The Good News
in some interesting places
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is
what you would expect to find on a Christian web site. However, the story of the power of Christ
Jesus may be found in some very interesting places in the Bible. Here is one section that many may have
overlooked. Now let’s look for the Good
News in a place that many do not expect.
Gen 6:1-14
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and
daughters were born unto them,
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.
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.
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 bare children to them,
the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
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.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart.
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.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his
generations, and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon the earth.
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.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou
make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and
without with pitch.
Gen 6:1 And it came to pass,
when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born
unto them,
That seems to be benign, and
in reality is. It is a natural result of
Gen 1:28---“And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
That would be normal and unquestionable. Procreation is a natural result
of male and female creation.
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.
Who are these “sons of God”?
Some suppose that they are
the sons of Seth as opposed to the sons of Cain. That theory is “nice,” but there is
absolutely no proof that the theory is anything more than a theory.
The “sons of God” took wives
of all which they chose. What is
new? That still takes place everyday in
all nations of the world.
The Bible tells us, Gen 4:26---“And to Seth, to him also
there was born a son; and he called his name Enos:
then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.”
Does that refer to only the
sons of Seth? The Bible is unclear on
that point. In actuality, the word
translated “men” is absent from the Hebrew, and any conjecture is only conjecture.
Many “teachers” are not
Teachers. They regurgitate conjecture
and innuendo, and call it teaching.
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.
The LORD, Yahweh, said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” The Hebrew refers to pleading a cause. God’s Spirit will not always plead with men
to turn from sin. The time will come
when the Spirit of God will no longer admonish the world in the matter of sin
(John 16:8).
Does that mean that God will
give up on the world?
Not quite!
The time will come when admonishing
men concerning their sins will not be necessary.
Ps 65:2 O
thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh
come.
In that day no admonishment
will be necessary.
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 bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men
of renown.
There were giants in the
land----or were there? We assume that
“giants” refers to very tall people.
That is an assumption! English is
a poor substitute for the original Hebrew.
The Hebrew word translated
“giants” is nephelim. It speaks not of
tall people, but of bullies and tyrants, vicious, spiteful, razor totin’ people.
This verse tells us that the earth
was filled with cruel, sadistic folks, regardless of their size. They may have been and probably were large
people, but average height and short folks can also be bullies. Possibly for that reason, some translations
do not translate the word nephelim.
Instead, they transliterate it.
In this verse, “mighty men”
comes from the Hebrew word “Giboor.” That word is translated “giant” only once in the KJV.
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.
God looked on fallen man and
saw that the condition of mankind was deplorable. We, today, have, much in common with those of
the pre-flood era. Violence is rampant in the world.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the
earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
God is omniscient! He knows
everything about everything.
But, just because you know
something bad is going to happen does not mean that you cannot be sad when it
does happen. When you have children and
watch them grow, you know that they will make some mistakes in life. That saddens any parent.
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.
At this time in the life of
the world, things became so unbearable that God basically said, “I can do
without this.”
In all this we must recall
some things that many do not understand (1 John 4:8, 16; 1 Cor
13:5, 7).
First, God is love!
Second, as Love, God is not
easily provoked!
And, as Love, God hopes all
things, endures all things!
Just look around. At this very moment, God is enduring man’s
iniquity. In all that iniquity and this iniquity, the plan of God never
changed.
Ps 66:4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee;
they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
The ultimate result has
always been that all creation should, at some point in time, worship God (Father,
Son, Holy Spirit) joyfully and in truth. That shall
come to pass.
God’s word is reality! Just because it has not yet happened does not
mean it will not happen.
Rom 4:17 (As
it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he
believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
God decided to make a new
start, but He did not utterly destroy all mankind in this restart.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
The LORD, Yahweh, chose Noah
and gave him grace.
Why?
Was Noah more intelligent,
wealthier, or godlier than all the rest?
Absolutely not!
The standard definition of
grace is “unmerited favor!” If Noah had
any merit within him, it did not enter into God’s decision to give him
grace! Despite Noah’s shortcomings Noah
found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Some, in their spiritual
ignorance, believe that Noah was righteous and because of his righteousness he
found grace in the eyes of the LORD. To
put it bluntly, that is goofy. Unmerited
favor means that we have no redeeming value UNTIL God gives us grace and the
faith to receive the gift of grace.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just
man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
“These are the generations of
Noah” is a parenthetical aside. It does not alter the facts of Noah’s life or
his relationship with God.
Notice that “Noah walked with
God” comes after he found grace. That is
lost on many.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Verse 10 is a listing of the
Noah’s family members. They are the
“generations of Noah.” Their
“generations” is a separate and lengthy study.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth
was filled with violence.
The nephelim were on a
rampage. Men were submerged in
iniquity. The world was inundated with
corruption and violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was
corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Not just part of the earth,
but the entire population had been corrupted by sin!
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.
After Noah found grace in the
eyes of the LORD, Yahweh, God told him that He would destroy mankind. But, as
we find, God also told Noah that he would make a provision for Noah, and his
family to survive.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt
pitch it within and without with pitch.
Noah was told to build an
ark, a large boat. God told Noah the dimensions of the ark. AND,
Yahweh told Noah to “pitch” it inside and out with “pitch.”
The Hebrew word translated
“pitch” is K’phar.
That Hebrew word is translated “pitch” only once in the KJV. It is found over 100 times in the Hebrew
text. Seventy-one of those times it is
translated “atonement” in the KJV.
My point is this: Noah and his family were carried to safety in
a boat that was painted inside and out with atonement! In the New Testament, Christ has become our
atoning (substitutionary) sacrifice, our propitiation!
I Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (KJV)
This theme could be greatly
expanded, but (for the sake of space) it must be sufficient to say, He is our
only defense against the rising flood of sin in the world today.
That is the Good News of
Christ Jesus