Sermon Tone Analysis

Theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”

In this eight-part series we are looking at how God began everything and how God begins again.

Last week Pastor Lester Zimmerman read from Genesis chapter six and began telling the story of Noah.

I asked Lester to pick up on the series-

Because I knew I would be gone three weeks in a row and wanted to keep it fresh in our minds.

Also because there is so much in these chapters that can be said that I knew we could even preach on the same text and come up with completely different messages.

Lester gave a general overview of the Noah story and then provided some practical application points.

I’m glad he did that, because I want to focus on a theme that is a little aside of the main points.

I want to focus on what was going on in the world that made the flood necessary.

Remember that God created the world good but that because of sin, the world is now corrupted.

God created the world good and designed life to reproduce and to multiply His goodness throughout the earth.

But with the fall of mankind, there is now both good and bad seed that is reproducing, not only in the earth, but in humans as well.

As long as there is good in the world and in people, there is the hope that the good might multiply and overtake the bad.

But what happens when things become so bad that good can no longer be found?

Is there a point at which destruction becomes a means of salvation?

We think of Noah’s Ark as being a children’s story, but it is really a horror story.

We forget about all the people who died.

We think about how nice it must have been to be Noah and his family on a big boat taking care of all the animals.

But we forget about the screams of the people who are drowning and pounding on the door.

Noah’s ark is not a cute story; it is a tragic story, but a necessary one.

In the days of Noah, the earth had become so corrupt that God needed to begin again.

What is corruption and why did it require such drastic measures?

What can we learn from this story that will help us begin again?

The Corruption of Nature

Admittedly this is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to interpret.

The biblical text does not give us much information.

What is certain is that a great indiscretion occured which provides a background context for the flood.

Whatever this passage means, it helps us to know the reason why God would take such drastic measures.

The rules of reproduction were violated.

So what happened?

We don’t exactly know.

Lester Zimmerman gave you the two most common explanations:

The “sons of God” are fallen angels which have relations with humans.

The “Sons of God” refers to the godly line of Seth mixing with the ungodly line of Cain.

A third theory, popular among scholars that Lester did not mention is that the “sons of God” are ancient rulers which take the daughters of commoners without discretion or without permission.

The third option makes sense if you study ANE customs and practices, but it doesn’t explain why there would be a need for a flood.

Lester prefers the second option, as do most conservative scholars -until recently.

Some of you may remember last year we went through “The Unseen Realm” in SS with Michael Heiser.

Heiser is a conservative biblical scholar who believes that the Gen 6 passage describes the second of three spiritual rebellions in the heavenly realm.

One of the rules of interpretation is that the meaning of scripture is based on what it meant to the audience to whom it was originally written.

If you use the assumption that the likely interpretation is what people in bible times believed, then the first option becomes the favorite.

Extra biblical literature like the Book of Enoch and Jubilees, which are both quoted by biblical authors, tell of fallen angels who produced semi-divine offspring with humans and were confined to the underworld because of it.

It also explains why the mythologies of so many cultures contain stories of demi-gods and creatures which are human-like, but not fully human.

That’s pretty creepy and has a science-fiction kind of vibe to it.

I actually prefer that interpretation for one simple reason, it gives a meaningful explanation to the need for a world-wide flood.

God wasn’t just angry - he was being protective of humanity.

He wasn’t just trying out a solution to the problem of sin - he was trying to preserve a humanity that bore his image.

He was intervening in a process that was .rapidly

getting worse.

Nature was developing in a way that would lead to its own destruction if God did not intervene first.

The DNA of humanity was corrupted.

Another reason for favoring this theory is that is produced the Nephilim

Nephilim are a race of giants

The root consonants NPL mean “to fall”

This could be a reference to them being offspring of fallen angels.

The LXX uses the greek word “giant” for nephilim because of the tradition that they were, in fact, giants.

But there is also biblical evidence for the existence of giants as well.

“They made us look like grasshoppers” is descriptive but not very specific.

Joshua defeated a king just before crossing the Jordan who was said to be a Rephaim.

Rephaim and Anakim were descendants of the Nephilim.

This guys bed was 13 and a half feet long and six feet wide.

That’s two king-sized beds set end to end.

And its made of iron because he would weigh 2-3 times the average man.

Og was a real live Hulk.

OK, so that was after the flood.

The working theory is that the giants were even bigger before the flood, but that some of the DNA anomalies survived the flood.

The last of the giants are being eradicated through the conquest of Caanan by Joshua and later, David.

It gives a plausible explanation to why God told the Israelites to wipe out certain populations - it was necessary for the preservation of humanity - and the eradication of a “superhuman” race.

I know it sounds crazy to think that the God sent a flood to wipe out demi-gods with alien DNA that was propagating through the human race - but it helps the story make sense.

What we do know for sure is that there was corruption, so hideous that it was completely against nature and had to be physically eradicated.

Another reason that I find this theory meaningful is that the bible talks about the last days being like the days leading up to the flood.

Most people interpret this as referring to rampant sin and immorality - which certainly makes sense.

But what if it also could mean tampering with DNA to make “super-humans?”

Today, we have geneticists working to create designer babies.

We have the ability to introduce man-made code into our DNA.

Though human cloning is illegal in most states, there are places where such experimentation is happening.

Add to that the vast research in the area of artificial intelligence which is challenging our understanding of what it means to be human.

I believe that our children will be faced with a challenge of answering the question, “what does it mean to be human?”

How far will God let this go on until He has to intervene?

An apocalypse is imminent.

We use the word “apocalypse” to describe events which mark the end of an era or the end of the world as we know it.

In fact, the word literally means “to unveil or uncover.”

The idea of apocalypse is that corruption leads to destruction, but people remain in denial about what is happening until it finally happens.

Scientists have warned about the moral and ethical implications of studying the basic building blocks of humanity, but the curiosity and the power of such knowledge is just too great to resist.

Besides, think about how much good we can do by playing god?

The problem with evil is that it doesn’t announce itself, it always comes disguised as good, maybe even ultimate good.

The problem with playing god is that we think we know what is good, but our sinful human nature defines good as what is good for us.

We insisted on knowing and defining what is good and evil ...and that is what brought sin into the world.

What makes us think that we could ever know what is truly good apart from God?

But corruption is right there in our nature.

The only way for evil to prosper is if we believe that what we are doing is for some greater good.

Like killing people who don’t have the “quality of life” that they should.

Aborting unborn babies so they don’t become an inconvenience - or to prevent overpopulation.

Utilizing slave labor so that affluent countries can enjoy cheap luxuries.

Trafficking women and children to fulfill the lusts of a wealthy elite - “they’re not prostitutes - they’re ‘escorts!’”

Testing vaccines and medicines on vulnerable populations to ensure greater profits in countries with more robust legal systems.

How long can these things continue until there is an “unveiling” of the destructive nature of what we thought was “the good life.”

The Corruption of Goodness

Last week we talked about Noah and what we can learn from Noah’s obedience.

But there was a backdrop, a context to Noah’s obedience that is important to understand as well.