Alpha and Omega, Part 15
The Tower of Babel
Genesis 11:1-9
Introduction
- 2023 has been led with “one purpose”: To know there is a God!
-- Continuing our series, “Alpha and Omega”; examining the beginning to the end
- Last time (Gen 9) we discussed the aftermath of the great flood
-- Re: The annihilation of all life on Earth, except for Noah & his family
- Saw that sin weakened our ability to manage the earth (due to corruption)
-- FACT: Our sin ruined our destiny & ability to have sovereignty over the Earth
-- We do have some authority, but it is not how we were orig. created
-- Yes, we have life - but it is to be lived differently than how God intended
-- Very imp that we understand this: Sin changed everything about life
- Saw that God also established law and order for mankind – 1st: to protect life
-- He sets up one of the governing principles of living that preserves life
-- Re: If you take a life, you shall lose your life also … still in effect today
- We also saw God establish a new covenant w/ man, while affirming His orig. one
-- The covenant said that world will not be flooded again because of 1st covenant
-- Re: promise to send a redeemer to rescue all of mankind (Gen 3:15)
-- The covenant of the ages: Someone else will have to come and rescue you
- God’s covenant with Noah is our covenant as well … we will be saved also!
- This morning, we are going to look at a global rebellion to God’s instructions
-- I would encourage you to pay special attention to this today (teaching)
-- APP: We must see ourselves in this scripture and be encouraged also
-- It is in our understanding of how we are that we have opportunity to change
- Let’s dive in and read our passage for today … Read Genesis 11:1-9 / Pray
Point 1 – Mankind is at it again!
- The first thing we see following the flood and Earth’s repopulation is UNITY
-- We see there is common language; a common focus; and a common peace
- The people settled in a land called Shinar, located in Mesopotamia (MAP)
-- For reference: it’s in the valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
-- The region is now home to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria
- So far, this seems extremely picturesque and a great place to live
-- Of course, it’s not the Garden of Eden; but its civilized and is harmonious
- Don’t miss this … this civilized community gets 2 verses of scripture …
-- And then they absolutely trample living for God and decide to go it alone!
- (v3) Can you just imagine the arrogance of the people living here?
-- These were a people just loaded with themselves; and destined to rebel; why?
- They took it upon themselves to decide what their next course should be
-- Not pray to God, not sacrifice/offering and go to Him in worship; just “DO!”
- Naturally, making bricks is not the problem; brick is still used today
-- Notice the key words in v4 and v5 (and see they really lay it on thick):
-- “come, let us”; “ourselves”; “we”; “ourselves”; “we will be …”
-- There is so much self-pride that the results of it must’ve been a stench to Heaven
- The brashness here is NOT that they would want to build to worship God
-- APP: They’ve decided they should build a tower to make themselves known
-- They wanted fame, recognition, reputation, honor, and glory for themselves
-- It is the ultimate ego trip: “Let’s show everyone how great we are!”
- Their intention is simple: Let’s exalt ourselves and marvel at our majesty!
- Yet, they seem to have forgotten what God’s command was for them:
-- They were commanded (Gen 9:1) to subdue the earth and live on it for God
-- But their drive now is to show everyone how glorious / able they are
- We must examine why they are building to understand their thought process
-- Notice there is no mention of God in any of this, just “we are going to do this”
- This building is commonly agreed upon as a religious center (center of town, etc.)
-- It would have stood as a monument to everyone around: “look at us”
-- Hebrew: migdal; a tower
-- Hebrew: rosh; head or the top
-- Hebrew: shamayim; heaven
- In essence, their intent is to build a tower that reaches into the heavens
-- NOT literally TO Heaven … else why start on a plateau and not a mountain?
-- They were arrogant, not stupid … they aren’t trying to reach God physically
- This tower was to stand as a symbol of:
• their name
• their worldwide religion/politics
• a representation of their own works and effort
• to be a visual representation of how close they could be to God
- This same attitude still exists today: “Let’s show everyone how great we are!”
-- Happens all the time: homes, cars, jobs, church buildings, etc.
