Monday 15 April 2013

Genesis Chapter 10 and 11 by Dr. Thomas Chung dated 14.4.13

Introduction  
The first 11 chapters of Genesis deal with the “1st Chapter” of God’s Creation. Genesis chapter 10 and 11 deal with the transition. Transition usually retains the old and going into the new. E.g Beethoven’s music marked the transition of the romantic period. Genesis chapter 11 deals with “2nd Chapter” of God’s plan, the call of Abraham. This chapter lasted for 2000 years. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Abraham’s sons were Ismael, Isaac, and Jacob. “2nd Chapter ended with the coming of Jesus Christ. “3rd Chapter was when Jesus came. “4th Chapter was when the angels sounded the trumpets.
Birthing of Nations 
The sons of Noah and Abraham gave birth to the nations.( Genesis 10 ). At the beginning they had one language only and perhaps they spoke other dialects too. The families became clans. All the people were descendants of Noah’s three sons.  
Birthing of Kingdoms 
With the birth of nations there were also birthing of Kingdoms. They were a) kingdom of Satan b) Kingdom of Man and c) Kingdom of God. All the Kingdoms were affected by the death of Jesus. Christians are transformed from the Kingdom of darkness to Kingdom of light. 
Genesis 11:3 talks about the Kingdom of man where buildings were built with bricks and mortar.
Attributes of the fallen that God hated  
In Genesis 11:4 we can read of these attributes. 
a) Self centeredness of man. “I” took the place of God. Man thinks he is greater than God. This leads to all sort of problems.
b) Deficiency of man. Man challenged God. He wants to build the tower to reach the heaven. Today’s scientists are like this, they thought they knew better. They mocked God. E.g John Lennon the famous Beatle who mocked God and later was short to death.
c) Pride of man. He wants to make a name for himself. He wants to be well know, famous. 
d) Conspiracy of man. Man conspired to gain power to do evil. Gen 11:6 man acted like nothing is impossible for him, he wanted to build a tower reaching the heaven. Seem like the sky is the limit. Earlier people spoke only one language, but due to man’s sins God confused their language and they could not understand each other. Gen 11:8 the word “babel” means to confuse. 
Forced Migration 
After God confused their language, the effect was a kind of forced migration. People started to leave their home land and migrated to all parts of the world. Even today we witness such migration due to wars and other causes. Perhaps God had plans for such migration?  
Three Nations 
2 Chronicle 20 – three nations, the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites came together to fight the Jews. The Jews prayed and fasted. God sent confusions to the armies and they ended fighting each others. 2 Chronicles 20:22-23. Dawn of the Kingdom of God The Kingdom of God started with Abraham. Gen 12:1-2. It was the call of Abraham. God blessed Abraham and he blessed others. Similarly God bless us so that we can bless others. 
Revelation 11:15
The “4th Chapter.
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” 
We have to receive Jesus in us, otherwise our lives are meaningless. We need to receive Jesus in our hearts.

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