Excerpt from 52 Weeks of Pursuit, Vol. 1
The genealogy in [Genesis] 10 lists one name after the other—until we get to Nimrod.
All of a sudden God interrupts the list to provide us His commentary concerning this guy (vs. 8-10). This is another way God draws our attention to something extremely significant He wants us to see! In fact, God does the same thing in the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 1:10 when He gets to the name Nimrod!
Nimrod is the grandson of Ham, who, as we’ve already seen, is associated with a curse. His name means “rebel,” and his epithet is that “he was a mighty hunter before [or, against] the Lord” (Gen. 10:9). He was obviously a keen hunter of animals in the land of Shinar, but the context lets us know that he was also hunting something else—men! Men to become a part of a kingdom (v. 10). Nimrod wanted to set himself up as king over a kingdom of rebellion against God!
Nimrod and his kingdom are significant because the theme of the Bible is a kingdom in which our Lord Jesus Christ will rule and reign over all the earth from His throne in Jerusalem for a period of 1000 years. (See Gen. 2:3; 2 Peter 3:8; Rev. 20:1–5). As we’ve seen, the history of mankind and God’s record of it in the Bible is nothing more than God moving to put His Son on that throne—and Satan doing everything he can, not only to stop Him, but to put himself there! (See Isa. 14:12–14; 2 Thess. 2:4).
Note that the first mention of kingdom in the Bible is in reference to a king, whose name means “rebellion,” who is seeking to establish a world empire. If you are unfamiliar with the Law of First Mention in terms of Bible study, it is simply this: God has so orchestrated the revelation of His Word that the first time a key biblical word or principle is mentioned in the Bible, the usage of the word foreshadows its future scope. For example, the first time love is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 22:2. The context is that of a loving father offering his only begotten son as a sacrifice. The future scope is obvious (Jn. 3:16)! And the future scope of the first mention of kingdom is that during the Tribulation Period there will be a king of rebellion, referred to biblically as the Antichrist, or the Beast (1 Jn. 2:18; Rev. 6:1; 13:1–18), who will come on the scene seeking men and women to be a part of a world empire that is set in opposition to all that Christ and His kingdom is and shall be.
“Practically speaking, the city and tower of Babel were Satan’s attempt to unite the people of the earth in a one-world government, with a one-world religion, under one king.”
Note that the first mention of Babel is also in Genesis 10:10 and is likewise connected to the reign of the Antichrist. From this point in the Bible, Babel or Babylon (Hebrew = Babel, Greek = Babylon) will always stand for that which is in opposition to God and His people, and its ultimate demise is not recorded until Revelation 17 and 18, near the end of the Tribulation Period!
Nimrod recognized in Genesis 11:1–4 that, to establish a world empire, he would need to unify the people, both governmentally and religiously—and thus, the statement in verse 4, “Let us build us a city and a tower.” The city is the symbol of government, and the tower symbolizes religion. Practically speaking, the city and tower of Babel were Satan’s attempt to unite the people of the earth in a one-world government, with a one-world religion, under one king. Obviously, Nimrod is a forerunner and type of the Antichrist, a king of rebellion who seeks to establish a world empire by unifying the people of the earth in a one-world government and religion. This is the principle of Ecclesiastes 3:15: “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been.” In other words, if you want to understand the things that are happening in the present and the things that will be happening in the future, you must understand the things in the past. Or, as the old saying goes, “History repeats itself!”