Sons of God

DEVOTION

GENESIS

SONS OF GOD

Gen 6:1-4

6:1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

NIV

There is much here which many have made much of in a variety of ways, but mostly seeing angels having intimate relations with humans and the offspring being great heroes of old. However neither the text nor the original Hebrew words support such a doctrine. What is suggested here is, as we know, are two distinct groups or clans living at this time. We have the descendants of Seth and those of Cain. Seth having been the replacement of Abel and the line from which God had determined Christ would enter the world by, were men living in the awareness and presence of the Lord. They are those here referred to as sons of God, such as we also are called.

Matt 5:9

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God .

NIV

Rom 8:14-15

14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God .

NIV

Gal 3:26

26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,

NIV

It is clear these men spoken of here are those who live in accordance with God. They are the descendants of Seth. But Cain, on the other hand, did not obey God and was cast out to live in another place. We know he too had a wife, who surely had left with him and therefor descendants. This clan did not live in accordance with the Lord and were as some would say, heathen. Here is the problem. The descendants of Seth looked not at the spiritual and moral beauty of women in their choosing to take as wives. This is to say the sons of God, those descendants of Seth looked upon the outward beauty of the woman who were descendants of Cain and took them. The result were mothers who did not raise children in the ways of the Lord, but rather in a more physical worldly way. This resulted in the degradation of mankind in general.  This is why God determined that he would give this kind of lifestyle only one hundred and twenty more years and he would then flood them off the face of the earth. There is one more happening at this time as well which another cause for God’s response was. This Nephilim, or what some who say giants, were also among men. But the word here can also men tyrants, giants, not in stature but in power. As far as the heroes, it would make too much sense to simply see the offspring of men of the line of Seth, even though their women were from the line of Cain to be men of more refined thought, just mighty in strength. These are men whose names were mentioned with a certain amount of respect. So what do we learn from all this? It seems a little late in life for some of us, to bear more children, or for that matter take another wife. We are who we are, and our lives are pretty much set in the manner they are. But yet we do see a truth about not being unequally yoked, as it seemed this narrative is about, the descendants of Seth and Cain intermarried, the godly with the ungodly. Many of us have nothing to worry about as we are in a united godly marriage, but some may not be and it would not be appropriate to reverse that course. Yet this unequal yoking extends past the marriage vows into every aspect of life. It certainly appears God was not pleased with how they were becoming unequally yoked in their marriages. He is also not pleased when we yoke ourselves with the world, either in its behaviors or affairs, such as business. When we partner with the world financially we are yoked with them, unequally. Their business practices may not agree with Godly principals. Yes we need to be employed and we cannot always find employment within the believing community, but to partner with unbelieving companies for the purpose of personal gain is another concept entirely. This also speaks to how we approach life as well. How we follow God. The choices we make in life are not based on the same principles as the unbelieving community does. Once we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we became the sons of God, in essence from the line of Seth, Noah, Abraham, David and ultimately Jesus.  We should not be looking at the descendants of Cain, the unbelieving world with lust in our heart for its values are not ours. Although God promised never to wipe all of mankind from the earth again by a flood, he still has a judgment to come on those who live as descendants of Cain. Let us remember who we are, sons of God.