Peace on Earth
Genesis: Foundations of Our Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Read Genesis 10:6-20; Luke 2:8-14.
Genesis 10 is a genealogy, which is really boring. So why would we spend any time on it? Because it introduces a foundational truth that we wrestle with every day. The world is made up of diverse people, tribes, nations, and languages. If we all came from one man and one family, why can’t the nations of the world get along? How is peace on earth going to be achieved? How does the birth of Jesus bring peace on earth? What part do we play in that?
The hope for peace on earth, in our homes, and in our hearts, is found only in the true King, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who came in humility and sacrifice. And we are His ambassadors.
God Has a Plan for All Peoples
God Has a Plan for All Peoples
For Israel, hearing Moses read out this list of nations, it gave them a sense of where they fit in the world. They are the children of Eber (vv 24, 25), thus called Hebrews to this day. Eber had two sons, Peleg, from whom the Israelites came, and Joktan, from whom all the Arab nations come. Even from a modern perspective, we see the difficulties.
Before we dig into specific people and nations in this list, let’s just observe that they all descend from one man and his family. One foundational truth of the Bible is that all peoples, all nations, all tribes and languages, come from one person. Whether it’s Noah or Adam, we all have this innate unity.
From the biblical point of view,
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
The seventy nations and languages in Genesis 10 descended from their common ancestor, Noah. And this was all according to God’s plan: a diverse unity among all people.
God had a purpose for scattering this diverse unity on the earth…
that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Every human being is made in God’s image, made to know Him and worship Him and find our joy and be satisfied in Him. No matter what nation you belong to, where you come from, whatever your ancestors did, God’s plan is that you would find your way to Him. And if we all did that, we could walk in peace with Him and with one another.
This is the promise and imagery of the prophetic vision of Isaiah 2, which we read at Advent,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Of course, that is not the state of the world as we know it, and it wasn’t the state of the world for Moses and Israel when he wrote this. We found out over the last few weeks why that is. Our sinful rebellion against God in the garden is replayed with every generation, every individual born into the human race. We all want to rule and reign. And there’s not room for two kings or two queens in any relationship, whether between individuals or between nations. The desire for self-rule leads to fear, anger, and ultimately injustice and violence.
So, how is the violence ended? How is the unity realized? How does peace come on earth? How does the birth of Jesus fit into it?
When We Live as Ambassadors for Christ, We Minister Peace
When We Live as Ambassadors for Christ, We Minister Peace
We need to recognize that this account of the seventy nations in Genesis 10 comes pre-loaded with distrust and hard feelings for the first audience hearing Moses read this chapter from Torah.
The descendants of Japheth are the wealthy, trading nations north of the Promised Land. The descendants of Shem include the Israelites themselves, along with all the Semitic peoples.
But the largest section is verses 6-20. And this is where we’ll find the connection to Christmas. The descendants of Ham get a lot of attention because this will be the next challenge for Isreal as they come out of Egypt. They are the great nations and empires of the Mesopotamian world: the Canaanite peoples, along with Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. These are powerful nations with violent gods that demand child sacrifice.
God will use the Israelites to bring judgment on the injustice and idolatry of the Canaanites.
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you,
the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you,
and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction.
You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,
for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
God’s people in every generation have a choice when it comes to living in the kingdoms of this world. Each nation has its own culture. Some of it is good and godly. Much of it is idolatrous, unjust, and sinful. As we navigate the road of life through the culture in which we live, will we fall off the road on one side into compromise and assimilation with the culture? Or will we fall off the road on the other side of fear and retreat? There are plenty of Christians that have done either of those. But what God always calls His people to is to transformational engagement with the good news that God is King.
If Israel had obeyed God’s voice, they could have been a kingdom of priests, transforming Canaan, tearing down the idols and altars upon which children were sacrificed, and making God’s kingdom of justice and righteousness known. But we know what happened. They compromised and assimilated to the idolatry of Canaan. In the end, those kingdoms they feared overcame them.
This is why Jesus the Messiah came. He was the faithful Israelite who did not compromise and did not retreat. He transformed the world by engaging the kingdoms of this world with the gospel.
Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The gospel is an announcement that the kingdom of God is breaking into the world through Jesus Christ. God sent His Son as a peace delegation, not to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17). Whoever believes in Him walks in eternal life, life from above. We receive a new citizenship in God’s kingdom.
What does transformational engagement through the gospel look like? The gospel confronts the sin and complacency of those living in any culture. Repentance is required of everyone. Repentance from sin that separates us from God. Repentance from self-oriented living. We must replace self-rule with the rule of God, His kingdom, ruled by His justice and righteousness, faithfulness, and covenant love. Jesus’ message was that the time has come for you to reorient your life to God, surrender your will to God’s will, and you will receive peace with God.
As ambassadors for Christ, Christians, the Church, announces peace with God through Christ. As long as we don’t compromise by assimilating, or retreat in fear, we can minister peace to souls that have been at war with God, living in slavery to self and sin, spiritually starving.
And herein lies the challenge. Because for the kingdom of God to break in to our world through Christ, the other kingdoms of this world must fall. Israel met with resistance in Canaan, and so will we. This gospel confronts our culture with the reality that when God’s kingdom comes, the injustice and worship of self that pervades our culture will have to go.
