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As In the Days of NoahAlfred B. Davis
Posted: April 26, 2021
Recently, I read about a team of scientists who produced a series of human-monkey hybrid embryos, known as chimeras, in China. The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and published in Cell, a leading international life science research journal. The team was composed of U.S., Spanish, and Chinese researchers, supposedly seeking new means of producing organs for human transplant and diverse applications in regenerative medicine.
According to the article, the team injected macaque monkey embryos with human pluripotent stem cells. They found that the human stem cells persisted, began dividing, and differentiating in some of the embryos for at least 19 days. Other studies, by different groups, have experimented with producing human hybrids with rats, mice, and pigs, as well.
Of course, the reason for creating these human chimeras, as well as other attempts to manipulate human DNA, is always said to be for benign and potentially helpful research purposes. Nevertheless, there are those, such as the Communist Chinese, who are experimenting with the manipulation of human DNA, along with the addition of non-human DNA, to create super soldiers possessing greater strength and endurance than ordinary humans, enhanced abilities, and previously unknown capabilities.
The creation of human chimeras and genetic manipulation got me thinking about a prophecy made by Jesus in Luke 17:26-27:
"And as it was in the days of Noe [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all."Jesus later repeated this prophecy shortly before his crucifixion. In Matthew 24:37-39 we read:
"But as the days of Noe 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 Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."Jesus was prophesying about world conditions prior to the time when He comes to catch Believers out of the world, an event commonly referred to as the Rapture, and prior to the seven-year period known as the Tribulation. We know this partly because Jesus talks about people going about the normal every day, activities of life, eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, right up until the event He is describing takes place. This normalcy is quite a contrast to the horrific descriptions of death and destruction given in the Bible resulting from the unprecedented natural disasters, crippling diseases, and devastating wars and conflicts that occur during the Tribulation as God's wrath is poured out on the world. It is hard to believe that life will be going on as normal during a time of which Jesus said, in Matthew 24:21, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."
Now, when Jesus spoke these words, He was referring to more than just the eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage of Noah's day. He said, "as it was in the days of Noe," which, when we look at Genesis chapter 6:1-5, we find something more sinister going on than merely the ordinary day-to-day affairs of life:
"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. 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. 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. 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."Some have suggested that the sons of God here represent the godly line of Seth and that the daughters of men represent the ungodly line of Cain. However, it is usually best to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture whenever possible. So, when we search the Scriptures, we find that "daughters of men" is only used twice, both in Genesis 6, and "sons of God" is used twice in Genesis 6, 3 times in Job, and 6 times in the New Testament. Consequently, we will set aside the Genesis 6 uses of "daughters of men" and "sons of God" for the moment and look first at the uses of "sons of God" in both Job and the New Testament.
Let's start with the six New Testament occurrences. They are:
- "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" (John 1:12)
- "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8:14)
- "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Romans 8:19)
- "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;" (Philippians 2:15)
- "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3:1)
- "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)
"And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 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."The three uses in Job are:
- Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. (Job 1:6)
- Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. (Job 2:1)
- When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7)
Getting back to Genesis 6, it is apparent that "daughters of men" refer to human women. After all, Genesis 6:4 says, "…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." But, if the sons of God are angels, rather than human men, we come back to the question of how angels could father children with human women.
Some have speculated that the angels involved were able to manifest themselves in a physical body, which allowed them to father children. Personally, I think it is more likely that they somehow took over, controlled, or even possessed certain men. This would have allowed angels, through those men, to father children with the human daughters of men.
Obviously, the angels involved would not have been the holy angels. It seems a bit difficult to believe that God's holy angels would have been involved in activities that prompted God to wipe man from the face of the earth. Rather, it would seem that unholy, or fallen, angels were involved. In fact, two New Testament passages may just indicate that God was so displeased with the angels involved that He consigned them to hell:
- "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;" (2 Peter 2:4)
- "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 6)
Consider what is said about Noah in Genesis 6:8-9:
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."In addition to finding grace in the eyes of the Lord and being declared to be a just man, Noah is said to be "perfect in his generations" . Does that mean that he was a godly man in a line of godly men, or could there be more going on with this statement?
Remember, back in Genesis 3:14-15, where the Bible records:
"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."The first half of this passage is a curse against the serpent to remind mankind how Satan disguised himself as a serpent and deceived Eve and engineered Adam's downfall. Consequently, every time we see a snake slithering thru the dust, we should be reminded that Satan is a liar and a deceiver and that the wages of sin is death.
The second half of the passage, however, appears to be directed at Satan himself. It has been called the "proto-gospel" because it speaks of a coming "seed of the woman" who will bruise the head of the serpent (Satan). Bruising the head indicates a death blow and makes this also the first prophecy in the Bible of a coming Messiah who would be the virgin born seed of the woman, not the seed of a man (Isaiah 7:14), who would deliver the death blow to Satan.
What is interesting, then, is that not only is there to be enmity between the serpent (Satan) and the woman (Eve), there is also to be enmity between the seed of the woman (Messiah) and the seed of the serpent (Satan). So, considering that the Devil cannot produce offspring, the seed of the serpent likely refers to the angels that followed Satan in rebellion against God. And certainly, fallen angels have, along with Satan, exhibited enmity against the seed of the woman down through the ages. Look how they attempted to destroy the baby, Jesus, prompting Herod to order the slaughter of all children two and under in and around Bethlehem. Or, consider how many times the Devil attempted to destroy the Jewish people before the Messiah could be born.
Consequently, what was going on in Genesis 6, in the days of Noah, may have been an early attempt to prevent the birth of the prophesied Messiah by corrupting human gene lines. Remember, Genesis 6:2, the Bible tells us that the sons of God, "they took them wives of all which they chose." Could it be that Satan and his cohorts were attempting to alter humanity through some form of selective breeding? Just as we have selectively bred numerous varieties of horses, dogs, sheep, chickens, cattle, cats, ducks, and other animals according to our desires, perhaps the fallen angels were doing the same with humanity. And, just as we have produced giants and mighty varieties, think Belgian draft horses, Chianina cattle, and English Mastiffs, just to name a few, perhaps the fallen angels were attempting to do the same with us. It may have even been possible that manipulation and alteration of DNA was taking place as well.
Perhaps that is why Genesis 6:9 notes that Noah was "perfect in his generations" . It may have been an indication that his genetic line was pure and unaltered, unlike the giants and mighty men of his time. Consequently, when God chose Noah, a just man, He may have also chosen a man with uncorrupted DNA in order to preserve humanity and the gene line of the coming Messiah. Of course, if that is the case, it would be reasonable to assume that Noah's wife, along with his son's wives, may have also had uncorrupted DNA. After all, the Messiah's linage comes thru them just as much as it comes through Noah. That information, however, is not given to us in the text.
All of this brings us back to the discussion of human chimeras and genetic manipulation at the beginning of this article. When Jesus said that the time of the Rapture would be "as it was in the days of Noe [Noah]," perhaps He meant that attempts to manipulate and alter human DNA would once again be occurring. Only this time, instead of fallen angels being responsible, it is fallen man that is responsible.
It also means, then, that we are living in the last hours of the last days. And that means, for those who are not saved, that "…now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2) . And for those who are saved, "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16).