Genesis 6:8-22

H.    Genesis 6:8 – But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

a.      Proof that this is a divine action is that Noah was spared

II.             The Generations of Noah (Genesis 6:9-10)

A.    Genesis 6:9 – These [are] the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man [and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah walked with God.

a.      Generations - תולדות towlĕdah, descendants, results, proceedings, generations, genealogies

b.     Just - צדיק tsaddiyq, just, lawful, righteous

c.      Perfect - תמים tamiym, complete, whole, entire, sound

d.     In his generations - דור dowr, characterised by quality, condition, class of men

e.      Perfect in generation – without blemish, the technical word for bodily and physical perfection, not morally perfect, but genetically.  His bloodline is pure, no mixing with “sons of God”.

f.       It appears from the statement “Noah walked with God” that  there was also a certain degree of moral righteousness in Noah, yet we also no that there is “none righteous (or perfect) no not one”, but Noah has demonstrated that he possesses certain virtues that pleases God.

1.     Romans 3:10 – As it is written, “there is none righteous, no, not one…”

2.     Psalm 14:3 – They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

3.     Ecclesiastes 7:20 – For there is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

B.    Genesis 6:10 – And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

a.      Shem – שם Shem, name or renown ( the youngest)

b.     Ham – חם Cham, hot or heat, black (second, Genesis 9:24)

c.      Japheth – יפת Yepheth, opened or enlargement (the eldest, I Chronicles 1:5, Genesis 10:21)

III.          The Earth Corrupt (Genesis 6:11-13)

A.    Genesis 6:11 – The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

a.      So not only were men corrupted, but the earth as well…how can this be?

b.     Earth - ארץ 'erets, land, earth

c.      Corrupt - שחת shachath, to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay

d.     Romans 8:19-21 - For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature (creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature (creation) itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

1.     Remember it was God who cursed the ground as a result of the sin of man.

2.     The creation itself is actually waiting to be restored, delivered from its current state of bondage

B.    Genesis 6:12 – And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

a.      Flesh – בשר basar, of the body of humans and of animals

b.     Corrupt - שחת shachath (verb), to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay

c.      Physical flesh as a result of the influx of hybrid species

d.     Were these Nephilim advanced enough to genetically alter living creatures? Could this be where some of our legends such as a minotaur, pan, sphinx or mermaid originated?

e.      What is going on in labs all over the world today? Cloning species, mixing DNA of different species, producing “hybrid” seeds for agriculture that cannot reproduce.  Are we repeating this sin of corrupting all flesh?

1.     Remember Christ’s warning in Matthew 24, “For as the days of Noah…”

2.     What is the real push behind cloning?  Man desires the power to create life or extend life and he has never had that ability.

C.    Genesis 6:13 – And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

a.      God sees the problems that are a result of His creation being corrupted.

b.     His plan is to destroy the corrupted flesh and save that which was incorrupted.

IV.          Instructions for the Ark Delivered to Noah (Genesis 6:14-22)

A.    Genesis 6:14 – Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

a.      Ark –תבה tebah(feminine noun), vessel

b.     Pitch it – כפר kopher (verb), to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch…ie to protect from the waters, only this atonement can keep the waters or the judgment from us.  Foreshadowing of Christ providing atonement for us to escape the wrath of God’s judgement.

c.      Pitch - כפר kopher, asphalt, pitch (as a covering), price of a life, ransom, bribe

B.    Genesis 6:15 – And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

a.      What is a cubit?

·       Isaac Newton did a dissertation on the “Sacred Cubit of the Jews”

·       The sacred cubit is about 25 inches

·       The “profane” cubit is approximately 17.5 inches

·       So we are looking at a structure that is anywhere from 450 – 650 feet long (or up to two football fields), 70 – 105 feet wide and 40 – 65 feet tall.

C.    Genesis 6:16 – A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second and third stories shalt thou make it.

a.      Window – צהר tsohar (noun), noon, midday.  Meaning he was to make a place for light

b.     Interesting that a window is deemed important enough to give specific instructions on where it is to be located.  To provide light in the ark.  Light is very important to God’s creatures.

