INTRODUCTION:

1. Our text in Genesis 6 is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. The question must be asked, "What brought on the flood?" (Cf. 6:3)
2. Merrill F. Unger said these verses describe "the fearful moral lawlessness that occasioned the catastrophe," and says the sin referred to in verses 1 and 2 "plumbs the depths of pre-Flood wickedness" (Unger's Commentary on the Old Testament).
3. Unger and many other Old Testament scholars believe that the "sons of God" are fallen angels (cf. II Peter 2:4; Jude 6).
4. In the Old Testament, "sons of God" always refers to angels, whether they be good or bad (devils).
5. Job 1:6 says, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them."
6. But some Bible teachers say the sons of God refers here to the sons of Seth. For example, the Scofield Study Bible says the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 and 6:4 were not fallen angels.
7. Scofield and many other Bible teachers identify “the sons of God” with the godly line of Seth, and "the daughters of men” with the godless line of Cain.
8. But if the “the sons of God” refers to godly line of Seth, and "the daughters of men” refer to the godless line of Cain, why doesn't the Bible plainly say that?
9. These are the two main positions on Genesis 6 -- (1) The "sons of God" were fallen angels who had relations with the daughters of men, or (2) the "sons of God" were godly descendants of Seth intermarrying with the wicked descendants of Cain.
10. Though most Bible teachers hold to the position that this passage refers to the intermarriage of the sons of Seth with the daughters of Cain, practically all ancient writers, both Jewish and Christian, taught that "the sons of God" in Genesis 6 were fallen angels.
11. For example, Josephus, the Jewish historian, taught the "sons of God" were fallen angels. This doesn't necessarily prove this is the correct view, but it is very significant that it was the prominent view for thousands of years.
12. Furthermore, to insist that the sons of Seth were all godly doesn't make sense. If the sons of Seth were all godly, then why did they all perish in the flood?
13. When the flood came the only ones who survived were Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives -- only eight souls (7:23; 8:18).
14. According to Genesis 6:5-7, all of mankind (including the descendents of Seth) were wicked and deserving of God's wrath.
15. Some say that “they took them wives” (6:2) must refer to marriage, but Genesis 6:2 could be translated “they took them women.” The Hebrew word translated "wives" is often translated as "woman" (cf. 2:22, 23; 3:1, 2, 4, etc.).
16. In other words, Genesis 6:2 is not talking about legal marriage, but unlawful, illicit relations.

