’ve used for that box, you could have built a tower to heaven. Saaaaay, now that I mention it, that might be a good project sometime. Flood, Noah you are a loony toon extraordinaire…”

Noah, you’re nuts wasting all those trees
And spending your time doing crazy stuff
There ain’t no such thing as riding the high seas
And all the water in the world wouldn’t be enough

To float that big box even an inch off the ground
Hmmm, what’s that rumbling Noah, what is that sound?

As I was saying, your work is all in vain
And those animals are going to eat you poor
There’s no such thing as what you’re calling “rain”
But those clouds are looking strange outside the door

Anyway Noah, stop being such a fool and preaching to me
I love you, but your plains old nuts you see

Judgment and punishment what are you talking about?
What is this “living holy” stuff you’re speaking in my ear?
Just a minute, I’m going to the door to shut the weather out
Them big old clouds are starting to come near.

Where you going Noah? To that ark over there?
Well, have fun and I’ll see you when you come out again
Hmmm what’s this wet stuff coming from the air?
This can’t be what Noah’s been calling “rain”

Hooo Noah, let me into your box
I’m getting awful spooked out here
The water is getting up to my sox
And it’s quickly getting higher I fear…

I can’t even begin to express to you how important the concept of obedience is to God. Obedience is what leads to life, happiness, and a close and personal walk with God. On the other hand, there is disobedience. It leads to loss, sadness, punishment, death, and condemnation.

This is the reality of the situation. When we aren’t obedient, we only bring troubles on ourselves. When we’re obedient, then barring time and chance, things will always be better off.

How important is obeying the word of God? The Bible is replete with the results of disobedience. Saul, the first king of Israel, lost the right to the kingship because of it. And he, his sons, and his progeny after them died because of it. Samuel laid it out to Saul after his act of disobedience:

So Samuel said:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king.”

Disobedience is unrighteousness because it’s demonstrating a lack of faith. There’s that word again. It doesn’t matter what biblical passage or issue we look at, the word faith will inevitably appear.

Even in what animals are brought on, we see faith. Noah was told to bring two of every animal onto the ark, but 7 of every clean animal onto the ark. But the Bible to this point hasn’t stated which were clean and which weren’t.

This has lead modern scholars to claim that those verses were inserted later by the priests of Israel. But there is no reason at all to come to this conclusion. Here’s what one commentary has to say –

“For the distinction between clean and unclean animals did not originate with Moses, but was confirmed by him as a long established custom, in harmony with the law. It reached back to the very earliest times, and arose from a certain innate feeling of the human mind…”

Because no divine command has yet been given about which animals were clean, the commentary correctly states that there was an innate understanding in man of what was and wasn’t appropriate for sacrifice. The Law of Moses was a direct command from God and built upon already established customs. We can’t read more into it than that.

It was now the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, and it says the flood waters came in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month. This would have been the October/November time frame around the autumnal equinox.

While the world was sowing its next harvest, Noah was preparing for something different. While the world was probably worshipping the alignment of the heavenly bodies, Noah was worshipping the Lord. While the world was anticipating its next harvest, Noah was anticipating a flood.

On that very day, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And it says that the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

The world was a probably a bit smaller than it is now. And the Bible says, it originally had a large amount of water in underground cavities and it also had a frozen canopy above it. When these things broke open, a global flood was the result.

If you ever look at a geologic map of the earth, it looks a lot like a baseball. At one time, it didn’t, but when the earth burst its seams, it fractured the plates at the points where the water pressure had built up. Since that time, these plates have continued to move and the world has increased in circumference.

The frozen canopy would have come under this pressure as well, and along with the water being spewed into the atmosphere, the rains coming down for forty days is entirely plausible. The larger earth and the lack of a canopy over the earth would certainly account for many of the changes in how things are after the flood.

Noah was setting out on the world’s greatest seagoing adventure because Noah was an obedient man.

III. Noah was a Patient Man

¹⁷ Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹ And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. ²¹ And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. ²² All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. ²³ So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. ²⁴ And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

I’ve read through these verses probably 50 or more times and until I read them again before typing these very words, I’d never thought about the people as they were. It was always distant.

The flood was coming to save Noah and destroy the wicked. But it became personal when I thought about those people from the perspective of the people around me and the people I love who aren’t believers.

These were real human beings – probably billions of them, just like the people we pass on the streets  every day. They were just like the old boyfriend or girlfriend we used to date and to whom we still think about when our minds are still.

They were just like the people who are so dear to us at work and those we see in our neighborhoods. I have friends all around the world from my life’s travels and I’ve made so many more since the electronic age. They are all humans, with real beating hearts, real hopes, desires, and aspirations. And every one of them is either in Adam or in Christ. Those are the only two choices.

Noah was a patient man. He certainly preached to those he loved right up until the flood. He did it through words and he did it by his actions. And even today he is preaching by those actions to the people who will listen. He was patient in waiting on the Lord’s timing and his patience must have included immense sadness.

If I were to consign the world to destruction while being saved out of that destruction, my heart would be breaking for these people. I’d be telling them about God, about His love for the world, about living righteously, and about His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what I’d be doing if those I loved so much were on the highway to eternal separation from God and consignment to hell.

Wait a minute… the world is consigned to destruction and some people are going to be saved out of it. And I am one of them. I need to start telling people about God, about His love for the world, about living righteously, and about His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is what I need to be doing if I really love those people. Oh God, give me a heart for the lost again. Give me the desire to tell what You have done by granting us pardon from sin through the blood of Jesus. Break my heart once again, O God.

When the waters came, Noah had to be patient again. Whether or not he heard the people outside the boat he knew what was happening and he had to patiently endure the loss of every one of the people he knew – certainly many in his immediate family of brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and cousins.

People he played with as children and people he grew up with. He probably patiently waited through many painful memories. Imagine our own lives and the people we’ve loved and lost. How crushed we were at the time.

The pains fade, but the memories never do. Noah was probably thinking about the many thousands of people who had come into his life – memory after memory as the waters rose.

And he had to be patient at sea too. The rains came for 40 days and the waters prevailed for 150. All this time, he and his seven family members had to wait in the quiet solitude within the raging waters.

We read that the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.

This wasn’t a localized flood as skeptics try to claim. This was a global flood and every high hill and every higher mountain was covered and even submerged. Fifteen cubits is almost 25 feet. Even the tallest of the Nephilim standing on the top of the highest mountain couldn’t prevail over the waters which flooded the earth.

And so everything died. Listen again to the terminology the Bible uses, “And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. ²² All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died.”

The Bible said it this way to remind us of the creation account – “birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.” In other words, in Genesis 1, these were all created by God and it means that He has every right to do as He directs with them. The air in their nostrils which is the breath of the spirit of life was given by God and now it was being taken away.

Only a perverse and disconnected heart would find fault with the Creator concerning how he handles His own creation. Yes, but we do. Each of us does in one way or another. Our friend dies and we find fault. Our husband or wife or child gets a disease or in an accident and becomes an invalid and we find fault. Our favorite pet dies and we find fault.

All things have an end and mixed with joy is sadness and loss. This is the world we live in and we’re asked to lift our eyes at those times and react in a way which acknowledges God’s sovereignty.

After losing everything but a nagging wife the Bible says,

Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. ²¹ And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Like Job, Noah was a patient man. Noah waited and he was rewarded with inheriting a new world and a new start.

And waiting on the Lord isn’t a concept unique to Noah. Rather it is something that the Bible refers to dozens of times and in many contexts. There are examples of people who do wait on the Lord and of those who don’t wait on the Lord. You know where the reward is though.

The psalms especially are filled with people waiting on the Lord – people in distress, people undergoing trials, people hemmed in from all sides. But you’ll always find the end of the waiting to be in the secure and loving arms of the Lord. In the 27^th Psalm David says that there is no other place like those arms –

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:13, 14

And Jeremiah the prophet doesn’t just wait on the Lord as if He’s some type of cosmic candy giver like so many expect. Instead, he hearkens back to Him being the Creator and sustainer. It is this loving God who Jeremiah calls out to –

Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are You not He, O Lord our God?
Therefore we will wait for You,
Since You have made all these. Jeremiah 14:22

And in the New Testament, there is the calm assurance of the coming of Jesus to set things right in what I believe is one of the few truly prophetic verses of the New Testament outside of the gospels and Revelation –

⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. ⁸ You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. James 5:7, 8

James asks us to be patient and to wait on the coming of the Lord and then he cites the farmer waiting patiently for the early and latter rains. Israel has lacked the latter rains for the past 2000 years. When the Romans when into the land and destroyed it and exiled the people, they cut down all of the trees for their siege works.

Because of this, it changed the seasonal climate so that the rain cycle stopped. But since the return of Israel to her land, they have planted millions of trees and brought back both the early and the latter rains. James says that this is the time to establish our hearts because the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Noah was a righteous man, he was an obedient man, and he was a patient man, but the Bible says that he has yet to receive the promise he waited for. Hebrews tells us so. There we see that he and the other saints of old…

“…died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

A city has been prepared for the people of God. Take a look around you at the world with all its beauty. Look at the magnificence of the universe and the splendor of what God has done. Six days. He did it all in just six days. When Jesus left us 2000 years ago, He said this to the apostles –

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

God did all of this in six days. Jesus has been preparing a house with many mansions for 2000 years. Just imagine what He’s put together for us.