D.    Genesis 6:17 – And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die.

a.      Symbolic of baptism, before we are baptized we are a corrupted creature.  The process of baptism is an event that symbolically cleanses us from that corruption and we are a “new creature” after baptism.  But just like the earth the potential for corruption remains as long as we are in these flesh bodies.

b.     So similar to the way that we transition through life (born of water at birth, sinful nature, baptism by water) on a micro scale, the earth had a similar transition on a macro scale (born out of the water, became corrupted by sin, baptism by the flood of Noah).

E.     Genesis 6:18 – But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife and thy sons’ wives with thee.

a.      First mention of a covenant in scripture

b.     God promises that He will establish His covenant, the first of which will be the bow.

F.     Genesis 6:19 – And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

G.    Genesis 6:20 – Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee; to keep them alive.

a.      Here we have two of every kind for preservation of species, later we see that “clean” animals are to be retained at seven each, possibly for the purpose of sacrifice.

b.     Targum Pseudo-Jonathan – From birds according to their kinds , from the animals according to their kins, from every creeping thing of the earth according to its kind, two of each shall come to you, brought by an angel that will catch them and bring them to you to keep them alive. 

1.     The Targum’s may provide some insight as to how this great task of assembling these animals was supernaturally accomplished.

H.    Genesis 6:21 – And take thou unto thee all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

a.      No mention of eating the flesh of animals at this point, still references “food that is eaten” does this “food that is eaten” contain meat?

b.     What would the carnivores such as lions and tigers be eating?  If it were meat, Noah would have had to bring other animals on board to feed them.  Would they have been satisfied with plant-based food?

I.       Genesis 6:22 – Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

a.      Hebrews 11:7 – By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the whole world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

1.     He became heir of the righteousness of God by faith in the promises of God, which is to say he believed God.

2.     Do you believe God’s promises?  Do you trust what He tells us when we see all this wickedness surrounding us?

Genesis 6:3-7, Answers to questions

C.    Genesis 6:3 – And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

a.      My Spirit – רוח ruwach (feminine noun), wind, breath, mind, spirit

b.     Strive - דין diyn (verb) to judge, contend, plead

c.      Man – The Man, Adam

d.     “120 years” two very different views:

1.     “…For these words, ‘yet shall their days be one hundred and twenty years,’ are to be taken in the sense of the traditional interpretation: one last period of grace is fixed by God for the repentance of mankind.  The previous word indicated that God might well have cut off all further opportunities of grace.  This word shows that grace always does more than could be expected.  Before disposing of the guilty ones a time of grace of no less than one hundred and twenty years is allowed for their repentance.  This use of ‘days’ is established by the use of the same word ‘those days.’  Consequently, the modern interpretation that takes this word to mean that God here decreed that in the future the span of man’s life was not to exceed one hundred twenty years is quite unfounded.  This view is proved untenable by the fact that quite a few after the Flood lived in excess of this limit. “  Exposition of Genesis, p. 256, H.C. Leupold.

·       In summary 120 years until the flood comes

·       Does not mean that a man’s life shall not exceed 120 years

2.     “These are generally taken as meaning 120 years before the flood.  But this mistake has been made by not observing that the word for “men” in 6:1, 2 is in the singular number with the definite article, as in v.3 “man”, and means THE MAN ADAM.  The word “also” clearly refers to him.  It has no meaning if “men” be read, in the plural.  It means, and can mean, only that Adam himself, “also”, as well as the rest of mankind, had “corrupted his way”.  If “men” be the meaning, then it may be well asked, who are the others indicated by the word “also”?

In Genesis 2:17, the Lord God had declared that Adam should die.  Here, in Genesis 6, it was made more clear that though he had lived 810 years he should surely die; and that his breath, or the spirit of life from God, should not forever remain in him.

