The Bible Storyline – Lesson 13 – September 6, 2026 – Gen 10

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The Bible Storyline – Lesson 13 – September 6, 2026 – Genesis 10 – Nations

Back From Our Break

This sermon returns our focus to the Bible Storyline. We paused this series for the month of August to focus our services around prayer and praying. Now we return.

The Bible Storyline

Through this series, you are learning to read the Bible as one BIG Story about God’s unstoppable plan. Every story in the Bible is connected to God’s BIG Story.

The previous lessons have established that God is fulfilling an unstoppable plan to:

 

• Defeat Evil
• Restore Creation
• Establish His Kingdom on Earth

 

God created His own Kingdom that consisted of angels in Heaven and later humans and animals on earth.

God’s Earthly Kingdom

God created the earth to be mankind’s permanent home, where God would dwell with His people. He created mankind in His image and after His likeness, meaning we were to reflect His character while ruling over creation under His authority.

Then God commanded Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” As they multiplied, the earth was to become filled with people bearing God’s image, reflecting His character and living under His rule.

That is what God’s earthly Kingdom was designed to look like: the earth filled with God’s image bearers, living under the authority of their Creator and exercising the dominion He gave them.

Genesis 1:26–28 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

War In Heaven

Before there was sin on earth, there was sin in Heaven.

Lucifer was the highest ranking angel in Heaven. He was very beautiful as well. However, he was not satisfied with his position.

Lucifer became jealous of God and wanted to replace God and rule over God’s kingdom.

The Bible reports Lucifer’s rebellion through five ‘I will’ statements found in Isaiah 14.

Isaiah 14:13–14 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

 

Lucifer’s five ‘I will’ statements:

• I will ascend into heaven
• I will exalt my throne above the stars of God
• I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north
• I will ascend above the heights of the clouds
• I will be like the most High

Lucifer convinced one third of the angels to join his rebellion, but they were defeated by Michael the Archangel and cast out of Heaven down to earth.

Revelation 12:4 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

 

Revelation 12:7–9 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

War On Earth

After Lucifer was banished to the earth, he immediately started trying to establish his own kingdom here. Our previous sermons identified four objectives he is fighting for.

Four objectives:

• Territory
• Dominion
• People
• Worship

 

Territory — Psalm 24:1

Psalm 24:1 1 The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Satan is unable to establish a kingdom without a territory. He cannot create his own, so he comes after God’s kingdom on earth.

Dominion — Genesis 1:26

Genesis 1:26 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…

Satan wants to rule over a territory, to have authority and a throne. So he caused mankind to sin and lose the dominion God rightfully gave us.

Worship — Luke 4:7

Luke 4:7 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

Satan desires worship. Only God is to be worshiped, but Satan desires to replace God. He even tried to bribe Jesus to worship him.

People

Territory is just land unless there are people to rule over. Satan wants citizens of his kingdom to rle over, and people who will worship him.

Satan’s Partial Victory

When Lucifer convinced Adam and Eve to rebel against God instead of image God, he won a partial victory.

Satan has become the prince and power of the air, the god of this world.

2 Corinthians 4:4 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

 

Ephesians 2:2 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Lucifer is not equal with God in power or authority, but he does temporarily have limited authority on earth.

Two Kingdoms

From the time Adam and Eve sinned, the earth was divided into two kingdoms:

 

• Kingdom of God
• Kingdom of Satan

 

Prior to the fall — a reference to Adam and Eve’s sin — every person born into the world would have been born into the Kingdom of God.

After the fall, every person born into the world is born into the kingdom of Satan. This means there must be an intentional and radical change.

Jesus explains this in John 3:3 when He is talking to Nicodemus.

John 3:3 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In this conversation Jesus shows there is a radical change, a new birth into a new kingdom.

Jesus also proclaimed that the change must be intentional.

Mark 1:14–15 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Jesus declared that we must make an intentional decision to leave the kingdom of Satan and be born again into the Kingdom of God. The apostles continued teaching this as a vital part of the gospel.

Acts 3:19 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

The Gospel Introduced

Genesis 3:15 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed…

God announced that there would now be two opposing seeds and that a coming Seed of the woman would ultimately crush the serpent.

From that point forward, the Bible Storyline follows the conflict between two kingdoms.

God is moving His plan forward to redeem mankind, restore the earth, destroy Satan’s power, and establish His Kingdom on earth through the promised Seed.

