Well, hello everybody and welcome back. This is our Daily Devotional for Tuesday, September the 10th, 2024, and I am delighted to be back with you. Thank you so much for all the kind comments yesterday. What an honor it is to have this time together, to have this time that's set apart. As I said yesterday, I'm really excited to be getting back into the groove of things, even though, as I said yesterday, I didn't follow that principle of being kind to your future self. Because of where we left things off before we took our summer break, at the end of Genesis chapter 5, just so happens that we come to Genesis chapter 6, And what I said yesterday is probably one of the most difficult to understand. Definitely, definitely a controversial passage, okay? And that's Genesis chapter 6, verses 1 through 4. But that's okay, because we're going to handle it, right? As you know, maybe you're brand new to Daily Devotionals. If so, I welcome you. Maybe you've been here all along. I think this is Daily Devotional number 605, 606, something like that. I don't know. We're still in 10 days to flatten the curve in terms of the daily devotionals. That's how these things got started. But it's been a wonderful tool to spend time together. It's been an excellent tool for me to sharpen my teaching and preaching and all those sorts of things. And I've really enjoyed this time with you. But if you've been here all along, you'll know And if you haven't been here all along and you commit to it, you're going to find out. We don't skip around. Sometimes I have been tempted to do that. I think every minister has when you come to a particularly sticky wicket. But we keep going forward chapter by chapter, verse by verse. I struggle now to even think about all the different places that we've been. Romans, Judges, John. Loads and loads of mornings with you all, and some of you have been here all along the way, and I really, really appreciate that more than I can express. We came to Genesis 6, 1 through 4 yesterday, and that's where we are going to continue with today. What we got finished yesterday is I talked about the first option in terms of understanding this passage. Not all of it is cryptic. I mean, it makes sense. Genesis 6, 1, when men began to increase in number on the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. Now, time out. The easy to understand part is this is just talking about the progression of time. Remember, Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel, and so God's line, the holy line that God set apart for himself, was not worked through Abel. Abel is the father of Canaan and all of those nations. God's line was reckoned through Seth. Okay? And what we have here is the expansion of the lines. People are beginning to fill the earth. And then we're introduced to daughters that were born to them. Makes sense, right? But who are these sons of God characters that we saw? And then As you keep on reading, you find out that wickedness has spread. Verse three, then the Lord said, my spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal. His days will be 120 years. God limits human lifetime to 120 years. And then verse four, okay? We get all of that stuff. We get all of that, all right? Verse two, again, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then you get to verse four, it says, the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. Now, what in the world? Nephilim? What does that even mean? Again, one of the most controversial subjects in all of God's Word, okay? The idea that we get is, well, what we read at the end of verse four. They're the heroes of old, men of renown. Now, we need to be careful with the word hero, because hero does not always indicate good guy. Hero is a nice name for a mercenary that does some pretty incredible stuff. Okay, heroes can be on both sides of the equation. You find yourself a hero to go and fight your battle for you Okay, it doesn't mean that you're the good guy, right? but these are these beings and I don't know any other way to describe them and We get the nod that Goliath is descended from the Nephilim because he's from that part of the world. We know that when the Israelites send spies into the promised land across the Jordan, Joshua and Caleb are the faithful spies. They say, oh yes, absolutely, the Lord's with us, let's go. The 10 unfaithful spies cite the Nephilim. They say the Nephilim are there, they're giants. We can't do anything with these people. We're like grasshoppers in our eyes and like theirs as well. Now, that wasn't just a lack of self-confidence. The Nephilim were some bad dudes, okay? There's a reason why God limits man's age up to this point, and we'll get to that. Up to this point, you have Adam living all the, you know, the table of Enosh lived 815 years. And then he had a son altogether, lived 905. Canaan lived 910 years. That's Genesis chapter five, verse 14. God limits mankind's days. And one of the reasons is because of the wickedness that's on the earth. That's not the only thing that he does, as we're gonna see with the flood. But nevertheless, we gotta deal with this first. Who are the Nephilim? Yesterday when we were together, we talked about option one, which can be referred to as the angelic line, okay? you The angelic line is this idea that fallen angels looked upon the daughters of men, and as we read, they saw that they were beautiful, and then they decided to get together with them. They had these sons, and some say, ah, well, the Nephilim were produced from fallen angels having children with regular women. Beautiful women, but regular women nonetheless. And we talked yesterday about the mystery that revolves around the Nephilim. Right were there really giants yes there were really giants does that fit with post enlightenment thinking. No it doesn't but