THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Genesis chapter 11. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of China and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city, a tower with its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, behold, they are one people and they have one language and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confused their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Abishad, two years after the flood, and Shem lived after he fathered Abishad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Abishad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah, and Abishad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons. and daughters.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.

And Peleg lived after he fathered Ru, 209 years, and had other sons and daughters. When Ru had lived 32 years, he fathered Serag. And Ru lived after he fathered Serag, 203 years, and had other sons and daughters. and daughters. When Serag had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.

And Serag lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters. When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now, these are the generations of Terah.

Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father, Terah, in the land of the kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans, and Abraham and Nahor took wives. The name of Abraham's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, and the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren. She had no child.

Terah took Abraham, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son, Abraham's wife, and they went forth forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of terror were 205 years, and terror died in Haran." This is the word of the Lord. Now, if you've ever had doubts of the wickedness and the sinfulness of man, reading through the accounts of Genesis, will quickly bring your perspectives back in order.

It wasn't that long ago when God destroyed all the earth. He destroyed every woman, every child, every man across the face of the earth, except of course, for one family. And it's only been five generations later, we're told, and mankind does it again. He rebels against God This time it is his pride and arrogance against God. Up until this point, we're told everyone on the earth spoke a single language and spoke with the same words.

But rather than using this blessing, this blessing of unity, of a single language to honor God and bring glory to God, to consolidate their efforts in exalting God, no, they use this gift for the exact opposite reason. not to glorify God, but to glorify themselves. Some commentators have suggested that distrust was the reason that they built the Tower of Babel, that they would say that they thought that maybe if God was to flood the earth again, they would have protection. But the text doesn't say that, and it's a possibility that it was in their mind. But we are told three reasons for why they built or they intended to build the city and the tower.

The first was to build a tower with its top into the heavens. This is stated in verse four. All rooted in their pride and their arrogance. Why would they want to build a tower that goes into heaven? First of all, I'm quite baffled.

Why would anyone want to build a skyscraper on a plain or even possibly a valley? Why wouldn't they go up to the hilltops or a mountain to build the base? Either way, the language suggests that all people, all the people in their pride and arrogance were building a structure, at the very least, building that structure. They thought that they would have some sort of equality with God. They thought this tower would reach into heaven, and it suggests that they felt that they would be worthy to be in the presence of God.

Mere sinful men, worthy of being in the presence of God? This thinking awfully sounds similar to the serpent's word to Eve in the garden, right? You shall be like God. What contempt, what arrogance. The second is an attempt of self-glorification.

Verse four also tells us they intended to make a great name for themselves by building the city and building this tower. They wanted to be known in all generations to all people. They wanted to be great. They wanted to be able to brag and say, look at what we have done. Look how wonderful we are.

In our strength, we can accomplish anything we can put our minds to. We can accomplish greatness. Does that sound like anyone you know or any books you've read lately? No regard for God, no regard for the one who gives and sustains their life, no regard for the one who keeps the breath in their lungs. No, not at all.

In a moment, all their plans will come to zero. Such blindness and arrogance is typical of a corrupt human heart. And the third reason the text gives us is that they would not be dispersed over the face of the earth. At first, this may sound like an innocent thing. I mean, all they wanted is to be united.

They wanted to be in the same place altogether. But in fact, their plan to build the city actually points to a rebellious effort to disobey God. How? Well, you remember the mandate God made to Adam in the creation and then remade with Noah in the recreation? Go, be fruitful, and multiply and fill all the earth?

The city they intend to build would enable them all to stay in the same place and avoid being dispersed over the earth. This is a disobedience to the command of God. It doesn't matter what they think. God has spoken. You see, they weren't concerned with obeying God or giving praise and worship or even exalting God and His great name.

They had an evil agenda in their minds with no consideration for God or His word. And they were bent on accomplishing their evil intentions. You see, the flood, as I said before, eradicated every man, woman, and child from the face of the earth, except for the eight on the ark. But beloved, it didn't fix the sin problem. Man's heart remains desperately evil from his youth.

And this is why Paul is able to say in Romans, that no one is righteous, not even one. I've said this before and I'll say it again, our generation in this day and in this age is no better than those in the time of Babel. The fact that any of us even in this room still exist is simply due to the incredible grace of God alone, not because of anything we've done, not because of our goodness, not because of our righteousness, no. It's because God has bound himself to a covenant that he will never break. So what is God's response to this evil?

Well, verse five tells us that God, hear this, came down to see the city that man had built. I love the language that's used here. It's like a play on words, you see. These people attempt to build a tower up to God, into the heavens, possibly thinking that God is just maybe just slightly above the clouds. But the text tells us as high as they went, God had to come down from heaven in order to see what they were doing, as though they were so far down that he couldn't see from his vantage point the puny little structure they called a tower.

This is not to suggest in any way that God couldn't see them from heaven because God is omnipresent. We know that. Rather, I think this language is to affirm that even the greatness of the human endeavors, the greatest of human endeavors, fall embarrassingly short of reaching the heights of the greatness of God. They never will. The only way they could ever reach heaven is in their foolish imaginations.

You see? You see, man, sorry, sin makes man into a fool. So what does God do? He simply confuses and confounds them by giving them different languages, and by doing so, scatters them throughout the earth. And he doesn't do this because he's fearful of man.

He's fearful that man would become so powerful that he'll become a formidable enemy. No, God fears no one. The almighty arm of the Lord cannot be overpowered. We know that. But rather, in essence, because mankind is so evil, if they remain united in location and language, unrestrained, they will collaborate with one another to do great evil acts against God.

So God created confusion and disunity among them to restrain their rebellion. And beloved, this is for their own good. But confusion and disunity is not how it will end for everyone. there's still hope. This is why the table of descendants of Shem occupies two thirds of this chapter.

It's not a coincidence. It's there because that's where God's attention is. God's purpose is not for a people to remain scattered and confused, but he intends to unite a people once again in every sense of the word. but not on their own because they will only conspire to evil. We've seen that already and throughout human history, this is being replayed over and over again.

No, this time he'll unite a people in his own son and save them from their sins. This is why the last section of the chapter we're introduced to Abraham. It's from this descendant of Shem that God will make a promise that will shed a greater light onto his redemptive purposes. For us, Abram is a strange choice. What he says, he says his wife Sarai was a woman who was unable to have children.

How will a savior be born from his loins if he's unable to have children? Well, we know it's best to leave those details to God. He always comes through, and He can be relied upon to keep His promises. He's ever faithful. We know the rest of the story.

After all, we're New Testament Christians. We've seen how sin and judgment of God breaks apart, separates, scatters, and confuses. But in Christ, it's the opposite. In Christ, There's a closeness. There's a joining together.

There's a unity. You see, a structure is being built in Christ. But unlike the tower of Babel, which dishonors God and exalts the sinfulness of man, Christ is building a holy temple, united in Him for the glory of God and honorable unity. You see, Jesus is the great shepherd who seeks and saves the lost who have been scattered in a sinful world. But in Babel, God came down in judgment, confusing their language and causing disunity.

But on the day of Pentecost, if you remember, God the Holy Spirit also came down. But this time, He united the language barrier, bringing understanding, not confusion, to his people. Babel is being reversed because the gospel of Jesus Christ unites. It doesn't scatter. And it brings clarity and understanding from what was previously just confusion.

Beloved, because God has a plan that he will accomplish, there is hope for us in reconciliation. There's hope for us in unity with one another, and of course, in God, in Christ Jesus. And this hope is found in the only saviour of the world. This hope is found in none other than our saviour, Jesus Christ.