(0:02) Well, if you want to take your Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 11, this will be our (0:07) last sermon in Genesis for a while, but while you're turning there, I'm going to read out (0:13) of Romans chapter 1. (0:18) There's a sense in which, I mean, what the first 11 chapters of the Bible are doing is (0:24) setting us up for everything that happens afterwards. (0:27) It's a history of the world before the story zooms in on the history of one family, the (0:34) family of Abraham. (0:35) And in the book of Romans, what you have in this Paul's explanation of the gospel is he (0:41) spends the first three chapters telling us where the world stands.(0:45) And Genesis 1 through 11 helps us understand how the world got that way. (0:50) And Paul says in Romans 1, 18 through 25, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven (0:55) against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the (1:02) truth. (1:03) For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.(1:08) For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly (1:13) perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. (1:18) So they are without excuse. (1:20) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they (1:24) became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.(1:28) Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for (1:34) images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (1:39) Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of (1:44) their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and (1:48) worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. (1:52) Amen.(1:53) And that phrase there, verse 24, God gave them up. (1:59) I always find one of the most striking phrases in the Bible. (2:03) And when we, in theology terms, people speak of the, when we're speaking of the wrath (2:10) of God, there's the passive wrath of God and the active wrath of God.(2:14) And the passive wrath of God, to me, is actually the more terrifying, where we make choices (2:19) and God just says, okay, you're going to receive the consequences of those choices. (2:24) And then sometimes we experience the active wrath of God. (2:27) And in Genesis, we've just gone through the flood narrative.(2:29) And that's very much an instance of the active wrath of God. (2:32) He's sending a punishment for sin. (2:36) And here we're going to find God intervene in another, maybe less drastic way, but not (2:42) less far reaching in its consequences when we get to Genesis chapter 11.(2:46) Last week, as we looked at the end of chapter nine into chapter 10, we talked about the (2:50) importance of, or rather the danger, the danger of dishonoring your parents, specifically (2:56) the danger of dishonoring your father, because you cannot honor God whom you have not seen (3:01) if you do not honor your father whom you have seen. (3:05) And I think we see the consequences of not just Ham's dishonoring of his father, but as (3:12) we read this narrative, think about the fact that Noah is still alive when this is happening. (3:17) Noah is still alive all through basically chapter 11.(3:21) He lives into the time of Abraham. (3:25) And it's pretty sad when you think about the flood is in living memory. (3:30) And here's where things are.(3:31) Verses one through four of chapter 11 says, now the whole earth had one language and the (3:37) same words. (3:39) And as people migrated from the East, they found a plane in the land of Shinar and settled (3:44) there. (3:45) And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.(3:49) And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. (3:53) And they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens (3:58) and let us make a name for ourselves. (4:00) Lest we be dispersed over the face of the earth.(4:04) Now, verse one there opens up with the fact that there's one speech and that makes sense. (4:08) These are all descendants of one man, Noah and his family. (4:11) Probably there was one speech even before the flood.(4:14) There's just one language that, and people have been in a fairly concentrated area. (4:19) There would be no reason for different languages to develop. (4:23) But if you remember from last week, three times over verse five with the descendants (4:28) of Japheth, verse 20 with the descendants of Ham, verse 31 with the descendants of Shem.(4:35) He's listing them by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. (4:41) And so what's happened? (4:43) What's happened that has divided this one language into many? (4:48) And that's the point of this story is we'll find out why. (4:53) Chronologically, this story takes place in the middle of chapter 10.(4:57) Verse two says that the people migrated from the east here in the ESV. (5:01) Some translations say migrated to the east. (5:04) That Hebrew preposition can mean either one just based on the context.(5:10) I think here it makes more sense to understand it as they're moving to the east. (5:14) So we don't know exactly where Mount Ararat was that the ark came down. (5:18) But as they moved, if you look at where that probably was, this is east on a map.(5:24) And so they're moving east to this plain of Shinar and they start to build a city. (5:30) It says in verse two, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they settled there. (5:36) And they said to one another, verse three, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.(5:42) And the they, it tells us obviously that there's a group of people, (5:46) but they're led, we know from chapter 10 by Nimrod. (5:50) Chapter 10, beginning in verse eight, Cush fathered Nimrod. (5:54) He was the first on earth to be a mighty man.