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When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Introduction
Here’s the big picture of this small passage: by the time of Genesis chapter 6, less than two thousand years into recorded history, “every intention of the thoughts [of the human] heart was only evil continually.”
There is a lesson here to learn right at the beginning: there were no “good old days” after Adam and Eve rebelled against God and were cast out of the garden. It’s pretty easy to look at the world we live in today and to cast a glance in the rearview mirror and say, “oh, if only it was like it used to be…” But Ecclesiastes 7:10 would tell us that this is not the path of wisdom.
“Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”
There was no glory day for mankind after Adam’s fall. Look at the world around you, look at Genesis 6, and see the similarity.
I’ve got four questions, broken into two sections: first, the problem of evil, under which we will consider, “who are the sons of God”, and, “who are the Nephilim?” The second section will be God’s response, under which we will consider, “what is meant by ‘his days shall be 120 years’?”, and “what does it mean for God to regret?”
The Problem of Evil
Who are the “Sons of God”
The first question arises in verse two. Who are the sons of God who “saw that the sons of man were attractive?”
The only other times that phrase(Sons of God) is used in the OT (3 times in Job and once in Daniel), it refers to angelic beings. So it would seem most reasonable to think that this is also how the phrase is used in Genesis 6.
Further, this seems to be the viewpoint of the writers in New Testament books of 2 Peter and Jude as well: both refer to great sin committed by angels at the time of Noah. For this sin, there seem to be a certain number of angels who, unlike Satan and many of the other fallen angels in his service, are no longer free to roam the earth. Rather, they are kept in “chains of gloomy darkness” (2 Peter 2:4). In both Jude and 2 Peter this sin seems to be of a sexual nature, because it is placed directly alongside the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah: Jude 7 speaks of those who indulge in “sexual immorality and…unnatural desire.” Jude 6 also explicitly mentions that the angels “did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling.” This seems to be the sort of thing which Genesis 6 is referring to. Angels leaving heaven, taking human form, and cohabitating with human women.
This is super weird. More than that, it’s deeply evil. Which is why God wouldn’t put up with it, and placed these demons in chains until the day or judgment, when they will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire.
Who are the Nephilim?
Now, if that’s how we understand the sons of God - as angelic beings - and they, according to verse 4, had children with the daughters of man: what kind of children did they have? Were they some sort of monstrous, half angel/half human thing? That’s what many people assume when they read here in v4 of the Nephilim.
But what these verses show, in fact, is that the Nephilim were not the product of the angel/human union. The Nephilim were on earth in those days - that is, the days of the great sin - but also, they were on earth afterwards. We read again of the Nephilim in Numbers 13, hundreds of years after the flood, when all the children of these unions were long dead.
We don't really know who these Nephilim were. No description is given to us, except for what we read in verse 4, “these were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” The Hebrew word means “fallen ones.” What would have made for renown in a world so deep in sin? Great feats of violence, the accumulation of many wives (remember Lamech in chapter 4?) - basically, all sorts of unrighteousness. The sort of thing God won’t put up with.
In the words of OT scholar Peter Gentry, Moses is “demythologizing” the Nephilim.
God’s Response to Evil
What is meant by the 120 years?
We now are in our second portion of the message: what was God’s response to this evil? The level of wickedness in these verses is pretty striking. V7 says that the wickedness had become so great that God determined to blot man off the face of the earth. Which leads us to consider the time frame given in v3, “his days shall be 120 years.”
God’s statement is this: the 120 year limit he sets is the time between when Noah is told to build the ark, and when the flood waters come upon the earth.
The point is clear: God’s patience has a limit, and the pre-flood world found that limit. People often make comments along the lines of, “God’s patience is infinite” or “God’s never going to run out of patience.” Well, God won’t run out of patience in the sense that there is not some limit to how long he could be patient, if he so chose. But the clear witness of Scripture is that God does not choose to let evil go on forever, and his patience therefore is not infinite.
