The Beginning of Corruption

In The Beginning (Genesis 1-12)  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  45:37
0 ratings
· 219 views

In the days of Noah, the earth had become so corrupt that God needed to begin again. What is corruption and why did it require such drastic measures? What can we learn from this story that will help us begin again?

Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →
Theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
In this eight-part series we are looking at how God began everything and how God begins again.
Last week Pastor Lester Zimmerman read from Genesis chapter six and began telling the story of Noah.
I asked Lester to pick up on the series-
Because I knew I would be gone three weeks in a row and wanted to keep it fresh in our minds.
Also because there is so much in these chapters that can be said that I knew we could even preach on the same text and come up with completely different messages.
Lester gave a general overview of the Noah story and then provided some practical application points.
I’m glad he did that, because I want to focus on a theme that is a little aside of the main points.
I want to focus on what was going on in the world that made the flood necessary.
Remember that God created the world good but that because of sin, the world is now corrupted.
God created the world good and designed life to reproduce and to multiply His goodness throughout the earth.
But with the fall of mankind, there is now both good and bad seed that is reproducing, not only in the earth, but in humans as well.
As long as there is good in the world and in people, there is the hope that the good might multiply and overtake the bad.
But what happens when things become so bad that good can no longer be found?
Is there a point at which destruction becomes a means of salvation?
We think of Noah’s Ark as being a children’s story, but it is really a horror story. We forget about all the people who died.
We think about how nice it must have been to be Noah and his family on a big boat taking care of all the animals. But we forget about the screams of the people who are drowning and pounding on the door.
Noah’s ark is not a cute story; it is a tragic story, but a necessary one.
In the days of Noah, the earth had become so corrupt that God needed to begin again.
What is corruption and why did it require such drastic measures?
What can we learn from this story that will help us begin again?

The Corruption of Nature

Genesis 6:1–4 ESV
1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
Admittedly this is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to interpret.
The biblical text does not give us much information.
What is certain is that a great indiscretion occured which provides a background context for the flood.
Whatever this passage means, it helps us to know the reason why God would take such drastic measures.

The rules of reproduction were violated.

So what happened? We don’t exactly know.
Lester Zimmerman gave you the two most common explanations:
The “sons of God” are fallen angels which have relations with humans.
The “Sons of God” refers to the godly line of Seth mixing with the ungodly line of Cain.
A third theory, popular among scholars that Lester did not mention is that the “sons of God” are ancient rulers which take the daughters of commoners without discretion or without permission.
The third option makes sense if you study ANE customs and practices, but it doesn’t explain why there would be a need for a flood.
Lester prefers the second option, as do most conservative scholars -until recently.
Some of you may remember last year we went through “The Unseen Realm” in SS with Michael Heiser.
Heiser is a conservative biblical scholar who believes that the Gen 6 passage describes the second of three spiritual rebellions in the heavenly realm.
One of the rules of interpretation is that the meaning of scripture is based on what it meant to the audience to whom it was originally written.
If you use the assumption that the likely interpretation is what people in bible times believed, then the first option becomes the favorite.
Extra biblical literature like the Book of Enoch and Jubilees, which are both quoted by biblical authors, tell of fallen angels who produced semi-divine offspring with humans and were confined to the underworld because of it.
It also explains why the mythologies of so many cultures contain stories of demi-gods and creatures which are human-like, but not fully human.
That’s pretty creepy and has a science-fiction kind of vibe to it.
I actually prefer that interpretation for one simple reason, it gives a meaningful explanation to the need for a world-wide flood.
God wasn’t just angry - he was being protective of humanity.
He wasn’t just trying out a solution to the problem of sin - he was trying to preserve a humanity that bore his image.
He was intervening in a process that was .rapidly getting worse.
Nature was developing in a way that would lead to its own destruction if God did not intervene first.

The DNA of humanity was corrupted.

