Have you ever been overwhelmed looking at a very complex map of a city you're going to? You're heading there and you want to have a sense of the lay of the land. And so you open to a big city. Maybe it's Houston. Maybe it's Dallas. Maybe it's New York City. And you see just roads going everywhere. Roads going this way, roads going that way. And it looks like somebody just dropped a bunch of noodles of spaghetti on a piece of paper and just started tracing it out and decided to build roads accordingly. And you've never been there before. You just see freeways intersecting with others and circling all in different directions. And by being overwhelmed by it, you decide, though, that after taking a few minutes with the map, you're able in spending time with it to make things clearer than they were at first because you can see how things can break down in terms of the neighborhoods. So you're looking at the map as a whole, and, well, this part of the city is this neighborhood, and this part of the city is this neighborhood. And after looking at it even closer, you can see, well, this freeway goes from east to west, and another goes from north to south. And you're able to break down maybe some major rivers or parks that this map features. And then all of a sudden, while you might not have known anything beforehand about the city, and while by no means is it now easy for you to navigate after spending some time with it, It's clearer than it was beforehand. You might even note nearby cities that it's close to, or if it's near a border, what state it borders. I think sometimes genealogies can feel like very complex maps. Especially this one in Genesis 10, because it's a long genealogy. It's like a map to a complex city. Lots of names we don't recognize, or streets, if you will, to keep the analogy. Not only names we don't recognize, but that we have to look at three or four times to even pronounce. And they seem to be just listed back to back. These were the sons, and here are all these names, and what's going on here? And some of it, most of it maybe, can seem meaningless. What's going on? There are, though, unusual and important features of biblical genealogy that do stand out and that cause us to zoom in for a closer look, because this isn't the only one we've seen before. In Genesis 5, there was a long one. And in Genesis 4, Cain's descendants were given to us. And so here we arrive at another one. There are three parts to the genealogy as a whole, and it's framed by verses 1 and 32. So I'm going to actually deal with verses 1 and 32 first so that we'll see what's on the inside. And I want you to think of verse 1 and verse 32 as like a package that you're going to open. And it's the wrapping. And so we're going to look at this wrapping of the package and then say, well, I wonder what's inside. And there are three important things. You'll see in verses 2 to 5, the descendants of a son named Japheth. That should sound familiar because we've just looked at the story of Noah. This is one of Noah's sons. And then in verses 6 to 20, the second thing we'll see are descendants from Ham, which is also one of Noah's three sons. And then the last son of Noah is featured in verses 21 to 31. And so as we unwrap this package we'll see in verses 21 to 31 the descendants of Shem. These sons of Noah are unpacked for us in terms of their descendants. So at least three names should ring a bell because of prior weeks together. Here's what's interesting about this genealogy. The sons of Noah are given in a particular order each time we've seen them before this. Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The genealogy, though, gives the descendants in reverse. Japheth first, then Ham, and then Shem. So that's an important feature to note, that it's reversing it. And the reason it ends with Shem is very, very important. Not all of them get very long treatments. In fact, the first little set there in verses 2 to 5 isn't very long at all. Series of names, series of descendants. to 20 is the longest section, given to the son Ham. And hopefully you remember last week that he's the wicked son, and he did an evil deed in Genesis 9. And so his offspring Cain was cursed. And so there are very interesting features in verses 6 to 20 that we want to observe. We won't deal with every verse in detail, just because we don't have many things to say about each of these names, but they are here for a reason. And then verses 21 to 31, belongs to Shem. And we saw last week in Genesis 9, he is blessed. And his tents are blessed. And that was a picture of saying his family and all that come from his family will be blessed of God in this particular line. And we understand this will ultimately result in the Messiah, who will be the ultimate blessing for the nations. And so the existence of Shem's line is important. Let me give a couple other introductory remarks. Scholars have counted the names and nations here. There are 70 total. This is not insignificant, because it's a multiplication of 7 and 10, which are important numbers in Israel's history. What I want us to observe is, not only have the sons' names been reversed for a particular reason, but a certain number of descendants have been included for a particular reason. 