The Tower of Babel

Intro

Good morning, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 11, 

this morning we will be looking at Genesis 11:1-9.

This is our final sermon in our series through the first 11 chapters of Genesis,

called “In the Beginning,”

Where we are discovering what God reveals about Himself, 

his creation, 

and the foundational events that begin the story of salvation.

We began our series way back in January.

Since then we have followed the first 11 chapters of Genesis,

as they describe specific historical events,

through roughly 2000 years of history.

In our series we’ve looked at the creation of the heavens and the earth,

the creation and then fall of mankind.

The growing wickedness of humanity in the earth,

and then the flood God sent to destroy the earth because of it’s wickedness.

But we also saw how God saved Noah and his family through the floodwaters in the Ark.

And last week, Pastor Andrew took us through Genesis 10,

where we were introduced to the nations that came from the three sons of Noah.

Our passage this morning explains how those nations mentioned in Genesis 10,

came to be spread out, and the land divided among them.

This is the story of the tower of Babel,

and it’s a familiar story to many people.

but what often gets missed,

is that this event sets up a major theme that runs throughout the Bible.

A theme that shapes even the mission of the church today.

Genesis 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.

Exposition

Relationship to C. 10

Though our passage comes after Genesis 10 in the scriptures,

the event it describes takes place only a couple of generations into the table of nations in Genesis 10.

During the life of Nimrod, the grandson of Noah’s son Ham in Genesis 10:10-12,

who founded the city that would become Babel.

And in the year that Peleg was born,

who was great grandson of Noah’s son Shem in Genesis in Genesis 10:25,

He is named Peleg because, “in his days the earth was divided.”

One Language, One People (v. 1)

Our passage begins by saying in v. 1,

Genesis 11:1 ESV

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

One Race

Now theres something important that this verse alludes to,

and it’s a reality that we’ve seen throughout our series in Genesis, but we haven’t really focused on it;

and that is the fact that there is only one human race.

We saw early on in Genesis 1 and 2,

that all of humanity traces their origin to one couple - Adam and Eve.

Then again, if the flood of Noah really was a worldwide flood, as I believe the Bible makes clear,

then all of humanity can trace their lineage to Noah’s sons.

This means that everyone in the world,

with all of our wonderful differences in features,

are part of one human race.

This means, that we as Christians, have a theological basis to reject racism.

Ethnicity vs. Race

Now personally, I prefer to use the word ethnicity rather than race.

The word “race” began its use in the early modern period to really describe nationality and ethnicity.

People talked about the english race, or the french, or the german race.

in this sense it really described nationality.

But eventually the concept changed to it’s modern usage:

distinguishing and dividing people based on physical traits, especially skin colour.

It was then intensified by darwinism,

where certain “races” came to be thought of as either more evolved or less evolved.

Race in this sense is a wicked and godless concept,

and has been the cause of much suffering.

Ethnicity (the greek word ἔθνος) is a biblical concept and describes the different nations of the earth.

This is consistent with mankind having ultimately come from a common ancestor,

and having been scattered into nations.

Which is what we see in our passage this morning.

So there is only one “race” of humanity,

separated into different ethnicities, or nations.

Racism - Three sins

Now the word “Racism” is a relatively new word in english.

It was coined by a man named Richard Henry Pratt in 1902.

But what we typically think of as racism is really the expression of three sins

that that the Bible warns us about.

Let me just take you through them quickly.

Pride

The first sin is pride. This is thinking highly about oneself, their group or family, or of ones ethnicity,

especially thinking highly of these things to the point of looking down on others.

Proverbs 16:5 says,

Proverbs 16:5 ESV

Everyone who is arrogant [proud] in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.

And James 4:6 tells us, that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Pride is an ugly, destructive sin,

and it’s especially foolish when pride comes from something you don’t even control like your ethnicity.

Hatred

The second sin is hatred.

As a sin, Hatred is passionate anger against someone.

In the sense of racism it is anger or resentment towards an ethnicity or people group.

The Bible has very strong words against hatred,

Jesus says in Matthew 5:21–22

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Hatred is very serious sin in the sight of God.

Ephesians 4:31–32 says what we ought to do instead as Christians.

