“Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:1-4 NASB
The fires have dispersed and your prayers have been a blessing to my family and the city that we live in. Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers. In a previous blog post, we asked the question, “Why is there sin in the world?” Please read, The Spread of Lawlessness (Part 1),to catch up. Most pastors and teachers are afraid to even cover this passage out of fear of sounding like a lunatic. Augustine of Hippo dismissed this passage as well as many others; to be interpreted as allegoric. So lets be clear, I believe the Bible is true and it is inspired by God. The Gnostic influences of a mostly heretical Augustine must be dismissed and scripture must be used to interpret scripture. One must also take into account historical reference to also bring clarity to the passage. In part one, we stated that the first reason for why there is sin in the world is because of the rebellion of Adam and Eve.
The second reason for why there is sin in the world is because of the sins that the “sons of God” (the Watchers) committed against humanity.
This is a real story that must be taken literally, so let us take a deep breath and begin. Scripture states that the sons of God (angels) took wives of their choosing. This both went against the design and will of God. These angels were granted the ability to think for themselves. The book of Daniel mentions them three times in the fourth chapter (4:13,17,23). He referred to them as the watchers. There are good ones and bad ones. In Daniel 4:17, these watchers made a decision and passed a sentence (a ruling or judgement) against Nebuchadnezzar. From this passage the watchers were empowered and given authority from heaven. Angels who lived in obedience to God did not marry. Jesus made this clear in the following passage:
Matthew 22:30 (NKJV) 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.
Jesus did not say they can’t, He is saying that they don’t. There is a difference. The ones that don’t; are loyal and obedient to God in heaven. Jesus is also making it clear that eternal beings have no need to procreate. Procreation is for the purpose of extending a race that can die off.
Luke 20:34-36 (NASB) 34 Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
The sin of the watchers was sexual corruption. They did force their ways upon the daughters of humanity and bore them children. This evil act corrupted the DNA of man as a defiant act against God. This act was to distort what God had made in His image. Peter makes mention that this was a sin and emphasizes it with a comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah. In Part 1, we learned that sin mutated the world, man and all of creation. It separated us from God. The lawless act of the watchers was to alter our image into their own twisted image. This eventually would destroy man, the planet and all of God’s creation.
2 Peter 2:4 (NKJV) 4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast themdown to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
These two cities were known for their delight in raping unsuspecting strangers and visitors. Now Genesis does use the word,”marry,” this does imply some consent on the part of some. The transgressions led to a world of darkness, that God had to deal with. Jude also confirms the sin as sexual in verses 6-7.
Jude 6-7 (NKJV) 6 And the angels who did not keep their a]”>[a]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
So why does this matter?
We are made in the image of God. The fallen angels were polluting our DNA with an image that is not of God. A hybrid of man and fallen angel. These hybrids were called Nephilim. How was God supposed to send a Messiah into a world full of hybrids? These hybrids were not His creation, but an abomination. Read this phrase again, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” This implies that if God did not react to this abomination, salvation for humanity would not come. It also implies that the Holy Spirit could not reside in us. Jesus came to die for man, to reconcile man back to God. Our souls, when we die, go to be with God.
2 Corinthians 5:8 (NKJV) 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
This is why God told Noah that He was going to destroy the world by a flood. He had to remove the Nephilim from humanities blood line. Humanity needed to remainin the image of God, so that when Christ died, His blood would purify us from the virus of sin. cleansing us from all unrighteousness that separates us from God. This is why we need Gods forgiveness.
According to Jude the watchers were put in everlasting chains for the Day of judgement. The humans who do evil go to the lake of fire. So what happened to the Nephilim? Many second temple era Jews and followers of Christ believed that these Nephilim are now the demons who torment us on the earth. This view comes from the historical book of Enoch, but does have some basis in the Bible. According to the Book of Enoch, when the Nephilim died in the flood they were cursed to roam the earth and torment man kind until the day of Judgement. (Enoch 15:8-11) We do have to give some credibility to the Book of Enoch since both Peter and Jude both reference it and Jude even quotes from it. There are also some early church fathers who thought Enoch should have been part of the cannon of scripture.
