There Is Nothing Civil About War
“And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repented Me that I have made them.” Genesis 6:7
If God felt like destroying all creation only five chapters into the book of beginnings, Genesis, I can only imagine how He feels now. However, we are now in the age of grace, but who knows how much longer that will continue. I think God is prolonging the return of Christ to allow as many people as possible to repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ, but there will be a cut off point at some time, maybe sooner than later. God also said in Genesis that His Spirit shall not always strive with man (6:3a). Even God has His limitations, not that He is limited in His abilities, but He has predetermined a limited amount of time for people to get their act together. What was it that caused God to grieve so over the state of His creation in the book of Genesis?
According to the genealogy of Genesis Chapter 5, there were approximately 1,556 years between the creation of Adam until the three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, were born to Noah. The population of the earth had increased greatly among the descendants of the first man Adam. However, these human descendants of Adam and Eve were not the only inhabitants of earth. There were other creations called the sons of God who commentators believe were fallen angels, that is, demons, who took on the form of humans and intermarried with human daughters of Adam’s descendants. (God did not create demons. He created angels, some of whom chose to rebel against Him. Chief among the rebels was Lucifer, or as we call him, Satan, or the devil.) Borrowing from the world of science fiction, I guess we could call these creatures “shapeshifters”. Scripture refers to them as “giants”. If the Bible scholars are correct, these fallen angels turned demons, in having sexual relations with human women, would have fathered some sort of half-human, half-demon creatures. The male offspring of these unions “became might men which were of old, men of renown.” That description would lead me to believe that these giants brought fear into the hearts of people because they were so powerful. They apparently ruled over the population by threats and intimidation. Nearly every single person at that time fell under their influence and dominion except for one family, that of Noah.
These not-fully human creatures became famous for their exploits which, judging by God’s regret at creating men and by the increase of wickedness upon the earth, were filled with evil and ungodly pursuits, so much so that God came close to wiping out every living soul and beast. Noah and his family were the only survivors of God’s flood which eliminated all other humans and creatures alike. God gave grace to Noah because he was the only man on earth who had not fallen into the trap of the corruption and violence that had filled the earth at that time. Some commentators estimate that Noah, his wife, three sons, and their wives were the only fully human people on the earth at that time. Even if there were other humans, they would have followed the path of the evil ones which caused them to be washed away when the flood came. We would have to say that Hollywood did not originate “monsters”. Monsters were a product of the devil.
Fast forward to today. As we look across the landscape and see and hear things that we never thought that we would see or hear, it certainly appears that Satan’s demons are working overtime to disrupt, damage, and destroy whatever influence that God’s people are still hanging onto. We have already witnessed many who are trying to take away the voice of conservatives, and that includes Christians. If the truth be told, it is believers in Jesus Christ who are the major target of those with the anti-freedom and anti-God agenda. Those who would like to eliminate God from every aspect of society remind me of those giants who ruled by threats and intimidation. That’s the bad news. The good news is that no one ever fought against God and prospered. So while the immediate future looks rather bleak and is causing worry and fret, it will be interesting to see how God shows Himself strong among His people. I have no doubt about that.