In the Beginning: From Creation to Covenant
Part 3
“Why the Flood”

Now, last time we closed with the first prophecy when God informed Satan He would send One that would bruise his head, symbolic of a death blow. This was the first Messianic prophecy in the Bible.

Now, as we open to chapter 4 the first couple has been banished from the Garden of Eden. God had said “And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…”

This is the first mention we have of the tree of life. God’s concern before now had been that they would not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But now His concern is about the tree of life. This is because God did not want them to eat of it and live forever in their fallen condition. So He removed their access to the tree of life.

We note that the tree of life appears again in the Book of Revelation as being part of the glory of heaven:

Rev. 22:1-2 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
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Now chapters 4-6:13 record the rapid decay of what we call the antediluvian (pre-flood) world that leads to God announcing he will destroy that world but save Noah and his family through the ark.

It opens with a pleasant scene of the first couple starting a family.

4:1-2 “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”

But this pleasant picture is soon shattered. It is here the Bible reveals the tragic consequences of sin entering the human race beginning to unfold. It starts with both Cain and Abel bringing an offering to the Lord. Cain brings an offering of the fruit of the ground because he was a farmer. Abel, a shepherd, brings the right kind of offering–a lamb.

Scripture records:

4:3-4 “And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, But He did not respect Cain and his offering.”

This rejection of Cain’s offering is because God had early on at the very moment of their fall shown the first couple that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins” (Heb. 9:22), by slaying an animal for their covering.

Cain knew this and had failed to approach God by God’s prescribed manner.

And this is the story of most of mankind to this day. The attitude is, “I will come to God my way on my terms.” And just like God rejected Cain and his offering, He will reject everyone that chooses to ignore His one and only way to heaven–the shed blood of His Son!

It says Cain was angry over this. The Hebrew meaning “It burned to Cain exceedingly,” or, “Cain burned with rage” at God and his brother. His facial expression became sour, dejected, dark.

At this point God warns Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” Meaning, “if you do what Abel did I will receive your offering as well!” Then the warning, “And if you do not do well, sin is at the door. And its desire is for you…”

When we choose our own way and reject God’s way, sin is always at the door. And its desire is to destroy us. To get the victory over that sin you MUST come to God by His prescribed way!
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Sadly, Cain rejected God’s offer which led to tragedy. One day shortly thereafter, the two brothers took a walk in a field. The belief among many commentators is that it was at Cain’s invitation. Premeditated murder was hatched in his heart. It says:

4:8 “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

Matthew Henry writes, “Malice in the heart ends in murder by the hands.” Selfishness, wounded pride, jealousy, and a guilty conscience were all at work here. So the first murder has now stained the human race!

This is why Jesus taught that murder begins with escalating anger. (Matt 5:21-22) Therefore, deal with anger before anger deals with you!
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Following the murder of Abel, God judges Cain and exiles him to the life of a fugitive and vagabond. Cain cries out in vs. 13, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” He is concerned that anyone that encounters him will kill him. So God “set a mark on Cain” (vs. 15) as a deterrent, declaring that anyone that kills him will receive a sevenfold vengeance.

Scripture records that Cain “went out from the Presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod (wandering), which was east of the Garden of Eden.” (Vs. 16)

Now, the remainder of chapter 4, vs 16-26, begin to track the two main lineages of the OT–the descendants of Seth, and the descendants of Cain.

We see that in Seth’s line the seventh man from Adam was Enoch, a type of the Church who was “raptured” and walked with God. His name means “teaching.” While vs 25-26 and the entirety of chapter 5 tracks the lineage of Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth (meaning, ‘appointed’). At Seth’s birth Eve said: “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” (Vs 25)

Seth’s line is viewed as the godly line, and is associated with prayer and praise. It says in vs. 26 “And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.”
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Then in Cain’s line the 7th from Adam was Lamech (‘despairing’). He is a type of the world, a confessed murderer and the first polygamist. His children introduced an Earth-based civilization focused on the exaltation of man, who by their own achievements would try to redeem themselves. From these children came animal husbandry, manufacturing, the arts and music, and entertainment.

Now it’s very important to keep these two lineages in mind when coming to chapter 6, because chapters 4-5 set the stage for understanding chapter 6. In chapter 6 the utter depravity of the antediluvian society is vividly described. It is also where we meet the infamous Nephilim giants.

Let’s look first at God’s x-ray view of their condition. Vs 5 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Vs 13 says, “…the earth is filled with violence through them…”

It was so bad that God pronounced judgment, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…” (vs. 7)

So judgment is pronounced, which will come by the universal flood of Noah.
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But chapter 6 also mentions the infamous Nephilim giants we hear so much about today. Let’s read 6:1-3,

“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

These are passages of great controversy which swirls around who the ‘sons of God’ are. Some claim they are fallen angels pointing to passages in Job that mention ‘the sons of God’ (angels) presenting themselves to God. (Job 1:6)

It is taught that the ‘sons of God’ mentioned in Gen 6:2 refers to fallen angels that cast their eyes on earthly women and decided to marry them. It is further taught that out of these unions between fallen angels and earthly women were born the giants mentioned in 6:4,

“There were giants (Nephilim) in 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 of old, men of renown.”
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Okay, let’s look carefully at this. First, NEVER in the Bible does God attach a positive description like ‘son of God’ to something evil, like a fallen angel. NEVER. The angels in Job were good angels, not fallen. In Romans 8:14 we’re told that “those that are led by the Spirit of God, these are the SONS OF GOD.” When a created being of God falls into sin, the description of them is changed.

Lucifer (light bearer) became Satan (adversary), Devil (accuser) Serpent (deceiver).

Second, notice the word construction of vs 4. There were giants already in the earth in the days BEFORE the sons of God had relations with earthly women producing children! Their union did not produce the giants. The giants preceded their union! What their union DID produce was ‘mighty men of old, men of renown.’ (Vs 4)

Then who were the sons of God? They were clearly the descendants of Seth. The point of their mention as sons of God is to let us know that even the righteous, godly lineage of Seth had backslidden away from God. This was obvious by how they chose ‘multiple wives’ based solely on physical attraction, not godly character.

After the fall of the Sethites is described in vs. 2, God says in verse 3:

“My Spirit shall not strive with MAN forever, for he is indeed FLESH; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

One commentator writes, “The corruption described is that of the Sethites; for the Cainites have already been depicted as violent and lustful, and their history has been brought to an end.”

Hence, the first 7 verses of chapter 6 have set the stage, explaining why a universal flood of judgment is looming on the horizon. But God, who is ever merciful and gracious, opens a door of invitation to escape it all with His call to a man named Noah and his assignment to build an ark!

That is where we begin next time!