Another reason for favoring this theory is that is produced the Nephilim
Nephilim are a race of giants
The root consonants NPL mean “to fall”
This could be a reference to them being offspring of fallen angels.
The LXX uses the greek word “giant” for nephilim because of the tradition that they were, in fact, giants.
But there is also biblical evidence for the existence of giants as well.
Numbers 13:33 ESV
33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
“They made us look like grasshoppers” is descriptive but not very specific.
Joshua defeated a king just before crossing the Jordan who was said to be a Rephaim.
Rephaim and Anakim were descendants of the Nephilim.
Deuteronomy 3:11 ESV
11 (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)
This guys bed was 13 and a half feet long and six feet wide.
That’s two king-sized beds set end to end.
And its made of iron because he would weigh 2-3 times the average man.
Og was a real live Hulk.
OK, so that was after the flood.
The working theory is that the giants were even bigger before the flood, but that some of the DNA anomalies survived the flood.
The last of the giants are being eradicated through the conquest of Caanan by Joshua and later, David.
It gives a plausible explanation to why God told the Israelites to wipe out certain populations - it was necessary for the preservation of humanity - and the eradication of a “superhuman” race.
I know it sounds crazy to think that the God sent a flood to wipe out demi-gods with alien DNA that was propagating through the human race - but it helps the story make sense.
What we do know for sure is that there was corruption, so hideous that it was completely against nature and had to be physically eradicated.
Another reason that I find this theory meaningful is that the bible talks about the last days being like the days leading up to the flood.
Matthew 24:37 ESV
37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Most people interpret this as referring to rampant sin and immorality - which certainly makes sense.
But what if it also could mean tampering with DNA to make “super-humans?”
Today, we have geneticists working to create designer babies.
We have the ability to introduce man-made code into our DNA.
Though human cloning is illegal in most states, there are places where such experimentation is happening.
Add to that the vast research in the area of artificial intelligence which is challenging our understanding of what it means to be human.
I believe that our children will be faced with a challenge of answering the question, “what does it mean to be human?”
How far will God let this go on until He has to intervene?

An apocalypse is imminent.

We use the word “apocalypse” to describe events which mark the end of an era or the end of the world as we know it.
In fact, the word literally means “to unveil or uncover.”
The idea of apocalypse is that corruption leads to destruction, but people remain in denial about what is happening until it finally happens.
Scientists have warned about the moral and ethical implications of studying the basic building blocks of humanity, but the curiosity and the power of such knowledge is just too great to resist.
Besides, think about how much good we can do by playing god?
The problem with evil is that it doesn’t announce itself, it always comes disguised as good, maybe even ultimate good.
The problem with playing god is that we think we know what is good, but our sinful human nature defines good as what is good for us.
We insisted on knowing and defining what is good and evil ...and that is what brought sin into the world.
What makes us think that we could ever know what is truly good apart from God?
But corruption is right there in our nature.
The only way for evil to prosper is if we believe that what we are doing is for some greater good.
Like killing people who don’t have the “quality of life” that they should.
Aborting unborn babies so they don’t become an inconvenience - or to prevent overpopulation.
Utilizing slave labor so that affluent countries can enjoy cheap luxuries.
Trafficking women and children to fulfill the lusts of a wealthy elite - “they’re not prostitutes - they’re ‘escorts!’”
Testing vaccines and medicines on vulnerable populations to ensure greater profits in countries with more robust legal systems.
How long can these things continue until there is an “unveiling” of the destructive nature of what we thought was “the good life.”

The Corruption of Goodness

Genesis 6:5–8 ESV
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Last week we talked about Noah and what we can learn from Noah’s obedience.
But there was a backdrop, a context to Noah’s obedience that is important to understand as well.
Things had become so evil that the whole concept of the goodness of God and the world He created was being lost.
Isaiah 5:20–24 NLT
20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. 21 What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. 22 What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. 23 They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent. 24 Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
I want us to take a few moments to focus on the goodness of God and to remember what ‘good’ really means.

Goodness begins in the heart.

Genesis 6:5 AMP
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually.
If people could see your thoughts, would they be surprised or appalled by what they see?
What do you spend most of your time thinking about?
How to make money?
How to get people to like you?
How to do something really significant or noteworthy?
Maybe all you care about is your food and your favorite TV show?
Do you know that God knows your thoughts?
He knows what you are thinking, even if you don’t say it.
He knows your intentions, even if you don’t do it.
He knows what is in your heart, even if you are in denial.
He sees the internal conflicts that we wrestle through and he knows why we make the decisions that we make.
God is far more patient with us that most of us would be.
And God honors our choices.
Which means that most of the time He doesn’t intervene, because he wants us to make the choice to do what is right.
But what if God, who knows the future - who knows all the possible futures based on an infinite number of choices - knows that there is no chance that this is going to end well, decides to cut his losses and minimize the damage that might be done.
Can anyone blame God for His judgement when He knows the end from the beginning?
So how do we change? How do we keep our thoughts from becoming evil?

Goodness grieves over sin.

