The Creation of Nations

Introduction

God’s Word demonstrates …

God’s purpose for His people and His world is perfectly and completely fulfilled

God’s perception of language and race is different from ours

God’s image-bearers preference glorifying themselves rather than their Creator

God’s provision of grace for rebellious humanity

I. God’s Purpose for His People and His World is Perfectly and Completely Fulfilled (ch. 10)

A. Chapter 10 is not chronological.

Chronologically, chapter 9 goes straight into chapter 11.

Why?

If chapter 10 came after 11, it would be taken in a negative sense. However, by placing it here, it reflects the positive fulfillment of the divine command to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth abundantly.

Genesis 10:1–5 (NASB95)

1 Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

B. Japheth

14 nations - primarily Europe and the Mediterranean Sea

Gomer — Ukraine and parts of Russia

Magog, Tubal, Meshech — Turkey and some of Russia

Javan — Greece

Ashkenaz — Southern Russia

Elishah — Cyprus

Kittim — Greek Isles

Tarshish — Spain

Genesis 10:6–12 (NASB95)

6 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. 8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

Genesis 10:13–20 (NASB95)

13 Mizraim became the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim 14 and Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim. 15 Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth 16 and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite 17 and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite 18 and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. 19 The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as aza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.

C. Ham

30 nations - South - Africa and parts of the Middle East

Cush — Sudan, maybe southern Ethiopia

Mizraim — Egpyt

Put — Libya

Sheba — Yemen

Sidon — Lebanon

Canaan —Gaza

D. Nimrod

Literally translated to rebel

Hunter - Hebrew word contrasting the word for shepherd

Hunted people

First large-scale ruler in the world

His kingdom was in the land of Shinar

Started with the Tower of Babel

Before the Lord means God allowed Nimrod’s tyrannical reign

First type of antichrist in Scripture

Genesis 10:21–26 (NASB95)

21 Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. 24 Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. 25 Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. 26 Joktan became the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah

Genesis 10:27–32 (NASB95)

27 and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah 28 and Obal and Abimael and Sheba 29 and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 Now their settlement extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

E. Shem

26 nations - Middle East

Elam — Iran

Asshur — Iraq

Aram — Assyria

Joktan — Saudi Arabia

Eber — Ebrews (Hebrews)

Shemites — Semites (Israel)

F. 70 nations in total

7 is the number of perfection

10 is the number of completion of God’s law

So 70 nations represents the perfect and complete fulfillment of God’s desire for humanity to fill the earth.

II. God’s Perception of Language and Race is Different from Ours (11:1)

A. One Language

Everyone speaks the same language. Everyone speaks the same dialect. There are no accents. Everyone can understand each other perfectly.

If there is one language, how many races were there?

Genesis 1:26 NASB95

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

B. One Race — The Human Race

If there is only one race, where does skin color come from?

2 ways:

Genetically

When God creates a life, He takes 23 chromosomes from the woman and 23 chromosomes from the man. And those 46 chromosomes come together to form your DNA, the genetic code that makes up who you are.

Part of your genetic code determines your skin color. All of us have something called melanin. There’s eumelanin (brown to black) and pheomelanin (yellow to red). When you have two parents that come together, they can produce children with a wide variety of skin shades. Why? Because of dominant and recessive genes.

God designed your genetic makeup to produce a rich variety of every aspect that makes you who you are.

Geographically

The closer you get to the equator, the more your body produces eumelanin to protect you from UV rays.

Up here in Iowa, you guys have a lot of “snow-birds.” That means when it gets cold, they head south for the winter. When they start coming back in the next couple weeks, you will likely notice they are darker than you. Why? Because their bodies have been producing more eumelanin to protect them from the increase in UV rays they have experienced as they traveled south.

C. Race has always been an issue.

God loves the WORLD!

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.

God loves the world, not a race, because there’s only one race. And as Christians we should agree! But our world and our culture has a major problem with “race.” In fact, racism has always been a problem!

Numbers 12:1 NLT

1 While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman.

What do we know about Cush? That’s Ethiopia. What do we know about Moses’ wife? She’s dark skinned. What’s the problem here? Racism.

Miriam and Aaron bring a charge against Moses that is rooted in racism, and so the Lord responds:

Numbers 12:10–11 NLT

10 As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her, 11 he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed.

Miriam has a problem with dark skin, so God says, I’ll give you the whitest skin you can have.

