Tale of Two Cities

INTRODUCTION:

Today we’re wrapping up a series we’ve been in entitled “Living Right in a World Gone Wrong.” Our last interaction with the book of Genesis for a little while.

Next Sunday will be my last Sunday before I start my Sabbatical and then Pastor Taylor will lead you through a few sermon series on the human heart and the parables of Jesus.

Genesis chapters 1-11 form a unit. Within them we see a template for how God creates something good and beautiful and then Satan comes along and counterfeits that good thing to subvert God’s purpose and plan.

God creates and Satan counterfeits. That’s the story of the book of Genesis and that’s the story of the world.

We’ve seen this tug of war between good and evil over the past few months. Like many things in this world, the battle between good & evil happens at scale.

It has played itself out

at an individual level (Gen 3 | The serpent, Adam & Eve)

a family level (Gen 4 - Cain & Abel)

a generational level (Gen 5 - Sons of Seth)

and today we’ll see it at a national or global level.

Whether in the heart or between the nations, this battle has been raging from the very beginning.

Christ & AntiChrist

But that’s not the only contrast we’ve seen in the book of Genesis. We’ve also seen a contrast between two seeds.

In Genesis 3 we saw God make a promise about a Savior who would come from the seed of the woman and who would crush the head of the serpent and reverse the curse of sin on this world.

We know that savior as the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you can see little prophecies about the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the book of Genesis.

He the sacrificial covering for the nakedness of Adam & Eve.

He’s the son of Promise in the line of Seth,

He’s the Ark of Salvation in the story of Noah,

He’s the obedient son in Genesis 9.

He’s the seed of promise, the Lord Jesus Christ. But that’s not the only seed we see in Genesis 1-11. We also see the seed of the Antichrist.

The antichrist, or the Spirit of the Antichrist, is that spirit which stands in opposition to or against Christ.

It’s the Spirit behind the serpent in the Garden

It’s behind the voice that questions the Word of God

It’s behind the murderous spirit in the heart of Cain

It’s behind the corruption of marriage & family in Genesis 6.

It’s the evil intentions in every human heart prior to the flood.

It’s the complacency and compromise that results in Noah’s Sin & Canaan’s curse

The book of Revelation isn’t the only time the Bible talks about the dragon and the antiChrist. It’s right here in Genesis 10-11 as well.

For every good gift that God creates Satan manufactures a counterfeit. There’s the Spirit of Christ and there’s the Spirit of the Antichrist.

Today we’re going to see that antichrist spirit and God’s response to it. We see the Antichrist Spirit in Genesis 11 and God’s response to it in Genesis 10.

You may say, “Wes that sounds backwards.” And, chronologically it is. But the Bible isn’t always concerned first and foremost with chronology.

Moses is making a theological point that the dispersion of the nations was part of God’s plan and not just a reaction to human depravity and sin.

The Genealogy

Genesis 10 is essentially a genealogy. I know you can’t say the word genealogy without yawning but think of it as the 23 and me of the entire human race.

The main reason behind this Genealogy in chapter 10 is to set the table for God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and Satan’s counterfeit to that promise in Genesis 11.

Genesis 10 is also a fulfillment of God’s command and blessing in Genesis 9:1 for Noah and his sons to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth.

The genealogy is broken down into 3 major sections and 70 different names. (intentional symbolism).

The three main sections are the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. (we looked at them last week.

Genesis 10:1 (ESV)

1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

Jesus comes through the line of Shem,

the big bads of the Bible come through the line of Ham and

Japheth like Shem honored his dad and experienced a blessing as a result.

For the original audience of Genesis - chapter 10 gives them the backstory not just for who THEY were but the nations surrounding them as well.

They’re listed in order of least important to the most important (from the perspective of the original audience).

There are fourteen names listed for Japheth, thirty names listed for Ham, and 26 names listed for Shem. That gives 70 names total.

Sons of Japheth

We’ll begin with the sons of Japheth. As I read I’ll show you a graphic of the breakdown.

Genesis 10:2–5 (ESV)

2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.

Atlas Map:

It’s as if Noah said to Japheth I want you to go North and West of the Fertile Crescent and populate that area. And, that’s what they did.

His descendants become the progenitor of Indo-European countries like Greece, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and certain Mediterranean Islands (Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes)

Magog and Tubal go as far north as becoming and ancestry of modern day Russia.

Sons of Ham

The next section deals with the descendents of Ham and Canaan.

Genesis 10:6–7 (ESV)

6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

Verses 8-12 deal with the man named Nimrod and his descendents but we’ll come back to him in a second. For now skip down to verses 13-14.

Genesis 10:13–20 (ESV)

13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.

