Special Message on Prayer

The Neglected Power of Prayer

(Mark 9.29)

Introduction

What is evil and where does it come from? It is not just a novel question. It is real life. In reality there are evil forces at work in the world that seem to come out every day just to threaten our peace and sanity. We might be entertained by evil on television or at the movie theater, but when evil rears its ugly head in real life the situation is much more serious. Sometimes all we can do is stand and watch helplessly while evil forces have their way, cutting a swath of destruction and sorrow in our lives.

The Bible addresses the issue of evil and gives us some answers, but not always in a way that fits our preconceived categories. It turns out that evil is much stranger and even more disturbing than we expected. The Bible often makes things even more complicated and uncomfortable because it is telling us the way things really are rather than simply supporting our bias.

For example, Jesus often encountered people who had been possessed by demons, or evil spirits. A possession means that the demon, or perhaps even a group of demons, has taken complete control of an individual. The Bible teaches us that there is a spiritual world. This world is filled with personalities, some of which are evil or hostile to both God and men. This is one of the reasons why the Bible forbids any kind of contact with the spiritual world through magic or witchcraft. It is like opening your front door to the spiritual world. And you do not know what might come in!

This is a frightening possibility that many modern people do not want to consider. We now have a scientific view which regards such things a demonic possession as ancient superstition. That is, this is how the Western world thinks. But there are still many people in the world who believe in evil spirits. Even in the West there has been a sort of revival of interest in spiritual things. This has included a renewed interest in the old paganism and the occult. It is naively believed that anything spiritual must be good. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Let’s avoid the extremes of a scientific naturalism that writes off the spiritual world and a naive spiritualism that simply opens the door to anything that might be out there. 

There is no reason to disbelieve in the possibility of demonic possession today. But neither should we think that evil will manifest itself in the same ways in every time and place. Evil spirits can be at work under our very noses in subtle and deceptive ways. Though we may never have to deal directly with someone who is demon possessed, we should not be ignorant about evil and how it operates all around us. Perhaps the danger in our time is becoming lax and almost blind to the workings of evil powers. We are in a fight against evil forces. We need weapons for this battle or we will be impotent. One of the main weapons we have in this fight against evil is prayer. We dare not neglect it.

The Reality of Evil

We cannot afford to be simplistic or naive about the presence and power of evil in this world. The ancient Greeks had a myth about how evil entered the world. There was a woman named Pandora who opened a box she was not supposed to open and this unleashed all of the evil and sorrow in the world. Sometimes those ancient myths transmit truth in surprising ways. Actually, evil did enter the world through a woman who did something forbidden, and who then was followed in the same folly by her willing husband. Adam and Eve’s sin opened the door to evil. And evil has come into our world. Evil was not native to this world because God made everything good. God is not the author of evil. Evil exists wherever there is rebellion and opposition to the will of God.

The fact that there is evil in the world means that not everything is in harmony with the will of God. Ultimately, the will of God is going to be done, on earth as in heaven. But now we live in an evil Age. Something is seriously wrong with this world and with the human race. It is almost like there is something out to get us. Something is hunting us. We can’t seem to escape it no matter what we do to hide or protect ourselves. The world is a dangerous, evil place.

When we read accounts in Scripture about evil spirits that take possession of people, even of a child, we are reminded that no one is safe from the presence of evil in this world. We know and recognize evil when we see it. It is serious business. True evil is almost too terrible to look at and we have to look away. It becomes especially difficult when we see something evil happen to a child. It is easy to read over the details of stories in the Bible. But what if this boy possessed by an evil spirit was your son? Your grandson? Your nephew? We tend to be a little insensitive to evil until it touches us personally. Then evil is no longer an abstract idea. It is real. And it hurts.

Evil is anything that is hostile to and destructive of human life as God intended it. God did not make the human body as a habitation for evil spirits. God did not make us so that cancer could eat away our bodies. The sensation of pain is not itself evil. But when there is enduring, unreasonable, pointless pain we call that something evil. Perhaps the most troubling part of this kind of evil is its seeming randomness. Why did this boy have a demon? Why do people suffer things like cancer or mental illnesses? We always seek answers for these random evils.

