Genesis 6

The Wicked World

This chapter is the last commentary on pre-Flood history. It is a record and proof of man’s depravity. Human society had sunk to an all time low and human degeneracy was everywhere. It was so bad that God, who originally made all things good, was so grieved he was willing to terminate and wipe out all living creatures. Sin became so nauseous He could not stand to let it continue. Man had continued to destroy himself along with Gods beautiful creation. God decided to intervene and terminate the spread of wickedness and sin. He limited His patience for another 120 years but not His grace. He offered grace during that time. His desire was for man to repent and turn to Him because He still loved him but He could not dwell with sin. Sadly the people of the pre-deluvian civilization turned their back on Him and ignored His warnings and continued to live in their wicked sinfulness. Family problems, sexual problems, crime, were blight upon the antedelivulian world. Men lost their fear of God and judgment upon sin. They followed the way of Cain, and the sexual immorality of Lamech. They lost their way because they changed the image of God to suit themselves or the god they manufactured. The New Testament refers to these verses 3 times. (1 Peter 3:18-22; 2 Peter 2:4-5; and Jude 6-7). These verses explain what Jesus was doing when he “descended into hell.” (c.f. Eph.4:8-10).
The same signs of a godless civilisation are obvious today. We are following the same morally degenerate trends. Our world is polluted with evil. It is marked with hatred, violence and cruelty. Death and disease are all around us. Wars continue to plague us. Many people are fearful of going out at nights in our cities. Our planet is full of pollution and poison.
On the other hand man has never had it so good materially and technologically. The 1.2 million people in China are becoming more prosperous, India is becoming a front runner in the world. Man has achieved wonders in technology and science. He has many luxuries, life has become more comfortable and fat. They are like Jeshurun “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. Deut. 32:15 c.f. vs 20). They eat and drink and be merry. They drive cars that have amazing equipment. Man can bring the world into his living room via TV or the World Wide Web. He builds bigger cities and thinks he is wonderful but does not remember the man who sat down in his ease after building a great barn and God said, “This night your soul will be required of you.” This is a picture of society in Genesis 6. It was heading for melt down. Many societies, many civilisations have collapsed over the centuries and we still learn nothing form history.
Signs That A Civilisation is on the Verge of Collapse

Demonic Invasion
Gen. 6:1-2 “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them 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.”

Two Main Views About the Sons of God

The two main interpretations of Genesis 6 are a) The human view which is that it was intermarriage between the two lines of Seth and Cain. That this would make the line of Cain the “sons of God” not “ the sons of Seth.” Adam is called a son of God because he is the direct result of divine creation. Jesus Christ is called the Son of God because he is eternally begotten of the Father; and believers are called sons of God because they are born again by faith in Jesus Christ, in a divine creative act. These last three are all directly begotten of God. b) The second view is the supernatural view that the sons of God were fallen angels. Scripture refers to the sons of God as the godly line of Seth

Who were the Sons of God?

“The sons of God.” Scripture calls angels the sons of God (bene eloim) it is used only three other times in the Old Testament and it clearly refers to spirit beings (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). They were directly created by God just as Adam was and is also called a son of God (Lk. 3:38) because God directly created him and he was not reproduced sexually, as men are. Believers are called “sons of God” because they are born of God directly by the Holy Spirit (Jn.3: 3-8). Some believe the fallen angels lost the ability to have sexual intercourse because they left their first estate in this chapter and were judged. It also has been pointed out that all the angels mentioned in scripture are in the masculine and that there are no female angels for them to cohabit with.

The Spirits in Prison – Angels Fell From Their Original Estate in the Days of Noah

The three New Testament scriptures referring to this chapter are;
1) 1 Peter 2:4-5 “For if (since) God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment.” This has already happened in history. If God judged the higher creation of angels in the past then He will judge men the lower creation in the future. The false teachers who lead people astray will not escape judgment. Jesus went to proclaim His triumph over the “angels that has sinned” and are now imprisoned. They are the ones in Tartaros, in the pits of darkness, the ones who were there because they went after strange flesh. Peter tells us they were committed to the “pits of darkness” to be kept until the judgment.

