What we're going to focus on during this essential hour will be, um, this strange period of time that Jesus talked about—the days of Noah—also could be called the Return of the Nephilim. Uh, let's just jump right into it. Jesus gave us a confidential briefing on his second coming; four disciples came to him, uh, inquiring about his return, and he gave them an answer that's so important that it is recorded in three of the Gospels.
He details all the preceding events—or many of them—that will occur prior to the second coming. It's like a two-chapter answer in Matthew; it's also recorded in Mark and Luke (Mark 13, Luke 21). Now, he opens and he closes that two-chapter briefing with a warning.
He first remarks, in effect, “Take heed that no man deceive you. ” We talk a lot about end-time prophecy, but we sometimes slough over the emphasis that Jesus placed in opening and closing this briefing—that deception is going to be the characteristic of that age: deceit. We are in a warfare with Satan, and what is Satan's primary weapon?
Deception. Let's keep that in focus as we go, because what motivated Mark Eastman and me to undertake a book and research and these talks and what have you, um, is the burden that we feel that there is a cosmic deception descending not just on the planet Earth, but particularly on the body of Christ, and most Christians are not prepared for what's coming. Now, Jesus, in this briefing, also made a very strange prediction.
He said, "But as the days of Noah were, so shall the days of the coming of the Son of Man be. " Now, what did he mean by that? This takes us then into this strange chapter—Genesis 6—and what makes this chapter difficult is that most Christians, even serious Christians, I believe, have been mistaught about this chapter.
So just do me a favor and try to approach this chapter with an open mind. Because let me point out: the views I'm going to share I've held for many years, but I've always regarded them as one of those things open to conjecture—some people have this view, I have this view, and so far that's fine. It's only recently I began to realize that, first of all, the alternative views are not really defendable, and I'll show you why; but more to the point, unless you understand Genesis 6, you will not understand much of the Old Testament, much of the New, and certainly have a prophetic blind spot.
I'm going to show you a verse before we're all through today that many of us, as prophecy teachers for many decades, have read and taught and not looked at carefully. It's amazing how these verses that are so familiar to us sometimes will leap out at us with an insight that we've missed for a good part of our intellectual life. Let's go on.
Genesis 6, verses 1 and 2, read as follows: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. ” Now, I want you to notice a couple of things while I have this text on the screen. I want you to notice that verses 1 and 2 are one sentence: “that the daughters of men are the daughters that were born unto men in general.
” They weren't a subset; when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth, daughters were born unto them—that's men in general had daughters in general. You with me? Some people try to make, you'll see, I'll get into that later, that the daughters of men are a specific subset; there's no textual basis for that.
But the real issue that should hit us between the eyes is: what on Earth is meant by the sons of God coming in, uh, unto the daughters of men? What's translated in the English Bible as “sons of God” is, in the Hebrew, “bene ha-elohim”—a strange term. But here's the point: that term is used in the Old Testament exclusively of angels (Job 1:6, 2:1; 38:7 being well-known examples).
The term, while strange to our ears perhaps, “sons of God” is a term for angels. We could spend all morning on why that term is so carefully and consistently used in the scripture for certain circumstances. You and I, in John 1:12, are products of “As many as believed on him, he gave power to become the sons of God”—a different issue that's used of believers in the New Testament, but never used of believers in the Old.
There’s an equivalent phrase in Luke 20:36. Now, to corroborate this view, there was a book called The Book of Enoch. I'm not suggesting that it was inspired canon, but the point is, the Book of Enoch, as it’s known in history, was highly venerated by Jewish scholarship from about the 2nd century B.
C. till about the 2nd century A. D.
Now, I'm not referencing it because it's correct; I'm referencing it because it demonstrates how the vocabulary and grammar conveyed that the term “sons of God” clearly, from The Book of Enoch, was understood to mean angels. Let me give you a more authoritative example: the Old Testament was translated into Greek almost three centuries before Christ was born. The product of that translation effort is called the Septuagint, and it translates “bene ha-elohim” as “angels.