And how do we receive our mansion. He tells us in the same book of John in the very same chapter –

⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.” ⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The Flood of Noah

Get into the ark Noah, you and your household too
Because I have seen you righteous before Me
The waters are coming and the ark will protect you
And I will remember you as you float upon the sea

You are righteous in this wicked generation
Of all the people on the earth, you’re the only one
But you O Noah are not an aberration
In fact you and the ark prefigure my own Son

Bring in the animals, bring them in two by two
Except the clean ones, of those seven you shall bring
They will keep the species alive just as you will do
And the contents of the ark will start a whole new thing

Seven days more and will come the flood upon the earth
And every living thing outside, I will destroy
Right now they’re laughing and making noises of mirth
But in just a week, there will be no more joy

Noah was 600 when the rains finally came
Along with him were his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law
And for 4000 years we have remembered his name
Because God in Noah, righteousness He saw

On the 17^th of the second month, the waters were on the earth
The fountains of the great deep were broken apart
And the windows of heaven opened, ceasing all the mirth
That’s the day God’s great judgment had its start

For 40 days and 40 nights, the rains continued to fall
But not until the Lord had shut the ark’s door
All because Noah on the name of the LORD did call
He and his kin were safe from the torrential downpour

Every thing with breath in its nostrils died
Out of them went the precious spark of life
I’m sure Noah inside the ark often sadly sighed
Along with his children and along with his wife

The water prevailed on the earth 150 days
And even the highest mountains were covered in the deep
Even to 15 cubits, they were hidden so are God’s ways
When His judgment is aroused as if woken from a sleep

There is a true Ark pictured by the one Noah made
It’s the safety of Jesus, our great and awesome Lord
Trust in Him and His security will never fade
He will protect you by the power of His eternal word

Oh I love You Lord Jesus, saving one such as me
And so I come before you, humbled heart and on bended knee

Use me, please, as a tool in your unfolding plan
Of the love of God and the blessed redemption of man

Hallelujah and amen.

Next week we’ll look over, Genesis 8:1-19 – Then God Remembered Noah. Take time to read those verses before we meet again.

 

 

Genesis 6:5-13
Grace in the Eyes of the Lord

Grace. What is grace? It’s getting what you don’t deserve. Today we’ll see that in a world full of evil, one man was given grace. Just like Adam, every person on earth descends from this man – Noah. His story is an amazing one on many levels and hidden within the text itself is a pattern which centers on the fact that we are not forgotten by God. Even when the world is collapsing around us, He is there.

God’s eyes are always on His people and He has a plan for each of us. The hard part is to trust Him when everything else seems to be falling apart around us. The story of Noah is something we can cling to in today’s world. As the forces of the wicked seem to be winning, God has secured His faithful in an Ark which will protect them through every trial.

Introduction: Today’s verses, Genesis 6:5-13, show us God’s great displeasure at the wickedness of man and His judgment on their sins. Unfortunately, in order to see and understand God’s grace, there has to be a context in which that grace can be viewed.

This account about the pre-flood world, and many others in the Bible after the flood, are given not to depress us, but to show us that even in the midst of a world full of desperately confusing tragedies, like earthquakes or a war, God is in control and is working out a wonderful plan.

If you are just willing to stick with it, there is a ton of happy and uplifting stuff in the Bible and the beautiful grace of God is continuously evident. But the Bible is a book of truth and truth often includes painful downers.

Among Christian scholars, there’s a term known as Total Depravity which attempts to describe our state as it’s revealed in the Bible. Depravity is described and viewed differently by different scholars. And bringing this up isn’t meant to be a killjoy, but it will help you understand what the Bible teaches.

In the book of Acts, Paul explains why these things are so important – “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.” In other words, we need to look at the Bible from every perspective and not only on what makes us feel happy.

If you present just a little bit of error to an uninformed person, you have them in your grasp. Do you think even one of the people who started out with Jim Jones thought that in a few years they’d be drinking cyanide in a foreign county? Of course not. No one goes out looking for destruction. Instead, it creeps in and finds its place in the uneducated.

So here we go… let’s review four different views on Depravity –

The first is known as Pelagianism, named after the 4^th century heretic Pelagius. It looks at human beings as innocent at birth and that they can obey God. This is unbiblical and it’s a heresy.

The second is Arminianism and is named after Jacob Arminius. It says humans are somewhat depraved but they can cooperate with God. Arminianism is also called semi-Pelagianism.

The third is Moderate Calvinism – a term I don’t like, so I’ll call it “biblical depravity.” This view says humans are totally depraved and that the image of God in humans is or marred. This view teaches that humans can cooperate with God.

The fourth is known as Strong Calvinism. This says humans are totally depraved and that the image of God in humans is significantly marred or even destroyed in man. It says that humans cannot cooperate with God.

Only one is right and I believe it’s the third – “biblical depravity.” There’s no use arguing with people who believe differently. People love to be wrong for a host of reasons and that’s their prerogative, but let me give you some points on the right view so we can understand what it means to be totally depraved.

Total Depravity in fallen man is extensive but not intensive. Sin is extends to every dimension of our being, including the body (we age, wrinkle up, and die because of it), the soul (our nature is sinful – we don’t need to teach children to do wrong, they already know), and also the will (we often do things we don’t really want to do because sin pulls us to the wrong option – even when we know it’s wrong.) These things are self-evident and very few would deny that this is the way things are.

Having said this, depravity doesn’t mean we are as sinful as we could be. In other words, people all around the world do good things, like helping old ladies across the road and petting puppies. We can strive for excellence and we possess dignity.

But apart from Jesus Christ we are not as good as we should be and we are not in any way able to please God with our works – the works we do are good, but because sin infects us, they are unacceptable to God – the sin must be dealt with first.

Another thing about this fallen state is that although sin does infect us and permeate us, we aren’t completely destroyed by it. In other words, we still bear God’s image. If you take Total Depravity too far, it actually eliminates the ability to be depraved at all – the very definition no longer has any relevance.

Why am I’m telling you this? Because it’s important. If you misunderstand what God is like, your interpretation about the things of God will be wrong. If you misunderstand what man is like, then your interpretation about the things of man will be wrong. And this includes our relationship with God.

The more wrong you are, the less right you are
This is just the way things are
Will your walk with God be one that’s close?
Or will your only view Him from afar?

The Italian actress Asia Argento said this about depravity – “What you might see as depravity is, to me, just another aspect of the human condition.” I had to laugh when I read that because she’s confirming what she’s trying to deny. Helloooo –

Depravity is so obvious that we can’t get away from it even when we try to get away from it.

What you might see as an apple is, to me,
Just a type of fruit that grows on a tree.

Text Verse: The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, ¹¹ So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.” Psalm 58:10, 11

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. When Judgment Falls

Last week we talked about the Nephilim – those who came from the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men. The last thought we looked at said, “Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” The world went after hero worship rather than God worship.

The men of renown were probably little different than our movie stars of today. Although I’m not as political as some here, it’s no secret which political party most of the Hollywood elite belong to. Politics isn’t religion, but there’s a progression of both which follows inevitably when power, fame, or money is introduced into the equation. It is away from God and to that which is against God.

The more we idolize these people, the more our views about the things of God become skewed. For example, the value of human life is reduced. And also, it becomes more important to protect nature than humanity. And the concept of personal responsibility is subordinated to the collective whole.

True religion is shunned and belittled and tolerance is elevated above truth. This is just the way it is. And this is the way it has been throughout history. What is wicked is called good and what is good is called intolerant and wicked.

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

וַיַּרְא יְהוָה, כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וְכָל־יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ, רַק רַע כָּל־הַיּוֹם׃

Va’yiar adonai ki raba ra’at ha’adam ba’aretz, vekhol yetser makhshebot libo raq ra’a khol hayiom (in 48 seconds)

When the church tries too hard to identify itself with the secular world, eventually only the secular world is left. When the sons of God had intermarried with those outside the chosen line, they incorporated their ungodly practices in with their own.

Today, instead of Sunday worship, we have Sunday football gatherings. Instead of mission work, we go jogging. There’s nothing wrong with football and there’s nothing wrong with jogging, but when they replace our devotion to God, then God is left out of the picture. When we leave God out, the vacuum needs to be filled with something. Jesus tells us this in a parable –

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

After only 1550 years of man on earth, things had degraded to such an extent that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth.” But even more terrible than the actual state of things was that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

In other words, not only the imagination of the people was wicked, but the purposes and desires of them were too. In the Hebrew word which is used to describe this state, the object of the thought is being distinguished from the thought itself.

This might not be too easy to grasp, but a thought might have a real output or it might not but it is really evil either way. This leads to complete condemnation of the state of man and the actions of man as well. And it’s painfully evident why.

