Lesson 11 — The Dispensation of Conscience

1. 1 THE DISPENSATION OF CONSCIENCE

The Dispensation of Conscience

Genesis 3:22–8

THE ANTEDILUVIAN AGE Genesis 1:3–8

The Dispensation of Conscience is so-called because in this age man was tested solely upon the basis of obedience to his own conscience. This age may be called “the age of freedom,” for man was free to obey or to disobey the dictates of his own conscience without any fear of being apprehended by law Romans 2:12-16. There was no revealed code of law until after the flood. The old theory that Adam had the Ten Commandments and that they were kept by men before the flood and in all ages before Moses is unscriptural.

The law Adam broke was not the Ten Commandment law. It was the law against eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Genesis 2:16-17Genesis 3:1-24. Any commandment of God is a law as much as the Ten Commandments were. It is definitely stated in Scripture that the Ten Commandments were not given to men before Moses Deuteronomy 5:2-21Deuteronomy 29:14-15.

What is Conscience?

“Conscience is the knowledge of our acts, states, or character as to right or wrong: the faculty, power, or principle which decides on the lawfulness of our actions and affections, and approves or condemns them; the moral faculty or sense.”—Webster.

Conscience was awakened or became active at the Fall by man deciding to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It has been the guiding faculty in the moral acts of man ever since. Blackstone writes of a “court of conscience” in England for the recovery of small debts. The Bible has much to say about the conscience. The following are a few kinds of conscience mentioned in Scripture: “seared” conscience 1 Timothy 4:2, “awakened” conscience John 8:9, “purged” conscience Hebrews 9:9, 14Hebrews 10:2, “pure” conscience Acts 24:16, “weak” conscience 1 Corinthians 8:7, 12, “defiled” conscience (Titus 1:15), “witnessing” conscience Romans 2:12-15Romans 9:12 Corinthians 1:12, “good” conscience Acts 2:131 Timothy 1:5, 191 Peter 2:191 Peter 3:16, 21Hebrews 13:19, and a “convicting” or a “healthy” conscience Genesis 3:10Genesis 4:13Matthew 27:3.

II. The Length of the Dispensation of Conscience

In Gen. 5:1-29; 7:11 we have the length of the Dispensation of Conscience as being 1,656 years long, as computed by adding the number of years from the creation of Adam to the 600th year of Noah’s life. The list is as follows:

1. 1 Adam 130 years old when Seth was born Gen. 5:3

1. 1 Seth 105 years old when Enos was born Gen. 5:6

1. 1 Enos 90 years old when Cainan was born Gen. 5:9

1. 1 Cainan 70 years old when Mahaleel was born Gen. 5:12

1. 1 Mahaleel 65 years old when Jared was born Gen. 5:15

1. 1 Jared 162 years old when Enoch was born Gen. 5:18

1. 1 Enoch 65 years old when Methusaleh was born Gen. 5:21

1. 1 Methusaleh 187 years old when Lamech was born Gen. 5:25

1. 1 Lamech 182 years old when Noah was born Gen. 5:28

1. 1 Noah 600 years old when the flood came Gen. 7:6, 11

TOTAL—1,656 years from Adam to Noah’s flood.

III. The Favorable Beginning of Man in Conscience

In Gen. 3:15 we have the revelation of God’s provision of redemption through the seed of the woman—Christ. Man was given another chance to be tested and to prove true to God in another period of probation. Man had the promise that the curse would be lifted; that he would be restored to his original position as ruler of the Earth and all things therein. Man had the faculty of choosing right from wrong and the ability to have faith in God to be redeemed.

Man also started out with a knowledge of true worship, for God had slain animals in the Garden and had clothed man with their skins. Blood had been shed as a token of the blood of the coming seed of the woman Genesis 3:21. We have further proof of this from the story of Cain and Abel. When they grew old enough to worship, Abel brought the right kind of sacrifice—a blood sacrifice, proving that the true way of worship had been made clear to Adam and Eve. Man also had a tabernacle for worship in those days, for in Gen. 4:7 God said to Cain, “if thou doest not well, sin [Hebrew, chata, “a sin offering,” as in Exod. 30:10; Lev. 4:3; 6:25] lieth at the door,” that is, the tabernacle door where sacrifices were offered. In Gen. 4:3-5 it is clear that there was a certain place where offerings were brought to God.

Man also knew that God was just and merciful, that His Word was true, and that God would be with him if he would only be obedient to the will of the Creator. He had the warning and the actual demonstration of the curse of God upon sin. He had personal experience of both sin and the means of reconciliation with God. He had God’s plan further revealed to him, and everything was as favorable for man as could possibly be in the fallen state and under the new curse on the Earth. He could have proved true to God, but as time went on man got worse and worse until he had to be destroyed.

IV. The Test for Man in Conscience

In Gen. 4:7 we have the particular test for man in this period: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” God demanded of man that he obey the dictates of his conscience as to the revealed will of God and as to his own inward knowledge of right and wrong. His test was to do the good and refuse the evil, and to have faith in God and the coming Redeemer who would bruise the serpent’s head Genesis 3:15. In the Fall man lost God-consciousness and gained self-consciousness. He lost the power in himself to do good and gained the power to do evil.

Man awoke to the fact that he had to have the help of God if he were to live right and obey the complete will of God. He had to have help from God to overcome these evil spirit forces to whom he had yielded and to whom he had given over his dominion. He was powerless in himself to overcome these spirit forces but he still had the power of choice, and he could voluntarily recognize and acknowledge his lost state and helpless condition and accept the help of God. This would enable him to be redeemed and to overcome these new enemies that had usurped his dominion and gained power over him.

This is all God requires of helpless and sinful man. Today, the moment any man acknowledges his sin and his need for God, and if he calls upon God for deliverance and help from satanic forces and sinful habits, he is instantly heard of God and made a new creature in Christ. He is born-again and endued with the principles of righteousness and true holiness and is renewed in spiritual and moral power so that he can overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil Ephesians 2:1-19Ephesians 4:22-24Galatians 5:16-262 Corinthians 5:17Romans 6:1-23Romans 8:1-161 John 1:71 John 2:291 John 3:7-101 John 5:1-4, 18.

The purpose of God in this age was to teach man in the very beginning of the Fall and of the Earth’s second sinful career that obedience to Him, faith in His Word, and conformity to His will for the best good of being and of the universe were the only sources of true pleasure, happiness, health, and prosperity, and the only assurance of restoration to the original perfect state. God wanted to test man under freedom of his will, without any restraint or compulsion, to see if He would choose to follow Him instead of his new master—the devil. Man could have argued that he did not know experimentally right from wrong and that he should be excused for the first sin against God; so God met this argument by giving man freedom of action to choose for himself which master he wanted to serve.

There was not even the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to refrain from eating of in this period. There were no specific laws and commandments for man to obey. The test was a choice between voluntary service to one of two masters and the free choice of conformity to right choices according to the creative makeup. The broad and inherent principles of right and wrong were known. Man had within him certain created faculties and the knowledge of the best use of his whole being and of conformity to those necessary principles that would be for the best good of his own being, of all others in society, and of the universe as a whole. He had to make the free choice to consecrate to the end to which his rational being dictated—the same end to which all society must conform if it is to continue eternally, and that is, that each one choose and wholeheartedly cooperate with all others for the preservation of that society.

