We are engulfed in a Spiritual war that has been raging for the entirety of human history. This war began in the Garden of Eden with the first to humans. The objective of this war is for Satan to destroy the Messianic line and thwart God's redemptive plan for mankind.
The outcome of this war is certain: the forces arrayed against God will be defeated. The problem is that most of mankind will be casualties. Having taken sides in the rebellion most of humanity will be judged alongside the spiritual forces of darkness at the End of the Age.
Satan's War Against the Messiah
As part of Satan's strategy to obstruct God's plan for the Messiah to enter the world, the Sons of God (angels, not men) traversed the spirit dimensions to Earth (from Mt. Hermon according to an extra-biblical text the Book of Enoch) and attempted to corrupt the gene pool of humanity. God, of course, had a counterattack already planned and protected eight souls to ensure through the line of Seth that Messiah would be born fully human.Analysis of Genesis 6:1-13
Genesis 6:1-3 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."
- v2 "Sons of God" ("B'nai Elohim"; meaning "Angels of God") This exact phrase is used 4 times in the Old Testament, and always refers to angels. See Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7
- v2 "Daughters of Men" ("benoth adam" - meaning normal women)
- v3 God sets a time limit for this apostasy of 120 years.
Genesis 6:4-7 "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. The LORD was sorry (literally: sighed) that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 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."
- v4 "Giants" were the result. ("Nephilim" – means ‘fallen ones’, ‘cast down’ or alternatively, ‘tyrants’).
- v4 "Mighty ones". (“Ha Gibborim” - ‘tyrants’, or in the Septuagint Greek "gigantes", which means "Earth Born"). "Gigantes" also were referred to as "Titans" in Greek, which is linguistically related to the Chaldean (Abraham's language) ‘Sheitan’, which translates into Hebrew "Satan", or ‘from Satan’.
- v4 “Of Old” (min‛ôlâm – from eternity). These “mighty men”, or more aptly phrased “mighty tyrants” were not ordinary human men.
Genesis 6:8-12 "But Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth."
- v9 "perfect in his generations" (“tamiym” - without physical blemish or spot). This means literally that Noah did not carry any genetic corruption from the B'nai Elohim"
- v11 “filled with violence” (“châmâs” - cruelty, unjust gain, oppression, injustice)
Jude 6,7 "And the angels who did not keep their own domain (first estate), but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day." "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh....
Other Strategies to Disrupt the Messianic Bloodline
Satan continued his attempts to destroy the Messianic line an thwart God’s plans from Abraham's descendants until Christ was born. Here are some examples:- Abraham with Pharaoh taking Sarah into his household (Genesis 12)
- Murder of the Hebrew babies in Egypt (Exodus 1)
- Pharaoh's pursuit to kill the Hebrews (Exodus 14)
- Corruption of bloodline in Canaan "as in the days of Noah" (Numbers 13:32,33)
- Attacks by Og, King of Bashan and introduction into the Holy Land of the Rephaim (Deuteronomy 3:11, Joshua 12:4)
- Attacks on David's descendants (2 Samuel 7, 2 Chronicles 21, 22, Isaiah 36 & 38)
- The plot of Haman to destroy all Jews (Esther 3)
- The plot of Herod to kill Hebrew babies again (Matthew 2)
- Attempts to kill Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4)
- Satan's temptation of Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4, Luke 4, Mark 1)
- Satan’s attempts to destroy the
Church (the heirs of Christ's kingdom that is in conflict with Satan's kingdom) for nearly 2,000 years through persecution, execution, materialism,
Humanism, Communism, Fascism, the Occult, false teachers, false messiahs, paganism, and the "New Age"....
Christ As Our Refuge
A careful reading of Genesis 6, 7 and 8 introduces the concept of Christ as our refuge from judgment through ”7” characteristics of Noah’s Ark.Analysis of Genesis 6:14-22
Genesis 6:14-16 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
Genesis 6:17-21 Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”
Genesis 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
1. A way of escape was designed in advance and divinely provided
- God provided a refuge before the judgment.
- Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
- Genesis 6:14b “And you shall pitch it inside and outside with pitch” (kapher)
- Romans 3:22-25 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
Analysis of Genesis 7:1-8:4
Genesis 7:1-5 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.
3. God invited those who would be saved to enter through the door.
- The only survivors of the flood were those who obediently entered the refuge provided by God.
- John 10:9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.”
- God intended for Noah and his family to provide a sacrifice and planned ahead with seven of each clean animal.
4. Salvation Requires obedience of the believer (Noah)
- Genesis 7:5 “And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.”
- Obedience is the outward sign of faith. Faith is not a work, nor is obedience. Salvation is the gift.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it [that is, salvation according to the Greek syntax] is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
- You are saved by faith, not works, but obedience is necessary to show you have faith.
- James 2:18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works [obedience].
Genesis 7:6-12 Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.Genesis 7:13-16 On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.
5. Their redemption was ‘sealed’ by God Himself
- Genesis 7:16 “And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.”
- John 18:9 “...that the word might be fulfilled which He spoke, ‘Of those whom Thou hast given to Me, I lost not one’.”
Genesis 7:17-24 Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
- Genesis 7:23 “Thus He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the land...and only Noah was left, together with those there were with him in the ark.”
- John 14:6 “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me’.”
Genesis 8:1-5 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.
- Noah's name means "rest".
- Why did God tell us the month and day the ark "rested"? Every placename, date and symbol has meaning in the scripture. This was 17 Nisan, which also was the month and day Jesus resurrected from the dead, solving the sin problem to allow us to sabbath (rest: Noah) with Him.
- Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Closing Thoughts
Some take the position this story only describes a regional flood. There are a few problems with that assertion. First, that is not what the passage is clearly trying to communicate. It was global judgment. Many assume that in Noahic times only a small portion of the earth was inhabited. Recent archeological findings show cities, monuments and evidence of human activity all over the globe that was either wiped out or mysteriously abandoned in ancient times. For a moment, assume the flood is global, as the writer was trying to convey -- what else could the writer of this passage have said to make it clearer? A regional flood diminishes the spiritual lesson here: all sin must be judged, not just "some" sin. Additionally, God's redemptive work is global and total.
Colossians 2:12 “...having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
Judgment is coming again soon - this time by fire. Find refuge in Christ now while there is time.
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Scripture citations are from: Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson
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