This fixes chronology of v.3, and shows that long before that time, AM 810, and even before Enoch, this eruption of fallen angels had taken place.  This was the cause of all the “ungodliness” against which the prophecy of Enoch was directed in Jude 14, and which ultimately brought on the fulfillment of his prophecy in the Judgement of the Flood.”  Appendix 24 to the Companion Bible, E.W. Bullinger

·       In summary Adam has 120 years to live, therefore he was 810 years old at the time

D.    Genesis 6:4 – 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, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

a.      Giants - נפיל nĕphiyl, giants, the Nephilim from the root nephal (verb) meaning: to fall, lie, be cast down, fail (thus we can render “the fallen ones”)

1.     Numbers 13:33 - And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, [which come] of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

b.     We can see here the offspring of these unions were physically different than normal men.  So something happened in the DNA of man.

c.      Some scholars argue that Nephilim does not mean “giants” but rather “fallen ones”…this may be the case, but we can see from the passage in Numbers that these Nephilim were of great stature so much so that the 10 Israelite spies rendered themselves “as grasshoppers” by contrast.  Therefore this word may not literally mean giants, but these creatures were giants none the less.

d.     Handout – Appendix 25 of the Companion Bible

e.      Mighty men - גבור gibbowr(adjective, masculine noun) strong man, brave man, mighty man

f.       Men of renown – men of fame, heroes

1.     To paraphrase from Appendix 25, this could possibly be the origin of Greek mythology that grew out of traditions, memories, and legends of the activities of these creatures.  Many of the ancient pagan religions such as the Greeks, Babylonians, Sumerians, Egyptians and Romans held similar “gods” with variation in name.  These pagan belief systems could represent corruption and distortions of the primitive truths as their memories faded over time.

g.      Isaiah 26:13-14 – O Lord our God, other lords besides Thee have had dominion over us: but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name.  They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish,

1.     These “other lords” are in reference to the previous Caananites, their idols and false gods.  Which are of the same stock as these Nephilim (Numbers 13:33).

2.     This verse indicates that these giants are to have no resurrection (the proper name is hidden in v. 14 as “deceased” and also v. 19 as “the dead” should be rendered The Rephaim)

h.      Enoch 7:2 – And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells:

1.     An ell is a unit of measure used to approximate a man’s arm so either these giants were absolutely enormous (about a mile tall!), or more likely we have some translational issues such as an “ell” may have been something completely different then or the numbers have too many zeros after them.  Let’s just move on with the understanding that these guys were big.

E.    Genesis 6:5 – And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.

a.      The natural depravity of the human heart –Luther

b.     Heart has thoughts? Heart = mind = soul

1.     Psalm 33:11

2.     Proverbs 19:21

3.     I Chronicles 29:18

F.    Genesis 6:6 – And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

a.      God repent?

1.     Example of Anthropopatheia , ascribing to God what belongs to human and rational beings, irrational creatures, or inanimate things.

G.     Genesis 6:7 – And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

a.      Indication of how bleak the situation, in that the best recourse was annihilation

Questions from the previous class discussion
Question 1: If Angels neither marry or are given in marriage, how can the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis 6:3 be angels?

The verse referenced is Matthew 22:30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are they given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."

This is a very good argument against the sons of God being angels in Genesis 6:2 in that angels do not marry nor are they given in marriage, but after some study I think we can reconcile this.

If these "sons of God" in Genesis were angels, would they be angels in heaven? When reading the passage I would be led to believe that these are not angels of heaven, but fallen angels which we know exist throughout scripture. I don't believe fallen angels would regard the same protocol as the angels in heaven and therefore would engage in such activities as described in 6:2.

I am therefore of the opinion that Genesis 6:2 remains consistent with Matthew 22:30 and that the "sons of God" in Genesis are indeed fallen angels or became fallen angels (...kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation...Jude 6) as they descended to the earth to mix with humans.

Question 2: How is it that becoming "sons of God" is a future event for those who believe in Christ, Jesus told the woman who washed His feet "Your faith has saved you"?

Jesus is here speaking to an individual, unique from any other in His creation. He knew this woman’s heart, something that you or I do not have the ability to do. This woman maintained her free will after her encounter with the Lord and could have renounced Him the following day, but her faith in Christ prevented her from doing so. She recognized that this man before her was the Christ and by faith confessed it by her very deed of anointing his feet with expensive ointment, she never said a word.

At this point in time Christ had not yet been crucified and conquered death, if this woman died prior to that event she would have been in the same situation as Abraham whose faith was credited to him as righteousness. Paradise was not yet open, but after Christ’s death he opened the prison doors so that those who had previously been bound by death now had access to the Father. No one can come to the Father, but theough Christ.

