The entrance of sin into the world had a degenerating effect on the human race. The first eleven chapters of Genesis illustrate this point. The very first family was torn apart by a brother murdering his brother, and all of that over a religious matter. Then the world became so violent that God had to cleanse the earth and start over with one man and his family. But after the Flood did, things get better? No, sin was still in the heart of man which makes him a rebel against God.
If left to itself, without Divine grace and intervention, the human race would have continued in a downward spiral of depravity. And it is only the restraint of God which is a kind of common grace given to all humanity that keeps the world from descending into oblivion. We now have weapons that can literally destroy the human race. Why has it not been destroyed? God is restraining the evil of man, making human life tolerable. Sin always gets worse if left unchecked and is actually a bottomless pit. No one really knows how far down human beings can sink in sin. If you study history, you will be shocked at what some people have done. How could they do that? How did the Second World War happen? How did Hitler manage to send six million Jews, along with many other peoples, to concentration camps and then to gas chambers? Some actually refuse to believe that it happened! We should remember this principle that unless God restrains man there is no known limit to man's sinful capabilities. Man seems to be able to create new ways to be evil!
God may express His wrath by giving people over to their sinful desires. This is the result of man rejecting the knowledge of God (Romans 1:24-28). It is a scary thought that if man does not want God then God may give man what he wants! And man will suffer the natural and inevitable consequences of being without God and in slavery to our passions. Paul's example of the ancient world included the sin of homosexuality which was rampant in the ancient pagan cultures and is taking over our own today! This is a sign of Divine abandonment.
But before we become dark and morose about the state of our culture we must remember that God has continued to guide the development of human history and has not deserted the world.
Now there are those who might question this. We can look around our world and see the chaos and could draw the conclusion that God has withdrawn. But the Scriptures teach us that, even though God does express His wrath at times, God has never taken His hand off the wheel and let things spin out of control.
God has ordered human life so that men can seek after Him. God is governing history, not for the physical comfort of man, but for the spiritual development of the Race. "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:26-27).
Paul says that men should seek God but he does not say that men actually do seek God. Actually the history of the race shows us that men have not been seeking God, yet God has continued to seek after men. God has not left himself without a witness but has given some revelation to all men. And God is going to hold people responsible for the knowledge that they had available to them. God will not judge people unfairly, but according to the light they had. For those of us who live in the full light of the Gospel this means we have a great responsibility and to whom much is given much will be demanded!
The world could not be sustained if God were not involved with it. The idea that God made the world to operate on its own laws is not a Biblical one. If God were to withdraw completely for even a moment, the result would be that the world would return to it primordial chaos, darkness and emptiness. The Word that created the world also upholds it. The first section of Genesis gives us a picture of a world trending back toward primordial chaos and darkness, was it not for God's intervention.
I. We learn from Babel that the agenda of man is inherently flawed and wicked.
To an ignorant person this plan to build a city might seem harmless enough. Is God against architecture? Is God not in favor of human progress and us making our lives better? In our modern times Christianity has often been painted as the great hindrance to human progress. Didn't we call the period of history ruled by the Church the Dark Ages? Didn't the Church persecute the great scientists who were making advancements to make life better? So we have this modern war between science and religion, perhaps epitomized for us by the famous Scopes monkey trial and the debate of Evolution versus Creation.
One of the greatest goals of humanists and secularists is to get everyone together and united for the advancement of the human race. That is what happened at Babel.
So why was God not pleased? Doesn't God want unity? A humanity that is united is not a good thing if the agenda is ungodly. God is concerned about the unity of the Human Race, not its diversity. The agenda of man to have unity in a godless agenda is something that God will always oppose and He has kept the nations confused and divided, usually suspicious of each other and going to war, so that what happened at Babel does not happen again.
Even so, the wicked are still coming together against the Lord and His Christ. If God did not continue to stop the building of the City of Man then be assured the world would unite and make a united effort to cleanse the world of every follower of Jesus.
At one time the greatest empire in history that ruled the civilized world made an attempt to stamp out Christianity and failed to do so. But as the End approaches God may begin to take away what restrains wickedness and we will see more of a united effort against believers.
The world wants peace and harmony, but on its own terms and without God or God's agenda. The world wants all of the good things that can only come from the hands of God, but they do not want God Himself. It is wrong to have unity at the expense of the Truth of God.
We often hear denominational Church leaders talk about Christian unity and there is a dangerous willingness to throw the Word of God and the truth of the Gospel out the window just to have some kind of institutional unity. This is the Spirit of Babel and cannot be blessed by God! God wants to give unity, but on His terms and in His way. We will have unity with one another when we are all submitted to the reign of God.
