This week, we are looking at a section of the very first
letter in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. Yesterday, we saw humanity,
united as a result of a common language and common vocabulary and united in
their prideful and arrogant selfishness and rebellion, begin to build a
fortress city that would stand in opposition to God and would enable them to
rebel against God’s command to fill the earth. This fortress city would enable
humanity to be self sufficient and secure from being scattered by God
throughout the earth.
Today, we will see God’s response as humanity built this
fortress city to rebel against God and make much of themselves, beginning in
Genesis 11:5:
The LORD came down to see the city and the
tower which the sons of men had built.
The triune God responded to the rebellion by coming to
earth to inspect and investigate the rebellion. Here we see Moses reveal for us
the irony of the situation. While humanity in its rebellion was attempting to
build a tower to reach into Heaven, the tower was in fact so far from Heaven
that God had to come do to get a look at the city and its tower.
And here we see the reality that humanities greatest
achievements and attempts at glory and splendor are miniscule and microscopic
when compared to God’s greatness and splendor. We see the prophet Isaiah paint
a word picture that reveals this reality for us in Isaiah 40:22:
It is He who
sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent
to dwell in.
You see, the triune God did not come down to inspect and
investigate the rebellion because He did not know what was going on. God is not
seeking information here. Instead, as is the case throughout the Bible, we see
God come down to earth as a prelude to Him exercising His right and just
response to selfishness and rebellion. And as God inspects, investigates, and
prepares for His response to the rebellion of humanity, we see Him make an
amazing statement about the nature of humanity in Genesis 6:6:
The LORD said, "Behold, they are one
people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do,
and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will
not understand one another's speech."
Here we see God make an amazing statement about human
potential: "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same
language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose
to do will be impossible for them”. You see humanity was divinely designed with
amazing capacity and capabilities. And humanity was united. Humanity was on the
same page and was moving in the same direction. All of humanity was united
under one language and a common vocabulary.
Unfortunately, the heart and motivations that united
humanity were corrupt to the core. Humanity was divinely designed with amazing
capabilities and capacities and God’s image bearers, but now those capacities
and capabilities were corrupted by their prideful selfishness and rebellion
that opposed God and wanted to be like God.
This phrase, if communicated in the language we use in
our culture today, would have sounded something like this: Because of the unity
and capacity that humanity has, their prideful and selfish rebellion will
continue to grow and fester into even greater evil and will remove any desire
to see their need for rescue unless this building project is stopped.
Here we see that just like Adam and Eve in Genesis 3,
humanity is once again attempting to overstep their place in creation to
instead make much of themselves so as to be worshipped. And just like Genesis
3, God enters into the selfishness and rebellion in order to provide an
opportunity for rescue as an act of judgment and grace. God did not come down
simply to inspect and investigate what was happening. Instead God came down to
actively put a stop to the selfish rebellion that was happening.
Moses records for us the Triune God responded to the
prideful and selfish rebellion of humanity with a plan, and that plan was to
come down to earth confuse the language of humanity, so that they would not
understand one another. When God states that He would confuse their language,
this phrase literally means to mix, mingle or confuse something. You see, by
mixing their languages, God would divide their prideful rebellion by humbling
and confusing them. We see God put His plan into action in verse 8:
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there
over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
Can you imagine what that must
have been like? Let’s take a minute and place yourself in the story. One minute
you are able to connect and communicate with everyone. The next minute people
are speaking a totally different language. The neighbor that you used to talk
to; your boss; even your best friend are speaking in a language that you do not
understand. There no longer is a common language or a common vocabulary.
Instead of understanding you have confusion. Instead of unity you have
division.
But God did not simply stop at
confusing their languages. God mixed up their languages and then drove them
from where they wanted to live into every different direction, so as to scatter
them across the earth. God forces humanity to do what humanity refused to do,
which was to fulfill God’s commandment in Genesis 9:1 to be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth. Instead of finding sufficiency and security in
their prideful selfishness and rebellion, humanity was humbled and scattered by
God across the planet.
Tomorrow, we will see God give
humanity a timeless reminder of His response to what humanity had attempted…
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