The Sinister Agenda:
Contaminating the Seed
Welcome
back! This is the third and final post in my series on The Fallen Ones. If you
have not read the first or second posts, I suggest you start there before
reading this one. But, that is just a suggestion.
In
Part 1, we discussed some of the background and information related to the
Biblical Flood of Noah found in the Book of Genesis. As part of that
background, we were introduced to the Nephilim.
In
Part 2, we explored the identity and origin of the Nephilim. We learned that
the “sons of God” spoken of in Genesis chapter 6 were fallen angels. We learned
that the “daughters of men” were human women. We learned that the word Nephilim
means “fallen ones,” and that the Nephilim were a race of beings produced by
the biological (sexual) union of the sons of God with the daughters of men. The
Nephilim were the offspring of fallen angels and human women.
But
we were left with some unanswered questions. The questions that remained unanswered
from Part 1 were:
- Why did the Global Flood happen?
- Why were Noah and his family spared?
The questions that remained
unanswered from Part 2 were:
- What is the purpose of the Nephilim existing?
- Why would some of the fallen angels produce
offspring with human women?
- Where does this activity fit into the scheme of
spiritual warfare?
- Might something like this happen again?
These are the questions we will
seek to answer here in Part 3.
As
we dive into these questions, I want to reiterate a point I made at the onset
of our study in Part 1. This entire subject is admittedly conjectural. Although
I think that my explanations make the most sense, and align the best with
Scripture, I also recognize and agree that the Bible doesn’t provide enough
information regarding these things for an honest scholar to be certain beyond any
doubt that these conclusions are dogmatically true; at least according to my
studies to date. That being said, I will endeavor to draw my conclusions from
Scripture, and provide Biblical support for my assertions whenever possible.
Let’s begin, or end, as the case may be.
The Plan of God
It
has been God’s plan from the beginning to provide a way of salvation for
mankind. God created man in a perfect state; physically without blemish, and
spiritually without sin. Death, disease, sickness, infirmity, cancer, mutation,
deformation, malnutrition, wickedness, cruelty, suffering, hatred, war, famine,
plague, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, disaster—these are all the result of
mankind’s original and ongoing sin. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them
free agency—the ability to choose. What benefit is a relationship that isn’t by
choice? Adam and Eve chose Lucifer and his path rather than God and His. In
doing so, the perfection of the natural universe was shattered. Perfect
ecosystems and cosmic patterns were broken. Mankind died spiritually and lost
the ability to maintain physical immortality. Adam and Eve lost communion with
God. The dominion of Earth and over all of its life forms, which had been given
to man by God the Creator, was forfeit to man’s new master—the Devil. God was
not surprised by this; He knew events would unfold this way. He had a plan to
redeem (buy back) mankind and the title deed of the Earth.
Does
this mean that Adam and Eve were destined to sin—that they had no choice? No,
the choice was theirs, but God foreknew what they would choose. It goes beyond
knowing the future. God is outside of time. He sees the beginning and the end
of the time dimension the same way someone in a helicopter can see the
beginning and end of a parade, while those on the street can only see what is
in front of them and remember what has gone by. This is, of course, a crude
analogy.
Does
this mean that God was cruel to create mankind knowing that they would sin? No,
the choice was theirs; theoretically, they could have chosen differently.
Again, what benefit is a relationship that isn’t by choice? Until the
possibility of choice becomes a reality, then actions have no more meaning than
instinct at best, mechanical programming at worst. And that is ultimately why
mankind was created, to know and commune with God. I suppose God could have
just not made mankind. He certainly doesn’t need us. But such reasoning becomes
self-defeating; if we hadn’t been created, we wouldn’t be here to debate God’s
goodness. If one wants to persist in such an intellectual pursuit, and argue
that for some people, it might be better to have never existed than to suffer
in misery in a fallen world, perhaps there might be some merit to argue that
some would be spared much suffering if they hadn’t been born. To have never
existed? I would counter argue that if one avails themselves of God’s provision
for salvation, a “future” eternity of glory far outweighs temporary, temporal
suffering. It would really only be better to have never existed for those who
ultimately choose to reject God and His grace; at least in terms of
experiencing their eternal destination. A continuing debate of God’s goodness
will not be engaged upon here, as it is far too involved of an endeavor than
this blog post is intended for.
Suffice
it to say, God created mankind, gave them a choice, and knew they would choose
to rebel. The choice was still real, even though God foreknew the outcome of
their decision. As such, God had a plan for salvation and redemption fully
formed before Adam and Eve were ever created. If you don’t completely
understand the congruence of these realities, that’s alright. I don’t fully
understand either. God is beyond our complete understanding, His ways are
higher than our ways, and His plans are only understood by us as He chooses to
reveal them.
As
support of my assertion that God had a plan for salvation from the beginning, I
offer up the following passages of Scripture:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined
us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind
intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3-6, NASB)
“For those whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be
the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also
called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He
justified, He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30, NASB)
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him
[the beast], everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of
the world in the book of life of the Lamb [the Christ] who has been slain.”