Man had within him the knowledge of the principles of righteousness and true holiness that God had to later require of him to conform to by law. Paul spoke of it as doing by “nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing them witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” Romans 2:12-16.

By this test of freedom to choose the best good of being and of all concerned, man could learn some lessons that he could not have learned otherwise. God wanted to see and permit man to see and experience for himself how sinful he could become if he chose to live in self-gratification and selfishness, instead of conformity to the best good of others. God permitted evil spirits to operate in the human realm in order to teach men from the beginning the need of dependence upon God and submission to His will as the best choice of life and conduct.

VI. The Means of God in Accomplishing This Purpose

According to the facts stated above, it is clear that the conscience of man, the full freedom of his will without restraint and compulsion, and the malice of the devil were all used of God to further His purpose for man in this period. The conscience demonstrated how exceedingly sinful man could become if he chose to continue in rebellion; the full freedom of action on his part demonstrated how far man would go in this rebellion before God would have to interfere for the good of His own eternal plan; and the malice of the devil and his evil designs demonstrated the contrast between the two masters man had the privilege of choosing to serve while on probation. Such a freedom of the will was what man chose in the Fall; so God permitted him in this age to go the full limit of wickedness that he might learn the folly of such a course, and that all future generations in all eternity might profit by such an experience. Now, such freedom of conduct without restraint and the results of it are matters of record and will serve forever to check man in the wrong use of his will.

VII. The Failure of Man in Conscience

1. 1 THE FAILURE OF ADAM: “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” Genesis 6:3. This verse has been used through the ages and is still being used to prove that someday God’s Holy Spirit will quit striving with all men and that they will be cut off without hope. It is used to prove that the door of mercy to Gentiles will be closed in the near future and that God will save only the Jews. Both of these theories are man-made and have no place in Scripture or in the plan of God, as we shall see in Lesson Fifteen, Point VIII. That Adam is personally referred to in Gen. 6:3 is clear from the following:

(1) The word “spirit” is correctly translated without a capital letter and does not refer to the Holy Spirit. It refers to the created spirit of man manifested in his conscience and other spirit faculties. It is called “My spirit” because Adam’s personal spirit was directly created and given to him by God. God is the God of all spirits and all are considered His in the sense of creation or origin and rulership. Numbers 16:22Numbers 27:16Isaiah 42:5Hebrews 12:9, 23

(2) The word “strive” is from the Hebrew word doon meaning “to rule,” “judge,” “strive,” “contend,” “convict,” “minister,” “execute,” “plead.” It is translated “judge” Genesis 15:14Genesis 49:16; “contend” Ecclesiastes 6:10; “execute” Jeremiah 21:12; “plead” Proverbs 31:9; and “minister” Psalms 9:8. The Septuagint, Arabic, Syriac, and Latin versions translate this work “remain in,” that is, My spirit I have created in man will not always remain in him.

(3) The word for “man” is in the singular, used with the definite article. It is the Hebrew Adam and with the definite article should read the Adam, that is, My Spirit will not always remain in or strive with the Adam. This is made clearer by the personal singular pronouns in this verse, such as “he” and “his,” proving that one man is referred to and not the whole race of men in general.

(4) The word also makes it clear that the statement refers to the one man Adam. It has no meaning if the word “man” is read in the plural. If all men are referred, to, then who else beside all men could be referred to by the word also? It means, and can only mean, that the one man Adam, the only one that was a direct product of creation, was also flesh, as well as those that are born of men and not directly created. The whole verse teaches that Adam as well as other men had become sinful and that he would be cut off even though he was the only created man. It reveals that God gave Adam 120 more years to live, thus making it clear that Gen. 6:3 refers to a time 810 years after the creation of Adam, for he lived only 930 years.

(5) The verse could not refer to the cutting off of all men in 120 years, for all men were not cut off at the end of that time, and all men have not yet been cut off after many times 120 years. This verse throws light upon the ungodliness of men 810 years after creation and 846 years before the flood, and shows why in Enoch’s day God had already intended to destroy man by a flood. Enoch divinely called his son’s name “Methuselah,” which, in Hebrew, means “when he is dead it [the deluge] shall be sent.” Enoch saw such ungodliness in his day that he even prophesied of the destruction of the ungodly at the second advent of Christ (Jude 14).

Enoch was born 627 years after Adam’s creation. He was a contemporary with Adam for 303 years. Methuselah, who died the year the flood came, was a contemporary of Adam for 238 years; so there were two men who lived the whole length of the Dispensation of Conscience. Thus it is clear that man was so wicked that God planned when Methuselah was born to send a flood 969 years before He actually sent it. Adam himself was so wicked that God gave him only 120 more years to live and repent. Whether he ever repented is not clear. He is not mentioned as one of the faithful worthies of the Old Testament as recorded in Heb. 11. He is not once mentioned in any Scripture as being a godly man, a fact more striking when we consider the fact that Abel, Enoch, and Noah of the Ante-diluvian Age are mentioned thirteen times as being godly Genesis 4:4Genesis 5:22Genesis 6:8, 9Genesis 7:1Luke 11:51Hebrews 11:1-7Revelation 3:202 Peter 2:51 Peter 3:20. If Adam, after having been a direct creation of God and after seeing God face to face, failed the Creator, what must have been the sinful condition of many others?

1. 1 THE FAILURE OF CAIN Genesis 4:1-16. This passage records the failure of the first man that was born in the Earth, as the passage above Genesis 6:3 records the failure of the first and only created man. Here we have the story of two of Adam’s many sons. One was humble and godly, the other self-willed and rebellious. Both were full-grown and knew the true way of worship. They were taught this way of worship by Adam and by God Himself, for God was present when the boys offered their sacrifices. God even gave Cain another chance. He personally told him about the sin offering at the door of the tabernacle Genesis 4:4, 7.

Cain also knew when God accepted Abel’s offering what he should do, but he rejected the counsel of both God and man and started his own religion. The fire of God evidently consumed Abel’s offering, as was done on other occasions of acceptance by God Genesis 15:17Leviticus 9:24Judges 6:211 Kings 18:38.

Instead of conforming to God’s will and welcoming fellowship with Him, Cain began to scheme as to how he could get even with Abel. This desire for vengeance led to murder, and God appeared a second time to Cain and cursed him from His own presence and from that of other men, condemning him to be a vagabond in the Earth.

Cain was afraid of someone taking vengeance on him; so God gave Cain a pledge of protection. The Hebrew word for “Mark” is owth, meaning “a pledge,” “token,” Genesis 9:12, 17Genesis 17:11 and “a sign” (Exodus 4:8; 8:23). It never means a literal physical mark upon the body, but a pledge. This pledge is stated in the same verse Genesis 4:15: “Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.”

