One God, One Plan

Genesis One People, One Plan - Genesis 11:1-32 August 30, 2026 We close this major section of Genesis with chapter 11, and the well-known account of the "Tower of Babel." If you were here last week, you may recall that we spoke about the connection between chapters 10 and 11. Here's what we said: "Genesis 10 and 11 should be viewed in a similar way to Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 gave a chronological overview of the creation week, whereas Genesis 2 focused on certain details, specifically the creation of man and woman on the sixth day. Genesis 10 is an overview of the decedents of Noah's three sons who then moved away from each other according to their family groups and languages. Genesis 11 gives us the detailed account of the event (the Tower of Babel and confusion of languages) that caused this dispersion." Really, this chapter plays two primary purposes, first to tell the account of chapter 10, and the dispersion of peoples and languages, but also to introduce us to Abram - later called Abraham. The introduction of Abram, through the second mention of Shem's line is found in verses 10-32, and without a doubt is very important to the big picture of the Scripture, for the sake of our sermon series, I want to focus on the first nine verses more as we close out this section of Genesis until we return next year. So, I'll be working a bit backwards in this passage this morning. I'll briefly touch on verses 10-32, then we'll spend the rest of the time discussing verses 1-9 and the Tower of Babel event. So, since this is effectively a "part 2" to last week's sermon, I'll be taking a similar approach to our text this morning. So, let's take a look at chapter 11, verses 1-32 this morning: 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. 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." 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. 10 THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM. WHEN SHEM WAS 100 YEARS OLD, HE FATHERED ARPACHSHAD TWO YEARS AFTER THE FLOOD. 11 AND SHEM LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED ARPACHSHAD 500 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 12 WHEN ARPACHSHAD HAD LIVED 35 YEARS, HE FATHERED SHELAH. 13 AND ARPACHSHAD LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED SHELAH 403 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 14 WHEN SHELAH HAD LIVED 30 YEARS, HE FATHERED EBER. 15 AND SHELAH LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED EBER 403 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 16 WHEN EBER HAD LIVED 34 YEARS, HE FATHERED PELEG. 17 AND EBER LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED PELEG 430 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 18 WHEN PELEG HAD LIVED 30 YEARS, HE FATHERED REU. 19 AND PELEG LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED REU 209 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 20 WHEN REU HAD LIVED 32 YEARS, HE FATHERED SERUG. 21 AND REU LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED SERUG 207 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 22 WHEN SERUG HAD LIVED 30 YEARS, HE FATHERED NAHOR. 23 AND SERUG LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED NAHOR 200 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 24 WHEN NAHOR HAD LIVED 29 YEARS, HE FATHERED TERAH. 25 AND NAHOR LIVED AFTER HE FATHERED TERAH 119 YEARS AND HAD OTHER SONS AND DAUGHTERS. 26 WHEN TERAH HAD LIVED 70 YEARS, HE FATHERED ABRAM, NAHOR, AND HARAN. 27 NOW THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF TERAH. TERAH FATHERED ABRAM, NAHOR, AND HARAN; AND HARAN FATHERED LOT. 28 HARAN DIED IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS FATHER TERAH IN THE LAND OF HIS KINDRED, IN UR OF THE CHALDEANS. 29 AND ABRAM AND NAHOR TOOK WIVES. THE NAME OF ABRAM'S WIFE WAS SARAI, AND THE NAME OF NAHOR'S WIFE, MILCAH, THE DAUGHTER OF HARAN THE FATHER OF MILCAH AND ISCAH. 30 NOW SARAI WAS BARREN; SHE HAD NO CHILD. 31 TERAH TOOK ABRAM HIS SON AND LOT THE SON OF HARAN, HIS GRANDSON, AND SARAI HIS DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, HIS SON ABRAM'S WIFE, AND THEY WENT FORTH TOGETHER FROM UR OF THE CHALDEANS TO GO INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN, BUT WHEN THEY CAME TO HARAN, THEY SETTLED THERE. 32 THE DAYS OF TERAH WERE 205 YEARS, AND TERAH DIED IN HARAN. Since I want to play off our sermon from last week, here's a re-worded main idea that ties the two chapters together: Though humanity is scattered and divided, God remains sovereign over us all. The more I've read and studied this book, the emphasis of God's sovereignty is impossible to ignore. The events that led to this moment in history, and what results from it show this clearly. So, let's discuss - as a bit of a continuation of last week ... GOSPEL IMPLICATIONS FROM GENESIS 11: First, as I want to start backwards, what can we first learn from verses 10-32? * God's plan moves through all generations. (vv.10-32) o This might sound familiar. o This was our final implication from chapter 10. o Here, Moses (the presumed author) singles out the genealogy of Shem. o You may recall the two types of genealogy that we saw in Genesis 10. This one is considered a linear genealogy, which focuses on one person in each generation-they connect one individual to one specific ancestor in a previous generation. o