(5:57) He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (6:00) Therefore it is said Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. (6:04) The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erek, Akkad, and Kelna in the land of Shinar.(6:12) So Nimrod is an empire builder. (6:15) He goes on to settle more cities in what would become Assyria, (6:18) where he builds Nineveh and Kela and Reason. (6:21) He's a man who is building a great empire for himself.(6:25) And it starts right here at Babel. (6:28) But like any accomplished leader, he's not doing this by himself. (6:33) And he's not just forcing people to do it.(6:35) He's giving them a vision for what could this place be. (6:38) Even evil leaders who are able to accomplish in the eyes of the world, great things, (6:44) do so by inspiring others to lay hold of a particular vision. (6:49) So, I mean, you look at the early 20th century and there's probably not a better orator, (6:55) inspirer of people than Hitler.(6:57) He was able to get enormous groups of people to do what he wanted to do because he inspired them. (7:04) And here, Nimrod, who wants to build an empire for himself, says, (7:08) let's make us great. (7:10) Let's make a name for ourselves.(7:12) Let's get together and do this. (7:14) And they're in a place, so in the land of Canaan, (7:18) where Abraham and his family are going to ultimately end up. (7:21) There's a lot of buildings made out of stone.(7:23) You think a lot of places in Europe where everything's made out of stone. (7:26) Stone fences, stone castles, all this stuff. (7:29) In Mesopotamia, this region of Shinar, there's not a lot of stone.(7:34) And so they've come to this place where they're going to have to go to the effort of (7:37) making their own bricks and then using bitumen, which is a type of tar, (7:43) to hold these bricks together. (7:45) And they decide to build a tower. (7:48) And what we should imagine here is obviously not like a tower straight up, (7:52) like a modern steel tower.(7:53) We should imagine something that looks like a ziggurat, (7:57) like a pyramid-shaped thing with steps that goes up. (8:01) And this is probably like later in Genesis when Jacob sees a ladder into heaven. (8:07) It's probably the same type of thing where it's something that steps up into the clouds.(8:13) Now, it's interesting here when they say, (8:16) let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. (8:21) What is the point of this tower? (8:23) Obviously, they say they want to make a name for themselves (8:26) and prevent themselves from being dispersed over the whole earth. (8:30) But with the top in the heavens, we shouldn't assume that these are just like primitive people (8:35) who think, oh, we're going to build a tower up over the top of the clouds (8:39) and then we'll be up there with God.(8:41) They're not that dumb. (8:42) They know that's not how it works. (8:44) But this almost certainly is a temple.(8:47) It's a religious building. (8:50) Nearly every city in the ancient world of any size was centered around a temple (8:54) that were very often built in this shape of a ziggurat. (8:59) And many people, many commentators suggest that at the top, (9:04) when they say the top in the heavens, (9:06) there may even have been like the signs of the Zodiac up at the top (9:09) because from Babel, which becomes Babylon, is where astrology finds its source.(9:16) It's the first place where astrology is really studied (9:20) and it spreads out from there down into Egypt and then to other parts of the world. (9:26) So what they're doing is they are rebelling against God (9:29) by building a temple that is not to God. (9:34) Here, they say, let us make a name for ourselves (9:38) lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.(9:47) I think it's interesting that the first thing that they do (9:52) when they want to avoid being dispersed, (9:56) they're clearly in rebellion against God's explicit command, right? (9:59) God had told first Adam to multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. (10:04) And then after the flood, he gives the same command to Noah and his sons (10:08) to multiply and fill the earth. (10:12) And here, they're getting together and saying, (10:15) we don't want to disperse over the earth.(10:18) We want to stay here and we need to hold ourselves together. (10:22) Well, how are they going to hold themselves together? (10:25) The only thing that ultimately holds people together is religion, is worship. (10:32) Worship is what holds people together.(10:35) And they're holding themselves together with worship that is opposed to God. (10:40) It's a worship set up in disobedience to God. (10:45) And this has two clear consequences.(10:49) The first is that by setting this up for themselves, (10:55) they are rejecting the blessing of God. (10:59) Now, God had given, like I just said, the command to multiply and fill the earth. (11:04) But if you look at that originally in Genesis 1, that's in the context of blessing.(11:12) So, Genesis 1, 28, and God blessed them and God said to them, (11:19) be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. (11:23) So, when they choose to disobey God and set up an alternative form of worship, (11:28) they're not just acting in disobedience to an abstract command. (11:32) They're walking outside of the blessing of God.(11:36) They're also openly courting God's wrath, which again, (11:41) this is living memory of the flood. (11:44) Shem is still alive. (11:45) Noah is still alive.(11:46) All these guys who saw with their own eyes, (11:50) God destroy the earth with water are there and we're just going to ignore their witness. (11:58) Or maybe they've become callous themselves. (12:00) We don't.