70. Some scholars call this the Table of Nations. So maybe you've heard that before in describing Genesis 10. This would be the Table of Nations. Many peoples and nations are here. What we'll observe in verses 6 to 20 though, the main section, the central section, the longest section that deals with that descendant Ham from Noah. From Ham come key enemies of Israel. And so we need to ask ourselves an important question in our minds as we go through. Why would this have been important for the readers of Genesis? The reason is the readers of Genesis and Moses' generation, those Israelites were going to be heading to the promised land. They've been delivered from Egypt. And the Lord is going to, through this genealogy, show them enemies that they're going to be encountering and where they came from. and enemies they've been delivered from and where they came from as well. And they will also be able to trace their own line, and we'll see that in the third son. Seventy nations, sons, offspring given in reverse. If you hold those two things in your head, you're looking at a complex map, and you're doing very well. Those are two big features in looking at this that we want to keep in mind. So let's look at the package in verses 1 and 32. What is wrapped around these genealogies? There's a couple statements here. It says in verse 1, these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So those sons are named for you in the order they're traditionally given. Shem, Ham, Japheth. He said sons were born to them after the flood. So what you're to expect is that verses 2 and onward are going to give you those sons that were born after the flood. So let me just make a remark that on the ark there was no procreation going on. The sons of Noah and their wives were on the ark, but they were not bearing descendants until afterward. And two by two of every animal were on the ark, but in Genesis 9, the procreation of the animals wasn't reestablished and recommissioned for them until after the ark as well. And so if you will, the Lord had intended to populate the earth with image bearers and animals bearing the breath of life, but during the judgment of the ark, that ceased and then was reinstituted afterward in Genesis 9. What you have then, in chapter 10, is a great statement and table of nations showing they were fruitful and multiplied. And they filled the earth with image bearers from these three sons of Noah. Look at verse 32. In a way, this is a summary statement, but it goes right back to the same idea. These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies and their nations. And from these, the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. I want to make one remark more about this spreading across the lands of these nations. We're going to see next Sunday morning this very interesting story on the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. I can't wait for that. That's going to be exciting. But in Genesis 11, there are not nations spread with their various languages across the earth. So we want to make a statement about chronology here. Chapter 10 is giving the full sweep of things, showing that as things progressed, eventually things did spread and people had their own languages elsewhere. But during the real-time manifestations in Genesis 10's genealogy, Chapter 11 is wrapped up in that. So it's not as if Chapter 10 comes to a close and then Chapter 11 happens. It's wrapped up in the events of Chapter 10. as those nations are descending. So you ready? We've opened the package. Here we go. Verses 2 to 5. The sons of Japheth. Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshach, and Tyros. I have nothing to say about those names. But to say in verse 3, one of those names is brought down. Gomer. That first one that was mentioned from Japheth. Gomer's sons are given. Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. And then the sons of Javan, which was one of those others of Japheth in verse 2, he's brought down Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, Dodonim. You say, what am I supposed to get from these names? Verse 5 helps us here. From these, the coastland people spread in their lands, each with his own language by their clans in their nations. Later in the prophets, in particular, the book of Isaiah, the coastland peoples were a way of coding the Gentiles. And there was this hope that the servant of the Lord, the suffering servant in Isaiah 42 onward, would incorporate these coastland peoples and that these peoples, by the way of the sea, in particular in Genesis 9, will have seen a great light. And in, excuse me, in Isaiah 9, would have seen a great light. In Isaiah 9, this is the great hope of the Messiah, whose government will be on his shoulders, and whose rule will have no end, and who will be called Wonderful Counselor and all these things, and he will be a light for the nations. These nations are going to be wrapped up in this. Now notice they're Japheth's descendants. Let's remind ourselves about the blessing from the end of chapter 9. He says in verse 27, let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem. I argued last week that was a way of saying that these Gentiles who are going to have their own clans and nations and languages, they're going to be wrapped up in the people of God. And we see this to be the case because we're Gentiles. We're in a way the