Cain & Abel

That conflict became visible almost immediately.

Cain murdered Abel. But the death of Abel did not stop God’s plan. God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth, and the line through which the promised Seed would come continued.

As mankind multiplied, sin multiplied with it. Eventually the earth became so corrupt and violent that God judged mankind with the Flood.

God’s Unstoppable Plan

God preserved Noah and his family through the Flood. When they stepped out of the ark, God repeated the command to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:1 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

God is still actively working out His plan to:

• Defeat Evil
• Restore Creation
• Establish His Kingdom on Earth

What Came Next?

Every person born after the Flood descended from Noah’s three sons:

• Shem
• Ham
• Japheth

That brings us to Genesis 10.

Genesis 10 traces the descendants of those three sons as their families became peoples and nations.

Table of Nations

Genesis 10 has its own nickname: the “Table of Nations.”

For the entire rest of the Old Testament, and into the New Testament, we will be introduced to a number of nations and people groups, such as:

• Egyptians
• Canaanites
• Assyrians
• Babylonians
• Medo-Persia
• Romans

Genesis 10 shows that every nation and people group came from one of Noah’s three sons.

Think of this chapter like a “Table of Contents” in a book, notes, or handout. The table of contents organizes and catalogs information. In this case, all the nations of the earth are connected to Genesis 10 because they descended from the sons of Noah.

Up to this point in our series, the Bible has focused on individuals and families. This is a turning point where the Bible introduces nations that fill the earth.

Genesis 10:1 1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Genesis 10:32 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

At this time, all the nations of the earth speak the same language, as we are told in Genesis 11:1.

Genesis 11:1 1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Side Note

Genesis 10 and 11 do not sit in strict chronological order. Genesis 10 speaks of people being divided by four categories:

Four categories:

• Families — relationships
• Land — geography
• Nations — larger clans and political groups
• Tongues — language

Genesis 10:31 31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

In Genesis 10, the people of the earth have already developed into nations. They are spreading over the earth, living in different lands, and speaking different languages. Chapter 11 describes when and why the different languages came about. That is the subject of our next sermon.

The Bible Storyline — Nations

Throughout the Bible, nations are a vital part of God’s unstoppable plan. A Christian must understand God’s plan for and love for the nations of the earth in order to fulfill our role in His Kingdom.

In Deuteronomy 32:8 we learn that God:

• Divided the people into nations
• Determined their geographical boundaries

Deuteronomy 32:8 8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

This means God is sovereign over the nations.

Christians are familiar with the idea that God gave Israel their land. He assigned them to a geographical area such as the land of Canaan. A Christian must maintain a biblical worldview about other nations and the land God assigned them.

In Deuteronomy 2, God was leading the people of Israel from Egypt to their promised land. He commanded them to leave the descendants of Esau alone, for He gave Mount Seir to them.

Deuteronomy 2:4–5 4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

God is involved with the nations of the earth. His plan is to bring all nations into His Kingdom. The apostle Paul made this clear in Galatians 3:8.

Galatians 3:8 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

The prophet Isaiah saw God’s unstoppable plan to save the nations.

Isaiah 2:2–4 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

The prophet Daniel saw this and proclaimed it.

Daniel 7:13–14 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

These prophets understood that God’s kingdom is for all nations, not Israel alone. His purpose for the nation of Israel was to bless all nations of the earth and bring them under the dominion and authority of the Kingdom of God.

God teaches this when He declares to Abraham that in him all families of the earth will be blessed — a blessing fulfilled in the coming of Jesus through the bloodline of Abraham, with salvation extending to all nations.

Genesis 12:3 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Jesus Himself emphasized the role of nations in God’s plan.

John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Matthew 28:18–20 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We also learn in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, that God enabled every man to hear the gospel of Jesus in his own language. Every nation was able to hear the word of God.

Nations in Eternity

Nations are not a temporary part of life. They will exist in eternity.

Revelation 7:9–10 9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Revelation 21:25–26 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

The Tree of Life is present in Heaven for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22:2 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Application

The Bible teaches us to see the nations the way God sees them. To love the nations the way God loves them.

God’s kingdom is being made up of the nations of the world who will all come to know, love, serve, and worship God.

Consider this week how you will pray for and reach the nations for the glory of God.The Bible Storyline – Lesson 13 – September 6, 2026 – Gen 10