(Revelation 13:8, NASB)
The Plan of Satan
From
the time he fell, Satan (Lucifer; the Devil) has been about the work of
attempting to thwart God’s plan. In fact, one could surmise that Satan’s only
real plan is to try to defeat God’s plan. If Satan can, in any way, defeat God
in any part of God’s plan, or cause God to in any way not fulfill His promises
or keep His Word, then he will have demonstrated that God is something other
than perfect, true, omnipotent, omniscient, etc. In essence, God would not be
God. If this is possible, then Satan’s ultimate goal might be possible. What is
his ultimate goal? To be like God; or more accurately, to be God.
I
submit the following Bible verses to describe the character and stated desires
of Satan:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of
the morning, son of the dawn [Lucifer]! You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend
to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the
mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isaiah 14:12-14, NASB)
“You are of your father the devil, and you
want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he
speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of
lies.” (John 8:44, NASB)
Revelation of the Divine Plan
When
Adam and Eve sinned, how would God redeem the Earth and provide a way of
salvation for mankind? The only way to do so would be through sacrifice.
“And according to the Law, one may almost
say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22, NASB)
The entire sacrificial system of
ancient Judaism was for this purpose. But the shedding of animal blood could
only cover mankind’s sin, it could not atone for it.
“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls
and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4, NASB)
This sacrificial system was a
foreshadowing of the one and only true sacrifice—Jesus Christ.
“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of
the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same
sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who
draw near.” (Hebrews 10:1, NASB)
“By this will we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest
stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins; but He [Jesus], having offered one sacrifice
for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,” (Hebrews 10:10-12,
NASB)
“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to
lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24,
NASB)
Why could animal sacrifice not
atone for mankind’s sin? Because redemption can only be secured through
substitutionary sacrifice. The death of an animal could not pay the price owed
by a sinful human.
“Therefore, just as through one man [Adam]
sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all
men, because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12, NASB)
“But the free gift is not like the
transgression. For if by the transgression of the one [Adam] the many died,
much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the
one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting
in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many
transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the
one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One,
Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation
to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted
justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the
many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will
be made righteous.” (Romans 5:15-19, NASB)
“For since by a man came death, by a man
also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ
all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22, NASB)
So the sacrifice had to be a
human, a man. It was man that sinned. It must be man that pays the consequence
for sin. Not only that, but it must be a perfect man. Why? Because a sinner cannot
pay the price for another sinner. If one who has sinned dies, then they are
paying for their own sin. Only one who has not sinned could be a substitute to
pay the price for one who has sinned. So the sacrifice must be a man, and must
be a sinless man. Why a man and not a woman? These previous verses clearly
state that it was a man (Adam) who was responsible for bringing sin upon all
mankind. Eve was deceived by the serpent, Satan. Adam chose of his own
volition.
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived
Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and
purity of devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3, NASB)
“And it was not Adam who was deceived, but
the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” (1 Timothy 2:14)
Both sinned, but it is through
Adam that all of humanity inherited a sin nature. Both can be saved, but it is
through Jesus that salvation is made possible for all.
But
here is another point, and this is key. If a sinless man was sacrificed, then
his death could substitute the payment for a sinful man. But only one. One for
one. The payment must equal the price. If Jesus was only a man, then his death
could only pay the price for the sins of Adam, or Abraham, or you, or me. But
Jesus was not just a man. Jesus was God in human flesh. Therefore, His death
was sufficient to pay the price owed by all mankind; you and me!
“See to it that no one takes you captive
through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men,
according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to
Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,”
(Colossians 2:8-9, NASB)
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been so long
with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen Me has
seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”?’” (John 14:9, NASB)
“‘I and the Father are one.’” (John 10:30,
NASB)
“Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say
to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but
Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them,
and so passed by.” (John 8:58-59, NKJV)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
(John 1:1-3, NKJV)
Some explanation on the last two
passages. First, regarding John 8:58:
When
Jesus said, “before Abraham was, I AM,” He was saying at least three things.
First, He was stating that He was around before Abraham, who was the ancestor
of the Jewish nation and who lived thousands of years prior to Jesus. This
would mean that Jesus was claiming to have been around before that, which would
make Him much older, possibly eternal, a quality attributed only to God (having
existed forever before creation). I know that the physics of eternity are
difficult, in fact impossible to grasp, from our present understanding. So I
will not attempt to do so here. But an eternal nature is one of the common
attributes ascribed to God. Second, He was placing himself in a position of
preeminence, or of greater priority or importance (higher), than Abraham. In
Jewish culture, none was greater than Abraham as he was the father of the
Hebrew people. Third, He was claiming to be God. “I AM” is a title used by God.
