Giants from Angels? Genesis 6 Explained

Transcript

Edited machine transcript. May contain errors.

[00:00:00] The giants in Genesis 6.

[00:00:00] Does it really matter what view you hold?

[00:00:02] Is it a true story?

[00:00:05] And does it matter for us as Christians today?

[00:00:08] That's what I want to talk about.

[00:00:10] It's probably going to be one of the longest videos I've ever done.

[00:00:12] I've been wanting to do it for a while.

[00:00:14] And this is why.

[00:00:14] As a pastor, I've had to deal with this text three times now.

[00:00:19] I preached through First Peter and Second Peter, which both mentioned this passage in Genesis 6 and the giants.

[00:00:24] And then I just did a three-part series walking through the flood narrative in Genesis 6 because we are walking through the book of Genesis right now as a church.

[00:00:32] So I've had to think about this passage for quite a few years now being that I preached 1 and 2 Peter and now Genesis and I've also seen that it's on the rise.

[00:00:44] You have Wes Huff who just affirmed the angel view which I'm going to explain here in a minute with Shawn Ryan on his show.

[00:00:50] So millions of people just heard Wes Huff from a textual standpoint using the book of Enoch and using the text itself.

[00:00:58] Wes and I appreciate how he said this.

[00:01:11] " And I appreciate that he's being cautious here because of the debate that is happening.

[00:01:16] But he says I think that most of the conclusion should be that this is an angelic view and that it does produce these offspring of giants that end up when they die end up becoming these spirits that roam the earth.

[00:01:30] You have Gavin Ortlund.

[00:01:32] So Wes Huff is a Reformed Baptist respected known who's become extremely well known being on a lot of popular shows such as the Joe Rogan Show and Shawn Ryan and a lot of other shows and respected rightfully so for the work that he has produced as an apologist textually speaking.

[00:01:50] Now you have Gavin Ortlund who's also become well-known and as a church historian really understanding the early church fathers argues seven reasons why he thinks that it is the angelic view and uses church history as an example.

[00:02:06] I'm not going to use a lot of textual argumentation for like the book of Enoch or church history.

[00:02:13] I would encourage you to go listen to Wes Huff and Gavin Ortlund for that and I'll put the links down below because those men are very well-respected Reformed Baptist in their field and I think they did a phenomenal job explaining what they mean and their view of that.

[00:02:32] I'm going to approach this from a pastoral standpoint like how should I understand this as a Christian in my everyday life?

[00:02:38] Why?

[00:02:38] Why does it matter?

[00:02:41] And will it affect the way I live and the way I read?

[00:02:44] And the answer to that is yes.

[00:02:46] I think it will.

[00:02:46] And so I'm going to be using a lot of the tools that I've recently written a book on called The Bible According to Jesus.

[00:02:52] And the tools that are in this book is what we're going to be using here, comparing scripture with scripture.

[00:02:58] Jesus is teaching us to look for him and how to understand him in all of scripture.

[00:03:03] And then the cosmic view which is chapter five where I'm teaching you how to think about the word of God from a supernatural basically re-enchanting your Bible.

[00:03:11] So this has been an interesting debate.

[00:03:13] I will say this upfront before we jump into it.

[00:03:15] If you were to read the first 400 years of church history, it's not predominantly it is dogmatically this is the view like this the writers explicitly or at least refer to the angelic view as it relates to the early church fathers.

[00:03:31] And there's a lot of documentation on this.

[00:03:33] You can just go Google it or you can read Doug Van Dornne's book.

[00:03:37] There's a whole back part of his book that just shows you how many quotes from the early first f early church fathers and Gavin Ortlund was the one who really points this out and does a good job saying that Augustine is really the one who shifts the view the view that is the most predominant view today which is the Sethite view that doesn't come until Augustine and he's the one who really made that popular.

[00:03:58] Okay, that's a little bit of the introduction.

[00:04:00] I also want to jump into the text.

[00:04:01] We're going to spend a little bit of time in Genesis, most of our time in First and Peter, 1 Peter, Second Peter, and Jude because the most powerful thing you can do is use the New Testament where it speaks of the Old Testament as our interpretive understanding.

[00:04:16] And that's what we're going to do eventually.

[00:04:18] So, let's set the stage.

[00:04:20] Does what does the text tell us from Genesis?

[00:04:22] And what is affirmed or clarified in the New Testament?

[00:04:26] That's what we're going to spend our time doing this morning.

[00:04:30] I want to point out a couple of obvious points when it comes to Genesis chapter 6 and why Moses wrote things in a certain way.

[00:04:39] You have to realize that a lot of times when Moses is writing, he's writing to a particular people from a particular context, right?

[00:04:48] So he's not just kind of writing for all generations, for everyone.

[00:04:53] He's writing to the children of Israel who were just exiled out of Egypt.

[00:04:57] They are very pagan.

[00:04:59] They are worshiping other gods.

[00:05:02] They are very versed in pagan mythology and so the they would know very well a lot of the references that Moses would be making and I would say that Genesis and Exodus are written well specifically Genesis is written as a polemic against polytheism like they this is the biggest thing that plagues Israel for their entire existence.

[00:05:26] The number one command you shall have no other gods before me.

[00:05:28] So Moses is writing in that context.

[00:05:30] It's important for us to understand that.

[00:05:32] And then you will notice that there is no mention of gods.

[00:05:37] There is no mention of any of that in the first six chapters of Genesis because we're talking about the humble beginnings of the world.

[00:05:47] And so you don't you are not introduced the concept of worshiping false gods until after the flood, which is interesting.

[00:05:57] That's when eventually you'll start to learn about pagan worship.

[00:06:02] And this is where you are, this is where we're going to be introduced to the concept of angels starting to interact with humanity in ways that they weren't interacting with before chapter 6.

[00:06:13] Okay?

[00:06:13] So, I just wanted to point that out.

[00:06:15] Let's go ahead and read the text.

[00:06:17] And I want to point out a couple of things.

[00:06:19] This is Genesis chapter 6.

[00:06:19] We're going to read through a few verses, make some observations, see if we can get enough data from Genesis 6, and then jump over into Peter and Jude.

[00:06:31] So Genesis 6:1, when man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.

[00:06:41] Now, sometimes things are just blatantly obvious and we need to pay attention to them.

[00:06:46] Moses is explicitly say stating in the text that there were daughters born to these humans.

[00:06:53] Why is that important?

[00:06:53] Because they're humans.

[00:06:58] So when man be to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them.

[00:07:02] So we're talking about gender specific though we have females.

[00:07:07] And then it says the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.

[00:07:13] So you have right here in the text a connection between two different groups of people and you we need to stop and ask ourselves who are these sons of God.

[00:07:26] How where else has this phrase been used?

[00:07:28] This is the first time.

[00:07:30] So there's nowhere in this text so far if you start from Genesis 5 and go all the way through Genesis 7, you're not going to see the Seth as being a part of this conversation at all.

[00:07:41] So when you talk about entering into this concept of, oh, these are the godly line of Seth, that's why they're called the sons of God, it it's not going to make sense from for multitude of reasons.

[00:07:52] And so I want to go through some of these right now.

[00:07:54] First of all, you have a contrast between daughters and sons.

[00:08:00] And what's this whole passage about?

[00:08:02] Well, they're producing giants.

[00:08:02] So we'll get to that in a minute.