Ephesians 4:31–32 ESV

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Partiality

The third sin that is often described by the word “racism” is the sin of partiality.

This is treating someone either better or worse because of some trait that they have.

This is also called discrimination, but the biblical term is partiality.

Now obviously, we do have different degrees of relationships with people.

You owe your own children more attention and care than another person’s children for example.

But the Bible teaches consistently that treating people differently because of their wealth,

or their social standing, or their ethnicity is the sin of partiality.

Deuteronomy 1:16-17 says,

Deuteronomy 1:16–17 ESV

“Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien [that is the foreigner] who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike.

Probably, one of the clearest warnings against partiality is in James 2:1-4, where he says,

James 2:1–4 ESV

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

James says again in v. 9, “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

Partiality is a sin, and along with pride, and hatred, needs to be repented of.

Anti-racism

But over the past decade, many people, even many who call themselves Christians,

have bought into the idea that we can fix racism through the sin of partiality.

This has been called many things: the “woke” movement, DEI, critical race theory, and anti-racism.

And unfortunately, many popular Christian speakers, writers, and organizations have bought into it wholesale.

If you want to hear just how ugly this movement is, listen to the words of the foremost promoters of “anti-racism,”

Ibram X. Kendi says this:

“The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist. . . . The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

This is a guy who has been invited to churches and major christian organizations to teach this divisive nonsense.

I would take the beautiful words of Jesus over this ugliness any day.

Jesus says, “love your neighbour.”

Meaning: the greatest possible good to them, whoever they may be.

And not just your neighbour but even your enemy.

He says in Luke 6:27-31:

Luke 6:27–31 ESV

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

The love of our neighbours and enemies, even those who have wronged you - that is beautiful, righteous and good.

When we stray from the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ we are doomed to every petty tribalism imaginable,

and we will suffer the consequences of our foolishness.

Let us see to it that no one takes us “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, and not according to Christ.”

The people of God have no business wallowing in sinful pride, hatred and partiality.

We are called to love our neighbours, whoever they might be.

New Tech (v. 3)

In the generations proceeding from Noah and his sons,

the world was people’d with one ethnicity, and they had one language.

Then we read in v. 3 of our passage.

Genesis 11:3 ESV

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.

They had come up with a brand new technology - the brick.

We might laugh at it now, but this was exciting for them.

The brick meant that they could build a city - anywhere,

they could turn the dirt around them into stones for building.

And so they decided to build a city with this amazing new tech.

But their sinful hearts turn even this simple technology - into a means for pursuing wickedness.

A Name for Ourselves (v. 4)

We continue reading in v. 4,

Genesis 11:4 ESV

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.”

Here we see the people committing three sins with this city and the tower that they want to build.

Idolatry

The first sin is idolatry,

The people want to build a tower with it’s top in the heavens.

The tower they were planning to build is what we now call a ziggurat or a step pyramid.

Think of a pyramid where, instead of flat sides going up to the top,

like the famous pyramids of Egypt,

they have large steps going up and meeting at the top, and are lined with human scale staircases.

And instead of chambers inside the pyramid, they have temples on the flat top.

There are many examples of huge step pyramids in the near east,

in Egypt, and even in the Americas.

While those step pyramids all over the world are often made of stone,

the ziggurats in modern Iraq (where Babel was)

are nearly all made of brick, and you can visit many of them today.

The purpose of this particular ziggurat was to reach heaven, the place where God dwells,

the people were attempting to place themselves in the heavens with God.

This is idolatry, elevating a created thing to the level of the creator.

The creature to the level of God.

Even the name that the Babylonians called their city later on, translates to “the gateway of god”.

Their first sin was Idolatry.

Pride

The people also fall into the sin of pride,

Where they think higher of themselves than they ought.

We see this when they say, “let us make a name for ourselves,”

They are attempting to reach godhood for themselves,

and they are attempting it because they believe they have the means to

through their technology.

We see this kind of attitude in our own time,

where our culture thinks very highly of itself,

because of our amazing technological achievements.

Some in our culture have even gone so far as to say,

that through technology we can transcend what it means to be human,

becoming like gods ourselves.

This is both idolatry and pride.

Disobedience

The third sin the people fell into is the sin of disobedience.

