I don't know if you read this
beforehand in preparation for today. If you did, you'll notice
that it is full of names and genealogies
of three sons of Noah. That's what this whole chapter
is about, how the whole earth was populated Look at the last
verse. It says, These are the families
of the sons of Noah after their generations and their nations.
And by these were the nations divided in the earth after the
flood from the three sons of Noah. Noah is the principal person
here and his three sons. All nations came from them. But
as with all Scripture, there's much more than meets the eyes. It's not just mere information
or facts or genealogies. The Lord told us to avoid endless
questions and genealogies. But there's some gospel in this,
and that's what we need to find. All Scripture is profitable.
Look at verse 2. Japheth is the firstborn. They are always mentioned, the
three of them, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But Japheth is the firstborn. Look at verse 21. It tells us
that unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the
brother of Japheth the elder. Japheth was the firstborn, though
Shem is always spoken of first. Why is that? Why is Shem always
spoken of first and then Japheth? Because we're going to see that
Shem is who the Jews came from. The Jews all came from Shem. Gentiles come from Japheth. And
did not our Lord say when He sent the Gospel out, go into
all the world and preach the Gospel to the Jew first? Beginning first with the Jew. The Lord sent the truth first
to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. And the elder is always the way
the Lord does it. The elder shall serve the younger,
as in the case of Ishmael and Isaac. Remember, Ishmael was
the firstborn. But no, Isaac is the son of Prometh.
And so were the sons of Shem. Esau was the firstborn. But was
he the blessed one? No. Jacob. The sons of Jacob. So that's the way the Lord has
always had it in the very beginning. The sons of Jacob, look at verse
2. There's some names, and we don't have time, and I didn't go through every
one of these names. There's no names without great
significance. But there's a few that you may
recognize. the word, the name Gomer. Now
this is the sons of Japheth, the Gentiles. Gomer, we get the
word Gaul or Gaelic. Gaelic. Nearly everybody in here
has that origin in you. Most of our fathers. Magog, that's
the Medes and the Persians and on and on it goes. Go jump down
to verse 5. Now these were the By these,
all of these sons of Japheth were the isles, that is, the
faraway places of the Gentiles divided in their lands. Scripture
always speaks of the isles, much is said of the isles, that is,
faraway places. In Isaiah 42, we read it Sunday. of the great servant of the Lord,
he said, he'll bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He says, the
isles will wait for his law. The Word of God will go forth
to far-reaching places, faraway places. Thank God he loved the
world. Not just Jews, but a people out
of every tribe, kindred, nation and tongue, faraway places. That's
us. We're a long ways away from Israel,
aren't we? A long way, a far away place,
way, way over here in the middle of nowhere, the Lord sent the
gospel. And verse 5, it says, every one
of them after his tongue, after their families and their nations.
And I could not help but think of what Peter said. He said,
you're a royal generation, a chosen people, a royal generation, a
holy Peculiar nation. And we have a new tongue, a new
family, a nation of Christ, His people. Alright, now verse 6
is the sons of Ham. Sons of Ham. And as we said,
none of those names are without signification, every single person
the Lord used in the purpose of bringing Christ into this
world, as every single thing in the world works out to that
end for the good of God's glory and the good of His people. It mentions Cush. That's where
the Arabs came from. All the Arabs came from him. Misrim, that's the Egyptians,
Africans. And then Foot, that's Libyans. And Canaan, now there's a name
that's significant. Go down to verse 14. I'm sorry,
verse 15. Canaan, that's who... is mentioned as sons of Ham more
than any other. Canaan. He begat Sidon. Remember Tyre and Sidon, his
firstborn. Remember the Lord cursed Ham. Remember that? We looked at that.
And many of his sons, like Tyre and Sidon, we're going to see
his borders go to Sodom and Gomorrah. of Jebusite, Amorite, Virgosite,
Hivite, Archite, Sinite, Arbidite, Zimorite, Hamathite, after the
families of the Canaanites. The border of the Canaanites
were from Sidon, Tyre and Sidon, as you go from Gerar to Geza
and then to Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the sons of Ham. Now, the Canaanites were, as
we see, distant relatives of the Jews, of Shem. But they were
the sworn enemies. The Canaanites were the enemies
of the Jews, always. All of those ites that we read
about? were constantly against the people
of God. Verse 14 mentions Philistim. That's the Philistines. The Philistines. They were lifelong, bitter enemies
of the Hebrews, of the people of God. Now, the lesson here
is beginning all the way back at the first, when God began
to repopulate the earth. The lesson here is the Lord said,
the man's enemies. shall be those of his own household,
that is, God's people, like Ishmael was to Isaac. He's his brother,
but he despised him. Why? For God's name's sake. Christ said, for my sake, because
I've chosen you, I've caused you to differ, I've made you
my people, made you my choice, and the world doesn't like it.