How will we handle that confrontation? Will we use the methods of the kingdoms of this world, power, fear, clever marketing? Or will we walk in the way of Jesus?
There is a terrible, sad chapter in the Christmas story that we often skip. It comes in Matthew chapter 2.
The Magi have come to visit the newborn King of the Jews. But there is already a king in Judea. History calls him Herod the Great. Herod resists the breaking in of the kingdom of God through the Messiah. He protects his own kingdom at a terrible cost. Like the Canaanites who had ruled this land before him, he makes sacrifice of innocent children. When Herod is deceived by the Magi who don’t return with information about the newborn King, this is what happens.
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under,
according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
So, while we minister peace through Jesus Christ, we need to be ready for opposition. And Jesus models how we should respond.
The Kingdom of God Brings Peace through Sacrifice, not Violence
The Kingdom of God Brings Peace through Sacrifice, not Violence
To really understand the significance of Jesus’ coming 2,000 years ago, its important to see that Herod is fulfilling a biblical pattern of kings who oppose God’s kingdom. It’s in Genesis 10 that we read about the first king in history.
Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.
The word for mighty man, גִּבּוֹר (gibbor), is the same that we saw in Genesis 6, referring to the nephilim, the fallen ones. They were also גִּבּוֹר (gibbor). So, already, the reader of Genesis is on guard.
Nimrod is a gibbor hunter,
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
He is known for his power and violence, and in verse 10 we find out that he established a kingdom. It is his kingdom from which comes the terrifying empires of the ancient world, Assyria and Babylon.
The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
These are all cities and lands known to history. They are the capitals of the Sumerian, Chaldean, and Babylonian Empires. Nimrod founds the feared Assyrian Empire, one of the most cruel empires in history.
From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
So, Nimrod is the first king of the powerful, wealthy empires that expand through fear and violence. In fact, Babylon becomes the biblical prototype for the kingdoms of men the rule through injustice, oppression, and godlessness.
When we meet Herod the Great in Matthew chapter 2, we are supposed to have in mind another Nimrod. Herod the Great was a powerful, violent man. He was useful to the Roman Empire because he would maintain their rule of fear through violence.
The Jewish historian Josephus adds an interesting detail to his biography, “Now Herod had a body suited to his soul, and was ever a most excellent hunter, where he generally had good success, by the means of his great skill in riding horses; for in one day he caught forty wild beasts: that country breeds also bears, and the greatest part of it is replenished with stags and wild asses. He was also such a warrior as could not be withstood…” Herod reminds us of Nimrod, the mighty hunter. He used violence to secure his kingdom by killing his wife’s grandfather and brother, then his wife when she complained, then their two sons.
Christmas is not a story about a cute baby born to a beautiful little couple and random people bringing him gifts and that’s why we have Santa Claus. Christmas is he breaking in of the kingdom of God to overthrow the kingdoms of this world. The Magi were power brokers, kingmakers, in their society. They would appoint and crown the kings of the East. Their coming to worship Jesus was a threat to the man ruling Judea like a Canaanite king or like Nimrod of Babylon.
The Christmas story is a political pronouncement. The Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords has come to earth.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The kingdom of God is breaking in. What is the sign of the coming of God’s kingdom?
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
In His birth, just as in His death, Jesus chose humility over power, love over fear, sacrifice over violence.
There are two ways to establish peace on earth. There is the pax Romana, pax Herodaea, pax Babylonia, peace through strength and fear and violence.
And there is the pax Christi, peace through the way of the cross.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
The King of heaven gave His life for His enemies. He established peace between God and humans, not by inflicting violence up on us, but receiving it upon Himself. Jesus’ sacrifice overthrows all the powers that be that rule through fear and violence.
We heard read earlier, the Messiah is both Mighty God, “El Gibbor”, and Prince of Peace. He demonstrates that when God uses His power, it is always for the weak and helpless, to bring peace.
Just ask anyone that has been conquered by the love of Jesus, they will tell you that there is a greater peace in Him than in winning any argument or conquering anyone’s territory. When the peace of Christ rules our hearts, He leads us to minister that peace to others. We become slow to anger, quick to listen, slow to speak, quick to forgive, willing to follow Jesus in the way of the cross that others may receive peace with God.
We are all being faced with the test Adam and Eve, Cain, Noah, and all of us face. Will I surrender to God’s kingdom in my life, or will I choose to rule my own life? Genesis has been teaching us the consequences of failing the test. Self-rule leads to fear, hate, and violence.
How do we overthrow fear and hatred and violence? It is not with fear, hatred, and violence. It isn’t angry rants on social media or angry arguments in schools (see 2 Timothy 2:23-26). It isn’t controlling the legislature or the education system or the media, or controlling anything. It is the long, slow process of planting seeds of the gospel of peace everywhere we go, maybe in some of those institutions that need the kingdom of God to come, watering those seeds with kindness and good works done in Jesus’ name.
Jesus showed us the way of peace. He came not as a king riding a war horse, conquering Rome and executing His enemies. He came in humility, weakness, trust in God, and in loving sacrifice for His enemies. This is the hope of Christmas. If God can make peace with me through the forgiveness of my sins through the sacrifice of Jesus, I can seek peace with anyone.
