Genesis #9 - Foundations #9 - God and the Nations Pt 1 (Genesis 9:18-10:32)

gifted instructor in this realm of evangelism, so can't wait for him to be here. And he'll be preaching next week as well, so he'll be preaching for us on the

Lord's Day. Well, with that in mind, if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, take them and turn with me to Genesis chapter 9.

Genesis chapter 9, as we continue on in our sermon series that we've entitled Foundations, Genesis 1 through 11.

Oh, kids, off you go. I forget that every week. I'm sorry, guys. Off you go to your class.

God bless you. Genesis chapter 9 and verse 18. Genesis chapter 9 and verse 18, and what we're going to do is we're actually going to look at just verses 18 to 29 in our reading, but we're going to look at the end of chapter 9 and the whole of chapter 10 as we continue on in our study of Genesis.

Genesis chapter 9 and verses 18 through to 29.

Genesis chapter 9 verses 18 through 29, and as usual, we'll read responsibly, so I will read the even -numbered verses, and I'll invite you to read the odd -numbered verses with me.

Genesis chapter 9 from verse 18, and if you're able to do so, would you stand with me out of reverence for God's Word?

Genesis chapter 9 from verse 18 through to verse 29.

Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. Noah's sons who came out of the ark were

Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah's sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.

Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting a vineyard.

He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.

Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father's nakedness.

Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked. When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said,

Canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers. He also said, blessed be

Yahweh, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be Shem's slave. Let God extend

Japheth. Let Japheth dwell in the twins of Shem. Let Canaan be

Shem's slave. Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood.

So Noah's life lasted 950 years. Then he died.

Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding. Let's pray, ask for the Spirit's help as we study

God's word, and then we'll proceed from there. Heavenly Father, we would ask that as we open up your word, and as you minister to us your blood -bought people, that you would open our eyes, that we would see wonderful things out of your law.

And Father, as we pray that for ourselves, we also pray that for Gold Valley Fellowship up in Gold Hill, pray for Pastor Dave Gomez, who

I've gotten to know in the last few weeks through our pastor's fellowship. Thank you for him and the work you're doing there. Pray for them as they think through some matters of transition as to where you would have them to continue ministry and matters like that.

We pray that your Spirit would be at work granting clarity, granting help, and above all, helping them to continue to minister to your people as you have called them to do.

Be with them, and we pray that you would be with us now as we open up your word. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen. Please be seated. Well, this afternoon

I have tagged our text, God and the Nations, and it's part one of that because really the next few sections of Genesis deal with this theme of God and his relationship to the nations.

We're making progress in our study of Genesis 1 through 11. In fact, we've really only got one more message in our study of Genesis 1 through 11, and then we will park the bus on this journey of Genesis for a little bit, and we'll pick up in the fall in chapter 12.

As we've been looking at the book of Genesis, and we've been considering what

God is doing through his servant Moses as he is giving us really the story of everything.

As you look at the flood and its aftermath, there's actually a trajectory that you can follow.

I should have this up on the screen there. There's a trajectory you can follow that starts with creation and it ends with the flood.

You have creation, you have the fall which happens in chapter three, you have moral decline that carries all the way through to the beginning of chapter nine where the flood narrative happens, and so that's the sort of cycle you have.

You have creation, you have fall, you have decline, and then you have judgment. Well, when you come to the flood, you see that should be the next slide up there now, but you see again this theme of creation, fall, decline, and judgment, but now the cycle starts over.

So after the flood, the world has basically been cleaned off as it were. We saw from last time that the language that's used is a language of recreation.

There was a decreation in the flood, but now there is recreation as the earth is made new. But as we're going to see in our text here today, what you have is not just a recreation, but then you have a fall, you have a decline among men, and that leads to another judgment that we will consider next time when we look at the

Tower of Babel. So we're looking at the first of these three elements, recreation, fall, and decline in the text that we're looking at.

And as we begin to kind of land the plane of our study of Genesis 1 through 11, once again,

Noah is going to be the central character here. And as I noted in our last message, if you remember,

Noah is functioning as something of a new Adam, that he is acting in the stead of Adam, who was to be the sort of father of this race that we would know as the human race.

Well, now with the flood and all of the previous inhabitants of the earth being destroyed, you now have

Noah and his three sons, and Noah in particular is going to function as a new Adam in a new creation.

And as we're going to see, despite a new world, a new creation, if you will, brothers and sisters, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In essence, what we're looking at as we kind of have this in our last message in Genesis in a couple of weeks, what we're seeing here is really a transition that's taking place.

