God’s
Plans Prevail
10-4-2015
Gen 11:1-9
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.
Next time you see the United
Nations meeting on television take note of the headsets they wear in order to hear the translation of what is being said in another language, and remember Babel & God’s greatness.
· Genesis (In the beginning) reveals the origin of & the reason for various languages.
One hundred years after flood all men spoke common language. Gen
11:1, 10:5, 20, 31
· The idea of one language
was not evil, but it made it easier for man’s sinfulness to express itself.
o This is the 1st recorded organized rebellion against God by man.
Man wanted to have a good life on his own terms and in his own way so he “settled” in
Shinar in defiance of God’s command to fill earth. Gen 11:2-4,
9:1, Jer 17:5
· Man knew what God wanted & they refused
to do it.
· The city & tower were outward
expressions of arrogance, rebellion, and pride against Lord.
o William
Henley once was quoted as saying,” “I am the master of my fate, I am the
captain of my soul.”
They put their trust in technology & their achievements to gain significance & to assure
them of fame and remembrance beyond the grave.
· We are all inclined to build
monuments to ourselves. ‘mid-life
crisis’, workaholic
o Even sometimes
built to honor “God” yet more glory
is given to us than God.
· God measures fame by obedience not by making a
name for ourselves.
As both punishment & prevention, God graciously shatters their unity
to keep man’s pride from going too far.
· Better to have division, than a collective
apostasy. Gen 11:5-9, LK 12:51-52
· “Nothing is impossible” not technologically but morally.
o We are often more arrogant & independent of God if we succeeded.
God stopped the rebellion
& broke their power by a divine act…miraculously He
created languages & enabled people to speak, as well as understand
them.
· Languages
are not a testimony man’s ingenuity or evolution, but a rebellious
heart.
· Next morning: There
was total confusion, anger, fear & panic everywhere.
o People gathered into common languages & scatter to fill earth against their
will.
§ God does not act aimlessly: peoples & 6,500
languages and God sovereignly grouped with skills.
Man’s plans never thwarts God’s purposes. God
always wins.
· This 1st grandiose plan to unify mankind into a worldwide
empire but not the last.
· babel is
written in Hebrew 200x in Old testament & translated “Babylon” in all but
few. Rev
14:8-9, 18:3, 10, 21, 13:16-17, 19:20
o “Babel” Hebrew
= confusion, Babylonian = the gate of
gods.
· Babylon was
a symbol of human autonomy, of organized
rebellion against God.
o Foreshadow: In the End times, there
will be one world (Babylon), with
one ruler (Antichrist).
By one miracle of tongues man dispersed; by another on
Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit united people of different languages.
· In future one world, one ruler, one language,
in city built by God for His glory.
· In Babel man strove by human effort for a city & tower signifying their connection
with the gods & a name that would provide a sense of immortality.
o This was
all they wanted, Christians have all we need in Jesus Christ. Rev
3:11-12, 11:15, 15:4, 21:1-4
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