15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

ATLAS MAP:

It’s as if Noah said to them, “Go South West of the Fertile Crescent and populate that area.” And that’s what they did.

If you look on this map you can see the Hamites generally are located in North Africa (Egypt and the Sudan), along the coast of Somaliland and the west Arabian coasts, and in certain sections of Mesopotamia.

You can also see the Canaanite people Israel fought against as she entered the promised land (Amorites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Hivites, Girgashites, and others) are listed as Hamites.

Sons of Shem

Finally we have the descendents of Shem.

Genesis 10:21–30 (ESV)

21 To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.

22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber.

25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.

26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east.

ATLAS MAP:

It’s as if Noah said to Shem I want you to go South and East of the fertile Crescent and that’s what they do. From Antolia in the West to Arabia in the South to Elam in the East.

They fill up what we know today as Saudi Arabia.

Asher would become the founder of the Assyrians.

Aram the founder of the Syrians.

And Eber (from which we get our english word Hebrew) become the families that settle in the region of the Middle East.

The Reason For Genealogy

Now that your eyes are good and glazed over we need to ask the question WHY Moses lists these nations the way that he does.

He has a reason for mentioning the names that he does.

Here are a few things to consider.

The names are selective not exhaustive. Moses is giving a framework for how the people of Israel are to understand themselves in relation to other peoples/cultures.

The focus is not on race or ethnicity but rather culture and geography. It’s a reminder that ALL people are created in the image of God and worthy of value, dignity and respect.

The sins of the Father gets passed to the third and fourth generation. The curse that gets placed on Canaan gets passed long to the rest of his descendents. This leads up to Israel facing the Canaanites as they take back the promised land.

Some key truths we can take away from this are that

God creates and celebrates ethnic diversity. He’s the author and establisher of every nuance, every difference and every contrast between nations, cultures and peoples. He loves it and we should love it too!

God is sovereign over EVERY nation. He’s not just the God of the Hebrews or the line of Shem. He’s the Lord of HOSTS. The creator of every tribe, tongue, people and language and deserves the praise of every tribe tongue and nation.

That means God knows our nation by name and he placed us in this place according to his sovereign purpose.

Acts 17:26 “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.”

Not only is God sovereign over every nation. He will also save people from every nation and build a new city in which they can dwell. He has a desire to bless the nations and save the nations through the seed of the promise, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The City of God

If you remember from the book of Revelation our world is headed towards final destination in which people from every tribe, tongue people and language gather around the throne in worship of Jesus Christ.

So this judgment of God to disperse the people is really part of God’s plan to make a new city and new people that flourish under his design.

This plan begins in Genesis 12 with the call of Abram and God’s covenant to bless him so that he might become a blessing.

The plan extends through the nation of Israel to the person of Christ to the sending of Christ church to the ends of the earth in the power of the Spirit until we make disciples of every nation.

What was the alternative to God’s plan? Remember, God creates and Satan counterfeits.

So what was the counterfeit plan and the counterfeit city to the city of God?

That’s what Genesis 11 is all about.

The Counterfeit City

That leads us to the next section of this story which is the fall of Babylon.

You might think of Babylon as a counterfeit city, animated by the spirit of a counterfeit Christ.

Chronologically, the events of Genesis 11 form the backdrop of the geographical spread in Genesis 10.

The Rebellious King

One of the names we passed over in our survey of the genealogy was a man named Nimrod who came to rule over a great city named Babylon.

Genesis 10:8–12 (ESV)

8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

MAP:

He started his rise to power in Shinar, in the lower Mesopotamian river valley.

He gradually extended his influence over (or possibly built) Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh.

Nimrod eventually expanded his influence into Assyria where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah and the great city of Resen (Gen 10:10–12).

When verse 8 says that Nimrod was the “first to be a mighty man” he’s not saying it in a positive sense. The word “tyrant” might be a better translation.

Even his name communicates evil. It’s means “let us revolt.”

He was likely an evil, murderous authoritarian ruler who was opposed to any order that wasn’t subservient to his will.

When verse 9 says that he was a “mighty hunter” it could men hunter in the traditional sense of hunting animals (that was a role of ancient kings.)

More likely, however, is the idea of “hunting men” for the purpose of human trafficking and forced labor/slavery.

He does this “before the Lord” in the sense of “against the Lord.” God was unpleased with Nimrod because his murderous actions and spirit are the exact opposite of the original mandate given in the Garden of Eden.

Nimrod is the founder of the original Babylon. (some try to link him with ancient folklore or legend like Gilgamesh or Marduk)

He’s the archetype of an evil king who leads people away from God and towards making a name for themselves.

The Arrogant City

Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what his city is characterized by in Genesis 11.

