Genesis 11:1-9
When the World Comes Together
The text that we are reading today is one of the oldest in the Bible.
It speaks of a place that still exists today, Babylon, here called
Babel. As far as I can discern, Babylon is the oldest city on the
fact of the earth. It’s founding is described in \\#Gen 10:8-11\\.
It was built by Noah’s grandson, Nimrod. The text goes on to
describe that Nimrod built several other cities across modern day
Iraq and Iran.
The city Babylon as four major time periods and three of them are
described in the Bible.
1. Ancient Babel or Babylon - We are reading about that time
period now. Babylon is the oldest civilization in the world.
Ancient Babylon is important because it tells us where
different languages came from.
2. Old Babylon - This is the Babylon of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
and Ezekiel. Babylon became the greatest world power
(greatest in power, beauty, and riches) - even conquering
Israel.
3. Present day Babylon - Saddam Hussein brought Babylon back into
the forefront of the world’s attention by harboring weapons
of mass destruction and the terrorists that wanted to use
them. After the attack on the World Trade Centers, a
coalition of nations attacked Babylon under the United
States. Hussein was eventually captured and hanged by the
people he had abused/
4. Future Babylon - Rev 14-18 - Babylon will be the world center
of religious, political, and economic power. It will be a
part of the anti-Christ’s world system and will end only when
God Himself destroys it.
This morning, we want to concentrate primarily on Ancient Babylon.
Why is Babel important?
I. Babel testifies of early things.
A. Babel testifies how our world was divided into different
people groups.
1. Even evolutionist believe that all the races had a common
ancestors. Give them credit. They are right on that
one, but they have no explanation as to how the world
came to speak such diverse languages.
2. If the evolution were true, all the nations should have a
similar root language. We don’t. Why? Because God
divided the nations with unique languages for the
express purpose of keeping them apart!
Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all
nations of men for to dwell on all the face
of the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation;
3. All nations are from one blood. There is no Biblical
reason that any race of people should think they are
superior.
4. God has appointed their times - times of existence and
power.
5. God has appointed their boundaries. Man tries to remove
the boundaries but God set them up.
6. The Bible makes it clear that God has divided the nations
and gives them their place and time to exist.
7. The multitude of languages we speak testify that it is so.
B. Babel testifies to the abilities of early man. \\#4\\
1. I don’t think these people were literally trying to build
a tower to God. Neither do I think they trying to build
some thing that would reach as high as they could.
2. If either of these were true, they would not have started
the structure in the plain of Shinar but on one of the
mountains. That would have given them a head start of
a few thousand feet!
3. I do think they were trying to build a high structure,
probably like the great pyramids of Egypt or the Sphinx
which these peoples’ descendents will build later on.
4. The phrase "whose top may reach unto heaven" is an idiom
meaning, "Let’s build something exceedingly high, with
it’s head in the sky."
5. To build some thing that tall would require a lot of
brick, mortar, man power, and great engineering
abilities.
6. \\#6\\ But God said they would do it! Do they sound like
prehistoric cave men to you?
7. If you want to know where the cave men came from, I will
tell you for certain that God did not make man in that
condition. That is what mankind sunk to after sin
entered the world!
Ge 19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt
in the mountain, and his two daughters with him;
for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in
a cave, he and his two daughters.
C. Babel testifies of man’s early wicked nature.
1. It was not the building that was of itself bad.
a. God allowed others to build similar structures.
b. The evil was in the building’s purpose.
2. Symbol
a. \\#Ge 9:1\\ God told man to fill the earth.
b. \\#4\\ These people weren’t going to go!
c. This tower was to be the symbol that man was his own
boss, he could go where he wanted, when he wanted,
if he wanted.
d. God says, "You think so?"
e. Man has been trying to put the world back together
ever since God divided it.
(1) Whenever Man unites, he attempts to overthrow
God.
Proverbs 11:21 Though hand join in hand, the
wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of
the righteous shall be delivered.
Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the
people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers take counsel together, against the
LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
the Lord shall have them in derision.
(2) Has the United Nations taken us closer to God or
pulled us further from God? Have the multitude
of international treaties signed bolstered the
cause of Christ or threatened it? Since our
military has been united with coalitions of the
world, have our service personals religious
freedoms been enlarged or reduced?
(3) Practical experience - Smaller is usually better!
The more people there are, the faster sin
spreads.
(a) Peer pressure usually works for evil.
(b) Larger crowds tend to reduce individual
accountability.
(c) Larger crowds tend to rely on their ability
not God’s.
II. Babel teaches us some things.
A. Man’s greatest sins are often by design and with ingenuity.
1. These men, although sinners, were brilliant.
2. The wonders of the ancient world testifies to the fact
that men in Bible days were able to things that we can
begin to comprehend.
a. Do you know what man figures when he sees the work of
ancient mankind’s’ genius? That aliens did it.
b. Include excerpts from "Six Ancient Things That Were
Probably Built by Aliens."
