Genesis 6:1-8
Why do we rob, cheat, kill, and deceive and manipulate one another? Why is mankind by and large so incredibly immoral and impure? Paul teaches us in Ephesians 6 that “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.” So it is not our fault, right? The devil made me do it…
Is this passage possibly a clue as to why we find ourselves in a massive and invasive war? Let’s pick up on some of the roots of this conflict in Genesis. The war we’re fighting (or not) is both interior and exterior. There is a fight for both our spiritual and physical beings.
“Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (angels) saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh (fallen human); nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 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.
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
Some things to think about when it comes to sexuality/impurity/arrogance being weaponized against mankind:
√ All of Satan’s strategies revolve around idolatry (false gods) and impurity of heart and body
√ Physical intimacy was a gift from God to Adam and Eve and their children
√ Angelic impurity and polluting the gene pool was introduced (where those giants came from)
√ Human impurity and our propensity for what is adulterously evil begins to overflow and capture men and women (and continents)
√ God’s grief over evil consuming those created in His image multiplies to the point of destruction (flood)
√ God’s favor over Noah as deliverer reveals how God is slow to anger and overflowing with lovingkindness
The results of favor through Noah:
– No more floods
– No “blotting out” (destroying) mankind
– No “blotting out” of evil but overcoming it and redeeming mankind (wheat and the weeds growing together)
– God’s grace given to His creation through His Son Jesus
The World at War is a Huge Thread from the Human Story and the God Story. Huge.
Have you searched this thread? How have you learned to overcome in the midst of this war?
Dave and Burnadette