[00:08:04] The question is where else in the Bible is the word sons of God used in this particular area and context.

[00:08:13] Now we know in the New Testament we are called sons of God but that is clarified of what that means which is based upon adoption.

[00:08:21] That's our way of receiving this title.

[00:08:24] But in the Old Testament that is not how this word was used.

[00:08:28] A great example of this is Job 1.

[00:08:40] " And we know that whole narrative and this is where Satan also comes.

[00:08:43] And so you have this gathering and what you learn is that this gathering is not on the earth.

[00:08:47] This gathering is in heaven.

[00:08:48] And you see very quickly that this is how this is being used.

[00:08:55] This is the only other place that we have the idea of the sons of God being fleshed out.

[00:09:00] Well, later on in chapter 38 when he's dialoguing with Job, he actually tells us a little bit more about the sons of God.

[00:09:08] And he says he's he's explaining to them where were you Job when all of these things were happening.

[00:09:15] He's talking about in this particular area, Job 38:7, he's talking about when the foundations of the earth were made.

[00:09:20] Okay, so this is before humans were made.

[00:09:22] This is before full creation had take place.

[00:09:25] This is this is day one, right?

[00:09:27] That you got the firmament being made.

[00:09:37] " Well, this can't be the godly line of Seth because Seth does not exist.

[00:09:42] This can't be human kings because humans do not exist.

[00:09:45] So, the title sons of God belong to angels.

[00:09:48] This is the morning star.

[00:09:53] The idea of stars or angels, we know that the angels were present according to what Job is saying here, but other passages as well that these are the heavenly beings.

[00:10:06] So, Job 2:1, Job 38:7, and Job 1:6 are the ones where they're using this idea of the sons of God.

[00:10:13] And we learn from Job that these sons of God are angels.

[00:10:17] And this is the context that we're given.

[00:10:21] Now if we take that because if you have to say where else is this word sons of God used in the old testament this is where it's used and it's being told to us that these are angels.

[00:10:31] So then we go back to Genesis and we begin to read that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive.

[00:10:39] Well that makes sense to us now because we that's a problem in our minds.

[00:10:44] We should be saying why are angelic beings being attracted to human beings?

[00:10:50] That's a cross of boundaries, right?

[00:10:52] That is there's a boundary that is to be set.

[00:10:56] We're going to learn very quickly that Jude and Peter explicitly acknowledge the crossing of the boundary.

[00:11:04] They went across the boundary that was set before them and that is the violation.

[00:11:09] This is why Jude says, we'll get to this later on, that they left their proper place of authority.

[00:11:15] Right?

[00:11:17] So, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive and they took as their wives any they chose.

[00:11:21] Now, why is this important in the narrative?

[00:11:27] Well, if you understand sons of God being angels, that's a problem.

[00:11:31] That is not nowhere in so far up the Genesis 1-6 are we told that humans are supposed to be marrying angels.

[00:11:39] We're just that's just not in the text at all.

[00:11:42] And so when you see here this word saw, the angels saw that the daughters of man were attractive.

[00:11:50] It's the same word and concept of Eve.

[00:11:52] Eve saw that the fruit was good.

[00:11:54] In other words, something that was forbidden, she saw it and crossed the boundary and took it.

[00:12:01] The angels saw the women, desired them, and crossed the boundary and took it.

[00:12:10] So, this is kind of what we're seeing as the narrative being set up.

[00:12:14] So, now sometimes what I hear is one of the arguments against this, I want to go ahead and address it now, is well, John, two problems.

[00:12:19] One, angels don't have bodies.

[00:12:22] And two, they Jesus explicitly said that they are not they're not capable of this.

[00:12:28] So let's go ahead and address that now.

[00:12:30] Even though I think Peter and Jude go they make it very clear that that's not the problem.

[00:12:36] But let's go ahead and address that because we need to look at all of scripture and allow it to formulate our thoughts.

[00:12:42] Well, we the idea that angels don't have bodies.

[00:12:46] We're not given we're not told everything about the supernatural realm.

[00:12:50] We're just not.

[00:12:50] There's a lot that's just not explained to us how it works.

[00:12:54] Paul's like, "Look, you wrestle against it.

[00:12:56] How it functions, we know a little bit.

[00:13:06] " So, you know, that's how we fight against it.

[00:13:09] As far as how it works, we're not we're not very clear.

[00:13:12] We do, but to say that it's angels or the spiritual realm has no physical presence, it's just not accurate to the text.

[00:13:18] If you go to Genesis chapter 18 and read verses 1-8, what you learn there is that Abraham is engaging with two angels and he washes their feet and he feeds them.

[00:13:28] So in some way the angels do have physicality to where their feet need to be washed.

[00:13:33] In other words, their feet got dirty and then so they weren't hovering and flying above the ground.

[00:13:38] And then secondly, they consumed food.

[00:13:40] They could digest food.

[00:13:42] And then later on in chapter 19, you see in where this is where they're in Sodom and Gomorrah and it says the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and what is it that they the men said?

[00:13:54] The men said where are the men who came to you tonight?

[00:13:58] So the they saw them not as figments of imaginations or ghosts or spirits.

[00:14:05] They saw them as fleshly beings that could have intimate relationships with because they're telling Lot to bring these men that they know that are in the city to bring them out.

[00:14:18] So it says that we may know them which is language for intimacy.

[00:14:23] So the text very clearly appear says that they are not only touched and eating but they are being seen as being able to procreate and that's not foreign to us because Genesis chapter 6 says that it was happening.

[00:14:45] So Genesis chapter 19 it's not that's not strange in that you have two texts now that are alluding to that.

[00:14:53] And when you're talking about Jesus in marriage, again, we have to read things in context.

[00:14:57] Why is Jesus talking about this?

[00:14:59] They're trying to trip him up.

[00:15:00] They're trying to, you know, prove that he's not the Messiah.

[00:15:02] And you've got this lady who's had seven husbands and you know, who's her husband in heaven?

[00:15:07] And and Jesus uses an illustration.

[00:15:15] " So like when we are when we rise from the dead those of us who have had you know multiple spouses is he's saying there's there's not marriage in the new heavens the new earth or in heaven.

[00:15:25] And then he says this but are like angels in heaven.

[00:15:27] Well that doesn't say capacity.

[00:15:30] It says that the angels right now in heaven do not do not marry.

[00:15:37] Now think about that for a moment.

[00:15:40] That also implies that there's a lot of similarities to humans and we never think about that in the text.

[00:15:45] We only emphasize the non-married part.

[00:15:48] It's like we don't become angels.

[00:15:50] That's not what Jesus is saying.

[00:15:50] But he is saying they're not they're alike the angels meaning that they're in the heavens.

[00:15:56] They're they're not marrying.

[00:15:57] This again explicitly comes to be an important phrase because Jesus is saying in heaven this is the proper way in which things will be.

[00:16:06] This is good and right.

[00:16:08] Jude and Peter say they crossed bounds, they left their proper place of authority and they did that which was not right.

[00:16:15] Okay, we're going to get to that here in a minute.

[00:16:18] So to say that Jesus say that they don't have bodies and that Jesus says that they can't do that, that's not what he says.

[00:16:24] He says they don't do that.

[00:16:26] There's a difference between can't and don't.

[00:16:28] Okay?