They don't believe it, and they don't like it. He said, you shall
be hated of all men for my name's sake. Sons of Shem, the Jews
worshiped Jehovah. The Gentiles didn't. The sons
of Ham, they didn't. They didn't. They didn't believe
in it. They had idols. And always keep this in mind,
when we talk about the enemies, man's enemies being those of
his own household, and talk about the Philistines and all these
Gergesites and Hivites and Jebusites. Jebusites were the ones that
inhabited Jerusalem. And David came and they said,
he can't come in here. And oh yes he can, and he did.
They were the ones that had Jerusalem. And David slew them. But anyway,
keep this in mind when you think about the enemies of the Israelites,
the enemies of God's people. A man's chief enemy, his worst
enemy, is that of his own household. Right in here, that twin brother
of yours. That's the one you're going to
fight with all the day. He wants to destroy you. Thank God he is a Jew, which
is whatever. Thank God there's a new creature
that God loves, you sons of Jacob. But that old man, always, always,
it will help you, it will bless you in thinking about and reading
about these enemies of Israel, that those are within us, our
twin brother. All right, now here's a name,
Nimrod, verse 8. And the Lord spends some time
on him, says he began to be a mighty one in the earth. Nimrod's name means rebellion. Rebellion, a rebel. He began
to be a mighty one in the earth, a man of great power and renown. What was he known for? Verse
9, a mighty hunter. Well, that's something to be
known for. That's what he was. It says, before the Lord, meaning
in the Lord's eyes. He was a rebel against the Lord.
We're going to see that. And it said, and this was the
way they thought of and spoke of Nimrod, he's a mighty hunter
before the Lord. He was a man of great power and
renown. And verse 10 says, the beginning
of his kingdom was Nimrod was the first king of
Babylon. And for those of you who know
something about Babylon, know that that's Satan's seat. That is religion, false religion,
as Revelation speaks so very much about, and the prophet. So Nimrod rose to prominence. Nimrod, this fellow, rose to
popularity. He became a king and he did it
by force. I think Matthew Henry or one of
them I read said that because he was such a mighty hunter and
he would go out on these big game hunts, if you will. And
he got young, strong men to go with him who themselves became
great hunters. And so he recruited all these
young fellas and eventually they became an army. And people feared
them. And they began to take things
by force. They began to lord themselves
over people and take what they wanted. And that's been the case
from the beginning, hasn't it? Scriptures does say that the
meek will inherit the new earth, but in this world, the strong
do survive. In this world, the violent have
taken it by force. And that's what Nimrod did, and
men began to fear him and follow him, and he began to conquer,
and he became a king. Now, all of this reminded me
of right before the flood. Our Lord said man hadn't changed. He's evil from his youth up.
Before the flood, it said this about man. The Lord looked down. There were giants in the earth,
sons of God, came unto the daughters of men, unbelieving daughters,
and they bear children. They became mighty men of old,
men of renown, and they were known for their violence. And
God looked down and said, the whole earth has corrupted my
way. And they were full of violence. And God said, I want to destroy
it. Well, habit changed a bit. Right after the flood. It wasn't
right after the flood until men did the exact same thing. Violent
men. Violent men. Cain was a violent
man when he slew his brother. Slew his brother. And it's true
today. Sons of Cain, those like Nimrod,
the world, this world, the violent, take it by force. But now God
has a kingdom, a kingdom, a peaceable kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness. And the meek are going to inherit
that earth. Not the strong, but the meek. Not the strong, but
the weak. And you know how? Joshua. You read the story of Joshua.
He went through and destroyed every Habak, Jebusite, Hergesite. He destroyed them all and took
what belonged to his people. That's the reason for the story
of Joshua. People hated the people of God,
hated God, and Joshua stood up for the cause of his God and
for the cause of his people and took it. And our Lord is our Joshua. Well, now, verse 10 speaks of
Babel, Babylon. And chapter 11, right after this,
we're going to look at chapter 11, which is the Tower of Babel. It's where all the languages
of the earth started, the various languages
of the earth. Babylon represents false religion. Nimrod must surely be a type
of Satan, isn't he? A type of Satan. Noah is a type of Christ. All
his sons. Nimrod is a type of Satan who
is a manhunter, who is a slayer, who is the god of this world,
who is the king, who is the prince of the power of the air. He is
an evil man after his people. The king, the god of this world.
But he is not God's king. Verse 11, there's another name. There's some names you recognize.