1. 1 THE FAILURE OF CAIN’S DESCENDANTS Genesis 4:17-24. We have revealed in this passage the activities of the godless civilization produced by Cain’s descendants, and others associated with him. This part of the human race tried to make the land of their exile a paradise instead of following God’s directions and cooperating with Him to get rid of the curse altogether. They were plunderers and profligates. Cain himself set a wicked example before men. He started the first city. He aimed to procure everything that was for his own bodily pleasure, though it made him injurious to others. He became wealthy by violence and robbery and led men into sinful ways. He changed the simplicity of living and became the author of weights and measures. He set boundaries around lands and fortified cities against wild beasts and his enemies in nearby lands. His children became more wicked as time went on. Many marks of modern civilization are seen in this early one:

1. City life and its attendant evils first appeared Genesis 4:17.

2. Jabal, the first cattleman and nomad dwelling in tents, introduced flesh and milk as food, to escape tilling the soil Genesis 4:20.

3. Jubal invented “the harp and organ” (wind instruments) to be used in the song, dance, and pleasures of all kinds which go with crowded populations Genesis 4:21.

4. Tubal-Cain, a worker in brass and iron, forged weapons of war and made things for the comfort of civilization. The Earth was filled with violence, bloodshed and wars Genesis 4:22Genesis 6:14.

5. Lamech was a murderer, the first polygamist, and the first song writer on record Genesis 4:23-24.

From these few facts it can be seen that there were envyings, strifes, deeds of licentiousness, violence, lowing of herds, strains of music and dancing to soothe the conscience, clatter of hoofs, sounding of anvils, vaunting of proud boasters, and all the mingled din that rose from a godless civilization in struggling to overpower the curse.

1. 1 THE FAILURE OF SETH’S DESCENDANTS Genesis 4:25–5. In this passage we have the failure of the descendants of Seth and the line of ten generations from Adam to Noah. It is believed by some that there were two distinct lines of the human family in this period—the ungodly line of Cain and the godly line of Seth, but this is not taught in Scripture:

(1) Such an idea is not once mentioned in Scripture. Seth’s descendants as a whole may not have been as ungodly as Cain’s, but it is very clear that there were more than just two lines, or branches of the human family coming from just two men. Adam begat “sons and daughters” Genesis 5:4. Every son of Adam started a branch of the race for himself as has been generally the case all through history. Not all the sons and daughters of Adam are mentioned in Scripture, nor are the multitudes of other families through this whole 1,656-year period. Then, too, there were races of giants in the Earth that were not of the sons of Cain or Seth, as we shall see below.

(2) There were many people on Earth at the time Cain killed Abel, or God would not have protected Cain from others who might desire to kill him Genesis 4:14-15. Cain was evidently married by the time he slew Abel, for immediately afterward. he went into the land of Nod with his wife, and there he knew her and she had a son Genesis 4:16-17. The curse upon the woman was to multiply greatly, and this was true of the early women, for when Cain had his first child there were enough people even in Cain’s land of exile to build a city Genesis 4:17. It could not be that Cain would build a city for one wife and one child.

(3) The history of the godless civilization shows a considerable number of people. It is estimated by Bible students that there could have been at least 150 million people at the time of the flood. This is a very conservative estimate, for Israel multiplied in Egypt from 70 to about six million people in 215 years. When men lived to be nearly a thousand years old they could have multiplied infinitely faster than Israel did in Egypt, when they lived to be about a hundred years old. The very fact that there is no attempt to explain the population before the flood makes it evident that the population increased at a normal rate and we are left to understand that the Earth was filled with people before the flood. So the common idea that there were just two sons and that their immediate families stayed separated through 1,656 years is absurd. We might as well argue that the few mentioned in other genealogies in Scripture were all the people that lived on Earth in the various periods as to argue this about Cain and Seth and their immediate families in the Age of Conscience.

(4) Seth’s line is singled out in Gen. 5 to show the particular branch of the race that the seed of the woman descended through. The purpose is not to show a godly line for over 1,600 years. There could not be any such thing as one generation after another with all their offspring being godly for such a length of time. This is contrary to all history and Scripture. This will never be until the New Heavens and the New Earth when all human and spirit rebels are confined to the Lake of Fire forever. There never has been and never will be until the final restitution of all things, such a thing as godly men reproducing godly men by nature. So the belief that there were many generations of godly men and women just because they descended from Seth is ridiculous.

(5) The first-born of Seth was ungodly, and he was the one that started idolatry in the Earth, according to Gen. 4:26, which says, “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.” This statement according to many ancient versions reads, “Then began men to call themselves by the name of Jehovah” and “to call their gods by the name of Jehovah.” Men began to worship stars and make idols like all kinds of animals, as stated in Rom. 1:21-32. The Targum of Onkelos reads, “Then in his days the sons of men desisted from praying in the name of the Lord” and the Targum of Jonathan says, “That was the generation in whose days they began to err, and to make to themselves idols, and surnamed their idols by the name of the Lord.” In the Scofield Bible we read, “Then began men to call themselves by the name of Jehovah.”

We know that true worship did not begin with Enos, the son of Seth, for Abel and others had already worshipped God in the true way many years before this. Enos was not born until 235 years after man’s creation. We read of true worship during this time Genesis 3:21Genesis 4:1-16Hebrews 11:4; so Enos did not start true worship, but the false. If Seth did not worship the true God and if true worship began with Enos, then Seth was ungodly; and this automatically destroys the theory of Seth and all his sons being godly men. If idolatry started with Enos, then he was ungodly; so this also destroys the theory of the godly line of Seth. This proves that Seth’s line was not all godly, and that the sons of God of Gen. 6 were not godly men of his line. If there had been thousands of godly seed from Seth they certainly would have been mentioned somewhere in Scripture, especially when only three godly men of this period are mentioned thirteen times as seen in Scriptures in Point VII, I, (5) above. Apart from these three, the ungodliness of men in this period is emphasized, as seen below.

1. 1 THE FAILURE OF ALL MEN IN GENERAL Genesis 6:1-7, 11. The ungodliness of all men in this age is stated in many Scriptures Genesis 4:1-26Genesis 6:1-13Genesis 7:1Matthew 24:37-39Luke 17:26-271 Peter 3:202 Peter 2:4-5. The fact that only three men are mentioned as being godly in all this period proves the ungodliness of men in general. God will judge sin wherever it is found, whether it delays His original purpose or not. If there had not been one godly man on Earth at the time of the flood, the present social order on Earth would have been totally destroyed, as was that under Lucifer. God would have had to make a new social order as He did in Adam’s day, for He created the Earth “to be inhabited” Isaiah 45:18, and His original purpose will be finally carried out if He has to destroy and remake several social systems on Earth. Failure on the part of any one social system merely delays the original purpose.

At the time of Moses, God thought to destroy all Israel because of sin. He planned to raise up a new nation under Moses; but Moses interceded, and the nation was spared, and God’s original purpose continued Exodus 32:7-14. If he had destroyed all Israel and had made a new nation of Moses, His plan would have been merely delayed, not defeated. The failure of men in general in the Dispensation of Conscience may be summed up as follows:

(1) A tendency to worship God merely as Creator and Benefactor, not as Savior or as the Covenant God Genesis 4:1-7Romans 1:17-32.

