Giants Persist... Even Today

July 28- August 1

Numbers 13... and a bunch more.

Giants Persist... Even Today

“The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (v.32,33)

The Nephilim did not die out in the flood. The seeds of the “exceedingly wicked and perpetually evil hearted humans” (to use the words of Genesis 6) persisted. These are the offspring of the Nephilim… these are the giants that the people of God fought throughout the Old Testament. Most of the time we only recall Goliath as the giant that’s in the bible, but the truth is that God’s children fought many over the generations. What we begin to see is that these giants were consistently opposed to YHWH. Their agendas were counter the agenda and work of the Lord. These people were idol worshippers… they clamored after false gods. They were perverted in their practices and rituals. Whether it was the sexual debauchery of Asherah and Baal worship or the human sacrifices to Moloch, the actions of these people betrayed the TRUE one they followed after… the serpent… Satan. These are the seeds of Satan. These are the offspring that war against the image-bearing offspring of Eve. Satan’s commitment to destroy humanity - the seed of Eve - and attempt to avoid his coming destruction by YHWH / God that would come through the Eve has never stopped! The evil deeds of Ham reveal his true allegiance. The curse upon Canaan affirms the corruption and abandonment from the ways of the Lord. The future giants that spawn out of the Canaanites are of the same ilk as the giants of Genesis 6. These people… these seed of the serpent / Nephilim / God-opposers… have consistently abandoned their station and place in this world that God entrusted to them, rejected God’s blessings and instruction, and sought to take hold of whatever “forbidden fruit” their eyes fell upon! The repeated attempts of these God-opposers were to take over and control other humans, amass for themselves power, shed innocent blood, and participate in deviant sexual activity that went outside the lines of God’s design and permission! Satan has always been the archetype of those who abandon their God-assigned post in rebellion and seek to satisfy themselves.

Before the spies see the offspring of Anak in the land of Canaan we have Moses fighting one of the first post-flood giants, King Og of Bashan. The scriptures read, “Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us…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 devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon…” (v. Deut. 3:1,3,6) The term used here is “consecrated or devoted unto destruction” in the same manner that a sacrifice is when given to the Lord. This was God destroying, once again, the seed(s) of evil and wickedness in a humanity corrupted by the enemy / Satan. We see that King Og was a remnant of the Rephaim: “For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.” (Diet. 3:11) King Og was a giant with a 15 foot long bed that was kept as a spectacle for people to look at! The Rephaim were giants of old who were all but killed off by Chedorlaomer. (Gen. 14:5) God in Gen. 15:20 notes that the land he is promising to Abraham is inhabited by the Rephaim (among other people). These are the same giants the spies report of in Numbers 13. What does this all mean?

In short, what we have are these people groups with a common bloodline or ancestry known as Rephaim / Anakim / Zanzummim who trace their origins back to Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah. Their attributes (both physical and spiritual) trace back even further to the fallen sons of God in Genesis 6 and their offspring the Nephilim. The fallen sons of God and their offspring the Nephilim bear the likeness and attributes of the Serpent / Satan himself who is the prototype / forerunner of all who rebel against God. Satan is the “father of lies” and promotes deception and rebellion against God and his ways. These people represent / function as Satan’s opposition to God in this creation and they bear the physical and spiritual marks / attributes / practices to prove it! God “devoting to destruction” king Sihon at the hands of Moses is the same as his destruction of the “exceedingly wicked and perpetually evil” humanity that came about in the days of Noah… it is a victory in the “seed war”. (Deut. 2:31-34) Moses “devoting to destruction” King Og of Bashan like an offering to the Lord is another victory in the seed war. It is interesting to note that Bashan - the region that King Og occupied - was historically known as the specific geographic location where the fallen angels chose to enter this world. Mount Hermon was thought to be a literal gate or portal between this world and the nether-world (hades). Te ancients called this place “the gates of Hell” and Jesus would stand their one day and declare that the Church he was building would be victorious and the “gates of Hell” would not prevail against it!. (cf. Matt. 16)

Whether it was Moses, Joshua, David, or David’s men - the people of God would often find themselves battling the remnants of these giants… they would find themselves fighting against those who rejected the Lord and his ways and aligned themselves with Satan. The people of God would come up against those who functioned in the spirit of the Nephilim… the spirit of the fallen angels… the spirit of the rebellious ones. God has been choosing to wage war against the seed of the serpent / Satan through his people from the very beginning. God is the one destroying these seeds of wickedness and evil through people. Look at the way the Lord declares as much in the minor prophet Amos:

“Yet it was I (God) who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite” (Amos 2:9-10)