Nineveh. Remember Nineveh, that wicked
place that God sent Jonah to? All right, now, lastly, and as
I said, we don't have time to look at every name, but down
in verse 21, the sons of Shem. Now, to Shem, he's the last,
but he's really the first. And to Shem also, the father
of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder,
even to him were children born. And he goes on to mention the
sons of Shem, but he mentions his great-grandson, Eber, the
great-great-grandson of Noah. Eber. Why Eber? Why does he speak
of Eber? Well, the word Hebrew comes from
Eber. Hebrews. Hebrews. That's what God's people were
called. Not sons of Shem, but Hebrews. Hebrews. From then on. The Hebrew. Why Eber? Why did the Lord choose Eber
and not Shem? Why did he choose Eber and not
Elam or Asher or Arphax, his father, or Lud or Aaron? Why
did he choose Eber? Why? I don't know, but he did. His
name means, though his name is significant, his name means on
the other side. On the other side. And I remember
Moses later on, who led the Hebrew children, he asked this question,
who is on the Lord's side? They've come unto me. And they did. The ones that were,
the Levites. And those sorry sons of Korah,
they got over here, and the Lord swallowed them up. Who's on the
Lord's side? On the other side. Who maketh
thee to differ? God divided, called his people
from this son, Eber, because he pleased God. And his name
does mean on the other side. And those represent God's people,
the Hebrew. Names, many names, names, names,
all of them in God's purpose. All of them working together
God's purpose for His people, for His glory, for His namesake. This made me think of another
genealogy with many names in it. Matthew 1. Go over there to Matthew chapter
1. All of these sons came from Noah. Well, Matthew 1 is another
genealogy beginning in the New Testament. Matthew 1, you know
these verses, but it begins the book of the generation of Jesus
Christ. The Lord generated life from
Noah. All life on earth came from Noah,
the three sons of Noah. Well, all life in heaven. All
life on the new earth comes from Jesus Christ. He's the beginning,
the firstborn among many brethren. And his sons, sons of Noah were
Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Look at Matthew 1. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Three principal
names, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Several significant names throughout
this chapter, some you'll know, all important. And I like to
think about this, that if you lived back then, you would know
these names and you'd think of their stories, you'd think of
their lives, you'd think of their families, you'd think of everybody
and everything that went together in their lives. Like, well, Boaz. Boaz. Who's he? Oh, my. He's an important figure. Not
he himself, but the Lord used him. There's none without significance. All vital to the purpose of God,
if we had time and the eyes to see. But there are some names
here you'll recognize. Verse 3, Judas. That's Judah. Judah. Jacob had many sons. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had
many sons. Why is Judah mentioned? Christ
came from the tribe of Judah, didn't He? Why is that? Because
that's what the Lord prophesied. He's the Lion of the tribe of
Judah. Judah was the surety, wasn't it? He was the surety. And Christ is the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. David came from Judah. Our Lord
came from Judah. Judah, verse 5, I mentioned Boaz,
Rahab, Ruth. Boaz was the great-grandfather of David. The great-great-grandfather of
Solomon, king of Israel. Wisdom. When I was Eber, Eber was the
great-great-grandson of Noah. God hadn't changed. We could
see it. It all began in Genesis. It all
began there. The Lord said, This is who I
am. This is the way I do things. I change not. And if you read
between the lines, you'll see nothing's changed. If you're
looking for Him, if you're looking for Christ, you'll find Him.
It's every line. And then verse 11 and 12 here
in Matthew 1, Josiah. Oh, I love his story. Oh, he
found the book. And they were carried away to
Babylon. See that? Carried away to Babylon. Babylon. Well, you know who the Lord used
to bring them out of Babylon? Zerubbabel. That name ring a
bell? Huh? That's Jesus Christ. That's
who that speaks of. Scripture says, He'll lay the
topstone with shouts of grace. Grace unto Zerubbabel shall bring
them out of Babylon. He's the man. Now, as I said,
the Lord told us, or as He said, He told us to avoid endless genealogies. Well, this one here in Matthew
1 ends. This has an end. It mentions
all these names, and then it gets down to verse 16, Jacob
begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,
who is called the Christ. Then it all stops. No more names
need to be mentioned. Here he is. The reason, the purpose
for all these people, for all things, for all stories. Every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. So in our text,
these are the generations back in Genesis 10. The last line says, These are
the generations of the sons, the families of Noah. And after
their generation, their nations, by these were the nations divided
in the earth after the flood. And the whole world came from
Noah, whose name means rest. We looked at Noah, didn't we?
He's a picture of Christ, our resting place. That's all the
peoples of God, every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, blood,
people. I love that thought that God
has a people out of every family on earth because He's merciful. Oh, the height, the depth, the
length, the breadth of the love of God that He loved the world. Not every person in it, but a
people that no man can number. family, every tribe. And that's why all this is given. All roads lead to Him. All things
point to Him. Christ, our final resting place. And may we be found in Him.