When noble and right things are set aside, like truth, dedication to God, and so on, it doesn’t matter how great are the achievements or how praiseworthy are the deeds, they are void of moral good.

If you remember, the line of Cain in Chapter 4 developed into an entire culture. It had food production, arts, and industry, and yet it was devoid of God and therefore it was only evil continually. Let’s compare it to America.

We have arts, like movies and music – in fact we export those to the world. We produce enough food to feed the world. We have industry – again, we export it to the world. All the things that the world had at this period in Genesis we have in America today and we even have enough to export beyond our borders. But just because we have a praiseworthy culture, doesn’t mean that it’s properly directed toward a relationship with God.

When the intent of our actors is to promote a secular agenda, it is evil – even though their acting may be extraordinary. When the intent of our musicians is to increase perversion, it is evil – even though their music may be complex, stimulating, relaxing, or notable in some other way.

When the intent of our government in food distribution is to promote an evil political agenda, then the fact that people are fed becomes irrelevant to the greater moral issue.

This is the state of the pre-flood world where every intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually, and this is the state that America is rushing headlong into – even as we boast of the great culture we live in.

The reasons behind our actions are as important as the result of them. And God knows both intimately. As Matthew Henry wisely said it, “Wickedness is then great when great men are wicked.” Or as the ancient Proverb David quoted “Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.”

This was the state of the world before the flood, but even after the flood, in Chapter 8, we’ll read this – “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”

There was no expected improvement in man. However, a new interaction between God and man would exist after the flood. There are seven different ways that God is shown to interact with man in the Bible. Each is given in a logical progression to lead us to Jesus Christ.

In the end, what we have is a dichotomy between God’s longsuffering patience – a cup which is very deep – and man’s ability and perseverance in filling up that cup until it eventually needs to be poured out in wrath.

In Ecclesiastes 8, Solomon explains this, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”

Because God is patient and merciful and man is bent on evil, sin heaps up in a land until there is no remedy. Let stop and look at a few times this happened since the flood –

When God spoke to Abraham, He said, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Explain

And here is the recorded fall of Jerusalem from 2 Chronicles –

¹⁴ Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

Yes, God judges sin. When the cup of His indignation is full, the only option left is for man to drink the fruit of the vine he has cultivated. Anyone who thinks God loves us more than He hates our sin, probably doesn’t realize that the road we’re heading down is one which intersects with the avenues of Judgment and Destruction. And both of these lead directly to the Hall of Justice, which is His great throne.

⁶ And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

This is the first time the Bible records that God was sorry about something, or that He regretted something and the terminology leads most people immediately to think that God somehow changes either mentally or relationally toward us.

In fact, very few people can see it any other way. But the force of the statement “the Lord was sorry” needs to be drawn together from the explanation “He was grieved in His heart.”

In other words, God being sorry doesn’t presume any change in Him or in His intent. The Bible uses a human term and applies it to God so that we can understand His feeling toward sin. It’s not a changing feeling. It is His very nature being expressed in a way we can comprehend.

⁷ So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

When God says, “I will destroy man” the Bible uses a term which is comparable to wiping a dish clean or erasing a chalk board. It’s a complete removal of what was so that nothing is left. God created man and He gave man dominion over the earth and its creatures and they would share in its destruction.

If you love puppies, this might sound cruel, but animals are not moral creatures. The animals were given to man and when man changed relationally to God, they fell under that relational change.

Think of it this way. Man and all of what he was given is on the positive side of God. When man’s sins heaped up, he moved to the negative side, or the judgment side, and the life over which he exercised dominion (meaning the animals) moved with him.

It might help to explain what happened with the nation of Israel in AD 70. The Jewish people were a part of the Roman Empire. When they rebelled against the Romans, the Romans came in and destroyed not only the people, but everything in the land as well.

It wasn’t Rome which changed in relation to Israel, it was Israel which changed in relation to Rome and every part of the land was affected. The emperor wasn’t affected by what happened even though he might say that he was sorry Israel was allowed to become a part of the Roman state. The change was in Israel, not Rome and likewise in the Bible, the change is in man, not God.

Man was no longer worthy of the beautiful house that was built for him and so both man and house were removed simultaneously.

II. Grace is to be Found 

⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Throughout the Bible, there are simple sentences inserted into long narratives which are the pivots for the narrative. This verse is one such pivot – “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Destruction is promised and destruction is coming, but in the midst of it, God remembers His faithful children. And this isn’t just a story about the past. It’s relevant to us, right now, today.

The world is sliding into moral degradation and destruction is coming. We don’t need the Bible to tell us its coming, all we need to do is think it through. And we personally may not be spared the troubles and trials of all of it. But Jesus is that Ark in which we are secure, even in the most violent storms.

The Bible never promises us freedom from disaster, but we are promised that the Lord never forgets us and He is abundantly faithful in His promises. This veil of tears in which we walk is only that, a veil which must be passed through. On the other side, streets of gold and the light of glory is waiting.

Albert Barnes says “Whither grace comes there merit cannot be.” Noah didn’t earn God’s grace and neither can we. But we can receive it in advance of the time it is needed. When the whirlpool starts pulling, when the wind begins to blow, or when the tide starts to rise, those who have received God’s grace will be safely delivered beyond what is an impassible calamity for those who wouldn’t heed the word of the Master.

⁹ This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

This marks the third genealogy mentioned in the Bible. The first was “the heavens” in Genesis 2:4 when God created man. The second was the line of Adam in Genesis 5. And now we come to the genealogy of Noah. God is working, right in human history, developing an amazing plan that began 6000 years ago and which He has carefully sculpted to show us his heart.

Noah’s genealogy is given here because he is now the central figure in the biblical story. And why? It’s because Noah “was a just man.” Of all the people on the earth, he alone was found righteous. So what made him righteous? Was it something he did?

In this case, the answer would be “No and Yes.” There’s nothing we can do outwardly to earn God’s favor. At the same time, the Bible says that righteousness comes from faith – something that springs up in the inward man.

Noah was a man of faith. He was waiting for the Messiah who would come and he believed this despite the wicked state of the world around him.

And this faith led to the second description of him, “He was perfect in his generations.” Of all the people on the earth at that time, he was the only man of faith. His perfection was granted to him by God because of his faith.

Just as we saw in Adam’s naming of Eve; just as we saw in Abel’s offering; and just as we’ll see throughout the Bible, it is faith which brings us into a close walk with God. And faith is an act of free will. Noah possessed this faith and the very next recorded thought is that Noah walked with God.

Like his great-grandfather Enoch, Noah walked with God. And you might remember that Enoch’s walk of faith is what resulted in his being translated directly to heaven without ever seeing death.

III. Yes, Even in Judgment

I know, I already said that speaking about judgment and wickedness might be a downer, but the Bible tells us to consider the whole counsel of God. Today’s verses simply include the fact that God hates sin, he hates wickedness, and he hates violence, and that these things don’t escape His notice.

There’s no way to sugar coat this without getting a coating of sugar all over it – so why bother. We’ll leave the sugar off.

¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

In contrast to Noah of the previous three verses, the corrupt state of the rest of the world was evident. It says “the earth was corrupt before God.” This isn’t the state of the literal ground, but man who represents it. The earth, or all men, was corrupt before God, and his corruption is acted on outwardly in violence.

And this certainly included the worshiping God. They no longer “called on the name of the LORD.” Instead, they worshiped the creation or false gods, rather than the Creator. And their actions spilled out into contempt of Him. They were actively and openly defying Him to His face.

As a challenge over the next seven days, go to any news site which simply links articles from other news services, like the Drudge Report, and just read the headlines. See if what you read there isn’t represented completely and perfectly in these two verses.

Paying lip service to God in general has nothing to do with true faith. Women laying on abortion tables will go home and say how much they love God moments after murdering a child. Any politician will be glad to stand up and say “God bless America” or “I am a Christian” on the same day he votes in a bill condoning open homosexuality in the military.

And any leader can tickle the ears of the people with charming remarks about God while enacting legislation which deprives Christians of the very rights they proclaim to defend. None of this is pleasing to God.

What is stated here in Genesis 6 simply reflects the world in which we live. And the result…

¹³ And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Destruction – that is the inevitable result. This verse records, “the end of all flesh has come before me.” This end isn’t speaking of the destruction to come. Instead, it’s speaking of God’s tolerance of man’s actions which will lead to the destruction. A good way to understand it is to think of a rebellious teen.

When they come home late, you take away their car keys. When they do it again, you take away their car keys. The third time, you say, “This is the end.” And you take sell the car. God’s buttons had been pushed far enough and He would now act.

The entire world was to be destroyed. If Noah didn’t find grace in the eyes of the Lord, there would have been no you or me. And when the world rushes into the coming tribulation period the Bible speaks of, very few will come out at the other end.

Isaiah writes about what’s coming – “I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold…”

The Jewish historian Josephus tells us something not recorded in the Bible about God’s judgment. He says that Adam predicted that the world would be destroyed twice – once by water and once by fire. The water is coming in the next chapters of Genesis. The fire may very well be coming soon to a cataclysm near you.

