As the night progressed, the music was interrupted frequently, now with terrifying reports of an invasion. Aliens from Mars had landed in New Jersey and in cities around the world. The Earth was under a full-scale attack. Many listening to the broadcast panicked, and some even fled their homes for the hills.
But it was all fiction.
A young Orson Wells had adapted the H.G. Wells book War of the Worlds for broadcast and modified the script to present the story as though it were happening in real time. Many listeners took the fiction to be real.
Those who panicked were operating with incomplete information. They had failed to hear the station announce at the beginning and the end of the broadcast that it was all mere drama. Coming in at the middle, hearing only part of the story, they had no context and ran off thinking the sky was falling.
Similarly, there is a passage in the book of Genesis that, when read out of context, has caused many to believe the Earth has been invaded by aliens from outer space. Letâs take a look at that puzzling verse:
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose (Genesis 6:1, 2, emphasis added).
Itâs a phrase that runs all the way through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation: âsons of God.â So I think it is important to make sure we understand what it is really saying, donât you?
Some believe that the term âsons of Godâ refers to extraterrestrial invaders. They believe that these beings are fallen angels or evil aliens from space who took female humans as wives and produced some notable offspring. They rationalize this belief by saying that this is the only explanation for why the progeny produced by these unions were âgiantsâ (v. 4). They also believe these unholy unions were ultimately responsible for the increased wickedness of man that led to the Flood.
Some Bible translations flat-out say, âSome of their daughters were so beautiful that supernatural beings came down and married the ones they wantedâ (CEV). This translation, however, doesnât line up very well with the original Hebrew. Around the time of Christ, moreover, a lot of apocryphal books were in circulation; some of these works also have these kinds of strange interpretations in them.
For instance, have you heard of the book of Enoch? Itâs not in the Bible, but it is briefly mentioned in the book of Jude. The writer of Jude actually quotes a few lines from Enoch, which was a popular apocryphal work from the time of Christ. (It wasnât actually written by Enoch.) It was a book of fables, similar to the more modern The Pilgrimâs Progress.
Jude pulled a kernel of truth from the book of Enoch, but it should not be viewed as an endorsement for the veracity of everything else in the book of Enoch. Likewise, one could preach a Spirit-filled sermon while giving a quote or two from John Bunyan, sharing a small kernel of truth from his allegories. It doesnât mean the stories are true.
Remember, no Christian religious authorityâthe Catholics nor the Protestantsâchose to put the book of Enoch into the final canon of their faiths. They recognized it was more mythological than truth, and it certainly was not inspired on an equal level with the Bible, if at all.
Now that you understand its place, hereâs what the book of Enoch says about the sons of God:
It happened after the sons of men had multiplied in those days and daughters were born to them elegant and beautiful and when the angels, the sons of heaven beheld them, they became enamored of them and they said to each other, come, let us select ourselves wives from the prodigy of men and let us beget children (7:1).
Some of the early church leaders read this line, blinked twice, and figured it might have indeed happened that way. As a result, some of Godâs people have never totally shaken this fable from their set of beliefs. However, it is a fanciful interpretation that, if taken seriously, actually causes enormous problems with a lot of other Bible teachings.
In fact, there is another important reason to understand this passage. The things that happen in Genesis 6, the first few verses especially, reflect the conditions of the world that led to the destruction of the Earth by a flood in the time of Noah. And these things are being repeated in our day. So it is good for us to understand what the Bible is really saying here and what it is not saying.
On the surface, claiming that the âsons of Godâ refers to fallen angels might seem to be an intriguing conclusion. But as we shall see, without understanding the context that surrounds this passage, you can actually be confused into believing that certain myths are real.
If thereâs ever any confusion about what Scripture tells us, itâs generally due to a lack of information. When the religious leaders were confused about marriage in heaven, Jesus said to them, âDo ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?â (Mark 12:24). In other words, Jesus is saying here, âYou donât understand what Iâm saying because you donât know the Word of God.â Fortunately, we can clear up any confusion regarding the sons of God quite easily by gathering a little more information from the Bible and comparing Scripture with Scripture.