Mark 5:34 Jesus says “Daughter thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague.” This is very similar to the above, it was the faith of the girl that was attributed to her for righteousness and she was made whole, not just physically, but spiritually as well

Mark 10:52 Jesus heals a blind man and says “Go thy way thy faith has made the whole.” The man’s vision was restored, but more importantly he was “made whole” once again, this man’s faith was attributed for this miracle and seen as righteousness by Christ.

While in the flesh, being made whole cannot be a permanent state of being. As we remain in flesh bodies we remain corrupted, however, we now have to power to become the sons of God.

Romans 10:9 "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

I believe this verse is not just a one time event in your life, it is something we must hold on to throughout our lives and by doing so we shall be saved from death when the time comes.

Question 3: With respect to rapture theology, what about the verse that says we are to be "caught up together in the clouds" with Christ?

The scripture reference is:

I Thessalonians 4:16-17 - For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The rapture doctrine is the idea that those who believe in Christ will be transported off of the earth prior to the 1st tribulation brought about by satan’s anti-christ. Advocates of this theory cling to verses such as the above without thoroughly addressing verses that seem to contradict this idea.

I Corinthians 15:51-52 - Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The above verse could be used to support the rapture doctrine, but when is this last trump?

The Book of Revelation explains that there are 7 trumps and certain events transpire after each trump.

Revelation 8:6 - And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Revelation 11:15 - And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The seventh or last trump is when Christ claims victory over the kingdoms of this world (…Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven…) This is the culmination of what the saints of the Lord have been praying for since instructed by the Lord.

Matthew 24:38-41 – For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

We have established that “they” in the above passage refers to the wicked and corrupted who were taken away with the flood. The parallel here is that the same shall happen with the coming of the Son of man, but its not His children who He is taking away it’s the wicked and corrupted, just like in the “days of Noah.”

Matthew 13:24-30 - Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

The parable of the tares is a summary of this earth age from the beginning to the end. At the end we see that the Lord first gathers the tares which represent the seed of the wicked one to be bound and burned. So here is the question, if the followers of Christ have already been raptured away who then is the wheat? Christ clearly says that the wheat in this parable represents the good seed. The same thing can be said for the previous verse, if the wicked and corrupt are taken away like those in the flood of Noah, who then is left?

“Well maybe the anti-christ comes after this?”

Not so fast…

II Thessalonians 2:2-3 - That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

This verse can not be clearer that the Son of man will not make His entrance until “that man of sin is revealed” so the chronological order of events are 1st the build up to the anti-christ followed by the tribulation and persecution under his tyranny. Next comes the angels to reap the “tares”, bind them and cast them into the fire and finally Christ is gathered to His people.

I John 3:1-2 - Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Finally, we can know when our Lord returns because we shall be like Him, what does that mean? It means we shall be changed and uncorrupted and gathered together with our Lord! Being uncorrupted means we no longer have these corrupted flesh bodies, but new spiritual bodies like that of the resurrected Christ.

Genesis 6:1-2

I.                The Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-8)

A.    Genesis 6:1 – And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

a.      Men –אדם 'adam

b.     Daughters - בת bath,(feminine noun) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin

B.    Genesis 6:2 – That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

a.      Notice from verse 1 that men began to multiply, giving no indication which men, but rather men in general.

1.     These daughters were of men in general

2.     Sons of God seems to indicate something different than these same men that had begotten the daughters

3.     The phrase “sons of God” is used in many other places in scripture, lets look to those passages to try and bring clarity to what is meant here.  The following passages lead the reader to the conclusion that sons of God is a reference to spiritual beings:

·       Job 1:6 – Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

·       Job 2:1 – Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

·       Job 38:7 – When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

·       Daniel 3:25 – He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

4.     There are also passages that lead us in another direction:

·       Deuteronomy 32:5 – They have corrupted themselves, their spot [is] not [the spot] of his children: [they are] a perverse and crooked generation.

o      Spot - מאום m'uwm (masculine noun)of moral stain

·       Hosea 1:10 – Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people, [there] it shall be said unto them (future tense), [Ye are] the sons of the living God.