(2) Undue prominence of the female sex and a disregard of the primal law of marriage Genesis 4:19Matthew 24:37-39Luke 17:26-30.

(3) Rapid progress of mechanical arts and inventions to make the curse easier Genesis 4:17-24Romans 1:30.

(4) An alliance between nominal worshippers of God and the world Matthew 24:37-391 Peter 3:202 Peter 2:4-5.

(5) Rejection of the preaching of righteousness 2 Peter 2:5Matthew 24:37-39.

(6) Appearance on Earth of spirit-beings in unlawful intercourse with the human race Genesis 6:1-72 Peter 2:4.

(7) Murders and violence of all kinds Genesis 6:1-7, 11Romans 1:17-32.

(8) Disregard for restraint of conscience Genesis 4:17-24Genesis 6:1-7, 11Matthew 24:37-392 Peter 2:4-5.

(9) Sins and pleasures of all kinds to satisfy every lust Genesis 4:17-24Genesis 6:1-7, 11Matthew 24:37-39Romans 1:17-32.

(10) The appearance on Earth of ungodly and inhuman giants, as discussed below.

1. 1 THE FAILURE OF THE SONS OF GOD Genesis 6:1-7, 11. The subject of the sons of God marrying the daughters of men is much misunderstood, and for this reason we should be fair and open-minded to everything in Scripture, letting the Word of God itself settle every question. Some hold that the sons of God were the sons of Seth, and that they married the daughters of Cain, which intermarriage was the breaking down of the godly line of Seth. There was no such thing as a godly line producing sons of God for 1,656 years, as we have proven in Points 4 and 5 above, so the sons of God could not have been sons of Seth. This could not possibly be the truth for the following reasons:

(1) The time of marriage of the sons of God disproves this theory. If the sons of God were the sons of Seth, these marriages could not have been during the last 600 years of this age, for Noah was the only godly man in this period: “for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation . . . Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” Genesis 6:9Genesis 7:12 Peter 2:4-5. There were no godly men to be called sons of God during the lifetime of Noah; so the marriages of the sons of God, if they were ordinary men, had to be during the first 1,000 years of this period only; but in Gen. 6:4 we have the fact that such marriages continued to “those days,” which are agreed by everybody to include the days of Noah up to the flood.

In Gen. 6:1-2 we have the fact that the sons of God began to marry the daughters of men from the very beginning when daughters were born to men. Adam had the first daughters Genesis 3:20Genesis 5:1-5, and it must have been some of these that the sons of God began to marry. This was before the birth of Seth, or at least, before Seth had any sons of marriageable age. Seth had no children until he was 105 years of age, or until 235 years after man’s creation Genesis 5:1-6. Enos had his first son 325 years after creation Genesis 5:1-9. If the sons of God married the daughters of men “when men began to multiply on the face of the earth,” as stated in Gen. 6:1, then they could not be sons of Seth, for he had no sons at that time

Again, in Gen. 6:4 we read of the sons of God marrying the daughters of men “also after that,” that is, after the flood the sons of God married the daughters of men. If the daughters of men were the ungodly daughters of Cain, then how did these ungodly women live after the flood, since only Noah’s family was saved by the ark? 1 Peter 3:20Genesis 6:18.

(2) The expressions “sons of God” and “daughters of men” prove that one is the product of God and the other is the product of men. The facts in Point 4, above, prove that Seth’s sons were just as ungodly as were those of Cain; so they could not be called sons of God in the godly sense any more than could the sons of Cain. Only two of Seth’s sons were godly, as we have seen; hence the sons of Seth could not be godly sons of God. We have just as much authority in Scripture to teach that Cain’s sons were godly as to teach that the sons of Seth were. We have also seen that there were not two distinct lines of the race—one the line of Cain and the other the line of Seth. Hence, to teach that the marriage of the sons of God and the daughters of men was the breaking down of the line of separation between the godly and the ungodly lines is unscriptural. It is specifically stated that “all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” Genesis 6:1-7, 11, and this is why only one family was saved in the ark. It would not have been just of God to kill off all the godly men with the sinners. If the sons of God were godly men getting married to ungodly women, this would not in itself make them backslidden and lost. Many saved men and women today are married to unsaved companions, and they still remain godly. So we have to conclude that this theory of the sons of God being godly men is unscriptural.

(3) It is only through a divine specific act of creation that any being can become a son of God. Adam was a direct product of creation and was called a “son of God” Luke 3:38. Adam’s sons are not, and could not be called the sons of God by natural generation. His sons can only be sons of God in a godly sense by being born-again and by being created anew in Christ John 3:1-5Ephesians 4:22-242 Corinthians 5:17. Since Seth’s sons were not godly by the new birth they could never be called the sons of God.

(4) The expression “sons of God” is used only five times in the Old Testament and every time it is used of angels, unless it is in Gen. 6. It is used in Job 1:6; 2:1 of angels in Heaven presenting themselves before the Lord. Satan came also with them to present himself before the Lord. The scene was in Heaven in both cases, as proven by the fact that Satan had come from the Earth. These sons of God presenting themselves before the Lord at least could not have been the sons of Seth, for godly men did not go to Heaven before Christ conquered death and Hell. The righteous before this went into the lower parts of the earth instead of Heaven Matthew 12:40Ephesians 4:7-11Hebrews 2:14-15. Now since Christ conquered death, Hell, and the grave, the saved souls go immediately to Heaven at death 2 Corinthians 5:8Philippians 1:21-23. Hence, Seth’s sons could not have been in Heaven in Job’s day.

That the sons of God in Heaven in Job’s day were angels is further proven by the fact that they were present with God and were shouting when God laid the foundations of the Earth Job 38:4-7. Certainly Seth’s sons were not the sons of God shouting for joy when God created the Earth. They were not yet in existence and were not until hundreds of years after Adam’s creation. This is proof that angels are sons of God by creation just as Adam was. Could not angels be referred to in Gen. 6? We have no logical or scriptural explanation of Gen. 6:1-4 unless we understand these sons of God to be angels.

(5) The Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, reads, “the angels of God . . . took them wives of all they chose.” This version of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament was translated about 285 b.c. It was the Bible used by Christ and the apostles. The fact of angels marrying daughters of men is confirmed by Josephus and many ancient Jewish historians. The Moffatt translation reads, “the angels of God,” and so do other versions. Some claim that the book of Job was written by Moses. If this be true, then the expression “sons of God” as applied to angels would be a familiar one to Moses, as he wrote the book of Genesis. At any rate, if angels did marry the daughters of men then this really happened and there would be no sin in believing it. Unbelief would not make the sons of God men if they were really angels. There is nothing to be gained in rejecting this historical fact if it really happened.

(6) That angels committed fornication is plain in Scripture. In 2 Pet. 2:4-5 we have the statement that angels did sin before the flood and for this sin they were cast down to Hell and delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Peter does not tell us what sin the angels committed, but Jude 6-7 does: “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. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner [Greek, as did these angels], giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” In Gen. 6:1-4 we have the historical record of the sin of these angels.

If Sodom and other cities committed fornication and lived contrary to nature as did the angels, then the angels also committed fornication and lived contrary to nature or these cities could not have committed the sin of these angels. Thus, we have plain proof that angels did live with the daughters of men, and to deny it is to deny part of the Word of God.