We're transitioning from a focus on events and the global scale as it were, and now we're starting to focus a little bit more on God's covenant people and the plan of redemption in particular.

When we pick up in the fall of chapter 12 in Genesis, the focus, well really the beginning of chapter 11, we're going to see that the focus moves from the nations in general to this one line in particular.

But for us to get to that point, the stage needs to be set, and that's what we're going to see here in chapters 9 and 10 this week and chapter 11 in a few weeks.

If we're thinking about this passage in terms of a big idea, just one thought that summarizes it, you could have it like this, that despite the failure of man,

God's global plan of redemption can and will not be thwarted.

Despite the failure of man, God's global plan of redemption cannot and will not be thwarted.

We're going to see some very, very, very unsavory incidents in our text today, but even in the midst of that, even with the failure of man, the plan of redemption that God has for the entire world cannot and will not be thwarted.

For the remainder of our time, I want to consider three demonstrations of the failure of man in our text, three demonstrations of the failure of man and how they show, even with man's failure,

God's faithfulness to his promise of redemption. Yes, man messes up and he messes up constantly, but God is still faithful to his promise of redemption.

So, three demonstrations of the failure of man and how they show

God's faithfulness to his promise of redemption. First of all, consider with me the fact that though it's a new world, man still has the same old character.

Though it's a new world, man has the same old character, verses 18 through 23 of chapter 9.

So, our text opens up simple enough. Verse 18, Noah's sons who came out of the ark were

Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah's sons and from them the whole earth was populated.

Really, what you've got here is a what we call a topic sentence. It kind of tells you what we're about to consider in the section of text that we're looking at.

Noah, three sons, and Noah and his three sons form the root of this new creation.

And like I said, the scene is being set for us for this transition from an events -based narrative as we've seen leading up to the fall, leading from that to a personality -driven narrative that we're going to start seeing with Abraham in the beginning of chapter 11.

We meet Noah again in verse 20. So, verse 20 says, Noah as a man of the soil began by planting a vineyard or vineyard.

He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Now, unless you read this as just a very weird story about Noah getting drunk, which it is a story of Noah getting drunk, and apparently disrobing himself while he's drunk, because let's face it, drunk people don't exactly make great decisions.

Unless you read it as just that, for those of you who've been walking through our study of Genesis really from the beginning, remember how

I've said that Genesis is highly compositional in its nature? How that Genesis shows a high level of strategy in how things are said and how things are arranged?

I put it to you that these two verses here, verses 20 and 21, is another piece of evidence in favor of the fact that we aren't just reading bare history here.

We are reading very well put together history, all true events. He didn't make any of this up, but in the way things are said and the way things are arranged, you're meant to pick up on certain clues.

I'm going to argue that as I studied this text this week, it became apparent that these two verses are designed to show a direct link between Noah and Adam once again.

Can I point out just four ways the text does this? So remember back in Genesis, God is the one who plants the garden in chapter two?

The exact same word, the exact same form of that word is used for Noah and his act of planting this vineyard.

Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree back in Genesis chapter three. Well the text goes out of his way to point out that Noah, did you see that there in verse 21, he drank some of the wine that comes from this vineyard.

Again, a link being made. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree. Noah is partaking of the fruit of a tree.

Third, Adam and Eve sin as a result of eating the fruit of the tree.

So in Genesis chapter three, Eve eats of this fruit and gives to her husband and that's the sin.

The sin here is not so much the drinking as much as the being drunk due to partaking from the fruits of this vineyard.

Finally, back in Genesis chapter three, remember what happens to Adam and Eve as a result of the fact that they partake of this fruit?

The text tells us, then they knew they were naked. Eating of this fruit leads to an awareness of nakedness while Noah partakes of the fruits of the vine and uncovers himself.

That's just four of them. I could go on with parallel after parallel between the creation account, particularly the fall account and Noah.

I could go on but I hope that point was made somewhat. Though this new world holds so much promise, what's the one thing that stayed the same?

Man. Man is still the same and if Noah is the new

Adam, ladies and gentlemen, step right up. This is his fall.

Can I pause and note for a moment that oftentimes human beings are tempted to think that a perfect environment is the cure for the problems that man has but this text teaches us that a perfect environment, think about this, there are no other people around.

There is Noah, his three sons and their wives. Eight people and even in a perfect environment, no other sinful people around.

The problem is not the presence of sinful people because as we read our

Bible, our Bible makes it clear to us that man's biggest problem is not external, it's not his circumstances, it's not things around him.

