How to Please God

If you would please turn with Me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11.

Our primary text this evening is found in verse 6:

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

We see that without faith, it is impossible to please God. As we read chapter 11, we see examples of the men and women of faith, and they are all Old Testament examples given to us as New Testament believers. Mankind has always had to approach God by faith; there’s no other way to do so that pleases Him.

So, if faith is the only way to please God, we need to ask ourselves, what is faith? If we back up to verse 1, the author of Hebrews defines it for us:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The word for faith here is a noun, and is the persuasion or moral conviction that something is true, and in context, refers to the persuasion and conviction that God is real and the things taught in His word are true. It is more than a mere intellectual acknowledgement, however. It is a reliance upon God and upon these truths. Specifically, it is a reliance on Jesus Christ to save us from our sins as He said He would.

The word ‘substance’ is an interesting word. It means a support, foundation, or the substantial quality or nature of a person or thing. It’s the same word translated as ‘person’ in Hebrews 1.

Let’s turn there really quick.

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Heb 1:1-4)

Here, the author is describing the divine nature that Jesus shares with the Father, which is the foundation or undergirding of His humanity. Faith then has its foundation in the God of the Bible, made known to us in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of our hope. It is also translated as confidence or assurance. In other words, it is not what we hope to be true, but what we are confident or assured to be true. Because we are confident in who the Lord is, we trust He will do what He says He will do.

The word ‘evidence’ is the proof or conviction that the things unseen are true as the Bible declares them to be. Once we have become convinced the claims of the Bible are true, we place our reliance in what cannot be seen, and are then living proof of these claims by our changed lives (once we are saved, we are different).

It’s important to note, that faith is not blindly believing something, but it is believing something for which there is reason and evidence, although we do not necessarily experience the object of that faith with our senses. David Guzek writes, “Faith does not contradict reason, though it may go beyond reason. One may objectively prove the Bible is the most unique book ever published and has impacted society more than any other book. But only faith can prove that the Bible is the Word of God. Therefore, this is a belief beyond reason but not in contradiction to reason or against reason.”

Next, the author of Hebrews starts at the beginning, and walks us through the men and women of faith who received a good report because of that faith. So far in Genesis, we have gone up to Abram, so we’ll attempt to go that far in Hebrews 11 this evening. He first starts with creation for which no one was there to observe; we can only see the finished product. It takes faith to believe God created everything, although evidence and reason certainly point to Him. Despite its flaws due to sin, creation is remarkably well designed, and probably the greatest evidence there is an intelligent designer. David wrote in Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” All we have to do is look at the heavens, and we have to admit someone created all that. He wrote in Psalm 33:6, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” Jumping down to verse 9 of the same Psalm, “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

The New Testament tells us Jesus was the person of the godhead primarily responsible for creation. We have already seen in Hebrews how God (the Father) created the worlds through Jesus. John wrote in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (Jn 1:1-3) From the beginning, Jesus has been the key person pointed to by the Scriptures.

The first man of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 is Abel: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” If we recall from Genesis 4, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, but Abel brought an offering out of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel’s offering, but Cain’s He did not.

Cain had his own way of doing things, and thought that his way was better than the Lord’s. Why should he have to kill an animal for an offering when he could just bring one from his crops that he harvested?

There’s a lot of people like Cain: God’s way of salvation just doesn’t make sense to them, so they do what does make sense in their minds, which is trying to attain it by their works.

Abel, on the other hand, trusted God, and did what He said by bringing an offering of the flocks that would cover his sins. It takes faith to trust the Lord and do what He says, even though it might not make sense to us.

Next, the author of Hebrews mentions Enoch. If we recall from Genesis 5, Enoch walked with God for 300 years after the birth of his son, Methuselah. It takes faith to walk with someone you cannot see for 300 years, but because he had such a close walk with the Lord, the Lord took him to Heaven without seeing death. He pleased God by his faith.