Angels are responsible to God for what they do with His truth. Lucifer sinned He wanted to be equal with God and a third part of the angels sinned and went into rebellion with him as their leader. The fallen angels, are also called demons or evil spirits. They were not all cast into “pits of darkness.” Scripture informs us they are on earth and in heavenly places. Believers are wrestling with them (Eph.6:12).
The fallen angels in our text were “Cast into hell (tartaros).” the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna of the Jews. It means to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus. This word is form Greek mythology and the Greeks said that Tartaros was a place lower than Hades, it was the lowest place for wicked, a place of torture and eternal suffering, rebellious gods and people were sent there to receive the worst punishment. It was the lowest place a being could go. The Jews came to use tartaros to describe the place where the fallen angels were sent. “These angels are not on the earth they are incarcerated in hell and committed permanently to pits of darkness waiting their final judgment.” John Mc Arthur.
These angels were “committed to pits of darkness.” It means to turn over a prisoner for imprisonment. Tartaros is described as a pit (seiros) a storage place of darkness. They were cast into punishment to a deep dark pit of darkness, reserved for judgment. (C.F. Matt. 8:12). The place is only temporary and they will stay there until the Day of Judgment then they will be cast into the eternal “lake of fire”. (Rev.20: 10).

What Was Their Sin? 1 Peter 3:18-22.
2) They committed some evil, serious sin for them to be shut up in a dark prison and not be allowed to roam the earth like other fallen angels or demons. Why did God choose to bind these for fallen spirits and cast them into tataros until the final judgment at the Great White Throne then to be thrown into the lake of fire?
The demons in Jesus day knew about this place and asked Jesus not to cast them into Gehenna when he cast them out of the man in Mark 5. So he sent them into a herd of pigs. There are some angels in that pit who will be loosed during the Tribulation (Rev. 9:1-2; 11).

When Did It Happen?
Vs 18. When Jesus died on the cross “He was dead in the flesh.” His body was in the grave. He was put to death in the flesh. “But though He was dead in His body, His spirit was alive.” He was physically dead but spiritually alive. Where did He go when His body was in the grave, where was His spirit?

He Went to the Spirits in Prison and Made The Victorious Proclamation?

Vs 19 Jude and Peter both tell us. Peter says of Jesus “by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,” He went “in the spirit” and preached to “the spirits in prison.” These spirits were imprisoned. He went to proclaim, “keruzo” a triumph. This is called the Victorious Proclamation.
Why did he do that? It was because the demon world fell into gross sin and Christ was proclaiming the victory he had won over Satan and the demon world.
Who were “the spirits in prison?” They were fallen angels, demons. He was letting them know they had not won. Some believe that Jesus descended into hell and preached to the spirits in hell during the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection. Some believe it means that it was through the Spirit that Jesus preached in the days of Noah, speaking in the person of Noah. Noah, we are told, was “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), and the Spirit of Christ preached through him. The passage goes on to say that these were spirits in prison.

The Spirits Were Disobedient

Vs 20 “who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” They did not obey. God’s patience in the days of Noah did not change their mind. He gave them 120 years.

When Were They Disobedient?

“They were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah.” That is when they were put into prison. Their sin was in the time of Noah. It was a terrible time in history. Only eight were saved just before God drowned the whole world. It happened in Genesis 6, “It came about when men began to multiply on the face of the land and the daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men and saw that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves whomever they chose.” These demons infiltrated mankind at that point.

Why Did The Fallen Angels Infiltrate Mankind?

They began to breed either by possessing mankind or by direct involvement with mankind. They were trying to hinder the Promised Messiah (Gen.3:15) the God/Man from coming upon the earth to redeem fallen men. They also hated man because he had been given the promise of salvation. They produced monstrous beings that had to be drowned in the Flood. That is why the Lord said, in verse 3, “The Lord said My Spirit will not always strive with men forever.” God decided not let man go on living in such an evil state.
It mentions in verse 4 the Nephilim that could be a reference to the monsters produced out of these unions when the sons of God came to the daughters of men and they bore blank to them. Those were the mighty men, renown. They would be beyond humans. They would be some kind of…some kind of superhuman creature. And God had to drown them along with the whole world. That’s who those demons are. And they were put in permanent chains because of that unbelievable attempt to destroy the capability of Christ to redeem the race.

Jude Refers To The Fall Of Angels in Noah’s Day

3) Jude 6 and 2 Peter tell us who they are and where they are. “Those are the ones He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” They left their sphere of life; they didn’t stay where they belonged. They left their proper dwelling place, their nature. They apostatised, they fell from what they truly were. They changed in character. They moved beyond the demon sphere. They were already fallen demons, but they changed their behaviour and that took them out of the sphere of their normal being, out of the sphere of their normal life, out of their proper dwelling place.