Man's biggest problem according to the Bible is internal. Remember what

Jesus said in Mark chapter 7, Mark 7 15 if you're taking notes, he said nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but what comes out of a person, the things, excuse me, that come out of a person are what defile him.

His disciples hear that as good Jewish boys who've been taught from the beginning there's certain things you eat and don't eat and they're like master what do you mean?

So here's Jesus' explanation. He said don't you realize, Matthew 7 18, don't you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him?

Your problem is not external things for it doesn't go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated.

Thus he declared all foods clean and he said what comes out of a person is what defiles him.

For from within, out of people's hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self -indulgence, envy, slander, pride and foolishness, all of these evil things come from within and defile a person.

Often we're tempted to think that the problem is out there somewhere, if I can just deal with the thing out there

I'll be fine but Genesis already taught us through Adam and Eve and through Noah, in fact dare

I say the history of humanity as a whole proves to us that we have found the problem and it is us and so here you are you have

Adam, Noah excuse me you have Noah who the text tells us is a righteous man and yet this righteous man is not immune to the presence of sin in a fallen world.

Well sin obviously comes with consequences may I draw your attention to verse 22 so he says Ham the father of Canaan saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside then

Shem and Japheth took a cloak placed it over their shoulder both over both their shoulders and walking backward they covered their father's nakedness their faces were turned away and they did not see their father naked.

Now as with so much of the early chapters of Genesis there's a lot of in my opinion unnecessary insistence that the simplicity of what we just read here is hiding something more.

One popular theory is that Ham didn't just see happen to see his father undressed but that he sexually assaulted either

Noah or his own mother this is actually a very popular theory if you read certain commentaries. Now the bible is full of the torrid and the scandalous

I mean we just read Genesis 34. I mean sinners will do that but I'm going to go ahead and say that there's a lot of speculation that is placed on this text that the text cannot support.

Here's a good rule for bible study it's your own personal bible study when it comes to bible study the simplest answer is often not always but often the closest to the truth and in this case

I would argue textually the simplest answer is the one the text gives us Noah gets drunk he makes a spectacle of himself

Ham sees it I mean have you ever seen a drunk person? I unfortunately have seen you have to pray for me there are a group of people

I struggle to be nice towards and I've had to pray lord help me to be more kind -hearted towards drunk people

I've also been hit by drunk people that's a whole other story for another time but be that as it may if you ever seen a drunk person they usually don't act like someone who has some sense and so you can just picture

Noah who is drunk out of his mind his son sees it thinks it's funny may

I know and say there's a simple lesson that you can learn from that there thinking everything is a punch line waiting to happen doesn't always end well he thinks it's funny and go tells his brothers his brothers have a little more common sense and decency and they go to provide a covering for his nakedness covering for nakedness after sin doesn't that sound familiar?

Didn't God do that for Adam and Eve after they sinned? Again I think it's an example of the author of Genesis Moses wanting us to see that there are connections here as one writer summarizes it

Ham's sin quote was not was in not honoring his father by demonstrating discretion and loyalty though his father's shame was exposed he did nothing to respect his father by concealing it from others this is evident in the contrasting action of Shem and Japheth of Shem and Japheth who covered their father's nakedness and took extraordinary measures so that they did not see his nakedness as you read these words we've moved remember the end of the last passage we saw

God's covenant with Noah well we've moved from the heights of God's covenant making activity with Noah and so soon in the narrative it would seem the wheels have fallen completely off you see the world might be washed off and new but the sinful heart of man remains the same because man even the best of them man is still corrupted by sin and you see the issue is not a bad environment a bad environment might stir up what is already there but please note the sin is already there because that's the biggest issue it's not a bad environment but a deeply corrupted and depraved nature that only grace can transform it's a new world all right but the character of man remains the same but there's a second demonstration of the failure of man in this text not only have we seen a new world but the same old character secondly we have a new world but the same old consequences a new world but the same old consequences verses 24 through 29 now in verses 24 to 29 we have the so -called curse of Canaan this is

Noah's response to the shameful actions of his son and within this one word of curse you have three components three different groups are addressed again it's very similar to what we read in Genesis 3 where after the four remember

God speaks to three different groups he speaks to the serpent speaks well he speaks to the woman speaks to the man speaks to the serpent well you have three groups here again with one sinful act leading to an address to three different parties now as I was putting this together this week

I borrowed an outline because it was actually easy one for me to remember if I recommended it in the study guide this week