And now in verse 7 we come to Noah. “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” It took faith to trust God and build a big barge in light of God saying He was going to destroy the earth with a flood when it had never rained before. It would have taken faith to be a preacher of righteousness in a world in which it states that all flesh had corrupted itself.

It states he became heir of the righteousness which is according to what? Faith!

Lastly, we come to a guy named Abraham. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Wait, did Abraham really obey when he was told to go out? In Genesis 11, we are told they left for Canaan, but they made a stop on the way in a city named Haran. Haran was really a sister city to Ur of the Chaldees, and they were bound together by the worship of the moon god. We don’t know for sure why they stopped there, but many believe Abraham’s father had something to do with it because once he died, they left Haran for Canaan. So, Abraham obeyed, but it was a delayed obedience. As we study Abraham further in Genesis, we will see he definitely had other flaws, some of which you might think the guy needed to be horse whipped for. However, it wasn’t reckoned to him because he was a man of faith.

By the time we get to the book of Romans, Paul uses Abraham as a prime example of how we must be justified by faith rather than works, even calling him the father of all those who believe. According to Romans, those who attempt to earn righteousness by their works will end up in debt to God (Rom 4:4) and subject to His wrath (Rom 4:15).

Lastly, our text in Hebrews 11:6 says that we must believe that He (God) is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Although salvation is our greatest reward, faith is more than simply securing our salvation (fire insurance). It is believing that all that God says in His word is true for us personally. It is seeking Him, not only for answers to our prayers, but primarily seeking Him for who He is, our Lord, Savior, and friend.

The Scriptures actually have a lot to say about seeking God. Here are just a few:

David wrote in Psalms, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” (Psa 63:1) He also wrote in Psalm 27:8, “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.’” In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Mat 6:33)

I think most of us find it easier to relate to God as our Lord and Savior, but don’t often think of Him as our friend.

Abraham, the father of the faith, was called the friend of God (James 2:23). Jesus told His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (Jn 15:13-15) We seek the Lord through prayer, reading the Scriptures, and assembling together with other believers.

When we diligently seek Him, He promises to reward us. The scriptures state:

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chron 7:14) “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:12-13) “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:7-8)

As we can see from these passages, turning from sin is a key ingredient in seeking the Lord. Sometimes, we don’t even know we are doing it, and as we seek the Lord, He reveals those things in our lives that are not pleasing to Him.

In these examples of faith we have covered this evening, can anyone tell me what is a common thread we see in these individuals? Their faith produced obedience. Abel obeyed God by offering a blood sacrifice, Enoch walked with God, Noah built the ark, and Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. This is what genuine faith always does. When you’ve got faith, you want to obey the Lord. It takes faith to obey the Lord when everyone else isn’t. We saw this in Noah’s day, and we see it today. Truthfully, it’s always been this way since the Fall; it’s just getting harder as the end approaches.

Alright then, is there anyone who does not have faith, faith in God who raised up Jesus from the dead? Many of you may remember the story: Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, Belshazzar,  was throwing a big party for one thousand of his lords. They were drinking wine out of the gold and silver vessels from the temple in Jerusalem and praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. As they were partying up, there appeared fingers of a man’s hand and wrote on the wall. The king was so troubled that his knees began knocking against each other. They eventually brought in Daniel to interpret the writing.

Part of what was interpreted was, “You have been weighed in the balances, and

found wanting.” What Belshazzar didn’t know was, while he and his lords were drinking themselves drunk, Cyrus was out re-routing the Euphrates River so his army could walk under the gates of Babylon and take the city. He died that same night.

If you don’t have faith in the Son of God and death comes to you, your works will be weighed in the balances, and you will be found wanting on the day of judgment. The only way to be righteous is to have God’s righteousness credited to your account by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. He paid your debt for you so you could go free. Repent and believe the Gospel, and you will be born again. For those of us who are believers, are we trusting God as these men did that we talked about tonight? It is becoming very counter-cultural to walk with the Lord today. That is why it is all the more important to trust God and seek Him with all our hearts. We need to allow our faith to work out obedience in our lives. There will be hick-ups along the way, just like there were for many of these men, but at the end of the day, we still trust Him, repent, and keep walking with the Lord. Trust Him, because faith is what pleases Him.