The Lord says these Amorites were giants! The Amorites were the descendants of Canaan (Ham’s son) (cf. Gen. 10:15-16) For some reason, there seems to be a link between being giant and opposing the Lord. The Amorites, Emim, Zuzim or Zamsummim, Rephaim, Anakim, and Nepilim are all examples of this same truth. (Amos 2:9-10, Deut. 2:10-11, 20-21, Gen. 14:5, 2 Sam. 21:16,18,20, Gen. 6, Numbers 13) There is a clear correlation between aligning with spiritual powers that are in rebellion against the Lord and having strength and power as a human counterpart / offspring that is then used to promote that same rebellion and deception. This power is wielded at the expense of the people around them that they enslave and spill the blood of. The physical attribute of being gigantic and strong is a very obvious outward manifestation but I am afraid that the maters of the heart - the evil and wicked tendencies such as the desire for having power over others, enslaving others, sexual deviance, and the spilling of blood - are more easily hidden. These “giants” still walk among us and their goals and allegiances have not changed even if the genetic marker of being gigantic has receded.

Joshua would end up fighting these giants in the land, and destroying ALMOST all of them except for a handful that are allowed escape to a cluster of cities including the city Gath. (Joshua 11:21-22) Later on, David would fight a giant named Goliath that came from what city? You guessed it - Gath! Goliath’s sons and brothers were also giants that lived in this area and David and his men would eventually face them in battle. (cf. 2 Sam. 21:15-20) Over and over again, the people of God would do battle with these forces / people who opposed God. A common thread can be drawn each time back to a long line of rebellious, wicked, evil, corrupted, sexually deviant, power hungry, manipulative, forbidden-fruit earring, God-given-station-abandoning, blood-spilling, fallen angel sympathizing, flat out seed of the serpent… Satan. God is working through is people to defeat Satan. The sad truth is that we will never be fully victorious on our own… WE NEED CHRIST. THE FINAL BLOW WILL COME FROM CHRIST. Even with God on our side - like Moses, Joshua, David and his giant slayers before us - our best intentions to wipe out the evil do not ultimately do so. Our best attempts to “devote to destruction the wicked and evil around us” as an offering to God are not capable of totally defeating the “seed of the serpent” that pops up all around us. Pockets of resistance remain… a “seed” walks off of the ark … a small cluster of cities are home to a remnant of giants… Goliath and his offspring show back up! It becomes clear that only God will deliver the final blow! The seed of Eve that will crush the serpents head is CHRIST…. God incarnate. We wage war and resist… we resist the devil… we press back against evil in this world… but we do so dependent on JESUS… the one who is the ULTIMATE VICTOR. The VICTORY BELONGS TO JESUS CHRIST - the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. We must never let the fact that these “giants” show back up again discourage us from the truth that victory has come and will come in Christ.

The “seed war” rages on even today. The seeds of Satan are all around us. It is hard for some to grasp that there are these “giants” - or to use the Greek term “titans” - all around us who serve the serpent. What if the “titans of industry” today are a part of that same thread of God-opposers? People refuse to acknowledge that there is a Satanic undercurrent at work in this world. Maybe it would be easier for us to identify and buy into if the trait of being giant (physically tall and strong) was still common. The crazy thing is … the traits of being power hungry, manipulative, desiring to enslave people, sexually deviant, willing to sacrifice children and spill the blood of others is more common and observable than ever. A willingness to abandon ones post, reject the blessing and instruction of God, and take whatever “forbidden fruit” looks “pleasing to the eye”… even if it is against God’s instruction and/or design is ALL TOO COMMON. The perversion and sin of Ham is all around us. The rainbow has been highjacked and put on display everywhere… it is like Satan mocking us… calling us back t Genesis 6 … and Genesis 3! Why is it that we would be more enamored or convinced by a giant than by the clear markers of following Satan that show up in the heart and actions all around us today. Make no mistake… the serpent continues to seek to “bruise the heal” of the image-bearing offspring of Eve. Those who are faithful to the Lord, and have their lives “hidden in Christ”… the true people of God… we will continue to fight giants until ultimately Jesus comes again and deals the final blow! The serpents skull WILL BE CRUSHED. Until then - do not be shocked or surprised by the movements of Satan amongst us. Those who serve the agenda of Satan… those who oppose the Lord… who reject his goodness… who reject his ways… who abandon his instructions about sexuality… who take what they ought not to… they will not prevail! DO NOT BE FOOLED OR DECEIVED BY THE SERPENT. Do not make a deal with the devil… or seek to trade your allegiance to God for the fleeting promises of power and pleasure in this world! Keep fighting the good fight. Keep slaying the giants. Jesus will win the seed war! Love you guys. - JDP