âWho maketh his angels spiritsâ (Psalm 104:4). Angels are spirits; they are not flesh. They are all around us now, but we cannot see them. They generally remain in their spiritual form and have very little physical integration in our worldâthey donât go to school, get jobs, or raise families. They are here to âminister for them who shall be heirs of salvationâ (Hebrews 1:14).
Even if they wanted to marry and have babies, they couldnât; they donât have human DNA. It would be easier for a jellyfish to marry a mountain goat than for angels to marry people. Thus, it doesnât make any practical sense to believe that our passage in Genesis refers to the marriage of angels, fallen or holy, to humans.
Angels are not born; they are created. If God wanted more angels, He wouldnât need to marry them off to humans or other angels to reproduce. He could create them from scratch. Speaking of Lucifer, God said, âThe workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created (Ezekiel 28:13 NKJV, emphasis added).
Moreover, Jesus tells us plainly that angels do not marry. Marriage is a uniquely human institution, reserved for mankind. âFor in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heavenâ (Matthew 22:30). Mark and Luke suggest the same thing: âNeither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of Godâ (Luke 20:36; some translations render it âsons of Godâ). Notice here that Jesus makes a distinction between angels and sons of God. They are classified separately, which means they are not the same thing.
So if the sons of God are not angels, then who or what are they?
In the parable of the lost sheep, the Earth represents the one lost sheep, a wandering world that went astray, the one Christ came to save. Itâs easy to imagine that God, in His infinite existence, created other worlds with other physical beings. Of course, we know He had seraphim and cherubim and other angels prior to our world, so at a minimum we know there are at least those extraterrestrial creatures. âFor by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earthâ (Colossians 1:16 NKJV). âAnd every creature which is in heaven and on the earth ⌠I heard saying: âBlessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!ââ (Revelation 5:13 NKJV).
However, it is more than likely that most of these other created beings do not visit this world. You might say that the Earth is infected with a deadly contagious disease called sin, and we are quarantined. The only ones allowed to go into a quarantined hospital ward are the hospital staff; in this case, God is the head physician, and His angels are the ministering spirits.
In attendance at this meeting are sons of God, as well as Satan himself. Satan says that he has come from the Earth. The sons of God were there representing their unfallen worlds in Godâs universe. Satan was there to represent the Earth.
Why would Satan be representing our world? Originally, Adam had dominion over the Earth. He was created by God to subdue and manage it. God said to Adam and Eve, âHave dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earthâ (Genesis 1:28).
While Adam was in obedience to God, he enjoyed headship over the world. But once Adam sinned and obeyed Satan, that dominion was forfeited to the enemy. âTo whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that oneâs slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousnessâ (Romans 6:16 NKJV).
Even Jesus referred to Satan as âthe prince of this worldâ (John 12:31). In fact, in Matthew 4:8â10, Satan offers to transfer dominion of the Earth to Jesusâif Jesus would only bow down and worship him. It makes sense that Satan could not give away dominion of the Earth if it wasnât his to give. So when God calls a meeting of world governors, or âsons of God,â Satan attends to represent the Earth.
In the Gospel of Luke, the genealogy of Jesus is traced all the way back to Adam. Notice what Luke says about this lineage: âthe son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of Godâ (Luke 3:38, emphasis added).
The difference between Seth and Adam is the bellybutton. Adam was created by the hand of God; Seth was born of Eve. Adam was the son of God, created to have dominion over the Earth. Thus, one definition for sons of God is those beings God Himself created to have dominion over the worlds He made. These beings were not born but were created directly by God.
Job 38:7 tells us that when our world was created, âthe morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.â The âmorning starsâ are angels, whereas âthe sons of Godâ are the leaders of other worlds. (See Revelation 1:20.)
With that cleared up, letâs talk about the second way the term âsons of Godâ is used.
âFor as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of Godâ (Romans 8:14). Matthew 5:9 adds, âBlessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of Godâ (NKJV). Here Jesus is obviously referring to human beings, but not just any human beings; these are peacemakers, the righteous children of God. In no way should this be construed to refer to angels or aliens.
