THE NEPHILIM
THE NEPHILIM
(Genesis 6: 1-4)
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom, August 12, 2007
Study notes from Principles of Present Truth by Kelly Varner.
I wish I had a, “thus saith the Lord” on the Nephilim. However, I do not so let us study these Giants together.
Verse 4: “There were giants in the earth in those days.”
NEPHIL: (Hebrew) ( #5303, 5307): “a feller, bully, tyrant or giant; the fallen ones; wonderful, strong, mighty; fallers, apostates who are fallen from true religion, and falling on men with violence and rapine, and causing them to fall; strong and robust in body, and leaders of others.” “Nephilim” may be correct in referring to a race or nation.
The NEPHILIM in the earth today are those given over to SEDUCING SPIRITS, whose purpose it is to make it impossible for the Lord Jesus to have a people joined to Him in His inheritance. The earth is filled with POLITICAL NEPHILIM, ECONOMIC NEPHILIM, AND RELIGIOUS NEPHILIM. At this point I think all of you will have some names and nations come to mind (smile). All of these political Giants have evil intelligence. With unabated zeal these are marching across the land in the flurry of the last days of the present world system. (11 Cor. 11:13-14: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works”
I had a friend write me this past week about certain ministers in high places who are prone to boasting and lifting themselves up. Ministry that is pleasing to the Lord will not magnify itself, but will always magnify the Lord. The minister must always decrease that the Lord may increase.
The bible mentions giants in many places, using the Hebrew word, “Rapha” (#7497) which means “invigorating, a giant”. Another word for Giant is “Gibbor” (#1368) and means powerful, warrior, tyrant, champion, giant, mighty man, strong man, valiant man”
This is not just a discussion of Bible tidbits that cause endless debates. This has a significant principle having to do with the Kingdom of God. As we go to the “law of first mention”, they are mentioned when God was getting ready to change the order and judge the world by the flood. They are next mentioned when Israel was as the threshold of moving in to the land of promise. It was the fear of the giants that kept them out.
I am not qualified to debate as to who the Sons of God were in verse 2. We must keep the perspective that the Word of God says, “Eve is the mother of all living.” However, verse 4 in King James clearly states, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,”
(1) The sons of Adam who corrupted themselves.
(2) Fallen Angels (Jude 6: And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day”. Then we face the argument that angels cannot marry. (Matt. 9:30: “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” However, these beings were not in heaven, but on earth.
Whichever position you choose until the Lord reveals a better one, is up to you. This has New Testament significance because the Lord aligns the circumstances prior to the flood with the second coming. Matthew 24: 36-42: “but of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”
The daughters of men were the daughters of Adam. Satan ever desires to corrupt the Seed of the Woman that would crush him and bruise his head. (Gen. 3:15)
If one follows the line of thought that the Nephilim were fallen angels, it is interesting to note in Jude 6, that the phrase “first estate” (arche) is a governmental term. Again I am pointing out that this spirit has embedded itself in the world political systems of this present world.
The NEPHILIM were monsters of iniquity, being superhuman in size and character. (Compare the heroes of Greek mythology.) Like as then, Satan desires to bring about a SPIRITUAL CORRUPTION aimed at those who are joined to the Lord Jesus, that HOLY SEED whom he hates and fears.
Particularly susceptible are women who are not under the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ and his governmental covering. Just as the woman whom God gave Adam sinned to submit to Satan, and just as the daughters of Adam followed the way of their mother, so will be those who refuse proper spiritual covering in the last days, and thereby come under a corrupting influence.
Those who succumb to this corruption will at first exalt their own headship above the government of Christ. (11 Thess. 2:4: “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This we know to be the spirit of anti-christ at work in the earth.
This is why we study the lives and ministries of those famous giant-killers like David and Caleb. We learn there are two scripture ways of killing the giants: (Both were men of Judah)
(1) Prophesy, run toward him, knock him down and cut his head off with his own sword. (1 Sam. 17) This is another reason why the devil tries to keep prophesy out of the church.
(2) Eat him and swallow him. (“they are bread for us” (Numbers 13-14)
It is significant that David (a type of Jesus Christ) killed Goliath (a type of Satan, the champion) and that David’s mighty men destroyed the giant’s sons. (11 Sam. 21: 18-22); 2 Chron. 20:4-8) It is significant that there were four sons of the giant, for the Son of Satan in his corporate strength will be universal, attempting to defile the creation.
Note in verse 3b: The Lord still blessed man with a life-span of 120 years. The word for “strive” means to judge, contend and plead.
THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN
Genesis 6:5-9
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart, 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.”
This is significant according to the statement of Jesus in Matthew 24: 36-43. We are living in the same kind of day.
We are living in a day when:
(1) The wickedness (lewdness, moral depravity, lawlessness) of man is great (multiplying) in the earth.
(2) Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually (literally, all the day).