IV. The Grace of our Lord is to be Found

Noah’s great-grandfather Enoch walked by faith and was translated directly to heaven. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells us that we should also “walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”

Two chapters later, Paul gives us immensely exciting news for those who will be alive at some unknown point in the future –

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

Noah was carried through the flood in an ark. Enoch was taken directly to heaven. And the other eight people from Adam to Noah died before the flood. All of them were saved from God’s judgment of the flood.

The parallel for us is this – Some Christians, the majority, will die naturally before the Lord comes. But there will be some alive before the tribulation who will be translated at the rapture just as Enoch was. After that moment, the time of tribulation will come. But Israel, like Noah, will be carried through that time just as Noah was carried through the flood.

You see, even in today’s wicked world, grace is to be found. Some people say we shouldn’t hope for the rapture because there are so many unsaved people on earth. But this is incorrect thinking. There will always be “so many unsaved people on earth.”

Until the Lord comes, we need to be about His business telling people about God’s offer of pardon. But when that trumpet sounds – and may it be soon – I will be jumping to have a head start on the rest of you. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Grace is to be found, but better you find it now, before the time of trouble comes. Looking for grace while you’re looking for enough food to feed yourself inevitably leads to hard choices that most people will fail at.

Well, I’m done with today’s notes, but I’d like to ask you to think over one of the points I gave you earlier. I said that God’s longsuffering patience is a cup which is deep, but that man’s ability and perseverance in filling up that cup necessitates that it eventually needs to be poured out in wrath.

In the Bible, there was a garden called Gethsemane. In that garden, which mean “oil press,” the sins of the world were pressed into a cup and a Man was asked to drink it. Not just a sip, but down to the dregs. He cried out “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

The cup of God’s wrath which is filled to overflowing with the sins of our lives, was drained by an innocent Lamb so that we could have eternal life. Now we have only one of two choices. The first is to accept the payment He accomplished on our behalf, or the second is to meet God face to face on our own merits. The choice is ours and the choice is an eternal one.

The cup is an angry mixture of judgment and condemnation. Choose wisely.

Grace In the Eyes of the Lord

Ten generations is all it took
Until evil encompassed the entire earth
The Lord came down and He gave a look
And saw only one man of worth

The intent of the rest was evil always
And their wickedness was immensely great
So the Lord determined to end their days
Destruction would come; it would no longer wait

He was sorry that He had made man on the earth
And He was grieved in His heart that it was so
Man’s own actions are what diminished his worth
He acted out in evil as if God didn’t know

But the Lord spoke the word “I will destroy it all”
“I will utterly annihilate my beautiful blue ball”

But – But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD
Only this one man had cherished His word

Noah found grace and he would be secure
Because he had faith and he was just
The destruction was coming, this was for sure
The rest of men would return to the dust

Noah walked with God while evil did abound
The world was corrupt and violence filled the earth
It’s happening again, just take a look around
We’re rejecting the God of infinite worth

Stand fast like Noah, and have faith through it all
Your faith will deliver you when the Lord makes His call

Will you be ready to go at the rapture
Or left behind when the Lord makes that call
Jesus is coming that much is sure
Then on the world, destruction will fall

For those of us who will be gone away
In the presence of the Lord we will eternally be
I for one can’t wait for that day
All I want is Jesus to see

Just as Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, the last words of the Bible offer us the same blessing – “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 6:1-4
The Nephilim

Today’s sermon is on four highly debated verses that have led to lots of anger and bitterness between opposing views. Unless you’re aware of what different people think, you might wonder what the hubbub is all about because the verses probably seem intriguing but may be a little difficult to follow. Let’s read them first and then we’ll break them down into major areas of review –

¹ Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. ³ And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ There were giants (NEPHILIM) on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Today we’ll look at the two most prevalent views on these verses and which one is right and why. I don’t want to sound condescending, nor do I want to malign another Christian, Chuck Missler, who puts out articles I read from time to time, but he is the one who’s chosen his side of this argument and so I’m going to stick to what he’s written because it pretty much sums up the view.

Please don’t just believe what I believe without thinking the issue through, but like all things in the Bible, there is only one truth about any relevant issue. In the end, opinions don’t matter – only what God is telling us does.

Introduction: What is the Bible about? Well, there’s no single answer to that question. It tells us the mind of God. It reveals to us the Person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s about the state of man. It shows us the way of salvation and the path to destruction. It details all kinds of things, one of them being the redemption of man.

The Bible isn’t about angels. Angels are mentioned in the Bible, but they are a secondary subject area. Rather they are participants in the overall drama. The Bible isn’t about Babylon. Again, Babylon is mentioned and is an important concept, but it’s not about Babylon. In other words, we need to keep our major and minor subject areas from getting out of sync.

One major subject area – the redemption of man – is often and unfortunately inappropriately mixed with another minor subject area which comes from the first four verses of Genesis 6. Because of this, really strange concepts are derived from here. Let’s be careful today about how we evaluate these verses and let’s keep everything in the context intended by God.

Text Verse: Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 2 Corinthians 6:14, 15

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Sons of God, the Daughters of Men, verses 1 & 2

Before we start looking through today’s verses, we would be showing immense wisdom by going back and reviewing the previous 5 chapters to look for the progression of things. If we don’t, we’ll immediately violate the third, fourth, and fifth of our top five Bible interpretation rules – context, context, and context.

Chapter 1 gives an overall view of the six days of creation. On the sixth day, man is created, at which time God proclaimed everything “very good” or tov meod. Let’s note right here that angels are not mentioned at all in this creation account – the focus is on God, the visible creation, and man.

After noting God’s rest as being established on the seventh day, Chapter 2 becomes a detailed insert into the sixth day of creation – the creation of man, the Garden of Eden, the creation of woman and other details. As with Chapter 1, God and man are the focus.

Chapter 3 details the temptation and fall of man, the curse of the serpent, the sentencing of man and woman, and man’s exile from Eden – a ghastly business, but one which mainly focuses on man.

Chapter 4 provides insights into the birth of Cain and Abel and the murder of Abel. It then jumps directly into the account of Cain and his lineage reaching to the eighth generation from Adam. During this account, one particular name seems to appear for almost no reason at all. In verse 22, it abruptly and without explanation, says this – “And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.”

At the end of the Cain account, it suddenly shifts again – “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, ‘For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.’ ²⁶ And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.”

All of this details the history of man on earth and it is the focus of what we’ve read. All of it included types of the coming Christ.

Chapter 5 gives the record of the first 10 people in Jesus’ lineage, from Adam, through Seth, to Noah. This is about the history of man on earth and it is being set in direct contrast to the preceding chapter which detailed the line of Adam through Cain.

These records, genealogies, and generations have been carefully recorded for us and then strategically placed in the Bible. We’ve evaluated them in the past months and we have been shown a direct contrast between the two groups who have been highlighted.

Any attempt to insert something beyond this into Chapter 6 then would be to completely misuse the Bible. The Bible progressively reveals God’s workings in and through His creation for the good of man and towards the redemption of man.

As we saw, the gospel is recorded in the names of the first 10 people from Adam to Noah. We’ve also seen the doctrine of Divine Election begin in the Bible where God chooses the second of something over the first of something. This pattern will continue throughout the Bible and will become as clear as crystal even before we leave Genesis.

We’ve been introduced to the concept of acceptance by God being based on faith and not works. We’ve also seen God’s mode of salvation – it is initiated by Him and it is completed by Him and everything in between is a gift from Him. All of these concepts and many more have been pulled out of just the first five chapters.

Ch 6 Verse 1 –¹ Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 

As I said, the only way to properly analyze these two verses is to look to the preceding chapters. If we attempt to insert anything except what has been presented by God, and very detailing at that, then the rest of the Bible will be completely up to our own whims and desires. We have departed the presence of the Lord and have gone into the Land of Nod with Cain – wandering aimlessly in a book without a solid and sound foundation to support us.

As time progressed, and as we’ve seen in Chapters 4 & 5, men began to multiply on the earth. The only names recorded so far are the only ones relevant to the big picture, but there were many more born. Remember what each account in Genesis 5 said, “…and this person had sons and daughters.”

Based on the number of years recorded and the age to which people lived, there could have been hundreds of millions or even billions of people on earth and yet only 27 are mentioned.

In what is also obvious and in repetition of other verses, it says, “…and daughters were born to them.” Yes! Men and women, being born, living, marrying, and dying. All the things that continue even to this day.

None of verse 1 has provided any difficulty to scholars of the Bible, but all of a sudden, we enter verse 2 and the over-excited mind and the unclear thinking of sensationalism steps in to divide the sea of reason.

On the right are the waters of drawing out from context to interpret the Bible and on the left is the sea of insertion usually in the deep waters of the extra-ordinary. We’ve come to the dividing chasm and we have to decide which sea we will dive into.

…that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

We’ve arrived and we need to decide. Now is the time! How we perceive the rest of the Bible concerning the redemption of man, prophecy, the classes of species God has made, whether the Bible stands alone or not, and a host of other issues revolves around the four words – “the sons of God.” Who are the sons of God?

