The Doctrine of Dispensations. Part 5. Noah and the Nephilim.
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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!
Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).
1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
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STUDY TITLE:
The Doctrine of Dispensations. Part 5. Noah and the Nephilim.
Heb 11:7, By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah, having been warned about things not yet seen, in reverence constructed a ship for the deliverance of his family, through which he condemned the world.
The word kosmon represents the organized system of the world under the rulership of the devil. Noah turned everything around! He didn’t fight back! He let them judge and gossip about him! He didn’t defend himself. He just stuck with communicating the Word of God doctrine in spite of the opposition. He ignored the whole thing which was designed by Satan to distract Noah from his calling, and instead he just concentrated on the word from God. And God vindicated him and gave him the highest honor any man could have, God spun the whole course of history around Noah.
His respect for God, and being enthusiastic by believing God’s warnings, moved him to construct a ship or what is called an ark, in which he met with the scorns and reproaches of a wicked generation. And in doing so he pleased God as Heb 11:6, And 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 seek Him.
The only way you please God is with doctrine resident in the soul and that is what Noah had. And this world has yet to see in full, in modern history, what doctrine in the soul of one person can do much less then in a small group of individuals. You see you don’t have to have a lot of people! You don’t have to have big crowds! And above all, you don’t have to have any kind of popularity. All you have to do is to have doctrine in the soul to please God.
Isa 16:7, for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Heb 11:7, By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Noah, having been warned about things not yet seen, in reverence constructed a ship for the deliverance of his family, through which he condemned the world or the cosmos, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Bible doctrine gives you the inheritance that God has provided for you for you to become an heir of the righteousness which is based upon the faith…that is the Christian faith. Now, we now need to turn to Gen chapter 6 which describes for us the environment that Noah had to deal with in the antediluvian civilization. In this chapter, there are basically two explanations that interpreters have taken. One is the simplified for the naive and the other is complicated for the serious student of the Word of God. It all revolves around who are the “sons of God and the daughters of men” as mentioned in Gen 6:2.
Those who do not relate to the original languages in their preparation and study of the word take the idea that the “sons of God” refer to the line of Seth and the “daughters of men” refer to the line of Cain. And this is an over simplification of the passage and, as a matter of fact, it is a real great strain to even accept as an interpretation. The reason that it is so acceptable however is because it is the easy way out. To teach a passage under those conditions you don’t have to think and you don’t have to study. However, you also don’t have the answers concerning questions like who are the angels in verses like 2Pe 2:4, For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
Who are these Angels! They cannot be all of the fallen angels because we know that our battle is with Satan and his fallen angels in Eph 6:12 and they are free to walk the face of the earth. And as Jud 1:6 says, And the angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. What does it mean they “did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode”? And, who are these Angels that God “has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day”? Or 1Pe 3:19, who are the ones mentioned that He [the Lord Jesus Christ] went and made proclamation to the fallen angels in prison now.
So, if you believe that the sons of God are believers and the daughters of men are unbelievers, you are not able to answer the question as to why there are some fallen angels in prison right now when in reality Satan and his angels are “free” to roam this earth as well as in certain areas in Heaven. So, most people have really no idea how to interpret this passage in Gen 6, let’s read it first.
Gen 6:1-8, Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were 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. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
We begin with a principle which is the fact that anytime you find anyone saying that the “sons of God” are anything else but angels immediately you are looking at someone who does not know the original languages. The big problem is that it is inconceivable for people today for them to think that demons could ever have sex with humans. However, I must remind you that all of this took place before the flood. The fact that creatures can have sex with other species then themselves is not only taught in Jud 1:6 when it says, And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, but it is also taught in other passages as well.
In fact, God even commands humans not to do what these angels did which was to have sex with a lower creation and that’s why we actually have commands in the Bible that forbid having sex with animals, Lev 20:15-16, If there is a man who has sex with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.
By the way that’s a passage that says that the animal is even guilty.
Lev 18:23, Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
So, as you can see, having sex with another creation is possible and that is why God forbids it because it is possible. So, we shouldn’t be shocked by the idea that angels could have sex with humans. Now, in Gen 6:1, Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
So, the expression “daughters of men” includes the daughters of Seth as well as the daughters of Cain, hence the expression “sons of God” must mean beings different from the human race. The daughters of Cain and the daughters of Seth are daughters of humans, Seth representing the believers, Cain representing the unbeliever…but they are all human.
Now, the title “sons of God” does not have the same meaning in the Old Testament that it has in the New. In the New Testament it applies to those who have become the “sons of God” by the new birth. Rom 8:14, For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Rom 8:19, For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
However, in the O.T. the phrase the “sons of God” applies to the angels and everytime it’s used it refers to angels. It is so used six times, twice in Genesis, Gen 6:2-4, three times in Job, Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7, and once in Dan 3:25. Here in Gen 6:2, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful;
Then in Gen 6:4, The Nephilim were 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.
