Scripture: Genesis 6: 1-8
Sermon: The Edge of Chaos
Topics: Creation, Order, Chaos
Preached: February 26, 2012 Lent 1
Rev. Mike Abma
Genesis 6: 1-8
6When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God (angels) saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose.
3Then the Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not abide* in mortals for ever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’
4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterwards—when the sons of God (angels) went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.
6And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
7So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’
8But Noah found favour in the sight of the Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION The Nephilim
So…..what about those Nephilim?
Isn’t this a strange passage?
Doesn’t it sound more like mythology than theology?
What is it with these sons of gods who are attracted by these daughters of Eve?
I better say from the start, that there is mystery here,
more than I will be able to explain.
A number of explanations have been given to try unravel this mysterious passage.
* some believe that these “sons of gods” actually refers to the righteous descendants of Seth, and that they married the daughters of the line of the unrighteous Cain.
* another very human explanation interprets the “sons of gods” as some kind of ancient royalty who took advantage of the daughters of the common folks.
To me, both those explanations seem to be dodging things a little.
Believe it or not,
I think this text is actually about what it says it is about.
And it isn’t simply me.
Read 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 and these passages talk about wayward angels taking something that was off-limits for them. This is in line with understanding the phrase “sons of god” as referring to heavenly beings being attracted to, and taking, daughters of men, namely earthly beings.
Another reason I say this is because the language of this chapter seems to parallel the language of Adam and Eve in the Garden.
When Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was a delight to the eyes,
she took it.
When these sons of God saw that the daughters of Eve were a delight to their eyes, they took them.
And the children that resulted from this unauthorized union was these mysterious Nephilim,
And they represented yet another way Creation was slipping back into chaos.
CREATION ORDER TO CREATION CHAOS
Why do I say “chaos?”
Remember the story of Creation? Remember how it is told?
It all starts with a formless void – the tohu vebohu.
It all starts with chaos and confusion.
Then God begins to sort things out.
He begins to order things.
The way he orders things is by separating them.
He separates Light from Darkness.
He separates the waters above the Sky from the waters below the Sky.
He separates the Seas from the Dry Ground.
He separates the greater light of the Day, with the lesser lights of the Night.
He separates the birds of the air from the fish of the sea.
He separates the creatures of the earth, from the creatures who bear His image.
This is the Creation Story.
And when God was done, he stepped back, looked around, and said,
“It is good, very good.”
But then disorder and chaos began to creep back in.
It began with Adam and Eve taking fruit from the forbidden tree
because their hearts desired it;
Then Cain kills his own brother, Abel,
because his heart desired him gone.
Then Lamech kills several people,
because his heart desired revenge.
And from there, things got worse and worse.
Our text implies that things were not only getting worse on earth,
but in heaven too.
Even the heavenly beings were looking at what was off-limits for them,
and taking what their hearts desired,
and confusing heaven and earth.
So not only was corruption flooding the earth,
it was threatening heaven too.
Now when God stepped back and saw everything he had created,
it was not good….not good at all.
It was bad. It was wicked.
So wicked in fact, that even the very thoughts of people’s hearts
were filled with evil.
THE PARTY GONE WRONG
I remember when I was in grade 13 —
yes, I know, grade 13 sounds weird, but back when I was a high school senior, the province of Ontario had one extra year of high school. I guess we were all slow learners.
Well, I was in grade 13, or 13th grade, as you would call it here.
Some of our friends were already at University in the city I lived close to, the city of London Ontario. They were throwing a party.
And my friends and I were invited.
It sounded fun.
Hang out with some older, more mature University students.
So we arrived at the party.
And almost immediately, things didn’t seem right.
In fact, things seemed terribly wrong.
Most everyone seemed drunk.
It looked like some guys were trying to hit on some girls.
There was even a fight that broke out.
My friend and I looked at each other – this was no party.
This was a disaster.
We were sorry we came.
All we wanted to do was get out of there.
And so it was with God.
His good, beautiful creation,
in which he would delight in his image bearers,
had become a disaster.
His earthly creatures had turned against him.
His heavenly creatures had betrayed him.
And he was sorry he had created any of them.
He was tempted to turn his back on the whole business.
But he didn’t.
It is this picture we have of God that is so striking.
