Genesis 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: Cause of the Flood; God’s deliverance from the judgment of the Flood; instructions to Noah for building the ark; passengers in the ark

Genesis 6:1

CAUSE OF THE FLOODIn chapter 6 we see not only the Flood, but also the reason for the judgment of the Flood. This matter of “the sons of God” and “the daughters of men” is something that has caused no end of discussion. There are a great many good men who take the position that “the sons of God” were angels. I personally cannot accept that at all. Most of my teachers taught that the sons of God were angels, and I recognize that a great many of the present-day expositors take that position. However, I cannot accept that view, because, if these were good angels, they would not commit this sin, and evil angels could never be designated as “sons of God.” Also, the offspring here were men; they were not monstrosities. I do not know why it is assumed by so many that the offspring were giants. We will look at this more closely when we come to verse Gen_6:4.

Genesis 6:3

We believe that Noah preached for 120 years, and during that time the Spirit of God was striving with men. Peter makes it very clear that it was back in the days of Noah that the Spirit of God was striving with men in order that He might bring them to Godbut they would not turn. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (1Pe_3:18-19). These spirits were in prison when Peter wrote, but they were preached to in the days of Noah. How do we know that? Verse 1Pe_3:20 reads: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” When were they disobedient? During the long-suffering of God in the days of Noahduring those 120 years.

Genesis 6:4

It says, “There were giants in the earth in those days,” but it does not say they are the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men. It does say this about the offspring: “the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” These were not monstrosities; they were men. The record here makes it very clear that the giants were in the earth before this took place, and it simply means that these offspring were outstanding individuals. Humanity has a tremendous capacity. Man is fearfully and wonderfully madethat is a great truth we have lost sight of. This idea that man has come up from some protoplasm out of a garbage can or seaweed is utterly preposterous. It is the belief of some scientists that evolution will be repudiated, and some folk are going to look ridiculous at that time. Evolution is nothing in the world but a theory as far as science is concerned. Nothing has been conclusive about it. It is a philosophy like any other philosophy, and it can be accepted or rejected. When it is accepted, it certainly leads to some very crazy solutions to the problems of the world, and it has gotten my country into trouble throughout the world. Anyone would think that we are the white knight riding through the world straightening out wrongs. We are wrong on the inside ourselves!

I do not know why in this country today we have an intelligentsia in our colleges, our government, our news media, and our military who think they are super, that somehow or another they have arrived. It is the delusion of the hour that men think that they are greater than they really are. Man is suffering from a fall, an awful fall. He is totally depraved today, and until that is taken into consideration, we are in trouble all the way along. Then what do we have here in verse Gen_6:4? As I see it, Genesis is a book of genealogiesit is a book of the families. The sons of God are the godly line who have come down from Adam through Seth, and the daughters of men belong to the line of Cain. What you have here now is an intermingling and intermarriage of these two lines, until finally the entire line is totally corrupted (well, not totally; there is one exception). That is the picture that is presented to us here. I recognize, and I want to insist upon it, that many fine expositors take the opposite view that the sons of God are actually angels. If you accept that view, you will be in good company, but I am sure that most of you want to be right and will want to go along with me. Regardless of which view you take, I hope all of us will be friends, because this is merely a matter of interpretation. It does not have anything to do with whether or not you believe the Bible but concerns only the interpretation of the facts of Scripture. What was the condition on the earth before the Flood? What caused God to bring the judgment of the Flood?

Genesis 6:5

There are four words here that ought to be emphasized and which I have marked in my Bible. “The wickedness of man was great.” “Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil.” Only evilthat is all it wasand that “continually.” These four words reveal the condition of the human family that was upon the earth.

Genesis 6:6

“And it repented the LORD.” What repented the Lord? The corruption of man repented the Lord. It looks as if God has changed His mind and intends to remove man from the earth. He probably did just that with a former creation on the earth. Although it grieved God because of man’s sin, thank God, He did not destroy him.

Genesis 6:7

It does not mention fish because they are in the water, and He is simply going to send more water.