remember that the world that we're in isn't exactly consistent. when it comes to post-enlightenment thinking. You ask people, oh, I can't remember the exact numbers, but it was this horrible and marvelous study that I saw that was done recently asking young people about things like God and heaven, like, oh, no, no, no, I don't believe in that. Well, do you believe in magic? Oh, yes, absolutely. It's like you can't take one part of supernatural and then just discount the other as ridiculous. But nevertheless, that's, That's for a different devotional down the line. As it is here, that first view, the angelic view of the Nephilim, that they're these super beings that were born out of this union between fallen angel and humanity, y'all, it sounds fantastic, doesn't it? I mean, the literary guy in me just loves that explanation. The problem is, as we saw yesterday, there's a couple of issues. Number one, this isn't talking about just sheer mating, okay? This says, again, that the sons of God, and that's verse two of Genesis six, the sons of God saw that the daughters of him were beautiful, and they married. any of them they chose. This is not reminiscent of Edith Hamilton's mythology, right? Where Zeus is looking down from Mount Olympus and he sees this attractive lady and so he disguises himself and she gets pregnant. He's back in Olympus and Hera's all ticked off at him. That's not what this is. This is actual marriages, okay? And that's a problem. It's a problem because of what Jesus said in Luke chapter 20 about angels not being given to marriage, and really, reading between the lines, what Jesus is saying there is angels don't reproduce. Okay, so as fantastic as this sounds, and is it possible that maybe fallen angels, I don't know, y'all. The term Nephilim even here is taken from the Hebrew term fallen. And that's where the idea comes from that these are the spawn of fallen angels. But really what it's relating to is their wickedness, their sinfulness, okay? Do we understand perfectly? No, we don't. But there are two more explanations that I think, not I think, that are definitely not as sensational as the Nephilim or the product of fallen angels hooking up with regular women. But as I ended with yesterday, so I'll begin with today, and then we'll pray. Y'all, there's room for mystery. There is room for wonder. There's room for amazement and things that we can't explain. Yesterday, I actually prayed this, and I'm very fond of this. This past summer, I got to actually see it in person, but it's the Wailing Chapel in New Bedford, Massachusetts, right, I've quoted it before, especially when I preached on Jonah. I did it here with you because we went through Jonah on Daily Devotionals, right? I think that's the first or second thing we did. Father Maple is the pastor that preaches that great sermon before Ishmael and Queequeg set sail to go hunt for the white whale with Ahab. They didn't know that's what they were doing. They just thought they were signing up to be whalers on the Pequod, right? And they're leaving out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, but before they go, They go to the Seaman's Chapel. And it's there, y'all. It's there. It's not the one that was used in the Gregory Peck movie, but that was modeled after that chapel. Herman Melville visited Bethel's Seaman Chapel. That's what it's called. I even got a t-shirt. Should have worn it today. But Father Maple preaches this amazing sermon about the nature of God, and he's preaching from the book of Jonah. And one of the last lines of what he says is, or what he preaches is, for who is man that he should outlive his God? And what he's saying there is not about immortality. What he's saying there, what he's really getting at is, who are we that we think we should be able to explain it? He's talking about God's decrees. He's saying, who are we that we think we ought to be able to explain away every single thing that God does? that we're gonna understand all the ways that God is. Doesn't God tell us, hey look, my ways, they're not like your ways. Isn't the scripture the story of us compared to God and how God is redeeming a people for himself and the best thing God can do is make us like him? Indeed, it is, because y'all, we're so different than God, and the problem we run into is when we try to put God in the box that we build, He looks a whole lot like us, doesn't He? Nevertheless, as Father Maple said, what is man that he should outlive as God? Who are we that we think we have to have the explanation for everything? Y'all, there's room for mystery and wonder, but there are two more explanations as far as who these Nephilim and who these sons of God might be. Let's pray, and then we'll get into them. Father, we thank you for this time that you have given to us, and we pray that you would bless us in it. I've already covered a lot, but give us wisdom and understanding, and be with me as I get back into the groove of things. And again, I thank you for everybody here, and I pray that this time is a blessing to them. Please guide us now by your Holy Spirit, and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so who are the sons of God? We already talked about option one, the angelic line, okay? And realize, sons of God, that's a term that's used in lots of different ways. Sometimes it does mean angels. Angels are called the sons of God because of the quality of their existence, what they are, the fact that they're powerful, they're beautiful. All that sort of thing, right? Psalm chapter 8 says that man was made a little lower than the heavenly beings. That term could very easily be switched out with, man was made a little lower than the sons of God. It does not mean that these are the physical offspring of God himself. Okay? He only has one begotten Son, eternally begotten. How does that work? I don't know, and you don't either, and we'll both go nuts if we try to understand it fully, so let's instead appreciate it. Nevertheless, gotta move on, not getting into Trinity stuff. Option one, angelic line, we've already said that's not a good option because of the marriage thing, but especially because of what Jesus said in Luke chapter 20. Also, the way that you read verse four is important here. All right, it's very important. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. And then it says, they were the heroes of old men of renown. Who is the, they were the heroes of old men of renown? Is it the Nephilim or is it the offspring? The problem is when people translate this as, okay, the Nephilim were the product of this union between the sons of God and the daughter of men. That is not what it says. What it says is that the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward. So the idea that we get from reading this is the Nephilim are already there when these unions, when these marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men are taking place. So it's not a simple cause and effect as people read it, okay? So because it's not a simple cause and effect, i.e. Nephilim produced by this union between the sons of God and the daughter of men, what we just read says the Nephilim were already there. when these marriages started taking place. So there's two more options. The next option, which is more plausible, especially given what Jesus said in Luke 20 about angels not getting married and stuff. The second option is that the Sons of God is referring to the royal line. We're not going to do it, but go back and read through Genesis 4 and 5 and how God reckoned the table of nations. You have Seth's line, you have Cain's line. Abel has been murdered at this point. And the idea of this royal line explanation for who the sons of God are, they say, all right, when it says the sons of God here, this is talking about the royal line, the royal descendants that are intermarrying with all of these different women. Now, again, that's possible. The problem is you don't get anything else in the text that indicates that this has anything to do with kingship, right? That it has anything to do with even wealth, per se. But there are people that say, all right, the reason that these were the men of, the reason these were the heroes, these are the men of renown, is that it's almost like these fantasy, you know, medieval kind of things that you read about where the king ended up having an illegitimate child with a beautiful handmaiden, and then he grows up to be this warrior and stuff. It's kind of like that. The problem is you don't see that anywhere else in Scripture. It's plausible, but it's not likely. Now, the third option, which I think this is the best option, and this is the option that makes the most sense, that the sons of God that verse two introduces us to, and that very clearly these sons of God are out here marrying these beautiful daughters of men. Again, let's read verse two. It says, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Y'all, in my opinion, the way to understand who these sons of God are, the way to understand what is going on here is this. It's not about fallen angels. It's not about some royal line. Instead, the sons of God that are referenced here in verse two. I've said already that it can refer to angels, but also the sons of God, that term has been applied to those who are in covenant with God. The term sons of God has been applied to that royal line, not in terms of human royalty, but that line of God where God reckons a people for himself. Now, in this context, who would the sons of God be? I've already been giving you hints. Y'all, there's only two lines running right now. You've got Cain's line, who murdered Abel, and then you have Seth's line. Seth is that child given to Adam and Eve after Cain murdered Abel. Go back and read chapter four. It is through Seth that God said he would reckon a people for himself. It's for that reason, I think, that verse two, when it talks about the sons of God, it's talking about the line of Seth. And the reason I say that is, again, reading verse two, if you read it as the lines of Seth, saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose, y'all, what this is really getting at is the same thing that we've been dealing with on Sunday morning recently. It's the same paradigm that you read in 2 Corinthians about being unequally yoked. The cause and effect is simple here. God's line, the people of God that God chose for himself was the line of Seth. And what it looks like, Genesis 6 is saying here, is that instead of marrying the ones that they were supposed to, the line of Seth, these men looked out and they saw these beautiful women that came out of Cain's line, right? That were from Canaan, that were from these wicked nations. And they said, oh, well, they're attractive. I'm just going to go ahead and marry them. Again, verse two, they saw they were beautiful and married, and they married any of them they chose. Y'all, I don't think there's a serious mystery in Genesis chapter four. The Nephilim, yes, but what's going on here, I don't think is that complicated. I think this is just being revealed that instead of God's people marrying who they should, instead of God's people remaining separate and holy from the wicked nations of the world, The sons of God, the line of Seth, just married whoever they wanted to based on looks. And what happened? Well, you hear about the Nephilim next, but verse 5 is really what happened. The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. Now, we're gonna come back to that concept tomorrow, okay? This is where we're actually gonna pick up tomorrow, because we're out of time today. But that's what makes sense