Main Question
Scripture repeatedly refers to “The Nations” as adversaries of God’s people. Who are they? Can this toxic relationship be saved?
Main Verse: Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
The Roots
Genesis 1:28
Genesis 3:5
Genesis 4:8
Genesis 4:23
Genesis 6:1-5
Genesis 6:11-13
Genesis 9:1
Genesis 9:6-7
Genesis 9:8-17
Genesis 9:18-27
10:6-14
Genesis 10:21
Genesis 11:1-10
Ephesians 6:12
Deuteronomy 12:30-31
I Corinthians 10:19-22
Daniel 10:12 & 20
Daniel 12:1
Genesis 14:13
Genesis 12:1-7
Genesis 17:1-22
Exodus 19:3-6
Psalm 9:20
Psalm 33:12
2 Samuel 7:12-13
Isaiah 42:6
Isaiah 49:6
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Daniel 7:13-14
Matthew 1:1
Matthew 1:20-22
Matthew 25:31-33
Matthew 26:26-29
Matthew 28:18-20
Romans 1:16
Romans 3:29
Romans 10:12
Galatians 3:28
Ephesians 2:14
Colossians 3:11
Revelation 1:5
Revelation 5:9
Revelation 7:9-10
Revelation 21:23-27
Isaiah 2:4
Man’s Rejection of God
Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 3:5
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 4:8
Cain spoke to Abel his brother.[d] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Genesis 4:23
23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
But Wait, There’s More
Genesis 6:1-5
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in[a] man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim[b] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:11-13
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh,[c] for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Covenant with Noah
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Genesis 9:6-7
“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
7 And you,[a] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
Genesis 9:8-17
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Genesis 9:18-27
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.[b]
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.[c] 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27
May God enlarge Japheth,[d]
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
10:6-14
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.[a] 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom[b] the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
Genesis 10:21
To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.
The Last Straw
Genesis 11:1-10
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
The story stops suddenly and take an abrupt turn. From this point on, throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God’s word views all “The Nations”, except one, as enemies of God.
The rest of Genesis now focuses specifically on Shem’s line. It will keep focusing tighter and tighter on this line from Shem to Abraham, to David, and ultimately to Jesus. Jesus will be the Messiah who will provide a way for all who choose Him to come back in relationship with God.
Shem’s Descendants
10 These are the generations of Shem.
Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:12
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Deuteronomy 12:30-31
Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
Ashtoreh- goddess of Sidonians. Associated with fertility. Linked with Baal. Worshipped through ritual sex and prostitution in public at high places. Priests represented Baal and females from the community represented Ashtoreh. Their act was thought to bring together Baal and Ashtoreh to bring about fertility and prosperity for the community. Solomon built high places for her worship.
Baal- sun, storms, and fertility. Worshipped by cult prostitution and human sacrifice. Baal was thought to bring rain to water crops. When God was upset with Israel for worshipping Baal he caused a drought. He told Elijah to tell Ahab that it would not rain until God allowed it. It didn’t rain for 3 years. God had Elijah to set up a contest with the prophets of Baal. Each was to set up an altar. Baal’s prophets asked Baal to send down fire on the altar without response. Elijah called upon God to send down fire on the altar and God caused such intense fire to come down that it burned up the altar. He then announced that it would rain. It rained in buckets.
Chemosh- god of the Moabites and Ammonites. Worship included human sacrifice.
Re (Egyptian god of sun)- once of the plagues was darkness.
Isis (Egyptian goddess of magic)- Moses threw down his staff and it became a serpent. Strangely the Egyptians were able to do this as well but Moses’ staff/serpent ate theirs! God showing up Isis?
Dagon- the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and put it in the temple of Dagon. They came back the next day and Dagon’s statue was on the floor with head and hands broken off.
Molech- A Caananite/Phoenecian god. Child sacrifice was part of his worship. Carthage in North Africa a Phoenician colony. His worship spread from Phoenicia to Carthage to Greece where he was renamed Kronos. Kronos was a titan and the father of Zeus. It was said that Kronos ate some of his children at their birth. He was also worshipped One of the gods worshipped by Solomon.
I Corinthians 10:19-22
19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Daniel 10: 12 and 20
12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia
20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. 21 But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.
Daniel 12:1
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
Covenant with Abraham
Genesis 11:10
Shem’s Descendants
10 These are the generations of Shem. ( The name Semite is derived from Shem)
Genesis 10:21
To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.
Genesis 14:13
13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks[a] of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram.
Genesis 12:1-7
Now the Lord said[a] to Abram, “Go from your country[b] and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[c]4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak[d] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Genesis 17:1-22
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham,[c] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Covenant With Moses
Exodus 19:3-6
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Psalm 9:20
Put them in fear, O Lord;
Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah.
Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
Covenant with David
2 Samuel 7:12-13
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
The Covenant of Christ
Isaiah 42:6
“I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
Isaiah 49:6
He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My ServantTo raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also make You a light of the nationsSo that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the Lord.
33
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Daniel 7:13-14 (The Son of Man is Given Dominion)
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Matthew 1:1
This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham
Matthew 1:20-22
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).
Matthew 25:31-33
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
Matthew 26:26-29
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Romans 1:16 (Romans 3:29, Romans 10:12, Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 2:14, Colossians 3:11)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Revelation 1:5
5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
Revelation 5:9
9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,and with your blood you purchased for Godpersons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Revelation 7:9-10
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne,and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 21:23-27
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Isaiah 2:4
And He will judge between the nations,
And will render decisions for many peoples;
And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.
Main Verse: Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
Key Takeaways
- God’s plan was for all people to follow Him
- He wanted men to fill the Earth and walk humbly with Him as their God as he blessed them.
- Men rejected God over and over. They didn’t want God to tell them how to live. They wanted to decide their own personal right and wrong.
- They chose not to do right, but the wrong and the Earth was filled with violence.
- They didn’t want God, they wanted to be gods.
- Men then realized they weren’t sufficient so they followed gods who promised to meet these needs if men would worship them and sacrifice to them. They did not bring the things they promised but only death.
- God would not impose his will on men. He wanted them to have a choice to choose Him or not. He allowed the nations of the world to have it their way with themselves and other gods.
- God made a plan to redeem people through one man named Abraham.
- From Abraham’s descendants would come a string of people through whom God would lead his people. There was Moses, then David, but they all paled in comparison to Jesus.
- Jesus had many titles such as Immanuel (God With Us), the Savior of the World, the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Son of God.
- Jesus died for the sins of all who choose Him as their Lord and Savior. There is no longer a dividing line between the people and God and The Nations. All who accept Christ are now the people of God! This is the “healing of the Nations”.