Why is there evil? Science seeks answers that are physical and material. And no one is against trying to understand the natural world. But when it comes to understanding evil, the Bible gives us a transcendent or spiritual view that is more complex than the natural and the material. This world we can see and touch is not the only reality. If we think or believe that it is then we will have a simplistic, one-dimensional view of evil. There will be things we cannot explain. Contrary to the belief of many modern people, science cannot explain everything. Actually, true scientists know there are still many mysteries in the world and humility is always the best attitude to have, especially when encountering the powers of evil.

The Power of Evil

Humility is exactly what the disciples learned in their encounter with this demon-possessed boy. When Jesus encountered demons there was no contest. The demons always submitted to Jesus, even begging him for mercy! But in this encounter, Jesus was not there. The disciples were on their own, and in this case, they failed. Perhaps they tried everything they knew to do. Perhaps they commanded the demon to come out of the boy. But they had no authority over this evil. In the same way, we often find ourselves helpless in the face of evil powers. We can relate to the disciples and their failure to cast out the demon! Have you ever felt this helpless? Have you ever faced some kind of evil and immediately knew that you were over-matched? That is a terrible feeling! Especially if you are a disciple of Jesus. We feel that because we are Christians we ought to have all the answers. We ought to be able to say the right words and the evil spirits should go away. But sometimes they don’t go away.

If we find ourselves over-matched by some evil power, the thing to do is face the facts and admit that we don’t have authority over that thing. There is no use in pretending to have power we don’t have or just talking big. Messing around with powers greater than ourselves can get us in trouble. Just ask the seven sons of Sceva (See Acts 19.13-16). I know we feel that, because we are Christians, we ought to be able to handle anything. And if we feel we can’t handle it then we feel that we have failed as Christians and that perhaps we just don’t have enough faith. But remember that FAITH is the key ingredient. Faith means that we are depending on another Power, not that we are equal to every situation on our own. By ourselves we ARE weak. With the Lord we are strong. That was certainly the case with the disciples. When Jesus was there the disciples were always coming out on top because they were with Jesus.

When we are going out on our own, we may lack the wisdom to understand the real issue. I once heard that anyone with a relatively high intelligence can graduate from medical school. But the hardest thing to do, and the most challenging thing to teach to medical students, is how to make a proper diagnosis.

This is true in all areas of life, including spiritual and moral life. Unless we can know the real sickness we can never find a cure. I am afraid that there is much time and effort wasted on trying to fix problems that are not the real problems. We treat the symptoms rather than the disease. And religious people are just as guilty of this as anyone else. Our intentions are good. We want to help. But unless the demon is cast out the problem will continue. Sometimes we just don’t go deep enough to understand what is really going on. We are shallow and stay on the surface of things. But if we do lack wisdom we should pray and ask God to give us the wisdom we need to do His work (James 1.5).

Trouble is, even if we know the real issue, we may still lack the power to bring about a change. Every day we encounter evils that we cannot change. It is a terrible feeling to stand by and watch while evil seems to have its way. What do you do when you have done everything you know to do and there is no victory? It is easy to get discouraged.

Fighting the Power of Evil

We sometimes feel like giving up the fight against evil. It seems like we can’t win. We have tried to cast out the demon and we could not. So why keep trying? Perhaps the disciples were never really meant to cast out the demon in this boy. Maybe there are some evils we are simply not meant to change. If we try to change these things we will just end up frustrated and disillusioned. Maybe it is even the will of God that certain evils exist in the world. Maybe God wanted that boy to have a demon for some reason. Doesn’t God use even evil for His own purposes? So if we can’t change something, maybe we should just accept it as the will of God. If we are not careful we can end up affirming another version of the old pagan belief in fate. All the bad things that happen to people must just be fate. And you can’t fight against fate. You just have to accept your fate, no matter how unjust it may be. But that is superstition, not Biblical faith in God.

Jesus taught us to pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The implication is that the will of God is not always done on earth. That is why there is evil in the world. The question is what does God want done about it? Why doesn’t God intervene directly and just rip the evil out of the world? It is not a question of His ability. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

But this question about evil has been a source of doubt in the minds of many people. The skeptical philosopher David Hume has probably inspired many generations of atheists and agnostics by his famous statement that if God were all-powerful, yet did nothing about evil, then He is not good. And if He is good, but does nothing about evil, then He is not all-powerful.