Consider the grammar used in this passage. The proper tense would be “before
Abraham was, I was” but that is not the terminology used in the original Greek
from which the English Bible is translated. The English translation maintains
the integrity of the original text, which specifically states “I am.” Jesus is
identifying with the following passage from the Hebrew Torah:
“Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I
come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has
sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to
them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say
to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’” (Exodus 3:13-14, NKJV)
Further proof of Jesus' claim to be God from this passage lies in the fact that His audience (the Jews) "took up stones to throw at Him." They wanted to stone Him for blasphemy. This was because they recognized what He was claiming with His words.
Next, regarding John 1:1-3:
The
English word used here, “Word,” is a translation of the Greek word “Logos,” and
is used many times as a title of Jesus in the New Testament. John is here
introducing us to the person of Jesus at the beginning of his Gospel. He says
here that Jesus was with God at the beginning of time (actually, when time was
created along with the other dimensions of the time-space continuum). He also
says here that Jesus was God. He also says here that Jesus made all things. We
know from Genesis that God made all things, therefore this is further evidence,
from John’s perspective, that Jesus is God.
“In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, NKJV)
Let’s
tie this all together now. So the only sacrifice that could atone or redeem
(pay the price or buy back) a sinful human from the penalty due for sin is a
perfect human. In order to pay the penalty due for all humanity, that human had
to be more than just a human, as a human only could pay for a human. In order
to pay for all humans, that sacrifice had to be Divine. Jesus is the only one
who fits. He was fully human, being born biologically of Mary (a human). He was
also miraculously conceived within the womb of a virgin by the power of the Holy
Spirit. He did not inherit a sin nature having no biological human father.
However, He was a male child in order to atone for the sin of his male ancestor
(through Mary), Adam. And He (Jesus) was God in human flesh, thus He was
Divine! He was, and is, the God-Man; fully God, and fully Man. This is a Divine
mystery that cannot be fully understood, but is fully evidenced and supported
in Scripture. This is the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ Jesus. This is the
Doctrine of the Dual Nature of Christ Jesus. This is the Doctrine of the
Incarnation (God taking upon Himself human flesh). As the third person of the
Trinity, Jesus is the Son of God (the Doctrine of the Trinity is one God in
three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). As part of the Triune Godhead, Jesus
is God. As a biological child of Mary, who is a biological descendant of Adam
and Eve, Jesus is a man and is the Son of Man.
This
is the plan of God for the salvation of mankind. This was always the plan of
God from the beginning, or if you see the beginning as the start of time at the
creation of the natural universe then this was the plan of God from before the
beginning. Marvelous! Isn’t it?
God’s Plan in Action
God’s plan is
revealed to His people throughout the Bible. It was revealed throughout history
by way of progressive revelation, a term I have explained in other blogs. While
I will discuss the unfolding of God’s plan in action, as well as Satan’s
attempts to counter God’s plan, I am going to focus on two primary promises, or
revelations, of God about His plan to save mankind. These two promises will be
the two primary focuses of Satan’s attacks as we unfold history to see the plan
of God in action. Satan’s goal is to defeat God. If Satan can defeat the plan
of God, in any way, then he will have, in essence, defeated God. If he can
defeat God’s plan then he will have shown that God is something other than God,
and if he can do that, then it might be possible for him to become God, which
is his ultimate goal.
God’s very first
revelation of His plan to save mankind, and the first focus passage, comes from
a prophetic promise He made to Eve and to the serpent in the Garden of Eden
following Adam and Eve’s act of rebellion.
“So the LORD God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild
animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of
your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”’”
(Genesis 3:14-15, NIV)
Read the same passage from a
different translation:
“The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because
you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every
beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the
days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between
your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise
him on the heel.’” (Genesis 3:14-15, NASB)
The seed or offspring of the
woman is a prophecy of the coming Messiah or Savior. This is actually the first
Biblical prophecy, chronologically speaking, regarding the Savior. The Savior
will be a biological descendant of Eve. The serpent will strike or bruise the
Savior’s heal (not typically considered a deadly wound), but the Savior will
crush the serpent’s head (a final, death-dealing blow). The seed of the woman
is, of course, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah-king of Israel, God the Son, God
in human flesh, born of a virgin, and the Savior of mankind.
Another
revelation of God’s plan to save mankind, and the second focus passage, comes
from a prophetic promise He made to Abraham (or at the time, Abram), which is
the foundation of what theologians call the Abrahamic Covenant.
“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from
your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land
which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless
you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless
those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all
the families of the earth will be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:1-3, NASB)
This is an unconditional
covenant, or promise, which God gave to Abraham. That means that there was
nothing that Abraham needed to do in order for God to fulfill His promises.
Abraham simply was going to be the recipient of these things because of God’s
sovereign choosing. It is through Abraham’s lineage that the Savior is born,
therefore it is through Abraham that all the families of the earth are blessed.
The
Abrahamic Covenant is continued in the following passage:
“I will establish My covenant between Me and
you [Abraham] and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an
everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I
will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your
sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will
be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8, NASB)
Here, in this expansion of the
Abrahamic covenant, God is stating that this covenant is going to be exist
between Him and Abraham and his descendants forever. He is also promising that
the land will belong to them forever.