here. And this is a paradigm that, interestingly enough, this is the first place that we find it, right here in Genesis chapter six, where God calls his people to be holy. If you've been with us on Sunday morning, you know we've been talking about this lately, because I'm preaching through the book of Ezra, and there's a big problem with the Israelites. After Ezra gets back and kind of like this second exodus, people returning from Persia, from Babylon to the promised land, they've rebuilt the temple, they're going to rebuild Jerusalem. Ezra gets back and he hears this report. They say to him, Ezra, we got a little problem here. The exiles, they intermarried with the Canaanite people. You remember what Ezra did? Says he ripped out his hair, tore out his beard, ripped up his robe and his tunic, and sat down devastated in humiliation. Why? What's wrong with that? Is this about interracial marriage? No, it's ain't about interracial marriage. This is about God's people being set apart. This is about God's people being preserved as the line of God's people. And when they intermarried with the Canaanites, with all those detestable nations that practice human and child sacrifice and all kinds of debauchery, y'all, the wisest man besides Jesus who ever lived was Solomon. And what was his downfall? It was marrying the wrong women. That was it. And what a tragic thing that was for Solomon. What a tragic thing it was for Israel later that Ezra has to deal with. But this is the first spot that we see it, y'all. That God calls his people to be holy, and it doesn't have anything to do per se with skin color, nationality, or that kind of thing. What it has to do with is being unequally yoked, to use that language of 2 Corinthians. that the followers of Christ should be marrying followers of Christ and producing followers of Christ. Okay, that's how it works now. And that isn't any longer limited to a line or a nation. There's no Jew or Greek anymore because of Jesus. But rewind to the Old Testament and there was. Later, through Abraham, it would be the Jewish people, the Hebrews that God claimed for himself. But right here at the start, it was supposed to be Seth's line. Seth's line was the chosen people. And instead of remembering that, instead of following and trusting God, They looked and they saw these beautiful women, and they intermarried, and what happened? The same stinking thing that always happens, whether it's Solomon or Israel, or fast forward to the New Testament, fast forward to today when somebody who knows and loves the Lord marries somebody who doesn't and makes that crucial, terrible mistake of saying, I can change them. No, you can't. Did you see Frozen? The best part of the Frozen movie is, oh, what's the song? I think it's called Fixer Upper, right? And in Fixer Upper, the trolls or the gnomes or whatever they are, they're singing to Anna about Hans, I think was his name. Anyway, I'm showing my age here. I can't remember everything. But part of the song about him being a Fixer Upper is we're not... There's kind of this little refrain and they say we're not saying you can change him Because people don't really change and that's true to a certain extent in terms of personality God can redeem anybody But don't marry somebody and think that you're gonna be able to transform them into who you want them to be You might wear them down to a nub eventually, but that's not really changing them You dig? Right. That's why we get that old saying marry in haste repent in leisure but a lot of people get out of marriage before there's time to do that. Nevertheless, the message of God's word is clear, whether it's here to the line of Seth, whether it's fast forwarding to us today, God's people need to be with God's people. Doesn't have anything to do with skin color or anything like that. God's people need to be with God's people so that they produce God's people. That's how God reckons a people for himself. That's how Jesus builds his church. And if you want to know what's really going on in Genesis 6, 1 through 4, the key is Genesis 5. Whichever of those interpretations you want to take, it doesn't matter. Though I think that the third interpretation, that this is not about the royal line, it's not about the angelic line, it's about the godly line. The line of Seth intermarrying with women that they shouldn't have married. And that's why you get verse five about wickedness growing on the earth. Now, that's Genesis 6, 1 through 4 explained tomorrow. We're going to pick up in Genesis chapter 5. We may talk about the Nephilim a little more. By the way, if you have any questions about this, again, I know this is controversial. It's a hot topic. Write me, call me, whatever. We will talk. But again, this stuff is worth digging through. Sometimes things are complicated, but boy, is it worth it. Let's pray. Now God and our Father, I thank you for this time that you have given to us, for the wealth of information in your word and for those things that are easy to understand and those things that are difficult and those things that we get crossways on. Father, we're so grateful that you have given us your word, that in it you tell us who you are and who we are and what you call us to do and be. So let us learn, let us apply the truth of your word. And I pray it all in Christ's name. Well, I'd like to thank everybody for being a part of this time. Lord Willem will be back tomorrow morning. I said seven yesterday. It's actually going to be on at six o'clock. That's when it's scheduled to come out. But I appreciate you being here with me. No, this is not going to be a regular occurrence. I have a funeral service to do later today. You know me. Yeah. Anyway, I'll be dressed, I think, normally tomorrow. But nevertheless, thank you all so much for being here. Take care.