descendants of Japheth dwelling in the tents of Shem. where people have been branches grafted in to the root and the trunk, if you use the image of Romans 11. These are the things true for the people of God. And I think that this is representing Gentile activity. But that's not where the narrator wants to get to. Verse 6 and following give us the second item in this package that we've opened. And they're the descendants of him. And what I want to just point out, by observing something overall with these names, is that there are the enemies of God here. And the reason that matters is because the Israelites, who are reading Genesis and getting this word from Moses, have come from Egypt, they've been delivered from captivity, and they're heading by, ultimately, Joshua's leadership into the Promised Land. They're going to cross that Jordan, and they're going to have to subdue and exercise dominion over the Canaanites. because the seed of the serpent existed even after the flood. And it went on through the descendants of Ham in particular. So look in verse 6. The sons of Ham, Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. Canaan should sound familiar because that was the one under judgment in Genesis 9. Noah judged his grandson who would be born through Ham. That grandson's name was Canaan. Well here are some sons of Cush in verse 7. Habilah, Sabtah, Rahmah, and Sabtechah, the sons of Rahmah, Sheba, and Dedan. There's a different direction that the text takes now in verse 8. Cush, who was a son of Ham in verse 6, He fathers a guy named Nimrod. Now here's an interesting feature about genealogies. Sometimes you get just one name after another, back to back to back. And it feels just monotonous after a while because these names, some of them don't even appear anywhere else in the whole Bible. No story is connected to them, no great act, no evil act either necessarily. But then sometimes you get to a spot in the genealogy where the narrator elaborates. And that's when you really got to lean in and say, what's going on here? Why the pause in giving descendants? And why the focus on this guy? Look in verse 9 here. He, Nimrod, or verse 8, he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. In other words, he gained a reputation now before the Lord here, I don't think should mean in honor of the Lord and in service to the Lord because of what he is going to do. I take this to mean with the Lord viewing this with the awareness of and before the Lord, because in a way, when we do things, we do them before the Lord. This isn't taken to necessarily be a positive thing. And so he's viewed to be a mighty man here, a mighty hunter before him. And in verse 10, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Why does that matter? Because of next Sunday morning. In Genesis 11, we're going to deal with the Tower of Babel. And this guy Nimrod was a part of it. So the Tower of Babel, again, was a bad idea. And we'll see that. Now, who does this guy wrapped up into that architecture of it and the making of it? Who did he come from? Him. He came from the seat of the serpent, if you will. He represents opposition to God. And the word Nimrod, by the way, means rebel. Not the top choice for naming children, I would submit to you. I mean, if we want people to live according to their name in some way, this parent has named their child Rebel. And indeed, he lived out that name. In verse 10, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and then Erech, Echad, Kalneh, and the land of Shinar. Well, the word Shinar is in 11 verse 2. As the people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. So there's some connection to Genesis 11. But look what happens next in chapter 10 here. In verse 11, from that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh. The Assyrians are going to feature very negatively in the history of the Israelites later on. In fact, in 722 BC, the Assyrians are going to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel after it had split into the northern and southern kingdoms. And so we're already being prepared as readers of the Bible that from this very dark and ominous line, there are enemies of God here. Nineveh, of course we know this for the city famous with the story of Jonah. capital of Assyria. Rehobothir in Kala and in verse 12, resin between Nineveh and Kala, that is the great city. Look at verse 13, Egypt followed Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Nathuthim. Well, yeah. In verse 14, Hathorsim and Kazluhim, from whom, look in verse 14, the Philistines came. More enemies of Israel here. So in other words, not every one of these names should be abundantly significant to you. But some of them should stand out because of stories you know. And you need to know, as the Israelites were being told from Moses, this is where they came from. And the line of their descent really does matter. Look in verse 15. Canaan. So here's the cursed one, right? Father Sidon, his firstborn in Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Archites, the Sinaites, the Arvidites, the Zemurites, and the Hamathites. Afterward, the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admon, Zeboim, as far as Lasha. I mean, some of those names, especially Sodom, Gomorrah, those are ones in Genesis 18 and 19 that have judgment decreed