(7) Angels do have real bodies and can live like men. We have seen in Lesson Six that angels do have real bodies like men and they have appeared to man as men many times. If they do have real bodies and have done and can do bodily acts such as man does, then why could they not live with the daughters of men and produce offspring? By leaving their own native state and spirit habitation to live in human realm, they could marry the daughters of men as human beings do. Human beings are to be changed and live in the spirit realm in the next life; so what is hard to understand about how spirit-beings can come down to live in the human realm? Jude plainly says that angels left their own habitation and lived like men. The Greek word for “habitation” is oiketerion and is used only in Jude 6 and 2 Cor. 5:2, where it is used of the new bodies from Heaven, or the spiritual and glorified bodies of saints in the next life. The spiritual plane the saints are to enter into is what the angels left. It is the estate the angels did not keep.

The only objection to the fact that angels lived with men and married the daughters of men is Mt. 22:30 where Jesus stated that those who have part in the resurrection will not marry in the next life, but are like the angels in Heaven. Jesus did not say here that angels were sexless and could not come down on the human plane and marry. He merely taught that resurrected saints and angels in Heaven do not marry to keep their race going, as is necessary down here.

It is a fact that resurrected men and women will still be male and female in the resurrection; so Jesus did not want to leave the impression that men will become sexless in the next life. This would be contradicting Paul in 1 Cor. 15:35-58, where he states that every person will have his own body in the next life. This is why we shall then know others as we are now known 1 Corinthians 13:12. It is also a fact that angels are all male beings, for they have always appeared as men and are always referred to in the masculine gender, as can be seen in the Scriptures in Lesson Six. Angels could not have committed fornication if they were sexless. Angels have bodily parts like man, so why shouldn’t they be able to commit fornication like man?

We are obligated to believe plain Scriptures or make Jude, Peter, Moses, and others false teachers. We are not required to understand how spirit-beings could do things that man can do; we are simply required to believe it if it is so stated in Scripture. It is easy to understand, however, when we study the Scriptures in Lesson Six and see how angels are real persons with real bodies and can do acts that man can do.

(8) The two classes of fallen angels prove the ones now in Hell committed a special sin. If the ones now in Hell did not commit a special sin, then they would still be loosed with those who are not bound. In 2 Pet. 2:4 and Jude 6-7 it is clear that some angels are bound in Hell now, and in Rev. 12:7-12 it is clear that some angels are still loose with the devil in the heavenlies and will be cast down to the Earth in the future just before the second coming of Christ to the Earth. No doubt all these angels sinned against God when Lucifer rebelled on the original Earth before Adam, but those bound in Hell today committed an extra sin and lived with the daughters of men to thwart God’s plan in the coming of the seed of the woman, as recorded in Gen. 6:1-4, 11-13.

(9) The spirits in prison of 1 Peter 3:19-20 are the angels that sinned in the days of Noah and are the same as the sons of God of Gen. 6:1-4. The spirits in prison could not be the souls of men because of the following considerations:

A. These spirits sinned in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, proving that the sons of God married the daughters of men all through the Age of Conscience—from the time daughters were born to men until the building of the ark. If they were the souls of men that Christ preached to, then it was to only one generation of men that He preached, the one that lived while the ark was preparing 1 Peter 3:19. Why did He single out this one generation and make a respecter of persons of Himself and not preach to the generation before and after this one? Why should He preach to only one generation of men in Hell and not to all others? What kind of a message could He have given to one generation that could not apply to all other men in Hell?

B. If the spirits in prison were just one generation of men that sinned while the ark was being prepared, then we are forced to believe that there must have been a special prison for that one generation or that all other wicked men of all other generations are not in Hell. Which are we to believe? The Bible teaches that all wicked human beings go to one place until the resurrection, as we shall see in Lesson Thirty-seven. If we believe that these spirits in prison refer to the one class of angels that sinned all through the Age of Conscience and that God finally took action against them in the days of Noah, every problem will automatically be solved concerning who these spirits are, where they are, and why they are confined to Hell.

C. The time of the sin of these spirits is the same time as the sin of the angels of 2 Pet. 2:4-5; Jude 6-8, which was before the flood, proving that the spirits in prison and the angels are the same class of beings.

D. Not one time in Scripture are human beings ever called spirits. Wherever human spirits are referred to, the statement is always qualified and clarified by speaking of them as being “spirits of men” Hebrews 12:23, “spirits of all flesh” Numbers 16:22Numbers 27:16, and “spirits of the prophets” 1 Corinthians 14:32. Men have spirits, but they are not spirits. On the other hand, the word “spirits” without such qualifications refers to actual and real spirit-beings Psalms 104:4Hebrews 1:7, 14. Therefore, these spirits in prison refer to the angels in prison in 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6-7 and to the sons of God in Gen. 6:1-4.

E. The Greek word for “preached” in 1 Pet. 3:19 is kerusso, meaning “to proclaim as a public crier,” or “to announce without reference to the particular nature of the message announced.” It may be a good or bad announcement. The devil and these angels had planned to stop the coming of Christ, the seed of the woman, to avert their own doom and keep control of man. Their purpose was to do away with pure Adamite stock through whom the seed of the woman should come, but God intervened and sent the flood to do away with the giants, the offspring of the angels and men, and their purpose was defeated.

When God sent the angels themselves (the fathers of the giants) to Hell, the devil no doubt held out hope of their deliverance some day. When Satan and his plans failed and Christ, the seed of the woman, came and defeated the evil spirits on the cross and went to Hell to make this announcement to these imprisoned spirits, they knew there was no hope of liberation for them forever.

F. There were two eruptions of the fallen angels among men. They produced races of giants on the Earth each time. The first eruption was before the flood, and the second one was after the flood. This is plainly stated in Gen. 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days [before the flood]; and also after that [after the flood], 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.” We also know from history that there were giants in the Earth both before and after the flood. Genesis 6:4 records the fact that “There were giants in the earth in those days” before the flood, for the whole passage speaks of the time before the flood of Noah and shows why God sent the flood. Then we have many Scriptures of giants in the Earth after the flood, coming from the same source, the sons of God and the daughters of men. There were no daughters of Cain left on Earth after the flood, for only Noah and his family were kept alive in the ark and lived after the flood Genesis 6:18Genesis 9:1-161 Peter 3:20.

The giants after the flood occupied the land of Canaan before Abraham and his seed to thwart God’s promise of the coming of Christ, the seed of the woman, through Abraham. When he entered the land these giants were already there: “The Canaanite was then [already] in the land” Genesis 12:6. From here on there was a continual fight between Satan and the people through whom Christ would come. Satan tried to corrupt Sarah and have her killed for adultery when he caused Abraham to be afraid and caused Pharaoh to take her for himself Genesis 12:10-20.

The same thing occurred again when Abraham went to Philistia (Gen. 20). Satan attempted to destroy the chosen family by a famine Genesis 12:10-20Genesis 26:1-5Genesis 50:20; by the destruction of the male line in Egypt Exodus 1:10-13; and by the destruction of the whole nation (Exod. 14 and 33).