If
Satan can defeat either of these two focus prophetic promises, then he will
have defeated God. To defeat the first, he would need to prevent the Messiah
from being born as the seed of the woman, Eve. In the second, he would need to
break the everlasting promise God made to Abraham; one way in which to do that
would be to destroy all of Abraham’s descendants. But how could he stop the
Messiah from being born as the seed of Eve? Destroy humanity, or at least
destroy the genetic lineage, or purity, of the seed of humanity.
There
is an important principle to keep in mind when looking at the history of
humanity as well as modern day events on both a global scale and a personal
scale. The following passages highlight this principle:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of
this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NASB)
“Be of sober spirit, be on alert. Your
adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, NASB)
“‘But the prince of the kingdom of Persia
was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief
princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia...’
Then he said, ‘Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to
fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince
of Greece is about to come. However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the
writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these
forces except Michael your prince.’” (Daniel 10:13 and 20-21, NASB)
In these passages we see that our
primary struggle is not against other people but against spiritual forces. Our
primary enemy is Lucifer, the devil. The final passage records the words of an
angel spoken to the Hebrew prophet Daniel who had been carried away earlier in
his life during the Babylonian Captivity. The angel is describing to Daniel his
struggle or battle with fallen angels, one of whom is referred to as the
“prince of Persia” and one of whom is referred to as the “prince of Greece.”
This angel also discusses how Michael the archangel came to assist him at one
point during his struggle with the prince of Persia. Persia was the human
empire that conquered the Babylonian Empire. Greece was the human empire that
defeated the Persian Empire. Michael the archangel is the prince of Israel
(Daniel’s prince). Apparently, there are spiritual entities, wicked and holy, that
are assigned to the various human nations, kingdoms, empires, and political
states throughout history.
Satan
has attempted to defeat God’s plans for the Savior and for Israel from the
moment God revealed His plans.
God
promised the Messiah would come from Eve. Cain, Eve’s son, was stirred to
jealousy against his brother Abel, also Eve’s son, and murdered him. (Genesis
4) God cursed Cain as a result. But Eve had another son, Seth, and the line was
preserved.
God
promised the Messiah would come from Abraham and his wife Sarah. Abraham almost
ruined things by giving his wife to human kings twice, but God preserved their
union. (Genesis 12 and 20) Abraham and Sarah doubted God and were stirred to
take control of the situation and Abraham had a child, Ishmael, through Sarah’s
slave, Hagar. (Genesis 16) Sarah became jealous and Hagar and Ishmael were sent
away. But God kept His promise and gave Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac. And
then God revealed that the Messiah would come through the line of Isaac’s son Jacob,
whom God renamed Israel. Jacob’s twelve sons became the patriarchs of the
twelve tribes of Israel. One of Jacob’s sons was Joseph. Joseph’s line was
further split into two tribes through his two sons, and the twelve tribes of
Israel are really thirteen (with Joseph’s descendants accounting for two of the
thirteen tribes), but the tribe of Levi, which is the priestly line, was given
no inheritance in the Promised Land, so the land was divided among the
remaining twelve tribes. One of Jacob’s sons was Judah, and God revealed it
would be through Judah’s descendants that the Messiah would come.
While
in slavery in the land of Egypt, Satan attempted to break God’s promise for
Israel and for Messiah by having Pharaoh kill all the Hebrew male children age
two and younger. (Exodus 1) But God saved Moses as a baby. Then, after another
Pharaoh finally released the Nation of Israel, he changed his mind and sent his
army to destroy them, but God saved the Hebrew people and destroyed Pharaoh’s
army. (Exodus 14)
Then,
while in the Promised Land, God revealed that He would work His plan through
the line of David, the son of Jesse. (1 Samuel 16) Satan focused the ferocity
of his attacks upon David and his line, first through King Saul, and then after
David became king through infighting among his children.
After King David
died, the Nation of Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms,
and at times were at war with one another. But God did not allow them to be
destroyed by each other or their enemies around them. God preserved the Nation
of Israel through the Assyrian Exile, through the Babylonian Exile, and through
the subsequent Persian and Greek Empires. Then, the Messiah was born to a
virgin named Mary, the descendent of David, the descendent of Judah, The
descendent of Jacob, the descendent of Isaac, the descendent of Abraham, the
descendent of Noah, the descendent of Seth, the descendent of Eve and Adam.
King Herod sent soldiers to kill all the male children age two and younger in
the Town of Bethlehem, but God warned Joseph (Mary’s husband and the adoptive
father of Jesus) in a dream and Joseph and Mary fled with Jesus from Bethlehem
before Herod’s soldiers arrived. (Matthew 2) Jesus fulfilled prophecy and God’s
plan to provide a way of salvation for mankind through His perfect life,
sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. Satan couldn’t defeat God by
stopping the plan for Messiah. But the plans for Israel aren’t complete at this
point. Satan can still try that route to defeating God.
