It is difficult to say exactly how many countries there are in the world today, as some want to be recognized as such, but have only questionable status. However, at the time of the writing of this article, there are 193 nations that are members of the United Nations, and 195 nations that are recognized by the U.S. State Department. (The Holy See, or Vatican, and also the state of Palestine, have observer status in the U.N., but are not members.) We have become so accustomed to thinking of the world in terms of nations that it is hard to conceive of our planet existing in any other mode.
The world has been divided into nations for thousands of years, although what are recognized as nations today were often present in times past as city states, ethnic groups, clans, or even primitive tribes. But the division of mankind into these different groups has been with us for a long time, and the history of this world is the history of the interaction of these various groups or nations with one another. God has used the nations of the world to govern it, and has accomplished His purposes through them. But it was not always so, nor was it necessarily the mind of God that such diversity should exist in this world. However, it is equally important to see that while it was man’s sin that occasioned the forming of nations, yet God in His wisdom has used them, as also He established Israel as a nation.
The Flood
If we go back to the Word of God, we find that after the flood described in Genesis 6-8, the whole earth was re-populated by the family of Noah. We read that “these are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread” (Gen. 9:19). We find the account of all this in Genesis 10-11. We get the facts of the dispersion in chapter ten, while the reasons for it, and the moral condition of the people are given in chapter eleven. But it seems that prior to the flood, the whole earth was one people, and all spoke the same language. This did not prevent violence and corruption, for we read that before the flood, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). It was for this reason that God destroyed the world with a flood. But then this homogeneity of people and language continued after the flood, for we read that “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech” (Gen. 11:1).
The Post-Diluvian World
But was man morally any better after such a distinct and overwhelming judgment of God as the flood? No, for immediately his heart was lifted up in pride, and we read that “they said one to another ... Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:3-4). But the Lord saw all this, and in order to curb man’s pride, we read that “the Lord said ... Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the tower” (Gen. 11:6-8). Thus it was the Lord’s judgment upon man’s pride that resulted in the formation of nations, effected by the introduction of various languages. Walter Scott sums this up very well—
“In this chapter (Genesis 10), and only here, have we an account of the rise of nations, peoples, and tongues, and of the dispersion of mankind. The peopling of the earth by families, all speaking one language, having one common interest, and dwelling together in unity, was certainly part of the divine plan in the wise and beneficent government of God—“Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth” (Gen. 9:1). This gracious provision for the blessing of man and creation was not accepted, and men sought to centralize themselves on the earth in direct independence of God. But what God would have accomplished in goodness, had man been obedient, He has brought about in judgment, because of man’s self-will.”
Global Power
All this is a solemn thought, for we see that it is man who has brought upon himself the diversity of nations, with all the trouble and strife that it has caused. But God was in it, for the continual wars and conflict brought about by the constant struggle between nations has generally resulted in a so-called “balance of power,” so that no one group has been able to dominate for very long. As Henry Kissinger says in the introduction to his book “World Order,” “No truly global ‘world power’ has ever existed.” Without a global world power, obviously, there can be no world order. Empires have arisen, to be sure, and at times have governed large portions of the world, but they have risen only to fall again, allowing others to take over. In the process some nations have been more prominent and have subjugated other nations, but again, it has been a constant battle to maintain such a position. All this is reaching a crescendo in the world of today, for with modern weapons, even smaller nations are making their mark in the world and becoming a threat to world peace. Many wonder where it will all end.
Judgment of Nations
But we as believers know where it will end. Nations are still with us today, but after the tribulation period, God will judge the nations, and we know that “the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” (Isa. 2:11). Some nations will disappear, such as the Edomites, or children of Esau, who will be annihilated because of their implacable hatred against Israel. “There shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau” (Obadiah 18.) But other nations, such as Egypt and Moab, will have their place in the millennium, although subject to the revived nation of Israel. All nations will go up to worship at Jerusalem, for we read, “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 14:16). All this will go on for the one thousand year reign of Christ.
The Finalization of Kingdoms
But the kingdom itself will have an end in this world, for we read in 1st Corinthians 15:24—“Then cometh the end, when He [Christ] shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.” When all has been subdued by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, He will return the kingdom to the Father, “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). It is at this time that the old creation will be burned up, for Peter tells us that “the day of the Lord will come ... in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). After this there will be the eternal state, also called the day of God, which will consist of a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). In none of the descriptions of this wonderful time (of which there are very few in Scripture) is there any mention of nations, for it seems that God will again remove the one last barrier that separates one man from another. Israel and other nations will exist as such during the millennium, but in the eternal state, those who remain after the judgment at the end of that glorious kingdom will be melded together into one people, to live on a new earth for all eternity. There will surely be no nations in heaven, and now likewise on earth, there will be nothing that potentially could spoil the peace that will last forever. Sin will never be allowed to spoil that new creation, nor will there be any reminder of that which spoiled the old creation. “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
W. J. Prost