The Attack from the Angelic Realm
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What sin would be so
hideous that it would motivate a merciful God to wipe out the entire human
race? Following the Cain and Abel incident of Genesis 4, the human population
grew rapidly and also grew extremely evil. Then something very strange happened. “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” (Gen.
6:1-4). The Hebrew words “daughters were born unto
them” is in the emphatic position. Evidently an unusual number of daughters
were born. Who were these people, and what does this all mean? Who are the Sons of God? Whatever happened was motivated
by physical attraction. The sons
of God “saw” and “chose” wives based upon the physical beauty of the
daughters of men. The physical attraction led to a choice being made. But who were the sons of
God? A common interpretation is that the sons of God were a continuation of
the family of Seth and the daughters of men were of the family of Cain. If
that is the case, then what happened was the result of the intermarriage of
the two physical earthy families.
A second view is that the
sons of God were fallen angels possibly operating under the command of Satan
to physically corrupt the genealogical line of man. This was to prevent the
“seed of the woman from coming into the world.” This view argues that angelic beings left their
God-assigned position and in some sadistic way sexually molested the women. There are two major problems
with the sons of God being the physical line of Seth. Sons of God, “bane ha
Elohim,” is only used one way in
the entire Old Testament. It is
used for angels. “Now there was a day when the sons of
God (bane ha
Elohim) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among
them” (Job 1: 6). “Again there was a day when the sons of
God (bane ha
Elohim) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among
them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘From
where do you come?’” (Job. 2:1). Secondly, the “Sethite” view
would be hard pressed to explain the strange appearance of the Nephilim. The Hebrew word for “to fall” is “nephal.” So
Nephilim is translated “fallen ones.” In verse four, the Hebrew could
indicate that these “fallen ones” had come on the scene “when” this union
occurred. The Sethite view
argues that the “fallen ones” were already on the earth before the attack. A possible explanation is
this. When God's most beautiful angelic creature (Satan) fell, he persuaded
one third of the angels to follow suit (Rev. 12:4). These became the fallen angels. There could be two categories of fallen angels, fallen
angels who are free and those that are incarcerated. God may have assigned a place of
incarceration for these angels. Some fallen angels had committed a sin
outside of their God-assigned sphere. “For if God did not spare the angels
who sinned, but cast them down to hell to be reserved for judgment and did
not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly” (2 Pet.
2:4-5). This
is the only time this word translated “hell” is used in the entire New
Testament. It is not the word
hades, or gehenna.
It is tartarus. Whoever these angels were and
whatever they had done, God immediately judged them and assigned them to this
special place. The “angels who sinned”
could refer to the incident in Genesis 6. This
angelic sin was somehow connected with Noah and the flood. If we accept the
“angelic attack view,” then these corrupt angels
somehow sexually molested the women. The result was a corrupt race. “And the angels who did not keep their
proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness (evidently in tartarus) for the judgment of the great day; 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, (flesh of a different
kind; homosexuality) are
set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 6-7). This passage seems to
indicate that angels were indeed involved in some sort of sexual perversion
similar to the perversion of Sodom and Gomorrah. Matthew says that angels do not marry (Matt. 22:30). However, the incident in Genesis is not
speaking of good angels, and we do not know what angels were capable of
before the fall. This invasion would have
been a masterstroke for Satan. This humanoid race of the Nephilim could not
produce the human beings necessary for the seed of the woman to come
through. Notice God’s response to these inordinate relationships. “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.’” (Gen. 6:3). The
Hebrew Lexicon does not interpret “bin” as “strive.” According to Brown, Driver, and
Briggs, the word means to judge or to rule. “My Spirit is not going to rule man in the sense of on the
one hand sustaining life and on the other hand restraining sin any more.” The
time was going to come when God’s Spirit would not retain life on the
earth. In fact, God says that
man’s days on the earth were to be 120 more years. The Hebrew word “because”
should better be translated “in his going away.” So it should be translated
of fallen man that “in his going
away, he is flesh.” Man is often
lulled into a false view of God’s justice. God appears to be silent for years! It seems as though He turned His back
on dealing with sin! But God is
faithful. He must always adjust
that which is not right to His righteousness. God Restrains Judgment “Or do you despise the riches of His
goodness; forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God
leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4). “The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering (makromutheo; patient endurance) toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet. 3:9). God
would give the population of the earth 120 years to respond to God’s grace
through the voice and work of Noah. After that, destruction would come. Every member of the human race was
born physically alive but spiritually dead. To be spiritually dead is to be
totally depraved. Total depravity does not mean that all men live as badly as
they can live. There are shades
of evil throughout the earth and throughout history. What
it does mean is this: All men are as bad off as they can be. The entire human
race is spiritually dead. Those
who die without adjusting to the righteousness of God through Christ, God's
righteousness will be adjusted to them. Man, just prior to the Flood, was
approaching the height of the wickedness. “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
that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Gen.
6:5-6). Does
God feel sorry in the sense that we feel sorry? No! But this is how the writer of Genesis expressed in
human words an infinite God's response to the evil in the earth. The Lord was
sorry, the Lord saw, the Lord was grieved in His heart. These are all human
characteristics. It is just a way to communicate to man that we worship a
personal God. The
word “intent” signals secret motive and is placed in the emphatic position.
Literally, “every motive of man's mind is continuously evil all the day
long.” Only God could know that.
Here is the expression of God's response to man's sinfulness in an
anthropomorphic term. It is the word “nahem,” to pant. If you are shocked, you
take a quick breath, you gasp. If you jump into a cold lake, you gasp. This
is the word here. God gasped! It
is a hithpael stem. It is a form that reveals intensity. The word “gasp” also
carries a reflexive idea. It takes the action back to the one who feels it.
God gasped. God
responds in judgment. His judgment is designed to balance the scales of His divine
righteousness. The punishment always fits the crime perfectly. There is no
injustice with God. God never judges any more or less than is necessary (Rom.
11:33). “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” (Gen. 6:7). “I made them” is “yatzar,” like the potter made the vessel. Many question God's right to judge His
creation. But if He made them, then like the potter and the vessel, He owns
them, and He, as the divine potter, has the right to do with them whatever He
will. “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the
thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over
the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for
dishonor” (Rom. 9:20-21). Who is
man, limited as he is, to question an infinite God? God has all the facts! At the time that God responded in
judgment, He also responded in grace. This is a foundation truth for the rest
of the Bible. And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord! Sources New American Standard Bible Donald G. Barnhouse Dr. Lewis Johnson Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew Definitions Basic Theology; Charles Ryrie |
God had told Satan that
the seed of the woman was going to crush his head. The seed had to come into
the world. Would Satan attempt to keep this from happening? |