When David’s line was singled out as the line through whom the seed of the woman was to come (2 Sam. 7), Satan tried in several ways to destroy this line (2 Chron. 17:1; 21:4, 17; 22:1, 10; 23:3). At one time there was only one little baby boy left in the direct lineage of Christ 2 Kings 11:1-21. This war went on until Satan (through the wicked Haman) tried to destroy all Israel (Esther 3:6-13; 6:1).

Next Satan tried to destroy the seed of the woman when He came Matthew 2:16Luke 4:16-30.

The Jews tried to kill Him many times, but He supernaturally escaped them until the hour of the cross came, when He was to defeat the powers of darkness and bruise the serpent’s head Genesis 3:15Colossians 2:14-171 John 3:8Hebrews 2:14-18John 19:30.

The second eruption of fallen angels was evidently smaller in number and more limited in area; they were for the most part confined to the land of Canaan, and their offspring were known as the nations of Canaan. They were known as Rephaim Genesis 14:5Genesis 15:20Deuteronomy 2:11, 20Deuteronomy 3:11-13Joshua 12:4Joshua 13:12Joshua 15:8Joshua 17:15Joshua 18:16; Anakim Numbers 13:22Deuteronomy 1:28Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 21Deuteronomy 9:2Joshua 11:21-22Joshua 14:12-15; Horim Genesis 14:6Deuteronomy 2:12, 20; Avim Deuteronomy 2:23Joshua 13:3; Zanzumim Deuteronomy 2:20; and other names. They are enumerated in Gen. 15:18-21; Exod. 3:8, 17; 23:23; Num. 13:22; Deut. 7:1; 20:17; Josh. 12:8.

These were to be utterly destroyed by the sword of Israel just as the flood had destroyed the ones that had lived in the Dispensation of Conscience Deuteronomy 7:1-5Deuteronomy 20:17Joshua 3:10. Israel failed in this purpose so the giants were left to test and prove the chosen people Joshua 13:13Joshua 15:63Joshua 16:10Joshua 17:18Judges 1:19-36Judges 2:1-5Judges 3:1-7. The giants made trouble for Israel until the time of David when the last of the races of the giants were killed 2 Samuel 21:15-22.

Inconsistent Translations

As Rephaim (Hebrew, Rapha), the giants were well known and often mentioned in Scripture. Unfortunately, instead of their proper name being retained in certain passages it is variously translated “dead” Proverbs 2:18Proverbs 9:18Proverbs 21:16Isaiah 14:9; “deceased” Isaiah 26:14; “giant” 2 Samuel 21:16–22; “giants” Deuteronomy 2:11, 20Deuteronomy 3:11-13Joshua 12:4Joshua 13:12Joshua 15:8Joshua 17:15Joshua 18:16. The ordinary word for “giants” is nephil, “a bully,” “a tyrant,” “a giant” Genesis 6:4Numbers 13:33. Why was not Rephaim retained as a proper name in all these passages as it is in those listed above and in 2 Sam. 5:18, 22; 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15; 14:9; 20:4; Isa. 17:5? By reading all these passages the student can know for himself many truths the Bible says about the mighty races of giants before and after the flood.

The Giants Have No Resurrection as Do Ordinary Men

It is plainly stated that the giants, or Rephaim, have no resurrection: “O Lord our God, other lords [giant rulers of Canaan] beside thee have had dominion over us. . . . They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased [Hebrew, Rephaim], they shall not rise: therefore thou hast visited and destroyed them . . . Thy dead men [the dead of God’s people, or ordinary men] shall live, together with my dead body shall they rise” Isaiah 26:14-19. The giants are already in Hell, for Isaiah reveals how when the Antichrist is put into Hell, “the dead” (Hebrew, Rephaim) shall be stirred up to meet him Isaiah 14:9. Substitute Rephaim for “dead” also in Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16.

The offspring of the second eruption of fallen angels were so great, mighty and tall, as to inspire fear in the hearts of the ten spies and all Israel Numbers 13:33Deuteronomy 2:10-23Deuteronomy 9:2. In Deut. 3:11, Og, one of these giants, is mentioned as having a bedstead of iron about eighteen feet, nine inches long and eight feet, four inches wide. Goliath, whom David slew, was over thirteen feet high. His coat of mail weighed 196 pounds. His spearhead alone weighed 25 pounds (2 Sam. 17). The spies that returned from Canaan said, “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers” as compared to the giants Numbers 13:33.

In the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by Brewer, pages 514-517, there is a list of giants of mythology and of real life. Mr. Brewer lists over sixty giants, and their lengths run from about eight to eighteen feet. He also lists several giants whose bones have been discovered whose lengths were from nineteen to thirty feet. Some giants of mythology are spoken of as being 300 feet tall. We cannot depend upon mythology, but we can depend upon the statements of the Bible concerning giants. There were such beings and the stories of mythology are no doubt corruption in transmission of the traditions and legends of the biblical giant races.

G. The progeny of the sons of God and the daughters of men prove that they were not ordinary men and therefore were not the offspring of men. The giants were monsters of iniquity and were abnormal in size and character, which man could not have reproduced according to the law of reproduction given by God, which was that everything on Earth in nature should reproduce “after his own kind” Genesis 1:21-25Genesis 7:14Genesis 8:19. At any rate, that giants are not of pure human stock is too clear to deny with any degree of sanity. Then, too, we know that they were not the product of ordinary godly men and ungodly women, for we see on every hand today such unions, and not one giant has ever been reproduced in such families. They were not saved or godly men, for God said of Noah in Gen. 7:1, “Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” Noah’s sons were saved from death because they were pure human stock, not because they were godly men.

Only Noah and his family had preserved their pedigree pure from Adam, and this is really why they were saved in the ark. It was said of Noah that he was a just man and perfect in his generations Genesis 6:9. The word “perfect” is from the Hebrew word tamin, which means “without blemish,” and is the technical word for “bodily perfection,” and not moral. Hence, it is used of the sacrificial animals of the Old Testament that had to be pure stock and without blemish Exodus 12:5Exodus 20:1Leviticus 1:3Leviticus 3:1.

The purpose of Satan in this first eruption of fallen angels who lived with the daughters of men was to corrupt the human race and do away with pure Adamite stock so that Christ, the seed of the woman, could not come into the world. This plan would have averted his own doom as foretold in Gen. 3:15. He almost succeeded in doing away with pure Adamite stock before the flood, for Noah and family were the only pure left, and “all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” Genesis 6:8-13. The main purpose of the flood was to do away with this corruption of the human race and to preserve pure Adamite stock through whom the seed of the woman should come as foretold. Though Satan was defeated in his plan before the flood he did not halt with his plans.

As soon as God gave the rainbow of promise that He would never send another flood, Satan no doubt concluded that, because he had almost succeeded in doing away with pure Adamite stock before the flood, he may succeed a second time since God had promised not to send another flood. He sent the second eruption of fallen angels to marry the daughters of men after the flood. They brought into being the giants after the flood, as we have seen. Because God had promised not to send another flood to destroy these giants, He now planned to raise up Israel as a great nation and use them to destroy every man, woman, and child of the giant races in order to preserve pure Adamite stock in the Earth as planned.