Finally, under
the Roman Empire, Satan persecuted the Jews and had them dispersed throughout
the world; a dispersion that would last for nineteen-hundred years. During this
time the Jews were persecuted numerous times including the Roman Catholic
Inquisition and the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. But God kept His promise
and preserved the Hebrew people, and re-gathered them in the Promised Land in
1948.
We see so far throughout
Biblical and secular history God revealing His plan for saving mankind and
building the Nation of Israel and some of Satan’s attempts to defeat God’s
plans. But Satan was unable to stop the Messiah from being born, and he has
been unable so far to destroy the Hebrew people.
How does all of
this tie-in with the Nephilim? Stay with me and I will show you. You might have
noticed that I didn’t discuss Noah and the Flood in this summary of history,
other than to mention him in the lineage of Jesus. Now we will turn our
attention to the Nephilim and how they play into this grand scheme of events.
Let’s revisit our questions from the beginning of this post:
- Why did the Global Flood happen?
- Why were Noah and his family spared?
- What is the purpose of the Nephilim existing?
- Why would some of the fallen angels produce
offspring with human women?
- Where does this activity fit into the scheme of
spiritual warfare?
- Might something like this happen again?
We have explored
up to this point that Satan has focused his attempts to defeat God by
attempting to defeat God’s plans for providing salvation and for preserving
Israel. How could Satan stop the Messiah from being born? One way would be to
wipe out humanity first. That didn’t happen. Was it ever tried? Maybe that’s
what was happening with Cain and Abel; I don’t know. But either way, it didn’t
happen. Another way was to target the line of the Messiah and wipe it out
before He could be born. Most of those targeted attacks seem to have occurred
after the Flood as God revealed His plans for Messiah to come through Abraham,
then through David, etc. There isn’t much recorded about what happened before
the Flood, so we don’t know how targeted Satan’s attacks may or may not have
been. But it also seems that God’s plans weren’t as specifically revealed
before Abraham anyway. So how could the Messiah be stopped, short of completely
destroying humanity before He could be born?
By contaminating
humanity’s gene pool so completely that the Messiah could not be born as a pure
descendent of Eve and Adam. If this could be accomplished, then God’s plan of
salvation could be corrupted and defeated. So, how could humanity’s gene pool
be corrupted to such an extent? By introducing a foreign element that would
cause humanity’s lineage to be contaminated to the point that a pure human
birth would no longer be possible.
So the plan was
devised for fallen angels to take upon themselves a form that would be
compatible to produce offspring with human women, to create such offspring, and
then over time for the gene-pool to become contaminated by foreign elements to
the point where a pure human could not be found. The plan was implemented
during the time before the Flood. We see this in Genesis 6. How far did the
contamination spread before it was wiped out in the Flood? That is unknown. But
it hadn’t spread to Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives. I suspect
the contamination was widespread. I suspect that is why God went to such
extremes to wipe the Earth clean and start a new chapter with Noah’s
descendants only after the Flood. The Bible says in Genesis 6 that the
wickedness of mankind was great and that mankind’s thoughts were continuously
evil. I’m sure that the time period was extremely bad and people’s depravity
was great; but when isn’t that the case? The Bible is clear that apart from
God’s presence mankind is not capable of doing good; that is the meaning of
depravity. It is only the presence of God, through the Holy Spirit either
working alongside us, being placed upon us, or coming from an indwelling within
us that we act magnanimous, benevolent, or from a motivation of anything other
than selfishness. I’m sorry if this offends you, and I recognize it can be
difficult to accept, but it is the truth. Apart from the working of the Holy
Spirit and the regeneration of life through redemption, mankind is incapable of
pure good. Any good that is done is done from either overt or covert
selfishness. We love either because we are loved or because we hope to be
loved. The closest we can come to “agape” (Greek) or self-sacrificial love is
for our children, and even that has limits. I’m not saying that someone has to
be a Christian to truly love someone or do something that is truly good.
Remember, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the regeneration of life through
redemption are only some of the ways God can work in us and through us. He can
work alongside us and upon us, and neither of those methods require salvation.
Many examples of such working exist throughout the Old Testament before
salvation was actually available and before regeneration through redemption was
possible.
There is an
interesting verse in Genesis 6 that discusses Noah. Read the following:
“These are the records of the generations of
Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”
(Genesis 6:9, NASB)
Read it again from a different
translation:
“This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked
faithfully with God.” (Genesis 6:9, NIV)
Read it once more from yet
another translation:
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was
a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” (Genesis
6:9, KJV)
As I have mentioned before,
translating can be a tricky business. Sometimes words or concepts don’t exist
when moving from one language to another. No matter how hard one tries,
sometimes things are “lost in translation.” I might be going out on a limb here
(try translating the meaning of that colloquialism into a language other than English),
but I want to dissect this verse a little bit. In all three translations, Noah
is described as being righteous or just. Was he perfect like Christ was
perfect? Absolutely not. No one besides Jesus was morally or spiritually
perfect.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, NASB)
“as it is written,
‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;’” (Romans 3:10, NASB)
Noah is described as righteous
here the same way Abraham is described as righteous. Because of his faith.