âBut as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his nameâ (John 1:12). Notice that there were those who were not sons of God, but that through receiving Him became sons of God. âFor as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of Godâ (Romans 8:14).
It should be mentioned that âsons of Godâ doesnât mean just males. Many Bible translations render the phrase âchildren of God.â Galatians 3:26 says, âFor ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.â It is by faith that a man or woman becomes a âchild of God.â And, of course, some verses do mention Godâs adopted sons and daughters. âEven to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut offâ (Isaiah 56:5 NKJV).
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through of God through Christ (Galatians 4:5â7; see also Isaiah 56:5; Philippians 2:15).
The inescapable conclusion from these verses and others is that âthe sons of Godâ in Genesis 6 refers to the righteous children of God.
Before moving on, Iâd like to tackle one of the most popular questions skeptics enjoy posing about the Bible; that is, âWhere did Cainâs wife come from?â This is yet another example where you just need to keep reading to get your answer. Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. If you lived 930 years, like Adam, and if you were healthy, fertile, and reproductive for only 20 percent of your life, you would still have around 200 childbearing years. With Godâs command to be fruitful and multiply, no doubt Adam and Eveâs progeny became quite numerous.
Considering the near perfect vitality and health experienced by the first generations ⌠well, they probably had throngs of children. So Cain undoubtedly took one of his many sisters as his wife. At this point in Bible history, when manâs genetic vitality was at its peak, there was nothing forbidding the practice. Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:2). Isaac married his cousin. It was not until the time of Moses that marrying a sister was forbidden, likely because of the greater risk of genetic weakness and health complications with the offspring (Deuteronomy 27:22).
At first, Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain murdered Abel, so God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth. He began to have children of his own, and they âbegan to call on the name of the LORDâ (Genesis 4:25,â26 NKJV). And from what weâve seen in the Bible, those who call on the name of the Lord are called the sons of God. âBut as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his nameâ (John 1:12). âAnd it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be savedâ (Acts 2:21).
Now Cain had been banished from Godâs presence after he murdered his brother. He settled âin the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enochâ (Genesis 4:16â18).
Here, before the Flood, we have the descendants of Cain living in cities and the descendants of Seth living in the country. As long as they remained separate, the sons of God remained pure in their religious beliefs and practices.
However, eventually they began to intermingle. Maybe the sons of God needed supplies that could be more easily obtained in the cities where the daughters of men resided. The sons of God and daughters of men became familiar with each other, even friendly. Whatever the case, soon the godly sons of Seth, or sons of God, captivated by the beautiful daughters of Cain, began to marry these âdaughters of men,â the descendants of Cain.
In other words, the sons of God chose to take wives as they desiredâwomen who were pleasing to the fleshâwithout regard to their moral character. They ignored good advice and likely did not receive the consent of their parents, nor did they consult with God and consider His will in the matter.
However, the counsel of God could not be clearer:
âBe ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almightyâ (2 Corinthians 6:14â18).
God does not want His children marrying the unconverted or the unbelieving, even if they have a pretty face, the nicest disposition, or a passionate belief in regarding the spiritual realm. It makes no difference; God says that relationship will have problems.
Praise be to God that He is merciful. Sometimes He blesses us in spite of our rebellion and bad decisions. There have been situations in which believers marry unbelievers and the unbeliever eventually comes around. It was still wrong to get married. The words of God are unmistakable: Do not be unequally yoked. But with repentance and submission, God forgives. If that werenât true, there would be no hope for most of us. God sometimes alleviates the consequences of our bad choices, but it is unwise to knowingly ignore His counsel. You become part of the problem that will lead to great wickedness in the world when all the thoughts of menâs hearts are only evil continually.
So the results of these intermarriages were not only giants, but sorrow. Instead of the sons of God influencing the daughters of men, the daughters of men influenced the sons of God.
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly (Deuteronomy 7:3, 4; emphasis added).