Then look at Job 1:6, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
Job 2:1, Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
Then we have the lord indicting Job as to where he was when God laid foundation of the earth in Job 38:4, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Job 38:5-7, Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
The phrase “beni ha Elohim” is translated the “sons of God” and it denotes a being brought into existence by a creative act of God. It is only used for angels in the Bible. In Dan 3:25, King Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”
The point is that the phrase used in Gen 6, in Job and in Daniel all referred to angels never humans. Such were the angels and such was Adam, and he is so called in Luke 3:38 Adam is the son of God because he was not born but was created like the angels by the hand of God. For example: Describing the messianic line in Luke’s gospel, Luke writes in Luke 3:23, And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly {the} son of Joseph, the {son} of Eli, Down to verse 36, Luke 3:36-38, the {son} of Cainan, the {son} of Arphaxad, the {son} of Shem, the {son} of Noah, the {son} of Lamech, the {son} of Methuselah, the {son} of Enoch, the {son} of Jared, the {son} of Mahalaleel, the {son} of Cainan, the {son} of Enosh, the {son} of Seth, the {son} of Adam, the {son} of God.
Note that Adam was called a “son of God”, why? Because he came from the created hand of God. Angels are called “sons of God” because they were created by God, Psa 148:2,5 Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all his hosts! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. And we are called “sons of God” because we in Christ 2Co 5:17, Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
So, Adam’s natural descendants are not the creation of God. Adam was created in the “likeness of God”, Gen 5:1, but his descendants were born in his likeness, for we read in Gen 5:3 that Adam “became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image.”
Gen 5:1, This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Gen 5:3, When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Therefore, all men born of Adam and his descendants by natural generation are the “sons of men” and it is only by being “born again” which is a “New Creation” that they can become the “sons of God” in the New Testament sense. Now the “Sons of God” of Gen 6:2, 4, could not be the “sons of Seth,” as some claim, because the “sons of Seth” were only men, and could only be called “sons of men,” not “sons of God.” And this proves beyond question that the “sons of God” in Gen 6:2,4, were ANGELS, and not godly descendants of Seth. Objections are raised concerning this point by noting what our Lord said about the resurrection of humans that they are like the angels in Luke 20:35-36, that they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; Therefore they say that the angels are “sexless” and therefore cannot cohabit either with themselves or human beings.
However, while the passage implies that the angels “do not marry” it does not say that they are “sexless” for that would convey the idea that at the resurrection all believers will also be sexless, a doctrine that is contrary to the belief that husbands and wives and brothers and sisters shall know each other “as such” in the eternal state. They will know each other as males and females! What the passage does teach is that angels do not multiply by procreation. Millions of angels were created all at once and because they never die there is no necessity for reproduction among them. Also, these angels were condemned for some particular sin, as Jud 7 teaches which is the fact that they went after or fornicated with “strange flesh.”
It was the sin of “fornication and going after strange flesh”, as Jud 7 teaches and the “time” of the sin is given as just before the flood. 2Pe 2:5. It is the same sin that caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose citizens demanded that Lot surrender the two angels that he had received into his home that they might “know them” which refers to having sex with them in 2Pe 2:6-8, Jud 7, Gen 19:5. Another argument for the support of this view is the fact that the progeny of this union between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men was a race of giants, “mighty men, “men of renown.”
Gen 6:4, The Nephilim were 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.
And this is where Greek mythology came from which is really not mythology at all but fact! Now, think of it, to say that the sons of God were godly people and they married the daughters of men who were carnal women and then they had super-kids is ridiculous. There have never been such “monstrosities” as the offspring of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” since Noah’s day. The word Nephilim means the “Fallen Ones,” or “giants”.
It is clear that those “mighty men” and “men of renown,” were not the ordinary offspring of the daughters of men, or else why didn’t they appear before or even again? The “sons of Seth” and the “daughters of Cain” had undoubtedly inter-married before this, but there were no such children born to them. Now, in this irruption of angelic beings into the world of men we have the source or Greek mythology where historians obtained their notions concerning the loves of the gods and demi-gods, and the legends of being’s half-human and half-divine. And what I want you see is the tremendous obstacles Noah had to overcome.
The characteristics of the “antediluvian dispensation,” as out¬lined by the late Dr. A. T. Pierson, were, “First, an advance in fulness and clearness of revelation; Then gradual spirit declension then conformity to the world, ending with mixture with the world; then a gigantic civilization, brilliant but godless; then parallel development of evil and good; then an ‘apostasy,’ and finally a catastrophe.” That my friends is real trouble.
So Gen 6 talks about the “sons of God” with the Hebrew phrase “beni ha elohim” who are fallen angels under Satan and as we will see it should be translated “sons of the gods.” They were able to appear with angelic bodies to the women of the antediluvian civilization. A civilization already corrupted by worship of the Olympian pantheon of false Gods. Olympia was a region in ancient Greek noted for the worship of many gods especially Zeus.
So, these angels at that time of Gen 6, had sexual capabilities and cohabited with the women of that era producing a mutated race called Nephilim. These were the Herculean “heroes” and “giants” and famous half angel, half man types described briefly in the Genesis account. And this whole plan was an attack by Satan to try and destroy true humanity on earth so that Jesus Christ could not be truly human. And in the midst of this type of wild and evil environment is a man called Noah, going forward with the plan of God in spite of all the opposition and distraction. Satan’s genetic attack appeared to be totally successful but for one glitch. The glitch in Satan’s plan was the divine preservation of eight people, Noah and his wife and their three sons and wives who were the last remains of uncorrupted humanity.
Again, Peter tells us all about it.
1Pe 3:18-22, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
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