Genesis 11:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

Notice that the people who are migrating there are “from the East.”

This is code in the book of Genesis for “far from God.” It finds its roots in Genesis 3 when Adam & Eve are driven away from the presence of God “east” of Eden.

The building materials they’re using is similar to the Adobe architecture you can still find today in places like Sante Fe or the Middle East.

A Name For Ourselves

The antichrist spirit of Babylon is mentioned in Genesis 11:4

Genesis 11:4 (ESV)

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and 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.”

The location of this city would’ve been modern day Iraq around the city of Baghdad. (North of Persian Gulf)

Imagine the diversity of this city. This is prior to all of these people being confused in their language and spread out all over the earth.

It’s density would’ve only be matched by it’s diversity. In many ways it could’ve been a beautiful and compelling city. Efficient. Financially robust. But an ugly underbelly underneath.

Why? Because they were probably taking the line of Shem and making them into slaves. They would take them as prisoners of war and captive to Babylon just like the later Babylon did in the book of Daniel and the future Babylon did in the book of Revelation.

Babylon was a godless city with a globalist agenda for the sake of self-glorification.

The pride of the elites were serviced at the expense of human slaves.

“Let us make a name for ourselves.”

That’s the heartbeat behind every Babylon in the Bible. It’s the spirit of the antichrist.

The Look of the Tower

Historians believe that the appearance of the tower would’ve been similar to the ancient ziggurats of Mesopotamia.

IMAGE: If you look at this reconstructed model you’ll get an idea of what it might’ve looked like.

You would go from one level to another and at the very top there would be a temple and a throne on which the king would sit.

People would see the king seated on the throne and offer their sacrifices, worship and allegiance to the king.

Sound familiar? The entire thing is a counterfeit of the kingdom of God, where Jesus Christ sits high and exalted on a throne. Everything that God creates, Satan counterfeits.

The Response of God

How does God respond to this attempt at self exaltation?

Genesis 11:5–9 (ESV)

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

9 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.

This reminds me of Psalm 2:1-5. The nations plot and rage against the Lord and the Lord laughs and thwarts the plans of men.

In many ways, the world they were building was really impressive. They were socially aligned and technologically advanced.

One language: when you share the same words you create the same realities and same narrative arch. There is incredible power to that ark for good or for evil.

(interestingly, many linguists actually believe there was an ancient spoken -not written language - against which all modern languages are based. Because there are so many similarities. P.I.E. Proto-Indo-European.)

One people/government: I take the phrase “one people” not to mean they were all ethnically the same but that they were politically aligned.

The alignment was in building this city/tower. The symbolism of the tower is interesting because it’s the same sin of Satan in heaven. The desire to be exalted like God/over God.

Which is ultimately why they fell. They were socially aligned, technologically advanced but spiritually/morally bankrupt.

As the Bible says, “Unless the LORD builds the house then those who labor labor in vain.”

They exchanged the good creation of God for the damaging counterfeit of Satan.

A Merciful Judgment

In a way, the judgment of God to scatter the nations is really a mercy from the Lord.

Had their dream been realized it would’ve unleashed absolute chaos.

Why? Because humans are depraved and when that much power in centralized in a depraved individual, the results are not pretty.

And yet, throughout human history you see the schemes of Satan to try centralize power in the same kind of way.

This can be technologically, economically, politically or militarily. He doesn't care, as long as he rules and reigns.

God’s decision to scatter the people was a merciful judgment because it kept them from ultimately destroying each other.

He confuses the languages out of love for mankind. Being scattered abroad sure beats being flooded from above!

A Tale of Two Cities

So at the end of the day we have a tale of two cities. The City of God and the City of Man.

What’s interesting is that the Spirit of Babylon never really died. It resurfaces again and again and again.

Babylon gets rebuilt under King Nebuchenezzar who is motivated by the same spirit and experiences a similar fall.

In the book of Revelation we see Babylon the Great which is essentially the ultimate expression of the spirit of Babylon that will exist in the days leading up to Christ return.

As with most things in the book of Genesis: the past is prologue. It’s a new day with the same old demons.

The demonic spirit that inspired Nimrod and the city of Babylon is the same demonic spirit at work in our world today.

Modern Day Babylon

We might not be building towers up into the heavens but we are living to make a name for ourselves nonetheless.

The point of God’s city (and every human created in God’s image) is to make much of God. The point of Babylon is the make much of the self.

The Sprit of Babylon is a spirit that says....

We don’t want the City of God. This Satanic counterfeit system will be better. We can have all the perks with none of the submission.

We can fix God-sized problems with our human-engineered solutions.

We don’t need God to come down and become like one of us. We need to go up and become like God.

