Chapter 6

In the first declaration of the gospel in the scripture remember that Jesus Christ as saviour is “seed of the woman.” This is a title for the humanity of Christ with special emphasis on the virgin birth. Christ had to be born of a virgin in order to be qualified in His humanity to die for our sins and to bear our sins.

It is true that most believers have no clue as to the significance of the humanity of Christ and why Christ had to become a man. But the very first gospel message in the Bible places the emphasis on His humanity and on the virgin birth. While most Christians do not understand the importance of the humanity of Christ, Satan does and Satan has. He has understood so thoroughly that one of the great subjects of the Old Testament are the tremendous number of attacks upon the line of the Lord Jesus Christ as the seed of the woman—Genesis 3:15. This means that somewhere between Adam and the virgin birth there must be a line of genealogy which must go specifically through families. For example, it was apparently originally intended that the line would go through Abel, the first child of Adam and Eve who was born again. The murder of Abel made that impossible and so in all of the genealogies of Christ they are always traced through Seth. So first of all, the seed of the woman was to be Adam’s seed. Then the seed of the woman was to be Abraham’s seed. Eventually we come to that point in the genealogies where the line of Christ is traced through Abraham. Before that time, of course, very important is the line of Christ traced through Noah. Eventually in the line of Abraham it comes through Jacob, and from Jacob the line goes through Judah, and through David. Christ is the son of David, through Nathan, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes into the world through the Davidic line. This means that at certain points Satan tried to hinder the humanity of Christ. He made specific attacks on the humanity of Christ in order to keep Jesus Christ from coming into the world, for if Jesus Christ is in any way frustrated from coming into the world then there is no salvation.

The doctrine of the humanity of Christ is a part of the doctrine of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. In essence, Jesus Christ is God. He is also true humanity. In His deity Jesus Christ is eternal life, and eternal life cannot die. He is immutability, and immutability can’t change. He is sovereignty, and divine sovereignty is not subject to death. And yet the only way for man’s salvation is the cross, and so Christ had to become true humanity for it is the humanity of Christ which died. Only the humanity of Christ could bear the sins of the world. Hebrews 2:9-14; Philippians 2:5-8. No true humanity; no saviourhood.

Also involved are some other principles. Christ had to be true humanity to be our mediator. The mediation is between God and man and a mediator must be equal with both parties. Jesus Christ is deity, in His essence He is equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. In His humanity He is equal and superior to all members of the human race. And since the mediation is between God and the human race He is equal with both parties in the mediation by virtue of the fact that he is God and at the same time humanity. That is why there is only one mediator between God and man—1 Timothy 2:5,6. Then, in order to be the high priest Jesus Christ had to become a man also, for a priest must be a member of the human race representing the human race before God. So Jesus Christ became true humanity so that He might be our high priest forever. Then in order for Jesus Christ to reign as the son of David He also had to become true humanity.

Satan understood all of this doctrine and consequently he made every attempt in Old Testament times to frustrate the virgin birth, to keep Jesus Christ from becoming true humanity. When it became apparent that the seed of the woman would come through Abel Satan inspired Cain, the first religious man, to murder his brother Abel. Consequently, the line had to go down through another born again child of Adam and Eve, Seth. From the point of Seth there were a number of attacks to keep the promise of Genesis 3:15, the seed of the woman, from being fulfilled. The second attack is the attack of Genesis chapter six, an angelic infiltration into the human race attempting to destroy true humanity. This is the greatest attack ever made upon our salvation. It was so successful that the line by which Jesus Christ could come into the world was narrowed down to one family, the family of Noah. Had it not been for the flood the attack would have been entirely successful for there would have been no true humanity left in the human race. All of the human race would have been part human and part angelic.

The next series of attacks came upon the line of Abraham. First of all, Sarah wound up in the harem of an Egyptian king—Genesis 12. Pharaoh in the time of Moses commanded to kill the male line of Israel. This was an attack upon the virgin birth and the true humanity of Christ, an attempt to frustrate the coming of Christ in the flesh—Exodus chapter 1. Then, in Exodus 14, Pharaoh’s attempt to kill Israel immediately after the Exodus is the third attack upon Abraham’s seed.