The two eruptions of fallen angels and the two races of giants in the Earth is plainly taught in Gen. 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days [before the flood]; and also after that [after the flood], when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them.” Thus the story of races of giants caused by the angels marrying the daughters of men is plain in Scripture. These facts explain many statements concerning the war between God and Satan and between Israel and Satan in the Old Testament days, and they give us the real cause of the flood of Noah that ended the Dispensation of Conscience.

VIII. The Judgment of God Upon Man Ending the Dispensation of Conscience

The historical record of the flood of Noah is given us in Gen. 6:8–8:14. The flood was necessary in order to preserve the human race and fulfill the prophecy of the coming of the seed of the woman. Judgment had to come because of man’s failure to live up to the dictates of his conscience as to right and wrong. All flesh on the Earth was destroyed except Noah, his three sons and their wives, two of the unclean animals and seven of the clean animals for replenishing the Earth and for sacrificial purposes after the flood Genesis 6:18–8Genesis 9:10-18.

The Size of Noah’s Ark Genesis 6:14-16

The ark was about 625 feet long, 104 feet wide, and 62.5 feet high. (A cubit is twenty-five inches.) Up to 1850 a.d. no ship in the history of the world was as large as the ark. Of the world’s steamships up to 1932 not one percent was as large, and only 160 have been longer, seven wider, and eight higher than the ark. Only six had a greater tonnage than the ark. The capacity of the ark was equivalent in tonnage to more than 600 freight cars, which would form a train about four miles long and could handle over 90 million pounds.

The ark was easily big enough for all, because the fish stayed in the sea, insects were small, snakes and lizards were only about 2,000 pairs. The average size of the 1,700 pairs of mammals was no bigger than that of a dog. The 10,000 pairs of birds could easily lodge in the ceilings or be hung up in cages. Twenty square feet are allowed on a modern vessel for an ox. If this much room were allowed for each pair of mammals, none would have to lodge on the second floor.

Recent archaeological findings at Nippur disclose that the ark had a sewage system that isn’t surpassed by that of any modern city and that there were openings for light and ventilation in each story with awnings so that Noah could not look out upon the dead. Noah and his family evidently lived on the third floor in compartments. He lived in the ark altogether one year and seventeen days: seven days before the rain started and one year and ten days after that Genesis 7:4-11Genesis 8:13-14.

How Many Windows Were in the Ark?

This question has caused some controversy because many take the ark as a divine type of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Some others take the ark as a type of salvation. Such theories are unbiblical to say the least. The ark was no more a divine type of some doctrine than any other boat that was ever made. It was simply a historical boat that saved the race at the time of the flood, and any other meaning is man-made and proves nothing.

The common practice of taking any kind of historical story and making it a divine type of some doctrine is a false and unreliable way of teaching doctrine. Unless something is stated in Scripture to be a type and it can be supported by two or three plain Scriptures, there is no divine authority for such typology. There are types in the Bible all right, but not every detail of history is typical of some spiritual idea, and nothing but confusion and controversy can come from making everything in Bible history typical. Let us give God credit for being intelligent enough to record history in the Bible without His expecting men to find hidden and mystical meanings to every statement in history.

A type is a pre-ordained representation of the relation which certain persons, events, and institutions of the Old Testament bear to corresponding persons, events, and institutions of the New Testament. One must have two or three Scriptures to prove divine types, as one must have to prove any other point of doctrine. There are “typical persons,” such as Christ and Adam Romans 5:12-21 and Christ and Melchisedec Hebrews 7:1-11; “typical institutions,” such as the sacrifices and offerings and the tabernacle worship and the redemption of Christ Hebrews 5:1–10; “typical offices” Deuteronomy 18:15-18Hebrews 4:14-16; “typical events” 1 Corinthians 10:1-13John 3:14; and “typical actions” Isaiah 20:2-4Ezekiel 3:14–6.

Essential characteristics of types: There must be points of resemblance between the type and the antitype; the antitype is the truth to be understood by the type; a type has its own meaning apart from the antitype John 3:14Numbers 21:5-9. The details of types, as in parables, allegories, and symbols, must not be interpreted except in connection with the antitype; the only authority for types or the application of types must be found in the Scriptures themselves; thus more than mere resemblance is needed to constitute a type. A type must be backed by a “thus saith the Lord” to be a divine type. It must pre-figure something in the future. It is a mere shadow of the real thing itself Colossians 2:14-17Hebrews 8:5Hebrews 10:1. A type must be a true figure of the antitype. Both types and antitypes must be pre-ordained as parts of the plan of redemption. Types cannot belong to the same class as the antitypes.

The interpretation of types: Only the point or points of resemblance between the type and the antitype must be emphasized. They should not be the basis of other doctrines of which they are not typical. They should be understood and interpreted only in the light of the antitype. All types and the antitypes must agree with each other as well as with all Scripture on the same subject. True types never destroy the actual historical sense of Scripture or the literal meaning of the words of the types or the antitypes. All so-called hidden meanings and fanciful interpretations of the words of Scripture where types and antitypes are found should be avoided. Not every historical event of the Old Testament should be taken as typical of some truth just because there may be a few points of resemblance between them.

For example, the scarlet cord out of Rahab’s window has no connection with the blood of Christ. The ark has no connection with any phase of redemption, or with the doctrine of the Godhead. Isaac getting married has no connection with truth about Christ and His bride. And many other historical stories have no connection with spiritual truth and should never be used as proof of any doctrine. If one wants proof of doctrine, get plain Scriptures that prove the doctrine and do not use events in history as typical proof. If we cannot find plain proof in Scriptures on the subject, then such doctrines do not warrant proof. They do not even merit being taught, so forget them.

Genesis 6:16 literally reads in the Hebrew, “An opening [place for light] shalt thou make to the ark, in a cubit shalt thou finish it above . . . with lower, second and third stories shalt thou make it,” that is, make an opening for light above or in the top part of each story. The Fenton translation reads, “Make a ventilating-fan fixed in the turret of a cubit high above the upper deck, and connected with that make an opening in the sides of the ark, on the second and third lower decks. You shall make second and third decks.”

These openings were for light and ventilation, for it would have been impossible to live in an airtight boat with all the foul odors and refuse from the animals for one year and seventeen days without plenty of light and fresh air. God has always demanded cleanliness and sanitation throughout the Bible, and He certainly would not have asked man to exist in such an unsanitary and unclean foul place as some men would have us believe that the ark was. We must keep in mind that we do not have a blueprint and specifications for every detail of the ark. We have only a general description of it.

