The tower of Babel – A tale of two cities
Genesis 11:1-9
This passage is a pivotal point in Scripture. Nimrod began to build a kingdom in chapter 20. Babel was part of this kingdom. Moses recorded this event at Babel for a reason. Babel is also known as Babylon. Babylon is a picture of worldly pride. Babylon was build by Nimrod, Noah’s great grandson. The tower of Babel was a tall ziggurat. At the top level of the tower was a shrine to worship the gods.
This passage shows us the following:
- What unsaved man did in unity – They found a plain and settled there. They made use of what they had and built a city. They displayed their creativity in making bricks. They displayed their creativity in using bitumen as a mortar. They were created to be creative, to excel, to learn and subdue the earth, but they used their creativity to rebel against God and attempted to make a name for themselves. The fall of man taints everything he does. They were thinking of their own security and did not want to be scattered across the face of the earth. They sort to build a religious and political unity. They sort to excite war against God. All false religions can be traced back to Babylon. They replaced God with idols. Their motivation was to say “I did it my way”.
- What did God do? – God “came down” to see what they had done. God mocked them by saying He had to come down to their level! God was not threatened by their unity. He came down and confused them and scattered them in order to save them from destroying themselves. He confused them so that He did not have to destroy them and so they could not destroy themselves. Everything built by God will not last. Pentecost was a restoration of languages. God promised to give us a pure heavenly language in Zephaniah 3:9 KJV.
- Why do we need to hear this? God has created a heavenly city that will come down from heaven. We will live in that city with God. Jesus is our staircase. A staircase where God comes down to us and we can go up to Him. God is bringing in a kingdom of His own. God calls us to leave Babel and to enter His eternal kingdom.