“Then he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and
He [God] reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, NASB)
So the verse isn’t telling us
that Noah was saved because he was perfect. Maybe he and his family were the
only people of faith living at the time. I think one could build a case for
that when looking at the story of Lot and his being saved from Sodom and
Gomorrah. (Genesis 19). But I think there may be more to this verse than that
alone.
The
first sentence states, “These are the records of the generations of Noah.”
(NASB) Could this mean that this is the story of Noah among the people of his
time? Perhaps. But what do the other translations say? “This is the account of
Noah and his family.” (NIV) “These are the generations of Noah:” (KJV) So, generations
seems to have a meaning of family here. There seems to be something special
about his family. Could it be their faith? Perhaps. Might it be something else?
The
second sentence states, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time;”
(NASB) We’ve already discussed the meaning of righteous. What about blameless?
Does this mean without sin? No, we’ve already discussed that. Maybe it means
that among the people of his time or community, no one could accuse him of
wrongdoing. Perhaps. But what do the other translations say? “Noah was a
righteous man, blameless among the people of his time,” (NIV) That seems to
give some credit to the above possibility. “Noah was a just man and perfect in
his generations,” (KJV) Now that is a slightly odd way to phrase something.
Perhaps it’s just the old English of the King James, and perhaps it simply
means that among the people of his generation he was blameless. But might it
mean more? We have already seen that “generations” was translated “family” in
the first sentence in the NIV. Might this verse be claiming that Noah’s family
lineage was genetically perfect or pure? Maybe that’s a stretch. Maybe not. I
won’t definitively assert that one way or the other, but I think it is an
intriguing possibility.
So
let’s see if we can now answer some of our previous questions.
- Why would some of the fallen angels produce
offspring with human women?
- What is the purpose of the Nephilim existing?
- To try to defeat God’s plan for a Messiah from
the seed of Eve.
- Where does this activity fit into the scheme of
spiritual warfare?
- If Satan can defeat any of God’s plans, then he
might have a chance at defeating God and perhaps becoming like God.
- Why did the Global Flood happen (besides the
stated wickedness of man at the time)?
- To eliminate genetic contamination and preserve
the genetic integrity of humanity for the birth of the Messiah.
- Why were Noah and his family spared?
- Ultimately because of God’s sovereign choosing,
but in part either because of their faith or Noah’s faith in God, or because of
their faith or Noah’s faith and because of their genetic purity as descendants
of Eve and Adam.
- Might something like this happen again?
Let’s explore that last question
next.
We
know from the Biblical record that something like this did happen again.
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those
days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men,
and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men
of renown.” (Genesis 6:4, NASB)
When were the Nephilim on the
earth afterward? I am going to provide three examples. Here’s the first:
“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses
and said, ‘We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will
surely overcome it.’ But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not
able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.’ So they gave
out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out,
saying, ‘The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that
devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great
size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the
Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in
their sight.’” (Numbers 13:30-33)
This is the report given to the
Israelites when the twelve spies returned from scouting out the Promised Land
after Israel left captivity in Egypt, but before they conquered Canaan. If you
don’t remember the last part about the Nephilim, see if this translation is
more familiar to you:
“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.” (Numbers 13:33, KJV)
Here’s the second:
“(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the
remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in
Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four
cubits by ordinary cubit.)” (Deuteronomy 3:11, NASB)
The Rephaim were another people
group in the Bible that were giants. By conservative measurements, 9 cubits
would be 13 and ½ feet long and 4 cubits would be 6 feet wide. Read the King
James:
“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the
remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in
Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four
cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.” (Deuteronomy 3:11, KJV)
By the way, the Israelites, led
by Moses, killed Og. (Numbers 21:33-35) Here’s the third:
“Then a champion came out from the armies of
the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a
span.” (Samuel 17:4, NASB)
This is the famous Goliath that
was killed by David while he was still a shepherd and Saul was still king of
Israel; the famous story of David and Goliath. Goliath is here described as
being over nine feet tall. What happened to him?
