The Promised Head-Crusher Vs. the Nephilim | What Are the Nephilim? Part 2 -- Mark Russak (Ep 220)

What are the Nephilim? The Promised Head-Crusher Prophecy was a sentence of doom for Satan: "The Seed of the Woman -- the Messiah -- will crush your head" (Genesis 3:15). In this episode with Mark Russak, we explore the possibility that fallen angels impregnated women in a vain attempt to corrupt the human bloodline and thwart the Messiah from coming. Admittedly, this is difficult to process for the Western mind. Dive deep with us. You decide. Part 2 of 2.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to episode 218 of Jesus Smart, the podcast. This is part two of my dialogue with Mark Russick exploring Genesis 6 and the Nephilim giants.

Brian: I believe that Jesus Christ knows how our lives work best in the now and that he is passionate about developing his followers as intimate friends and co-agents in his kingdom. I just took my shot of Linda's sweet honey Ohio Raw natural wildflower premium honey straight out of the bottle. By drinking out of the bottle, I ensure that none of my daughters or wife will access any of my honey. I don't watch sitcoms—I like to make my own sitcoms by giving shock value to the women around me. Penny and I with our daughters finally got together with my mom and sister for Christmas on January 23rd. My mom had Covid before Christmas, so we had to delay that gathering.

Understanding Your Promised Land

Brian: We have a new episode feature called Jesus Dynamics—applying the Jesus way to all dimensions of life. We all have a land we're designed to fight for and possess. David said in Psalm 16:5-6, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places." The Lord himself is our inheritance. Then the Lord supports our lot in life. The Lord determines the dimensions of your life with your engagement. Not others, not your past, not even yourself apart from Christ.

Your view of the Lord and your view of yourself affects your ability to fight for and possess what the Lord has for you. Don't look at your land through the lens of your grasshopper self. David said, "I have set the Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken."

The promised head crusher prophecy was a sentence of doom for Satan in Genesis 3:15. In this episode we explore the probability that fallen angels impregnated women who bore these mysterious Nephilim. This is one of the most difficult passages in all of Scripture, but we're convinced by using solid historical, grammatical hermeneutics that this plain reading of Genesis 6:1-4 shows these were spiritual beings who engaged human daughters and produced the Nephilim.

The Book of Enoch and Dead Sea Scrolls

Brian: We see Enoch quoted in Jude and referenced in Hebrews 11:5: "Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death." It's not included in the Old Testament canon, but the early church was very familiar with his writings.

Mark: That's correct. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-20th century included all the Old Testament except Esther. What's important is the Book of Enoch and other books were also included, which means the early church held high validity to these writings. There's Jasher and the Book of Jubilees which allude to Genesis 6:4 and the antediluvian period. The Ethiopian church also includes it as part of their canon.

Brian: So it's not inspired scripture that we hold, but a corollary piece of literature quoted in the New Testament. The Dead Sea Scrolls discovery was massive for Old Testament scholarship, right?

Mark: That's correct. It comes within 98% accuracy of what we read today. We can have high confidence that the Bible we read today is the same Bible written and quoted by Jesus and his disciples. All the prophecies of the Messiah's birth and crucifixion were written hundreds of years before Jesus and validated in the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery.

Harmonizing Ancient Texts with Genesis

Brian: What about harmonizing this verbiage from the Book of Enoch with Genesis?

Mark: Genesis 6:1-2 says, "When man began to multiply and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as wives any they chose." Enoch 6 writes: "The angels, the children of the heavens, saw and lusted after them and said to one another, come, let us choose wives from among the children of men, and beget us children."

The Book of Jubilees, Jasher, and Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews all corroborate this. Josephus wrote: "Many angels of God accompanied with women and begat sons that were proved unjust despisers of all that was good. For the tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants." He also said the giants had bodies so large and countenances so entirely different from other men. The bones of these men are still shown to this day.

Brian: So Jewish scholarship preceding Christ and the early Christian tradition believed these were angels in Genesis 6. Only later came the sons of Seth view. I like to look at the generations closest to the events—the early church of the first, second, third centuries.

For a richer transcript and additional resources to go deeper, visit jesussmart.com/giants.

How Angels Reproduced with Humans

Brian: How do these angels materialize with reproductive systems? Could they have heavily demonized men and worked through possessing their bodies?

Mark: It's not thoroughly conclusive, but Jude says they left their place, their assigned position, and came down to earth to Mount Hermon. I believe they could have imparted themselves into men, that they had ability to utilize sexual parts. There are accounts in ancient Egyptian cultures and in Enoch of very freaky things. It would be my contention they had some means of either possessing or engaging with men.

Brian: We know angels can eat. Angels visited Abraham and sat down to a meal. They looked like men. Manna was called angel's food. Hebrews says entertain strangers, for some have entertained angels unaware. Is it possible that angelic traffic around Christ's birth and the early church was so high because of spiritual conflict and warfare?

Mark: I absolutely believe so. Think about the birth of Christ and the announcement the Lord made, that the heavens were rejoicing. The shepherds in the field, the signs in the heavens—angels are sometimes referred to as stars. There was the rejoicing, the overwhelming party that Jesus arrived on earth to save mankind.

Brian: There was a lot of angelic activity—showing up in dreams, guiding Joseph, the Magi. Those shepherds must have looked up and saw the host, the militant armies of angels. We know Satan was trying to kill Jesus through Herod.

Mark: No question. That's one of the missions and strategies of Satan—to destroy the bloodline leading up to the Messiah.

Satan's Attack on the Messianic Bloodline

Brian: Can you give us a survey of Satan's attempt to corrupt the Messianic bloodline throughout Old Testament history?

Mark: You think about Exodus, trying to destroy the male child—that's how Moses was set free. Then the ten plagues. Then Herod. Scripture points to no less than ten separate attacks on the bloodline from David in Second Samuel, Second Chronicles, Second Kings, and Esther. This was part of the strategy with the Nephilim.

Brian: This traces back to Genesis 3:15, the death sentence upon Satan.

Mark: That's where Satan received his death sentence. Then it continues after Jesus is born—the Spanish Inquisition, World War II. In 70 AD when Romans conquered Jerusalem, they killed over a million Jews. It's the bloodline of Jesus and his family.

Brian: Israel reconstituting as a nation in 1948—that had to be another death knell for Satan.

Mark: Put yourself in Satan's shoes. He sees in 1943-44 the buildup in Israel. So he invades Hitler himself and attempts to eliminate the Jews.

Brian: As to the reproductive process, are you saying these angelic beings materialized with reproductive systems or did it through demonization of humans?

Mark: I would say it's not definitive, but it could be either one or both.

Jesus' Statement About Angels and Marriage

Brian: What about Jesus' statement that angels do not marry in heaven? In Matthew 22, Jesus says they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven. How is that different from Genesis 6?

Mark: He's speaking about what would happen to us after we die. But remember Jude where they left their assigned place. Now they are in the earth and it says they married. I would contend they forced themselves on these women. I would not equate it to our marriages today.

Brian: The state of angels in heaven who haven't...