The Bible is filled with stories about the sons of God mingling with the daughters of men and the disasters that follow as a result. Samson, chosen by God, was derailed by the Philistine women. His parents pled with him to avoid marrying a pagan bride, but he insisted on having what he wanted. âThen his father and mother said to him, âIs there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?â And Samson said to his father, âGet her for me, for she pleases me wellâââ (Judges 14:3).
Likewise, King Solomon no doubt believed that he could marry the daughters from pagan nations and, with his unsurpassed wisdom, convert them. However, those pagan daughters drew away Solomonâs heart. This is why God is so adamant about His children not marrying unbelievers. It is almost always the case that the believer is gradually transformed by the unbeliever, not the other way around.
Jesus likewise has a warning for us in these end-times:
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 (Matthew 24:37, 38).
Jesus here is likely referring to the mixed marriages of Genesis 6 that brought on the universal wickedness leading to the Flood.
As in Noahâs day, before the Flood, things that led to the destruction of the world with a deluge by water are going to happen again. The pre-Flood events are a preview of whatâs going to happen before the destruction of the world by a flood of fire when Jesus comes again. History is going to repeat itself, but we donât have to be among the repeat offenders.
âAnd Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillahâ (Genesis 4:19). Lamech was one of the sons of Cain, and he took two wives. So it wasnât just marrying out of oneâs faith that went against Godâs will, it was marrying more than one person. The sanctity of marriage was being lost, even at the beginning of time.
This sounds like whatâs happening in our world today. Itâs only gotten worse!
For instance, a popular American reality television program, called Sister Wives, documents the life of a polygamist family living in Lehi, Utah, which includes the man, Kody Brown, his four wives, and their 16 children. The Brown family sued the state of Utah because of its bigamy laws, claiming theyâre a violation of their rights based on the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The whole nation was watching because the same arguments are being used for people who say theyâre in love with a person of the same gender; with that objection out of the way, a person could easily claim they are in love with two or three or four people.
When the sons of God rejected the sanctity of their wedding vows, the peculiarity of their faith, the importance of the distinction between men and womenâone mom, one dad, Godâs design for a familyâviolence soon filled the land and the thoughts of menâs hearts were only evil continually. Jesus says this will happen again at the end of time, right before the âcoming of the Son of man.â
That time has very much arrived. Turn on the television and flip to almost any station; youâre going to see promiscuity, perversion, divorce, deception, and a whole lot of violence. So many programs are built around killing and murder, while the sanctity of marriage is constantly being ridiculed.
But God says, âMy spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty yearsâ (Genesis 6:3). God looked into the future and saw where all this wickedness was leading men and determined that it would have to end. Christ said later, âAnd except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the electâs sake those days shall be shortenedâ (Matthew 24:22).
In the end times, God will have to do it again for the electâs sake. For 120 years, the Spirit of God, through the preaching and example of Noah and his family, strove with that generation that was imprisoned by sin. They refused to listen. When Noah and his family entered the ark and the door was shut, there were only eight people inside that still believed God. Probation was closed for the rest. For seven more days life went on outside the ark for that amalgamated race of Cain and Seth, whose descendants had sacrificed their purity and had given themselves over to evil. Are you pure today? God says to you, âMy spirit will not ⌠always strive with man.â Will you listen?
Well, I believe itâs a simple law of genetics in play called âgenetic vitality.â
First, giants have always been around.
For example, take Robert Wadlow, born in Alton, Illinois, in 1918. At birth he weighed a normal eight pounds, six ounces. At six months, he weighed 30 pounds. A year later, at 18 months, he weighed 62 pounds. He wasnât fat; he was tall. He continued to grow at an astounding rate, reaching 6 feet, 2 inches and 195 pounds by the time he was eight. When he was 13, he became the worldâs tallest Boy Scout. At 13, he was 7 feet, 4 inches tall. Eventually, Robert reached a height of nearly 9 feet! (In comparison, Goliath was about 9 feet, 6 inches.) Robertâs height actually qualified him as the tallest person in modern history.