(3) It repents the Lord that he has made man.
(4) God has purposed to destroy the wicked.
(5) The earth is corrupt.
(6) The earth is filled with violence (#2555- “wrong, unjust gain; damage, cruelty, injustice, violation, oppression, unrighteousness”)
(7) All flesh except those like Noah and his family have corrupted the way of God (Christianity) upon the earth.
NOAH AND HIS FAMILY
(Genesis 6: 8-9)
“But Noah found Grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
NOAH means rest, quite, resting place, to settle down, comfort, calm, quiet, tranquility, peace, equilibrium.
He is in the Hebrews Hall of Fame. 11:7: “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.”
His faith is described here in seven dimensions:
1. The ground – God’s Word. “Being warned of God”
2. The sphere – the invisible “of things not seen as yet”.
3. The character – reverence “moved with fear”.
4. The evidence – results “prepared an ark”
5. The issue – to others. “To the saving of his house”.
6. The witness – in power “by which he condemned the world”.
7. the reward – the inheritance, “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
1 Peter 3:20: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved by water.”
Noah was the 10th from Adam. Ten is the number of trial (Dan. 1:12), and tribulation (Rev. 2:10). The flood speaks of tribulation. The time of the Day of Atonement was 10 days from the blowing of the trumpets.
Noah found another age.
(1) He found Grace in the eyes of the Lord. (6:8)
(2) He was a just and perfect in his generations. (6:9)
(3) A man of covenant principle (6:18) “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and you shall come into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.” Note male and female is a covenant principle.
(4) A man of faith and obedience. (6:22)
(5) A man of righteousness. (7:1)
(6) A man whom God remembered. (8:1)
(7) A man of patience. (8: 6-14)
(8) A man who worshipped God. (8: 20-21)
(9) A man who ruled the earth. (9: 1-3)
(10)Noah walked with God.
Noah reproduced himself in:
(1) Shem – name, renown, upright, righteous, brilliant, dignity.
(2) Ham – hot, he raged, tumult, black, blique, curved, inferior
(3) Japheth – enlargement, let him spread out, widespread, latitude, increase, expansion, unfoldment:”
NOAH’S ARK
Genesis 6: 14-17
Noah’s Ark typifies Jesus Christ. Christ the head, the Lord Jesus; and Christ the Body, His Church.
The Ark was made of Gopher wood. This reveals the humanity of Christ the Head and Body.
The Ark was a place of refuge and preservation Like Noah; we are hid with Christ in God. The Lord shut him in. God never shuts a door without opening a window! All who entered the ark were preserved. The clean beasts were by sevens (perfection) and the unclean by two (witness) (Gen. 7:2)
The dimensions of the Ark are most significant. These numbers reveal Jesus Christ and his brethren in heir full authority and stature, anointed to be the deliverance of God in the earth, totally victorious in conflict:
(1) The Ark was 300 cubits (450) feet wide. The number 50 denotes complete deliverance and victory in conflict. The three entrances to the tabernacle of Moses were each a0 x 10, or 100 cubits square, a total of 300 sq. cubits).
(2) The Ark was 50 cubits (75 feet) wide, the number 50 denotes anointing, Pentecost, or jubilee. (Acts 2: 1-47)
(3) The Ark was 30 cubits (45 feet) high; the number 30 denotes authority, maturity, and full stature. (Gen. 41:46;) The priest began his ministry at the age of 30.
The Ark had only one door. There is only one way of deliverance from the wrath to come. There is only one Savior. (Jn. 14:6; 10:9) Note also that this door was set in the side of the Ark. (Jn. 19:34). The Ark was pierced. The way back into Him (His heart and His bosom) has been prepared.
There were three stories or three levels to Noah’s Ark. This reveals a full salvation for man’s spirit, soul, and body. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we shall be saved. Noah and his family lived on the Third level.
There was a window in the third loft. (Acts. 20: 8-9. One window and thus one light for Noah and his family. It was finished above. (Col. 3;3) Noah and his family were not looking down upon the destruction of God’s judgment but rather looking up toward God.
Just as the Ark of the covenant was covered within and without with gold as revealed in Ex. 25:11, so Noah’s Ark was covered within and without. It was pitched with pitch. This works means to make atonement. It means to cover, to expiate, to placate or cancel; appease, make an atonement, to cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pardon, purge, reconcile. A shelter from God’s wrath can be found only beneath the atoning BLOOD.
The Ark rested in the seventh month on the 17th day of the month. (Gen. 8:4) The Passover was on the 14th day. Jesus was crucified on the Passover, and was resurrected 3 days later. 14+3+ 17. Jesus’ ascension is also seen in that the Ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Ararat means, “the curse is reversed or precipitated, high or holy ground.
To BE CONTINUED AT THE SUNDAY EVENING SERVICE
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Teaching notes from Principles of Present Truth by: Kelly Varner.