Giant Problems
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Our Scripture lessons this morning is taken from Deuteronomy 3:1-6 and John 3:16-21:
“Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ So the Lord our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left. And we took all his cities at that time—there was not a city that we did not take from them—sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages. And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon, devoting to destruction every city, men, women, and children.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
May God Bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
In Deuteronomy 2-3, we are confronted with two interpretive and theological problems of giant proportions. The first is the existence of giants and the second is we find whole nations being “dedicated to destruction”. Both of which are offensive to modern secular mind. Many have rejected the Bible because they find the idea of giants and other things, such as the virgin birth and resurrection so “unnatural” that they reject the Bible out of hand. Others find many of the things God does or commands morally offensive. A prime example is the command we find in our text today to destroy every man, women and child in these two nations.
I think these and other similar problems have troubled us all; but sadly, the way most Christians handle them is by putting them on the back shelf. This strategy has had a devastating effect on the last two generations of young people. The last two generations have left the church in droves because they have not been prepared to answer the difficult questions. In 1 Peter 3:15, God commands us, “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you”. In other words, we need to be prepared to give people answers. This does not mean that we are commanding to convince people, but rather we are to give people “reasons”, which the Holy Spirit then uses to convince people. Therefore let us slay these giant problems before us today, beginning with...
The Problem of Giants
The Problem of Giants
The first reason we need to give people is that the Bible and thus Christianity is based on a supernatural world-view. The world today operates on a secular, naturalistic world-view. If we limit ourselves to purely naturalistic cause, much in the Bible would be pure non-sense; but the Bible does not claim to be a naturalistic book, to the contrary, it is supernatural.
This may seem simplistic, but actually, it is quite profound. We are viewing reality differently. We must be honest enough and courageous enough, to admit this. We cannot play by the world’s rules, and we must not allow the world to impose their rules on us.
This brings us to the second reason, we believe in the existence of giants because the Bible is the ultimate standard of truth. Everyone must have some standard of truth. For the secular, humanistic world-view, this standard is “science”. The problem with science is not the scientific method, but “scientists”. In his alarm, the psalmist says, “All men are liars.” (Ps. 116:11) The past two years have made this abundantly clear. People today are longing for a standard of truth, and we can boldly claim that the Bible is that standard. Jesus said:
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Hebrews 6:18 says that it is “impossible for God to lie”. This is in stark contrast to humanity. We have all lied. To use any human standard, as the standard of the truth will only lead to disappointment.
So, let us see how this works when it comes to giants. The Bible makes it clear that that the origins of giants upon the earth was supernatural:
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
Note that this passage does not identify who the “sons of God” are. There has been much speculation as to who the “sons of God” are, but we do not have to speculate. Two New Testament passages make it clear that they are fallen angels:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Peter and Jude are citing a non-canonical book that is clearly speaking of the events of Genesis 6:1-4. Some have not taken this citation from this book, which is called 1 Enoch, seriously, because this book obviously contains things that are not true; but here the doctrine that the Bible always speaks the true helps us. It is said that a stopped clock is always right twice a day. This citation is an example of it. We have no idea how much of 1 Enoch is true and how much is a lie, but we can know with absolute assurance that this citation is true, because it is in God’s Word and God cannot lie!
This supernatural, demonic origin of these giants is very helpful in addressing the next problem of “giant” proportions:
The Problem of Nations being “Devoted to Destruction”
The Problem of Nations being “Devoted to Destruction”
Let us go back to Genesis 6, and continue where we left off:
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
What do we see here?
We see a link between the increase of human sinfulness and the perverse interaction of these fallen angels with humanity. Through these giants, the fallen amplifying human depravity. We sin because we are sinner, not because devils tempt us. However, devils can tempt us to sin more sinfully. Take lying for an example. Previously we heard the psalmist tell us “All men are liars”. However, not all men lie to the same extent. Satan's aim is to move take our sin to its greats, most self-destructive level. Jesus said Satan was a “murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8:44). Look what happens when sin reaches it’s full measure:
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
Deuteronomy and Joshua were not the first times God “devoted” a people to “destruction”, the first time was the flood! God had to destroy the world to save the world!
The giants and the people that followed them had to be destroyed, because God’s plan was to save the world by the true Israel—Jesus Christ! It is not without significance that when Joshua reviews all his military accomplishments, the focus is upon the giants:
And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.
You may counter, Joshua and the Israelites did not just “devote to destruction” the giants, but the people who followed these giants, including the children! Surely the children did not share in the corruption of the giants and parents?
Well, actually they did, and more importantly, we do. Although the Bible is clear that we will be judged by our own individual sin, it also clearly teaches that there is a communal nature to sin. Death and depravity came to all men because Adam sinned, the sins of the parents will be passed on to the third and fourth generation, and Isaiah pronounced a woe upon himself saying:
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
This brings us back to world-view. The world-view of our society is individualistic, the world-view of the Bible is communal. As Christians, we must conform our thinking to the Bibles’ view of reality, not the world’s. What this means is that because of the Fall, we are all “devoted to destruction”.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
This brings us to our need for...
The Final Giant Slayer—Jesus!
The Final Giant Slayer—Jesus!
On one occasion, Jesus said:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
This is the language of holy war! Yet when the soldiers came to arrest Him, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away”. What is going on here?
What is going on here is that Jesus had been “devoted to destruction”. The Apostle Peter writes of this in his first letter saying:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
This is why I chose to read from John 3:16-21, most people read only read verse 16 and stop there, but we must not stop there because John goes on to explain what will happen to us if we do not trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will be “devoted to destruction”!
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Do you understand what God has done for us? In Christ, we have a way to escape destruction! If we believe in Jesus Christ, we will not be condemned, because Jesus bore God’s wrath against sin upon His body. However, if we do not believe, we are condemned already.
Your sin is the real “giant problem”! Let Christ be your giant slayer.