God’s Wrath Is Coming (Genesis 6:1-8)
Here is a video of the sermon. The text is below if you’d like to read it.
If you walk into Mardel’s or any other Christian book store there will very likely be a section of toys and picture books devoted to the story of Noah’s Ark. While the story of animals going 2×2 into the ark is one that is very easily made into a fun children’s story, the story itself is not very fun. The introduction to the story makes it very plain that this is about God’s Judgment that fell upon the Earth and the rescue of one man and his family, Noah.
I don’t believe that we soften the story because we don’t know what is in it. I believe we soften the story because it is hard to contemplate. It is emotionally draining to think about God’s justice. The subject has become so very taboo in our day that every time I open my mouth to say a word about God’s justice and His wrath that I feel something within me telling me to not go there.
But I must for God’s Word does over and over. We see God’s justice and wrath repeatedly in the Book of Genesis. We’ve already seen that death is the punishment for sin that was handed down by God. And we will see entire cities burned in judgment when we look at Sodom and Gomorrah. And of all the people in Scripture that speak of God’s wrath and justice it seems that my Lord speaks of it the most. Therefore, if I am going to be a faithful preacher and teacher of God’s Word it must be declared. And in Genesis 6-8 God’s wrath and justice are on full display.
Today we will see in Genesis 6:1-8 that God’s wrath is coming and those who trust the Lord will be saved.
Mankind Rejected The Lord’s Ways (Genesis 6:1-4)
People were filling the Earth as they were supposed to do. But a problem arose that takes a bit of effort to understand. We have a number of people in this passage that are not easily identified. Who are “the sons of God”, “the daughters of man”, and “the Nephilim”? Simply put, none of the characters listed here, with the exception of God, are easily identified.
So, let’s do some work and talk about who these folks are.
There are three prominent and respectable theories. I would argue that all of them are conservative and hold to the authority of Scripture. And a lot of people have held to each of these positions throughout the ages. This is also a question that has drawn a lot of interest through the ages, and so it is good for us to talk about it today.
The first theory, and the one most often taken, is that the “sons of God” are men from the godly lineage of Seth. These are men from the godly lineage of Genesis 5. Some of them married the “daughters of men”, which are the women from the wicked lineage of Cain that is described in Genesis 4. And, this would mean that the Nephilim are the product of the intermarriage of the godly and ungodly.
The big advantage to this first theory is that it fits the context of the passage best. This would mean that the genealogies of Genesis 4-5 set up the story quite well. This makes, in my opinion, a rather strong case for this interpretation.
However, I do have a few problems with this. The first is why is it just the men from the godly line and not women from the godly line intermarrying as well. Wouldn’t this run in both directions. And, the second more obvious problem is that the word Nephilim means “giant”, or abnormally large people (Numbers 13:33). Why would this marriage produce abnormally large people?
The second theory is that the “sons of God” were evil people from the lineage of Cain who had power. This does not spring out of nowhere and given a little context one can see why this conclusion might work. It was oftentimes the case in literature from this time period that rulers were called “sons of God”. In fact, kings were sometimes called “god”, even in our own Hebrew text. Some examples of this are Exodus 21:6 and Exodus 22:8-9. The word “הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים” (Elohim) that is used there is defined “god”, but was often used for rulers and authorities. A context clue seems to lead us in this direction as well, when the Nephilim who came from this union are called “men of renown” (Genesis 6:4).
I do have a problem with this interpretation though. And it is a very simple one. How does this produce giants?
This leads us to the final theory on who all of these people are. This has been the most popular historically, though in recent years it has taken a back seat to the other two. Although, it does seem to be making a comeback today. It is also the interpretation of this text that I will teach today, and that is that the “sons of God” are fallen angels who intermarried with women. And here are the reasons for reaching this conclusion.
Satan, who is a fallen angel, is listed among the “sons of God” twice. One time this happens in Job 1:6.
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1:6 ESV)
This happens again in Job 2:1.
“Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.” ( Job 2:1 ESV)
Another reason that I hold to this understanding of the text is a description from the Book of Jude in which angels are awaiting further punishment because they chased after unnatural desires.
“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day– just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:5-7 ESV)
This means that I take the “likewise” to mean that both the angels and those in Sodom and Gomorrah “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire”. These angels left their proper dwelling because of what they had done.
One problem that is oftentimes brought against this interpretation is that Jesus stated that angels do not get married.
“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30 ESV)
I do not believe this is a real problem though because these angels gave up what angels normally do to chase “unnatural desire”.
So, I believe that the “sons of men” are fallen angels who intermarried with women to create a monstrosity that was called Nephilim. And if that seems outlandish, I want to remind you that we believe that God the Son took on human flesh in the womb of His Virgin Mother. In short, we believe in the supernatural.
Whatever the interpretation, however, we find a few things in common that help us to apply the text to our lives today. First, there is no hint of rape or seduction in the text. And second, the fathers had to okay these unions within that culture. This means that they thought their family would somehow benefit from these unions.
All of this leads me to say that regardless of your interpretation of who these people are within the text, we see that the sin is the same. The people had abandoned the boundaries that God set for them.
This is a rejection of God’s ways that has accompanied humanity throughout the ages. In that sense, our era is not as unique as we like to think it is.
Though the sin of the Flood era was unique, the sinfulness of man was not unique to that era. We are a rebellious and sinful creature. Sin had grown to a fever pitch in that time. God’s ways had been rejected and sin was growing upon the Earth. As we read the text we see that the people had fallen into grievous sins, and they filled the world with their violence (Genesis 6:13), but the sin we see first is the sin of rejecting God’s design for marriage.
God oversaw the first marriage and in so doing, He defined what marriage was to be forever. Marriage is between one man and one woman and is to last a lifetime. We also understand from later Scriptures, and we assume that it was the case in that day, that there was not to be intermarriage between the righteous and unrighteous. So, whether you agree with my interpretation or not, the sin that ends up being discussed here is the same. It was a rejection of God’s design, a rejection of His ways.
God created marriage. And the rejection of marriage that we see among many today is of great concern. Some people forego marriage altogether, opting to just act married without the commitment. Marriage is a union that God created, not something for us to toy around with. It is one man and one woman committed to each other for life. If you are a Christian, then you are to marry a Christian.
But the ungodly unions that created the Nephilim lead us to think in other directions as well. The present-day discussion on gender is a throwing off of God’s design for men and women.
We can apply this rebellion in many different ways today, but the most obvious sin discussed in the prologue to the Flood account is in regards to marriage. And here is the major application that we should make here. If God created us to live a certain way, then that is how we should live. We should be people who embrace God’s design for our lives and our unions. To reject God’s design is to act foolishly and live deserving of God’s justice. It might be better to say that those who reject God’s design for marriage and their self, are living in a way that has already caused God’s judgment to fall upon the whole Earth once.
God’s Judgment Of Man (Genesis 6:3, 5; 8:21)
The sin of the “sons of God” and “daughters of man” that led to the Nephilim caused God to shrink the lifespan of huma beings. Suddenly the extremely long lives of Genesis 4-5 were shrunk to 120 years.
“Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”” (Genesis 6:3 ESV)
I am not sure why the ESV, the new NASB, and the CSB chose to use the word “abide” or “remain” in the translation of the text. If you want to look it up it is entry 1777 in Strong’s. The word means,
“to rule; by implication to judge (as umpire); also to strive ( as at law):–contend, execute (judgment) judge, minister judgment, plead (the cause) at strife, strive”[1]
Strive, judge, and contend are all very different from “remain” or “abide” and are much more accurate a translation. If you examine the texts you will notice that the NIV translates it as “contend”. The NLT translates it as “will not put up with”, that is much different than “abide”. The KJV, NKJV, NASB 1995, and ASV all have the word “strive”. Now, why do I mention this? Because the wording here matters a great deal.