[00:16:29] So we need to be make sure that we read things in the context and we understand what the original intention was.

[00:16:37] Jesus was not talking about the capacity of angels.

[00:16:39] That's not what this text is about.

[00:16:45] " That's not the context.

[00:16:47] The context in that particular area, they were trying to trip Jesus up about marriage.

[00:16:50] So, okay, this is where the next point to me is very valid and important because, you know, so what?

[00:17:00] They had children.

[00:17:00] What's the big deal?

[00:17:02] This the narrative.

[00:17:02] It's like, why does this matter?

[00:17:04] And I think my perspective on this became very strong because of how Peter used it.

[00:17:12] And I'm going to get to that.

[00:17:14] I keep alluding to it, but man, Peter's use of this.

[00:17:16] He uses it to comfort and to convict.

[00:17:18] And then Jude uses it to slam.

[00:17:20] I mean, just absolutely obliterate false teachers.

[00:17:22] So, it's fascinating.

[00:17:24] But let's look at it from the narrative.

[00:17:29] So, let's go back to chapter 6:4.

[00:17:31] It says the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterwards.

[00:17:34] Now, I'm not going to get into that debate.

[00:17:36] I think if you're thinking about when it says before or in these days means the days of prior to the flood and what comes right after this, it's it's the flood.

[00:17:49] So, somehow you have angels that are in populating with women before the flood and it produces giants.

[00:17:57] And then it says afterwards.

[00:17:59] I don't know how they're there afterwards.

[00:18:01] The text doesn't say us.

[00:18:02] And my point is that I don't I don't think it it's necessary for you to know how they come back, but they just do.

[00:18:08] And that's why Moses puts it in there.

[00:18:10] And he has to put it in there because you find David and Goliath and you find all the giants and the giant tribes.

[00:18:15] So there's there's this is important for us to pay attention.

[00:18:18] You have angels taking wives and it says it's producing these nefall these nephilim.

[00:18:25] Nephilim is just a transliteration of the Hebrew word.

[00:18:30] Some trans some translations use the word giant.

[00:18:32] If you turn over to there's several passages that talk about these giants.

[00:18:40] So, I think it's important to stop and say if this is just godly men of Seth having children with ungodly women and it's producing, you know, they're saying big people.

[00:18:53] Well, that would be that would just be estranged.

[00:18:55] You know, that doesn't happen now.

[00:18:57] There's people as there are Christians who marry on non-believers all the time.

[00:19:05] We we're not we're not creating giants.

[00:19:06] So, there's something more that's going on here.

[00:19:20] " Okay, so this is important.

[00:19:20] So it's the same word and he's saying these are the sons of Anak who come from so there's this tribe of the Anakim there's this tribe and they are Nephilim it's the same word it's the same idea the men of renown from Genesis 6 and it says you know this is you know this is the whole spy story and it says and we seem like grasshoppers in their sight you know so when they're when they're coming upon these this tribe of the Anakim that who are Nephilim.

[00:19:54] They are giants.

[00:19:58] They're they're huge.

[00:19:58] Now, if you just take that particular passage, then it's like, okay, well, they're tall and you know, they're afraid, so they exaggerated a little bit.

[00:20:09] It's not that they're just tall.

[00:20:12] We've had tall people and even, you know, groups of people that are tall.

[00:20:17] That's not it's not that's not what makes this particular passage such a problem.

[00:20:24] It was the capacity of these giants that makes it so terrifying because of how powerful and big they are.

[00:20:33] It's like supernatural power.

[00:20:36] You know, the definition of a demigod is a half human, half god or half angelic being.

[00:20:43] And these beings come across as if they have one, they're ginormous in size, but also in power and strength.

[00:20:50] You have multiple passages that start talking about these tribes and how they're affecting, influencing, and attributing to issues in the in the promised land with Israel.

[00:21:03] So this is Deuteronomy 2:10-11.

[00:21:10] " Okay, so it keeps pointing back to the Anakim, which is what we learned about in Numbers, who were they were seen as grasshoppers.

[00:21:17] Like the Anakim, they also counted as Rephaim.

[00:21:21] So you have these tribes that are starting to be described and they're all related to the Nephilim.

[00:21:26] So you have the Anakim and the Rephim and the Eim.

[00:21:31] So these are all these are all giant tribes.

[00:21:33] These are all the descendants of the Nephilim, which you know, how they got back here after the flood, I don't know.

[00:21:40] But we definitely have an issue with them being here.

[00:21:42] And then you have the description of Deuteronomy, the next chapter.

[00:21:46] That's Jeremy 2, Jud Deuteronomy 3.

[00:21:47] Why is it so important for Moses to remember and write down the size of one of these kings, these Nephilim kings?

[00:21:55] Well, one, first of all, they're documenting the I mean, they were fighting these giants and they wanted to be documented.

[00:22:02] This was a big deal.

[00:22:11] " Okay, so now we know what a Rephaim is.

[00:22:12] We know that Rephaim or of the descendants of the Nephilim.

[00:22:14] So Og is a Nephilim king.

[00:22:17] This is what this being described as.

[00:22:21] " And why is that important?

[00:22:25] Well, he's a big man.

[00:22:27] How big?

[00:22:27] Nine cubits was its length and four cubits was its breadth.

[00:22:30] So 9 cubits is about 13 to 14 feet long.

[00:22:32] That's how big this big this bed of iron is, which aligns with the concept of Goliath.

[00:22:41] Goliath was a ginormous man.

[00:22:41] So you're obviously your bed is bigger than what you are.

[00:22:45] And so you know is anywhere from 10 to 12 feet tall.

[00:22:48] When you go to the story of Samuel, this is where again the writers of the Old Testament keep dropping more and more data so that you could understand how like what these beings are like.

[00:23:03] We know they're cannibalistic.

[00:23:04] We learn this from Joshua that in the land when they're going in there, it says that they were eating the inhabitants of the land that they're violent and one that they're powerful.

[00:23:15] So when we're reading about David and Goliath, the story about Goliath, it's not only telling you how tall he is.

[00:23:23] He's wear anywhere from 9 to 10 feet tall, but it's not his height, it's what he's wearing and what he fights with.

[00:23:32] You have an entire army that won't go onto the battlefield because they see this monster.

[00:23:35] And he's not just some tall skinny basketball player, right?

[00:23:40] Okay.

[00:23:40] I mean, you don't you don't ever see guys that are 9 10 foot tall and they look like a monster that can look and if you read this is Sam 1st Samuel 17.

[00:23:53] " It says this, "Whose height was six cubits in a span.

[00:24:02] " Like, why is it important that Samuel's writing this down?

[00:24:06] Because he's describing you just how big and monstrosity.

[00:24:09] I mean, this guy, his 5,000 shekels is roughly 125 lbs.

[00:24:16] Someone did the did the math and if you put it all together, it's anywhere from 800 to 900 lb of armor that Goliath had on him.

[00:24:27] I mean, the weaver's beam, this is the his spear, and it's described as a weaver's beam.

[00:24:32] That's like 15 to 16 pound spear.

[00:24:34] Like there's not very many human beings in the world that can throw a spear and actually murder or kill somebody with that kind of strength.

[00:24:44] It's it's very heavy.

[00:24:46] So what you're being told is that this guy's not only tall, but he is a powerful I don't I don't you give me the most powerful, strongest man in the world and we put 600 lb of armor on him.