Some people think that God is a bully who makes people do what he wants them to do.
That is projecting sinful human nature on to God.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
God grieves over sin.
Genesis 6:6 ESV
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Wait, I though God already knew what would happen?
Sure, He did. But just because you know there is a happy ending doesn’t keep you from crying at the sad parts.
God is so ‘in the moment’ here.
If this were how the story ends - sure - he would have never created man in the first place.
There is an interesting play on words in the Hebrew between Genesis 5:29 and Genesis 6:6
Genesis 5:29 ESV
29 and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
The words ‘relief’ and ‘regret’ are the same root.
The words ‘work’ and ‘made’ are the same root.
The words ‘painful toil’ and ‘grieved’ are the same root.
These are parallel sentences.
The prophecy about Noah is the answer to God’s broken heart over creation.
There is hope for redemption.
But that redemption hangs by a thread at this moment in time.
It is going to take a response so drastic that God would only attempt it because it preserves the possibility of a redemptive outcome.
All of God’s plan is hanging on the obedience of one man - sound familiar?
The story of Noah foreshadows the gospel - the story of God’s salvation through to obedience of Jesus Christ.

Goodness is seeing through God’s eyes.

Genesis 6:8 ESV
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
The problem with the sinful nature is that we think that ‘good’ is whatever is good for us.
If we like something or someone - they’re good.
If something makes us feel good - it’s good.
If something confirms what we already want, think or believe - yup, that must be good.
When life is hard; when there is suffering or loss, we question the goodness of God.
But how do we even know what good is?
God is good.
God created the world good.
God created us good.
Only God knows what good really is!
And only God knows what it takes to get us to where we should be.
Noah was different.
He wasn’t perfect, but he was blameless, especially in the context of his generation.
He was a righteous man; not thoroughly corrupted like everyone else.
Noah had a good heart and he walked with God.
In other words, Noah talked to God about everything that was going on, and he got God’s perspective.
God is just waiting for someone that he can use; someone who will listen and obey.
God put his image into us, but we have to look to him to reflect it.
God put his breath in us, but we forget where we came from.
God put his life in us, but we miss the purpose for which God created us.
That is when God must start over; so we can begin again.

The Corruption of Life

Genesis 7:21–24 ESV
21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
There is a repetition in these verses that is worth noting.
The breath of life that was put in man and even in the animals ceased.
Life was given so that goodness would multiply on the earth, but when goodness is not multiplying, life must cease.

Life is given so that we may choose.

When God put his life into us, He has a purpose for that life.
That life was supposed to reflect him.
That life was supposed to multiply his goodness in the earth.
That life was supposed to lead us to love.
But love requires a choice.
God knew that in giving us the choice to love or not to love, we might chose the latter.
But it was worth the risk.
For those who might also chose to love.
We breath without even thinking about the miracle that each breath represents.
When you take your next breath, think about what a gift life is.
Each breath is a gift and a choice.
How am I going to use this breath?
How am I going to spend this gift of life that is given to me?

Life that is lived for self leads to death.

Because of sin, it now in our nature to be selfish.
We think that life is about us … and for us.
I am supposed to be happy.
I am supposed to be fulfilled.
I am supposed to be successful.
What you are ‘supposed’ to be is a person who reflects the image and nature of God.
Life without God leads to death.
The good and the bad seed are both in us and multiplying.
If we are not sorting it out according to God and his Word, then the corruption of the sinful nature is slowly taking over.
Romans 7:20 ESV
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
One of the great lessons that we learn from the flood is that the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden really did bring death… on a massive scale.
It just took time for the sinful nature to turn peoples hearts evil.
And eventually, evil was even thought ot be good.
And when evil is good and good is evil, then there is nothing to stop evil from doing what evil wants to do.
And the end of evil is death and destruction.
So is there an alternative?

Life lived in obedience to God is salvation.

Noah’s ark is a picture of salvation.
Against the backdrop of overwhelming corruption, one man was obedient to God.
Noah built a boat. before boats were a thing.
And because of the obedience of one man, humanity was saved.
If you think that sin and evil seem so powerful - think of this:
Evil relies on mass deception to bring about destruction.
But one person obeying God can change all of that.
2 Peter 2:4–9 (ESV)
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly... 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
Jesus Christ, by being obedient to God, went to the cross and became the ark of salvation for all who would follow.
Yes, just like in the days of Noah, corruption is rampant in the world today.
People are calling evil good and good evil.
There is mass deception all around us.
But there is also a way through it.
It is the way of obedience to God.
If you are in Christ, you are in the ark.
There may be death and destruction all around us, but we will survive.
And the good news for anyone in Christ is the promise that even if you die - you live!
Just like Noah - you are set apart in this generation to preserve the image and the goodness of God in humanity.

Questions for reflection:

Do you see the corruption of the world around us? Do you grieve with God over the state of humanity? Where are you in relation to these things? Does your life stand apart?
Have you entered into the ark of salvation which is Jesus Christ? Or do you feel like you are drowning in the world? The door is still open. Why not enter in while there is time?
What are you doing with the gift of life that is given to you? Are you reflecting and multiplying God’s goodness? Have you looked beyond what you are saved from to consider what you are saved for?
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more