Vs. 7. Jude tells us what they done and the nature of the sin. He compares their sin with that of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality they went after strange flesh.” He said it was like that in Sodom and Gomorrah; it was “unnatural lust.” Their sin there was homosexuality, men with men and women with women. These demons did the same thing. In vile homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah lusted after angels in this passage angel’s lust after mankind. That’s why God destroyed that place. As the men wanted to leave their natural state and move beyond the unnatural lusting for men to the bizarre lusting after angels, so the angels lusted after men, actually after women, men generically.

This is the third time Jude mentions apostasy, the first was Israel, the second the angels and now Sodom and Gomorrah. We can see the direct parallel with the statement in Genesis 6 that the “sons of God” came in to “the daughters of men” and married them, taking wives as they chose. This is an unnatural act. Fallen angels joining in sexual intercourse with the daughters of men and producing a strange race. How did they do that?

Matthew 22:30, Jesus said that those who are in the resurrection “will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.” It will not be like that “in heaven.” In Genesis 6 it is men who are indwelt by demons and not the demons who have intercourse with the women. It was not that he angels have sexual powers, but use men in this way. These angels took up improper dwelling in mankind, they “left their proper dwelling” (Jude 1:6), the place they dwelt and indwelt men, taking new bodies, they left their first state and took up residence in humans. Our Lord dealt with many cases of demonic possession in the New Testament. Evil spirits, demons or fallen angels, possessed the bodies of men, and these demon-possessed men married women and produced a race of strange beings called here in Genesis 6,“the Nephilim.” The genetic structure of new babies was affected, the gene pool polluted. They were a race of giants. The word Nephilim can mean “the fallen ones.” Mutations took place. The chromosomes are changed so that the progeny are markedly different as a result of the children of such a union.
Today many drugs affect the unborn children. Some children are even born addicted to heroin. Today women are encouraged to abstain form alcohol when they are pregnant because the Chromosomal changes take place and can cause children to be malformed, smaller and mentally deficient. The Bible links drugs and demonism (Gal. 5:19-21; Rev: 21) the human soul is opened up to the control of demonic beings.
In our context they were fallen angels-demons-who come down and possessed men, who then take wives. The women of that day had fallen so far from God’s way that they desired demon involvement, and have children to them. The involvement with demons was done willingly. Satan was once again trying to infiltrate mankind and take him over. He was trying to pollute humanity and trying to hinder the coming of the seed, the Messiah though the purity of the human line. These wives and mothers would influence their household and turn their children for the way of God and consequently the people of that later age sank to the lowest depravity

My Spirit Will Not Strive With Man Forever

Gen. 6:3 “ 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.”
God’s puts a limit to His patience when men continue in their sin. But even then we find the grace of God; He gave man 120 years to repent before the Flood came. That is almost 2 modern lifetimes, a long time. God is very patience and not willing that any should perish.
When the cup of mans evil reaches to overflow God steps in and takes controls the situation. All the demonic forces are subject to Him. He controls them; He permits them to operate to a limited degree and for a limited period of time. God gave men before the Flood time to repent, gave them an invitation to get right.
Peter confirms that Noah was a preacher of godliness, of righteousness, and the people refused to hear his word during the one hundred and twenty years of the preaching of grace. We, Believers, are in a spiritual battle. We wrestle with the enemy of mans soul. We stand against ungodly policies and governmental decisions. We stand against godlessness. Just as the antedelivulian world was under attack by demonic forces our civilisation is also under attack. We have past this first stage. Demonic powers have been let loose and influenced man in unchecked wickedness.
Mythology and Scripture

Stories of mythology, legends, traditions have been recorded in various civilizations. The Romans had stories of their gods interacting with men. The records of corruption and perversion between gods and men are not fully a fairy tale, there is an element of truth to them. The Greeks have their myths of gods cohabiting with humans and producing half man and half god such as Hercules, and others. Mythology is no mere invention of the mind of man it has its roots in Genesis 6. We are told in this passage that this occurred “also afterward.” This “also afterward” means that after the Flood a similar incursion of demonic beings took place.

Vs 4 “There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” The word giants is “Nephilim.” It comes from a Hebrew word can mean, “to fall, be reckless or forceful” and it has to do with powerful beings that overpower and crush people. These Nephilim were powerful and forceful characters. They threatened people everywhere and were a danger to mankind before the Flood. They were “mighty men” who came from the union of the “sons of God” with the daughters of men. They were “men of renown.” Children born of these unions of demonically possessed people. The offspring of the union were called Nephilim, the mighty men, and renown. They were more than humans. They had a supernatural side to them. God had to drown them along with the whole world.