” So there's no way to escape the idea that the text implies—in fact, expresses—that angels (fallen angels, obviously) came down and had some kind of communion or intercourse with the women that were offspring of Adam. That's what the text says. It's bizarre.
It's uncomfortable. To many, but that's what the text says, but let's go on. They came down to the daughters of Adam.
The Hebrew says "Beno Adam. " It technically says "the daughters of Adam," not Cain, not some subset—**the daughters of Adam**. Now, in a subsequent verse here in verse four, it goes on to say something else.
It says there were Nephilim 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. This is a very strange verse.
The Nephilim, it's translated "Giants. " I'll explain why in your English Bible, but the word in Hebrew is Nephilim. While I've got the verse here, I want you to notice a couple of things: the Nephilim were the results of this unnatural union.
The angels had intercourse with women, and their offspring were the Nephilim. Don't confuse the Nephilim with the fallen angels. The fallen angels were the parents; the Nephilim were the offspring.
Are we together? I want you to notice the offspring are males. There are children of them which became the mighty men.
It doesn't speak of any mighty women. I'm not being cute here. I'm highlighting this while it's in front of us, which were men, of old, men of renown.
The word Nephilim in Hebrew means "the fallen ones. " It comes from a verb, nephal, which means "to fall" or "to be cast down," "to fall away," or "desert. " So, Nephilim is a noun, a plural noun from the verb; it means "the fallen ones.
" Also associated with it in that verse at the end, it says "the mighty ones, the men of renown. " When this was translated into Greek in the Septuagint, the word is "gigantis. " It was transliterated in our English Bible as "Giants.
" They did happen to be giants, but that's not what the word means. It comes from "gigas," which means "earthborn. " So, the Hebrew translators really said they were the fallen ones; the Greek translators called them the earthborn.
You'll see why as we go forward. Now, as we go through Genesis chapter 6, it, of course, sets up this whole business of the flood. Genesis 6 is the prelude to the flood of Noah.
As you study the chapter carefully, you find some other strange remarks. In verse 9 of Genesis 6, it talks about the genealogy of Noah. These are the generations of Noah.
We know what that means; that's a very common phrase in the Old Testament. Noah was a just man. It doesn't say he was sinless; he was justified.
We know later from other passages he's justified by faith. Noah was a just man, and here's the strange remark: and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. In English, you don't pick up on this, but in Hebrew, it's "tamim.
" The word is used of physical blemishes. Tamim means "without blemish," "sound," "helpful," "without spot," "unimpaired. " Throughout the Book of Leviticus, it's used of offerings; they had to be perfect, without blemish, right?
Tamim. Well, what does this mean? Noah had an unblemished genealogy.
As you begin to read Genesis 6 with an open mind, what it portrays is that as men began to multiply, fallen angels came down and began to contaminate the purity of the human race with these Nephilim. The Nephilim were the source of unusual violence. It became so corrupt that in verse 12 of that chapter, it says, "All flesh is corrupted this way upon the Earth.
" God then sends the flood to wipe it all out, except for Enoch, who was removed early, and then the eight that are preserved through the ark. Let me suggest another way of phrasing the problem: there was a gene pool problem in the human family tree that this is wiping out. Now, if this is true, the scripture says, "By a mouth of two or three witnesses the thing is confirmed.
" If this view of Genesis 6 is correct, we ought to see it in the New Testament, and indeed we do, in at least three places. In Jude chapter 6, Jude was, we believe, the Lord's brother, and he's talking about apostates. But he makes an interesting remark; he's pointing out that even 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 that great day, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Jude is making the point that these angels are set aside for special judgment, and what he's trying to say is if they're set aside, how much more will you? You see, that's what he's saying. But the point is, he makes a remark here which tells you some interesting things: these angels left their first estate, kept not their first state, but left their habitation.
I'm going to come back later to that word "habitation" because it has some interesting insights. And this somehow involved, just as Sodom and Gomorrah did, fornication, going after strange flesh. The word is "heteros," not "allos" in Greek, meaning flesh of a totally different kind.
