THE IMPORTANCE OF NATIONS Larry W Peebles December 20, 2019 19.45
In December 1941 my father married my mother on the Saturday evening before the Sunday morning attack at Pearl Harbor. They heard the news of the attack while driving in the car on their honeymoon. Within the next year dad had enlisted in the Army Air Corp, completed basic training, and my mother became pregnant with my older brother. My father shipped out overseas to the Pacific front before my brother was born in 1943. He served as a bomber engine specialist on the islands as the U.S Army made its way toward Japan. When the war was over in 1945, he returned home to meet his two-year old son, who was already walking. I came along in 1948.
Growing up, I heard the stories of his life and adventures in the war. My dad told those stories over and over. I’m sure those events had a huge impact on his life, as he was only 24 when he went off to war. During my teen years, I became rebellious and tired of hearing those stories. My friends who came to the house appeared curious and were certainly polite to listen, but I became mortified as he repeated the stories multiple times to the same friends. I tended to make excuses as to why we needed to leave. When I married and had children, my wife and children heard the same stories repeatedly. I only wanted to shut out the stories. Career and demands of children began to limit our time together, so my father’s stories were only heard on holidays and family gatherings. Many years later two things happened. First, the years brought some maturity on my part, and I became more sensitive to others and less focused on myself. Second, I became more aware of what my father had been through-the drain and sacrifice on his life, and the global impact of the war.
Shortly after my father retired, he and mom came to see us in Florida. We took them to Disney, and spent the day in the Epcot amusement park. At the America pavilion, I saw something that changed my understanding. The show ended with the performers singing God Bless America, and the National Anthem. I saw my father stand to attention, with tears rolling down his cheeks. I realized then he was a true patriot. He had sacrificed his career, his plans, and his time with a brand new wife and baby boy, all to serve his country half-way around the world. His sacrifice ensured my freedom. He loved this nation. It was important to him. I would never hear those old stories the same way again.
Nations are also important to God. The very concept of a nation comes out of His infinite mind. The Bible gives us clues as to the formation of the nations. When Cain killed Able, God determined his punishment. He drove Cain out of his home land with a mark on him so that he would not be killed. In Genesis 4:16- “So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” Cain and his descendants then existed as perhaps the first tribe or nation to split off. With Cain gone and Able dead, Adam and Eve had another son, Seth the source of the linage through Enoch, Methuselah, down to Noah. When the flood occurred in Noah’s generation, the tenth generation from Adam and Eve, all of Cain’s descendants were wiped out. As the earth re-populated from the descendants of Noah’s three sons, other nations were formed. Genesis 9:19 says- “These were the three sons of Noah [Shem, Ham and Japheth], and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.” More of these nations are detailed in Genesis Chapter 10. The nations began to speak different languages following the incident at the Tower of Babel in Genesis Chapter 11.
Ten generations from Noah’s son Shem, the Bible records that two more significant steps in the development of nations occurred. First, in Genesis Chapter 12: 1-2- “Now the Lord said to Abram [Abraham] ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great.’” He repeated the blessing of a “great and mighty nation” in Genesis 18:18. Twice in Genesis 17 (verses 4 and 5), God called Abraham the “father of many nations”. Abraham had a son Isaac and a grandson named Jacob. God blessed Isaac and also told him “in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 26:4). He also told Isaac’s wife Rebekah “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples shall be separated from your body.” (Genesis 25:23) One of Rebekah’s sons was Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and his twelve sons became the twelve Tribes of Israel. Following a long and tumultuous history involving Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian captivity (to name only a few), Israel once again became a modern nation in 1948.
Secondly, Abraham had a son from Hagar, his wife Sarah’s Egyptian hand maiden. The boy was named Ishmael. Although Abraham and Sarah had the promise of a son, Ishmael was the result of Sarah’s plan, not God’s promise. Sarah became jealous of Hagar and Ishmael, and made things very difficult for her. When Hagar ran away, God found her in the wilderness and told her to go back. Thirteen years later when Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah, Abraham became concerned as to what would happen to Ishmael. In Genesis 17:20, God told Abraham-“And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” These descendants were known as the Ishmaelites.
From the beginning, we can see God’s plan for the nations. These days there is much discussion regarding one-world government, religion, economy and currency, and open borders. This does not seem in keeping with the pattern of nations set out by God. In addition to the scriptures above which clearly show His plan to establish nations, consider these twelve references:
- In Jeremiah 18, God told Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house and tell Him what he saw. From that story came the old hymn “Have Thine Own Way”, which contains the line “Thou art the potter, I am the clay.” However, Jeremiah 18:7 clearly says the clay is likened to “nations…and kingdoms”. The example of clay in the potter’s hands was not about individuals, it was about the nations. Jeremiah 25: 15 and 31 declare God will judge the nations. The nations are in the hands of God. He molds and shapes them, and if He judges the nations and is displeased with their shape, he can pound them down and start over to re-shape them.
- Psalm 2 is a prophetic Psalm speaking of Jesus. Verse 8 says-“Ask of Me [the Father], and I will give you [Jesus] the nations for your inheritance.” The nations are the inheritance of Jesus. He earned and is entitled to the nations by His blood purchase. The nations are His important reward.
- Acts 17:26- “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings” [the area to be occupied by each nation]. God created us, and has set us into our time and place (nation), including its boundaries.
- Psalm 22:28- “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations.”
- Psalm 33:12- “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
- Isaiah 2:4- “He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people.” There are differences between nations, which God knows and judges. See also Joel 3:2, and Zechariah 12:9.
- Isaiah 66:18- “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see my glory.”
- Philippians 2:10-11-“One day every knee will bow… and every tongue (tribe, nation) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
- Ezekiel 38:23- “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
- Daniel 7:13-14-“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages (tongues) should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”
- Matthew 25:31-32- “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”
- Revelation 22:2- From John’s vision-“In the middle of its streets [New Jerusalem], and on either side of the river [of life], was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruits every month. The leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations.”
The nations are important to God. He established them, and gave them their boundaries. He builds them up, and can tear them down to start over. He blesses them. He rules over them, and puts their rulers in place. One day every nation will know He is God and worship Him. The nations are Jesus’ reward/inheritance. A nation may have a president or a king, but Jesus is the King of Kings. One day He will judge the nations.
Who are we to tinker with the nations, to shuffle and mix them as though they were a deck of cards? Who are we to say that there should only be one nation? Any plan or institution of man that creates a one-world government or religion would fall woefully short of God’s design. He will heal any nation that will choose to let Him do so. The body of evidence in the Scriptures strongly suggests the nations are too important to God that man should trifle with God’s creation and His plan. Woe to the nation who rules without consulting the Lord. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 33:12).