When the twelve spies went out into the land and they came back to report what they had seen, they said, “There are Nephilim there.” They saw giants. This frightened 10 of them and they reported the Canaanites were too strong and might to conquer. It refers to mighty, powerful and deadly warriors. We do not know if they were all 9 feet tall or not but we do know why they were afraid of them. Many of the pagan nations who the Jews conquered were influenced by demonism. The Jewish nation was brought into captivity because they turned to idols (demons). Through ancient history demonic powers have tried to infiltrate the human race particularly to hinder the birth of a Redeemer.

Modern archeology and discoveries of paleontology have found remains that are larger than all modern animals or had larger ancestors. There are the mammoths, the cave bears, the giant cockroaches, and huge reptiles such as the dinosaur. Occasionally giant human footprints have been found. Tradition, too, seems to confirm the existence of ancient giants. Modern “genetic engineering” aspires to produce a super race by cloning. Did the angels possess such knowledge?

Achaeologists have now discovered the giant-cities of Bashan, and they confirm the fact that there did exist in this area races of gigantic beings whose beds are ten, eleven, or twelve feet long. It was these people that the Israelites were commanded to exterminate completely. They were to wipe them out.

Second Mark of A Collapse – Widespread, Evil and Intense Wickedness

Vs 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.”

a) The first thing these verses tell us is that sin is an internal matter. Not only was the gene pool corrupted but also mans thinking became corrupt. God saw their thoughts, their intents. He saw where it was all heading and He moved to prevent the total destruction of every man by saving some through grace. Christ also mentioned it is not what goes into mans body that defiles him but what comes out of his heart “…For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what makes a man unclean” (Matt. 15:17-20).

b) The word “every” means all encompassed, it contaminates everything. The whole world was a cesspool of evil. It became contaminated with vile sin. Even though think they are good and are not too bad we are told, “ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Paul gives us long lists and trends of a wicked society and includes sexual wickedness (Rom.1: 28-32). Men and women changed their natural sexual orientation to an abnormal one. Demons would influence men to commit such debauchery. The Gospels call some demons “unclean” these were lustful spirits.

c) Sin is continuous, it continues uninterrupted today. Modern man thinks he is good and not contaminated. Men are evil. The records of history verify mans continual evil ways. Our world continues on its moral downward spiral.

Back in Noah’s day believers in the line of Seth would have been alarmed at what was happening openly for all to see. Mans evil became “great” in the earth which was filled with violence (6:11). Believers today are alarmed also as they look at the state tof man and his depraved actions. Their souls were saturated with evil, sinful thoughts (intents) were put into actions. Sin and evil are first of all conceived in the mind then carried out in the body. Their purpose was to do this “continually.” Their hearts (minds) had dropped to the lowest depravity.

The abnormal children born from the unholy union caused such evil that God had to end it with a cataclysmic remedy, the great Flood.
The Third Mark of Collapse of Civilization – Debased Imaginations

Vs 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.” Corrupt minds affect society on all levels. The inward imagination, desires and thoughts of the heart (mind) were then practiced outwardly and affected the entire world. Paul calls it “deceitful lusts,” (Eph. 4:22). This deception drives people to find something more lustful and evil than before. Evil accumulates as time goes on it adds on to what already exists. Tat is what they done in the days of Noah. Men manufacture new ways of lustfulness and when they get tired of the proper way of doing things and they want to experiment. They become worse than animals. Their minds become more corrupt. It begins to infiltrate education, the sciences, the arts, music, art, cinema, TV, literature, fashion, and drama. Society has become sensual, and lewd, suggestive, vulgar and crude. Our children are given books from school to read that would have left us embarrassed even as adults. This evil spread over the whole world “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. (Gen 6:11).”
The imagination, and the inner nature, the inner kingdom of man becomes extremely sensual and is polluted. The result is outward violence, destructiveness, the outbreak of cruelty and violence on every side.

Homosexuality – The Ultimate Sign of Collapse in Society

Men turned to men to carry out unnatural lusts with other men, and women to unnatural lusts with other women. This is final meltdown and the breakdown of society at this sexual level. This was worldwide and was happening continually. This civilization was doomed. When civilization reaches this stage then the Bible clearly implies that judgment is certain.
The wickedness we witness in our world is opposed to God. Human society is always opposed the Biblical norms and standards of morality. The “unclean” wicked spirits that were possessing the bodies of men in our Lords day are still about today. Sexual perversion is widespread. Paul describes in Romans 1:18-32, where God gave men over, it says 3 times, he gave them over
1. “…to uncleanness (sexual immorality), in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their bodies among themselves.” (Vs. 24) lustful hearts and thought patterns. Gave them up means to turn a prisoner over for his sentence. God removed His restraint on them and so they became worse and it affected their children and their society.
2. Secondly He gave them over to “vile passions” is homosexuality (Vs.26-27) Men turn to unnatural lusts with other men, and women to unnatural lusts with other women, and the breakdown of society at this sexual level.
3. Thirdly “God gave them over to debased minds” useless worthless, discarded minds because they were impure (Vs 28). These are the final and the final signs of a civilisation on the verge of judgment. In our text these things became continuous and widespread.