Genesis 6:8

GOD’S DELIVERANCE FROM THE JUDGMENT OF THE FLOODAnd why did Noah find grace?

Genesis 6:9

Why did God save Noah? Because he walked with God? Yes, but we are also told: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb_11:7). It took faith to prepare an ark on dry land when it had not even drizzled! In this same chapter in Hebrews, we are told that it was by faith that Enoch was translated. You see, when the church is taken out of this world, every believer is going because the rapture is for believers, and the weakest saint is going out. They are going out because God extends mercy, and we are told that the mercy of God will be demonstrated at that time. Why the Flood? Why is God going to send the Flood?

Genesis 6:11

That is, man had corrupted God’s way and was going his own way. He had turned from the purpose for which God had created him.

Genesis 6:13

God is going to send the Flood, and I would like to mention here several reasons why. Man had a promise of a Redeemer, and he was told that there was coming a Savior on the earth. That is the thing man should have been looking for; instead of that, he turned from God. God had provided a sacrifice for Adam and Eve, and we find that a great, eternal principle was put down with Cain and Abel. These two boys, Cain and Abel, stand as the representatives of two great systems, two classes of people: the lost and the saved, the self-righteous and the broken-spirited, the formal professor and the genuine believer. That is what was present in the human race at this time. And then we find that the patriarchs were living so long that the lives of Adam and Methuselah bridged the entire gap from the creation to the Flood. They certainly could have given a revelation to all mankind, which they did. Then we are told in Jud_1:14 and Jud_1:15 that Enoch preached, he prophesied, during that period. We are also told that Noah preached during that period as he was building the ark. When Enoch disappeared, that should have alerted the people to the intervention of God in human affairs. They also knew about this man Methuselah and the meaning of his name; and when he died, they should have known the Flood was coming.

Finally, there was also the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God said that His Spirit would not always strive with man. The Spirit of God was striving with him, but, when man totally rejected God, the Flood came in judgment upon the earth. The entire human family has turned from God “…There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom_3:10). There are just a few, though, who do believe HimNoah and his family. Here is one man who walked with God; he believed God. Here is a man who still trusted God"by faith Noah." Here is a man who was willing to risk building a boat on dry land. If the rains did not come, he certainly would be the laughingstock of the community. I think he was just that for 120 years, but Noah believed God. There is a striking comparison in the fact that the days of Noah are to be duplicated before the Lord comes again to the earth, not for the Rapture, but to establish His Kingdom. But there are some remarkable parallels that have already taken place. For instance, this chapter opened: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them….” There was this tremendous population increase, and by that time man had spread pretty much over the earth. He was in North America, in Asia, in Europe, and in Africa. He had spread in every direction. Today we have a tremendous population explosion, and men again have increased upon the face of the earth. Also, there is the fact that during the Great Tribulation period, the Holy Spirit will no longer restrain evil. He will be there to convert men, but we are told very definitely that He will not be restraining evil on the earth. God’s overtures to men will be despised and rejected, and certainly they are even today. Isn’t it amazing that the only ones who are listened to by the world today are the liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic ministers? You hear nothing from conservative men. They have attempted to make some sort of inroad, and they are trying their best to get back in the mainstream, but we have come to the day when, if you are going to stand for God, you will find that you will not be able to talk before a television camera very often. Instead, you must learn to protest, to march, and to deny Christ before you can expect a television interview! Finally, the world in that day will be faced with the great problem of the Rapturethere will have been a great number of people who have mysteriously left the earth. Also there were judgments in Noah’s day, and yet they did not heed them.

Genesis 6:14

INSTRUCTIONS TO NOAH FOR BUILDING THE ARKIn the preparation for the Flood, God is giving the people ample opportunity. “Make thee an ark of gopher wood.” Gopher wood is an almost indestructible wood very much like our redwood here in California. “Rooms shalt thou make in the ark.” The word for “rooms” has the idea of nest. The elephant would need a room, but the mole would not need quite that much space. He could be given just a little dirt in a corner, and that is all he would need. “And shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.” The ark was to be made waterproof.