Genesis 11 - The Tower of Babel

In our last study, we discussed how the whole earth was overspread by the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. To the careful student, we can easily see how their offspring spread out and formed the various people groups we now see today. We were introduced to a guy named Nimrod, a son of Cush, who was one of the sons of Ham. His name means “we shall rebel,” and he was a mighty hunter against the Lord.

According to the historian Josephus, Nimrod said that he “would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.” Apparently, he did not pay attention to God’s covenant with Noah, and as we can see, Nimrod was in direct defiance to the Lord, and led the people to rebel against Him in various idolatrous practices.

Nimrod’s mother was named Semiramis, and it was her claim that Nimrod was born without an earthly father; in other words, he was miraculously conceived. One day while hunting, he was gored by a wild boar and died. He was supposedly dead for three days, and then came to life again. His supposed resurrection was celebrated by coloring eggs and various festivities in the spring, and his birthday was celebrated on December 25th by gift-giving, drunken orgies, and the placing of trees decorated with silver and gold in their homes. Any of this sounding familiar? Semiramis went by other names such as the queen of heaven and Astarte, and is where we get the word Easter.

This Babylonian religious system spread throughout that region, and eventually made its way to Rome. After Rome outlawed the persecution of Christianity under Constantine, the Church began compromising by mixing these idolatrous practices with Christianity rather than abandoning them. As a result, many of those same religious practices and rituals became a major part of the Catholic Church, and eventually the Protestant Church to some degree as well. The introduction of prayer to the saints, the worship of statues and other relics, and the deifying of Mary are all idolatrous practices that have their roots in the Babylonian religious system.

It is the opinion of some that the Babylonian religious system of the Catholic Church will be linked with the antichrist during the Tribulation, and the antichrist will use the church until it no longer serves his purposes. Throughout the Bible and the rest of history, Babylon has been man’s religion, and ultimately the devil’s counterfeit to God’s plan for mankind. All the other religions have their root in the Babylonian religious system in that they have rebelled against the Lord, and developed their own set of rules and religious rituals that can never please God. Babylon and its religious system will both one day come under the judgment of God (see Jeremiah 51-52 and Revelation 17-18). Back to Genesis 11.

At this point in history the earth was of one language. Because of the earlier record of Genesis in which the people had Hebrew names with Hebrew meanings, some scholars believe this one language was Hebrew. After the Flood, the people migrated westward and settled in the land of Shinar (a region in modern-day Iraq). It would later become the location of the Babylonian empire. It was here under the leadership of Nimrod that they decided to build a tower unto heaven. This tower they set out to build was to be a place of worship, an observatory to worship the heavenly bodies. There have been many such observatories discovered in archeological digs in that area. Ancient historians such as Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C.,  affirm the existence of the tower of Babel. He said that it was still standing in his day, and that he had seen it.

So then, it was really the beginning of astrology. Astrology is a study of the heavenly bodies, and attempts to interpret their influence on human affairs. For example, using a horoscope to predict one’s future is directly linked to astrology. If we remember from Genesis 1, God made the sun, moon, and stars for man to mark times and seasons, but to worship them and use them to predict the future is strictly forbidden by the Scriptures. Moses told the children of Israel, “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) The Lord uses the word abomination, which is the strongest language in the entire Bible to condemn these activities, and the Scriptures state that those who practice the occult will be burned up like stubble in the day of God’s judgment (Isaiah 47). It is also interesting to point out that in Isaiah 47 the Lord is pronouncing this judgment on Babylon, the place where all this started, for these activities.

Here in Genesis 11, they wanted to unite the world with a religion that was in direct defiance to the Lord. They wanted to make a name for themselves so that they would not be scattered around the world when God had told them to spread out over the earth (Genesis 9:1). They made bricks in the brick kiln and used asphalt for mortar to build their tower, which would have made it both strong and water proof. This lends credibility to Josephus’ account of Nimrod wanting to build a tower that would prevent God from destroying mankind again with a flood.