But this oversize fame wasnât always easy for him. His clothing required three times the normal amount of cloth, and his size 37 shoes cost thousands of dollars a pairâand that was back during the Great Depression. When Robert turned 20, the International Shoe Company provided his shoes for free and hired him to promote the company. Thatâs all he did for an income. He visited more than 800 towns in 41 states and traveled 300,000 miles on his goodwill tour. The shoe company had to modify a car so he could get in, removing the front seat so he could sit in the back and stretch out his long legs.
Even though he was of enormous size, he was very good natured, intelligent, and gentle. People were always giving him shocked stares. They would ask him, âDoes it bother you when everyone stares at you?â He would reply, âOh, I just look above it all.â He tried to maintain a normal life, enjoying stamp collecting and photography. Heâd even take pictures of people taking pictures of him.
Robert was a modern-day giant, with no need of fallen angels nor aliens to produce him or explain his existence. The giant offspring of the sons of God and daughters of men likely resulted from genetic vitality. When a people group is isolated for years and only intermarry with one another, like some Pacific Islanders do, the gene pool becomes restricted and more prone to birth defects and genetic abnormalities. After several generations of this kind of isolation, when they finally marry outside their island or tribe, the children of those unions tend to be more healthy, robust, and, yes, even bigger. The biggest cats in the world are ligers, a hybrid between tigers and lions.
The Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, boasted to Jesus that they were the children of Abraham. Jesus corrected them. âIf ye were Abrahamâs children, ye would do the works of Abrahamâ (John 8:39). You might not get a real sense of how scandalous this statement was for Jesus to say when you read it at firstâbut it so publicly embarrassed the Pharisees that they eagerly began seeking His death. But Jesus didnât stop there âŚ
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do (John 8:42â44).
This is a simple principle to test our true heritage. Which âfatherâ do we follow in our actions? The Pharisees were leaders in the church, yet that did not give them security. Just being a member of a synagogue or just being Jewish did not make them children of God. Today, just by being on the books in your church does not make you a son or a daughter of God. Instead, we are the children of the one whom we obey. Whose desires we do, that is our father, whether of righteousness or of sin (Romans 6:16).
Thatâs pretty serious. So whose child are you? Are you a child of God?
When we are born again and are adopted into the family of God, we will want to imitate our heavenly Father. âHe who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walkedâ (1 John 2:6 NKJV).
If you are not a son or daughter of God now, the wonderful news is that you can choose a new family.
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaohâs daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward (Hebrews 11:24â26 NKJV).
When called by God, Moses traded in his Egyptian adoption for a heavenly one. Through Jesus, you can too.
When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, âAbba, Father!â Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:4â7 NKJV).
Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped at a bus stop on June 10, 1991, by Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy. She was kept in a soundproof shack that was isolated from public view. Cruelly held as a slave, she also fathered children for the Garridos for 18 years. After a while, this circumstance became normal for her. It became ordinary. She had come to believe that she was part of the Garrido family, but she later found out what kind of fiends Phillip and Nancy really were. Fortunately, she was eventually discovered and delivered from that terrible condition and was reintroduced to her real family. Talk about a total change of a life!
Similarly, the devil has kidnapped a lot of people in this world who should be children of God. Heâs taken them and abused them, and he has manipulated them into thinking they are with their true family. They are convinced that the lies of the devil are the truth, that he is their friend. Phillip Garrido made that claim over Jaycee. Perhaps even you have gotten so used to the devil, you think you are part of his family. You have become comfortable having him around. But heâs a kidnapper, an abuser. Youâve got to wake up and hear Jesus saying that you can be free.
Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years in prison. His wife was sentenced to 36 years. Jaycee received a $20 million settlement from the state, plus a big book deal. Sheâll probably be okay financially if she manages her money well for the rest of her life. What a change of fortune from living in a hovel in some pervertâs backyardâto being liberated, finding your real family, living a clean life, living a normal life, and suddenly going from poverty to riches. What a radical transformation!
Thatâs what the Lord wants to do for us. Right now, you can choose to be a child of the King, an heir of eternal life, and become a son or daughter of God in whom He is well pleased! Just ask Him.