It is important that God's people not unite with the wicked or help with their plans and goals. If Babel is being rebuilt in our day, it is vital that we refuse to pick up a single brick in support and solidarity. This is why Christians who want to get involved in politics have to be very discerning lest they find themselves with some strange bedfellows! Now we cannot completely withdraw from life in the world or we would have to leave the world. But we can refuse to be involved in those systems that have come out against God. This is precisely why many Christian people cannot support the public education system in this country. Neither can we support corrupt Christian institutions even though they wear the name of Christ, which is actually a worse perversion than the completely secular institutions!
II. Babel represents all of mankind's attempts to order life without God.
God is not against building or even against human beings harnessing the power of natural resources in order to make life better. God is not against civilization. Men were made in the image of God and were set to rule over what God had made. The building of the Tower was a human agenda made without God in mind. Anything that is good becomes evil if it is not done unto the Lord. It is interesting, however, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob always lived in tents and not in cities. Lot, however, chose to live in the city of Sodom!
Even when the Israelites came back to Canaan and possessed the cities of the Canaanites God warned them not to become forgetful of God in their new-found wealth and prosperity.
The prosperity of human cities or civilizations has been one of the major forces causing men to forget God, focusing instead on all of the distractions our world has to offer!
We should not make our plans without thinking of God and His will. Now this is a warning even for believers while still in the world. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16). If you make your plans for life without God at the center, you are committing the sin of Babel and God will come down and destroy your plans! The fool lives as if there is no God or that He cannot see! This describes our generation perfectly! There is a disturbing lack of consciousness of God in people today that reminds us of the generation that started building Babel.
Believers are people who pray for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth. And this starts in our own lives! Have God's rule and reign come to your life? Is His will being done in you? Until this happens there will be nothing of lasting significance accomplished for the Lord today.
This building was wrong because it was for the glory of man rather than the glory of God. The builders of Babel were competing with God, which is why this project was doomed to failure from the beginning. Man was made in the image of God to be God's agent on earth and to further God's reign. Man was not made to act independently of God and take the world for his own. Yet this is exactly what Babel was doing. In fact, this desire to be God was part of the first temptation to sin and this remains at the very heart of sinful man's nature. Sin is man's attempt to be God, removing him from His throne. Sin is cosmic rebellion. It started with Satan in heaven and Satan has done everything he can to spread his rebellion on earth in man. The Bible teaches us, in incidents like Babel, that all of this cosmic rebellion is futile. It's very important that we don't become a part of Satan's losing cause. Now is the time to join the winning side!
All sin falls short of God's glory. We were made to reflect the glory of God, not to compete with it and attempt to suppress it. But that is what the world does, following in the footsteps of Babel. God's purpose was to make Himself and His Name known. But the people at Babel wanted to be famous, not to further the knowledge of God. In the heart of man is a desire to promote himself and to be known by others who honor and respect us. This is a great temptation for every person here: to love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
This building also included technological advancement that was used for wicked purposes. Man perverts the abilities God has given. Again, God is not against technology itself. But God knows what wicked man is capable of doing. We are made in His image and the higher the creature the greater the fall into wickedness. Men, not monkeys, make atomic bombs. Man is a servant and a steward and will be held accountable by God. Everything we have is a gift from God and is not our own to use for ourselves. It is vital that we use all of our resources, gifts and abilities for God alone.
The Lord expects his people to work and to increase what He has given, using all of our creative, mental, and physical capacities. God's people should be the most industrious and innovative people on the planet!
The building of the Tower probably included an idolatrous religious purpose. It was to reach to the heavens because they were worshiping the heavenly bodies. Man worships the creation rather than the Creator. This is idolatry, which is perhaps the ultimate sin of the human race. An idol is any good thing that becomes an ultimate thing. This is why everyone is really religious and everyone worships something! Idolatry is not an innocent thing, coming from man's desire for moral freedom without accountability to God. Behind all false religion is an attempt to manipulate and control rather than to submit and trust. After the example of Babel we have the calling of Abraham, the man known for his faith and trust in God which is the exact opposite of the men at Babel.
God's people are to be different from those in the world with all of their anxiety and running to and fro after material wealth! We trust God to supply what we need in the world as we seek first His Kingdom and righteousness.
III. Babel shows us that God thwarts the purposes of wicked men.
And God has kept doing this throughout history as other towers were attempted right up to our present time. GOD WILL NOT ALLOW WICKEDNESS TO ULTIMATELY SUCCEED! This does not mean that evil men will not arise from time to time, sometimes even persecuting the saints of God. We will suffer evil in the world, but the ultimate victory is assured.