Remember what I already said – “Inserting anything beyond what is given in the first 5 chapters would be to completely misuse the Bible. The Bible is a progressive revelation of God’s workings in and through His creation for the good of man and towards the redemption of man.”

“The sons of God” must, by default, have been mentioned in the preceding 5 chapters, or explained in detail right here, or we are inserting presuppositions and not drawing out conclusions. Who are the “sons of God?”

We’ll stop pursuing the correct answer for now and go to a completely different view than the right one and then refute what is presented. I personally don’t believe this is necessary based on the concept of full and progressive revelation, but if you knew how many people believe the wrong thing based on the term “the sons of God,” you would agree that we need to pursue this.

As I said, probably the most noted and vocal proponent of the wrong view is Chuck Missler whose ministry is known as Koinonia House. Here is what he says about the term –

The term translated “the Sons of God” is, in the Hebrew, B’nai HaElohim, “Sons of Elohim,” which is a term consistently used in the Old Testament for angels, and it is never used of believers in the Old Testament. It was so understood by the ancient rabbinical sources, by the Septuagint translators in the 3rd century before Christ, and by the early church fathers. Attempts to apply this term to “godly leadership” is without Scriptural foundation.

His footnote cites – Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7 Then speaking of angels he says “where they are in existence before the creation of the earth.” And… “Jesus also implies the same term in Luke 20:36.”

If you went to this particular article and read this, you might be convinced that Genesis 6 must be talking about angels. I mean, the term (as he says) is used “consistently” in the Old Testament for angels… it must be that then. This is, unfortunately rather dishonest, particularly when one refers to the footnote. There he cites the New Testament Greek, but only when it fits his purpose.

What he fails to note is that the New Testament uses the same term “sons of God” four more times and it is always referring faithful believers. Even in Jesus’ own words –

Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.

Throw in the term “children of God” and you have 10 more times. Throw in variations of “children of God” and you have even more.

Even the very verse which Missler cites from the New Testament doesn’t at all agree with his own presentation. He cited Luke 20:36. Let’s read it, “But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; ³⁶ nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”

His inclusion of this verse has two errors. First, it never says we will be angels. It says we will be “equal to the angels.” But the text explains what that means – they won’t marry, nor can they die anymore. Being like the angels simply means that we won’t marry and we will be aeveternal – having a beginning, but no end.

Secondly, being a son of God from a human perspective means that we are “sons of the resurrection.” This
means that any human – ever – who is saved is, by default, a son of God – just as Paul and John speak of in their letters. Missler has made a category mistake by equating sons of God with angels in this passage from Luke.

Going back to Genesis 6, I said earlier that we should analyze this based on what has already been presented, unless something new is fully explained when presented.

The term “sons of God” is given only three other times in the Old Testament– as Missler noted, all in the book of Job. When you read this, you can easily infer that is speaking of angels.

Missler says that “sons of God” is “a term consistently used in the Old Testament for angels,” but it is really mentioned in only one other context – Job. This is sly because he is elevating one context – that of Job – above another, that of Genesis. And Job comes after Genesis – it is not progressive revelation if one cites Job first.

One word can have a zillion meanings and its meaning and translation must always be based on the context. There is no way we could get “angels” out of the context of Genesis 1 through 5.

And finally, let’s go to Deuteronomy 32:8 which Misseler speaks of when he cites the Greek translation, the Septuagint – “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.”

When I teach a Bible class, I bring up the same points time and again. One of them is to either skip over commentaries completely or to take them with a complete grain of salt. We don’t establish doctrine on what other people say. Another thing I tell them is to always read the footnotes. Footnotes aren’t commentaries, but they provide important insights into a variety of things.

In the case of Deuteronomy 32:8, other versions say “angels of God” instead of “children of Israel” and some others say “sons of God.” In all, there are differences across the board from ancient Hebrew and Greek versions and even to the oldest Latin versions.

That’s a big mess…what does that mean? Well, one thing is for certain, the term “sons of Israel” was believed by someone to mean the same thing as “sons of God.” And it’s most likely that others took the term “sons of God” to mean “angels of God.” Which is it?

When you’re looking at a poem like the one in Deuteronomy 32, you can’t take just a single verse and come to a conclusion, but when you look at the whole thing, it’s apparent that it is speaking about men, not angels. And in fact, in verse 3, when speaking to Israel, it says “Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?”

As you can see, even in Deuteronomy, the concept of the Father/son relationship is based on God’s people whom He has sovereignly chosen and redeemed. These are the sons of God, just as they are throughout the entire New Testament, without exception, as well.

Missler has done a lot of typing to convince people of his position, but none of what he says makes sense based on the overall premise of the Bible. In one of his papers he says this – “It should also be pointed out that most conservative Bible scholars accept the “angel” view. Among those supporting the “angel” view are…”

He then cites a bunch of names who agree with him.  Does anyone know what’s wrong with that? This is known as the Fallacy of Ad Populum. In other words, just because someone notable or a large group of people believe something, it doesn’t make it right. It just means that there are a lot of people, including some of famous people, who are wrong. We don’t base truth on polls.

In fact, Missler makes so many fallacies, that if you know how to detect them, you can pare down his article to a few incoherent sentences. We could go on for hours with the breakdown in his argument, but we’d be here all night.

There are only two options for who the sons of God are based the preceding chapters – either the line of Cain or the line of Seth, not angels. And the Bible has already shown us which, the line of Seth.

The main focus of Chapter 4 is the line of Cain, but then at the very end, it moves to the line of Seth. And immediately it says, “Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.” It should be painfully clear, that calling on the name of the Lord is being equated with the line of Seth in contrast to that of Cain.

So let’s finish the verse before we move on – “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” 

The sons of God, meaning the line of Seth, “saw the daughters of men…” We are one species with two genders. Genesis has already taught that. The problem isn’t that angels are intermarrying with humans. The problem is that “the sons of God” are marrying women based on their beauty, regardless of who they marry.

Let’s go back to Genesis 4 and that most peculiar verse – “And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.” If you can reach back into your memory, I told you that Naamah means “loveliness.” The meaning of her name explains the seemingly purposeless addition of her into the account. Out of the countless people who lived on earth, only 27 were mentioned in 1656 years before the flood.

The “sons of God” saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful and they intermarried.

In Chapter 4 we saw in the line of Cain, Naamah’s father was named Lamech and in Chapter 5 from the line of Seth, Methuselah’s son was named Lamech. Both Naamah and Methuselah are the 8^th generation from Adam and, although the Bible doesn’t say this, the implication is that Methuselah could have named his son Lamech after the name of his father in-law.

Throughout the Bible, the subject of inappropriate intermarrying is brought time and time again. Abraham sends for a wife for Isaac from his kin. Esau displeases his parents by marrying Canaanite women. Later the Israelites are forbidden from intermarrying with the Canaanites and several other surrounding nations.

Solomon intermarried with women from many nations and it says “that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God.” The great prayer of humiliation given by Nehemiah is based on intermarrying with pagans. And as if we needed any more proof that this is what the Bible is trying to teach us, all we need to do is go to Malachi and read the reason given as explicitly as it can be –

Because the LORD has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

This is the lesson of the Bible for faithful believers. Like bookends on the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, God expects his people to remain within the godly line he has ordained. And this applies to the New Testament too. Twice Paul tells us so –

A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7:39

And we read this from Paul’s hand as well –

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

In fact, this was our text verse and it perfectly resembles what was going on in Genesis 6. Paul even uses the same thought process here. The sons of Christ and the sons of Belial, or the devil – which is the line of Cain as is born out even to the last books of the Bible.

II. A Shorter Existence, verse 3

³ And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

In verse 3, we see a sad commentary (like we need anymore…) on the existence of man. Before the flood, men really did live to great ages. If you don’t believe this, then you have no reason to believe the promises about the future from Isaiah’s own pen –

²⁰“ No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. ²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Because man shunned God’s will, He promised to cut their years approximately 8-fold, to only 120 years. Eventually, this was cut by about another 3^rd, so that the psalms record our years are 70 and if we’re strong enough, even to 80. Nothing has changed since Moses wrote that Psalm 3500 years ago.

The reason our years were cut is because even in 70 or 80 years we can accomplish immense wickedness. Imagine people in their hundreds, closing in on their thousands.

III. The Nephilim, verse 4

⁴ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 

The term translated “giants” is actually Nephilim and is often simply transliterated that way, such as in the NIV. Nephilim is almost exclusively used by people who believe in angels sleeping with men because it sounds so much cooler.

The term Nephilim isn’t some extra special word, it’s just a word. It means “fallen ones” and they were giants. This is explained in the only other occurrence used in the Bible, which is Numbers 13:33 – “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

We need not search for any other explanation than “giants” as so many people try to do. The description is given right here. There are other accounts of giants in the Bible as well and descend from other groups. Each is titled by the group it descended from – Anakim, Emim, Zamzummim, Rephaim, and even the Phlishtim, or Philistines, who Goliath belonged to.