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/08/6_ancient_things_that_were_
probably_built_by_alien.php
c. It wasn’t aliens! It was man blessed by God with
intellect and brilliance, but over the years man has
continued to turn to sin and dumb himself down. It
is happening in giant leaps in this country right
now.
3. The shame of it is that these men with all of the
ingenuity were only interested in using it for sinful
purposes.
a. \\#4\\God told them to go and they wanted to stay.
b. Instead, they wanted to stay in one place and to make
a name for themselves.
c. \\#3-4\\ Notice their phrase "Go to."
(1) The people used that phrase twice in disobedience
to God.
(2) Their thought was, "Let’s join together and build
some thing really big, some thing that would
show God that we are own bosses."
d. \\#7\\ But then notice that God used that phrase too.
(1) What we have here is One member of the Godhead
speaking to the Others.
(2) But did God have to "go" any place to see this
tower that man was building?
(3) No! He is God and God sees all things.
(4) What did God say this to the Godhead?
(a) It was sarcasm.
(b) God was demonstrating how foolish man’s
effort to disobey Him is.
(c) By saying this, God was saying, "I can’t
quit make out what those people are
building down there. It might be the
biggest, tallest thing that man has ever
built but it is so small that I think we
will have to go down to look at it."
4. In this chapter, God will demonstrate to mankind just how
smart mankind really is.
B. Man’s greatest sins are with false religions.
1. I have already mentioned that I do not think these people
were literally building a temple to reach God of the
heavens.
a. \\#4\\ But the Bible says…
… whose top may reach unto heaven…
b. What does that mean?
2. Notice that in the verse, the words "may reach" are in
italics, meaning that they are not in the original
language.
a. The word that is used is a preposition meaning in, by,
with, or on.
b. So the thought may be that the tower had some kind of
relationship to the heavens not that it literally was
going to be a high rise to them (although I think the
building was to be very tall).
3. What relationship could this structure have to the
heavens? Most think that it was being built to worship
the zodiacs.
a. It is a know fact that astrology began in Babylon.
b. Both the pyramids and the Sphinx which were build by
the descendents of these very people have
relationships to the stars and zodiacs.
c. By the way, the worship of the celestial bodies is
condemned by the Bible as devil worship.
d. This whole event was likely another one of the devil’s
attempt to get man to forsake God and to worship him!
e. That is the purpose of every false and deceptive
religion!
4. It is interesting to note that mankind falls for Satan’s
parade of false religions over and over again.
a. Islam seems to be his religion of choice right now!
b. But Catholicism, Mormonism, Buddhism, Hinduism,
atheism, voodoo, cannibalism, witchcraft, horoscopes,
or the unfaithful, unbelieving, compromising Baptist
are all headed down the same wrong road—they are
worshipping the devil!
c. People like to condemn Christianity as being a
violent, hateful religion that has caused more wars
than any other single cause.
(1) That is not true.
(2) The perversion of Christianity may have done that
but not Christianity.
(3) Christianity has provided the martyrs for the
perversion religions but it never the aggressor.
(4) Force can’t make a Christian out of anyone. They
must be drawn of the Holy Spirit, convicted of
their sins, and choose to follow Jesus.
(5) Those that have the light know that. Those that
don’t have the light are in darkness and part of
the devil’s crowd.
5. Yet, in the name of religion, wars are fought, Jihad is
proclaimed, and innocents are burned alive in a cage!
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4030583977001/warning-extremely-graphic-
video-isis-burns-hostage-alive/#sp=show-clips
C. Man’s greatest sins are met by God’s judgments.
1. God did not stop man from completing this project. God
only delayed man from completing it.
a. Man used his best minds and strongest backs in an
attempt to bring God down.
b. With nothing more than a thought, God brought mankind
down another notch and delayed his project by
thousands of years.
c. God pressed one hidden a button in man’s brain and
reset his speech and understanding abilities!
(1) He could have sent another flood, of famine,
or fire, or a dozen other judgments.
(2) But God decided to put a wall between man
that would be permanent and keep man apart
for thousands of years!
(3) It has only been in the last few years that
the language barrier has been able to be
commonly removed, but its virtual removal
has put man back on tract to attempting to
show God that man is his own boss again.
2. Today man is successfully breaking through the language
barrier. Yet, this is not a good thing.
a. Man has picked up the baton of those ancient
ancestors.
(1) As man moves closer and closer to bringing the
world together, Satan is blinding their eyes
into worshipping him and denying God.
(2) That is what Satan has always wanted and as the
world comes together, he will get it.
(3) We have begun to build a work to tell God that
we do not want Him!
b. What will God do? At some point, God will remove His
people from off the world and start pouring His wrath
upon this planet.
3. You see, anytime man comes against God, God will thwart
him.
a. You cannot build a structure to reach into the heavens
for God has already provided the means, Jesus!
b. Any other work we might build is our merger attempt at
casting God down and lifting man up.
4. Be wise.
a. Turn to Jesus Christ today.
b. Live for Him. Obey Him.
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