Something that skeptics often do not consider in this argument is human agency. That is, what part does God want people to play in fighting against evil? Is it possible that God allows evil to exist because He is expecting us to fight against it and to actually be successful? While God does intervene in human affairs, the Bible is filled with examples of people who were called by God to do a work, which usually involved some kind of fight against some evil. God makes a habit of using people to fight evil in the world.

Sometimes God seems rather hard and callous about how difficult the fight actually is and what kind of sacrifice and pain will be necessary if evil is to be defeated. He let His Son die on a cross while all the forces of darkness looked on and mocked. Maybe we are just soft and expect an easy time of it and so we give up too soon and too easily.

Maybe we expect God to do His own work while we sit by idly and passively in the work. What does it really mean to be the servants of God if there is nothing for us to do? The goal is for us to join God in His work. That was why the disciples were following Jesus around. They were in training to do what Jesus was doing, to carry on the work. Jesus was not always going to be with them. He was going back to heaven, but His work on earth was going to continue in the Church, which is His body. And a body is made for getting things done. If the Church can’t do the work of Jesus in the world, then it has not claim on being His body.

The Church is not just a social club or a spiritual support group. The Church is supposed to be something more like an army going out to war. That being said, an army does need to be properly equipped with the most powerful weapons it can get if it hopes to win. There was a weapon the disciples did not have when they encountered this demon. Their failure may give us a clue about the reason for our own failure in the fight against evil.

The Source of Our Failures

When Jesus finally arrived on the scene He knew why the disciples had failed. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” The disciples knew about prayer and fasting. Those were not unfamiliar concepts. In this case they had failed to apply what they already knew. This can describe much of our failures too.

It is not a problem of ignorance. It is a problem of application or of practice. We know what to do. We just don’t actually DO it! Christianity is not just about having great ideas. Christianity is also about doing something. It is not just about talk. It is about power.

Satan is a Power in this world. He rules a kingdom of darkness. He is the god of this world. Satan has authority to do certain things and the only way to fight against him is to have some power ourselves. Where is our source of power for fighting evil? “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The problem here is that this seems like doing nearly nothing. Sometimes prayer is what we do only when we think nothing else that we can do will work. Prayer has become a last, desperate resort we pull out in a moment of despair. There is nothing wrong with praying desperate prayers. But there are times when prayer is not the LAST thing we can do, it is the ONLY thing we can do. Prayer is doing something! In fact, to do something WITHOUT prayer may be the most powerless activity we can engage in. But we almost feel guilty about JUST praying. It seems like resignation, passivity, or accepting the inevitable victory of evil.

Why do we often neglect the power of prayer? Maybe we think God is not really interested in what we are praying for. But if we know God we ought to know something about what God wants. If we pray according to His will, we know He hears us. Perhaps we are not patient enough to keep praying for something. We give up far too easily, before the evil is dislodged. Jesus taught us to pray without giving up, always counting on the goodness of God. It is not that we have to get God’s attention with many or flowery words. We don’t know God’s timing and we need to keep praying until we see Him work.

But prayer is hard work. There is such a thing as struggling or wrestling in prayer, like Jacob refusing to let go of that mysterious man until he gave him a blessing. We prefer a shortcut, perhaps a formula. But prayer is not like saying the magic words. We might be tempted to think there is some special kind of prayer for casting out demons. What kind of prayer will do that? But that is the wrong question. The question is not “what kind of prayer will cast out demons?” but is actually “what kind of people pray the kind of prayers that can cast out the demons?” It is not about the kind of prayer, but about the kind of person who is praying. When Jesus prayed, He was heard. So how can we be more like Jesus, and as a result, pray the kind of prayers that are heard by the Father? Jesus was in total submission to the will of God. This is why He always knew what the Father wanted Him to do. And that is why Jesus never failed to do the will of God. The power is given to someone who is completely devoted to doing what God wants done. God does not underwrite our agendas.

We must be about our Father’s business, which means any kind of selfishness has to be put to death. We take up our cross to follow Jesus. This is why fasting is mentioned here along with prayer. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Fasting means self-denial. We put aside our own needs and desires in order to serve another agenda. Then the power flows. When we are empty then we can be filled. Prayer is only effectual through humility. The secret power of prayer is found in our dependence on the power of God.