[00:25:00] He's not going to be able to fight anybody.

[00:25:02] What is this telling you?

[00:25:04] He's not only tall, but there's something not human about this these beings.

[00:25:09] And I'm not going to do the entire episode on this.

[00:25:12] You can go and listen to my sermons.

[00:25:13] But I think that there's a reason why God has certain tribes completely wiped out because those tribes are of the Anakim and Rephaim.

[00:25:25] They are these beings that are not humane.

[00:25:29] They are not of this world.

[00:25:31] They're not of God's creation.

[00:25:31] He calls them impure.

[00:25:33] He calls them unclean.

[00:25:36] And so when those that are and many of these tribes are the ones that are in the strongholds, they're in the high places of the promised land.

[00:25:43] And so Israel has to go in and wipe them out.

[00:25:47] And when he doesn't when like for instance when Saul doesn't do it, Samuel gets really upset at him and actually ends up killing the king right before him.

[00:25:56] It's like you were supposed to get rid of this Nephilim king and you didn't do it.

[00:25:59] So the reason I mention this is that the product of the sons of God and the daughters of man produces these giants.

[00:26:05] And when you read about these giants, they are not just tall people.

[00:26:09] They are cannibalistic violent.

[00:26:12] And what we're going to learn is that they they're also introducing evil, just absolute evil into the world.

[00:26:20] All right.

[00:26:23] So how does this affect our understanding of Genesis 6?

[00:26:25] Go back to Genesis 6 and vers 11.

[00:26:27] So, I'm going have to keep going.

[00:26:29] Weird.

[00:26:29] I I realize this is going to be a long video.

[00:26:32] All right.

[00:26:34] Genesis 6:11.

[00:26:34] Now, the earth was corrupt in God's sight.

[00:26:37] And we have to ask ourselves, okay, what was corrupt?

[00:26:41] So far in the narrative, what we have is angels coming down and now they're creating these beings called Nephilim.

[00:26:47] And the next thing that God says is the earth is corrupt.

[00:26:51] Is it true that it's corrupt because of what humans are doing?

[00:26:55] Yes.

[00:26:55] But I think in general, the whole thing is corrupt.

[00:27:04] " So we do know that would include the Nephilim, right?

[00:27:11] So just trying to help put things into perspective.

[00:27:14] If we're talking about Nephilim being not just humans, but this is inhumane strength and God sees this as a corruption.

[00:27:25] Verse, if you go back to verse 9, it's interesting how Moses talks about Noah.

[00:27:30] He says this, Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generations.

[00:27:34] And you have is you have the documentation of gen of Noah's line in the lineage of Noah.

[00:27:39] Why is that important to us?

[00:27:42] Why is the lineage of Noah in Genesis given to us?

[00:27:44] Well, because we need to know that he's human.

[00:27:50] Call it say I'm crazy.

[00:27:50] But this word here when it says Noah was a righteous man, which means he had faith in God.

[00:27:58] Righteousness is not by one's actions.

[00:28:00] We had to learn that from Genesis 3 and Paul tells us in Adam all died and in Christ all are righteous.

[00:28:07] So he's not righteous by his actions.

[00:28:10] He's righteous because he's a believer, a follower of God.

[00:28:13] And then it says blameless in his generation.

[00:28:15] That word there, blameless, is the Hebrew word tamim.

[00:28:19] And it's the same exact word that is used in Leviticus 1:3 when talking about sacrifices that are being presented before God.

[00:28:27] It says that a male without blemish, that this animal that is coming, it has to be to mean.

[00:28:32] It's the same word where it says Noah was a righteous man and blameless or he was without fault or failure.

[00:28:39] He was pure and clean in his generations.

[00:28:42] Why would it say in his generations?

[00:28:45] Because it means that there was not a Nephilim line.

[00:28:50] As crazy as that sounds, there's not a Nephilim line in the generation of Noah.

[00:28:54] And so what you're being told is it's a wild story.

[00:28:59] Trust me, I know it's a wild story.

[00:29:01] And I think Peter and Jude know it's a wild story.

[00:29:03] And they use it as a wild story.

[00:29:05] And we'll get to that.

[00:29:07] I keep I keep alluding to it, but promise me if you stick with me and you get to Peter, it's beautiful.

[00:29:10] So, let's back up and let's connect this to Jesus just for a second because it's important at this point that as wild as this is getting, what is being promised in Genesis chapter 3, so three chapters earlier, you have the story of the fall and it says, "From the seed of Eve will come the one who crushed the serpent's head.

[00:29:36] What we're being told is that the victor, the one who will who restore all things, who will conquer death, who will destroy, the one who is the destroyer, is from it's a human.

[00:29:44] It's a human.

[00:29:48] It's a seed of Eve.

[00:29:48] Now, that phrase would not have been lost on the ancient world because the seed does not belong to the woman.

[00:29:54] It belongs to the man.

[00:29:56] So, the seed of Eve is a prophecy of a virgin birth.

[00:29:58] There will be one who comes from a woman, but it will not be of a man.

[00:30:02] And what we learn very quickly is that the seed of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent.

[00:30:11] I'm not going to get into this here, but a lot of types and shadows you have the seed of this fallen angel which is the Goliath and then David is in the line the lineage of Christ.

[00:30:26] And so you have a picture of it already happening.

[00:30:33] When does when does when David kills Goliath, cuts off his head.

[00:30:34] And if you don't see that's a connection between David and Goliath and Genesis 3.

[00:30:43] It's a beautiful connection.

[00:30:43] But this is the point is that the Bible is constantly weaving these themes.

[00:30:46] You have the you have the physical redemption of what's happening in the world.

[00:30:53] This is Genesis 3 and the seed that is to come, the Messiah.

[00:30:55] And then you have the spiritual war that's happening underneath.

[00:30:58] Satan knows that his day of judgment is coming.

[00:31:00] It's coming through a male.

[00:31:02] It's coming through a seed.

[00:31:04] It's coming through a person.

[00:31:05] And in the story, as wild as it sounds, it's Genesis 6 makes it sound like the attempt is let's let's ruin the seed of humanity so there are no more humans.

[00:31:16] Therefore, judgment can't come.

[00:31:18] It's a wild way of thinking about that.

[00:31:20] And you might be like, John, you're really stretching it.

[00:31:24] But then you go read Peter and you think to yourself, that's exactly how Peter interprets it.

[00:31:28] Quite fascinating.

[00:31:30] So, this is what we have so far in the text.

[00:31:35] I just we could do some more, but I think if you go back and read listen to Gavin Ortlund's article or sorry, his video, I think it'll be helpful to pick up anything where I left off.

[00:31:47] Now, I want to get to the pastoral side of this of like why does it matter to us?

[00:31:52] Why why should we think about it in the in these ways?

[00:31:54] And the way in which I titled this in my sermon series is called a failed rebellion.

[00:32:01] And I think that's exactly how Peter and Jude use it.

[00:32:03] They use this failed rebellion because it is God cleanses the earth, right?

[00:32:10] So there is a petration.

[00:32:13] They they come and they corrupt the world.

[00:32:18] They corrupt the line of the Messiah.

[00:32:22] And God comes and he purifies it.

[00:32:26] And he and you'll notice even in the Old Testament, I didn't mention this now, but how many stories there are about David who keeps hunting down these g these giants and killing the tribes and the giants, you know, and it says that he takes five stones.