The sinfulness of man was such that God had striven with man and contended with him for long periods of time. And after this episode that would no longer be the case. The sin of humanity had reached a point in which God would not contend with, or strive with human beings for longer than the 120 years. Gone were the extreme lives that existed before the Flood. God would have no more of it.
And this leads us into Genesis 6:5 and God’s further judgment of the condition of mankind. The wickedness of man was tremendous. It was so bad that God judged that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5 ESV)
If you’re thinking to yourself that this was a unique situation and that people were peculiarly evil, you would be wrong. After the flood, what is God’s judgment of mankind?
“And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21 ESV)
Even after the judgment, God would say of man that this evil resided within him. And that this evil would always reside within him. It is no wonder that Jeremiah would say that,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)
God, who is Creator and Judge is the only One who can truly assess the heart of humanity. And this is His judgment. We are desperately sick and desperately wicked to our very core.
Mankind has found itself in a woeful situation. Adam sinned and brought condemnation to us all. He made us sinners. And this has affected us to our very core. And God, who knows us best, has stated repeatedly in His Word that we have been terribly affected by sin. It has damaged us to our core.
Humans do good things. This is very true, but mankind is tainted with the stain of sin so much that God judged that every intention of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually. Even the good that we do in this life is stained with rebellion.
If I were to hand you a rusty cup and have you get a drink of water from it, what would it taste like? It would taste like rust. That is because every bit of the water within the cup had been tainted by the rust that was within. It is the same with us. Everything that we do is stained with the taint of sin. And God has judged that we are sinful and rebellious to our very core.
The Wrath of God (Genesis 6:6-7)
“What does every sin deserve?” is a question that we ask our children in their catechism. The answer is, “The wrath and curse of God”.
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”” (Galatians 3:10 ESV)
And here, in the Flood, the wrath of God is on full display.
The word “wrath” does not conjure up informative images for us today. In humans wrath is most often a bad thing. This is often associated with a husband who is a tyrant in the home and beats his family. It is also associated with the personality some people take on when they are drunk. But this is not what is meant by God’s wrath.
The wrath of God is not something that is out of control. It is His settled response toward sin. It is God’s decision to punish sin to its fullest extent.
“The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evildoers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against his authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty. Insurrectionists against God’s government shall be made to know that God is the Lord. They shall be made to feel how great that Majesty is which they despise, and how dreadful is that threatened wrath which they so, little regarded. Not that God’s anger is a malignant and malicious retaliation, inflicting injury for the sake of it, or in return for injury received. No, though God will vindicate His dominion as the Governor of the universe, He will not be vindictive.” (A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God, Baker Books, 2009, Pp. 106-107.)
This response toward sin is what is pictured here for us when it is stated that “the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart” (Genesis 6:6 ESV). The sin of mankind upon the Earth caused God deep pain and agony. It grieved God. God doesn’t repent or regret having done something in the same way that people do. This is anthropomorphic language. God’s reaction is placed in human terms so that we can better grasp what is going on. We should also note that though we are repeatedly told in Scripture God does not repent or change His mind (James 1:17, Malachi 3:6, Numbers 23:19), He does change the course of history as is the case here. That does not mean that this was not something God had planned long ago. It does mean that, as far as humanity is concerned and from our perspective, God changed the course of history by pouring out His wrath.
God’s response toward sin in the Flood was to “blot out man” that He had created in His image, “from the face of the land” (Genesis 6:7).
We see a picture of God’s wrath being poured out upon mankind with the Flood. And over the course of the next few weeks judgment will come up over and over again because that is what this story is about. And this story should help us to understand something about the future of the world.
The story of the Flood seems to have been something that captivated the Apostle Peter. He used this text repeatedly to teach God’s people. In 2 Peter 3 he uses this account to remind everyone that God is once again going to judge the world.
“They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3:4-7 ESV)
Long ago God judged the world by His Word and water. God will once again judge the world by His Word and fire.