The Hebrew word for “window” in Gen. 6:16 is zohar, “an opening for light.” It is translated “window” only here but elsewhere as “noontide” Jeremiah 20:16, “noonday” Deuteronomy 28:29Job 5:14Job 11:17Psalms 37:6Isaiah 16:3Jeremiah 15:8, and “noon” Genesis 43:16, 252 Samuel 4:51 Kings 18:26, 271 Kings 20:16. It can be seen from the meaning of the word and how it is translated in all other Scriptures, that the purpose for the so-called window in the ark was for light and ventilation. Would it not be a miracle over a year long for one little window in the roof to give light and ventilation in three stories of such a large ship as the ark? There is nothing further from truth than this. God designed Solomon’s temple with many windows 1 Kings 6:41 Kings 7:4-5. He has foretold that there would be many windows in the Millennial temple Ezekiel 40:16-46Ezekiel 41:16-26, and everything that He has ever designed has been sensible for the best good of all concerned, so we conclude that there were openings for the ark at the top of all stories all the way around so that men and animals could live with light and ventilation in comfort.

The Hebrew word for “window” in Gen. 8:6 is challon, “a window,” “an aperture,” or “lattice work.” It is the ordinary word for windows and is translated “window” thirty-one times. It is never translated “light,” “noon,” or “noonday” as is the word given above. The phrase “a window” is used in Gen. 6:16; 26:8; Judg. 5:28; 1 Sam. 19:12; 2 Sam. 6:16; 2 Ki. 9:30; 2 Chron. 15:29; Acts 20:9; 2 Cor. 11:33. The phrase “the window” is used in Gen. 8:6; Josh. 2:15, 18, 21; 2 Ki. 9:32; 13:17; Prov. 7:6. By looking up these two phrases in all these passages and comparing them with the two passages in Gen. 6:16; 8:6 concerning the ark, one can see that neither phrase proves only one window to the ark. If such phrases prove this concerning the ark, then they prove the same thing concerning the other buildings mentioned in all the passages listed above. We conclude that the ark had plenty of openings for daylight and ventilation and that the theory of only one small window, held only for the purpose of making sermon material, should be rejected.

Was Noah 120 Years Building the Ark?

The average person, even among the Bible scholars, would say that Noah was 120 years building the ark. When asked to prove this from Scripture such persons give Gen. 6:3, but as we have seen in Point VII, 1, above, this verse refers to the last 120 years of Adam’s life and not to the last 120 years of the Dispensation of Conscience. There is no Scripture, therefore, to teach that Noah was 120 years building the ark. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that he was not 120 years building the ark, as proven by the following:

1. According to Gen. 6:8-10, Noah already had three sons by the time God told him to build the ark. Then, too, these boys were already grown and married by this time according to Gen. 6:17-18.

2. According to Gen. 11:10, Shem “was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood.” If he was one hundred years old two years after the flood, then he was ninety-eight years old when the flood ended. If the flood was here one year and seventeen days, then he was ninety-six years old when the flood came. If he was already a married man when God told Noah to build the ark, as in Gen. 6:18, then the ark was built between his marriage and the time he was ninety-six years old. According to Gen. 5 men did not get married under sixty-five or more years of age, so if he was that old when he got married, then the ark had to be built during the last thirty-one years of the ninety-six he lived before the flood.

It would not take this long to build the ark, especially with the help of the giants that then filled the Earth. Man could build it today without the help of giants in a few months at the most and they might have built it that fast then. In no Scripture is it revealed that God called a man to do something and had him actually start it before the time for such action. There is no point to be gained by holding the idea that Noah was 120 years building the ark. This false conception started because of a superficial reading of Gen. 6:3 and to make sermon material, but this passage refers to Adam, as we have seen in Point VII, 1, above.

Did it Rain Before the Flood?

The average Bible student would say that rain did not fall before the flood, that because Noah preached that there was to be rain upon the Earth the Antediluvians rejected his message, and that a mist went up from the face of the Earth to cover the ground. The following points prove that it did rain before the flood, ever since the Earth was created:

1. Clouds were originally created to hold waters to give rain upon the Earth. In Job 38:4-9, 26 we read, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . When I made the cloud the garment thereof . . . to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.” See also Job 26:7-10; 28:25-28; 36:27-33; 37:6-22; Ps. 104:3; 135:7; 147:8; Prov. 8:27-29; Jer. 10:12-13; 51:15-16, which prove that the clouds and rain were created when God created the Earth. The purpose of creating the clouds was to give rain on the Earth. Naturally, this purpose was carried out from the creation instead of beginning at Noah’s flood.

2. There was rain on earth all the time Lucifer ruled the earth before the days of Adam, for concerning his Fall we read, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” Isaiah 14:12-14. What were the clouds for during his reign on the Earth? They were to carry out the creative purpose and give rain on the Earth so that vegetation could grow. That there were fruitful places on the Earth when Lucifer ruled is clear from Jer. 4:23-26.

3. The judgment on the first social system that Lucifer ruled over was brought about by a flood just as in Noah’s day Genesis 1:2Psalms 104:4-92 Peter 3:5-6. Where did all these waters come from that caused the first flood? They came from the same source that caused the second universal flood and every local flood since.

4. The work of Day Two was to restore the firmament, or the clouds, and to take part of the flood waters off the Earth and put them back in the clouds, to cause it to rain upon the Earth, and to enable the Earth to become dry again, as it had been before the first flood Genesis 1:6-13.

5. Rain was always considered a blessing from Heaven, and the lack of it was always considered a curse upon the Earth Leviticus 26:4Deuteronomy 11:11-17Deuteronomy 28:12, 241 Kings 8:35-361 Kings 17:1-141 Kings 18:41-45Zechariah 14:16-21.

6. No statement in Scripture says that it did not rain before the flood. When a man preaches that there was a period of time as long as 1,656 years when there was no rain, the burden of proof would naturally be upon him to prove this. Every person should question this kind of statement, but instead, when a man says it did rain during this time, he is the one that is disbelieved. Why? Just because tradition and some preachers say there was no rain, this is no proof of anything. Preachers can be mistaken and unscriptural as much as anyone else can. Where did such an idea originate?

It came from Gen. 2:5-6, but these verses do not say one word to the effect that there was no rain for 1,656 years before the flood. It does say, “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” This does not refer to the whole period before the flood, but to the time before plants and herbs were in the ground to grow and before man was created to till the soil. This refers to the work of the third and sixth days of Gen. 1:2-31. The very next verse continues the story of the six days’ work by showing how man was formed out of the dust of the ground Genesis 2:7. No man can possibly read the whole period before the flood into these verses and find sense in them. Naturally, when the plants and herbs were planted and there was a man created to till the soil, it rained upon the Earth to cause things to grow, as it has from creation until now. This is proven in the Scriptures cited in Point 1, above.

IX. God’s Provision of Redemption Ending Conscience

As we have seen, the ark was not God’s provision of redemption of the soul. It merely kept man alive physically so that he could replenish the Earth again with pure Adamite stock in order that the seed of the woman could come as foretold in Gen. 3:15. The provision of redemption has been the same in all ages; faith in the coming Redeemer who was to shed His blood to atone for sin Matthew 26:28Ephesians 1:7Hebrews 9:221 John 1:7Revelation 1:51 Peter 1:18-23.

God provided for animal sacrifices by commanding seven of the clean animals to be saved so that they could be offered as a token of faith in the coming blood of Christ Genesis 6:18Genesis 7:1-3. Man started out in the next age offering sacrifices as before thus proving faith in the coming Redeemer Genesis 8:20-22Hebrews 11:1-40.