"God came down to see the Tower" is a comment on the smallness of man's enterprises. This is Divine scorn, as in Psalm 2, which says God laughs in scorn at men's attempts to overthrow His rule. Those who were building the Tower of Babel are called "the children of men." Babel was like children playing in the dirt! Whatever is valuable and impressive to man is a worthless abomination to God. People who don't know God are much too easily satisfied and impressed with worldly things. Man's greatest need is to be humbled. We remember the example of Nebuchadnezzer puffed up with pride as he looked out on his city of Babylon: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven . . . (Dan. 4:30-31). "Pride goes before a fall." Christian thinkers have always said pride is the most deadly of sins, which also brought Satan down to the earth.
Man cannot successfully compete with or thwart God's purpose. God does whatever He wants in the world and easily removes men who oppose Him. This is why we should never fear man. This account illustrates that wicked man cannot do all that he will but is limited by Divine sovereignty. Man is really not free when alienated from God. We should not fear or envy wicked men because their time is limited. God has placed the limitation of vanity on human life. Life is like a child at the beach trying to build sand castles that are washed away by the rising surf. Everything mankind attempts to build will eventually fall to the ground!
It's important for us to realize this in our own efforts to build our lives here in the world, which is in a state of passing away.
God thwarted man's purpose because He has His own purpose for the world. God does not give us the things we want because He has something better for us. God giving people what they want can be the worst thing that ever happened to them.
The purpose of God will begin with the call of Abram and a promise to bless the world through him and his Seed, which is Christ. We should pursue the blessing of God at all cost! In contrast to the promise of blessing for the world coming through Abraham, Babel was cursed by God.
The forces of confusion and dispersion, seen throughout human history, are signs of God's curse and wrath.
God is typically not the author of confusion when it is His work and not the judgment of man's evil work. The result of sin is being cast out or exiled. Babel is a larger scale of what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned and were cast out of Eden. This is the story of the human race! God is still angry with the wicked every day and nobody gets away with sin but must reap what he sows.
IV. The spirit of Babel endures in our world today.
The degeneration of the early world may be a picture of the degeneration of the world at the end of time which will set the stage for the return of Christ and the commencement of the New Creation. It is no accident that immediately after God dealt with Babel He called Abraham out of Ur and the New Creation began. The world will end in much the same way that it began. In spite of man's growing wickedness God will intervene and make a New Creation. The days before Christ's return will be like the days of Noah.
We expect an increase of wickedness as one of the signs of the End. There will be the rise of the Man of Sin who is the Antichrist and strong delusion in the last days. The rise of Babel in the early world precipitated the rise of spiritual Babylon in the modern world. Babel is translated everywhere else in the Scriptures as Babylon and becomes a type and shadow of the wickedness of the world system and its corrupt religion that is a satanic counterfeit of the Lord's Christ. In the End Satan will be set loose to make one last, desperate, attempt at destroying God's work, but will be destroyed. Perhaps the gathering of Satan's forces for this last stand has already begun in our time, just as the men began to gather in the plains of Shinar to build this city and its infamous tower.
Babel is a picture of the World with all its lust and pride. We are not to love the world and its preoccupation with lusts and pride in possessions (1 Jn. 2.15-17). The spirit of the world is not of God but is actually in opposition to God. The world is not neutral but is moving in a certain direction and not toward God. Apart from salvation in Christ we will all be subject to the course of this world.
Babel is also the spirit of all false religion. False religion is really just worldliness in disguise. When the Church commits adultery and is unfaithful to God she gets intimate with the world and compromises her holiness, becoming like the world rather than reflecting the glory of God. False religion is that which man builds and that does not have a Divine origin.
The spirit of Babel is living a selfish life without a consciousness of God. Men are basically selfish and will remain so unless there is Divine grace. This selfishness is often disguised and hidden. We don't think the plans we make are selfish! The part of our nature that tends to repeat the sin of Babel has to be put to death.
Instead of living according to the selfish desires of the Flesh, we are called to be a part of what God is building!
Jesus is building His Church. These members of His Church will be from out of all the nations scattered at Babel!
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" (Revelation 7:9-10)!
At Babel the nations were confused and scattered. At Pentecost the Gospel was preached in many tongues and people were gathered in! As Daniel saw the stone cut out of the mountain without hands will crush all earthly kingdoms and fill the earth!
God is building a City for His people! The City of Man will be judged and destroyed. God has prepared a city with foundations for His people who have been strangers and aliens in this world. We should be satisfied with nothing less than what God is preparing for us.
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