The chart below shows the generations from Shem to the establishment of God’s nation Israel with the covenant God made with Abraham down to Jesus entering history 64 generations from the time God judged the world with the flood of Noah’s day. The new name God gave to Jacob, Israel, expresses the concept of wrestling, clinging firmly to God, and overcoming. God confirmed his covenant with Jacob, indicating that Israel is to be understood as Jacob’s covenant name. After all his original name was hardly appropriate. When born, Jacob is given the name “Jacob” meaning, “trickster, supplanter, heel grabber.”
What | Who | Generations from Shem |
---|---|---|
Semites | Shem | 0 |
Hebrews | Eber | 3 |
Father of the faith | Abraham (down through Isaac) | 9 |
Israelites | Jacob renamed Israel | 11 |
Jews (Judaism) | Judah | 12 |
Christians (including Messianic Jews) | Jesus | 64 |
Shem was still alive at the time of the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel and its aftermath. No longer was there just one speech, but multiple complex languages miraculously arose according to families (Genesis 11:1, 9), whose members would be fluent in their own (new) language (Genesis 10:5, 20, 31).
Languages are grouped into families; linguists recognize about 20 main ones. Germanic languages (e.g. English, Dutch, German, and Swedish) are part of the Indo-European (traditionally Japhetic) language family. Semitic languages are part of the Afro-Asiatic family (previously called Hamito-Semitic).
If evolution were true, we would expect all language families to be related. However, linguist Dr Paul Lawrence states, “languages within a language family have many common features, surprisingly few of these features are shared with languages from another language family, suggesting that the protolanguages and progenitors of modern isolates arose at the original confusion of languages.”
Semitic languages (74) include Arabic (South Semitic) and Hebrew (together with Aramaic, Canaanite, and others categorized as West Semitic languages).
Both are written from right to left, with the Arabic alphabet having six more letters than Hebrew’s 22. The consonants common to both are often named similarly. Neither alphabet has symbols for vowels. Many words are made of a root of three consonants which can be modified to form variations on that word. Around 60% of the vocabulary is related.
The Semitic group shows generally a loss of complexity over time while remaining more complex than English. One example is Akkadian (extinct East Semitic).
Based on evolution, it would be expected that going back in time, languages would be found to be simpler. The opposite is the case. For example, nouns in English and Dutch—both Germanic languages—had several cases in the past, but these are now almost entirely gone. New High German still possesses cases, but not as many as Old High German, for example.
Biblical history provides answers for all the reasons the world is as it is today. The many fulfilled Biblical prophecies also provide ample evidence Biblical history is true. They are also the reason why we can expect the many prophecies of Jesus’ second coming to be fulfilled exactly as outlined in both the O.T. and N.T., particularly in Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy, Jesus Olivet Discourse, and Revelation. The following Scriptures are to whet your appetite for all the gems that are in the Bible concerning Jesus’ second coming and the end of Satan’s rule on this earth. Next is Jesus and the Saints ruling on this earth for 1000 years – Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. Go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net for more information on what comes next on God’s agenda.
DANIEL’S 70 WEEKS
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end, there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” Daniel 9:24-27
OLIVET DISCOURSE
“As he (Jesus) sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come... “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:3-14,29-31
REVELATION: SAINTS RAPTURED – STANDING IN TRANSFIGURED BODIES BEFORE GOD’S THRONE
“After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-14

“For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18