Is it true that in ancient times people were white only? Where did the black race come from?
Listen: 93 Question 2
We can safely say that when Adam and Eve were created, there was only one race of people. We can also safely say that when Noah, his wife, their three sons (Ham, Shem, and Japheth) and their wives stepped off the ark, there was only one race of people at that time. To say that this race was white is only speculative. While in these two occasions there was only one race, we really don’t know what color they were. Acts 17:26 tells us that all races began with one man. It says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.” That man, of course, was Adam. From Adam’s lineage, the Lord made all nations and races. We can all trace our ancestry back to one common man.
Where, then, did the different races come from? While we cannot be absolutely sure, because the Bible does not specifically tell us, we might consider what it says in Genesis 11:1-9, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, 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. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 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 city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” The scattering and separation of the people here possibly created the circumstances that brought about the physical variations of the human family that produce the different races. As I said, we cannot be absolutely certain, but this does seem to be the first division of man that scattered them throughout the world.
Does the Lord prefer one race above another? Absolutely not! Let’s read Acts 10:34-35, “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” Any person, regardless of nationality or race will be accepted by the Lord when they come to Him in reverence and faith. The Lord Jesus, Himself, said in John 6:37, “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” We learn by reading 1 Timothy 2:4 that the Lord, “…will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Sometimes the most simple Sunday School songs contain great truths, such as the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children”, which says, “Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” The Lord loves us all, regardless of our individual race. His desire is that all would come to Him and be saved. His invitation is for all, as we read in John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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.” (93.2)