When it became apparent that in the line of Abraham this promise would be fulfilled through David the rest of the Old Testament records numerous attacks upon the line of David. For example, Jehoshaphat had one son left. All the rest had been mysteriously killed. He arranged the marriage of his son with the daughter of Jezebel, a woman by the name of Athaliah—2 Chronicles 18, the story of how all of their children were killed by the Arabians, but one was miraculously preserved. Athaliah herself attempted to kill the final one, Jehoahaz, and did not succeed. If she had succeeded there could be no promise fulfilled in the line of David that David would have a son who would reign forever. But God intervened.

There is the case of Hezekiah. When he was about to die through discipline, he was childless, and God preserved him until he could have a progeny to perpetuate his line and the Lord Jesus Christ came in that way. Haman’s plot to annihilate the Jews was another attempt—the story of the book of Esther. In the time of David there were many attempts, such as every attempt on his life personally. Back in the time of Joshua the possibility of Rahab being killed in two ways—by the king of Jericho because she aided the spies from Israel, and again in the fall of Jericho if she had been killed the same thing would have been true because Rahab is an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there were many attacks, even down to the point of the virgin birth. There were attacks upon Joseph’s line himself. When Joseph found that Mary was pregnant, before he knew of the virgin birth, it was customary to have his fiance killed, as per the Mosaic law—they were not married as yet—but he refused to do so. Herod’s order to kill all of the male line of Judah in Matthew 2:13-18 is another attempt at the same.

This all adds up to the principle that throughout the Old Testament times one of the great subjects is the story of how Satan tried to frustrate the true humanity of Christ. Once Jesus Christ is born of a virgin the whole principle changes. No longer does Satan try to attack the seed by which Christ would come into the world, the seed of the woman, because Christ has already come. Now the attempt is to distort the fact, to ignore the fact, or to somehow discredit the fact concerning the virgin birth and the cross. The virgin birth and the cross form the central principles of salvation. It is now Satan’s attempt today to do everything possible to discredit these doctrines so that people will not be concerned about receiving Jesus Christ as saviour.

In Genesis chapter six we have the greatest attempt to frustrate the plan of God in the virgin birth and in the cross. There are two great principles in this chapter: a) Satan’s great attempt to destroy true humanity; b) How culture, art, music, science, pleasure, and so on, were used as substitutes for fellowship with God, and how none of them succeeded.

Verse 1 – the antediluvian population ratio. There were more women than men. “And it came to pass when men began to multiply”—this is a generic term for men, not male but mankind, people in general. There was a great antediluvian population explosion.

“and daughters were born unto them” – this means literal females were born, but it is an idiom meaning there was an excess of women in the population.

Verse 2 – “That the sons of God.” The phrase in the Hebrew is used four times in the scriptures. There is another word for “sons of God” but this particular one is only used four times. This is beni ha Elohim. This word is invariably, without exception, used for angels, never men—Job 1:6; 2:1, 38:7. Son of God in the New Testament is used as a designation for Jesus Christ, and sons of God in the New Testament is used for believers—“Beloved, now are ye the sons of God.” Remember, that is Greek, this is Hebrew.

But sons of God is used for all kinds of angels, and the big problem here is what kind of angels are involved here. There are several kinds of fallen angels and we will see that these here are fallen angels. First, there are fallen angels today called demons. Then there are fallen angels which are bound. All fallen angels are under the control of Satan or Lucifer. The bound angels are the sons of God of Genesis 6:2. Cf. 2 Peter 2:4, which tells us that a time came when some of Satan’s angels were bound, put in prison. The Greek word “hell” in that verse is literally, Tartarus, which is a pit in the underworld where super beings were cast. When did these angels sin—see 2 Peter 2:5. Cf. also, Jude 6—“angels which kept not their first estate.” The first estate of angels means that it is not an area but a principle. Angels were prohibited from cohabiting, copulating with mankind, just as mankind is forbidden copulation with animals. In other words, God never mixes His creatures. They “left their own habitation” – the second heaven.

There is also another category of fallen angels known as demons. A demon is an angel under Satan which is still operational. Apparently there are millions of them and they are well organised and have tremendous functions.

“they were fair” – extremely beautiful.

“and they took them wives of all whom they chose” – this means cohabitation; copulation was specifically involved between angels and females of mankind. We understand from the end of verse 2 that we actually have the beginning of a super race because angels stepped out of line, left their habitation, and copulated with the women of mankind.

Verse 3 – while this was going on the Holy Spirit makes a comment. There would come a time when the Holy Spirit would stop striving with man. From the end of the verse we know it will be 120 years from the time this message was given to the human race. Before the flood the Holy Spirit retrained sin. If there had not been a restraint of sin on the human race at that time then Noah and his family would have been slain. The human race would not have survived on the earth and no one would have been saved—Noah and his family. The second ministry of the Holy Spirit is the ministry of conviction. Since the beginning of time the Holy Spirit has been convincing unbelievers with regard to the gospel—specifically sin, righteousness and judgment. The sin is rejection of Christ. Righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and judgment for those who reject Christ—they stand on their own good works and their own works will condemn them to the eternal lake of fire. Cf. John 16:7-11. Then finally, we have the regeneration ministry of the Holy Spirit—John 3:5; Titus 3:5. In this ministry God the Holy Spirit takes every believer and brings him into the family of God. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the new birth.

“for that he also flesh” – this phrase means that by the elapse of 120 years there will no longer be flesh upon the earth, with the exception of Noah. Flesh here means true humanity. So we now know that this Satanic attack took place and occurred within a period of 120 years.

Verse 4 – “There were giants in the earth in those days.” The Hebrew word Nephalim means fallen ones. It means, therefore, more than giants. It means giants who had fallen from the human race in that they were no longer true humanity.

“also after that” – four words which stand for a Hebrew idiom. It should be translated, this was the cause. Why were there Nephalim? Why was there a super race of heroes on the earth in those days? Because “the sons of God came into the daughters of men.”

“and they bore to them [these angels], the same [fallen ones] who became mighty mean which were of old, men of renown.” The reason that Noah and his family did not get involved is because they were born again, because they were not only true humanity but had personally accepted Christ as saviour. They were protected physically from the people of the super race who, by the way, were very warlike and brutal.

Verses 5-7, the divine attitude toward the antediluvian civilisation, and the super race in particular.

Verse 5 – The “wickedness was great” because of the involvement of fallen angels. Wickedness is always, first of all, what you think, not what you do.

“that every imagination of the thoughts of his mind was only evil continually” – the wickedness of the human race is first of all in mental attitude.

Verse 6 – “And it repented the Lord.” Repent means to change the mind. The translators knew that God doesn’t change His mind and that since God is immutable, and since this therefore was an anthropopathism, and since it must be made clear to future generations that this was an anthropopathism, they took the subject (the Lord) and translated it, “it repented the Lord.” But the Hebrew says, “the Lord repented.” Here it means to change the attitude. The Lord changed His mental attitude that He had made man on the earth.

“and it grieved him in his heart” – this is describing a divine attitude which is indescribable in terms of human attitude.

Verse 8 – “But.” There is an exception. “Noah found grace” – the word found means discovered. This means he discovered salvation and he responded to it. Noah believed in Jesus Christ.

Verse 9 – “These are the generations of Noah” emphasises again his regeneration. Noah was a just man—Hebrews says justified. “Perfect in his generations” means his humanity was still true humanity all the way through. The word perfect means complete.

“walked with the Lord” – Noah had a spiritual life.

Verse 10 – to perpetuate the pure line, “Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth.”

Verse 11 – but the rest of the earth “was corrupt.” Corrupt means humanity was no longer true humanity, it was tainted. It was corrupted with angelic infiltration.

“and the earth was filled with violence” – lots of fighting. Apart from the Tribulation this was the greatest period of wickedness the world will ever encounter.

Verse 12 – the corruption is amplified: “for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.” The only exception is Noah.

Verse 13 –“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them [the super race]; and, behold, I will destroy them [the super race] with the earth.”

Verse 14 – “Make thee an ark.” You are going to survive. There are three arks in the Bible: Noah’s ark; the ark in which Moses was placed as a baby—Exodus 2:3. It protected the child from the wrath of Pharaoh; the ark of the covenant whose location was in the holy of holies, except at certain times when it was moved from one place to another. Each one of these arks has special significance as the place of protection from judgment. Moses’ ark, the place of divine provision in protection from difficulties in life. The ark of the covenant, the doctrine of propitiation correlated with atonement.

In the last half of the sixth chapter we have a picture of divine judgment on the human race and the half human-half angelic race. There is one other commentary on this passage found in Hebrews 11:7. The basis of Noah’s faith: he was warned of God. Noah being warned of God started to build.

Characteristics of the ark

1) The ark was made of one material—gopher wood, which is a picture of the humanity of Christ. The principle of the material used is the fact that Jesus Christ had to be true humanity to provide salvation for us. Cf. Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 2:9-15.

In order for Noah to build this ark out of wood, the wood had to be cut down. Trees had to be cut down. The growing tree is a picture of the life of Christ, and every time Noah cut a tree down he was illustrating salvation. There is nothing in the life of Christ that can save the human race. The cutting down of the tree is a picture of the cross.

The ark is an illustration of Christ. Noah and his family were in the ark and this represents positional truth, people in union with Christ. There were eight people in the human race who were born again. They were inside of the ark and therefore protected from judgment. The rest of the human race was destroyed and the story of the ark is the story of Romans chapter eight, verse one: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The ark is an illustration of positional truth. For the person who has accepted Christ as saviour he is in union with Christ, and therefore it is impossible for God to judge anyone who is in union with Christ. The world outside of the ark was destroyed but the world inside of the ark was delivered.

2) The ark was also waterproof—“pitch.” This was a type of tar which was used to seal up the wood in the ship. The Hebrew word which is translated “pitch” is the Hebrew word kaphar, which means covering or atonement. The principle is that it is the atonement of Christ which makes the ship safe, judgment is kept out by the blood of Christ—“The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses from all sin. Cf. Hebrews 9:22.

3) There was one set of plans, verse 15. All the specifications are given. There are specific dimensions and these are given to be followed very carefully. The reason for these dimensions is because they set up a ratio between the length and the beam of the ship. In order to have a seaworthy vessel in every way the ratio is extremely important. This makes it stable, gives it good balance and seaworthiness in the worst possible type of a storm. This ark was the production of divine revelation and there was no human speculation in the design. The principle behind it is this. Salvation is God’s design, God’s execution, God’s work, and there is no place for human speculation or human works. God has laid down all of the specifications in connection with salvation, including the fact that the only way to appropriate is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have in the plan of salvation exact specifications to meet every problem which keeps man from having fellowship with God. There can be and there is no deviation from these specifications. The work is all accomplished and man’s appropriation is apart from human works, nothing can be added to it.

4) There was one door. There is only one way of salvation. John 14:6; Acts 4:12. Only one way to enter the ark, only one way to have fellowship with God.

5) There was one window. There is only one way of having fellowship with God—1 John 1:9. The window was built on the top side, it looked toward heaven.

The Holy Spirit must control the life.

6) There were three floors [decks]. These represent the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

7) The storm fell upon the ark but not upon Noah and his family. When the storm hit it came from two directions. It came from above the earth and it came

from beneath the earth. It was a vice, as it were, squeezing the ark. There has to be in any deliverance a supernatural element. What device was used to keep air in the proper proportions? i.e. keep the air in a stabilized form where there was enough oxygen to offset the hydrogen and nitrogen in the air. The Lord provided it. It is that simple. The judgment that would have fallen on Noah and his family fell on the ark. This is a picture of the judgment that fell the Lord Jesus Christ in the three hours on the cross, instead of on us.

8) In the realm of the human race there was one category of survivors—believers. When the world is destroyed, along with the entire universe, there will be

one category of survivors, those who are born again.

Twice in the history of the human race we have a judgment which takes all unbelievers off the earth and believers remain on the earth: once in the days of Noah and once in the Tribulation/Second Advent—the flood and the baptism of fire.

Verses 17-22, the proclamation of judgment. We have the detailed description of which will be allowed in and in what numbers. Unclean animals: 2; clean animals: 7. The clean animals are the animals used in sacrifice. One animals would be sacrificed of each type of clean animal once the ark returns safely to the earth, and then there will be three pairs left so that they will multiply more rapidly.