Genesis

I think a discussion of God’s plan of redemption and the coming messianic king and the eschatological kingdom, should include a discussion about the flood and its cause. First we need to discuss the giants, and then secondly, we can address this point. We know from other passages in the bible that the giants brought a complete ravishing and destruction of the earth. Apart from Gen. 6:4, and 6:11-13, to understand more about what the bible says about the giants, also see Gen 14:5; Numb 13:33; Deut 1:28; Deut 2:11, 20-21; Deut 3:11, 13; Josh 12:4; Josh 13:12; Josh 15:8; 1Sam 17:4; 2Sam 5:18, 22; 2Sam 21:11, 15-22; 1Chr 11:15; 1Chr 14:9, 13; 1Chr 20:4, 6, 8; Job 26:5; Prov 2:18; Prov 21:16; Isa 13:3; Ezek 32:20, 27. In Noah’s day the earth was “corrupt” (šāḥat, שָׁחַת) which implies ruined, spoiled, decayed, destroyed — a word also used for ruining the land’s fertility (e.g., Jer 12:4; Hos 4:3). “Filled with violence” (ḥāmās, חָמָס) denotes social brutality and predatory destruction. The very created order itself was being broken down by the giants. It was both a moral and an ecological corruption by violence. Hence when covenantal order breaks down, the Hebrews say that the earth groans (cf. Lev 18:25; Isa 24:5–6; Rom 8:22). When the land cannot handle the level of degradation and corruption it says, “the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants” (Lev. 18:25). The men who spied out the land of Canaan said that it was a land that devours its inhabitants (Numbers 13:32). The level of corruption was unsustainable. The moral corruption of the giants on the earth in Noah’s day – their violence, domination, and tyranny are portrayed as ravaging creation. For what it’s worth, the non-canonical book of Enoch, quoted by Jude since it preserves interpretive tradition, says that the giants consumed all the acquisitions of men, and when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh and drink the blood” (Book of 1 Enoch 7:4–6). Basically, the curse became so bad in the pre-flood time period that the earth could no longer sustain life in its intended order. I wonder if this is what the New Testament is referring to when it says that the last days will be like the days of Noah – a corruption that is unsustainable for the inhabitants of the earth – to the extent that earth required a cosmic cleansing and reset, except next time, the elements will melt and the stars will fall from the sky and many other catastrophic things will happen as God breaks into history once more, and pours out his wrath on those who destroy the earth and its inhabitants in their violence and oppression, and Jesus will do away with this kingdom just like God did away with the earth in Noah’s day, and the eternal kingdom will be established. Personally, I think that God’s reason for the flood was because of all the violence and corruption listed above that stemmed from the presence of the giants – so while the thoughts of men’s hearts were evil continuously, man’s DNA had become corrupted by the Nephilim. We somehow have gotten the idea that the flood was God’s punishment of man’s sin. But this does not make sense because in Genesis 3:15 God declared to Adam and Eve that His solution to the sin problem of man was a Saviour. So why would He change His mind and decide that a flood is a better solution to the sin-problem of man? Well, simply put, because He was not solving the sin problem of man. He was rescuing sin-cursed humanity out of the clutches of the fallen angels before there would be not one left whose DNA had not been corrupted, and perhaps Noah and his sons and their wives were the only ones left who had made decisions to not corrupt themselves with the giants. We have been given the impression that all eight people on the ark were righteous but the bible does not make this declaration. Noah alone was found righteous (Gen. 7:1) and he found grace in God’s sight (Gen. 6:8). Certainly the other members on the ark satisfied God’s requirements to be on the ark; they had surely made the right choices according to God’s requirements. If His reason for the flood was to rescue humanity from total destruction related to the Nephilim, then it makes sense that his requirement for entrance onto the ark would have been connected to keeping their DNA pure and rejecting the Nephilim and choosing to preserve their God-given humanity through God’s order of marriage. Just a thought! Entrance into the final eschatological kingdom will also be about what we choose – who we are: we are called to be the beatitudes person – meek, gentle, forgiving, kind, full of the fruit of the Spirit. Only the righteous will enter in – our righteousness is through faith in Christ. I think the ones on the ark are at the very least a picture of ones who trusted Noah – he is our type of Christ in this instance. Furthermore, if God has plans to let people into the millennial reign who have not heard of his name nor seen His glory, according to Isaiah 66: 19 (Apostolic Bible Polyglot) then it is also not a strange notion that He would save some onto the ark who had not yet been declared entirely righteous as Noah had. It is not as if He was letting them into heaven, they were entering the new world where they would still ultimately have to make their decisions about their eternity before they died – only the righteous can enter heaven. They were still in the flesh on the ark – so too, the ones who enter the millennial reign who have not heard of God’s name are still in the flesh and would still have to make a decision in their hearts for or against God before they die or before the end of the millennium. Regardless, whether they were all righteous or not, God used Noah as a type of Christ to rescue humanity, as He will do one day again when He establishes the eschatological kingdom. Once more we see that the love of God refuses to give up on sinful man. This entire event foreshadows salvation through the righteousness of Christ.