So who were these giants and where did they come from. I hate to tell the sensationalists, but this isn’t a hard nut to crack. Even in modern times, we’ve had exceptionally large people around us. Many are genetic defects, but many are the result of purposeful breeding. The verse back in 6:2 gives us the answer –

…that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

Things are absolutely no different now than they were then. How many times do two good looking people get married and those around them say, “they will have beautiful children” or “their son will be a basketball player.” I’ve heard it a million times. Why? People know what the results of two good sets of genes will be.

We can do the same with plants, trees, and animals. Through advances in DNA, we have identified 14 original known breeds of dogs in past history. Go back a little earlier and there is one set of dogs, created by God. Now, there are over 400 breeds and we pop out new ones every year. We breed them into the massive Mastiffs that can reach almost 300 pounds and we breed them into tea cup Chihuahuas that weigh only ounces.

When people lived to 900 and more years of age, they could – within only a couple generations – produce immensely large humans. Even now, when we live to only 70 or so, world records in athletics are broken all the time because people are being engineered for physical greatness.

The Nephilim are large because they were bred large, at the expense of faith. Even to this day, families choose the road of success and exceptional gene development over godly husbands and wives. This then, is the explanation of these giants.

It is the only avenue which rightly handles the Bible based on the first five chapters of progressively revealed thought from God and it simply takes proper handling of what has been presented.

When it says, “these were the mighty men of old, men of renown” it is a statement that could be said of any of our finest military personnel, our greatest basketball players, or any other person the world idolizes for their high breeding and superior abilities. The commentary then matches the commentary of today – a godless world which looks to the flesh rather than to God.

Here is Missler’s misguided thoughts on this matter – “The most fatal flaw in the specious “Sethite” view is the emergence of the Nephilim as a result of the unions. (Bending the translation to “giants” does not resolve the difficulties.) *of course it does, Chuck, because Nephilim are explained as “giants” helloooo* It is the offspring of these peculiar unions in Genesis 6:4 which seems to be cited as a primary cause for the Flood. *This is absolutely false. The Bible says exactly why the flood came, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”* Procreation by parents of differing religious views do not produce unnatural offspring. *No, but selective breeding does.* Believers marrying unbelievers may produce “monsters,” but hardly superhuman, or unnatural, children! *Nothing – not a word in the Bible says they were either superhuman, or unnatural.* It was this unnatural procreation and the resulting abnormal creatures that were designated as a principal reason for the judgment of the Flood. *Another complete falsity and one which fails to take into account Nephilim after the flood.*

In other words, if the Nephilim appeared after the flood and destroying them was the purpose of the flood, then the purpose wasn’t met by God at all.

Seeing as how we’re looking over this issue, I’d like to cite a few other references from the Bible which Missler uses. We can’t go over them all, but each one of them has two possibilities. The first option would be to take the Bible as the account of fallen man and God’s plan of redemption for him.

The second is to get into the mystical, irrational, and sensational in an attempt to seem authoritative on matters which require higher thought and deeper understanding than others can somehow attain.

Daniel 2:43 speaks about the intermingling of certain groups and is used as a source text for inter-class breeding – either with angels or aliens. However, you will never see the NIV translation used here because it completely destroys their case –

As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. Daniel 2:43 (NKJV)

And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. (NIV)

The book of Jude has these verses, which must be misapplied in order to come to meet their conclusions, “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Missler will take verse 6 which is speaking about angels leaving their proper domain, and ties it with verse 7 which speaks of the sexual sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. But, these are two examples in a litany of examples and comingling them would be no different than comingling the angels with verse 5 which concerns the disobedient Israelites in the desert. It is bad handling of the Bible – plain and simple.

The entire premise of what Jude is saying is that disobedience by mingling believers with non-believers is what brings God’s wrath.

I could go on all day with Missler’s misguided missives, but let me give one more quote from him and then end –

If one takes an integrated view of the Scripture, then everything in it should “tie together.” *As if his view ties anything together. It is convoluted and unreasonable, especially when we consider the natural progression of the first five chapters, which is all that is thus far given by God.* It is the author’s view that the “Angel View,” however disturbing, *I would say “however goofy”* is the clear, direct presentation of the Biblical text, corroborated by multiple New Testament references *it is completely, 100%, unsubstantiated from the NT references and only taking things completely out of context and leaving out what is relevant can this view hold any water at all* and was so understood by both early Jewish and Christian scholarship; *never mind discussing the fact that other early Jewish and Christian scholars have said your view is wrong* the “Sethite View” is a contrivance of convenience from a network of unjustified assumptions antagonistic to the remainder of the Biblical record.

*In fact, there is nothing contrived about following the natural progression of the revelation given up to chapter 6 and then seeing that it is completely supported by the rest of the Bible. We don’t introduce presuppositions into the Bible and then look for ways to justify them. Instead, we allow the Bible to progressively reveal itself and then we look to the rest of the Bible to support what has naturally and obviously been revealed.

Ok, so I’ve been flapping my gums for the past 35 or 40 minutes about something that most people could give diddly about. The question is then, “How do these verses point to Jesus?”

Well, let’s remember that Jesus is the God/Man. He was born of a virgin and the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator and He designated that things reproduce after their own kind. We don’t have dats, because dogs don’t breed with cats. We don’t have Melephants, because mice don’t breed with elephants. We don’t have Zales because zebras don’t breed with whales. This is how God created things – to produce after their own kinds.

There is one exception to this – the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. He is the God/Man.

There is nothing mentioned concerning the reproduction of angels, and in fact the Bible supports the notion that they don’t reproduce. The account today is given to us to show that God expects us to keep ourselves pure and free from defiling ourselves by marrying outside of the community of believers.

When men began to reproduce for the sake of breeding larger, stronger, or more beautiful people, it led to wickedness, idolatry of the flesh, and a rejection of God. God wants us to remain dependent on Him, not on man. He wants our devotion and obedience and not the worship of sports heroes.

The incarnation of Jesus was to show us the immense love God has for us and that we can trust in His Son. While our sports stars die and return to the dust, Jesus remains on His throne, having been resurrected after His cross to an everlasting and indestructible life.

This is the message of Jesus Christ and the love of God which is found in Him. Let us be faithful to our spouses, marry within the community of believers, and trust that Jesus alone has something better for us at the end of our trail.

The Nephilim

Man has multiplied on the earth
And daughters were born to them too
We look to their size and strength to evaluate their worth
And to the ladies curvy shapes,,, whoo hoo

We give our sons, raised in the godly home
To women who will give us baseball heroes
Never do their eyes to the Bible roam
Instead in Bible quizzes, we have to hand out zeroes

The boys choose any girl they like
It doesn’t matter if she worships beelzebub
As long as she can run, jump, and ride a bike
He is happy to buy her dinner, maybe an Italian sub

But the Lord isn’t pleased with this type of mingling
And He won’t always strive with the rebellious man
Chasing after what gives physical tingling
Is as worthless as an empty tin can

Our days are limited to less than before
Because with many years comes the multiplication of sin
But even now in years ten and threescore
We can still really do ourselves in

We produce giants for the courts and the field
And we look for super-models, our children to yield

They will be mighty men and super women you see
In another generation, we’ll have super bowl heroes
Never mind their soul that lasts for eternity
Never mind their Bible scores, which are all zeros

I would suggest, before you decide
To give your children an unholy bride

That you would consider what displeases God
And keep away from banishment to Nod

Instead, be faithful as His Son was to You
He gave His life – Yes, He is faithful and True
Cling to the cross and your average wife
Or your bushy bearded husband, for all of your life

Handsome or beautiful, or not, they reflect God’s Son
And are worth more than a million super bowl heroes
Eternity waits for you to have fun
So keep yourself from the Bible test zeroes

Hallelujah and Amen.

Next week we’ll look over Genesis 6:5-13 – To Build an Ark

Genesis 5:1-32
The Generations of Adam

Introduction: I suppose most of you have heard of the rapture. Has anyone here not heard of it? I would guess that some of you know without even looking that the rapture is described in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, and Revelation 4:1. I bet fewer of you know that the rapture is actually prefigured several times in the Old Testament. One of those times is in Chapter 5 of the book of Genesis, right in a line of names and ages of some of Adam’s descendants.

After the fall and the record of Abel and Cain, the first nine generations of Adam are recorded in Genesis 5 and end with the 10^th generation – that of Noah. The flood of Noah came in the year 1656 Anno Mundi and other than Genesis 1-5, nothing is recorded for that entire period of time.

Believe it or not though, there could have been a billion or more people alive by the time of the flood. That’s actually a pretty sad commentary on how things went. Out of maybe 1 billion or more people we have a record of only 27 people given by name. All the rest were lost in the ever consuming flame of time.

We looked at the line of Cain in Genesis 4, and in Genesis 5 we have the line of Seth, the godly line which will eventually lead to the Messiah. These people were selected by God and for His reasons alone and very little is said about them, but today we’ll look for some hints as to who they were and what they mean in the overall picture of the Bible concerning the coming Christ.

Text Verse: And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”2 Corinthians 6:16

May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. In the Image of God

¹ This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.

