The opening verses speak of strange marriages on earth between beautiful young women and non-human beings that produced offspring of unusual strength and fame. Most translations say that the sons of God had relations with beautiful women and their offspring were either giants or nephilim. I note that Satan rebelled, and the expression ‘sons of God’ may equally be translated the angels (see Job 1:6), or, children of angels, and that the word ‘nephilim’ may be a plural participle from the Hebrew noun ‘nephel’ meaning something fallen (or an abortion), and so refers to the fallen ones, namely the angels allied to Satan.
My explanation of these verses is that fallen angels ‘married’ (that is, had intimate relations with) some of earth’s beautiful women and their offspring had unusual powers and abilities. God saw this as too much a corruption of His creation and so decided to clean the slate and preserve uncorrupted the human genome (or DNA) that reflected His image and likeness, by sparing just Noah and his wife and their sons and their wives, eight persons in total. How reminiscent of our very present day when men look set to seek to once again alter the human genome (or DNA).
Ought we not to look up at such a time as this knowing that our redemption is drawing near? (Luke 21:28). It will take spiritual strength that comes through prayer to escape all these things that are coming on the earth (Luke 21:36). If you find other things to do during church prayer time how will you be strong enough? God made a covenant with these eight souls and spared them from destruction. Shall not God then spare His covenant people who are ready to leave this earth at a moment’s notice? (Matthew 24:42).
God instructed one man and his next generation to build him an ark and prepare it with great amounts of food for the many animals and for his own family. In this age our preparation may not be physical food but oil, symbolising the fulness of the Spirit.
Dear Lord, grant me a sense of urgency about where I am on the spiritual calendar of great events. Help me to be sober, watching in prayer and abounding in every good work.