In v. 4 the people say that the purpose for building the city,

was so that they would not be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

Now, this was in direct disobedience to what God had told Noah and his family after they left the Ark,

God says to Noah and his family in Genesis 9:1, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

and again in Genesis 9:7

Genesis 9:7 ESV

And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

God’s plan was that humanity would fill the earth,

but mankind had other ideas,

they thought that they would become powerful if they were to gather into this one city,

with this tower to the heavens in it’s centre.

Point 1: Man Will Always Find a Way to Sin

All of this takes me to my first point this morning.

Fallen man will always find a way to sin.

God gives so many good gifts, but we somehow manage to take them and corrupt them because of our sinful hearts.

For example,

God gives the good gift of sex to be enjoyed within the covenant of marriage - we use it for sexual immorality to gratify our lusts.

God gives the good gift of wealth - we use it for greed and selfish gain.

Whether it is new technology,

or the beautiful features that we have in our ethnic differences,

mankind will always find a way do something sinful with it.

We have a talent for doing this.

This is why we need to be on guard,

because as our passage shows,

in our fallenness, even a brick - can be a source of pride, idolatry, and disobedience.

I bet you’ll never look at bricks the same way again.

God Inspects the City (vv. 5-6)

Well it doesn’t take long before God does something about the sin the people are pursuing.

Genesis 11:5 says,

Genesis 11:5 ESV

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.

While the people thought they were entering the heavens,

the writer of Genesis makes a point of saying that God came down to their level to see their work.

These little details show just how foolish their whole project was.

They thought they were becoming great through building their tower.

But as one commentator said,

what mighty God came down to inspect was,

“a tiny tower, conceived by a puny plan, attempted by a pint-sized people.”

Only the Beginning

We read God’s words in v. 6,

Genesis 11:6 ESV

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.

Now people often make the mistake of thinking,

that God is worried the people will achieve great things if they remain united.

What he’s concerned about is not that the people will achieve great things,

but that they will achieve great wickedness.

What they are doing is wicked,

and “This is only the beginning of what they will do.”

There will be no end to the wickedness they will pursue,

none of it will be impossible for them.

Confusing their Language (v. 7)

And so God decides to act in v. 7,

he says to his heavenly counsel.

Genesis 11:7 ESV

Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

“Come let us go”

Here we actually get a glimpse of God’s sense of humour,

Even the way God announces his plans to his angelic counsel, is in mockery of the plans that the people have made.

The people said, “Come, let us make bricks.”

then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with it’s top in the heavens.”

And so God says in the same way,

“Come, let us - go down and confuse their language.”

Babel (vv. 8-9)

And so vv. 8-9 tell us,

Genesis 11:8–9 ESV

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.

God confused the language of the people so that they left off the work of the city,

and were dispersed over the earth.

Eventually that city would be completed, and would forever be known as Babel,

or Babylon.

And throughout the Bible, the city of Babylon would be used as a symbol

of mankind’s opposition towards God.

Point 2: Man’s Plans Cannot Trump God’s Plan.

This takes me to my second point this morning.

2. Man’s plans cannot trump God’s plan.

Though man planned to build the city,

though he planned to make a name for himself by making a place in the heavens,

though he planned to disobey God and stay gathered into one place,

his plans did not come to fruition,

God’s plan won out. Because God is in control, he is sovereign.

Providence of God

God says in Isaiah 46:9-10,

Isaiah 46:9–10 ESV

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

God would not be God if he was beholden to the will of people.

In his providence, he accomplishes everything he plans,

even when mankind rebells against him.

We see this same thing expressed in Psalm 2, where the psalmist writes:

Psalm 2:1–4 ESV

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” [but then it says this] He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

When the nations rage against him, God laughs.

And that’s what we see in the story of the tower of Babel.

Though man had made his plans in opposition to what God commanded,

God’s plans cannot be thwarted.

And so God, by confusing their language,

caused the people to be dispersed into different nations.

But that’s not all that happened at Babel.

Disinheritance

Something that is made clear later on in the Bible is that God not only confused the language of the people,

he not only spread them out into nations.

But he also disinherited them.

These nations would no longer be his people.

