God’s Timeline – Part 19
Tower
of Babel
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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SERMON INTRODUCTION
-
Creation Week
o Adam, Eve, and the Fall
-
Cain and Abel
o Evil Fills the World
-
Noah Did All God
Commanded Him
o The Flood
o God’s Covenant with Noah
-
Noah’s Sons and Ham’s Sin
-
Nations of Noah’s Sons
-
TODAY: Tower of Babel
Last week we read about
all of the nations after the flood coming from Noah’s sons, Japheth, Ham and
Shem.
Names of their children
and grandchildren were given, along with information about where they lived or
moved to as well as the fact that they all spoke their own language.
Genesis 10 talks about the nations
of the world after the flood, and details where they came from. After this
fact, we will now be told the “why” these nations are where they are, as well
as why they all speak different languages.
The Tower of Babel is where
we get terms like babble from, meaning to speak incoherently. This term has
also been used in science fiction, such as in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy, in which a “Babble-Fish” is used to interpret other
languages throughout the galaxy.
So, let us look at
Genesis 11 and understand what the tower was and why it was wrong to build, as
well as what the punishment was for doing so.
SCRIPTURE READING
Genesis 11:1-9
“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2
As people moved eastward, [from the east or in the east] they found a plain
in Shinar [Babylonia] 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.”
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.”
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 [Babylon – which sounds like the
Hebrew word for confused]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole
world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”
I.
THE WHOLE
WORLD HAD ONE LANGUAGE
a. The whole world had one language and common
speech in the beginning
i.
This makes sense
considering these were the children and grandchildren and so-on from Noah and
his wife.
ii.
One language, AND
common speech
1. These are two different things
2. English may be your language, but where you are from
dictates speech
a. American (with many variances), European, Canadian,
etc.
iii.
However, here we are
told they spoke the same language and common speech
iv.
There was NO confusion
in conversations
b. The people moved to Shinar and found a plain to
settle
i.
Eventually they
migrated to Shinar, finding a plain, which is a great place to build a city
considering they have no heavy equipment to level the ground for construction
c. Babylon is located in Shinar and Babylonia is
its synonym
i.
This location of
Shinar is evident from its description as encompassing both Babel/Babylon (in
northern Babylonia) and Uruk (in southern Babylonia).
ii.
In Genesis 10:10, the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom is said to have
been "Babel [Babylon], and Uruk, and Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of
Shinar."
iii.
Verse
11:2 states that Shinar enclosed
the plain that became the site of the Tower of Babel after the Great Flood.
After the Flood, the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth stayed first in the
highlands of Armenia and then migrated to Shinar.
iv.
In Genesis 14:1,9, King Amraphel rules Shinar.
1.
Shinar is further
mentioned in Joshua
7:21; Isaiah 11:11; Daniel 1:2;
and Zechariah 5:11, as a general synonym for Babylonia.
II.
THEN
TECHNOLOGY APPEARED
a. Technology appears
i.
“Let’s make bricks and
bake them.”
1. Using bricks instead of rocks and tar for mortar was
a huge leap in construction technology.
2. Level brick could be built taller, baking them made
them strong, tar between level surfaces of bricks were better at keeping out
wind and rain.
3. Technology does not have to be bad!
4. But as it is with anything, it can be used for evil.
ii.
Look at computers
1. With computers I can share this sermon text around
the world on our website
2. I can share digital recordings of the sermons around
the world many times over
3. I can watch funny cat videos
4. I can play games and even store unlimited amounts of
data and pictures
5. However, this very same technology can also be used
for evil, including but not limited to pornography, child trafficking,
embezzling, spreading false information, or many other actions which are
ungodly.
iii.
These people did NOT
get in trouble for discovering how to make bricks
iv.
They got in trouble
for what they decided to do with the technology and what they said in their
hearts
b. Then pride and arrogance
i.
“Let’s build ourselves
a city with a tower that reaches the heavens”
1. Heavens = shamayim
2. Meaning sky & space as used in Genesis as well
as God’s abode in Daniel and Ezra
3. We can conclude because the plural was used, they
wanted to go “all the way” to God’s Abode, the place beyond Space on the edge
of creation which separates where we are and where God Himself is.