If you are waiting for some other day or some better time to get right with God, then hear the warning of this text: God’s patience has a limit. One day your time will run out.
2 Corinthians 6:2: ‘“In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’
God limited the days of man before the flood, setting a 120 year clock. 2 Peter tells us that in those intervening years Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And yet no one listened to him. Do not be like those in Noah’s day who refused to hear the voice of the Lord. Humble yourself before him.
What does it mean for God to have regret?
The final big question is the second part of God’s response: the Lord regretted that he made man on the earth (v6). What does it mean for God to have regret?
When we come to thorny questions like this in the Bible, the first step is not to just start thinking on your own and coming up with theories.
Rather, what we need to do is ask two questions:
Is there anything else in the immediate context of this verse that will help me understand what it means? And,
Does the rest of the Bible speak to this subject? This is classically called the anologia fide or, the analogy of faith. It is where we let Scripture interpret Scripture.
When it comes to God’s regret, we can get help both ways. Let’s start with the second question, “where else in the Bible does it talk about this?” 1 Samuel 15 is a key example:
“10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night.” 1 Samuel 15:10–11.
This is followed in the text by the narrative of Samuel confronting Saul, and informing Saul that the Lord is going to remove him as king for his disobedience. Saul protests this, and grabs at Samuel’s coat as he is leaving, tearing Samuel’s garment, to which Samuel replies:
“The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 1 Samuel 15:28–29.
What we see in these two statements are God saying that he regrets (v11) and Samuel (God’s authorized spokesman in Israel) saying that God does not lie or have regret. Because he is not a man that he should need to do such a thing.
So what we find in 1 Samuel is that there is a way God speaks of regretting that is true - but is also different from what we mean when we regret. When we regret it is because we’ve changed our mind, or realized an error, or something has messed up our plans. But none of these are the case for God. He does not change, he makes no errors, and he holds all of history in the palm of his hand. God isn’t second-guessing himself.
But there is another way to speak of regret, and that’s where asking our first question - what else does this passage say? - can be really helpful to us. “The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and [now we’ll receive a parallel and explanatory phrase] it grieved him to his heart.” What this verse shows us is that when God speaks of regretting, he doesn’t mean “oh man, I could have done that better.” Rather, he is speaking of his deep sadness over our sin.
This is especially clear when we think about the consequences of sin which come in the following chapters: God here determines to “blot out man from the earth” and does so with a great flood. As the Lord says in Ezekiel 33:11, he takes no delight, no pleasure, in the death of the wicked.
Conclusion
We, too, live in a time of rampant wickedness, one in which God must look at the earth with great sorrow and regret. We commit sins everyday deserving his judgment. While there isn’t a literal flood coming for us, God’s judgment will one day come upon the earth.
Notice v8, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” How did he do that? In one sense, there is no “how.” God’s grace is freely given. We don’t know why God, looking out at sinful humanity, chooses to graciously save some. But we do know what happens when someone receives God’s grace. They are changed.
This side, not only of the flood, but of the cross, we know that each of us deserves to face the flood of God’s wrath against sin. We deserve to drink his judgment for all of eternity. But we also know that when Jesus came to earth, he perfectly walked with God. And having lived a perfect, sinless life, he went to the cross and drank the full measure of God’s wrath against sin and sinners - and he emptied that cup. And now all those who trust in him - who by faith enter the ark of his salvation - receive God’s favor. If you trust in Christ, then, like him, you are God’s beloved child in whom he is well pleased. And this means we are called to live like Noah, who is described in v9 as a righteous man, an upright man, blameless in his generation. He walked with God, as his great-grandfather Methuselah had. So the conclusion of this sermon leaves us, really, in what I hope is a familiar place to you: trust in Jesus. He is your only hope of salvation, and in him you can receive not only the forgiveness of your sins, but the positive pleasure of God the Father. And if you trust in Jesus, then also sends his Spirit to live with you, so that you, too, can walk with God.
Always Evil Continually