Dr. Warren Risby's very short commentary be basic on the book of Genesis he had an easy outline for this section that just stuck with me so I kept it he says first of all you see the enslavement of Canaan in verses 24 and 25 the enslavement of Canaan verses 24 and 25 so 24 when

Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him he said

Canaan is cursed he will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers now let's see who's paying attention what's wrong with what you just read sorry

Ham's not mentioned verse 25 he said Canaan is cursed

Canaan is Noah's grandson not his son wasn't it Ham who sinned I mean we just read it was

Ham so the question becomes why does Noah curse his son or Ham's son and not his own son well like I said when we read

Genesis we should not just read this as bare history it's not just deporting reporting things excuse me in a detached way remember this is written to an original audience this is written to a group of people remember my favorite line for them the children of Israel on the plains of Moab are waiting to go into the wilderness well for that group of people when they heard the name

Canaan what did they immediately think of the nations that were around them that they had to dispossess they were the

Canaanite peoples you see like I said Genesis is not just history it's theologically driven history it's real events with real people in real time and space but we're looking at them through the lens of God's action and his revelation to his people

Canaan is mentioned here because now we're getting an explanation for what we're going to see later in the

Old Testament when the children of Israel are tasked not just to fight the

Canaanites but to utterly remove them let me double back a little bit when we approach this curse there are two principles at work here we these two things come up a lot in the

Old Testament the first principle we need to think about is something called corporate personality corporate personality that's just a fancy way of saying that in the ancient world when one person sinned their sin reflected on a whole group of people if I can give you an example from the book of Joshua and remember the story of Achan if you don't know the story

Achan steals some property that was devoted to the Lord when they are raiding one of these cities

Israel is completely defeated in their next battle Joshua goes before the Lord and says Lord what happened like we were rolling what on earth happened and I love that narrative

God basically tells Joshua Joshua get up off the ground like please stop crying and complaining this is not what needs to happen right now what happened is somebody sinned against me by taking that which was stolen eventually in God's providence through the means of guidance that God gave the children of Israel they find the person it's

Achan, Achan says yeah I saw some gold and a really nice bit of fabric and I took it well the text tells us that it's not just Achan who's killed as a result of that because that was devoted to the

Lord it's Achan's whole family his whole house everyone attached to him why because there was this understanding that one person's sin reflected on the family as a whole

Ham sins and his family feels the effect but there is another principle at work here and it's the principle of parental influence you see the world of the

Bible was not quite as individualistic as ours they understood that one's family often influenced how people acted further down the line you went

Ham demonstrates that he was far from godly and that ungodliness would find its way through his sons to the nations that bore his name

Canaan would ultimately be no better than his father and that would lead to his ultimate enslavement to his brothers now before I move on historically there was a view that was taught based on this called the curse of Ham and the idea was okay so you've got this curse that is you know levied on Ham's descendants or Canaan in particular and the language of slavery is used of enslavement they would be slaves and so this became an apologetic and you may think people genuinely thought this they did people thought that this gave biblical warrants for the slave trade up until very recently no it's not really used in our circles but in the circle

I grew up in there was a very famous study Bible called the Dakes annotated reference Bible if you were a

Pentecostal which is what I grew up as the study Bible study Bibles was the Dakes study

Bible and I owned a date growing up because I was Pentecostal you all owned a date well technically my dad did but I had access to one in Dakes reference

Bible he wrote that in the 50s in his notes on Genesis chapter 9 he says that here is the biblical basis for the subjugation of as he puts it colored peoples from this text and you can read people down through history who use this text to justify the horrors of the slave trade as you can imagine

I may take that a little personally but I'm sorry whoever thought that from this text

I have to ask whether they learn how to read at school because the text clearly doesn't say Ham yes

Ham is the father of the African peoples we'll see that in Genesis chapter 10 in a moment but he's

Cain is not the descendants of the African peoples and he's the one who is cursed so the use of this text historically to justify slavery doesn't quite fit

I simply bring that up because if you decide to dig into this passage you will see this passage used in that sort of way no mass but returning to our text you have the enslavement of Canaan secondly you have the enrichment of Shem verse 26 he also said blessed be

Yahweh the god of Shem let Canaan be Shem's slave and again it's interesting the word of blessing isn't spoken directly to Shem it's spoken to Yahweh again there's an interesting parallel with Genesis 3 remember the promise of the deliverer that's made in Genesis chapter 3 it's not spoken to Adam or Eve it's spoken to the serpent but now you have a word of commendation for Shem but it's not spoken to Shem it's spoken to the god of Shem Yahweh God gets all the praise for his gracious work that will happen through Shem as one commentator put it only because of God's gracious and merciful favour towards Shem's progeny can they claim any blessing for themselves for this reason the church fathers as well as the reformers understood this blessing to be an extension of the promise to Eve so now that line that's being drawn the plan of redemption okay we now see a connection okay it's going to come from one of Adam and Eve's descendants obviously okay now it's going to come through Shem's line the text would seem to suggest that Shem had some sort of relationship with Yahweh but even then the relation the blessing here isn't mentioned because of Shem's righteousness

God blesses only because he is good and gracious and is faithful to himself and as redemptive history plays out these words come true it is the

Israelites who come from Shem who will ultimately dominate the Canaanite peoples you have enslavement you have enrichment thirdly you have the enlargement of Japheth the enlargement of Japheth 27

Noah continues let God extend Japheth let

Japheth dwell in the temples of Shem let Canaan be Shem's slave now you've got a little play on words here

Japheth means the same is from the Hebrew word for extend so a little play on words here

Japheth as we'll see in Genesis chapter 10 is the father of the predominantly Gentile nations and it's fascinating that Noah says that Japheth will dwell in the tents of Shem that the blessing the enlargement that he talks about comes in the tents of Shem isn't it interesting that salvation comes from Shem's line spoiler alert

Jesus comes from Shem's line and the Gentiles find eternal life in the house of a

Jewish Messiah let me say that again you've got

Shem's line through Shem's line the Messiah comes the Messiah comes bringing salvation not just for the

Jewish people but for the Gentile peoples the Gentiles find rest they find blessing in the house of ultimately a

Jewish Messiah so you've got enslavement for Canaan enrichment for Shem and enlargement for Japheth and with that the story of Noah ends verses 28 and 29 now

Noah lived 350 years after the flood so Noah's life lasted 950 years then he died new world same old character new world same old consequences thirdly you have a new world sovereignly ordered for Christ a new world sovereignly ordered for Christ chapter 10 chapter 10 is what's called the table of nations now you'll be happy to know

I'm not going to go verse by verse through the table of nations but it's important it's here for a reason you know

I once had somebody give the terrible advice oh if you're reading through Genesis and you get to chapter 10 feel free to skip it no don't chapter 9 verse 19 we heard that the earth is populated through the three sons of Noah well here we read about that population

I believe in the study guide there should be a map in there which shows you where these peoples landed almost 70 of them nations people groups structure is very simple you've got

Japheth's line in verses 2 through 5 Ham's line in verses 6 through 20 and then Shem's line through 21 to 31 like I said we're not going to look verse by verse through this section

I just want to note three observations from this chapter first of all

God ordains nations God ordains the nations so again you have 70 nations that are mentioned 70 people groups mentioned in Genesis chapter 10 and a large number of them we will encounter again and again as we read the

Old Testament now some people will treat nations and their distinctives as though there are a problem to be solved let me get immediately practical for a moment there are some people

I've encountered them a lot in my life who think that the diversity we see in the world they won't say this but they just behave like it as though the diversity that we see in creation that's a problem to be overcome what we need is not more diversity we need more sameness but can

I put it to you that what we see in Genesis and chapter 10 is God ordaining a world in which humanity is well and truly diverse and the

New Testament helps us understand this too turn with me to Acts 17 keep something here in Genesis 10 we'll be back here in a minute

Acts chapter 17 Acts chapter 17

Paul is preaching to the Athenians on Mars Hill in Acts chapter 17

Paul makes a statement he says it in passing but I think it's worth noting Acts chapter 17 verse 26 if you're there

Acts chapter 17 verse 26 he says from one man referring to God from one man he

God has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live did you know that Paul goes out of his way to say that God made all nationalities

God makes the geographical boundaries of where they live he appoints them to live where they live when they live can

I put it to you that if God wanted a monochromatic monocultural world he would have made the world to look that way we'll have a message in a couple of weeks because I do want to touch on this issue of God race and the nations from a biblical perspective so I'm not going to say too much now but suffice it to say that God's plan for the nations was always diversity that yes diversity submitted to the will and the way of God but God's design was never uniformity that's why when you read the

New Testament you look at the church there's little discussion of a culture that is imposed on the church and a lot of talk of unity despite our differences why