There are also hints to the credibility of Enoch’s claim in the Bible. In Mathew 8:28-34 there is an interesting account of Jesus dealing with demons. These demons recognized Jesus as the Son of the Most High God, and they reminded Him that it was not their time to be sent to hell. Many people falsely think that the angels, who rebelled against God and that left with Lucifer, are demons. This is not the case, as Paul points out in Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Paul separates them into two groups the ones who rule this dark world (Principalities could mean nations and powers could mean rulers of nations.) and the spiritual hosts (The word hosts often refers to angels.) of wickedness in the heavenly places. Angels have their proper domain (Jude verse 6) and demons have theirs on the earth. Could the legend of Hercules be true? Could Hercules who was half man and half “god” actually have been a Nephilim? Many Scholars such as Dr. Michael S Heiser argue this point in his books, The Unseen realm and Reversing Hermon. Many of the “gods” were fallen angles or Nephilim. Genesis six actually refers to them as “mighty men” and as “men of renown”. Many people worshiped them as gods. This is why so many early church Christians and the disciples gave legitimacy to the book of Enoch. Which then makes sense when you read:
1 Corinthians 10:20-21 (NKJV) 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.
Later, Paul warns Timothy in the last days some will even follow these demons and be taught by them.
1 Timothy 4:1 (NASB) 4 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
So to sum this up, the second reason why there is sin in the world is because of the sexual sin of the angels and the blending of their seed, causing further corruption of all creation. The Nephilim could then be the demons that torment and tempt us into doing sin. To this day, the goal of the demonic realm is to corrupt the image of God. They are still trying to convince humanity to alter our image away from God’s. This is what God meant in Genisis when he told them that He would put enmity between his seed (Satan) and her Seed (Jesus Christ). The Nephilim are the seed of the fallen watchers and Christ is the promised Seed of God, the Restoration. Jesus made an interesting observation and prophecy about the last days, when He said:
Matthew 24:37-39 (NKJV) 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Did Jesus provide a warning us, that in the last days we would try to alter our image away from God, just as in the days of Noah? Would we try to bring back the Nephilim? Was he referring to the marriage of the fallen angles and the daughters of man? Today scientists want to alter our DNA, modify us into our image (or the watchers), removing God from the equation. Could this be a mechanism in regard to the mark of the beast? Could man be made into a new image one in which God could not reside in? Could we be removing the temple of our bodies that Christ dwells within? Read this quote below, as a christian it disturbed me greatly.
Evolving Ourselves—Redesigning the Future of Humanity byJuan Enriquez—Managing Director, Excel Venture Management “In just 150 years, the human species has changed. We have redesigned our world and our bodies while at the same time becoming an ever more domesticated and smarter species, one that lives far longer. Alongside nature, we are now the fundamental driver of what lives and dies. Darwin’s natural selection no longer holds true in a world where little remains natural and free of the hand of man. There is now a second, parallel, large-scale determinant of evolution, one driven by two new rules: unnatural selection and nonrandom mutation. The future of humanity depends on the geographic choices we make to design our places and the genetic choices to design ourselves and how these two sciences intersect.”
NOTE: I’m learning that increased access to peered review studies of the ancient texts… especially those found in Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls) are further insightful of the thoughts, concerns and understandings of the Second Temple Jews, and the emerging followers of Christ. I would love your feedback, so please leave a comment.
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Great post. I agree with this article and like you, I wish this was discussed more in the church. I plan to write an article on the “Sethite” view as well to just pick it apart. Those who dont agree that fallen angels reproduced with human women hold to this view despite not having proper justification for how 2 normal human beings can reproduce and have literal giants as offspring. It doesnt add up. A future article I’ll be doing is also about our current technological capabilities in terms of DNA manipulation. I plan to take this idea and also add in the UFO phenomenon the world has been experiencing. I, along with many other Christians, believe they’re demonic entities that are gearing the world for an “Alien deception” of sorts. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. I do believe what happened with the Watchers will be revisited in the last days.
The first time I read about the Nephilim, I immediately thought of the Greek and Roman Gods. What you say in this post makes a lot of sense. I have always felt that we are so far removed from that time that knowing for certain would be impossible without seeking out all the ancient documents and learning ancient languages. It was on my list of questions to ask God. Thanks for this. I was encouraged by it. I’ll look for the book of Enoch now.
Thank you. I really recommend reading, “Reversing Hermon”. The author is Dr. Michael S Heiser. He ties these thoughts together with compelling evidence.
Thanks Stephan, I will look it up.