Here his beautiful creation is slipping into complete chaos,
And what do we see?
We do not see anger, but sorrow;
We do not see wrath, but grief.
The text says it grieved him to his heart.
The word for grieved could also be translated as pained –
It pained him to his heart.
Earlier in Genesis,
after she had eaten the forbidden fruit,
God had said to Eve that now with pain you shall give birth to children.
Here the same word is used.
With pain, God looks out over his creation,
With pain, he plans to blot it out and start over.
In a very real sense, we can say the Flood was caused by
God’s tears of grief.
FLOODS and THE FLOOD
From a very early age, floods have terrified me.
Maybe it is because when I was still very young,
my parents told me of the horrible floods that wiped out large sections of the southern part of the Netherlands in 1953, killing hundreds, and leaving 1000’s destitute.
We’ve seen the devastation floods bring.
The earthquake and tsunami that devastated Acheh Indonesia in 2004.
The floods that came with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The floods that devastated a huge parts of Pakistan in 2010.
The earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan last year.
Floods kill.
Floods devastate.
Floods destroy.
Then why is it that this flood in Genesis
does not fill us with sorrow and dread and despair?
Why does it fill us with hope?
Isn’t it because this Flood actually revealed God’s commitment to his creation?
That he was not willing to abandon the work of his hands.
That he was willing to feel the pain and the grief
of being disappointed again and again by his own creatures.
The story of Noah and his family being saved from the Flood,
is ultimately
a story of hope,
of new beginnings,
of a new creation.
This will not be the last time God stands on the edge of chaos with his people.
Years later, God will be there again.
He will be with his people on the edge of the wilderness.
The wilderness was also a place of chaos.
The wilderness was also a place of death.
And many people died in the desert – a whole generation of people.
But through it all, God does not abandon his people.
The chaos of that wilderness became a place of new beginnings and new hope.
Later again, God would be standing on the edge of chaos with his people.
Jerusalem would be burning.
His people would be trudging off into exile to Babylon.
But through it all, God does not abandon his people.
The chaos of that exile became an experience of new beginnings and new hope.
God faces the pain of disappointment again and again.
God faces the chaos we create again and again.
God is cut to the heart.
But God is not a quitter.
WHEN WE STAND ON THE EDGE OF CHAOS
Where are the waters of chaos for you?
What level are they at?
Sometimes we see the waters of chaos at a distance:
I read about that 9 month old child killed on Monday in Detroit by gang-related gunfire. The toddler, Delric Miller, dead because someone peppered his home with an AK-47 assault rifle. All the police said was, “Once again adult violence has claimed the life of another child.”
Sometimes the waters of chaos start to rise much closer to home.
Our neighbors are behind in their mortgage and might lose their house.
Our teacher is diagnosed with cancer.
Our son is expelled from school.
Our daughter is arrested with a DUI.
And sometimes the waters of chaos are right up to our neck:
Our marriage is falling apart.
We never wanted to be one of those people who call it quits.
We thought we knew what it took to make a marriage work.
But there we are, up to our neck in misery, regret, and loneliness.
The flood waters of chaos
creep into every life —
somehow,
someway —
and we are never prepared.
CONCLUSION — CROSS
There came a time when the great divide
between heaven and earth
that was seemingly sealed here in Genesis 6
broke open again.
Mary, a daughter of Eve,
becomes the mother of Jesus,
the Son of God.
From the moment he was born,
chaos begins to pursue him,
with the fury of Herod nipping at his heels.
Having lived his whole life on the edge of chaos,
he finally turned his face toward it,
and challenged it head on.
He did not ride out the storm in an ark.
No, he entered a stormy trial,
was nailed to a cruel cross,
and drowned in the sea of death.
And again, God’s heart broke with grief.
Like the Flood of old,
the cross should have no attraction to us.
The cross is an instrument of torture, and death, and destruction.
And yet
for us it is the sign of life,
for us it is the sign of a new beginning
for us it is the sign of a new hope and a new creation.
In Jesus Christ,
We know that God does not stand against us in the chaos of our lives,
but for us.
So do not be afraid.
Though you pass through the waters,
though you may be up to your neck in chaos,
Do not be afraid.
For the Lord has redeemed you.
In Christ crucified, the Lord has prepared the way to his new creation.
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