Gen. 6:5
Man's mind was
on evil continually
The sad state
of fallen man is shown here, where wickedness had spread everywhere. We
don't know what government or anything else was like, but whether there were
kings, emperors, or presidents, whether great freedom or harsh tyranny,
whatever state people are in, one thing matters to God - the state of one's
heart.
We are born
with a sin nature, and each of us must choose to reject or accept Christ's
forgiveness. Salvation has always been by faith, as we have seen.
These people, then, had the choice whether to accept or reject God's promise of
a future Messiah who would wash their sins away, and in the meantime trust in
and follow His ways and precepts. As Job said only a few hundred years after
the Flood, at around the time of Abraham, 'I know my Redeemer lives.' He
knew he wasn't perfect, but that he would stand before Him forgiven. And, in
the meantime, he served God as best He could.
These people,
however, wanted nothing to do with God's love and mercy. They didn't even take
the time to consider following God. We're they doing good works for only
themselves? We don't know, but it seems unlikely.
Their minds, after all, were on
evil continually, but so was every desire of their hearts, every imagination –
that is, all that they thought about. There was no thought of Godly ways. God
promised to save Sodom if only ten righteous people were in it, after all.
These people didn't even have a desire to be Godly. It brings to mind how
people in the End Times will not only blaspheme God, they will even blaspheme
those in Heaven. Because even totally vain peoples’ minds will at times be on
helping others, for instance, even if for their own glory that is still a noble
cause. It would appear, though, that there were no noble causes whatsoever in
this time.
Of course, people will point to the fact
that all our righteousness is as filthy rags next to that of God.(Is.64:6) But,
true as that is, in saying “all our righteousness,” the Spirit accepting that
mankind has some desire to do right, some innate sense that it is good to do
good. it is very often wrong in deciding what is good, it is very often a
self-righteousness like the Pharisees whom Jesus takes to task many times, but
there is a “righteousness” there which when compared to that of God is as
filthy rags. Even in the most hedonistic societies there may be that person who
helps his neighbor or who always speaks kind words, for instance.
God condemns the pre-Flood world here by
stating that all the thoughts and imaginations were only on evil,a nd
continually on evil. People have said for decades they felt the Lord
wouldreturn because it has begun to be ‘as in the days of Noah,” but the evil
in the world does keep getting more pronounced, because it is not yet as cruel
as the world just before the Flood. This is why it’s vital to pray god come
quickly and also to witness to as many as we can of God’s great grace, peace,
comfort, etc., and most of all His salvation, full and free, to all who
believe..
This is another reason why it appears
spiritual warfare must be involved somehow with fallen angels, because the Cainites
could have become as wicked as the inhabitants of Canaan in Joshua’s day, but
even there a Rahab was present to show her family the ways of God and His love
which she had found, even there a Ruth could be found who once she was shown
the truth of God’s love she would turn away from the evil idols. So, not every Canaanite
desired to sacrifice their children to molech as the vast majority did. (And
these children, though sought by the devil, were apparently all below the age
of accountability, meaning that they were saved by the cross just as David’s
son, of whom the king says that child would not come to him, but he would go to
that child someday.(2 Sam. 12:23) So, the devil didn’t even get the
satisfaction of hving these souls.)
However, there were far more people in
the world right before the Flood than there were in Canaan, and the Bible seems
to indicate that there were no Rahabs, no Ruths, who could be won and used to
win others to God. Out of potentially billions of people Even if only millions,
this shows the intense depravity which occurred, and is more in line with the
demon-possessed who would throw themselves intot he fire and cut themselves
which Jesus healed. There is even some speculation that the Nephilim were
genetically engineered, but while mankind at this time may have been advanced
enough to do that and did it for evil only, such discussion of what Nephilim
were is speculation, as noted above, and is not the purpose of this blog.
The purpose is to examine Genesis and to
consider God’s love rtoward his people, and any such things as the Nephilim are
things on which reasonable minds can differ. A consideration of them may be
read in the post on genesis 6:2-4, and there may be a small amound of
discussion on that topic later, but it’s best not to get off on a tangent but
instead to get back to considering sound doctrine. If you know Jesus Christ as
your Saviour, ou will find out someday, and it will be worth the wait to be
there with Him in glory. That is what I always tell myself; speculation is
fun,b u tint he end it is just that, speculation.
