Satan (Part 10) - The Epic War: The Sons of God in Genesis 6

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3. The war against the promised Messiah A. The first casualty in Satan's war against the promised Messiah was Abel. i. Adam and Eve had two children, Cain and Able (Gen 4:1-2). ii. Cain was a child of the devil (1Jo 3:12), so Satan didn't have to worry about him. iii. Able was a child of God (Mat 23:35; Heb 11:4), and therefore He needed to die to prevent the Messiah from coming through him. iv. Cain slew his brother Abel because Abel was righteous and Cain was wicked (1Jo 3:12). v. The first battle after the garden of Eden was a battle of true religion versus false religion. a. Abel offered his sacrifice by faith according to God's commandment, and His offering was accepted by God (Gen 4:4 c/w Heb 11:4). b. Cain was a pragmatist, worshiping God with what was most convenient for him, and his offering was rejected by God (Gen 4:3, 5). c. This set the pattern for the future of world history in Satan's battle against God and His people. d. The followers of Satan's religion would persecute and kill the followers of God's religion. vi. For the time being, Satan had stemmed off his demise by the murder of Abel. vii. It appears that Satan began building his army through Cain to war against the woman's seed. a. Cain went off to the land of Nod and built a city (Gen 4:16-17) b. Cain's great, great, great grandson Lamech became the first recorded bigamist (Gen 4:18-19). (i) Here God's original institution of marriage came under attack. (ii) Lamech then follows in the footsteps of his progenitor Cain and murders a man (Gen 4:23-24). c. Cain's descendents were cunning men in agriculture (Gen 4:20), music (Gen 4:21), and industry (Gen 4:22). viii. But God replaced Able with Seth (Gen 4:25). ix. Seth begat Enos and then men began to call upon the name of the LORD (Gen 4:26). x. Despite all of Satan's effort, God is still winning the battle. B. The sons of God go in unto the daughters of men. i. With men beginning to call upon the name of the LORD in the days of Enos, and the chances being increased that the promised Messiah could be born anywhere, Satan came up with another plan to destroy mankind. ii. He would send fallen angels to earth to marry human women and father devilish half-breeds with them, corrupting the bloodline of mankind and filling the earth with wicked sinners. iii. This is what happened in Gen 6:1-4. a. There are two well known interpretations of who the sons of God were in Gen 6:2-4. (i) There are some that believe that they were the godly descendents of Seth. (ii) There are some that believe that they were fallen angels. b. I believe that the sons of God in Gen 6 were fallen angels for the following reasons: (i) The phrase "sons of God" is only used three other places (Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7) in the Old Testament outside of Genesis 6 and they are all referring to angels. 1. The angels (including fallen angels) are the sons of God by creation, as was Adam (Luk 3:38). 2. If you were a Jew reading Gen 6:2-4 for hundreds of years prior to the writing of the New Testament, by comparing scripture with scripture (the books of the OT) you would have to conclude that the sons of God were angels. (ii) Angels can materialize and appear as human men with bodies that can do physical things such as eat (Gen 19:1-3; Dan 9:21). (iii) In Gen 6:1, men on the face of the earth had daughters born unto them. In Gen 6:2, when men were having daughters born unto them, the "sons of God" saw that the "daughters of men" were fair. 1. The "sons of God" are set in contrast to "men" in Gen 6:1-2. 2. "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." (Gen 6:1-2) (iv) If the "sons of God" were Sethites, were there no fair women among the Sethites that they could take for wives? 1. We know that there were no female angels that the angels could take for wives (Mat 22:30), 2. This makes Gen 6:2 make more sense for the fallen angel position than for the Sethite position. (v) If the "sons of God" in Gen 6:2,4 were the godly Sethites and the "daughters of men" were the wicked Cainites, why would their offspring with those alleged wicked women be giants and mighty men of renown (Gen 6:4)? 1. Why would they be any different from any other human children? 2. Why were the other children of the Sethites not giants? (vi) Jude speaks of angels that kept not their first estate (their normal state or nature - see definition below) and left their habitation "even as" (in like manner as) the men of Sodom and Gomorrha who gave themselves over to fornication and went after strange (foreign - see definition below) flesh (Jude 1:6-7). 1. Estate n. - 1. a. State or condition in general, whether material or moral, bodily or mental. In ME. occas.: Constitution, nature. arch.; now almost exclusively in Biblical phrases. (Oxford English Dictionary) 2. Strange adj. - I. 1. a. Of persons, language, customs, etc.: Of or belonging to another country; foreign, alien. (Oxford English Dictionary) 3. In other words, some of the fallen angels left their constitution and nature and went after "strange flesh" (human women - Gen 6:2-4) even as (in like manner as) the men of Sodom did to people (men) who were not given to them. c. Putting it all together, I am convinced that the sons of God that went into unto the daughters of men were fallen angels that materialized into human bodies and had sex with human women and created superhuman offspring. d. In that the angels that did so were bound in everlasting chains until judgment day (Jud 1:6), I am not convinced that it is still happening today. e. Some argue that breeding of fallen angels with human women continued after the flood and continues until this day. f. They base their argument on the following: (i) They argue that the phrase "and also after that" in Gen 6:4 means that the angel-human cross breeding continued after the flood. (ii) They argue that because the angel-human offspring before the flood were giants (Gen 6:4) that the giants in the land of Canaan (Num 13:33; Deu 2:10-11; etc.) after the flood were products of the same breeding. (iii) They argue that in the days leading up to the coming of Christ that it will be like it was in the days of Noah (Mat 24:37), and therefore there will be angel-human half-breeds roaming the earth. g. These arguments are all found wanting. h. The following is my refutation of those arguments: (i) "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men..." (Gen 6:4). 1. Those days refers to the days up to the time that the Lord said that He would not strive with man and vowed to destroy them in 120 years (Gen 6:3). 