The genealogy, or toledot, of Adam. One of the most interesting studies I’ve ever done is on this word toledot or “generations.” The first time the word is used is in Genesis 2:4 where it says “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,…”

The word toledot in Genesis 2:4 is speaking of man while in the Garden of Eden. Its spelling is tav, vav dalet, lamed, vav, tav. In other words, there are 2 vavs in the spelling. The next time the word is used is here in Genesis 5:1, after the fall of man, and its spelled with only one vav. The second vav fell out of the word just as man fell in the garden.

Vav is the sixth letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet and it is pictured by a tent peg and the number 6 in the Bible represents “man” such as man being created on the 6^th day. So you see “fallen man” is what’s being relayed here.

The word toledot is used 39 times throughout the Old Testament at various times when referring to different groups of people, but it is never spelled with two vavs again until the end of the book of Ruth. In every occurrence between Genesis and Ruth one or both of the vavs is missing. So why is it that not until the end of Ruth that it’s spelled with two vavs again?

The reason is that in Ruth, the lineage of King David is given. Up until that time, God was working through various people and had made various covenants with them. These were to Noah, Abraham, and Moses. The final covenant was to David.

At this time, the second vav was reintroduced to the word toledot to indicate that the restoration of fallen man would come through the line of David and this was the final peg in the tent of God’s covenants before the coming Christ.

As I mentioned, there are 39 toledots in the Bible which correlates to the 39 books of the Old Testament.

God never forgets the work of His hands and He will never forget you. If you are born again through Christ, you are no longer fallen, but complete and alive forevermore. The likeness of God that was given at the creation was lost, but that likeness is restored in us when we call on Jesus as our Savior.

That’s what these little hidden things in the Bible are telling us. Paul explains this mystery in 1 Corinthians 15 –

“As was the earthly man (that’s the fallen man, the man without the vav), so are those who are of the earth (there is something missing); and as is the man from heaven (full and complete), so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man (fallen and earthly), so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven (restored and complete).”

I don’t know if that excites you, but to me it is sweeter than honey to my taste.

² He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.

This verse and the one before are echoes, if you remember, from the creation account and have been repeated here to remind us of our fallen state. We were created in original perfection, but the death and trials which came about at the fall were caused by our own violation of God’s command and didn’t happen accidentally.

Man wasn’t – and then he was. Adam had no earthly parents, but He was created by God on the sixth day and with his woman they were blessed by God. Because they were created in God’s image they had no natural or moral evil. These came about at the fall.

The next verses will give a record of the names, years, and deaths of the sons of Adam, and so before those are given, we’re reminded of the way things originally were in order to show us the justice and sovereignty of God in His dealings with man.

³ And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. ⁴ After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. ⁵ So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

Seth born 130              Appointed

These three verses tell us lots of things. It begins the record of the age of the earth. Adam was created on the 6^th day which is a literal day. In other words, the world was 6 days old when Adam was created. His son Seth is born at his 130^th year and as we follow the years in the Bible we can determine the age of the world.

During those 130 years, Adam had Cain, Abel, and at least one daughter. We know this because Cain had a wife. It’s likely that they had lots more children by the time Seth came around, but Seth is the focus of the story – no one else bears on the coming Christ.

These verses also tell us that Adam had a son in his own image. In other words, the son born to Adam is a fallen man. We didn’t revert back to a sinless state, but instead we bear the fallen image of Adam. There is no such thing as the inner divine spark which other religions speak of. We are earthly, we are mortal, and we are sold under sin – which means we are obliged to die.

This fallen state then is in each human since Adam. We know this from these three verses. We can also tell that all Adam’s sons are destined to die just as Adam died. He died in the 930^th year of his life and in the 930^th year from creation.

⁶ Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. ⁷ After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. ⁸ So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
⁹ Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. ¹⁰ After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. ¹¹ So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
¹² Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. ¹³ After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
¹⁵ Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. ¹⁶ After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

We just read through 12 verses. This is more combined verses at one time than at any point since we started our tour of Genesis. If we keep up this pace, we can be done with Revelation Chapter 22 verse 21 by the year 2097. Be here each week until then.

Here are a few facts about these four men –

Seth died 1042
Enosh 235/1140                                       Mortal
Cainan 325/1235                                      Possession
Mahalalel 395/1290                                 Praise of God
Jared born 460                                         Going Down

The age old skepticism about the accuracy of the Bible finds no greater place to begin than right in these verses. Who lives to 900 years of age? It’s simply incredible for us to imagine. And yet we can’t insert our current situation into what it might have been like at some other time.

The heaviest reptiles on earth, Komodo Dragons, only get to be about 300 pounds now. The longest – the Australian Saltwater Crocodiles – get to be about 23 feet long. If we used Bible skeptic’s logic about the age of man in the same way as we do about dinosaurs then we’d never believe they existed.

But we have all the assurance of the archaeological record to support dinosaurs that were a little bit bigger than reptiles now. The Bruhathkayosaurus which lived in the area of Tamil Nadu, India grew to 145 feet in length and weighed 220 tons. Yes, that is 440,000 pounds – the weight of a 747. If we had no bones to prove this, it would be far more incomprehensible than a man living to 900 years of age.

The only difference is that age doesn’t leave any archaeological footprint, like dinosaur bones. But man does leave his stories in writing. This chapter of Genesis mentions the book of the genealogy of Adam. The Hebrew term sepher indicates that this written document served as a basis for the writings of Moses.

There really is no problem with the long lives recorded here. If reptiles grew as big as they did, then the world was obviously a completely different ecosystem before the flood. The world was probably smaller in size which led to higher atmospheric pressure.

Plus there was a canopy known as a raquia above the earth which was probably crystalline in nature. This would have kept out any harmful radiation. All things considered and taken in context, there is no reason at all to dismiss the accounts and every reason to believe them. Yes men lived 900 years.

It’s even more certain that the account is true because the ages of men after the flood continued to get progressively shorter as the generations came and went. This occurred right up until the average lifespan of people today which has remained basically the same ever since.

The Jewish historian Josephus says this about the sons of Adam from Seth to Noah at the time of the flood –

“But let no one, upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an argument, …”

Josephus claims that the astronomical calculations and discoveries used at his time came from men who lived long enough to accurately understand the greater cycles of the universe. If this is true, then the highly advanced star charts, such as the Mayans used can be attributed to the careful work of these pre-flood people.

Whether any of this is true or not is hard to say, but the Bible does bear out right in Genesis 1 that the stars and other heavenly lights are meant for our knowledge in “signs and seasons.”

II. Walking with God

¹⁸ Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. ¹⁹ After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. ²⁰ So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

²¹ Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. ²² After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. ²³ So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴ And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Jared died 1422
Enoch 622/translated 987    Teaching
Methuselah born 687            His death shall bring (Man of the dart)

Of the ten men mentioned from Adam to Noah, only four have any particular information beyond their birth, years of life, and age at death. These four are Adam, Enoch, Lamech, and Noah. In the case of Enoch, this almost strange verse is all we have, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

If this is all we had about the life of Enoch, we’d certainly be left scratching our heads and wondering what this meant. But fortunately, this particular person named Enoch is mentioned 10 times in the Bible.

He’s mentioned 6 times here in Genesis 5 and he’s mentioned in 1 Chronicles in the historical records of man from Adam all the way through to the Jewish society of the day. He’s also mentioned in Luke 3 in the genealogy of Jesus. And there are two more times he’s mentioned – once in Hebrews and once in Jude.

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. ⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:5, 6

Here in Hebrews we learn details about Enoch that were withheld from the Old Testament. Enoch was “taken away.” He was translated from the earthly realm directly to the heavenly realm without seeing death. This makes Enoch one of only two people who never died, the other being Elijah the prophet.

Both of these men are even now serving the Lord and I believe it is they who have appeared many times in Bible history, such as in Daniel chapter 12, Acts chapter 1, and elsewhere. I personally believe they will return again during the tribulation period as the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11.

The Bible asks this rhetorical question in the book of Amos – “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” The answer is, “Of course not.” In order to walk with God as Enoch did, God must agree to the walk. In Malachi when speaking of Levi it says –

“My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name. ⁶ The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, And turned many away from iniquity.”

Enoch walked with God because he was truthful, just, and he walked in peace and equity, and above all, he was a man of faith.

Like bookends on the Hebrew Scriptures, the person who walks properly with God is mentioned in the first and last books of the Old Testament. It is such a person that God loves.

If you ever want to do a wonderful study about being right with God, simply do an internet Bible search on the word “walk” and read all 384 times it is mentioned. There you will find vast treasure concerning how to live and move in the presence of God – walking in His way and in His statues.

Something interesting about Enoch walking with God – in the Hebrew it doesn’t just say he “walked with God” but that he “walked with the God” or ha-elohim. This is the first of about 400 times the Bible uses this term.

This statement separates Enoch as a man who walked rightly with the One true God. It implies that others had forsaken the God that they couldn’t see and didn’t want to believe in, but Enoch held fast by faith to the teachings of his ancestors and to his personal convictions about this unseen God.

