Grace

Grace is defined: God's unmerited favor, kindness, and empowering gift of love given freely to humanity.

We SING about GRACE. We’re THANKFUL for GRACE. And if we’re truly followers of Jesus, we EXTEND GRACE to others. The first time GRACE is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 6, where a fellow by the name of Noah experienced God’s Grace. So let’s go ahead and Genesis 6, Verses 1-8.

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

There has always been a lot of speculation about Verse 4 here in Chapter 6. Some claim that the “Sons of God” were actually ANGELS and when they came in unto the daughters of men, what was created from this was what people call Nephalims. Half HUMAN and half ANGEL.

That’s why these people were GIANTS.

That’s why they were “mighty men of old.”

And they were “men of renown.”

Some believe that’s where the GIANTS, like Goliath, came from. Now do I believe this? NO WAY!!! And if you do that’s fine. We can agree to disagree. I don’t believe that ANGELIC BEINGS can PROCREATE with HUMANS. We don’t find that anywhere else in the Bible.

So I’m gonna tell you what I believe this scripture means.

People began to multiply. They began to have children. THIS INCLUDED CAIN AND HIS WIFE.

In Genesis Chapter 4, Cain is cursed by God for killing his brother Abel. And here are parts of that curse. In Verse 12, “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

In Verse 15, a mark is placed upon Cain so that anyone who saw him wouldn’t kill him.

Verse 16 says, “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”

This was the life of Cain. Living on the EAST side of Eden. Tilling the GROUND and BARELY scraping by. Wandering around with NO PERMANENT HOME and having CHILDREN.

And then the last two Verses of Genesis 4 tell us,

“And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.”

And so Chapter 4 tells us about the first MURDER that occurred and then it goes on to give us some details about the first MURDERER. But then it winds up by telling us that ALL was not LOST. Another son was born who, with his descendants, called upon God. And so we see two distinct groups of people. The lineage of Cain and the lineage of Seth. One was a group of wanderers who probably DID NOT worship God and the other group were those who DID. And both groups bore CHILDREN.

Genesis Chapter 5 is basically a GENEALOGICAL TREE of the LINEAGE of SETH and so when we get to Chapter 6, over a THOUSAND YEARS have passed.

And when the descendants of Seth, Adam and Eve’s third son, saw the daughters of Cain they noticed how pretty they were. And so, I believe, Verse 2 is telling us that the descendants of Seth took wives of the daughters of Cain. And this was NOT pleasing to the Lord.

In Verse 3 God says “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” GOD WAS BECOMING WEARY OF THE SIN!!!