2. Those days were the days "when men began to multiply on the face of the earth...[and] the sons of God...took them wives" (Gen 6:1-2). 3. This could have begun happening hundreds of years before God pronounced His judgment on the earth. 4. Men had begun to multiply on the face of the earth from the beginning of time, and the sons of God took them wives "when men began to multiply on the face of the earth," not hundreds of years after men began to multiply. 5. Therefore, those days were not the 120 years in Gen 6:3 because there were already giants in the earth when God decreed that He would destroy man in 120 years (which is why God thus decreed). 6. Therefore, I maintain that "and also after that" (Gen 6:4) refers to the 120 years between God's decree and the flood. 7. I maintain this because Gen 6:4 identifies the time period of "and also after that" as being "when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men," (Gen 6:4) which happened before the flood (Gen 6:1-2). 8. Furthermore, the giants that were produced "also after that" in that 120 year period were "mighty men which were of old" (Gen 6:4). 9. Moses wrote Genesis long after the flood (about 850 years afterward) and he said that the giants that were produced "also after that" were "mighty men which were of old", not "mighty men of today" (in Moses' day). 10. In other words, the sons of God married women and produced giants prior to the time that God decreed man's destruction, "and also after that" until God destroyed the world with the flood, which was long before Moses wrote Genesis (of old). (ii) It's possible that the cause of the giants in the land of Canaan were fallen angels breeding with women. 1. But, based on my comments above, I do not think that Gen 6:4 details the origin of the giants in Canaan, but rather that of the giants that continued to be produced up until the time of the flood. 2. If the Canaanite giants came from fallen angels, it is not because of what is written in Gen 6:4. (iii) The argument proves too much that says that because the cause of the giants in Gen 6 was fallen angels breeding with women, then the cause of the giants in the land of Canaan must also be the same. 1. The cause of the mighty men of renown in Gen 6:4 was fallen angels breeding with women. 2. By the reasoning of this argument, all mighty men and all men of renown must be the product of fallen angels breeding with women. 3. Were David's mighty men angelic half-breeds (2Sa 23:8-22)? 4. Were the princes of Israel who were men of renown angelic half-breeds (Num 16:2)? 5. Was the nation of Israel, whose renown was known among the heathen, angelic half-breeds (Eze 16:14-15)? 6. The answer to these questions is, of course, no. 7. Just as Gen 6:4 doesn't demand that the mighty men of David and the men of renown in Israel were angelic half-breeds, neither does it demand that the giants in Canaan were either. (iv) It is also possible that the giants in the land of Canaan were just a bigger variety of people. 1. Bolivians (shortest people - average height of 4' 11.5") visiting the Netherlands (tallest people - average height of 6' 0") would likely go home and tell of the "giants" they saw. 2. The same could be the case with the Canaanites. (v) Should we conclude that every rare "giant" we see today is the product of a fallen angel? 1. I have a friend in Cincinnati who is 6' 8". 2. By this argument's reasoning, I would have to conclude that he is a Nephilim. 3. I certainly do not think that is the case based on how well I know my friend. (vi) Using Mat 24:37 to prove that there will be fallen angel-human half-breeds roaming the earth in the end times is an example of poor Bible interpretation. 1. The context of Mat 24:37 is that no one knows the date and time of the second coming (Mat 24:36). 2. Just as the people who lived in the days before the flood had no idea what was coming and went on their merry ways eating, drinking, and marrying until the day that the flood came and destroyed them all, so it will be for those living in the day that Jesus Christ returns -- they will have no idea it's coming and they will be going about their normal lives until it happens (Mat 24:38-39). 3. Mat 24:37 has nothing whatsoever to do with the sons of God going in unto the daughters of men and fathering giant half-breeds. (vii) It is true that Jude 1:6 doesn't prevent fallen angels from breeding with human women again. 1. But I would say that given the two positions (Position 1 - it happened in Gen 6 and those angels were locked up in hell, and it didn't happen again, or Position 2 - it began to happen in Gen 6 and continues to happen until the end of time, and only the angels in Gen 6 were locked up in hell), it seems that Jude 1:6 lends more support for position 1 since it speaks in the past tense (kept and left, not keep and leave). 2. The angels that did so were (as the men of Sodom were) "set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jud 1:7) (viii) Questions for those who disagree with me. 1. Gen 6:4 seems to indicate that the giants were common on earth before the flood. If it is still happening today, why are giants rare today? 2. Since the giants were "mighty men" and "men of renown," in other words, powerful leaders of the earth, why aren't today's powerful leaders of the earth giants if Gen 6:4 is still ongoing? If the answer is that the leaders we see are just puppets, then where are the giants who are pulling the strings? The giants in Gen 6:4 seem to have been out in the open for all to see. Why is that not the case today if it is still happening? iv. This plan of crossbreeding fallen angels with human women was almost entirely successful. a. The earth was corrupt and full of wickedness and violence, so much so that God decreed that He would destroy all of mankind with the exception of Noah and his family (Gen 6:5-13). b. The LORD saved Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives in the ark (Gen 7:7) and killed the rest of mankind with the flood (Gen 7:21). v. God had once again outsmarted Satan. a. The devil was now back to the drawing board, having to figure out which of the sons of Noah the promised Messiah would come through. b. Noah had cursed the descendants of Ham (Gen 9:24-25) and blessed both Shem (Gen 9:26) and Japheth (Gen 9:27). c. It was pretty clear that the Messiah would come through either Shem or Japheth, but not through Ham. d. It appears that Satan started working through the descendents of Ham to build his empire through Nimrod who founded the kingdom of Babel (later to be called the infamous Babylon) (Gen 10:6-10).