With the right globalist elites and comprehensive globalist solutions we can fix any problem from the past and prevent any problem in the future.

Pandemic

World peace

Global Warming

It’s the spirit that elevates Pride over humility, self over God, law over Gospel, government over God, censorship over truth and consensus over integrity.

Throughout history and in newspaper “headlines” the spirit of Babylon looms large today.

It was the spirit in Sodom & Gomorrah,

it was in the culture of Nazi Germany,

it’s in the culture of North Korea and Iran.

It’s the spirit behind human trafficking, social media censorship, pornography and the cultural decadence of the west.

It’s happening as we speak with globalist institutions like the WEF and the technological advancements happening with cryptocurrencies, AI and bio-tech companies.

The dispersion that happened in Genesis 10 is being overcome by these technological advancements. (translate app while in Israel!)

On the one hand we can be grateful for these advancements and how they make life easier. On the other hand we must recognize they’re paving the way for potential chaos.

The Hope of Christ

So how should Christians respond? Should we gather up in our holy huddles and say to heck with the rest of the world let’s just watch it burn?!

Absolutely not! We respond by recognizing God has another Spirit at work in our world today. And God is building an even better city than the city of man we see before us.

The spirit of Babylon will not extinguish the Spirit of Christ, the city of man will not triumph over the city of God!

The City of Man creates distance between us and the Lord and us and our neighbor.

it's why you have fences/locks/prisions/gates

We've got to be able to separate humanity from each other

So where is the hope? The answer is the redeemer of Genesis 3:15.

The promised messiah who would bridge the disparate nations together under an umbrella of faith and love for the Lord.

In Christ, it doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter what language you speak. It doesn't matter what your your family background may be.

If your sin is covered by god's grace and my sin has been forgiven by the blood of Jesus then we are family united as one.

And there’s coming a day where the Lord Jesus will take all of us who’ve been scattered and he will bring us back together in a new heavens, new earth while he rules from a New Jerusalem forever and ever.

From Abraham to Christ

Live for the city that is to come!

If you keep reading in the book of Genesis you’ll see God’s response to the scattering of the nations with the choosing of Abraham to build a new type of people who would build a different type of city.

The book of Hebrews talks about this. Hebrews 11:9-10 “By faith he went to live in the land of promise... For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

We see God building that city throughout the Old Testament into the new.

While the spirit of the antichrist pushes the world towards globalism, idolatry and self-glorification. The Spirit of Jesus Christ is running a counter offensive through the Church.

Luke 10

You see the very early stages of this in the Gospels when Jesus preaches about the coming Kingdom of God.

Luke 10:1 (ESV)

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

The number 70 is an intentional appeal to Genesis 10. The scattered nations are now receiving a Gospel witness. 70 nations receive 72 missionaries.

God has every right to destroy these nations because he’s sovereign over them and they’ve sinned against him.

But he chooses mercy and grace and a message of hope instead of judgment and wrath.

Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8; Revelation 7:9-10;

The Gospels conclude with Jesus giving his disciples the Great Commission to go and make disciples of EVERY NATION. (Matthew 28:19)

Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

What Jesus started in the Gospels He continues today through the Church.

As Jesus said in Acts 1:8 “He has empowered us by his Spirit so that we might be his witness in our own Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria - even the uttermost regions of the earth.”

We’ve been invited to complete the picture of Revelation 7:9-10 with people from every tribe tongue and nation standing before the throne with palm branches in their hands singing “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!”

Just as Abraham was chosen by God and blessed to become a blessing to the nations so also are we chosen in Christ and saved from darkness so that we might declare the excellencies of him who called us into his marvelous light.

Remember everything in Genesis is ultimately pointing to him.

When you get to the end of the genealogy in Luke 3:23-38 you see it all leads back to Christ.

This entire lineage is about him. And because we’re IN HIM we are commissioned into the same purpose.

We’ve been filled with God’s Spirit so let us partner together in building God’s City.

A city that rejects prejudice, racism and self-exaltation.

A city that built on people from every tribe, tongue and nation.

A city that exalts Jesus and Him alone as the king above all king.

A city that welcomes all who humble themselves under the Lord Jesus Christ

A city that bears one another's burdens and prays for one another's needs.

Conclusion

So let me ask you, “Which city are you living for? To which city do you belong? To which king do you bow? By whose Spirit do you live your life?”

Have you been filled with His Spirit? Do you share his heart?

At the end of Genesis 10 we have 70 nations/people. Today we have 11,489.

Out of those 11,489 we have 6,832 who are less than 2% Christian.

Of those 11,489 people groups there are 3,264 who have no Christian witness whatsoever.

We can say we’ve made Jesus King when we live like the rest of the world?