Genesis 6:15

The impression that most people have of the ark is the impression they were given by the little Sunday school pictures which made it look like a houseboat. It was, to me, a very ridiculous sort of a travesty. It was a caricature of the ark instead of a picture of it like it actually was. To begin with, the instructions for the building of the ark reveal that it was quite sizable. “The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits.” If a cubit is eighteen inches, that ought to give you some conception of how long this ark was. The question arises as to how they could make it substantial in that day. My friend, we are not dealing with cavemen. We are dealing with a very intelligent man. You see, the intelligence that the race has today came right through Noah, and he happened to be a very intelligent man. Noah is not making an oceangoing ship to withstand fifty-foot waves. All he is building is a place for life, animal life and man, to stay over quite a period of timenot to go through a storm, but just to wait out the Flood. For that reason, the ark might lack a great deal that you would find on an oceangoing ship, and that would give it a great deal more room. If a cubit Isaiah 18 inches, 300 cubits would mean that the ark was 450 feet long. That is a pretty long boat, but the relative measurements is the thing that interests me. For instance, I noted that the New Mexico, one of our battleships of the World War II era, was built 624 feet long, 106¼feet wide, and with a mean draught of 29½feet. By comparison the ark had practically the same ratio; so that you did not have a ridiculous looking boat at all, but one which would compare favorably with the way they build ships today.

Genesis 6:16

“A window shalt thou make to the ark.” The window was not a little slit made in the side of the ark. Have you ever stopped to think about the stench that there might be with all those animals in there over that period of time? The window was a cubit high and went all the way around the top of the ark. The roof must have overlapped the window quite a bit. That is the way they ventilate a gymnasium today. I also noticed that at the state fair in Dallas, Texas, the buildings in which the animals were housed had that window which goes all the way around at the top.

With all the animals they had there, it was not an unpleasant place to be. People were sitting in there eating their meals and also sleeping. It was very comfortable, and the odor was not bad. I have heard it said that poor Noah had to stick his head out this little window in order to live. That’s ridiculous. That is man’s imagination and not what the record says here at all. “And the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof.” The ark had only one door, and that is important. Christ said, “I am the way” and “I am the door to the sheepfold,” and He is the door to the ark. “With lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.” The ark had three decks, you see, and then, I take it, one either on top or on the bottom which would make four decks. Was there a door for each deck? I am rather of the opinion there was only one door and not one for each floor, but frankly, that is beside the point.

Genesis 6:17

PASSENGERS IN THE ARKGod is bringing judgment upon the earthupon animal and bird and man.

Genesis 6:18

“Two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.” Noah was not a Frank Buck who went out “to bring ’em back alive.” He was not a big game hunter. He did not have to go after these animalsthey came to him. Animals in danger will do that. I remember the first time that we went into Yosemite Valley when our daughter was just a little thing. She had never seen snow before, and when we put her down in the snow, she began to whimper. But she quit when she looked over and saw a little deer. I believe we could have gone over and petted that little deer, but realizing the possible danger, of course we did not approach him any closer. When I mentioned the deer to the ranger, he laughed and said, “Yes, there’s snow up in the High Sierra right now, and when there is snow up there and there’s danger, they come down here and are as tame as any animal could possibly be.

But the minute the snows melt in spring, they leave this area, and you couldn’t get within a country mile of any of them.” Why? Because when an animal is in danger, he will come to man. At the time of the Flood, I do not think Noah had any problem at all, for the animals all came to him.

Genesis 6:21

Noah is now to do something very practical. It took a lot of hay in the ark to feed these animals. Some people are going to say, “But some of those animals ate meat. They would eat each other!” I do not think so. Up to the time of the Flood, apparently both men and animals were not flesh-eating. They just did not eat flesh; there were no carnivorous animals. We are told of a day in the Millennium when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox (see Isa_11:6-7). That could certainly come to pass, for that probably was the original state of the animal.