“David girded his sword over his armor and
tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, ‘I cannot go
with these, for I have not tested them.’ And David took them off. He took his
stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and
put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling
was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine… Then it happened when the
Philistine [Goliath] rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran
quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into
his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his
forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to
the ground. Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone,
and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s
hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew
it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the
Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.” (1 Samuel 17:39-40
and 48-51, NASB)
Why did David take five stones
from the brook? He only used one with Goliath. I don’t know for sure, but check
this out:
“Now when the Philistines were at war again
with Israel, David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought
against the Philistines, David became weary. Then Ishbi-benob, who was among
the descendants of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred
shekels of bronze in weight, was girded with a new sword, and he intended to
kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the
Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, ‘You
shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the
lamp of Israel.’ Now it came about after this that there was war again with the
Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was
among the descendants of the giant. There was war with the Philistines again at
Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the
Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. There was war at
Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each
hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been
born to the giant. When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s
brother, struck him down. These four were born to the giant in Gath, and they
fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.” (2 Samuel 21:15-22,
NASB)
Here were four other giants who
were killed during David’s time. Some scholars suspect that they may have been
relatives of Goliath, whom David had previously killed; perhaps even his
brothers. We don’t know for sure, but that could be the case. Perhaps that is
why David picked up five stones originally; perhaps Goliath was one of five
brothers, or at least five family members, who were giants and perhaps David
had intended to fight them all. Now, I wonder if all the Nephilim had six
fingers and six toes? Again, we don’t know for sure. But at least there was one
that did. This is another indication to me that the Nephilim were something
more than simply human.
So
we see from these three examples that there were Nephilim living in the Land of
Canaan when the Israelites conquered it after leaving Egypt. How would this
align with the strategy of Satan in his attempts to defeat God? Well, we know
that God had promised the land to Abraham’s descendants. Satan had over 400
years to prepare his plan to stop the descendants of Abraham from getting that
land while they labored in Egypt after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died. It
seems that the previous strategy from before the Flood was implemented again.
This time, to populate the Land of Canaan with hybrids in an attempt to destroy
the Hebrews or to intermingle with them and pollute the gene-pool from which
the Messiah was to come, thereby breaking God’s promise either to preserve the
descendants of Abraham or defeating God’s plan to provide a Savior, at least
through the promised line of Abraham. But again, it didn’t work. What was God’s
command to the Israelites when they entered the Land of Canaan?
“Only in the cities of these peoples that the
LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive
anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the
Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the
LORD your God has commanded you,” (Deuteronomy 20”16-17, NASB)
Many people have difficulty with
God commanding the Israelites to kill all the Canaanites, despite the fact that
the Canaanites were extremely wicked and depraved, even to the extent of
practicing widespread child sacrifice to their pagan gods. They were certainly
deserving of the righteous judgment of a holy and sovereign God (through His
chosen instrument of the Nation of Israel). But it also makes the command more
understandable when considering that the pollution of the Nephilim needed to be
wiped out again, before it could threaten to contaminate all of humanity.
Tying Up Loose Ends
What
happened to the fallen angels that performed the heinous act of reproducing
hybrid offspring with human women? I have discussed this previously, but will
address it here again. I believe that there are at least two passages of
scripture that discuss the fate of these fallen angels.
“And angels who did not keep their own
domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under
darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the
cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross
immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in
undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:6-7, NASB)
“For if God did not spare angels when they
sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness,
reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah,
a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon
the world of the ungodly;” (2 Peter 2:4-5, NASB)
I believe that according to these
passages, the angels who were involved directly in this sinful activity are
chained in a hyper-dimensional prison, suffering torment as they await the
final judgment of God (Revelation 20).
Might
something like this happen again? Perhaps it might. Satan cannot stop God’s
plan for Messiah at this point. Jesus has already finished His work of
providing a way of salvation for the repentant. But what about the Jews? If
Satan can still destroy them, then he still has a chance to break God’s promise
to Abraham and thereby defeat God. Why does the world hate Israel so much?
Ultimately, because they are stirred up in their hatred by the one whose very
existence so many deny—the devil. Perhaps there might be one more attempt to
populate Nephilim on the Earth, either to destroy Israel directly through war
or indirectly through genetic contamination. I don’t know for sure, but when
considering the modern day accounts of alien abductions and the fascination
that so called “aliens” or “extra-terrestrials” seem to have with human sexual
reproduction and biological experimentation, I can’t help but wonder. See my
blog titled Alien Arrivals for more information regarding my views on aliens.
Here
are a couple of additional thoughts about the possibility of the return of the
Nephilim. When the disciples asked Jesus about His second coming, one of the
things He said was:
“And just as it happened in the days of
Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they
were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the
day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”
(Luke 17:26-27, NASB)
The obvious reading of this
passage, especially when read in context, simply indicates that Jesus’s second
coming will take the unbelieving world by surprise. But some scholars read a
little more into the portion of the text that compares the last days with the
days of Noah and think that there might be a reference to something more
happening in the last days that make them similar to the days of Noah, perhaps
such as the presence of the Nephilim. Also, when the Hebrew prophet Daniel
interpreted the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue, he
stated:
“In that you saw the feet and toes, partly
of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will
have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with
common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery,
so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in
that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine one another in
the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not
combine with pottery.” (Daniel 2:41-43, NASB)
This part of the statue of
Nebuchadnezzar’s vision was a prophetic reference to the final kingdom of
mankind before the Messiah’s kingdom is established. This is a reference to the
kingdom of the Beast—the Antichrist. It all makes sense until the last
sentence. What does it mean that “they will combine one another in the seed of
men?” Read another translation of that last verse:
“And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with
miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall
not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” (Daniel 2:43,
KJV)
Both of these translations talk
about “they” combining or mingling with the seed of men. If they are combining
or mingling with the seed of men, then that implies that they are not of the
seed of men. Might this be another reference to fallen angel activity during
the last days? On the other hand, here’s one more translation that doesn’t seem
to reference anything unusual happening:
“And just as you saw the iron mixed with
baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any
more than iron mixes with clay.” (Daniel 2:43, NIV)
The New International Version
here makes it seem like the Beast’s kingdom will simply just not be completely
unified. Again, I won’t make a definitive assertion here, but I suspect there
might be something more happening in those final days. Satan will be pulling
out all the stops at the end.