[00:32:41] He took five stones.

[00:32:43] One related for Goliath and his and his brothers.

[00:32:46] So, you can see that they're always hunting them down because of what they are according to the to the narrative.

[00:32:53] All right, let's get to the pastoral side of this.

[00:32:57] Let's start in 1 Peter chapter or 1 Peter chapter 3.

[00:33:00] And it's important that you understand what's going on in the first few chapters and why Peter is writing this letter.

[00:33:14] So what we have is Peter is writing to suffering believers that are scattered across Asia Minor and they have been marginalized.

[00:33:24] They are being persecuted for their faith.

[00:33:28] They've had to leave the out they had to leave Rome and live on the outskirts and they are realizing like we've we've dedicated our lives to God and yet it feels like we're losing and they're very discouraged.

[00:33:38] So Peter is writing to encourage them of who they are in Christ and what they've received.

[00:33:45] You know, he starts out by God's divine power has granted to you everything that pertains to life and godliness like you should be encouraged by this.

[00:33:51] And yet suffering is normal because you are fighting in the spiritual war.

[00:33:58] And so Peter doesn't go towards the physical nature of the war.

[00:34:04] He does something quite fascinating.

[00:34:07] He reminds them of the spiritual nature of the war and to encourage them in this fight that they have and that they are being ostracized and marginalized and they're experiencing suffering not only in a physical sense because they've had to leave their homes and now they live on the outskirts of town but they're being persecuted for their faith.

[00:34:25] This is what he says to them.

[00:34:25] So let's look at 1 Peter chapter 3 18 and following.

[00:34:30] For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.

[00:34:42] Okay, so to comfort the believer, I'm just trying to set this up so when I read this, we can all catch this.

[00:34:50] To comfort the believer, he starts again with Christ's death and resurrection.

[00:34:56] But then he points to something like very fascinating verse 19 it says in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah.

[00:35:17] Okay, now we have context.

[00:35:19] Who are these spirits?

[00:35:19] Are these spirits of humans?

[00:35:22] Are these the spirits of angels?

[00:35:24] Like who are they?

[00:35:28] Well, first of all, it says they did not obey.

[00:35:30] Well, we learn from second Peter and Jude very quickly that we'll see this in a minute.

[00:35:34] These are angels.

[00:35:36] He's talking about angels.

[00:35:38] And what was the obeying?

[00:35:38] Well, Peter and Jude in the second letters tell us that they left their proper place of authority.

[00:35:45] This is very much what I was talking about earlier that Jesus says in heaven in their proper place of authority where they're supposed to be, they're not supposed to be marrying.

[00:35:54] And it says here that they did not obey.

[00:35:58] Okay, so let's read it in context again.

[00:36:01] So which now and this is the part that I think is so fascinating.

[00:36:06] And I'll come back to it in a sec.

[00:36:08] Let's read the rest of the text.

[00:36:10] When God's patients waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the waters.

[00:36:16] So the context is very is clearly talking about Genesis 6 and what happened there.

[00:36:21] Baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[00:36:31] So this whole thing is about spiritual nature of our faith and the victory of Christ.

[00:36:36] And the flood is an example of Christ's cleansing us.

[00:36:38] He's he preserved Noah.

[00:36:40] He will preserve you.

[00:36:40] And then he says this who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of the father with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him.

[00:36:49] Why is that important for Peter to say?

[00:36:51] Well, in context, they don't feel like they're winning.

[00:36:57] It feels like the pagan supernatural, the gods of Rome are winning.

[00:37:04] They are not feeling powerful.

[00:37:04] They're feeling forgotten.

[00:37:08] They don't feel like they're winning at all.

[00:37:10] They're discouraged.

[00:37:11] And so, what does Peter do?

[00:37:14] He reminds them of what happened in the past and it will happen again.

[00:37:19] And what's the reality?

[00:37:19] And so let's go back and read this.

[00:37:32] " Proclaimed what?

[00:37:32] What did Jesus proclaim?

[00:37:35] His victory.

[00:37:35] Because if it he was made alive in the spirit, it means that they lost.

[00:37:41] So when Christ died, this is called the descent into Hades or the descent into hell.

[00:37:48] It's in our creeds.

[00:37:49] There's a lot of I've done a whole sermon on it.

[00:37:52] I'll put a link in here about the descent into hell.

[00:37:56] I've preached a whole series on this.

[00:37:58] It's wonderful.

[00:37:58] But what this is saying in church history affirms, this is what the church understood is that Jesus is going down and proclaiming victory over those who attempted to stop his coming.

[00:38:12] Why else is he mentioning in the days of Noah these spirits?

[00:38:18] Because Genesis 3, the Messiah will come as a man.

[00:38:22] Genesis 6, let's corrupt humanity.

[00:38:25] Well, what we learn here is that those angels that did this were all gathered up and they were thrown according to Peter and Jude.

[00:38:32] They were thrown into prison.

[00:38:34] They were thrown.

[00:38:35] This right here.

[00:38:35] So when it says Jesus Christ died and when he died when his spirit descended into the lower regions of the earth which is a whole another explanation but for our sake here in which he went and proclaimed what proclaimed victory.

[00:38:49] It was a victory lap.

[00:38:51] He's not preaching so that the dead humans could believe again.

[00:38:53] No, it says which he proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah.

[00:39:03] Right?

[00:39:03] And the reason why I hold this position is because this isn't the only place that it's talked about.

[00:39:11] So I want to go ahead and jump into second Peter because we gain more clarity as relates to second Peter because in this particular passage in chapter one first Peter he's comforting the believer.

[00:39:23] Now I want you to hear me out.

[00:39:26] He's using the flood and these angels who tried to stop Jesus from coming.

[00:39:31] He's Peter as a pastor is saying you remember that story.

[00:39:37] Now this happens a lot.

[00:39:37] Paul a lot of the apostles will assume knowledge like you know your Old Testament and so they will just make references to things about the Sabbath or about the Exodus or about you know when the rock was struck in the wilderness and you know Paul says when the walk the rock was struck and water came out of it the water was Christ.

[00:39:58] Like the rock was Christ.

[00:40:00] Well, you just have to know about that story.

[00:40:02] And all he says is rock struck water.

[00:40:04] That's it.

[00:40:04] Doesn't give you any other context.

[00:40:06] So, they just assume you know what story he's talking about.

[00:40:09] Peter is assuming you know what story he's talking about.

[00:40:11] Why is it important you understand it that it's the spirits of the angels?

[00:40:14] Because they were trying to stop the salvation of humanity and stop judgment.

[00:40:19] Two things happening here.

[00:40:23] Salvation of humanity and the judgment of those who have rebelled.

[00:40:30] It feels like to the early church that th those who rebel, they win.

[00:40:35] They're getting away with it.

[00:40:38] They they there's no they do whatever they want and we're over here suffering.

[00:40:44] And Peter is saying, remember that moment when the angels did this?

[00:40:48] God gathered him up.

[00:40:51] He put him in gloomy darkness.

[00:40:59] " Chapter two, he gets more explicit.

[00:41:20] " So he proclaimed victory and then everything was put under his authority.

[00:41:24] There's nothing outside the authority of God.

[00:41:26] Church be comforted.

[00:41:28] This is this is the tone of Peter.

