Noah is the key to propphecy
Pedronewt, thanks for taking the time to post.
As
JRFifty said, "This is a very heavy subject." Several questions pop up which require discussion in a logical sequence. Let's reply to a few of yours,
Pedronewt.
Why do you infer that the Sons of God were fallen angels?
From the beginning, the very idea of fallen angels actually breeding with "the daughters of men," and producing offspring is so incredibly controversial that this subject is almost always ignored by teachers and pastors -- and yet The Holy Spirit does not give us verses in the Bible that are unimportant. In typical liberal fashion, over the centuries, various teachers and scholars have sought to turn the
Nephilim into the descendants of
Cain. Conversely, the sons of God are usually exegeted as the descendants of
Seth -- the surviving good son of Adam. However, this perspective did not show up until much later in the Christian era. In the New Testament era, it was widely known that the angels had once bred with the "daughters of men."
It's interesting that some believers don't stumble at the prospect of believing that people once lived to be 900 years old, or of a giant flood that drowned the entire world except for one family in a big boat; yet those same believers sometimes have difficulty in grasping the implications of the verses concerning the
Nephilim.
To understand the incredible predicament we are currently caught in, it will be useful to go back to the beginning of the story.
The Bible tells us that from the ancient times of man's history, he was not alone on the planet. In the
nine generations before the great flood of Noah, "when men began to multiply on the face of the earth... the
sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." (Gen 6:1, 2)
These "sons of God" (the Hebrew
b'nai elohim) were the fallen angels associated with
Satan. In the book of
Job, we see "there was a day when
the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and
Satan came also along them." (Job 1:6) Once again, in every instance in the Old Testament in which we find the phrase the "sons of God," it
always refers to the angelic beings that were in the company of Satan. ((Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7)
It is evident that there is a special class of fallen angels that committed a crime that was so thoroughly evil, so repugnant to God, that he bound them in "chains" in the "darkness," even
before the general judgment of "everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels." (Mat 25:41)
Jude writes concerning these "angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation" and how God "hath reserved [them] in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 1:6)
This binding in "chains" is a past tense judgment that indicates an unspecified portion of the fallen angels committed such a heinous sin that God felt compelled to imprison them "before the time." (Mat 8:29) This could only refer to the ungodly mixing of the two branches of creation -- angels and the daughters of men.
The
Apostle Peter also references this ancient occurrence detailing how "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..." (2 Peter 2:4)
Why did they only try this during Noah's time?
They're still doing it today. Have you ever heard of an alleged UFO abduction story that did NOT include some sort of sexual experimentation theme? Note that Gensis 6:4 says, "There were giants in the earth in those days;
and also after that..." (Gen 6:4) Satan tried it before; he will inevitably try it again.
The scriptures clearly show that
not all the angels that fell from heaven were bound, for we find many of them present on the earth during the current age. As a case in point, when Jesus encounters the
Gadarene madman, we learn much about the fallen spirits that sometimes
possess men. In this rather chilling example of demonic possession,
Jesus "... asked him what is thy name? And he answered, saying, my name is
Legion: for we are many." (Mark 5:9)
According to
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, a
legion was "the principle unit of the Roman army comprising at first 3000 but later 5000 to 6000 foot soldiers with a complement of cavalry." (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1976, G & C Merriam Co., Vol. II, Legion) This means there were most likely
several thousand devils inhabiting this one individual! It would seem that these devils were not among those that bred with human women, for the spiritual entities in this episode were free upon the earth and had taken control of this one unfortunate man.
In another account of this same case of demonic possession, the Devils "... besought him that he would not command them to go
out into the deep." (Luke 8:31) The scriptural tale goes on to tell that...
"... And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to
enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked." (Luke 8:32, 33)
In still another account of possession, when the devils were confronted by
Jesus, they asked him "art thou come hither to torment us
before the time?" (Mat 8:29)
In these informative exchanges, we learn that there is a specified time these evil entities expect to be "tormented" with their angelic associates that have
already been judged. We also see that
they do not want to be cast "into the deep." (Luke 8:31)
]It's also clear that these devils prefer to have some form of corporeal body as they begged to be allowed to possess the bodies of the swine rather than be cast out into the deep.
The deep is precisely where the
Nephilim themselves are currently bound.
If it was to "dirty" the gene pool, how was Noah, wife and kids the only ones out of all mankind to escape the taint?
The Bible is a veritable panorama of Satan's efforts to destroy the Messiah, even before he was born. It is quite possible that the hybridization of humanity was a direct attempt to destroy the human bloodline, to prevent this birth i.e. to prevent Satan's demise.
Just before the flood, we see that humanity was practically over-run with hybrids ("... the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of
all which they chose. (Genesis 6:2). Abduction would be the proper term here, as the consent or courtship of the female, nor the approval of parents, is an issue. For fans of Star Trek's "Borg," assimilation would be the best analogy!
It is at precisely at this point in scripture God's judgment of the flood is pronounced. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord..." (Genesis 6:8).
Why was Noah chosen? Most modern translations seem to indicate that he was merely "righteous" or morally superior to others, and God favored him because of it. Only the King James Version (and study of the original Hebrew) gives true insight to the fact that Noah's family was probably the only family on Earth left that was genetically pure, therefore capable of fulfilling the Messianic prophecy of Genesis 3:15.
"...Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9).
Also, was not the gene pool already tainted by Adam?
Tainted via sin, perhaps, but not tainted via genetics. Sin is a choice, but our genetics are not.
Please show other instances of fallen angels mating with human women and producing offspring.
This is the only instance I am aware of in The Word of God - not that its significance is minimized! Noah and the reality of the Nephilim are KEY to prophecy.
