The Gospel in Genesis: The Tower of Babel - Genesis 11:1-9

Introduction

Read Gen 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1–9 (ESV)

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 Shinar and settled there. 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. 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.” 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 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. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so 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.

This account of the story of this Tower comes right after chapter 10 which shows the descendants of Noah through each of his three sons.

We see that humanity has been fruitful and multiplied. It has been living in the blessing God has bestowed upon them.

And even here in this chapter, we see that humanity is not only flourishing, but is building and inventing. There is a sense in which they are fulfilling the mandate God gave to Adam and Eve to take dominion and subdue the earth.

However, this story as we can see does not end well. Why not? Isn’t humanity doing what God commanded of them?

Partially, yes. But not fully. They have been fruitful and multiplied, but they are not filling the earth with their presence. They are staying together in one place instead of spreading out.

Remember, we are made in the image of God, and the command is for us to take God’s image and fill the earth with the glory of His name!

So while they are partially obedient, partial obedience is still disobedience. God does not tolerate partial obedience which only follows the parts of His Word that seems pleasing to us. We either accept all of it or we have broken all of it.

James 2:10 (ESV)

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

This account is marked by the rebellion of humanity against God’s Word. And we see this first in the one who founded this project.

Genesis 10:6–12 (ESV)

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

Here we read about the line of Ham. If we remember from last week, Ham walked in rebellion as he sinned against his father as he uncovered his father’s nakedness. The grandson of Ham is specifically named as the founder of Babel, Nimrod.

Great name… right? Nimrod was known for his strength and power, and maybe even seen as a new line of Nephilim that we saw back in Genesis 6. Possibly a giant.

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Which means he was known for his strength and his acts of violence. He was also known for his rebellion for his name means, “We will Rebel.”

This is the father and ancestor to Babel or Babylon, Assyria, and Nineveh, names which will come up again in the story of Scripture and not in good ways either.

So while building a city and even a tower is not evil in itself, it is already being seen as an act of rebellion against the good command of God because of their refusal to obey ALL of God’s commands and for the heart and motivation behind what they are doing.

The Rebellion of Pride

The motivation behind their actions comes back to Pride.

Instead of seeking God’s will and direction, they decide in their hearts what is right and what they ought to do. Twice they say, “Come, let us…” Instead of asking, what does God want, they are declaring what they want.

And we have seen this before. It was pride that led Adam and Eve into rebellion. It continues to be pride that leads us into rebellion. I know God wants me to, but I really want to…

I get to decide what is right and wrong for me rather than listen to what has already been established. We have pride to know better than anyone else.

We see this pride playing out in two different ways.

The Pride of Seeking Our Own Salvation

Why do they want to build this city and this tower?

Notice what they are trying to do, they want this tower to reach into the heavens and also to prevent them from being dispersed.

They are looking at achieving their own salvation.

The Tower - A Ziggurat

This tower is not like a cylindrical tower or one of our skyscrapers. It would have been like a Ziggurat, a pyramid with steps leading all the way up.

Ever since leaving Eden, man has tried to find his own way back to the garden.

It appears that once again, man is trying to find his own way back to God by building a literal, “stairway to heaven.”

And notice their idea of salvation is seeking to remain together in a group rather than dispersed through the world.

Safety in numbers maybe?

It might also be they are thinking if they can build a tower high enough, then if another flood comes, they will not be washed away like those of Noah’s generation were.

The Pride of Legalism

Legalism is just the following of a set of rules for the purpose of securing our own salvation.

The Pride of Living for Our Own Glory

This tower was also a means of living for their own glory.

They wanted those who came after them to see how smart, resourceful, and awesome they were.

They are building their own city, their own kingdom. This is also another way of trying to find salvation because they want their legacy to be their source of eternal life.

They are doing what makes sense to them in order to live longer and to succeed at what they want to accomplish.

But this kingdom, even if successful, would never last. No matter what we do, no matter how successful we are, we cannot survive the death that our separation from God deserves. We can succeed at every area of life, relationships, and business and still lose it all.

Mark 8:36 (ESV)

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

These people of Babel are trying to build a kingdom that will give them a name and yet will still leave them eternally separated from the God who created them.

We still try to build a name for ourselves by making ourselves successful at whatever we put our mind to. We often neglect our relationship with God in order to gain a worldly success so we can build a kingdom that will never last.

American Idol

Celebrity culture

Even in the church

We do whatever we can to make people think well of us and to build up our name and reputation.

Some of us might say, no not me. I don’t want to be known. I want to stay in the background. I’m much more humble than that.

But when we begin to take notice of our humility, pride sneaks in. We actually take pride in the fact that we stay in the background and don’t let others see us. The avoidance of recognition can serve to feed our egos just as much as all the praise and recognition the world could give.