4. Remember, the archaic man had no concept of the depth of
space, the fact they wouldn’t be able to breathe, or the understanding that it
is impossible to build a structure tall enough to leave earth.
5. However, they were in trouble because of their pride
and arrogance of believing they could.
a.
Synonyms for pride in
the Bible are “insolence,” “presumptuousness,” “arrogance,” “conceit,”
“high-mindedness,” “haughtiness,” and “egotism.”
b. “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become
puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil” – I Timothy 3:6
c. “It is actually reported that there is sexual
immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is
sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have
gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been
doing this?” – I
Corinthians 5:1-2
d. “Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that
“We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2
Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.” – I Corinthians 8:1-2
e. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it
does not boast, it is not proud.” – I Corinthians 13:4
f.
“Do not let anyone who
delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a
person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed
up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.” – Colossians 2:18
g. “All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and
worms cover you.
How you have fallen from
heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I
will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the
sacred mountain.
I will ascend above the tops
of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
But you are brought down to
the grave, to the depths of the pit. – Isaiah 13:12-15
ii.
“So we can make a name
for ourselves”
1. “making a name for ourselves” meaning they were
prideful, and wanted to be known as the city that leads to heaven.
2. God already gave the formula for entering into His
kingdom and the people were taught that, until the Messiah came, sacrifices
would be made for the covering of sin, until that sin could be removed by the
perfect sacrifice.
3. Jesus speaks about people who try to enter the
kingdom in any other way.
a.
“Very truly I tell you
Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in
by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is
the shepherd of the sheep.” – John
10:1-2
iii.
Their sin was they had the pride to think they could ever reach heaven. Arrogance to think they could
bypass what God commanded, sacrifice.
iv.
Just as Cain sinned by
disobeying the command of sacrifice by offering something other than the choice
firstborn lamb, so did these people by trying to get to heaven without being
let in by the Shepherd Jesus.
c. They wanted to be great among the whole world
i.
“If we don’t build a
tower that reaches the heavens and make a name for ourselves, we will be
scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
ii.
Nebuchadnezzar sinned
in his heart when he thought he made a name for himself as well.
iii.
“But when his heart
became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne
and stripped of his glory.” – Daniel
5:20
iv.
He lost his mind
because he stood on the balcony of his home overlooking the kingdom God had
given him and thought what a great man HE was.
v.
Making a name for
ourselves using the things God has accomplished is pride and arrogance and will
always get us in trouble with God.
III.
WHAT THEY
WERE DOING WRONG
a. The Lord paid a visit to the future city
i.
The Lord (before He
was Jesus) “came down” (from God’s abode) to see the city and the tower the
people were building.
b. Why was the Lord concerned?
i.
Not because they could
reach God’s Abode, or space, or even the top of the sky
ii.
But because they were
working together for a sin in their hearts
iii.
They were trying to
bypass obedience to the Lord
iv.
They were trying to
bypass sacrifice to the Lord
v.
They were trying to write
their own rules like Cain
c. So, God had to thwart their efforts
i.
“Let us” meaning the Trinity
ii.
“confuse their
language so they won’t understand each other.”
CONCLUSION –
Because of this, the very
thing they were trying to avoid became theirs. The Lord scattered them over all
the earth, and they stopped building the city.
The lesson here is;
Obedience is the way to
God’s Grace
Christ is the way to
God’s Kingdom
There is no climbing the
fence, no alternative way in
If you are disobedient,
you are disqualified.
We must also guard our
hearts against pride and arrogance.
In the example verses, we
learn you can be prideful about what God has blessed you with, what God has
allowed you to obtain in this world, what you have, what you can do, your
abilities He endowed you with, with your understanding (or what you think you
understand), we can become prideful with our faith, we need to be cautious.
“For by the grace given
me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you
ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the
faith God has distributed to each of you.” – Romans 12:3
“Pride goes before
destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18
Next week we will read about The Call of Abram (Genesis 12)
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