He was translated because of this. The Bible promises a similar event for faithful believers now when we put our hope in Jesus. Do I really believe there will be a rapture – people just disappearing? Of course I do. Whether one person or millions, God is fully capable of keeping every promise just as His word declares.

The last time Enoch is mentioned is in the book of Jude – “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Jude 14

Jude added in another important detail about Enoch – he was a prophet. Within a few hundred years after the creation, men of God spoke the word of God to a people who were very quickly going astray in a world run by the devil.

²⁵ Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. ²⁶ After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. ²⁷ So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

Methuselah died 1656 (the year of the flood)
Lamech born 874                            Captive

You’ve probably heard the saying about some old codger, “He’s as old as Methuselah.” Well, here’s where the saying comes from. Methuselah lived to be 969 years old – the oldest person ever recorded in the annals of the world.

His name was a prophecy of the coming destruction on the world. “His death shall bring” or another translation of it is “When he is dead, it shall be sent.” However his parents knew, they knew something was coming at the time of his death. The year he died, the waters came and destroyed the world by flood.

There is another saying about an old person, “He’s as old as dirt.” In Methuselah’s case, this would be true as well. Unlike his father Enoch who was translated so that he never saw death, Methuselah died. When he did, he returned to the dust he came from.

Death for Methuselah came slowly, but it still came. Jewish writers say that he died 7 days before the flood of Noah. By just one week he was spared from the wrath which came on the whole world.

Methuselah though is looking forward to the same bright future as the faithful of all the ages – that great day of hope when Jesus Christ translates us to eternal glory.

After Methuselah, the last person to have been born before the death of Adam in this godly line was Lamech. He was born in the year 874 Anno Mundi and was the ninth man from Adam. Imagine sitting on your great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa’s lap (that’s 6 greats, a grandpa, and a dad all sitting in the same room adoring the baby!)

“Grandggggggpa, can you tell me again about the day you were put together? Did God really take out one of your ribs to make “Grandgggggg-ma Eve? Is that scar really the spot where the rib came from? Did you ask for chrome bumpers or fishing pole attachments?”

Questions like this surely brought back to Adam the painful memories of paradise lost. Life under the sun wasn’t like life under the heavens. He was the one who broke the rules. All he could do was live on, waiting to receive the final execution of his sentence given so long ago.

He was promised the dust and he knew it was where he would end. By the time he got there, death was probably a welcome guest.

²⁸ Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. ²⁹ And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.” ³⁰ After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. ³¹ So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

Lamech died 1651
Noah 1056                              Comfort or Rest

Eight times in this chapter the words “and he died” are recorded. Other than Enoch who went straight to glory and Noah who would continue on in the next chapter, all of these men of the godly line of Seth met their end and returned to the soil.

Lamech lived to be 777 years old and he died in the year 1651, or in the 5^th year before the flood came. Other than his grandpa Enoch who was translated, he had the shortest life span in this account. The 777 years of his life though are a testament to the divine grace of being taken home before the coming destruction.

Isaiah has this to say about the death of those who live for God –

The righteous perishes,
And no man takes it to heart;
Merciful men are taken away,
While no one considers
That the righteous is taken away from evil.
² He shall enter into peace;
They shall rest in their beds,
Each one walking in his uprightness.

Sometimes we don’t understand why a child dies, or we lose a close friend at the prime of life, but God does. It’s possible that God looked into the future and saw some evil that otherwise would have happened to them and so He called them home.

As with all things, if we can truly trust in God and accept that He is sovereign, then we can rest easy that His plan is being perfectly executed for the people He has created and called.

In the case of the rapture, many sons will come to glory in the twinkling of an eye. Whether they have gone before us waiting to be wakened from their grave, or whether they will still be walking the highway of life at that moment, when the trumpet sounds, we will be forever in His glorious presence, perfectly content and forever praising the God who rescued us from ourselves.

In this account it tells us why Lamech named his son Noah, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

The name Noah means specifically “rest” or “comfort.” Lamech was only 182 years old when he had Noah, but he was already worn out from the toilsome existence of life. The curse which came at the beginning continued on year after long year and generation after generation.

More especially though, it’s likely that the name Noah is an anticipation of what he would be, just like the name of Methuselah was a prophecy. As we saw, Methuselah means “His death will bring.” Because of the timing of Noah’s life in conjunction with Methuselah’s, his parents may have thought he would be the promised Messiah who would give the rest they had waited for.

Man was promised a Deliverer who would destroy the devil and return him to God’s rest and the naming of Noah may have anticipated that hope.

III. God with Man

³² And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Shem – Name / Fame
Ham – Passion / Hot
Japheth – Enlargement / Widely Extending

This is the final verse of chapter 5 and it sets the tone for the coming account. Noah had three sons starting in his 500^th year. Shem is listed first, but he wasn’t the firstborn. It says in Genesis 11 that he was 102 years old after the flood and if Noah had his first son at 500, then the firstborn was Japheth because Ham is called the youngest of the brothers in Genesis 9.

Already we’ve seen one favored second son – Abel who was killed by his brother. He was replaced by Seth who became the head of the line of God’s chosen people. This is the second favored son – Shem, who is put ahead of Japheth his older brother. It is Shem who was an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

This pattern will continue on through the Bible right to the very end and pictures both the work of Jesus and sets the tone for the doctrine known as Divine Election. God sovereignly chooses all things for His purposes and these purposes are often met in the most curious of ways. When you’re reading your Bible …

WHEN YOU’RE READING YOUR BIBLE

… pay attention to these type of patterns and you’ll be able to more clearly see the workings of God in human life.

How certain are we of the doctrine of Divine Election? Let’s read what Paul says in Acts 17 – “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

God chooses the exact time and the exact place where each human being will live in order to give them the most perfect opportunity to seek Him out and bring Him glory. And why does he do this, the verse continues, “²⁷ God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

This is how God works with His wayward children. He is ever-present and working in the most effective way to reach out to us and bring us to the glorious rest that these ancients so patiently waited for. Let us not fail to respond to His call in our own lives.

The Generations of Adam

When Adam was 130 he had a son named Seth
A son in his own likeness and in his image too
It was another 800 years until he reached his death
But before he died his great-great-great-great-great-great grandson Lamech had come along too

Seth continued on for a spell and then he had Enosh
This was when he was a babe of just one-O-five
At 912 years of age he kicked the can, by gosh
But by then there were seven more generations alive

Enosh whose name means “Mortal” had a son named Cainan
This happened when Enosh was only 90, oh my!
Enosh finally bit the dust in the year 1140
After 905 long years of life passed by

Cainan was just seventy when along came Mahalalel
This special name means Praise of God
In the year 1235 they were ringing Cainan’s funeral bell
While Mahalalel continued on the earth to trod

Mahalalel was younger still when he had Jared his son
He was only 65… some might say “a scandal”
His ticker kept on a ticking till 895 years were done
And then the pall bearer grabbed Mahalalel’s casket handle

His son Jared was a much more patient guy
He didn’t have a son until 162 years passed by

But then Enoch came along, “Teaching” means his name
And Jared taught him well because Enoch walked with God
Even before Jared died, Enoch received great fame
When he was translated to glory, heavenly streets to trod

Before he got raptured up, Enoch had Methuselah
This guy lasted right up to the flooding year
He got to watch Noah build his ark – Hallelujah!
And know that the future of man was still secure

Methuselah waited until the age of one-eighty-seven
Then he had a son, Lamech was his name
At years of 969, Methuselah was bound for heaven
And his record age has brought him eons of fame

Lamech’s name means the “Captive”
Something that resembles us all
It’s a trait that everyone carries
Ever since the fall

And a son came to Lamech, a son to ease the toil
He was 182 when Noah finally came around
A son to help work the stubborn angry soil
A son to help till the clods of the ground

Lamech breathed his last at the age of 777
Five years before the flood would destroy the earth
Someday we’ll meet him on the streets of heaven
If we first receive the promised new birth

God has plan, and it’s written in these names
A plan that tells of the coming of His Son
Even the wildest heart Jesus readily tames
The gospel story tells us that the victory is won

I want to see how many of you have paid attention to this sermon. I’ve given you the 10 names from Adam down to Noah and what their meaning is? I want to see if any of you can give me those ten names, in order? I’ll throw in 10 dollars if you can give me the translation into English that I gave you. I’ll throw in 100 dollars if you will give me the year they were born, and I’ll throw in a thousand if you can tell me the year they died. Anyone?

*Adam                                    Man
Seth                                        Appointed
*Enosh                                   Mortal
Cainan                                    Possession
Mahalalel                               Praise of God
Jared                                       Descent (Going Down)
Enoch                                     Teaching
Methuselah                            His death shall bring
Lamech                                   Captive
Noah                                       Rest

Jesus Christ, the Son of Man was Appointed by God to become a Mortal, a Man who could die so that we would become the recipients of the promised Possession of eternal life to the Praise of God. He Descended from heaven for the purpose of Teaching. His death is what released the Captives and has given them the Rest promised since the fall of Man.

Hallelujah and Amen…