The question we all have to ask is where is pride lurking within my own heart? Where do I place my identity and value? While we might know that our identity and value should be in Christ, we all struggle with placing our personal value and identity in something else, whether it is our jobs, our reputations, our relationships, our kids, or our activities. And we begin to build our lives around these things rather than on who Christ is and what He has done.

The Reality of God’s Discipline

God Sees Our Rebellion

We cannot hide our sin or our prideful hearts from God, even when we might even deceive ourselves.

God always sees and knows our hearts and the pride and rebellion that lays within them.

God is Gracious to Stop Our Rebellion

The Reversal of Pride by the Gospel

What do we see as God’s gracious response to this act of rebellion?

God reverses the plans of the people.

He destroys the unity they are experiencing to get them to stop what they are doing by confusing their languages.

We see the beginning of the dividing of nations and languages. Sin is the sad cause for the divide. If we had experienced unity with God in obedience, we could have experienced true unity with one another in spite of separation.

But now, sin, like it does everything else, has destroyed the unity among all humanity.

But God has not left us without hope. God has made a way to reverse not just our rebellion, but also the consequences of that rebellion.

Jesus, the Only Name that Can Save

First, just as our rebellion was our way of trying to earn and attain our own salvation, God is reversing that plan by showing us that while we cannot save ourselves, there is One who can save.

In the ultimate act of love and mercy, God, instead of demanding that we build a tower to get to Him, which we could never build a tower big enough to get there, has instead come down to us.

Notice what God does and even what He says He will do…

v. 5 - The LORD came down to see the city and the tower

v. 7 - Come let us go down and there confuse their language

God came down, not just to view our rebellion, but also to stop our rebellion.

But this isn’t the last time God is going to come down.

God is going to come down in human flesh in the person of Jesus. And it is through the perfect righteous obedience of Christ and through His death on the cross and His resurrection that He is going to provide the way back into the presence of the Father.

This is why Jesus said to His disciples…

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And because of His perfect work and He is the only way, we know there is Acts 4:12

Acts 4:12 (ESV)

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Instead of building our own name and earning our own salvation, there is One who has already perfectly made the way for us. We do not have to protect or save ourselves from either our sin or from the world around us. Yes, there may be consequences to following Christ in this world, but we do not have to fear what happens because we know we are secure in Christ if we have come to Him by faith.

I wonder who in here might still be trying to find their own salvation and satisfaction through their own efforts. You do not have to keep on trying to be good enough because Christ has already purchased our salvation. All He calls us to do is to lay down our efforts and come to Him by faith.

Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Jesus, the Only Glory Worth Living For

But God reverses not just the way we get back to Him, but also the purpose for which we live.

Purpose

What is our main purpose?

You and I do not get to define our purpose in life. We do not get to just go out and discover ourselves and decide what we want our purpose to be. Because you and I were created by Someone else, that Creator gets to decide what our purpose is.

Our purpose is to glorify, not my own name or your name, but the name of Jesus. What does this mean? It means that our purpose is to know Christ and to make Him known to everyone around us. It means that whatever else we are doing, we are seeking to make His name great, not that we are adding value to it, but that we are showing it to be as great as it already is. We want others to see and to know the beauty of Christ.

John 14:8–14 (ESV)

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

You see, we fulfill our calling so we can live according to the purpose for which we were created. Christ came to glorify the Father, which means as His disciples saw Him work, they were seeing the Father at work through Him. Jesus was pointing everyone back to the Father.

In the same way, whatever you and I do, our purpose is to point back to Christ and to show off His beauty and glory to those around us.

This is why Ephesians 2:8-10

Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We do our good works, not to boast about how good we are, but to show forth the glory of Christ who called us to Himself. We are not saved by works, but we are saved for works so when our good works are flowing from the power of Christ living within us, people get to see who Christ is and He is shown to be as great and as glorious as He has ever been.

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

And we are called to do this not just when we are gathered together on Sunday mornings, but especially when we are scattered and going out.

Just as the people during the Tower of Babel were called to spread and fill the earth, so too we are called by Christ

Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

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,

We are called to glorify Christ as we go to our jobs, as we raise our families, as we go to the grocery store, or to classes or to soccer practice. We are called to each go our own way and to bring glory to Christ by how we demonstrate His goodness with our lives and preach His good news with our lips!

The Tower of Babel vs Pentecost

God is not just reversing the penalty of sin on a personal level. As He reverses sin on our own personal level, He also reverses the consequences of sin on a corporate level.

The Tower of Babel has a New Testament counterpart.

In Acts 2, after Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission and after His ascension back into heaven, His disciples were in Jerusalem waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

They were all together in one room on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came upon them. It came from with like a mighty rushing wind with tongues of fire appearing over each one of them. And then Acts tells us

Acts 2:4 ESV

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

This speaking of tongues was not