Conclusion

The kind of prayer Jesus is talking about is not something we can do by simply scheduling a prayer meeting, praying longer prayers, using special words, or working up some emotional state. Any kind of programming, organizing, systematizing, or categorizing, all of which Western Christians love to do, will kill the power of prayer. Prayer is never meant to be something that we can capitalize on for our own purposes. We can’t package this and sell a book or build a Church on it. We are not in control. The disciples quickly found out as they encountered this demon that they were not in control of this situation. We pray when we realize there is something too powerful for us to handle on our own. It would actually be a good thing for the Church today to encounter more demons! We think we can engineer the Church and the Kingdom of God. If we have the right programs, the right cultural approach, a good band, and a nice building we can be successful. All we have to do is look around at all the demons running loose in our culture and we can see that we do not have things under control. The helplessness of these disciples in dealing with this demon is a good illustration of the Church today, at least in the Western world. We seem to be over-matched.

The Church has been unable to keep Western culture from becoming more and more secular. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The Church has tried to have an influence on the political system, only to lose on more and more key issues. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The Church has tried to bring people to Christ and turn them away from the power of darkness, only to see people all around us in the grip of sin and destroying themselves in various ways. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

We have even tried to reform the Church herself and bring her back to a point of revival and deliver Her from the grip of sin, apathy, compromise, and division. Instead we have seen religious corruption grow and the spread of false teaching along with a renewed institutionalism and sectarianism. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

We may play the numbers game and think that we have too small a number on our side to really make a difference against evil today. We seem to be outnumbered. But that has always been the case for the people of God. God has never needed numbers to win a great victory. The difference has always been the power of God. And that power exercises itself through the prayers of God’s people.

The powerlessness of the Church may be the result of Her prayerlessness. After everything we have tried to do in the fight against evil has failed, maybe we will finally listen to the words of Jesus. “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

He said He would never leave us or forsake us. He is always with us, just a prayer away. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. And He is our great High Priest who intercedes for us, bringing our prayers before the Throne of God. We are never alone. We are never powerless, if we will only pray.

God and the Nations (Part 2)

Babel: The Rebellion of the Nations

Genesis 11.1-9

Babel is the end of a section of Genesis that illustrates the effects of the fall. We immediately see the degeneration of the human race. Even in the very first family there is the terrible tragedy of a brother murdering his own brother. Eventually the world became so violent that God was grieved he had created man and decided to send the flood upon the earth in the days of Noah. The human family was allowed to survive through Noah and his sons, but the sinful tendencies are still evident in the lewd behavior of Ham toward his father. As the human race begins to flourish again on the earth we then come to the scene at Babel. Genesis is a book of beginnings. Here we see the origin of all the different nations of the world. But the beginning of the nations is not a good one. And what happened at Babel still describes the state of the nations.

Babel becomes a kind of Biblical symbol for rebellion and opposition to God. The result of the rebellion is confusion and division. God Himself introduced this state of confusion among the nations of the world, which continues to this very day and is one of the major lessons of human history. Babel is the source of all of the strife, competition, and conflict among the nations of the world. The wicked project at Babel represents worldliness or the world of men in alienation from God. This is the City of Man which has continued to be reconstructed wherever men have come together to create human society and civilization. There is also a pagan, idolatrous, religious element in Babel. Many scholars think the tower was actually a place of worshiping the sun, moon, and stars. So Babel also represents all false religion. When we think of Babel we are reminded of this crucial admonition in Scripture:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17 ESV)

There is an alternative to the World Order. There is the Kingdom of God. Immediately following the story of Babel is the call of Abram and the beginning of all of God’s plans for the salvation of the nations. It is no accident that the call of Abram comes right after the account of Babel. The passage clearly shows a contrast between the plans and actions of men and the will of God. Babel shows how God is managing the world according to His own purpose. There is hope for the world but never in the progress of mankind, which would only make another Babel.

Babel is not just a history lesson, although it really happened. The Bible is not just interested in history for information but for theological principles. Babel is teaching us something about the nature of human history and God’s dealings with the human race. On one hand we are warned by Babel not to rebel against God. On the other hand, we are encouraged by Babel that the history of the world is managed by a purposeful God who will not desert the human race completely.