[00:41:30] The second letter is different.

[00:41:33] Now he's dealing with false teachers and how the false teachers seem to be getting away with it as well and they can just kind of do whatever they want.

[00:41:39] There's no consequences.

[00:41:40] So turn with me to second Peter chapter 2 and look at verse one.

[00:41:47] " Well, there you go.

[00:41:47] So that's the context.

[00:41:49] Also arose among the people, just as there were false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

[00:42:01] Well, how do we know it's going to bring upon them swift destruction?

[00:42:04] Well, let's keep reading.

[00:42:04] And many will follow their sensuality.

[00:42:06] So, now we're dealing with areas of sensuality.

[00:42:10] That's interesting key context because what stories is going to use stories of sensuality.

[00:42:17] And because of them, the way of truth will be blaspheing, and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words.

[00:42:23] Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

[00:42:29] Okay, this is key.

[00:42:32] He's saying their condemnation is on their way.

[00:42:35] So, just to think that they may not doesn't look like they're going to be condemned, but they are.

[00:42:40] And in this, this is actually a quote from Enoch.

[00:42:42] We'll get to this here in a minute.

[00:42:44] Now verse four, four and five key verses.

[00:42:47] For let me give you some illustration guys.

[00:42:51] Let me remind you of a powerful story of old of where this took place.

[00:42:54] For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.

[00:43:04] Well, that sounds like first Peter.

[00:43:06] The first time he wrote it, he called them spirits where he proclaimed victory.

[00:43:09] This time he calls them angels.

[00:43:12] So explicitly and it says they sinned and he cast them into hell waiting for judgment.

[00:43:19] Well, where do we know a story about angels sinning?

[00:43:24] He tells you next verse, if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

[00:43:37] So right there in the narrative, he's telling you he's following it down.

[00:43:42] And what did the angels what was their sin?

[00:43:47] Sensuality.

[00:43:47] Look at verse six.

[00:43:50] But if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, making them an example.

[00:44:01] Okay.

[00:44:01] Keep reading.

[00:44:04] If he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.

[00:44:08] Again, dealing with the context here.

[00:44:10] For as the for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep them unright, keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

[00:44:28] Two times Peter is comforting the church with Genesis chapter 6 and not just the general story where he's putting to judgment these wicked humans who become really bad.

[00:44:44] He doesn't say that.

[00:44:44] It's important to understand it's not that he's pointing to the flood and he's saying see God brought condemnation upon the wicked.

[00:44:53] He he's twice talks about it being the angels and it's specifically the angels who sin during the time of Noah.

[00:45:03] What well what do we know from the sons of God in the context?

[00:45:06] That's that's those who created this hybrid being right.

[00:45:11] So you start connecting it all and you're realizing you have Peter twice.

[00:45:15] He finds it significant enough to use that story twice and it is spiritual warfare.

[00:45:20] You've got the realm of the angelic spiritual realm collapsing into the physical realm and creating all kinds of sin and havoc, sensuality, and it's an attempt at stopping the Messiah.

[00:45:35] And Peter is saying they were judged, they will be judged, and judgment will come upon those who are doing it to you now.

[00:45:42] He's like, if he judged the angels, he's going to judge these people.

[00:45:45] Just remain faithful.

[00:45:45] Keep focusing on the gospel.

[00:45:47] Keep focusing on Christ.

[00:45:50] So you have two separate letters where Peter is using Genesis 6, I think explicitly the angelic view as a means of comfort and warning.

[00:46:03] So when someone says to me, while you guys are focusing on stuck weird passages, well, someone needs to tell Peter that because Peter twice uses this to explain and comfort the church.

[00:46:20] So, I mean, could you imagine this is how Peter did it?

[00:46:35] " That's that's what Peter's doing.

[00:46:38] These poor Christians twice, two different letters, they're in Asia Minor suffering because of the persecution that's going on in Rome.

[00:46:47] Then you get to Jude.

[00:46:47] Jude is probably the nail in the coffin.

[00:46:49] I mean, this is the one that just kind of finalizes it all because he's he uses language that is so explicit that Jude also is reading.

[00:46:57] So you could say, well, maybe Peter's just reading it that way.

[00:47:01] Well, Jude's reading it this way, too.

[00:47:02] So you got not just wildeyed Peter.

[00:47:05] Jude reads it this way.

[00:47:05] So Jude, you got verses five and following.

[00:47:09] It says, 'Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt a Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

[00:47:19] And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment day.

[00:47:33] Okay, so now we have the same thing that Peter says.

[00:47:35] We have angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling.

[00:47:43] Well, where is a story that we know of that?

[00:47:44] It's definitely Genesis chapter 6.

[00:47:47] And what is it that they did?

[00:47:50] Well, you got to read verse 7.

[00:47:52] Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal f of eternal fire.

[00:48:06] Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[00:48:09] Just as So he's saying the angels did not stay within their own position of authority just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise, twice, he says it now, indulged in sexual immorality.

[00:48:22] So their dude is comparing what the angels did leaving their proper place of authority with Sodom and Gomorrah.

[00:48:31] And which is interesting about that particular story is that you have angels involved in Sodom and Gomorrah as well.

[00:48:35] So that should not be lost on us.

[00:48:38] Verse eight, yet in like manner these people also relying on their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

[00:48:48] So it what we have here is a third confirmation of the angels in the context of Noah and it being sensuality being the what is being condemned.

[00:49:00] That's that's the flow.

[00:49:03] So you there's nowhere at all you could you cannot read Peter and Jude and come away with the Sethite view.

[00:49:10] You just can't do it.

[00:49:10] And I'm trying to I'm not trying to be rude.

[00:49:12] Is just not there cuz you're dealing with explicitly twice he calls them angels and then in the first one he calls them spirits but in the context you learn that the spirits are angels.

[00:49:24] Why?

[00:49:24] Because it's the same story.

[00:49:26] It's the story of Noah.

[00:49:28] They're being chained in gloomy darkness.

[00:49:29] It's you and Jude says it the same way.

[00:49:32] Well, how is it that they're using this similar language?

[00:49:33] And so there later on if you go and read in Jude let me scroll down here in Jude chapter for 14 but Jude 14 and 15 you are dealing now with what's going to happen to all of these rebellious sensual false teachers those who are leading people astray.

[00:50:00] Like what is what's going to happen with them?

[00:50:02] They're causing so much pain and havoc.

[00:50:03] Jude 14 it says it was also about these that Enoch the seventh of Adam prophesied saying behold the Lord comes with 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and all of the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

[00:50:30] All right.

[00:50:30] Now, you can't find that quote in the Old Testament.

[00:50:33] It's not there.

[00:50:35] He's quoting Enoch.

[00:50:35] Now, this is the particular passage that Wes Huff was talking about.

[00:50:43] He was kind of talking about the credentials and where it came from and what it's like.

[00:50:48] I'll let Wes Huff explain that.

[00:50:48] What you have here is this is not a nor is unusual for Paul to Paul does this.

[00:50:56] Paul will quote, you know, philosophers and just because he quotes them doesn't mean that particular passage is now considered to be scripture or that book or that author is now infallible.

[00:51:07] They can pull a quote and use that quote as an example and as an illustration.

[00:51:12] Well, what Judah is doing is pull pulling a well-known book that these that these readers would have known of.