·       Romans 8:14 - For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

·       Romans 8:19 - For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (a future event)

·       Philemon 2:15 - That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

·       I John 3:1-2 - Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

5.     So what are we to believe? Were they Angels or were they men of the Seth seed line as Leupold suggests? Lets try and collect more information as we proceed.

·       John 3:5-6 – Jesus answered, “Verily. Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

o      So after one is born of spirit would they be considered spirit and “should be called sons of God”?

o      We are all born of water or amniotic fluid whichever you prefer, but what about Spirit? How does this happen?

o      If God is Spirit then one can conclude that in order to be a “son of God” one must be of spirit or born of Spirit.

·       II Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

o      New information introduced, if any man “be in Christ” he is a new creature. Is this what is meant by being “born of the Spirit? Resounding YES!

o      Would it have been possible for these primeval men to “be in Christ” or for that matter be “born of the Spirit”? Not until Christ rescued them from the prison when He “descended into hell”

·       Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

o      We were created in Christ and before ordained

·       John 1:12-13 - But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

o      So in order to “become the sons of God” there is a requirement to receive Him and believe on His name.

o      And by receiving Him we become a new creature, being born of the Spirit with the potential to become a son of God.

6.     After reviewing the above scripture we should be able to determine who these “sons of God” were in Genesis 6:2. 

·       That which is born of Spirit was Adam, but after the fall all of his progeny were “of the flesh” and could not be “of the Spirit” unless the requirements were met.  Until Christ, who was born of the Spirit, as He was begotten of the Father, no one could meet the requirements to be called sons of God.  Therefore, would it not seem that only the angels of heaven who were born of the Spirit could be the subject of this verse? One might now ask, “How does this impact me now?”

b.     Matthew 24:37-38 – But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

1.     This passage indicates that the events that transpired in the days of Noah will be repeated just prior to the coming of the Son of man. (i.e. marrying and giving in marriage, who was doing this?)

2.     Who are “they” referenced in v.38? Let’s continue…

·       Matthew 23:39-42 – And knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

o      They are those who were taken away with the flood, the wicked and corrupted.

o      This is one of the main verses those who subscribe to the rapture doctrine cling to, but if you read carefully, who are the ones to be taken, the good or the bad? Since it is paralleling the story of the flood and those taken away in the flood were the wicked the conclusion seems clear that the wicked are those taken away with the coming of the Son of Man.

c.      The Book of Enoch – The Book of Enoch was extant centuries before the birth of Christ and yet is considered by many to be more Christian in its theology than Jewish. It was considered scripture by many early Christians. The earliest literature of the so-called "Church Fathers" is filled with references to this mysterious book. The early second century "Epistle of Barnabus" makes much use of the Book of Enoch. Second and Third Century "Church Fathers" like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen and Clement of Alexandria all make use of the Book of Enoch. Tertullian (160-230 C.E) even called the Book of Enoch "Holy Scripture". The Ethiopic Church even added the Book of Enoch to its official canon. It was widely known and read the first three centuries after Christ. This and many other books became discredited after the Council of Laodicea. And being under ban of the authorities, afterwards it gradually passed out of circulation.  www.heaven.net.nz/writings/enoch.htm

d.     Enoch Chapters VI – XI go into great detail regarding the fall of the angels, their punishment and the future Messianic Kingdom

1.     Enoch 6:1-6 – And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: “Come, let us choose wives from among the children of men and beget us children.”  And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: “I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.”  And they all answered him and said: “Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.”  Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.  And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.

o      Interesting note that this is said to have taken place in the “days of Jared” remember from Chapter 5 that Jared (ירד Yered) means “descent” which would coincide with Enoch’s rendering of the descent of the angels.

o      Mount Hermon - חרמון Chermown, a sanctuary, a mountain on the northeastern border of Palestine and Lebanon and overlooking the border city of Dan

e.      Jude 6 – And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

f.       II Peter 2:4-5 – For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

1.     Who are these “angels that sinned”? The Book of Enoch describes the following pronouncement from God:

2.     Enoch 10:11-15 – And the Lord said unto Michael: “Go, bind Semjaza and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.  And, when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgment and of their consummation, till the judgment that is forever and ever is consummated.  In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: and to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined forever.  And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations.  And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate, and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind.