Understanding the Bible - Part 4

The Fallen World

    The previous chapter revealed the darkest depths of human nature in the form of Abel’s death at the hands of his brother Cain.  This chapter deals with the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.  God having proclaimed Satan’s demise at the hands of a future offspring of Eve, Satan began his conspiracy to destroy the genetic line of Eve.  Once you have read Genesis 5:1 through 6:7 you are ready to consider the three questions:
 
1.  What does it reveal about God?

• God has a plan.  Genesis 5 includes the first of what will be several genealogies listed in the Bible.  You might think these lists of names make for a boring read, but they serve a purpose.  They ultimately will trace the line of Eve to the savior promised by God.
• God is grieved by sin.  Genesis 1 and 2 reveal the glorious creation of God.  All that he created was good.  The actions of humans brought evil into the world and with it the corruption of sin.  In Genesis 6 the wickedness of humans has grown so great that God finds himself regretting his creation.
• God is all powerful.  God created this world and he has the power to destroy it.  Genesis 6:7 contains the chilling proclamation of God’s vow to destroy all living creatures, save for the select few we will discuss in the next chapter.
• God is just.  God’s proclamation is not arbitrary.  Wicked human behavior and the interference of angelic followers of Satan who sought to corrupt the line of Eve with the seed of the Serpent (as described in Genesis 6:2-4) compelled God to take action to salvage his creation and preserve the line of Eve.

 
2.  What does it reveal about us?

• As was stated in the previous chapter, we are capable of great evil.  The wickedness of humans had grown so great that God was left with no choice except to hit the reset button and start over.
• We do not have to conform to the world around us.  While we are capable of great evil, we can choose a different path.  Enoch serves as an example of one who remained true to God even as the world around him was falling into evil.

 
3.  What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God intended for us to have fellowship with him.  Despite the actions of Adam, Eve, and Cain, God did not give up on humans.  He had a relationship with Enoch, so much so that he took Enoch up to be with him in Heaven.
• There is a line that we can cross that makes reconciliation with God impossible.  There was something uniquely wicked about what humans were doing prior to the Flood that compelled God to destroy them.  It was beyond rebellion and murder, for we had already seen God deal mercifully with Adam, Eve, and Cain for those offenses.  The union of the “Sons of God” and the daughters of men hint at the line that was crossed and it ties in to the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent.  The pre-flood society was engaging in actions that had corrupted the genetic code created by God.  They were no longer made in the image of God.  They had mingled with the seed of the Serpent and their offspring were created in his image, thus the thoughts of their hearts were to do evil continually.  Extra-Biblical Hebrew texts such as the books of Jasher and Jubiliees reveal that humans were engaged in all-manner of crossbreeding, thus corrupting all of creation.

    The second prominent mention of a line that is crossed beyond which reconciliation with God is impossible occurs in the final book of the Bible – Revelation.  In it, those who take the Mark of the Beast are described as condemned and beyond hope of salvation.  I believe this mark involves something that alters the human genetic code and corrupts it with the seed of the Serpent, much like what happened in the pre-Flood society.  Indeed Jesus told his disciples that the Last Days would be like the days of Noah.  This should give us pause as to how far science should go in manipulating genetics. 
 
Key Passage
 
                “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 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.”  Genesis 6:1-2
 
                As mentioned earlier, this passage reveals Satan’s attempt to corrupt the seed of Eve by carrying out a plot that saw angels loyal to him engaging in unions with mortal women to create unnatural offspring.  One cannot help but see imagery similar to pagan mythologies where “Gods” take human consorts who bear powerful demi-gods.  The result is a genetic corruption so prolific that only the lines of Noah and his wife and daughters-in-law remained purely human.  God could not allow the corrupted lines to endure and inevitably render the whole of the human race to be mingled with the seed of the Serpent.  This sets the stage for the calamitous Great Flood, to completely wipe out the seed of the Serpent and leave only the seed of Eve on earth.
 
Other Notable Points

• We see foreshadowing of the event called “The Rapture” in Genesis 5:24. The Rapture is the belief that many Christians hold that in the Last Days, living Christians will be taken up to Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).  Enoch is not described as having died.  Instead we are told “he was not, for God took him”.

 
Final Thoughts

• Genesis 3:15 encapsulates the major theme of the Bible.  It is God’s proclamation of a savior from the “seed” of Eve and the ensuing war Satan will wage against humanity to break the line of Eve so as to prevent the savior who will defeat him from coming into existence.  In this chapter we have seen the march forward of Eve’s line in the genealogies as well as Satan’s attempt to corrupt the line through the incursion of fallen angels.  God responds by resolving to wipe out all living creatures, save for a single family who carries a pure genetic code.  As we will see in future chapters, this will not be Satan’s last attempt at stopping the line of the savior, nor will it be God’s last act to defend it.