What is God saying?

There is only one race: the human race who bears My image!

D. God is not colorblind and neither are we.

I constantly hear Christians profess to be “colorblind” when it comes to the topic of “race.” While, I believe this sentiment is generally well-intentioned, it is misguided. You are not color blind and neither is God. He designed a rich variety of skin colors to give glory to His creative work.

Picture from National Geographic

What is the first thing you notice about these girls?

If you saw these two girls, you would likely assume they come from different families.

They are twins! They have the same mom and the same dad!

What happened?

Someone got a little more eumelanin and someone got a little more pheomelanin. One’s hair and eyes are dark. The other’s hair and eyes are light.

Society doesn’t know what to do about this. That’s why they call them “bi-racial” siblings.

Dark parents, light baby

Baby Nmachi was born to two parents from Nigeria

How can two parents with dark pigmented skin produce a child with light pigmented skin?

Both parents had a light-pigmented recessive gene that found its way down the generations in this child.

In both of these instances and in the people around us, we see the color differences in the skin. Don’t pretend that you don’t. You see color, but you can recognize it as the beautiful handiwork of your Creator.

So if God, and Scripture, and evidence in our world testifies that out of ONE race came a variety of shades in skin color, and out of one language came a variety of languages, why do we make race such an issue?

E. Because in our sinful state we love to focus on our differences

We constantly look for ways to group people into categories.

When someone is darker or lighter than us, there “one of those.”

When someone goes to a different church than us, there “one of those.”

When someone holds a different political view, there “one of those.”

Have you heard any discussions about race recently?

I’m going to say three words that will certainly exhibit a reaction from all of you.

Black Lives Matter

Here’s the question for us as a congregation: Do people who have darker pigmented skin matter to God and should matter to us?

Of course they do! Because there is only one race, and God created those individuals in His image, and He loves them, and He died for them! Of course they matter!

Is racism real? Have people been treated unjustly because of the color of their skin?

Absolutely. Unfortunately, we have clear examples of that in our own country’s history. We see examples of it in the Holocaust. As we saw in the book of Numbers, its a problem that has plagued humanity since its inception.

So when people use the phrase black lives matter, if by that they do individuals with darker pigmented skin matter, we as Christians should be able to say yes and amen!

There is a difference between the general statement and the organization/movement though. Let me tell you a little bit about the organization Black Lives Matter.

Their founders are self-proclaimed Marxists, which is a fundamentally anti-biblical worldview and I can’t possibly support it.

Part of this worldview advocates for the complete destruction of the nuclear family. They don’t believe in husbands and wives coming together to raise their children in their own household. That’s a fundamentally anti-biblical worldview and I can’t possibly support it.

They don’t believe in God’s design of biblical gender. It’s unbiblical and I can’t possibly support it.

They don’t believe in God’s design of marriage between one man and one woman. That’s unbiblical and I can’t possibly support it.

They advocate for the slaughtering of innocent children in the womb. That’s unbiblical and I can’t possibly support it.

As we witnessed in 2020, they don’t believe in law and order, but would rather loot, and riot, and burn down entire cities. That’s unbiblical and I can’t possibly support it.

So do I agree with Black Lives Matter?

I am called to love everyone that is a part of it because they are made in the image of God and are worthy of hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. When it comes to them as a movement though, I fundamentally disagree with everything they advocate for because its unbiblical, which means it satanic in its inception and full of lies that are from the pit of hell.

F. Every life matters

Acts 17:26–27 NASB95

26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

Revelation 7:9–12 NASB95

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

III. God’s Image-Bearers Preference Glorifying Themselves Rather Than Their Creator (11:2-4)

A. A people who say:

We’ll live how we want to live

We’ll worship how we want to worship

We’ll make a name for ourselves

What is the heart of these people?

IV. God’s Provision of Grace to Rebellious Humanity (11:5-9)

A. All throughout the OT we see a picture of a God full of grace.

B. God is not scared of the people, He is scared for them.

Parents have you ever felt this way with your kids?

You’re not scared of them. You’re still the authority in their life. But you see the habits their creating or the characteristics or personality they have required and you recognize if they continue down this path, it’s bad new in the future.

C. Let us build up vs. Let Us go down

God says He’s going to go see what humanity thinks is so great.

We come full circle. God’s plan for His people and His world will be perfectly and completely fulfilled.

Conclusion