The end of the world as it was then: the flood….
Was it really the end of the Nephilim?
Or are they still there?
Or were their spirits around?
Or will they return in the last of days?
All questions of which we will search the Bible for the answers by comparing text to text….
Now first Noah:
Noah was not a perfect man. But Noah believed God and also His Word that He would destroy the world. Although there was nothing to see, Noah believed God at His Word. Are you doing the same today? Based on that faith, Noah obeyed God, built the ark and preached for 120 years. Noah was an evangelist in his day. But was laughed at and reviled.
Heb 11:7:
7 By faith Noah, when he had received an indication from God of things not yet seen, out of awe of God built the ark, for the salvation of his family. By doing so, he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is according to faith.
Note: “in awe of God”…in English “moved by fear”! Noah’s salvation became a reward for his faith….
The ark:
Building a ship in the desert when it had never rained: Noah believed God!There was only dew in the morning, no rain. And yet the earth would be destroyed: cities would be crushed, mountains would disappear in earthquakes….
The ark was designed by God, just like the Garden of Eden. It was like a temporary temple and is a picture of salvation for believing man. Jesus Himself is also an image of the ark. Only if you are in Him are you saved!
It is striking that there are similarities between the ark, Solomon’s temple, and the temple in the 1000-year peace kingdom (the Millenium temple).
all three are designed and described by God in the Bible
the length of the ark is as large as the courtyard of Ezekiel’s temple (150 mtr).
The height of the ark (15 mtr) was the same as the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple.
Like the ark, the temples were 3 stories high.
God closed the door of the ark. In His time! Just like in our time, God will close the door of salvation, i.e. determine the moment when you can no longer enter God’s Kingdom in this time: the rapture of the church. (Yes, there will still be people coming to faith in the Great Tribulation and yes, there will be people coming to faith in the Millennial Kingdom. But that is another Bible study).
In any case, God completed the destruction of the then creation except for the contents of the ark:
Genesis 7:
19 Het water steeg meer en meer op de aarde, zodat alle hoge bergen die onder heel de hemel zijn, bedekt werden.
20 Nog vijftien el daarboven steeg het water, en de bergen werden bedekt.
21 En alle vlees dat zich op de aarde bewoog, gaf de geest: de vogels, het vee, de wilde dieren en alle kruipende dieren, die over de aarde kropen, en alle mensen.
22 Alles met levensadem in zijn neusgaten van alles wat op het droge leefde, stierf.
23 Zo verdelgde Hij alles wat bestond, wat op de aardbodem was, van mens tot dier, tot kruipende dieren en vogels in de lucht; verdelgd werden zij van de aarde. Alleen Noach bleef over, en wat met hem in de ark was.
Deze wereldwijde vernietiging was nodig om de genetische vervuiling van mensen en dieren door de Nephilim van de aarde te verwijderen.
Genesis 7:
19The water rose more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains that are under all the heavens were covered.
20 Fifteen more cubits above it the water rose, and the mountains were covered.
21 And all flesh that moved upon the earth gave up the ghost: the birds, the cattle, the wild beasts, and all the creeping animals that crawled upon the earth, and all men.
22 Everything with breath of life in its nostrils of everything that lived on dry land died.
23 So He destroyed everything that existed, that was on the face of the earth, from man to beasts, to creeping animals and birds of the air; they were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah remained, and what was with him in the ark.
This worldwide destruction was necessary to remove the genetic pollution of humans and animals by the Nephilim from the earth.
What happened to the Rephaim, the pre-flood giants?
“Rapha” in Hebrew was a word for the spirits of unbelievers who were sent to hell. Hell here means Sheol or Hades.
In Luke 16: 19-31 you can read about the rich man and the poor Lazarus. No parable!
24 And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to me and let him dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering terrible pain in this flame.
25 Abraham, however, said, Child, remember that you received the good part in your life and Lazarus similarly received the evil. And now he is comforted, and you suffer pain.
