Today we continue our series entitled, The ABC’s of faith. The larger idea is based on the idea that we learn over time through an exploration process of success and failure. Everything we come to know and understand is built over time on the foundation of trial and error.
We learned last week, the wooden blocks we have all played with were an idea in 1594, a practical concept 100 years after that, and only then it would take another 175 years to be mass practiced and produced as the blocks we know and love from Brooklyn, New York.
Last week,we talked about corruption of humanity and this week we continue with our “C” alliteration by building on the ideas creation, corruption, catastrophe by talking about the idea of confusion as part of our Christian witness. These are the building blocks (or the major aspects) of Christian identity that help us to withstand the storms of life. So after hearing today’s scripture, did you ask yourself”
Was God afraid of man’s capability? Why?
Sadly Noah’s descendants also did not serve and obey the Lord. Humanity, yet again, rebelled against God. Instead of spreading around the earth as the Lord had commanded, they gathered in one place to build a city and tower.
Let’s dig a little in a little deeper to today’s scripture?
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Babylon’s trust was not in the Lord but in their own ability to rise above the rest of humanity. A city, in those days, was a group of buildings with a protective wall around it to protect those inside from the lawlessness of the world outside. The tower in the sky is a symbol of power but not of reliance on God. Babylon was a false Garden of Eden based on their own knowledge and culture instead of God's. The tower would radiate to the lawlessworld a strength and wisdom of those within the walls.
So what’s the problem? After all, shouldn’t we all stand on our own two feet, lift ourselves up by our bootstraps. Is it really so wrong to brag or make others feel less than so we are secure? Back in 1989, there was a professional tennis player with a reputation of being a fierce competitor. Andre Aggassi who would claim “image is everything.” Like every instagram and Tick Toc influencer of this age, “image” is just another word for worshiping oneself.
In the case of the tower of Babel, it was an attempt to worship its own cultural strengths over that of those who rely on God.
The people of Babylon wanted to make a name for themselves and make themselves great, in disobedience to the commands of God. Through their own might, they attempted to become powerful.
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
How serious was the offense? God came down.
Before I go on with the offense, I’d like to address the word “us” in verse seven. “Let us go down.” Often Kings would refer to themselves in this way. The Hebrew word for God (Elohim) is plural. A scholarly understanding is God is speaking to the heavenly court of angels or the more plausible is God is tipping his hand to the mystery of the trinity - God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit all in one essence.
So what was the offense(s) that God came to correct? I'm so glad you asked.
The creation of a city and then the building of a tower was a direct defiance of God’s command when he told them to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” By building a city and a tower they were defying God. They no longer wanted to go out and subdue the earth. They wanted to create their own Garden of Eden.
The tower within represented a change in their relationship with God. An relationship built on an erroneous set of beliefs that:
God was not able to move from the spiritual to the physical (present everywhere)
God was not all powerful or all knowing
God is somehow beholden to man thereby elevating man’s importance equal to God
There are three churchy words to define the nature of God. Omnipotence means that God is in total control of himself and his creation. Omniscience means that he is the ultimate criterion of truth and falsity, so that his ideas are always true. Omnipresence means that since God’s power and knowledge extend to all parts of his creation, he himself is present everywhere.
The tower shows us humanity had begun to believe they were equal to God.
God stopped the building project in a creative way. The idea of God “destroying” the Tower of Babel (or Babylon) isn’t exactly accurate. No fire rained from the sky, and the Bible doesn’t say that God destroyed it. However, He halted all building progress.
Was God afraid of humanity or his creation? No. God saw the future issues with letting a corrupted humanity believe it had the same power, knowledge and vision as God himself. As a result, He decided to save them/us from themselves/ourselves, echoing his response to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:22 “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
While God does desire a unified humanity, he does not desire one in which they believe they are all powerful. In Genesis 11, humanity chooses its own conception of unity. Babylon is humanity’s attempt to unify around their own imperial name and human nature, instead of God’s. We all know and have seen, people gather around selfish interests, the results are often tragic. In fact we have a modern day expression about this, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Why confuse and scatter them? The unity of mankind would only give them a false sense of power and create an even greater rebellion against God. By confusing their language, scattering them, God’s grace is apparent. He spares their lives and forgives their errors. He shows love for his creation even in their disobedience.
In scripture, Babylon symbolizes worldly pride, moral corruption and defiance against God. It represents a world system that opposes God and appeals to our lower nature. “Every generation builds its own towers" is a quote from Naoimi Rosenblatt, a psychotherapist. Whether actual towers or corporations that circle the globe, the idea is the same: “We will make a name for ourselves.” It’s easy to get drawn into this worldly way of thinking. But we are not here to build arrogant towers of men. We exist, not to build our own “proud towers” but to build upon what Jesus Christ has built by dying on a humiliating cross. All who trust in Jesus are one in him (Gal 3:27) and will share heaven together, regardless of race, nation, language or tribe (Rev. 7:9) We are here to participate with God’s Holy Spirit to bring all things together under Christ and build His kingdom here as a foretaste of heaven.
Build His kingdom here as Paul stated to the Church in Ephesus,
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
A unity we share in our celebration of communion…
Creative: Blocks on Stage, Reading of Scripture prior to preaching, Public reading Ephesians 4:1-16, video for lent
References: Warren Wiersbe Commentary Genesis 11, p62-64
https://creationmuseum.org/gospel/
https://bibleproject.com/podcast/whats-so-bad-about-babel/
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/the-real-reason-god-had-to-destroy-the-tower-of-babel.html
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/omnipotence-omniscience-omnipresence-god/