The nations of the world have been characterized by alienation from God. Babel provides a good model for this condition so that we can recognize it in the world today. The basic nature of the world has not changed. Human nature has not changed and neither has the human condition, in spite of what the pride of modern man might claim to have accomplished for the progress of the human race. (We should not think that any particular nation is somehow a shining exception to the principle illustrated by Babel. The Bible does not encourage nationalism.)

In this lesson we will consider the account of Babel for what it teaches us about man and for what it also teaches us about God. This will provide some foundational thoughts for the rest of this series about God and the nations.

The world is in rebellion against God because of man’s sinful pride. This pride is the direct result of man’s alienation from God, which also results in a false view of the purpose of human life. Prideful man believes that he lives to accomplish his own goals and to create his own destiny. There is a great desire in the world to remove any obstacles that seem to be in the way of mankind’s development and his self-made plans for the future.

The account of Babel shows us something about the greatness of God and His ability to deal with mankind. God’s greatness can never be successfully challenged by rebellious man. The story of Babel shows us a God who is not distant or passive but is present and actively involved in the affairs of human history. However, God’s involvement is often seen in His opposition and His judgement of mankind’s plans and the prideful, rebellious actions of the nations.

Babel was a significant and formative event in the history and development of human society and is crucial to our understanding of the world today. Babel is like a spirit or a principle that pervades human life and society. The spirit or principle of Babel has been expressed in all of the great civilizations of human history. Babel is a model for understanding the world.

Babel Teaches Us About Mankind

 

A Warped View of Life

We are seeing at Babel the effects of sin. Sin is the underlying cause of all of mankind’s troubles. But there are many effects of sin. Sometimes it is easier to focus on the effects and to ignore the cause. The Bible is always trying to help us see what is underneath of human life. The Bible never operates on the surface of things. Beneath the surface of human life is alienation. This is how the Apostle Paul described the state of the world apart from God:

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV)

Our most important relationship is with God. But alienation pervades human life. When we are alienated from God we are also alienated from ourselves. In knowing God, I know myself. But when I am alienated from God I am also ignorant of my true self. I don’t really know who I am or why I am living on the earth. Life becomes a great mystery that becomes impossible to solve. Most people spend their lives running here and there without knowing why they are doing the things they do. Asking questions about the meaning of life is actually something most people avoid because these issues could possibly lead someone to think about God, which is the very thing most people are trying to avoid.

Ironically, mankind is hostile to the very thing that could solve the mystery of life. Sin brought a double curse: we are sick and we are also hostile to the Cure. It is vital to see that no cure for humanity’s ailments will come apart from God, yet the knowledge of God is the very thing that humanity seeks to avoid and even to suppress. The people of this world live as if God does not exist:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one (Psalm 14.1-3; 53.1-3; Rom. 3.10-12)

The book of Genesis is tracing the sources of human life, like a family history or a genealogy. Why are things the way they are? Genesis addresses this question. Human life is warped because mankind has been diverted from his original purpose. This is what was revealed about the creation of man by God:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28 ESV)

The original purpose of mankind was to be the image of God on earth. This image has been warped by sin. The image of God has to do with man having dominion over the world God created, along with the faculties to rule this creation. But man was to rule it for God, as God’s steward or viceroy. Image can refer to a representation. Man was to be the representation of God on earth. The earth was given to man to inhabit and to rule. That is his domain, his dominion. God lives in heaven. But God is the ultimate owner of the earth and mankind is accountable to God. We must report to God, just as an employee must make a report of his work to the manager, or a tenant must submit to the will of his landlord.

But sin interrupted this relationship between God and man. Man refused to submit to God and has sought to take control. This rebellion did not completely erase the image of God from man. The image has been distorted and misdirected. Instead of serving God, man seeks his own agenda and is thereby misusing the faculties and resources God has given. The higher the creature the more dangerous the fall of that creature. Monkeys do not build towers or bombs. But sinful men use their capabilities for purposes that God did not intend or command. Babel was not God’s project.

Independence from God

We were not created to be independent from God. Man was created for Divine fellowship or partnership. We were to be with God and work with God. But sin means we want to be our own Master. Behind every transgression is the desire for independence and for control. The actual transgression is of less importance than the attitude or the reason behind it. Every sin is like a little, cosmic rebellion. It is the spread of that great, cosmic, ancient rebellion and fall of Satan. The English poet John Milton said that every soul in Hell has basically said that it is better to reign in Hell than to serve in heaven. That is, mankind prefers to have his own way rather than submit to God. In refusing to submit to God and wanting to be his own master, man simply becomes enslaved to his own passions. “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8.34). Mankind has exchanged Masters. By choosing not to serve God we have become slaves to our own corrupt appetites.