[00:51:21] He doesn't have to explain the book of Enoch and he doesn't explain the quote.

[00:51:24] They would have known it.

[00:51:26] This was a common language.

[00:51:28] You know, it would be for us as Christians, it'd be like quoting a section from the Chronicles of Narnia or CS Lewis or something like that.

[00:51:36] But specifically Enoch, the book of Enoch was this particular section that he's quoting from.

[00:51:43] So if you go to the book of Enoch and you read it, he is quoting Enoch first Enoch 1:9.

[00:51:46] And what you're what you hear, I mean, this is the quote.

[00:51:53] But behold, he comes with 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and destroy all the I mean, it's it's a quote.

[00:51:58] He's quoting verbatim.

[00:52:01] Why does this matter?

[00:52:03] Well, if you stop and say, is it just a general quote?

[00:52:10] It's kind of like a, oh yeah, this is an example.

[00:52:15] For this entire section, angels, sexuality, when you go and read Enoch 1:9, what you realize is that is right smack dab in the middle of the story of Genesis 6 and the watchers and the fallen angels is what they're called, the watchers.

[00:52:30] Daniel uses this word watchers.

[00:52:32] And so Enoch when it's describing, again, Enoch is not scripture.

[00:52:37] I'm not saying all of my argument is landing on Enoch not whatsoever.

[00:52:41] Could stop this video right now and you have all the evidence that you need.

[00:52:45] But this is just icing on the cake.

[00:52:47] Throw a couple candles.

[00:52:47] What you have right smack dab in the middle of chapter 9 is from chapter 6 to chapter 16.

[00:52:54] Here's the narrative.

[00:52:54] The rebellion of the angels, which sounds very similar if you just go and read it to that of Genesis 6.

[00:53:02] This is their then it talks about their union with women, their birth of the giants, their corruption of humanity and the imprisonment of the chains in into judgment.

[00:53:12] This is what all and then you have chapter nine.

[00:53:15] And so he said what Enoch is writing about is that those angels who did this and the ungodly who participated in it, these ungodly humans that agreed and participated, there's judgment coming for them.

[00:53:28] So this is important to us because it's just affirming the view that's there.

[00:53:35] Jude is quoting from Enoch from the section that is quoting about this entire story of Genesis.

[00:53:40] And when you go back and read some of these passages that are in Enoch, it's pretty wild.

[00:53:44] Where you they it sounds like Peter like Peter clearly is writing understanding and using the same kind of language.

[00:53:56] This is Enoch one 1 Enoch 15.

[00:53:58] It says, "Where have you left the high, holy, and eternal heaven?

[00:54:05] " So what does Peter say?

[00:54:07] They left their proper place of authority.

[00:54:09] Jude says they left their proper place of authority.

[00:54:12] You were spiritually holy, living in the eternal life, but you have defiled yourself by the blood of women, and the spirits of the giants shall be called evil spirits upon the earth.

[00:54:20] So this is coming from the book of Enoch in that section that Jude is quoting from and you have there's a section of Enoch that talks about the angels being thrown into like they're gathered up.

[00:54:38] He sends Michael to go gather up the angels and to chain them up.

[00:54:41] It's the same language that Peter is using.

[00:54:44] So you can do some research on that if you want.

[00:54:47] There's a lot of great books that are out there that kind of show the correlation between Enoch and Peter and Jude.

[00:54:52] I'm not going to spend time doing that.

[00:54:54] I don't think it makes my argument more strong if I think you could leave Enoch out of completely, but I do just find it fascinating that the New Testament writers are using well-known Jewish traditional understandings and they use them as examples of their interpretation of Genesis chapter 6.

[00:55:10] All of that to say, well then how should we think about this as Christians?

[00:55:16] Well, what is it doing?

[00:55:16] This is a wild story.

[00:55:19] Angels creating giants.

[00:55:23] Well, the whole Old Testament is dealing with giants.

[00:55:25] I mean, they're everywhere in the Old Testament.

[00:55:26] They're in the promised land.

[00:55:28] They're dealing with they're killing giants who are kings.

[00:55:32] Og and you've got David and Goliath.

[00:55:34] I mean, it's a whole part of the narrative.

[00:55:36] But what you're But we're not we're always reading it as like physical.

[00:55:40] Peter used it as spiritual.

[00:55:40] Jude used it as a spiritual thing and so does Paul.

[00:55:49] " Like, Israel was establishing the nation to bring the Messiah.

[00:55:53] The Messiah has come.

[00:55:53] That part's over.

[00:55:56] They lost that part.

[00:56:00] " when it says that in Colossians that he transfers us out of the kingdom of darkness and what does it say?

[00:56:07] He puts the principalities powers to open shame.

[00:56:09] Why?

[00:56:09] Why does he put him to open shame?

[00:56:12] Well, because they're the one that crucified him.

[00:56:14] And in crucifying him, they actually accomplished our redemption.

[00:56:18] And it's it's on them.

[00:56:20] Paul says in Corinthians that they that God withheld his plan because if they would have known about the plan, they wouldn't have crucified him.

[00:56:28] So they're they in their victory of we killed them.

[00:56:32] Like this is the Chronicles of Narnia, that beautiful scene where they're all celebrating because Aslan is dead and then he comes running out on the field and they're like, "What?

[00:56:42] " This is Jesus putting them to shame on the battlefield saying you lost.

[00:56:45] And Peter is using it.

[00:56:47] So church, for those of us that feel as if, man, evil is rising and it's winning and it feels like the wicked succeed.

[00:56:55] You know, this is Psalm 73 that the the wicked are fat and the righteous are are hungry and we're going without and it seems like they have easy life and we suffer.

[00:57:04] Peter is saying you got to look past the physical here and realize this is a spiritual war and what you're fighting is the same thing that my brother Paul has been talking about.

[00:57:16] I mean later on in Peter he says Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

[00:57:22] He's prowling about and in this he's dealing with the mind.

[00:57:26] He says, "Be sober minded.

[00:57:27] " Why?

[00:57:27] Because the truth of Christ resting in our heart, the principalities, the the spiritual realm wants to intoxicate our minds.

[00:57:37] It wants to fill it with lies.

[00:57:37] It wants us discouraged.

[00:57:39] It wants us hurting.

[00:57:41] And Peter is using these illustrations of actual spiritual warfare happening.

[00:57:48] These angels that are using different means.

[00:57:51] They tried using corrupting the line.

[00:57:54] Later on, you see them trying to murder all the children.

[00:57:56] They find out that Jesus is a is a baby.

[00:57:59] So, let's murder all of the children.

[00:58:01] You can keep seeing it.

[00:58:02] Jesus is pulled out into the wilderness and tempted by Satan.

[00:58:06] Now, that they that they lost that they lost it over Jesus.

[00:58:09] And now what do they do?

[00:58:11] Paul says they're coming after the church now.

[00:58:12] They lost the war with Jesus.

[00:58:14] The Messiah has come and now they know he's coming back.

[00:58:16] So, what do we do?

[00:58:18] Let's just get them not talking about Jesus.

[00:58:20] Let's not let's let's slow this thing down.

[00:58:22] Maybe we can I even possibly think that Satan thinks he can turn humanity against God.

[00:58:28] So, what does he do?

[00:58:30] He goes after the church.

[00:58:31] This is James.

[00:58:33] It's fascinating how James uses this.