1. THE UNHOLY UNION
2. THE STRONG WARNING
3. THE TERRIBLE JUDGMENT

I. THE UNHOLY UNION (6:1, 2, 4).

1. Some Bible teachers say the “sons of God” are the descendants of Adam’s son Seth (cf. Scofield). However, if that is the case, why doesn’t the Bible plainly say “sons of Seth” (6:2, 4)?
2. Most of Genesis 5, the previous chapter, deals with the lineage of Seth. If these "sons of God" were part of the lineage of Seth why doesn't the Bible say that? There is no suggestion they were.
3. "Sons" and "daughters" and "men" (6:1-7) simply means "sons" and "daughters" and "men." "Sons of God" (6:2, 4) is different.
4. "Men" in Genesis 6:1 does not imply sons of Seth or Cain. It simply says "men began to multiply on the face of the earth." The godly line of Seth and the ungodly line of Cain were both multiplying.
5. In the New Testament, Christians are referred to as "sons of God." John 1:12 says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
6. Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
7. But in the Old Testament, the term "sons of God" always refers to angels (cf. Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). Believers are never referred to as "sons of God" in the Old Testament.
8. In Genesis 6:2 and 4, "sons of God" refers to fallen angels. Second Peter 2:4 refers to them as "the angels that sinned."
9. "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell..." (II Peter 2:4). The Greek word translated "hell" is Tartaros.
10. This is the only reference to Tartaros in the Bible, indicating that this terrible sin deserved a special punishment.
11. "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly" (II Peter 2:4, 5).
12. Notice the connection between the fallen angels and the flood.
13. Jude 6 refers to them as "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation." "Kept not their first estate" means, they did not keep their proper position.
14. The Greek word translated "estate" is usually translated "beginning." In other words, they should have stayed where God placed them in the beginning. But they but "left their own habitation" in heaven.
15. I knew a Bible college professor who disagreed with my interpretation of Genesis 6. He agreed with the Scofield Bible position that the angels in Jude and II Peter 2 are simply fallen angels, i.e. devils or demons or unclean spirits, and are not "the sons of God" in Genesis 6.
16. I asked him why these fallen angels are “reserved in everlasting chains” (Jude 6), while other fallen angels freely roam the earth.
17. Why were they cast down to hell (literally, Tartaros, considered the deepest and most terrible abyss of hell)?
18. Why were these particular demons delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment?
19. In Mark 5:9, the demon told Jesus his name was “Legion: for we are many.” There were about 50 soldiers in a Roman legion. Why are these demons free to move around and inhabit men and animals, while the demons referred to in II Peter and Jude are imprisoned in Tartaros?
20. The professor admitted he could not answer that question.
21. By the way, I Peter 3:19 says our Lord "went and preached unto the spirits in prison." This could refer to the fallen angels in hell (Tartaros -- II Peter 2:4).
22. In Scripture, the word "prison" can refer to a prison in hell. Revelation 20:7 says, "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison."
23. "Spirits" usually refers to angels. First Peter 3:20 says these imprisoned spirits had been disobedient, "when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."
24. Furthermore, Jude compares their sin to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah -- "giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh" (Jude 7). Unnatural, abominable, and deserving "the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7).
25. Since Jude compares the sin of these fallen angels to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, we should note that angels, whether elect angels or fallen angels, can take the appearance of men (cf. Genesis 19:1-5).
26. Furthermore, Abraham and Sarah prepared food for the angels and they ate it (Gen. 18:8).
27. Unger refers to this unholy union between demons and women as "a catastrophic outburst of occultism such as will precipitate the return of the days of Noah at the end of the present age...The awful invasion from the realm of evil super-naturalism by the fallen angels precipitated incubi and succubae phenomena of Satanism and extreme spiritualistic cults...Fallen angels can in a manner incomprehensible to man in the natural realm assume maleness and have sexual intercourse with females of the human species. Occult literature is replete with such superhuman phenomena illustrating the general lawlessness of occultism" (italics in original).
28. Before he became king of England, King James was James VI, the king of Scotland. In 1597, fourteen years before the King James Bible was published, King James published a book entitled Daemonologie, and it had a section dealing with devils called incubi and succubae.
29. One of the reasons many people object to the view that the "sons of God" are fallen angels is our Lord's statement in Matthew 22:30 -- "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."
30. This implies that angels are sexless beings, and cannot reproduce. But our Lord was speaking of the elect angels "in heaven," not fallen angels here on earth.
31. The unholy union of fallen angels and the daughters of men produced a monstrous offspring (Genesis 6:4), "giants" (the Nephilim), " men of renown," that is, of great reputation among men.
32. Pagan mythology teaches that the gods (all pagan gods are devils) cohabited with human women to produce giants (e.g., the “Titans”).
33. These giants were known in pagan mythology as demigods -- partly human and partly superhuman. For example, it was taught that Hercules was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene.
34. These “mighty men” and “men of renown” (Gen. 6:4) would refer to the heroes and demigods of heathen mythology.
35. In Greek mythology, Zeus had to battle a group of these giants called the "Titans." Before the Greeks, the Phoenicians and Hittites had similar stories. In Greek mythology, Tartaros (translated "hell" in II Peter 2:4) is the prison house of the Titans (cf. Jude 6).
36. According to the Babylonian flood story, Gilgamesh, the hero of the flood story, was himself a superhuman demigod, partly human and partly divine.
37. Where did these giants come from? To say that the sons of Seth "came in unto" the daughters of Cain, and this union produced giants makes no sense (6:4).
38. By the way, these giants are mentioned in Numbers 13:33. The spies that brought up an evil report of the land said to Moses, "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants..."
39. It is unlikely that these giants were descended from the giants in Genesis 6, because those giants did not survive the flood. Even after God acted swiftly and imprisoned the wicked angels, and then sent the flood upon the world, there is evidence that this sin occurred again because Numbers 13:33 and Deuteronomy 2:11 refer to giants.
40. Genesis 6:4 says, "and also after that...", suggesting that there were other demonic invasions later on.
41. The Philistine giant Goliath is an example of how some of them lasted on the earth and reproduced themselves for many generations. His gigantic relatives are referred to in II Samuel 21:16, 18 as "the sons of the giant."
42. One of these giants "had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes" (II Sam. 21:20). The offspring of the giants were apparently malformed and perhaps mentally deficient.