on them. as well as Adma and Zeboim, nearby towns that were affected by the judgment as well. What is something else we can say about these clans, these Canaanite descendants? Those names come up again for the Israelites, and they really do matter in passages like Genesis 15. Because in Genesis 15, Abraham has dwelled and walked through the promised land that the Israelites are eventually going to go to. And in Genesis 15, several chapters after that happens, verses 19 to 21, says that this land from the from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, God is going to give Abraham's offspring. But that land is not vacant. Now, it's one thing if the Lord were to promise them land and then nobody was living there and they could just go. But Abraham is told this land is going to be yours. But there are people there. Who are they? In verse 19, Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Amorites. In verse 21, Canaanites, Girgashites, Jebusites. In other words, the descendants of Canaan are there. who are ultimately descendants of Ham, that the narrator has connected to the seed of the serpent, and now the people of God are going to have to exercise dominion and prevail over them because there are enemies of God there, and they don't worship God there in Canaan. Those nations and those clans and their languages are idolaters to the core, and Israel knows the one true God, and God is going to bring them into that land. Look in verse 20 of our chapter this morning. These are the sons of Ham by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. One of the things we can say before moving to this third part of the package is that these names are also connected to languages and connected to nations. So you see several things mentioned. Sometimes you see an individual, sometimes you see a language, sometimes you see a nation. The firstborn son of Shem is saved for last. Now, why is this the case? This is going to be important for Genesis as a whole. Genesis as a whole, when giving genealogies and descendants, gives the elect line last. Which is why the descendants of Cain in Genesis 4 were given before the line of Seth in Genesis 5. And that's why here you see the order reversed, because the elect line is given prominence. The descendants of Shem, or Shemites, or Semites will be the Semitic people who descend from Shem. You see the people of Israel then, the Jews, the Hebrews are going to come from this line. This line is given prominence because the Israelites are now, having been saved from Egypt and redeemed, are going to be heading into the Promised Land and they're going to be shown that they are indeed the people of God. And this genealogy conveys this very loudly. And so, if you will, it's like in chapter 10, verse 1, the volume was on really low. And gradually, the narrator has been turning up the volume, okay? Turning up the volume. And now, when you get to the line of Shem, things are just blaring for us, where the Israelites know that this is who we are and where we came from. In other words, the tents of Shem are very wide. And the hope for the Gentiles is that there's room for us. And God has incorporated us into the tents of Shem because we're descendants of that son Japheth. Okay, so you ready? Here's the third thing in the package in verse 22, or verse 21. To Shem also, the father of the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. Now, this is the only name in the genealogy that has a descendant later on brought up to that first line. I mean, Eber appears later, is what I'm saying, in the genealogy. But for an important reason, he's brought up here. Because Eber is where the Hebrews are going to come from. This person, Eber, is going to matter for the genealogical linking in history for the people of Israel. Hebrews, they came from Eber, this son, or descendant of Shem. In verse 22, here are some sons. Elam, Asher, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram. In verse 23, here are some sons of that last one just mentioned, of Aram. Uz, Hul, Gether, Mash, and then one of those other sons in verse 22, Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. So there's that name, Eber. The reason that matters is because Eber has two sons. In verse 25, the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, which may mean the Tower of Babel had happened at that point, I think, and his brother's name, Joktan. So the Hebrews descended through one of these sons. There's Joktan and this first one, Peleg. Peleg isn't mentioned anymore in our chapter this morning. Just the descendants of Joktan are given. But do you know what happens after the Tower of Babel? All of a sudden, some descendants of Shem in verse 10 of chapter 11 are given for us. And in verse 16 of chapter 11, Aber, father's Peleg, that name is given again. And then Peleg's descendants are followed from verses 17 onward. And you know who Peleg's descendants lead to? They lead to Abraham. They lead to Abraham. The reason this matters is because this guy, Eber, has two sons, and the first genealogy of the son that's traced out is Joctan, and that's not the elect line. In fact, I'm going to argue next week that because in verse 30, the territory of these people was in the direction of the country of the east, And in chapter 11-2, there was a plain in the