Anything that is not done in submission to God’s will becomes warped. Nothing is good or bad in itself. The world God created was good. And there are all kinds of things we can do that are completely within the will of God. Even those human desires that we might think to be base can often be traced back to a perfectly legitimate desire that God put there. Whatever God put there He also meant to provide for its satisfaction. But we sin when we seek to fulfill our desires without God. When God’s hands are off the reins, human life goes astray. The only legitimate activities in life are those things that seek God as the ultimate end. Any activity of man that is not done for the glory of God will ultimately be done in vain. All the Towers of Babel that we build must fall in the end.

The people who began to build the Tower of Babel never considered the will of God or asked God if they could act in this way. God was simply ignored. The people may have not even believed in the existence of God, choosing to worship the elements of creation instead. The main consideration at Babel was man and his will, not God and God’s will. Man desires to chart his own course in the world and determine his own destiny.  This is nothing but evil pride. Making plans for the future does not seem to be evil. But when this is done without God in mind it becomes sin. Consider this exhortation and warning from James, which was given to professing Christians:

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 ESV)

At first, this planning for the future may not seem like such a bad thing. In fact, many people, including Christians, argue that God has given man free will and the ability to make his own decisions. It is difficult to read the story of Babel and conclude that mankind is free to do anything it wants to do. If God was unable or unwilling to overrule the will of man, then history would look very different. The burden of teaching in Scripture is on the sovereignty God, not the free will of man. It has been said that “man proposes but God disposes.” Men have choices to make, either to submit to God or to rebel, but there is no indication in Scripture that men are free to get their way when they decide to oppose the will of God.

Another Agenda

What was the reason for the agenda at Babel? Why was the project started? I do not think that this was an artistic project. There was a very practical reason for building this city and the tower. A city is a way of organizing and obtaining a collective advantage. There is safety and power in numbers and organization. One of the highest values in the world is security. Man always feels exposed and unsafe in the world and society tries to mitigate this feeling. One aspect of God’s curse was the fact that the creation would no longer provide for mankind willingly but would produce thorns and thistles that would frustrate man’s efforts to live and to thrive in the world. We are always fighting the elements and we do not have perfect dominion over the created world. Man seeks an organization or a mechanism by which to combat the elements. We come together in order to mitigate the risk and the hardship of life in a fallen world. Man applies his power of reasoning, a God-given faculty, and utilizes technology in order to do this, which was also evident in the building of Babel.

But this desire for security and to master the environment does not seem to be inherently wicked. In fact, God commanded mankind to subdue the creation and rule over it. But at Babel we see men taking matters into their own hands and pursuing security and dominion apart from trust in and submission to the Lord God. We are supposed to rely on the Lord for what we need and we are to go to Him for safety and security in times of distress and danger. We are to seek the Kingdom of God before everything else, and then everything else will be provided. Rather than trusting God the world takes matters into its own hands. Jesus told His disciples they are not to be like the pagan unbelievers of the world:

do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33 ESV)

But even the pursuit of security is not an end of itself. Why do we want to have security? What would we do if we did not have to worry about the elements or be concerned about our basic needs? What would we then be free to pursue? Once we managed to build a Utopia, what would we do with it? Apart from God mankind has no higher goal than the freedom to pursue the gratification of its own desires. In other words, the main goal of society becomes the pursuit of pleasure. And it is the pursuit of pleasure apart from God, or the pursuit of pleasure as an end of itself, which is always warped and leaves us empty and frustrated.

God raised up Solomon and gave him a certain kind of earthly wisdom in order to demonstrate the futility of earthly things. Here is what Solomon observed about life in the world:

           

And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 ESV)

Even if we are able to enjoy all the pleasures of the world, as King Solomon did, we will end up with nothing but dust in the wind. Even if we got everything we wanted in this life, there is still the reality of death that continues to frustrate our plans. There has to be more to human life than the pursuit of earthly pleasures.