II. THE STRONG WARNING (6:3).

1. Throughout the Word of God we see strong warnings that God's Holy Spirit "shall not always strive with man" (6:3). This is the first warning. It is a very serious warning since the entire earth was flooded and only one family survived.
2. The Holy Spirit uses Spirit-filled men to warn sinners of impending judgment. Our Lord said in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
3. God used Noah to reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
4. Hebrews 11:7 says, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
5. First Peter 3:20 refers to "the longsuffering of God" while He waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing. But eventually God's patience and longsuffering was exhausted.
6. "Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years" (Genesis 6:3).
7. Psalm 8:5 and Hebrews 2:7 says that God has made man "a little lower than the angels."
8. Merrill Unger said, "In belonging to an order created 'a little lower than the angels' (Psalm 8:4-6; Hebrews 2:7, 16), man's sin of cohabiting with fallen angels constituted such flagrant rebellion against God's ordained order of creation, and produced such confusion, that He had to destroy man from the earth. Unless He had done so, the entire race would have become a mongrel breed. Satan would have become triumphant. Only through a godly remnant and a new start would the human race be preserved so that the Messiah eventually would come to identify Himself with the human race to redeem it. The occult invasion of humanity that precipitated the Flood was a satanic attempt to take over the earth and banish the name of God and His Christ from this planet. This is the basic cause of the flood given succinctly in this passage" (italics in original).

III. THE TERRIBLE JUDGMENT (6:5-7).

1. In addition to the wicked sin described in verses 1-4, the LORD added, that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart "was only evil continually" (6:5).
2. This tells us that Satan and his demons had completely captivated man's thinking processes. We are seeing this today. People believe they can change themselves from men into women, and women into men (e.g. Bruce Jenner).
3. They believe killing babies is good.
4. They believe Islam is a peaceful religion.
5. They believe two homosexuals can get married and start a family, etc. (cf. Genesis 6:5-7, 11-13).
6. Children are taught in our public schools that they have evolved from monkeys. They are taught that pre-marital sex and homosexuality are good.
7. Second Corinthians 4:4 says Satan, the god of this world, "hath blinded the minds of them which believe not."
8. Second Timothy 3 says they are high-minded, and "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." They resist the truth. They are "men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith" (II Tim. 3:1-8).
9. Genesis 6:7 says, "And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth." This means, God was going to wipe them off the face of the earth.
10. The entire earth was corrupt and filthy, and needed a bath. So God sent a worldwide flood and the entire human race perished except for Noah and his family (6:7-10; 7:23).
11. After destroying the world with a flood, the LORD set a rainbow in the cloud, as a token that He would never again destroy the earth with water.
12. The next time God judges this world, He will set it on fire.
13. Isn't it remarkable that the homosexuals have taken the rainbow as a token for their rebellion and perversion?

CONCLUSION:

1. Second Peter 3:3 says that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?"
2. Today these "scoffers" are called evolutionists, and they tell us that the earth has been in existence for millions of years, and that life started evolving on this earth millions of years ago.
3. This evolutionary teaching permeates our society. Second Peter 3:5 says they are "willingly ignorant" of the flood. "Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished" (II Peter 3:6).
4. They are "willingly ignorant" that God created the world, though it is recorded in God's Word, the Bible.
5. They are "willingly ignorant" that God once judged this world with a global cataclysmic flood called Noah’s Flood, though it is recorded in God's Word, the Bible.
6. They are "willingly ignorant" that God is coming back to judge this world again, but next time it will be by fire.
7. This too is recorded in God's Word, the Bible (II Peter 3:7-12).
8. They are "willingly ignorant" that in Matthew 24:37-39, the Lord Jesus Christ referred to Noah’s Flood as a warning that God has judged this wicked world and that He will judge it again.
9. They are "willingly ignorant" because to believe these truths would mean that they will have to agree that God is going to judge them for their sin, but they do not want to repent.