 |  |
The same emphasis on "the name" recurs at the building of Babel:--
"Let us make us a name" (Gen. 11: 4).
The name is Jehovah, and the great antichristian mystery is here seen appropriating
that blessed name for its own awful ends. We shall get a fuller answer to your question
as to how a man can bear the name of Jehovah when we study the subject of redemption.
Your other question, "How can this be?" is more difficult to answer. For one thing
Scripture itself is very guarded and uses somewhat veiled terms. The again it is difficult
to speak openly upon these themes, but we can keep in mind the blessed answer which
the angel Gabriel gave to Mary, when he said:--
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God" (Luke 1: 35).
Now inasmuch as some are called the children of God and others the children of the
devil, we must allow the possibility implied in this verse. Let us go on to Gen. 6: Here
we read:--
"The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them
wives of all which they chose" (verse 2).
The results was that "there were giants in the earth" (verse 4).
The sons of God are contrasted with the daughters of Adam, and this title is used of
angels (Job 1: 6). That there has been some close connection with the depravity of Sodom
the words "in like manner" and "strange flesh" indicate (verse 7). These angels left their
own habitation (oiketerion). This word is used in II Cor. 5: 2 of the resurrection, and
suggests that the angels left their spiritual body. These are the "spirits in prison" who fell
in the "days of Noah" (I Pet. 3: 19, 20; II Pet. 2: 5). Their progeny are called Nephilim
and Rephaim. Noah alone carried the seed uncontaminated, and of him it is written:--
"Noah was a just man and uncontaminated as to his pedigree" (Gen. 6: 9).
This shows how far the evil one had succeeded in sowing the field with his tares.
There could be but one result; the destruction of all living except those saved in the Ark.
The pedigree of the Amorites.
The next incident brings us down to the Amorites. The Amorites were descendants of
Canaan, and you will remember that some unexplained sin of unclean character brings
down upon Canaan the curse.
To the serpent God said . . .
"Thou art cursed above all cattle."
To Cain the Lord said . . .
"Thou art cursed more than the earth."
To Canaan Noah said . . .
"Cursed be Canaan."
Contrary to common belief no curse was pronounced upon either Adam or Eve. The
first man to be cursed is Cain. The second is Canaan. The words of Gen. 6: 4, "and