26 And moreover, a great gulf has been put between us and you, so that those who would go from here to you cannot, and neither can those who would go from there to us.
All those who died before the resurrection of Christ went to the “kingdom of the dead,” Hades. But for the righteous (believers) there was a place in Abraham’s lap (consolation, the “good side”) and a place of torment (the bad side) for the unbelievers awaiting the final judgment. Between these two compartments was an unbridgeable gap.
But there is a third compartment: in Psalm 86 (12-13), David speaks of the deepest part of the grave (or hell), also called the abyss. This is where the spirits of the Nephilim were sent after the Flood and chained there under torment.
12 Lord, my God, I will praise You with all my heart, I will honor Your Name forever.
13 For Your mercy is great on me,You have taken my soul from the deepest of the grave.
Luke 8:
27 When He had gone ashore, a man from the city came to meet Him, who had been possessed by demons for a long time. He had no clothes on and was not staying in a house, but in the tombs.
28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before Him screaming and said in a loud voice, What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of God, the Most High? I pray You that You do not hurt me.
29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to go out from the man. For it had seized him many times, and they had bound him with chains and with fetters to keep him in custody, but he broke the fetters and was driven by the demon into the wild places.
30 Jesus asked him, What is thy name? He said, Legion; for many demons had gone into him.
31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go into the abyss.
32 And there was a great herd of swine there pasturing on the mountain. They begged Him that He would allow them to go into it. And He allowed them.
33 And the demons went out of the man and went into the pigs; and the herd plunged from the steepness into the lake, and was drowned.
In ancient times, the word Rephaïm was synonymous with “death,” “unconverted sinners,” and hell.The fallen angels wanted to procreate “in their own image” and could only do so through human women.Rephaïm, the original ethnic identity of the Nephilim, ruled the earth at the time and plunged the earth into a violent, sinful rebellion against God. Although they saw themselves as gods walking the earth, they died as mortal human beings.
All the Nephilim/Rephaim perished in the flood and not one remained (see Genesis 7:22)
Did any Nephilim/Rephaim return after the Flood and if so, how?
There are a number of theories because the Bible does not explicitly talk about where they came from. Then we use the oldest known written book in the world, the Book of Enoch as a history book and also the Book of Jasher. But it remains speculation:
1st theory: The fallen angels came again after the flood to the wives of men. If so, God’s remedy of the Flood would have failed. Not likely.
2nd theory: Noah was genetically “pure” (Gen. 6:9) Noah was a righteous, upright man among his contemporaries. and the rest of mankind was contaminated with DNA from the fallen angels (Gen. 6:12) Then God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had a corrupt walk of life on the earth.Here it is thought that Noah married his sister but her name is not mentioned anywhere. Therefore, her sons would be genetically “pure.” All three of these sons would marry their sisters and thus be “pure” as well. However, if they were not sisters then the offspring would be defiled and thus lifted up over the flood. Noah had 3 sons and his son Cham had 4 sons including Canaan and Cush. Canaan had 11 sons who settled in the land of Canaan.
3rd theory: the survivors of the Flood knew the technique of genetic engineering which they had learned from the fallen angels. This seems very unlikely although the fallen angels had indeed taught high tech to the Nephilim (Book of Enoch). Yet it is not so crazy: see the movie Jurrasic Park where this also takes place. And today genetic engineering is an everyday activity!
4th theory: Cham’s son Cush had 6 sons. The first 5 settled in North Africa, the 6th was Nimrod. Nimrod could very well have been a Nephilim. (Gen. 10:8).
8 And Cush begot Nimrod; who began to be a violent man on the earth.
9 He was a great hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, As Nimrod, a great hunter before the LORD.
He became a mighty man in the earth. (Genetic infection/mutation?). “Became” is in Hebr: Chalal = profane, defiled. When Nimrod changed he became a “Gibborim” = an offspring of the Nephilim. Nimrod became a Nephilim on earth!
5th theory: Some Nephilim survived the Flood. But the Bible says, “all flesh was destroyed,” so it doesn’t seem likely.