The world united to serve the Lord is a great and wonderful thing, but the world united to rebel against Him is a terrible thing. Unfortunately, the former is not possible until the Lord Jesus returns to reign on Earth, and the Lord had to intervene in order to slow down man’s rebellious efforts.

As they were in building, the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. The phrase “the Lord came down” is similar language to when He said He would go down with two angels to visit Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin Genesis 18:21) It is possible this was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, (a Christophany). He stated that if they were left alone with one language there would be nothing they could not do if they set their minds to it. Similar to the Lord not allowing man to live forever in a sinful state, the Lord could not allow mankind to stay in one area united in rebellion against Him. As a result, the Lord said, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (vs 7) It was then called Babel since it is where the Lord confused their languages and scattered them over the face of the earth. So, they left off building the city.

Many linguists believe that language is so unique that man could not have made it up. They exist as whole systems rather than small parts put together. Some like to attribute the different languages to some evolutionary process, but it was a super-natural event done by the Lord Himself.

It is here where we see the development of nations: God created nations and their boundaries for a specific purpose. The Scriptures state that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord.” (Acts 17:26-27) The Lord scattered the nations to thwart Satan’s efforts to establish his kingdom on earth, and to give man more opportunity to receive the Gospel. Historically, the United States has been one of the largest promoters of the Gospel throughout the world, and this attempt to erase our borders and unite with the rest of the world I’m convinced is Satan’s attempt to try and stop this. Any time you see the world try to unite as one, you can be sure that Satan is behind it. Modern transportation and technology have resulted in these divisions between people groups quickly coming together. It is much easier to travel to a foreign country or learn a foreign language, and we even have technology that will translate foreign languages for us. We know from Bible prophecy that the Devil will unfortunately succeed for a time in uniting the world under one government, only to be defeated and deposed by Jesus Christ when He returns. Another reason nations are good is that they provide a means of restraining evil. Imagine a world united under Adolf Hitler. If it were not for the United States and its allies, the world would have been a much different place today.

Next, Moses brings the focus back to the descendants of Shem. Shem had his first son Arphaxad when he was 100 years old, two years after the Flood. Shem then lived another 500 years after Arphaxad. If you study the chronologies, Shem would have been 199 when Peleg was born, 390 when Abram was born, 490 when Isaac was born, and 550 when Jacob and Esau were born. Although the life-span of man drastically decreased after the Flood, as we can see, oral history of Creation and the Flood still would have been easily passed down to Abraham and his descendants.

We see Peleg mentioned again, and if we remember from chapter 10, in his days the earth was divided. There are some who attribute this to the beginning of the splitting apart of the continents, but geologic activity of that magnitude would likely have been too catastrophic. It is more likely that this continental splitting happened during the time of the Flood. There is evidence that sea-levels were lower after the Flood, allowing for people and animals to migrate across the various continents. Peleg is mentioned both before and after the tower of Babel, so it seems more likely to attribute the division of the earth to God’s confusing the languages and subsequent scattering of the people into the various nations.

As we move on down from Peleg, we come to Abram. It is here where we see the author slow down and begin to focus on Abram and his descendants. Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran died in Ur of the Chaldees, and he had a son named Lot. Both Abram and Nahor took wives, Abram marrying Sarai, and Nahor marrying Milcah, Haran’s daughter. the Scriptures point out to us for the first time that Sarai was barren, a key fact that will play an important role in the next several chapters. So, Terah, Abram and his wife Sarai, and Lot left Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. They stopped on the way and settled in Haran, a city in the southern part of modern-day Turkey near the Syrian border. It does not appear that Nahor went with them at this point, but he would follow them later. It is here that Abram’s father Terah dies.