-- KEY: There is nothing wrong with success and nice things … until …
-- SIN: When it becomes about our abilities to do things vs. what God has done
- This is the only reason we see this story here … 2023: same actions, different day
- Get this: it is an attitude that permeates all facets of life
-- Mankind decided that they/we need to show the world all our stuff
-- This attitude, this delivery of false righteousness, must have stunk to God
- I know this is not a comfortable truth to deal with; but the lesson is clear
-- The importance of applying God’s Word and worshiping Him hasn’t changed
- Let me try to give you a comparison to this same type of actions we see today
-- It’s a challenge to examine … personal convenience vs. reliance on God
-- My neighbor got a new car and it’s awesome, so I need to go get one too!
-- Look at all the things “my” church has going on, aren’t we awesome?
-- How about the constant need for validation on social media?
- Get this: It’s the motivation and the delivery that is the issue (Babel also)
-- This is not new, but the theme is clear: Do we depend on God or ourselves?
- What begins to form is a renegade “religion”; or a self-reliance on “us”
-- It is a representation of living that depends on mankind: works, deeds, things
-- EX: astrology, humanism, secularism, feel-good-ism, “self-help”, etc.
- TR: Challenge today is to see ourselves in this, else we too might also receive …
Point 2 – God’s just response to man’s choices
- God saw this city, and correctly (justly) responded to what was happening
- Note: Scripture is using this descriptive language intentionally
-- Hebrew: yarad; to come down
-- Hebrew: raah; to see
-- God was not surprised what they were doing, He didn’t “stumble” upon them
-- Ref: Garden of Eden: God knew where Adam and Eve were hiding
- What He saw was a unanimous civilization with no purpose of God in them
-- FACT: God has allowed evil, ungodly, things to happen throughout history
-- For example: school/mall shootings we’ve seen, riots in streets, ungodliness
-- APP: It is His intent/purpose for these things to happen (hint: to turn us to Him)
- But in this example, the civilization led by Nimrod had to be stopped
-- FYI: Nimrod was great-grandson of Noah, king of this land, 100% anti-God
-- It was a one-world, one-religion, one-purpose society that he cultivated
- There are four reasons why this could not continue (v6-8):
1) God saw their true purpose: to be united with no sign of Godly leadership
2) God’s given language was used to their advantage - they had the same thoughts, experiences, desires, and mind processes to execute this godless plan with solely a secular purpose
3) God knew that left alone, they would continue to grow their godless empire and create this tower (or even a whole world) of tribute to themselves
4) God saw their self-pride in everything they did and their desire to be recognized & worshipped for this accomplishment
- Fact is, God knew that mankind left to His own devices would always choose this
-- APP: Man is not one to willingly admit that he (we) need help
-- Man thought we would be able to build this worldly society on our own
- But get this: Left to own devices, we will always choose the path of sinfulness!
-- We always choose to do the things that make us feel good, and not turn to God!
- So, God restrained their language – not to punish them – but to stop them
-- Why? To stop them from carrying on with their own desires, wants, & actions
- Lesson: What God did was merciful in stopping this path of destruction
-- Last time He did this was the flood … but He promised to never do that again
-- So, another action had to be taken to get the focus off themselves!
- In essence, this judgment was to bring them back to Himself, to seek God out
-- Why? For rescue, for redemption, even just for understanding of their words!
- God’s interceding was done to prepare them to raise up a godly people (spoiler)
-- Remember, we still have not seen Abraham or any of those covenants yet
-- This is all pre-Law, and God is working to bring mankind to Himself … WHY?
-- BIG: Always, in the background, God is working to draw us to Himself!!
Conclusion
- It is why the Tower of “Babel” (name means confusion) is so critical (v9)
-- It is here that God confused the languages, creating many languages
-- Why? To serve as a reminder of God’s great power STILL over creation
- Consider: the language was probably the same spoken by God in Heaven
-- It would’ve been perfect, a language worldly known & understood
-- FACT: He created and communed with us; we’d have to be able to understand
-- Also, Noah would’ve had the same language/communion with God (Gen 9)
-- This same language would be shared throughout the generations (Gen 10)
- And now, it is taken away because of our rebellion and our choices
-- For us in 2023, we need to know these things to recognize God’s power (not us)
-- But also, we should use it to see His love and grace offered to us … why?
-- To rescue us from our sin – from ourselves – because He still cares! (EXP)
- Pray
