The Nephilim

Many believe that the struggle between good and evil in the Earth began when some angels fell from Heaven, or were cast from Heaven, or willingly came to the Earth lusting after women. These angels seduced or raped women and the children of these unholy unions are called the nephilim. It is believed that even today their descendents live among us, they look completely human, and they are responsible for much of humans suffering as they plot and scheme to take over the world. It is believed that many political, military, and business leaders throughout history who have sought and achieved great power are the descendants of the nephilim. Regardless of their human appearance, they, it is believed, are a completely different species. Even though they work together, and in spite of all their efforts, they have failed to conquer the Earth throughout history because of the intervention of the forces of God. It is believed that the big showdown between good and evil will come in the end which is called Armageddon.

One problem with this view is that it seems to suggest that good and evil are both physical in nature since the struggle between these two forces is a struggle between two different species. As if human DNA is good, but the nephilim have "lizard brains" as the result of their DNA and for this reason they are evil. Keep in mind that the fallen spirits are believed to have come to the Earth, at least in part, because they lusted after women. This means that lust is spiritual in nature while the struggle between good and evil is physical in nature. This seems backward.

The story does have drama and everybody likes good drama. We need excitement and we like to think that there is a struggle, a story being played out with a protagonist and an antagonist. Armageddon is universally seen as the climax of this great drama. Yet if we believe in God and believe in the Bible, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that there really isn’t a struggle between good and evil and there never was one. Granted, we do struggle within ourselves and we do fight each other, but God is totally in complete control. God created evil for His own good purpose, but in the end God destroys evil. There isn't much of a struggle if one side has all power.

James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 

In the spirit world it would be known that God is in control, and knowing this, evil spirits would not do battle with God unless they are amazingly stupid; and as such would not be a serious threat to anyone.  If they have any sense at all, the evil spirits would do as much as they can to convince God to change His Law so they can do as they please. Until they could achieve this, they would do as much damage as they could while staying within the Law. Armageddon would be when the evil spirits realize they have failed in their efforts to convince God to change the Law, and they have failed in their efforts to abide by the Law. Armageddon is an unleashing of evil which means that evil had been on a leash up until that time. Evil is unleashed because the evil spirits have been caught and they have nothing to lose, but they don’t have any delusions of being able to do any harm to God. There is no great battle; God has always been in control.

If there is no battle between good and evil, what then about the Biblical references to the “nephilim”? If the book of Enoch is disregarded (and it usually is), the only passage in the Bible that clearly talks of the “nephilim” is found in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 6:1-5 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.

The fallen angels were attracted by the beauty of women, which does not indicate whether or not they were evil. The evil appears to come in later generations, but when these angels took wives it was not described as evil. These spirits did not rape women, but instead took wives and would therefore have felt affection for the women they married. It would have to be righteous angels who made a decision to be born into this new Earth that God had created. They would have been born as babies just as when the Spirit of Christ came into the world. They would have lived as humans.

If Christ came to the Earth and lived as a human it should not be hard to believe that some righteous angels of God had done the same thing. Some angels would have decided to become human since it was a beautiful world that God had created. It was a clean world with great natural beauty and without division and warfare.  It was a world without death or at least at that time it seemed that death was not inevitable if you look at how long some people lived.

The passage says that there were giants in the Earth, and then after that came the children of the angels who were called mighty men of renown. So the children of the angels were not called giants. The giants came first and the wording suggests that it was the "angel" parents who were the giants. They were not giants physically, they were giants spiritually since they were angels and this is clarified with a statement about human longevity.

This passage states that humans will live one hundred and twenty years which is approximately our maximum life expectancy, but Genesis talks of several people who lived over eight hundred years. This is often explained with the claim that people lived longer before the flood, but Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. The great longevity of some people in those days was the result of their greater righteousness, not the atmosphere. The one hundred and twenty year statement came well before the story of the flood without any indication that it was talking about how many years remained before the flood. The next sentence doesn't talk of the flood, it talks of giants. The one hundred and twenty years shows a contrast with how long some were said to live in those days and the context shows that this contrast is used to define "giant".

Even before the flood people lived only one hundred and twenty years. If some people lived much longer than one hundred and twenty years, then they must have had a greater spirit. The wages of sin is death, so these people with great longevity were more righteous than most of us. They had a stronger will…mind over matter. Jesus was perfect and would have never died had He not been killed, and this is the reason that Jesus had to be killed, not substitution atonement. The angels who came to earth in the early part of creation were not perfect, they were not strong enough to completely overcome the influence of Satan in the world, but they were righteous enough that they lived a very long time.

These angels, or more correctly these humans with the spirit of an angel would be wise and virtuous, and they would hold positions of leadership. They built a remarkable society on which the legend of Atlantis is based, but they were not perfect, and they eventually experienced death. This emboldened Satan and it meant that no more angels would choose to live as a human. It also meant that the children of these angels would have likely inherited their parent’s political power. Thus they were called mighty men of renown. Being weaker human spirits they became corrupt and oppressive dictators over time. Thus it is said that their thoughts were evil continually, and God sent the flood.