I travelled through to Benoni for a church council meeting this morning. The roads are free flowing on a weekend, so the journey was easy and enjoyable. Yet, being so quiet, some drivers of powerful cars must have thought the open highway is license to speed. I was doing 120 kph, and these cars sped passed me as if I was stationary. One BMW came past with its v8 engine growling. Yes, it sounded cool … but that driver and all the others were reckless–potential crashes.
One is tempted to think, “I hope they enjoyed their fling!” The reason I say this is because situated in the middle of the highway, on both sides (coming and going), were mobile cameras. Without a doubt … they were caught, and at very high speeds. You can’t escape those cameras. They see it all and the catch speedsters. That is their purpose. What a costly speeding fling … and they never learn!
So many people, including Christians, tend to live and behave recklessly. It’s called living in and enjoying sin. Like the speedsters, they are oblivious to the “eye” of God watching … and for many, even though they might know the “eye” of God is watching, they don’t care! The fling of sin tastes so good to them, it is worth the consequences. This is an example of our depravity as humans. People don’t care! Sin is too enjoyable, so we hold our fist up at God, saying, “So what if You can see me. I enjoy what I do irrespective of the consequences.”
Do you think I’m being too harsh? If you do, may I ask, what level of depravity is acceptable in God’s sight? Let me take you to God’s Word and hear what He sees and what He says about such depravity. Please remember that this passage is part of Scripture … meaning that it is God’s divinely, inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word.
Ge 6:1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Some want to interpret verses 1 and 2 to mean the daughters were human and the sons of God spirit beings. This cannot be, because marriage is involved and marriage implies sexual intimacy and having children (v4). Also, the significance of the Nephilim in verse 4, the “heroes of old, men of renown”, is mainly for dating, for putting this passage and what follows into a time frame. The best way to understand “daughters of men” and “sons of God” is that the “daughters” were ladies from families who rejected and ignored the true God and the “sons of God” were men from believing families.
So, the union of the “saved” marrying the “unsaved” was against God’s desire and will, for it affected the offspring spiritually. The unsaved always pull the saved away from God. Through Paul, the Spirit is extremely pointed in 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 regarding being unequally yoked.
When you read Genesis 6:5-6, you start to understand that the result of mixing the godly with the ungodly is so abhorrent in God’s sight … He was “grieved” because He created man … and so, staggeringly, we read, “His heart was filled with pain”. A good, loving, caring God’s heart is stabbed with pain because the pinnacle of His creation, man, is so wicked that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time”. This shows the race’s total depravity. Like the Traffic Department’s cameras seeing the speedsters, so “the LORD saw”.
God’s pain is so serve that He says, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” We know what follows … the Universal Flood with only Noah and his family being saved. Yet, as God miraculously saved them through the Ark … with death all around, yet salvation within the Ark … so through the Cross there is salvation for all found in Christ … yet all around there is death.
It is so important that all God’s people understand that God is omniscient. He knows and sees everything all the time. We can deceive ourselves about our sin. We can deceive our spouse, our children, our parents, our employer, our employee, our pastor, our congregation … but we cannot deceive God! Just as God saw in verse 5 … so God sees today into our lives. His vision is more than x-ray vision, for from outside of creation into all of creation–into every country on this planet, into every home, into every room–the Almighty sees and knows just as that camera sees! Just being a believer is insufficient … the pursuit of holiness is paramount, for we are to:
Heb 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
God’s camera vision must also be seen for our personal encouragement … encouragement to live holy lives.
Dear Loving, Heavenly Father, thank You for the way You care. You cared for Noah and made an Ark. You care so much for us that You made a Cross. As Noah needed to enter the Covenant of the Ark, so we need to enter the Covenant of the Cross … and as Noah needed to follow Your instructions in the Ark, so we need to follow Your instruction in the Gospel. Mercifully help us to live holy lives as You watch and see us in action. Amen.