Thankfully, I
have confidence that Satan will fail. God will prevail. God already has
prevailed. There was never a possibility otherwise.
I have one final
thought, and this references back to something I mentioned in Part 2 of this
post and stated that I might elaborate on here in Part 3 (although I said not
to hold me to it). But I have decided to elaborate. What happened to the
Nephilim that died in ages past? Well, obviously, their bodies ceased to
function and were subject to decay as are all the bodies of living things on
Earth. But did they have souls? I don’t know. I mentioned in Part 2 that I
suspected that there might be a difference between fallen angels and demons.
Fallen angels seem to have similar capacities as angels, they are just in
rebellion against God; therefore, they follow Satan in wickedness and sin.
Demons, on the other hand, seem to be different. They always seem to be in
search of bodies to possess, whether it be man or animal. (Matthew 8:28-32,
Matthew 12:43-45) They don’t seem to have bodies of their own, as God’s angels,
and fallen angels do. Might it be that demons are the disembodied spirits of
the Nephilim, having nowhere to go, other than to possess the bodies of others,
until such time as they face the final judgment? (Revelation 20) Again, I don’t
know, and I won’t definitively assert either way, but it is an interesting
consideration. This is certainly a subject of theology that I need to study
more. But, if mankind is ever successfully able to clone human bodies, I wonder
if such bodies might simply provide empty shells to be inhabited by demons?
Humanity could potentially create an army of bodies for Satan’s demons to
possess. God is certainly under no obligation to place a human soul inside of a
body that is created outside of the method that He designed and intended. But,
this is just speculation. I did state a warning in Part 1 of this post that
this study would be a little different, and a little disconcerting.
Conclusion
So
our fight is not against other people. Our battle is not against one another.
Our war is a spiritual war. God has always had a plan. The enemy has devised
plans of his own. God is the victor. To Him be the glory. Here is the cosmic
battle that rages in the heavens and has raged throughout human history:
“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in
pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great
red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven
diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them
to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give
birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave
birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of
iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled
into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she
would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was
war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon
and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no
longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down,
the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole
world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with
him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the
power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them
before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the
Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their
life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you
who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come
down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.’ And
when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the
woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle
were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her
place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the
presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his
mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the
flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank
up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was
enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children,
who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
(Revelation 12:1-17, NASB)
The woman is Israel. The sun,
moon, and twelve stars are representative of Jacob (Israel), his wife Rachel,
and his twelve sons (the twelve tribes of Israel). See Genesis 37:9-10. The
dragon is Lucifer (Satan), the devil. See verse 9 of this passage, as it
explains itself. The third of the stars swept away by the dragon are the third
of the angels that rebelled against God and fell with Satan. See Job 38:7. The
male child born to the woman is the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world,
Jesus the Christ. Jesus (the male child), the Jewish Messiah, the Savior of the world, was prophesied to be born from Hebrew lineage, the line of Abraham, the Nation of Israel (the woman). He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. See Psalm 2:9
and Revelation 19:15. He ascended to heaven after His resurrection to sit at
the right hand of God the Father. See Mark 16:19. Israel was dispersed among
the nations shortly after the ascension of Jesus. Also, Israel will
specifically flee to the wilderness during the persecution of the Antichrist
during the Great Tribulation. See Daniel 11:41, Matthew 24:15-16, Zechariah
13:8-9, Micah 2:12 (KJV), and Isaiah 63:1-6. The 1,260 days mentioned has
relevance, but I won’t get into it here. See Revelation 11:3 and Daniel
12:11-12.
This
passage speaks to the great spiritual war between the forces of God and Satan
and his forces. This passage speaks of Satan’s attempts to destroy the Messiah
and the Nation of Israel. It also speaks of his attacks upon the followers of
Jesus, which are adopted into the line of Abraham (Revelation 12:17, Romans
11:17, Ephesians 1:5, and Galatians 3:28-29). This is the battle we face. This
is the story of humanity. This is the story of history.
Thanks for
reading. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe encountered something new. I encourage
you to pray to God and study His Word.
Grace and peace
to you.