[00:58:42] " Like, we just have no concept of that.

[00:58:43] Like what the writers of the New Testament, they had an enchanted worldview of evil and wickedness coming upon the church.

[00:58:50] You know, test the spirits to see if they're among you.

[00:58:54] Paul literally says that you have angels of light.

[00:58:56] Those you have people teaching in the church appear as people, but they're actually they're actually angels that are that are of angels of light.

[00:59:05] They're of Satan.

[00:59:08] I mean, it's wild.

[00:59:08] You got Hebrews 4 or Hebrews talking about angels being among you.

[00:59:14] You don't even know it.

[00:59:15] Like they just lived in a different perspective than we do.

[00:59:17] And the reason why this is important is that they trusted that the church needed to believe in the supernatural means to fight against this.

[00:59:29] So what is they emphasizing?

[00:59:32] They're emphasizing the gather church so that we can be preaching and teaching and praying and singing and fellowshipping and receiving of the Lord's table and baptism because those are the spiritual weapons of our warfare.

[00:59:42] What does Paul literally say?

[00:59:42] The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but of the divine power to tear down strongholds.

[00:59:47] And what are those strongholds?

[00:59:49] He talks about lies that are cast about.

[00:59:51] So we live in a world that is bombarding us with lies from Satan on every level from TV to phones to internet to everywhere.

[01:00:00] It's everywhere.

[01:00:02] And this is why we have to be sober minded, filling our hearts and our minds with the supernatural power of the gospel, Christ for you.

[01:00:08] Right?

[01:00:08] Peter again in second Peter where he's dealing with the descent of Christ and all of this, what does he say in his opening of the letter?

[01:00:19] He says that everything that you need for life has already been given to you.

[01:00:24] Like don't try and go earn your salvation or your reward.

[01:00:26] Everything for life and godliness has been given to you by divine power and is kept by Christ in heaven for you.

[01:00:31] So add to your faith what these weapons of our warfare.

[01:00:34] The fruit like the fruit of the spirit coming out of us is what encourages others and draws as Peter says be ready to give an answer of the hope that lies within you.

[01:00:45] Right?

[01:00:45] But then he says this in second Peter 1:9.

[01:00:49] And he says, "But if these but if these things are not true about you and they're not increasing," he doesn't question their salvation.

[01:00:56] This is important.

[01:00:59] He doesn't question their salvation.

[01:01:03] " Like you forgot you are not a part of this wicked evil kingdom of darkness.

[01:01:11] You were brought out of that.

[01:01:13] You forgot that.

[01:01:13] You need to remember that if you're not producing virtue and kindness and mercy and gentleness and meekness, if you're not producing these things, you you've forgotten you've been cleansed.

[01:01:25] You forgot who you were.

[01:01:26] Church, this is why preaching all of scripture and not removing the weirdness and allowing those stories to come to the surface and inform us actually changes and gives us hope.

[01:01:40] When we see that evil is winning, man, it feels like it's winning, right?

[01:01:42] There's it feels like the world's in chaos.

[01:01:45] The Epstein files and alien this and this, you know, it's like evil and babies being murdered and it's all kinds of crazy stuff happening.

[01:01:52] Peter and Paul and Jude, they're really giving you an introduction into the matrix.

[01:02:02] They're giving you this is a red pill moment, right?

[01:02:06] Where they're opening your mind and saying there's more going on.

[01:02:09] And the only way in which you are going to be aware of that is to look into past look past the physical realm into the spiritual realm and trust that Christ is winning.

[01:02:22] Like whatever you see feels like losing, let me remind you he proclaimed victory.

[01:02:28] Let me remind you that he put them to open chain.

[01:02:32] Let me remind you he rose from the grave.

[01:02:34] Let me remind you that those who tried to stop, God has already gathered up those angels.

[01:02:39] Now there are other ones who are doing work.

[01:02:40] There are there are those who do causing havoc.

[01:02:43] But if he if he took care of them, he will take care of the these.

[01:02:45] What are we supposed to be doing?

[01:02:48] We're not demon hunters, right?

[01:02:49] We have been called to care, comfort, and go and reach the lost.

[01:02:54] We are to focus in on Christ, laying aside the weight and the sin that easily besets us and focus our eyes on Jesus Christ.

[01:02:59] So I don't we shouldn't be ashamed or afraid of Genesis 6.

[01:03:04] We should welcome it because it is a great comfort us that as crazy as it is.

[01:03:09] I mean, there's so much evidence for the flood.

[01:03:13] It's wild.

[01:03:13] There's evidence for giants.

[01:03:16] I mean, it's wild.

[01:03:16] What's coming to be like what people are finding these days and evil is on the rise.

[01:03:24] And we could use Peter and Jude to comfort us and Paul to instruct us on how to fight.

[01:03:29] We stand in the strength of the Lord.

[01:03:31] We put on the armor of God.

[01:03:32] We realize that unless we do that, we will be taken out and not in a way in which oh like we'll be demonpossessed but our heart and our mind will be swayed.

[01:03:42] We'll become ineffective and unfruitful in the kingdom.

[01:03:45] So to be effective and fruitful to love and care for others and to find hope and joy in the midst of darkness, we reenchant our faith.

[01:03:53] We open up the Bible.

[01:03:55] We allow the wild stories to be true because it's the wild stories that are used to comfort our hearts.

[01:03:59] So, if that was encouraging to you, I talk more about that this book, chapter 5, not specifically this.

[01:04:06] I get more into how to read the Bible from an enchanted worldview, specifically from Jesus, how he teaches us to do that.

[01:04:15] Org or, on Amazon.

[01:04:17] So, hopefully this is encouraging to you.

[01:04:19] And, if you want to hear me preach a more like full explanation of that, my three-part series, and I'll put even the the Peter sermon.

[01:04:28] So, there's like five, six sermons that I'll put in the show notes below.

[01:04:32] You can go and listen to those.

[01:04:32] Couple books that I would recommend that I found helpful.

[01:04:36] Doug Van Dorne's book on the Giants was very helpful.

[01:04:38] If you want to go read that, I'll put the show notes there.

[01:04:42] Doug and I have done a couple of podcasts on this.

[01:04:43] If you go to the Reformed Fringe, there's several episodes that we've done specifically on this.

[01:04:48] We did one on how the early church actually altered the Bible, altered the text to remove the supernatural view of Genesis 6 and Deuteronomy 32.

[01:04:57] So you can go listen to that episode as well.

[01:04:59] So at the end of the day, no matter what position that you take, whether it's the Sethite view or the angelic view, the one thing you do have to agree is Peter and Jude and Paul want to open our eyes to the spiritual realm and comfort us.

[01:05:12] The wicked will be judged.

[01:05:14] The righteous will be saved.

[01:05:17] And we believe this by faith.

[01:05:20] No matter what position you take, that is the application from Jude and Peter.

[01:05:24] All right.

[01:05:24] Thank you for listening.

[01:05:25] If this was helpful, please like and subscribe and share this with someone.

[01:05:29] That's just an easy way to help get more people.

[01:05:31] At the end of the day, I would love to grab as many people that are thinking about Genesis 6 and get them to Christ.

[01:05:37] So, yes, giants and crazy, but at the end of the day, let's get them to Jesus.

[01:05:42] And that's the point of this episode.

[01:05:44] So thanks for listening.