Abram lived in Ur of the Chaldees, and as we learned, it was a place characterized by idol worship. Abram’s family, including his own father, worshiped idols (Joshua 24:2). It was here that the Lord appeared to Abram, and told him to get out of his country and from his relatives to go to a land that He would show him. The Lord knew that Abram would ultimately be obedient to this call, although it would appear He did not obey immediately.

In summary, within a relatively short time following the Flood, mankind was already corrupting themselves by rebelling against the Lord and participating in occultic practices. Again, the Lord could have just wiped them all out, but He did not. He had a bigger plan that would unfold throughout the ages, a plan that would begin with a man that would respond to the call of God by faith. This is how the Lord has always chosen to operate with man, and it is how He will continue to do so. We will pick up in the next chapter with them leaving Haran for the land of Canaan.

 

 

Additional Links

 

In the Days of Peleg

 

The Nine Forbidden Practices of the Occult

 

Genesis 10 - The Table of Nations

Previously in Genesis 9, we saw more details on the covenant the Lord made with Noah. He expanded man’s diet to include meat, and He instituted human government. The basis of this government was the sanctity of human life. As a sign He would never again destroy the earth with a flood, the Lord set a rainbow in the cloud to remind Him of His covenant with man and everything living. In chapter 10, we see the dividing of the various nations and ethnic groups from the sons of Noah. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and it was from the descendants of these three sons and their wives that the Bible says the whole earth was overspread.

Japheth means enlarged or fare, and he is considered the father of the Indo-European peoples. His sons migrated into the region stretching from India to the shores of western Europe. Gomer was the father of the ancient Sumerians who settled in the Fertile Crescent in the years following the Flood. They spread out to the north and west, and fathered the Scythian and Germanic peoples who settled in Europe. Magog, Meshech, and Tubal migrated into the far north of Europe, and became the Russian and related peoples. Madai was the father of the Medes, who settled in Iran and Iraq, as well as in India. Javan was the father of the ancient Greeks and of those who would inhabit the British Isles. So, the Greeks, Romans, Spanish, Celts, Scythians and Medes were all Japheth’s descendants.

Ham means passionate, burnt, or dark, His descendants migrated into Canaan, Africa, Asia, Australia, the South Pacific, and the Americas. The descendants of Cush founded Babylon and Ethiopia. Mizraim settled in Egypt, Put in Libya, and Canaan in the area we know as Israel and the surrounding regions.

As I previously mentioned, Mizraim fathered the Egyptian people, but also among his sons was the father of the Philistines who would go on to be arch-enemies of Israel. Canaan’s son, Sidon, was related to the Hittites and Lebanese. The Sinite is believed to be where the Chinese and oriental peoples came from. In V 18 it states that the families of the Canaanites were dispersed, lending credibility to this belief. In fact, in every continent, history has shown that wherever the descendants of Japheth have settled, the descendants of Ham were there first. They are often thought to be black-skinned, but archeologists tell us they had brown, red, and white characteristics. They appear to be the most varied of Noah’s lineage.

Among Ham’s descendants, there is someone worth mentioning. Cush had a son named Nimrod, and the Scriptures state he began to be a mighty one in the earth. The name Nimrod means “We shall rebel,” and so he did. The language here in Genesis regarding Nimrod being mighty in the earth is similar language to that used to describe the giants prior to the Flood, and some believe him to be the first of these giants to re-appear after the Flood. He was well-known for his hunting skills, and became a protector of the people as he hunted wild animals. He was the first political and religious leader, and he sought to unite the people of the world as one. He founded the kingdom of Babel, and later Assyria. However, when the Scriptures state he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, it is translated in the Septuagint as a mighty hunter “against” the Lord. In other words, Nimrod was a hunter of men’s souls. He became the founder and leader of the first man-made religion that would later become known as the Babylonian religious system or “Mystery Babylon” referred to in the book of Revelation. This appears to have started in the building of the tower of Babel which we will see in chapter 11 of Genesis.

