Dying the death deserved by us

Genesis 6:1-8

The Natural State of Mankind in sin

Resistance of the devil and acknowledgement that our times are in God's hands are not enough. By grace, Noah was spared from the death deserved by all so that his descendant, Jesus Christ, might not be spared the death deserved by us.

On refusal to be a grasshopper

Genesis 6:1-8

The Natural State of Mankind in sin

We must refuse to consider ourselves as grasshoppers even in the face of overwhelming odds, unimpeachable reputations or the obliteration of every ancient landmark in our generation.

The devil at his worst

Genesis 6:1-8

The Natural State of Mankind in sin

The devil is at his worst when he appears closest to being human. We bring out the worst in him and we need grace to deal with him.

The Natural State of Mankind in sin

Genesis 6:1-8

Three Different Timescales

Three ways of seeing the end of mankind

The Third Aspect of Antediluvian Grace for Life

If unrestrained, mankind by nature will wilfully cooperate with the destruction of both the hope and the integrity of the entire race in thought, word and deed.

The Third Aspect of Antidiluvian Grace for Life

Genesis 6:7-8

6 • And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him to his heart.
7 • So the Lord said,
"I will blot out man whom I have created
from the face of the land,
man
and animals
and creeping things
and birds of the heavens,
for I am sorry that I have made them."
8 • But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.

God, who in his grace translated Enoch so that he did not see death and granted release to all others looking for salvation (even down to Methuselah, who died in the year that the flood came) gave his grace to Noah, the bearer of hope, ([Genesis 5:29] '... "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands."') to prepare him for, and bring him through, the flood that was scheduled to destroy all mankind and nature in recognition of the incorrigibility of man's sinfulness.

Three ways of seeing the end of mankind

Genesis 6:4-5

4 • The Nephilim were on the earth in those days,
and also afterward,
when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man
and they bore children to them.
• These were the mighty men who were of old,
the men of renown.
5 • The Lord saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.

The 'afterward' was when giants were found in Canaan by the spies sent out in preparation for entering the land to conquer it — ([Numbers 13:33] "And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.") — so when Moses wrote after the debacle caused by rejecting the minority report he was anticipating the sort of overwhelming defeat for the 'afterwards' giants as was wrought on their predecessors by the universal flood. Before the flood, mankind in general had not seen things that way at all, of course, and these Nephilim were renowned for all their outward glories. From the outside it must have appeared that God's threat of death (and his promise of salvation) was being nullified by the inextricable mingling of the seed of the woman with the seed of the serpent ( c.f. Genesis 3:15) but God, looking into the mind of man, saw neither great force nor great worth. He saw nothing good whatsoever.

Three Different Timescales

Genesis 6:1-3

1 • When man began to multiply on the face of the land
and daughters were born to them,
2 • the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.
And they took as their wives any they chose.
3 • Then the Lord said,
"My Spirit shall not abide in man forever,
for he is flesh:
his days shall be 120 years."

Right from the outset, as soon as the forbidden fruit was eaten, a total ending of mankind's life on earth was in view. Mankind in general was not living with imminent death in mind because death seemed to be limited to those who 'called upon the name of the LORD.' [Genesis 4:26] (No death dates are given in Genesis 4 but they are scrupulously recorded in Genesis 5.) Just as God's patience was running to its conclusion and he was setting a date for the end of everything in 120 years time, the sons of God (angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling [Jude 6]) took the opposite view and exchanged life in heaven for the seemingly better and just as long lasting life on earth.