This is actually a theme that we see throughout the Bible,

but it is most clearly explained in Deuteronomy 32:8-9, where it says,

Deuteronomy 32:8–9 ESV

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

This passage says that when God divided the nations he gave them over to angelic beings.

These are those same “sons of God” that we saw back in Genesis 6,

the nations were disinherited and they began to serve these fallen angelic beings as gods.

But Israel, the nation that God would make from scratch from Abraham would be his portion,

a people for himself.

And through Abraham’s descendants, God would bless the nations.

This is the spiritual part of the story that we tend not to focus on nowadays,

but it is an important theme that runs throughout the Bible.

We don’t have time to look at the many, many times this theme comes up in the scriptures,

I wish we could because it’s fascinating and it shows up a lot,

Paul even talks about this in Galatians 4:8, when he says to the Galatians:

Galatians 4:8 ESV

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

Winning the Nations

But the story doesn’t end at the disinheritance of the nations,

The New Testament tells us how Jesus wins back these nations to himself.

And I just want to share with you a few scenes where we see this story play out.

The first instance is in Luke 4, where vv. 5-7 tell us that when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

Luke 4:5–7 ESV

“The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

Now, its interesting here that Jesus doesn’t tell Satan that he’s wrong.

but neither does Jesus bow to Satan to receive the nations, he rebukes him.

But Jesus is going to take the nations back another way.

He gives a clue as to how in Mark 3:27 where he says,

Mark 3:27 ESV

But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Satan is the strong man who had authority over the nations.

But through his death and resurrection Jesus would defeat Satan, sin and death.

In doing that Jesus binds the strong man, Satan, so that he can plunder his house.

Some believe that this will take place all at once when Jesus returns,

and others, like myself, believe that the plundering of Satan’s house,

the salvation of the nations,

happens progressively as the gospel goes out into the world.

This is why Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18 ESV

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

He has been given all authority in heaven and earth,

the nations are now his,

and so he commands his disciples,

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations [in the greek it’s “πάντα ἔθνη”] - all ethnicities, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The salvation of the Gentile nations was a shock to the jewish believers,

but this was the mission that the church was given to accomplish.

As Jesus says in Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Reversing Babel

And when the Spirit was given at Pentecost,

a sign was given that the nations would reclaimed,

a sign that reversed the curse given at Babel.

We read in Acts 2:1-12,

Acts 2:1–12 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

What it meant was that the message of the Gospel would go out to claim for Christ,

people from every tongue, and tribe and nation.

Jesus, through the Gospel proclaimed by his people, the church,

is reclaiming the nations!

Point 3: Through Christ, God is Saving the World

This takes me to my final point in this message, and of this series.

3. Through Christ, God is saving the world.

See the early chapters of the Bible don’t just tell us interesting history,

but they tell us the foundational events that begin the story of salvation

they set up for us the great rescue mission,

the plan to save the world through Jesus Christ.

Since Adam mankind has sought his own way away from God,

Mankind will always find a reason to fall into sin.

But man’s plans cannot trump God’s plan.

Through the spread of the Gospel

[the good news that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh

came to earth,

to die for our sins,

and then rose from the dead defeating Satan, sin, and death,]

through that Gospel,

Jesus is saving individuals one by one, from every tribe and tongue and nation!

They are hearing the gospel, and they are turning from their sins, and believing in Jesus Christ.

and lives are changing.

But those individuals add up,

to where the gospel saturates the nations it goes into.

As Jesus said, “like yeast worked through dough.”

bringing more and more of the world into the salvation and kingdom of Christ!

Application

You and I are called to be a part of that plan!

The Christian faith is not merely a lifestyle someone can adopt,

it is not merely some way to have a spiritual experience.

It is not merely a belief you have to get to heaven when you die.

It is a world saving mission that God is fulfilling right now.

And you and I get to be a part of it!

We get to bring the news to the world,

that though the world has been corrupted by sin,

Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, bringing us forgiveness.

He rose from the dead, bringing us eternal life,

and he invites all people, everywhere, to come to him

and be reconciled with the God who created them and loves them.

We can do this right here, every day,

we are living in a time when so many are open to hearing about salvation through Jesus Christ.

We just need to be faithful to tell them,

to share the gospel that is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

The nations are waiting to hear this message,

our nation is waiting to hear this message.

Will you tell it to them?