This genealogy is different from the one found in 10:21-31, as it focuses on the firstborn sons. o This also resembles the one found in chapter 5, which gave us the generations from Seth to Noah - indicating a shift in history, now moving our attention to Abram. o Later (much later) in Luke 3, we see this line being followed as we're introduced to Jesus, the Messiah. The Anointed One. The Savior. o You see, this was part of God's plan. o Even though we're only 11 chapters into this Book, we see that He continually preserves a remnant of faithful people for Himself. o Here, it comes through Shem. Before that, Noah. Before that, Seth. o What was the breaking point of all these shifts in history? o Man's sin. Man's desire to be his own god. o This is what we see in the first nine verses - the Tower of Babel account. o In fact, we can pull at least three Gospel implications from the first nine verses of this chapter. o First, * Don't turn God's blessing into a curse. (vv.1-4) o Notice how the "ONE LANGUAGE" was actually a blessing for the people. o It connected them. o Have you ever tried to communicate with someone that doesn't speak your language? o It's difficult, and unfortunately, sometimes it's frustrating - for both sides. o It is a blessing to be able to connect with one another, but sometimes we take advantage of God's blessings, don't we? o Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and follow him, later telling His disciples that it was near impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Why? We must be willing to give everything up for Him, but instead we want to keep things for ourselves. o That's what we see in this event. o They wanted to stay together, instead of the mandate to fill the earth. o Then, more than that, they decided that they would build this tower - which is believed to be a Babylonian ziggurat, which had temples on the top, so they can get closer to their gods. o See how quickly they began to chase after other gods? o Instead of scattering outward to build God's kingdom, they tried to do it their way, and become bigger in their own right. Or, to say it another way, they wanted to become powerful. o If God has blessed you in any way, remember what James told us in his first chapter: 16 DO NOT BE DECEIVED, MY BELOVED BROTHERS. 17 EVERY GOOD GIFT AND EVERY PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE, COMING DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, WITH WHOM THERE IS NO VARIATION OR SHADOW DUE TO CHANGE. (James 1:16-17) o Perfect transition to our next Gospel implication: * The Lord meets us where we are. (vv.5-8) o Notice verse 5 tells us that the LORD CAME DOWN. o Reminiscent - of course - of Him coming down to the Garden after the Fall. o And of course, reminiscent of Jesus coming down to the earth. o There's actually quite a bit packed into these few verses. o Just as we pointed out, the unity of the people - while it should have been a blessing - ended up resulting in rebellion. o Man saw that they were strong. And could become stronger. o Man saw that they had the freedom to choose, and as expected, they chose to rebel against God. o In many ways, this signals that we need a personal encounter with Jesus to be saved. o Several people have pointed out the ironic humor in this section. o They wanted to build a tower to reach the Lord, and He simply came down to them. o Then, He decides to confuse their language, so they would be forced to scatter. o Our human plans can never overcome God's purpose. o So, we might as well ... * Let go and let God. (vv.8-9) o I've shared this before, but I used to really hate this phrase. o But, when used properly, it makes a lot of since. o Why? Because God's plan will always prevail. He's undefeated! o So, simply. We need to trust God. Period. o Now, what's interesting here is the geographical implications, as well. o Shinar is mentioned in verse 1. Babel is mentioned here in verse 9. Guess what? Both refer to the same place, Babylon. The same Babylon that we read about in Daniel. The same Babylon we read about in Revelation 17-18. o Symbolically, "in scripture, Babylon symbolizes worldly pride, more corruption, and defiance against God." o In other words, this is a cautionary tale that the "all-powerful" world cannot overcome her Creator. o So, we must surrender. o We must submit. o And we must allow God to work. o Why? As we have already seen in our main idea: Though humanity is scattered and divided, God remains sovereign over us all. When we first started this series last year, I made a note that Genesis 1-11 was some of the most critical chapters in all of Scripture. Here is the claim that I made then: if Genesis is trustworthy, then the rest of the Scriptures are trustworthy. In many ways, these chapters explain the unexplainable. One author stated that, that "every single major Christian doctrine is either grounded directly or indirectly in the history of Genesis." Some examples he uses are the topics of marriage, gender, sanctity of life, race, death and suffering, and the Gospel itself. When we return to this book next year, we will be challenged with the faith of the patriarchs, and the movement of our God in their lives. Until then, we worship the One who Created it all. The One who is sovereign over all things. We follow in faith, and we trust Him with the results. Amen? Let's pray. 2