What was happening at Babel is still happening in the world today. The men of the world are desperately trying to remove all of the obstacles that get in the way of their plans and their ability to secure or determine their own future. The major obstacle that must be removed if man is going to have his own way is the knowledge of God. If there is a God in Heaven, then His will may conflict with the plans of men and this could ruin everything that man plans to do! What will men do if God gets in their way? The Apostle Paul assessed the history of the nations and concluded that these had all sought to suppress the knowledge of the true God and so they exchanged the worship of the Creator for the things of creation. The moral state of the nations can be attributed to the fact that

although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:21-25 ESV)

It seems to make more sense to simply submit to God, but this is not the way mankind has chosen. We are rebels. Mankind originally knew about the one, true God. But to worship this God meant obedience and submission. Man preferred rebellion. The dominant quality of the world is rebellion against God. God is a threat to projects like Babel. And so the Psalmist prophesied correctly that “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:2-3 ESV). Ever since Babel mankind has continued to rage against God.

Babel Teaches Us About God

 

The Greatness of God

There is something very close to sarcasm and even humor in the story of Babel: God had to come down to see this tower that the men were building! Now why would God have to actually come down to see this thing? The great Tower of Babel was so small to God that He could not even see it unless He came down out of Heaven! This kind of language about God is called an anthropomorphism. It is a way of talking about God in human terms to help us understand something.

In this case the thing we are understand is the greatness of God compared to the true smallness of what they were doing at Babel, though it probably did not look small to the men who were building it. The greatness of God is being contrasted with the relative smallness of the project at Babel. What seems large to mankind is not large to God. We should not be unduly impressed with the things men can do, including our own personal projects or abilities. We need to consider the greatness of God. Only then will our perspective be brought into proper focus. If we get up high enough our perspective is altered, like the view from an airplane or the top of a high mountain. From God’s vantage point, the Tower of Babel looked small. “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers” (Isaiah 40:22 ESV).

God’s perspective is from Heaven. Scripture teaches us to think about God in a certain way. He is our Father IN HEAVEN. He is above us or far superior to us. He is a much higher being than we are. God is not like us but is separate from us and also from the world itself. He is transcendent. The Bible does not teach pantheism, or the idea that everything is God, which would significantly lower God’s person relative to us and to the world. God is higher than the world and He is certainly not a man. God is infinitely more powerful than all of the combined strength of the human race upon the earth. There is really no comparison between God and men and it is foolish for men to challenge God like they did at Babel. God has no true competition, not even in Satan, not to mention in mortal men. We have to look up to God because He is so much greater than we are. And He has to look down on us, His mercy and compassion being the only reason for Him doing so at all.

The Bible divides reality between two realms: heaven and earth. The earth is the domain of men. Heaven is the domain of God. “The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man” (Psalm 115:16 ESV). And God is always on His throne in heaven. Men like Isaiah, Daniel, and John the Apostle all saw into heaven and the first thing that met their eyes was the throne of God. Heaven is the control-room for earth. God is always on His throne and nothing is out of His control. The men at Babel thought they were in control. But they were seriously mistaken. Men today still ignore God and believe that they are free to do what they want. But God is in heaven. He is still looking down on the nations of the world and all their plans. God has His own plans for the world that do not coincide with the plans of the nations. Is there any real question about whose will is going to prevail in the end?

Like the men at Babel, men today do not acknowledge the greatness of God. God is not feared or obeyed. “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes” (Psalm 36.1). If people were more aware of God their behavior would be different. When we are in the presence of someone who is greater than we are, or someone who might even make us afraid, our behavior is modified. We talk with more respect. We mind our manners. But wicked people have no fear of God and that is why they feel that they are free to rebel against God. Perhaps they think that God is not really there. Many people feel that God is too kind or patient to do anything in response to their sin.  Babel should teach us that God is not neutral or impotent when it comes to responding to human sin and rebellion. To test the Lord by sinning willfully and then presuming on His kindness or patience is a very risky business, to say the least! There may be some intellectual atheists out there who have philosophical objections or questions about God. But there are many more practical atheists. The practical atheists are denying or ignoring God by their actions and their lifestyles, just like the people at Babel.

We need God to exist, but men tend to believe they are self-sufficient. The world fails to acknowledge God as the source of everything. One of the greatest sins of the human race is ingratitude. Thanksgiving is not just something to pray at dinner or to have during the holidays each year. True gratitude is a humble dependence on God each and every day, and is based on an acknowledgment of His greatness. This dependence on God glorifies God because it means we are aligning ourselves with who God is rather than competing with God. The men at Babel were trying to be great themselves instead of glorifying God.

The Nearness of God

The building of Babel did not go unnoticed. One of the great doctrines of the Bible is the omniscience and omnipresence of God. No one can escape the gaze of the Heavenly Watcher. We should not think of heaven or the presence of God as being far away from the earth and the world of men. The idea of a distant, disinterested God who is not involved in the world or in human affairs is completely foreign to the Bible. This nearness of God is the argument the Apostle Paul used when speaking to the pagan philosophers in Athens:

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 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, for “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are indeed his offspring” (Acts 17:24-28 ESV)

But it has always been the desire of men to escape the gaze of the Heavenly Watcher, to hide from God, like Adam and Eve in Eden, or like Jonah running away from his calling. Since God is spirit and is not visible to the physical eyes of men, this does not seem like a very difficult thing to do. Does a Supreme Being even exist? If He does, then can He see me? Does He know me? Does He even care about what I do? Even if men accept the possibility that God exists, does it logically follow that God is anywhere near the world of men?

Maybe God is something like an absentee landlord. Perhaps He simply made the world, wound it up like a giant clock, and then left to do something else up in heaven while the world runs on its own. So much of man’s thoughts about God have been more in the vein of God’s absence and irrelevance to human life rather than a full-blown atheism. An absent God is convenient to our plans.

But the Bible reminds mankind that God can always see. The Psalmist might have been talking to the men at Babel when he said to

Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge—the LORD—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath (Psalm 94:8-11 ESV)

At times, when we are left weak and defenseless against the cruel forces of the natural world, we may wish there were a higher power who could sweep in and save us. But most of the time men are content to be free from the presence of God and therefore free to pursue their own plans. The people at Babel did not expect or want God around, but He came anyway, and He cancelled their plans.

The story of Babel shows us that God is not limited to His heavenly abode but has access to the world of men, though this ability to access both realms is not shared by human beings. We are physical beings who occupy one space at a time. But God fills heaven and earth and has no corporeal limitations. Augustine attempted to illustrate the omnipresence of God with the image of a sponge floating in the ocean. While the ocean is obviously immeasurable vast in comparison to the sponge, the ocean’s liquid form is able to interpenetrate the sponge and fill it. In the same way, God fills the universe while also being infinitely beyond the universe.

And so God was there at Babel in some sense, though the people did not perceive His presence and would probably not have welcomed God’s inspection of their project. The nearness of God is always a reality. It is our perception of this reality that is lacking, especially if we have moral reasons for our incredulity.

The Opposition of God

God did not come down to support the workers at Babel. He came down to oppose what the men were doing. God set Himself against these men and the city they were building. The presence of God was not manifested in a fiery judgement. No one was killed at Babel. The people at Babel did not perceive God’s presence, but they did feel the effects of His displeasure.

Even if there was no death and destruction at Babel, the presence of God was there to judge the people. God judged them by opposing their rebellious project. God has introduced into human society a principle of confusion and disunity among the people of the world so that it becomes impossible for them to reach their goals. God has come out in opposition to the agenda of people who are alienated from Him and unwilling to acknowledge Him. That is the enduring lesson of Babel. “The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth” (Psalm 34:16 ESV).

The reason God opposed Babel is because He had his own plans for the world and these plans would grow best in the soil that God was preparing. Who knows what kind of environment would have been created in the world if Babel was allowed to continue and to be a success? When a gardener prepares to plant his plants he must first prepared the soil and clear it of anything that would be a detriment to what he wants to grow. God was going to grow His Kingdom in the world and this meant that the project at Babel had to be uprooted. Babel was abandoned at that time and place, though other versions of Babel would be attempted. But only what God builds will be allowed to stand. When Daniel interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that he had dreamed concerning that golden image, Daniel stated that

the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure (Daniel 2:44-45 ESV)

And so shall the Kingdom of God continue to grow in the earth. Every other kingdom, all the great projects of human history, will become like dust blown away in the winds of time. Only the City that God is building will stand.