Rise and Fall: The Tower of Babel

Intro

As I open my message for you all this morning I want to read something interesting to you. The following is a transcript from a radio transmitted conversation of a US Naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland that took place in October of 1995.

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.”

Now there is some question out there as to the validity of this transcript, but whether it is true or not, it illustrates my point.

And is is that humans have a way of relying on how big and how powerful we appear to be as a measure of our success and strength.

It is a pride issue. The belief that we are untouchable or capable of something that is beyond what God’s will is for us.

I know most of us have probably heard enough stories about the Titanic, but it does stand as an as an illustration of what I am referring to this morning.

Did you know that the Titanic took 12,000 men two years to build? When it set sail from Belfast, North Ireland, it was the largest sailing vessel ever made. It was also, of course, considered unsinkable.

The Captain of the ship even went on record as saying, “Even God himself cannot sink this ship.”

Interesting last words, wouldn’t you say? And that is of course because the Titanic did sink, because that very same captain would not change course as they crashed into icebergs in the Atlantic.

So many lives lost simply because of pride.

Power in the Text

This morning our text is found in Genesis 11. It is here that we read about a famous structure that would later be referred to as the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 11:1-9 NIV Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar l and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel z—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

As we read Genesis 11, a population explosion has occurred since the floodwaters of Noah’s account have receded.

Cultural progress is also rapidly progressing. At the same time, sin once again begins to permeate humankind.

The story of the Tower of Babel is another major rebellion that takes place early in Genesis.

Notice in v. 1 we read that there was only one language spoken at the time.

The location of this event takes place “in a plain in Shinar” (v. 2). Shinar (Hebrew word is translated “Babylonia”) was a fertile valley in the lower region of southern Mesopotamia at the Tigris-Euphrates basin.

The people decided that this would be a great area to settle and build a city. But notice what their motivation was.

First, they want to build a “tower that reaches to the heavens” (v. 4). Literally, “a tower with its tops in the heavens. What we read about here was not something new.

In fact in ancient Mesopotamia, man-made towers or mountains known as Ziggurats were quite common. In fact, there are some still standing today in modern day Iraq.

However, it appears as thought this particular tower was either the first of its kind or the most ambitious. So much so that it got God’s attention.

Ziggurats were divine dwellings where Mesopotamians believed heaven and earth intersected. The nature of this structure makes evident the purpose in building it—to bring the divine down to earth.

“The central feature of these early cities in southern Mesopotamia was the temple complex. … The temple complex in this period would have been comprised of the temple itself, where a deity was worshiped.

Ziggurats were structures designed to provide stairways from the heavens (the gate of the gods) to earth so that the gods could come down into their temple and into the town and bring blessing .

At the top was a small room for the deity, equipped with a bed and a table supplied regularly with food. In this way the deity could refresh himself during his descent.

Second, the residents want to build this tower so that the gods could come down and bless them to “make a name” for themselves (v. 4).

This action represents a direct and open rebellion against God. Our primary goal is to glorify the name of the Lord, not to promote and glorify our own name.

Third, the people build the town and tower to avoid being “scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).

Again, this is a direct rebellion against the purposes of God. God planned that his people would fill the earth. Remember after the flood what God said to Noah. He reaffirmed the initial command given Adam and Eve and he said to be fruitful and multiply. To spread out over the earth.

Yet, the city tower construction project was intentionally designed to prevent the population from being dispersed over the face of the whole earth. “This is their way of asserting their own will against God’s desire that humans should be spread and scattered throughout the world”

God had a plan for mankind. To worship God, serve him, and do his will. The tower of Babel was an attempt to distort all three of those things.

It was an attempt to elevate themselves to a position of worship, serve their own interests, and reject Gods will and replace it with their own.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

In response to this, “the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building” (v. 5). To the casual reader, this phrase seems odd. “The ziggurat would have been built so that God could come down into their midst to be worshiped and bring blessing with him”

God does indeed come down to see what these rebellious city-builders are up to. Although they think of their tower as a wonderful achievement, a stairway to heaven itself, God has to descend from heaven just to be able to see the thing!

How often have a thought about all the arrogant things I have heard our world leaders boast about. How often have I heard men and women elevating themselves as they put their achievements on display.

If only they could see how insignificant those things are in the shadow of almighty God. Our pride prevents us from seeing how easily God in his righteous judgment could literally wipe us out in the blink of an eye.

But we are so proud that we think we are in control. That we are on the throne. That we are the masters of our own fate..

We see in the text that God did come down, however, rather than coming down and blessing the people, God brings judgment.

In Genesis 11:6, God states, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

The phrase nothing … will be impossible for them doesn’t refers, not to the heights of accomplishment that humans might achieve, but to the depths of sin to which mankind is capable of falling.

In other words, If I let their sin go without judgment, there is no telling how much worse it will get. No rebellion will be too great for them. Nothing will be off limits in their sin-corrupted hearts.

In verses 7–8, God judges the people by confusing their language and scattering them abroad. The building of the city ceases, and God prevails in fulfilling his will for humankind—to spread out across the face of the earth.

Application/Closing

In the end, God’s will was done with or without their cooperation.

And that should ultimately be a sobering reminder for us that God is in control and if he wants his will done, it will be done one way or another.

We can choose to either be a part of it and join God in doing his will, or we can get in the way. But as we see time and again in scripture. Getting in Gods way never ends well for those who do it. And it won’t end well for us either.

I’m not a doom and gloom person, nor do I think fear-mongering is what I am called to do as your Pastor.

But what I am called to do is speak the truth and sometimes that truth comes with a blessing, and sometimes that truth comes with a warning.

And I am warning everyone here this morning that as a nation we are in trouble. The builders of the tower of Babel had less to answer for that we do.

Don’t get lulled into thinking that some of the more recent Supreme Court decisions will be enough to turn this sinking ship around.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

This is a promise for the people of Israel, but I believe it is a principal that any nation can apply. We need to pray. There is a small turning of the tide right now, don’t miss out on this opportunity.

We need to be humble, we need to pray, we need to repent. It isn’t too late. But one day soon, it might be.