Recap: One Blood, Many Nations
In the first sermon, we established that all men on the face of the earth are descended from one man — Adam — and that all the various nations, tribes, and language groups of the world originated at the Tower of Babel, approximately one hundred years after the flood of Noah, when God supernaturally confounded the languages and scattered the people across the earth. Language, not colour, was the original dividing point of the nations.
The Table of Nations: Genesis 10
Genesis chapter 10 — called the Table of Nations — is the most accurate historical record of the origin of the peoples of the world in existence. It traces the descendants of Noah’s three sons in remarkable detail. The chapter is sometimes puzzling because it describes the descent of the nations before chapter 11 tells us how the scattering happened. This is simply the biblical literary method: the Holy Spirit gives the full record first, then the account of how it came to pass.
Genesis 10:25 records that one of Eber’s sons was named Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided. Peleg means division. His name was given to him to commemorate the event of Genesis 11 — the scattering of the nations from Babel. This places the Tower of Babel event within Peleg’s lifetime, just a few generations after the flood, when the great-great-grandson of Shem was already alive. The world is far younger than the evolutionists claim.
God Predestinated the Times and Boundaries of Every Nation
When Acts 17:26 says that God hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, it means that God predetermined in eternity — before the world even existed — exactly when each nation would come into being, how long it would last, where its borders would lie, and when those borders would change. Men think they determine these things with maps and treaties and wars. They do not. They simply fulfil what the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth predetermined before time began.
This applies to every nation in every age. The borders of South Africa changed in Willcock’s own lifetime when the former homelands — Transkei, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana, and Venda — were reincorporated into South Africa. Wicked men brought it to pass, sometimes with violence and bloodshed. But the Lord had determined the times before appointed, and it occurred precisely when God had ordained it would in eternity past. Nothing is by chance.
The Three Great Divisions of Mankind: Japheth, Shem, and Ham
All the nations of the world fall into three broad divisions corresponding to the three sons of Noah. Japheth was the eldest, and his descendants formed the Indo-European peoples who settled Europe and much of Asia. The traces of this are still visible in the names of nations and cities: Togarmah in Turkey, Gomer in France and Wales, Magog in the Scythian lands of Romania and Ukraine, Madai in the Medes and in India and Iran, Javan in Greece, Tarshish in Spain, Tubal in Georgia and Tobolsk, Meshech in Moscow.
Ham’s descendants settled mainly in Africa and South-West Asia. Africa is directly called the land of Ham in the Psalms. Ham’s son Cush was the father of the Ethiopians; his son Mizraim was the ancestor of the Egyptians (the Hebrew word for Egypt is Mizraim); his son Canaan settled the land God later gave to Israel. Nimrod, the great rebel and first king of Babylon, descended from Ham through Cush, and it was he who masterminded the Tower of Babel and the counterfeit mother-and-child religion that subsequently spread in various forms to every part of the world.
The Semitic peoples — the nations of the Middle East — descended from Shem. His son Asher was the father of the Assyrians; his son Arphaxad the father of the Chaldeans; his descendant Eber gave his name to the Hebrew nation. Through Eber and Peleg and the line traced in Genesis 11:10–26, the direct descent from Shem to Abraham can be followed precisely — a record of such historical accuracy that nothing comparable exists in any ancient literature.
The Curse of Canaan: A Distorted Text Corrected
Noah’s prophecy regarding Canaan has been grotesquely distorted throughout history to justify the enslavement and subjugation of African peoples, on the grounds that they are the descendants of Ham and therefore under God’s curse. This interpretation is entirely wrong and must be corrected.
First, the curse rested specifically on Canaan — one of Ham’s sons — not on Ham’s other sons and not on Ham himself. Second, it was fulfilled precisely and specifically in the Canaanite nations, who became servants to the descendants of Shem (Israel) and Japheth exactly as prophesied. Third, African peoples are not predominantly descended from Canaan — they descend from Cush, Mizraim, and Put, the other sons of Ham. The curse of Canaan has no application whatsoever to the African nations, and to use it as theological justification for racism or slavery is a deliberate distortion of Scripture.
Conclusion: No Racial Distinctions in Christ
Whatever racial distinctions exist in the world outside the church — and they are real, they are God-ordained, and they will not be erased by any conference — within the body of Christ there are none. All who are in Christ are one. The gospel does not target one nation and exclude another. It is the good news of salvation for all whom God has chosen from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation.