"As in the Days of Noah..." (1)

 By Rev. Daniel Holstege

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In the congregation the Lord has called me to serve, Wingham Protestant Reformed Church, I have been preaching a series through the opening chapters of Genesis entitled “In the Beginning.” When I was asked to write for this blog, after considering various topics, I decided to make use of my recent studies in Genesis and focus on a few relevant subjects from the days of Noah. So off we go…

The first subject I wish to treat is intermarriage. Always a timely topic, and how much more so as we move farther into the last days? In the centuries before the flood, the intermarriage of the boys of the church with the girls of the world was one of the primary causes of the apostasy which eventually diminished the covenant community to eight souls and filled the world’s cup of iniquity, making it ripe for judgment. 

“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose… 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” (Genesis 6:2, 4). 

Some said these “sons of God” were fallen angels who lusted after the good-looking “daughters of men” and somehow took physical form so they could have sexual intercourse with them. The offspring of those demonic-human relations were the “giants” or “nephilim,” a supposedly superhuman race of towering demon-human creatures. God cast those lustful demons into “chains of darkness” (II Peter 2:4) and sent the flood partly to wipe out the fearful nephilim. But that theory is sheer speculation and utter nonsense. 

The sober and correct interpretation is that the sons of God were the boys of the church, the sons of believers in the line of Seth. The daughters of men were the girls of the world, the daughters of unbelievers from the line of Cain. The boys of the church looked at the girls of the world and fixated on their beauty, their physical form and smooth lips, their seductive dress and loose morals. They didn’t care that those young women had been taught a worldview of proud humanism or that they danced with the devil. They lusted after their beauty in their hearts. They ignored the daughters of God with whom they had grown up in the covenant community, who like them had been taught the faith of their fathers and whose mothers had taught them that the price of a virtuous woman is “far above rubies” and “a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Prov. 31:10, 30).

The subtle and wily serpent cast the fiery darts of sensuality and sexuality at the boys of the church and led them astray into the evil of intermarriage. The sons of God manifested the carnality of their hearts and lack of love for God when they took for themselves wives of all which they chose. They unequally yoked themselves to unbelieving women in marriage, and the results were not good. Those women drew their hearts away from the Lord, away from the church. The homes of those marriages were characterized by godlessness. They brought forth children who were giants of iniquity and pride, giants of violence and greed. As this went on year after year, decade after decade, the darkness spread throughout human society, and the church diminished to eight souls. 

“As the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that 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” (Matt. 24:37-39).  

Here in Wingham, we have been reading and discussing the book Dating Differently by Rev. Josh Engelsma, published by the RFPA, with our single young people and young adults. I have been very pleased with the excellent attendance and hearty discussions we have been having. Let me use this blog post to recommend the book and conclude this post with a couple quotes from it: 

“In worldly dating, the main interest is sex… After a couple has been exclusive for a while, they are encouraged to live together… The world’s view of dating is essentially lawlessness… This attitude toward dating is spread by heavy propaganda… There is no denying that the world’s attitude toward dating has an influence upon Christian young people… The reality of this pressure and influence requires that we have our thinking rebooted and reset. Romans 12:2 says, ‘Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’” (pp. 5-6). 

“Many in the Reformed faith trace their origins to the Netherlands… A common phrase once was, ‘Twee geloven op een kussen, daar slaapt de duivel tussen’: ‘Where there are two faiths on one pillow, the devil sleeps between them there’… We must not try to be wiser than God, who clearly states in his word that we are not to date and marry an unbeliever… Marriage is not a mission field. Dating is not evangelism. We may not date an unbeliever” (pp. 53-54).  

I recommend you get this book into the hands of the young people who are near and dear to you and pray that they will take to heart God’s will that they date and marry only in the Lord.

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