east that people were migrating to. I'm going to argue that some of the descendants of Shem, who were disobedient to God, began getting wrapped up in Nimrod's design in the east, in the land of Shinar, building the Tower of Babel. But not all the descendants of Shem disobeyed. There's this faithful line through Eber, Peleg's line, it leads straight to Abraham. Now, I know I'm throwing a lot of names at you because genealogies are a complex map, but the identity of the Israelites is important here. And I've argued from chapter 10 at the beginning, so is the hope of the Gentiles. And so you might not have imagined genealogies could be so relevant for you, but I assure you they are because your deliverer came from them. He comes from them. The Lord has kept his promise. And while there were people who were disobeying and while enemies of God were crouching up and rising to oppose, oh, there was this faithful remnant that one gave birth to so-and-so and another was born and another was born. And so without great fanfare and pomp and circumstance going on in the world, there was this godly line of people that kept going and going and going from the line of Shem, from the line of Shem. And it says here in verse 26, here's our chapter again, chapter 10-26, Joctan fathered Almadad, and Sheleth, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadorim, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimelel, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Habilah, and Jobab, and all these were sons of Joctan. In verse 30, the territory in which they lived extended from Misha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. The east language matters in Genesis so far because when things started going eastward, that was away from the garden. That's the direction Adam and Eve were expelled. And that's the direction Cain went in Genesis 4, driven out eastward. And so the direction matters here in the chapters beforehand because they prepared us. If you keep going east, that's not a good place. And you know Lot's going to keep going east. in his relations with Abraham, when they part, he's going to keep going east. He's going to be going towards Sodom and Gomorrah. And so things are not good in that particular direction. It's one of those little narrative cues that prepares the reader for something bad that's going to happen. And what happens in chapter 11 is they build an anti-temple, if you will. full of idolatry and the people of the land, image bearers, uniting together in rebellion against God, headed up by the guy whose name means rebel. They should have known what they were getting themselves into. Hi, my name is Rebel. You know, I mean, you know, more on that next week, but in verse 32, We've seen that these are the sons of Shem by clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. This is what's in this package. And again, you don't have to keep all the nations and the people groups and the descendants straight. Some key things to remember is the genealogy is given in reverse because the elect line given last will matter for Israel. Because the descendants of Shem are the Shemites. They become the Semites, because one of the descendants of Shem was Eber. And from him came the Hebrews, all the way to Abraham, who was the father of them. And this will matter because God is going to launch a redemptive plan through this blessing given to Abraham that will ultimately manifest in Christ. These 70 nations are alluded to, I think, in the New Testament. In Luke chapter 10, Jesus is sending out emissaries, representatives. You know, some translations have 72 that were sent out. Other translations have 70. I think the illusion is to the table of nations, and I think 70 is the right translation. And when Jesus sends out 70, have you ever wondered why so many? Why not 60? Why not 80? Well, these people are going out and they're going out sent by Jesus. And I think it's a picture of what he's going to end Luke's gospel with and Matthew's gospel with. It's going to be a mission to the nations. We get this sense early in Genesis when we get the explicit promise to Abraham that through you, I'm going to bless all the nations. So it shouldn't surprise us that when Jesus sends out 70, it's a way of alluding to that and saying God's plan is still a global one. He's still going to redeem a people for himself from every nation. What happens in Acts chapter 2? In Acts chapter 2, the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. And one of the things that really matters is that there weren't just Jews there being filled with the Spirit. God's plan was to incorporate the descendants of Japheth into the tents of Shem, and he puts his global public approval on it when at Pentecost this happens. The Spirit comes down, and in verse 8 of chapter 2, the question is asked, how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? You see the languages, the difference of the languages resulted from the Tower of Babel, and it's like God is reversing all of that. And all of a sudden there aren't many different languages being heard, but everyone is hearing in his own language, and there's a unity that hadn't been seen since Babel. And here you have this sense that the Spirit is coming down, and it's not just on Jews. Look in verse 9 of chapter 2. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia. I mean, in those lands is where all these kinds of descendants were going and gathering and building temples and idols to themselves. And here, centuries later, the spirit is coming down upon them and filling them. What's the significance of this? Genesis 10 was always hoping for this to take place. The descendants of Jacob would be incorporated into the tents of Shem. And look in verse 10 of chapter 2, and Phrygia and Pamphylia and Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in their own tongues the mighty works of God. This hadn't been seen this way before. Now it was hoped for in the prophets. This was an anticipation that there would come one day where there would be nations coming and representatives coming, flocking to God. And as Ronnie read for us from Acts 17 this morning in the scripture reading, we can be reminded from Paul's own words that the God who made the world and everything in it, and boy, that appeals to big pictures in Genesis, doesn't it? This is all the announcement of Genesis 1 onward. This is the God who made the world and everything in it. He's Lord of heaven and earth, it says. He doesn't live in temples built by man as if he needed anything. And in verse 26, from one man, he made every nation of mankind. Now, ultimately, Paul's thinking of Adam. But we do know that through Adam came those sons of Noah as we trace those descendants. And so even through the sons of Noah come all of those nations. And God determines a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. In other words, God is sovereign over Genesis 10. All of those people groups, all of their languages, wherever they were, they were where God wanted them to be. They rose up in power when God wanted them to, and they were brought down at his decree. This is a sovereign God that Paul is announcing to them. And he says in verse 30, the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all people everywhere to repent because he sticks today in which he will judge the world. The reason the message of the gospel is to go to the nations is because the judgment will be global. That is why the nations matter. That's why it matters to get the Bible in different languages and get nations who are serving idols and temples built by hands as if God dwelled in those and serving those that aren't God. It matters to get the gospel to them because God's heart is for the nations. His missionary heart. He's fixed today to judge the world in righteousness by the man appointed. Now he doesn't name him here. We know who he is in Acts 17. It's Jesus. And it is demonstrated that Jesus has the authority to judge the nations, because he says here, I raised him from the dead. I raised him from the dead. And so he is Lord of all. In Isaiah 42, verses 6 and 7, from these suffering servant passages, you get this idea of the servant in verses 6 and 7. The Lord says, I am the Lord and I've called you in righteousness and I'll take you by the hand and keep you and I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind and bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I'm the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. How will the Lord accomplish this great work to bring light to the nations and a covenant for these peoples? It will be the new covenant in Jesus and in no other. It will be in him. And so when we think about the Lord's Supper in just minutes from now, we think about a covenant of God dying for people from every nation, tribe and tongue. This is a global gospel we proclaim because the judgment is a global one. But fear not, we have a God who is sovereign over the nations, over all the nations. such that our hearts can be stirred lastly with Revelation 5, as we think about in verses 1 to 10, the scene where there is at the right hand of him on the throne a scroll. And in verse 2, the angel says, who's worthy to open this scroll? And in verse 3, they couldn't find anyone in heaven or on earth or under the earth to open it. And John begins to weep loudly in verse 4, not finding any worthy. And then an elder speaks in verse 5. We've no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Mind you, those all came from the line of Shem. This root of David, this lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered so he can open the scroll in its seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb. He'd been told there was a lion and he looks and there's this lamb and the lamb is looking as though it had been slain with seven horns and eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent to all the earth. He went, this lamb took the scroll from the right hand of him on the throne, and in verse eight he had taken it and the four living creatures, the elders, they all bowed down, each holding a harp, golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Listen to this song. They sing a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests who are God and they shall reign on the earth. The people of God will have dominion. And they will reign as rightful restored image bearers under the sovereign lamb, lion, who is Christ. And these will be people, a throng of worshipers beyond what our eyes could imagine. And they will be from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Let's pray together.