God Repented He Made Man

Vs 6-7 “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 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.” “The Lord was sorry.” “God repented.” God does not change his mind like man does. This is the language of accommodation, a figure of speech that we may understand how God felt about the depravity of man. God cannot change (Mal. 3:6; 1:17). Theologically called an anthropopathisim. The repentance of God is not a compromise of His immutability; it is anthropomorphic language, or phenomenal language. The repentance of God is not a change within His essential being; it is His working according to a fixed principle consistent with His own being, which expresses itself in one way when man is responsive to God and in another way when man is unresponsive. In this case, man’s failure brought into operation the principle of divine retribution in justice. If He had continued to treat the antediluvians after the manifestation of their impenitent hearts just as He had before they fell into sin, then He would have been at one time pleased with penitence and at another pleased with impenitence. Subjectively, God is filled with grief and pain over the wickedness of Noah’s age, but objectively He must turn to judgment. The world –wide flood must come, because there has now come into existence world –
wide wickedness and man’s fellow creatures must share in the judgment, for their destiny is bound up in his (cf. 3:16-19; Rom. 8:19-21). Thus, the love of God finds its issue on the one hand in grief and sorrow, and on the other hand in wrath. It is what Paul speaks about when he writes, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God” (cf.
Rom. 11:22).

It appears that He changed his mind. He wants humans to know how he felt about mans thoughts, actions and conduct. From man’s point of view it seems God changed His mind. When society reaches this stage of decline and depravity, God’s anger burns. His love for man is great and His grace is amazing. He actually did not act immediately, He gave man 120 years to repent, and that is two life times for modern man. Man deserved instant death but God in the midst of being grieved helped out a hope for man. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us….” This is love from another world, an alien love, a love we do not know or have, and it is divine love. He gives grace and hope before he gives wrath and judgment. This love draws us it attracts us to Him.
He loves us with a great love. He loved us so much he gave his son to die for us. Believers see His burning love unbelievers see His burning fire.

Noah Found Grace

Vs 8 “But Noah found grace (favour) in the eyes of the Lord.” With mankind goes the whole creation because the creation is linked with man. The animals were made for man, so when man goes; the animals must go as well. But always there is the shining of grace, God used Noah to call people to Him but Noah had no converts. He would have failed the modern church growth seminars and movement. was calling for 120 years. But only one man and his family turned and found grace in God’s sight. He did not deserve it. He had a choice to make. He could have chosen to go the way of the world but he responded to God and found grace in his sight.
This is the day of grace. God is calling men to Himself today. He wants man to come into His ark, his protection today and be delivered from the wrath to come. He wants to give grace before he brings judgment on our society.
God’s has been gracious to those who believe now. He has done so much for us, given us a new life, adopted us into his family, given us a future, and promised his guidance and protection, Believers have been given so much. Grace. He has won our hearts. He has opened our eyes to Satins subtleties. Civilization is at the point of utter collapse. It will be judged but believers will be safe.

Sign of the “Noah Days”

Luke 17:26-30. “As it was in the days of Noah, they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.”

1. There was a preoccupation with the physical appetites such as food and drink.
2. The preoccupation with building.
3. The sensual pleasures (cf. Luke 17:27 -28; Gen. 4:21; 6:5, 11 -12).
4. There was an acceptance of uniformitarian philosophies (cf. Heb. 11:7).
5. There was rejection of the Word of God. This rejection was both doctrinal and

a national aspects (cf. 1 Pet. 3:19; 2 Pet. 2:5; Jude 15).

6. There was rejection of the sexual standard’s of Scripture, expressing itself in

polygamy and illicit sexual activity (cf. Gen. 4:19; 6:2; Matt. 24:8).
7. Technology was advanced (Gen. 4:22)

8. There was population growth (cf. 6:1, 11).

 

What was the remedy in Noah’s day?

 

It was the ark, planned and prepared by God for the deliverance of Noah and his family. And today the only remedy is the Antitype of the ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. If found in Him, the waters of divine judgment cannot touch us.