God has fixed a day in which He will judge the world (Acts 17:31). The account of the Flood is a picture of God’s justice and wrath poured out upon mankind from history. And it stands in Scripture as a warning for us today. Are you ready?
The One Who Finds Favor In A Condemned World (Genesis 6:8)
Things have been so bad throughout this narrative so far that it is startling to hear about someone that is doing something right. But there is Noah.
We have a few statements about the character of Noah. Throughout Genesis 6 he is seen as another Enoch who walked with the Lord in a corrupt world (Genesis 5:24, 6:9). The description is so close that we can say that what was said about Enoch could be said of Noah. He lived in fellowship with the Lord, and by faith He pleased God.
And Noah is another person whose name is found In Hebrews 11.
“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7 ESV)
As we will see next week, God told Noah that His wrath would soon fall upon the earth and believed the word of the Lord. He trusted God and built the ark. By faith Noah walked with the Lord. By faith Noah trusted the Lord and built the ark. By faith, Noah was saved from the justice and wrath of God that was about to fall upon the earth.
By faith, we too can be rescued from God’s wrath and brought near to God through the work of Christ.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3:18-22 ESV)
God’s justice will one day be poured out upon the Earth. God is holy, righteous, and just. He is completely separate from sin and does not tolerate evil. If God had so decided, He could have destroyed the earth and done no wrong. And His justice would have been satisfied. But that is not what God did. God sent His Son to bring us back to Himself. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and suffered on our behalf.
For what reason did Christ suffer? “That He might bring us to God”. Christ suffered to bring us to God. And all those that trust in Him are brought back into fellowship with Him and saved from the wrath and justice of God that will one day fall upon the whole world.
Somehow, in a rather debated way, Christ’s victory was proclaimed to those who had refused to obey the Lord in the times of Noah. It was only Noah and his family that trusted the Lord and were saved from the justice of God that fell upon the earth.
We are about to see a baptism today, which is why I chose this text. The salvation that Christ gives through His perfect life and sacrificial death, as well as the flood somehow corresponds to baptism. The correspondence is clear once we begin to think about it.
In baptism we undergo a picture of death and salvation. There is both a picture of our response to the gospel and our union with Christ.
Our response to the good news is seen as our body goes under the water, which symbolizes death. During the Flood the death of every living creature that was not in the Ark came about. The only creatures that lived were those in the Ark. They died to their present life. And many commentators have noted that the Ark was shaped less like a boat and more like a tomb. They watched the world as they knew it die in the Judgment Waters of the Flood. When we turn to Christ, we die to this life. We die to the ways of the world. It’s called repentance. They came out of the Ark in a picture of new life. As we rise up out of the water our new life in Christ is symbolized.
In baptism and the flood there is also a picture of what it means to be “in Christ”. By faith Noah built the ark and he and his family went into the ark. When we are in Christ, we are united to the Triune God in fellowship and love. We are united so that by His death our sins are washed away. Christ underwent the flood of God’s judgment so that we do not have to. He took God’s wrath in our place. And Christ rose from the grave so that we could have everlasting life.
As the Second London Baptist Confession states,
“Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be to the person who is baptized—a sign of his fellowship with Christ in His death and resurrection; of His being engrafted into Christ; of remission of sins; and of that person’s giving himself to God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.” (1689 London Baptist Confession 29:1)
We are going to witness a baptism this morning. It is a sign given to those who have had their sins forgiven and have fellowship with the Lord. And we will rejoice and celebrate our sister in Christ having been brought from death to life and receiving the sign of that having taken place in her life.
But this must also be a time for you to consider your own life. If you are a Christian here today, then this moment should be a reminder of all that Christ has done for you and bring great joy to you. If you are here today and have not trusted the Lord, then the call for you is clear. We are corrupt and sinful people deserving of God’s wrath and justice. Turn from ruling your own life and trust in the Savior who has accomplished salvation without your help. Believe in Jesus and be saved from the judgment to come.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] Stong’s Concise Dictionary Of Bible Words, Entry 1777.