God is not trying to eradicate differences he's trying to maintain them in his will and in his way more on that in a couple of weeks when we look at God race and the nations but for now just know that we can't talk about God's plan of redemption without recognizing a redeemed and diverse humanity being a part of that plan so that's the first observation we learn from this text but the second one is that the kingdom of God will oppose the king the kingdom of man excuse me will oppose the kingdom of God should be a typo up there the kingdom of man will oppose the kingdom of God verses 8 through 11 as we have this listing of names the narrative kind of slows down for a second and we're introduced to this character called

Nimrod Nimrod literally the rebel in fact that's what the term

Nimrod means means to rebel he's the rebel and that's a clue all in itself that this man we're talking about is not a good guy he's referred to in the text as a hunter in the presence of the

Lord and I'll be honest it really wasn't until I was working till last night to finish this message it wasn't till late last night

I finally understood what this reference meant well at least I think I do remember back when we were in chapter 9 the early part of chapter 9 and God introduces meat into man's diet remember that God is kind of careful in saying that yes he's introducing meat to man's diet but that doesn't give man a carte blanche to willfully mistreat animal life back in Genesis 9 did we see a command allowing for wanton hunting now

I know I'm in southern Oregon so I should tread very carefully here this is not a moral statement about the goodness or badness of hunting it's not

I think it's mentioned in relation to Nimrod because Nimrod is practicing this act in a way that blatantly disregards

God's command regarding the treatment of the animal world add to that that when you've read

Genesis up to this point violence when it comes up in Genesis is not a good thing we've already had one man you know kill his brother another man kind of basically rap about the fact that he killed another guy for no apparent reason violence is not a good thing when it comes up in Genesis and here it is being attached to Nimrod but I'll put it to you that that's by the by that's not the main reason he's mentioned here did you catch well if you've been reading

Genesis chapter 10 now let's look at it real quick Genesis chapter 10 let me show you something there Genesis chapter 10

I believe if I can get to it real quick Genesis chapter 10 verse 10 notice that it says that his kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Achad, and Calna in the land of Shinar.

Nimrod is said to rule over a kingdom why is that important the only time we have seen kingdom language in Genesis up to this point has been

Genesis chapter 1 remember 26 to 28 if you're the marketer you might want to highlight that in Genesis I was arguing it's a key verse in the book let us make man in our image and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over the earth and of all the creeping things that creep on the earth the language of kingdom of rule and dominion is mentioned by God in chapter 1 and now we've got a man who is ruling and reigning by himself outside of God's provision

Nimrod really becomes the first person in all the Bible and we'll see multiple people like Nimrod all through the

Bible who set up a kingdom in his name not a kingdom in God's name in Nimrod we see what

Psalm 2 puts in song Psalm 2 verses 1 through 3 why do the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth take their stand and their rulers conspire against Yahweh and his anointed one let us throw off their chains and let us throw their ropes off of us now in our next study we're going to see how

I would argue Nimrod and the kingdom around him seeks to set up their kingdom against God and what

God does in response but for now you start to see the fact that hmm God's kingdom plan is not unopposed in this world then not only is man sinful but sinful men will set up rival kingdoms to God's kingdom so God ordains nation or nations excuse me the kingdom of man will oppose the kingdom of God thirdly

God's Messiah is still coming despite all that God's Messiah is still coming verses 21 to 31 we see

Shem's line in 21 to 31 and from Shem would come a man named

Terah from Terah will come a man named Abraham from Abraham would come the nation of Israel from the nation of Israel would come the

Messiah himself yes we've had a new fall courtesy of the new

Adam with new curses and now even a rival kingdom but here's the good news in more ways than one the

Messiah is still on schedule the original audience might not have known his name but we know his name because the new testament will come along Luke chapter 3 and will point out that Jesus is the son of Shem that through Shem comes the

Messiah through whom salvation comes to all of humanity because one of Shem's descendants will be

God with us he will enter into creation take on human flesh he will live the life that we could not live he will die the death that we rightly deserved and through him salvation comes to all the nations and so yes we've had a fall we've had curses we've had sinfulness on display and yet God's plan remains undeterred we'll see more about God's plan for the nations in our next study in Genesis chapter 11 but for now let's pray together well heavenly father we thank you that your plan for the nations is still has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled through your son and our savior

Jesus we thank you that even in the midst of fallenness and wickedness your plan cannot and will not be thwarted father we thank you that we know who

Shem's greater son was our Lord Jesus thank you that we have come to know him that we have found salvation in him that we who were

Gentiles have found rest in his house Jesus being the temple the dwelling of God with men for the help us that we would love him more love him deeply that we would share him with those who don't know him and above all our very lives would seek to glorify him in everything we do we ask in Jesus name and for his sake amen well we come to the