Shem means named or renown. His descendants largely settled in the Middle East, and include the Hebrews, Persians, and Assyrians. Modern-day Arabs and Jews are descendants of Shem. Elam was the father of the Persian people, Asshur the father of the Assyrians, Lud the father of the Lydians, and Aram the father of the Syrians. Arphaxad was the father of the Hebrews. Notice, the Bible does not divide man by race or skin color, but as the descendants of the three sons of Noah. As the descendants of these three sons spread out into smaller groups, skin color and other physical features began to emerge and become more prominent.

We see the record of these descendants until a certain point, but then the author under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit begins to hone in on the tribe of Shem. It would be through the tribe of Shem that we will see the nation of Israel, and eventually Jesus Himself. In fact, one of the main reasons for keeping record of the genealogies is to trace the lineage of Jesus, the Lord and Savior of mankind who would come through the seed of the woman. This is highlighted for us in Luke 3.

One of Shem’s great grandsons was Eber, and this is where we get the name Hebrew. Eber had two sons; one whose name was Peleg, and the other Joktan. The Scriptures state that in Peleg’s days the earth was divided, and is probably referring to the tower of Babel since Peleg lived during this time. Joktan also fathered various Arab peoples. One of his sons was Jobab, and some believe he may be the Job of the Bible. One of the sons of Aram was Uz, and we know Job was from the land of Uz.

If the entire human race descended from these three sons of Noah, then it would follow that there should be accounts of a world-wide flood around the globe. This is, in fact, what we find. On every continent we find legends of a flood with details of birds being sent out, some even specifying a raven and a dove. Some of them tell of a favored family, and in the majority of them the flood was global. For example, the Chinese have a tradition that Fu-hi or Fohi (Chinese Noah), their first king, made his appearance on the mountains of Chin. He was surrounded by a rainbow after the world had been covered by water, and sacrificed animals to God. Although the accounts vary, their similarities lend credibility that this was a real historical event.

Altogether, the descendants of Noah mentioned in Genesis 10 are 70, and it is through these descendants that the world was repopulated. It is what is commonly called the Table of Nations. All of mankind can be traced back to these three sons of Noah. The soundchristian.com puts it as follows: “Note that there is nothing like the Table of Nations (as presented here) in any other national tradition. Here we are given the origin of nations. We can also factually claim that wherever it's statements can be sufficiently tested, Genesis 10 of the Bible has been found completely accurate; resulting partly from linguistic studies, partly from archaeology, and more recently still from the findings of physical anthropologists, who are to this day recovering important clues to lines of migration in ancient historic times.” Archaeologist William Albright said, "It [the Bible] remains an astonishingly accurate document – and shows such remarkably 'modern' understanding of the ethnic and linguistic situation in the modern world, in spite of all its complexity, that scholars never fail to be impressed with it's knowledge of the subject."

For those of us who live in the United States and who are Christian and patriotic, we can sometimes fall into this mindset that we are the favored people of God. No doubt, God has shown us immense favor in this nation, but we are all distant cousins when you get down to it. We are all part of the family we call the human race, which should create a sense of compassion for one another, and a desire to share the Gospel with the lost.

When you really get right down to it, there are only two types of people in this world, the spiritually dead, and the spiritually alive. There’s no middle ground. In which camp are you, reader? If you are not a Christian, you are spiritually dead. If you’re dead, you’re dead. A dead man cannot revive himself. It is not possible for you to make yourself spiritually alive, or fix your sinful condition. The only thing you can do is be made into a new man. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was born again, he would not see the kingdom of God. The way into this new birth is through faith in the Son of God. Jesus went on to say, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Jn 3:16) Pass from the old life into the new, from being dead to being made alive in Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, we should seek to lead as many as we can from the camp of the lost and spiritually dead into the camp of the living. In the following chapter, we will get a close-up view of this guy named Nimrod, and then the Holy Spirit will narrow His focus down to one of the descendants of Eber, a man named Abram.

 

Additional Links

 

Table of Nations and Origin of Races

 

Who Was Nimrod in the Bible?