(12:01) It's not told to us. (12:04) That's all ignored so that we can say, let's do things our own way. (12:09) And that's the promise that sin is always making to us.(12:14) Starting with Eve and then continuing on through today is that if I do things my way, (12:22) if I seek to make a name for myself, if I do things to achieve my own ends, (12:28) I have my best interests at heart. (12:30) Or maybe this great leader has my best interests at heart, (12:34) rather than obedience to God being my best interest. (12:39) And what's best for me.(12:45) I read this and I ask myself, where am I believing that lie? (12:52) Where am I embracing the lie that to compromise right here (12:59) or to disobey God over here is going to be better for me? (13:13) I think that's a bigger temptation than we realize. (13:18) That there is something, some plan, (13:31) something we can achieve that will get for us what God is holding back. (13:35) Psalm 84 says, no good thing does God uphold from those who walk uprightly.(13:41) If we are walking in obedience to him, everything we actually need will be provided by him. (13:49) God is not holding out on us, but they believe that he is. (13:54) They believe that they can find happiness, that they can find a name for themselves, (13:58) that they can find the prominence that they desire apart from God.(14:02) And they are fools for thinking so. (14:03) They say, let us make a name for ourselves and they're setting themselves up for disaster. (14:10) The good news as we read this is that God is not worried by their plans.(14:15) Verse five, the Lord came down to see the city in the tower, (14:21) which the children of man had built. (14:23) Now the origin myth of Babylon, the story that they told was that the gods had built Babylon (14:31) and brought it down to earth, that Babylon was a city made by the gods (14:37) and brought to the children of man. (14:39) And it's the inverse of what happens here in Genesis 11, (14:43) where the children of man build a city and it's great.(14:46) And this tower reaches into the heavens and God, this is an anthropomorphism, right? (14:51) Because God doesn't actually have to move to see anything. (14:53) But it says, God came down. (14:56) Like, oh, you built this really big tower, guys.(14:58) I'm so impressed. (14:59) I've got to come down to actually see it. (15:02) The greatest achievements of man, which sometimes in our perspective are really amazing, (15:09) are nothing compared to God.(15:11) And God has to come down to see what they have done. (15:17) Verse six. (15:20) I'm going to be honest, like I kind of struggled with verse six this week thinking about it.(15:24) Behold, the Lord said, behold, they are one people and they all have (15:27) one language and this is only the beginning of what they will do. (15:31) And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. (15:37) Is this literally true or is it irony? (15:41) You can read this ironically and it would make sense.(15:45) Like God saying, oh, no, if they just keep on at it, (15:49) they're going to be able to do anything they want. (15:51) God from heaven smirks as he realizes that he's just destroyed everything (15:57) that they've done before. (16:03) There's truth to that, right? (16:06) God's not worried about this at all.(16:08) But I do think there's something literally true to what that is saying. (16:14) That if they are together, there's no stop to the destruction that they could incur. (16:22) There's no stop to the horrible things that they could accomplish.(16:29) And so God decides to do something about it. (16:32) In verse seven, it says, come, let us go down there and confuse their language (16:37) so that they may not understand one another's speech. (16:40) And the first question as you read that verse is, let us? (16:46) Let who? (16:47) There's two main possibilities.(16:49) Number one being that God is speaking to the angels and he says, come, (16:52) let us go down there and confuse their language. (16:55) Entirely possible. (16:57) In this context, I think that makes sense.(17:00) But because of how God uses that language of let us in chapter one, (17:05) let us make man in our own image. (17:07) I think it makes most sense to think of that language as being used consistently. (17:13) It's probably like one of these hints in the Old Testament (17:16) to the triune nature of God.(17:18) That there's one eternal God who exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (17:23) Let us go down there and confuse their language. (17:28) And that might seem like a weird consequence at first.(17:33) So they're all together, they're hanging out together, (17:35) and they're trying to achieve this building of an amazing tower. (17:40) And again, just kind of like backing up a step. (17:44) I think part of the reason that we shouldn't picture this as (17:47) they're trying to literally build into the heavens is they're building it in a plane, right? (17:51) A lot of ancient temples were built on top of mountains.(17:53) And you would think if they were literally trying to get it up as high as they could, (17:57) they'd go to the highest point they could before they started building. (18:00) But they're building it in a plane here. (18:01) What they're building is something that can be seen by other people for a long ways around.(18:06) Something that's really going to stand out visibly for other people to behold. (18:11) And as they build it, they're thinking about their own fame, their own glory. (18:18) And so when God comes down, he doesn't zap the building so that it falls all to bits.(18:23) He doesn't make their tar turn to water so that the building just falls apart. (18:31) He doesn't flood them again. (18:32) He doesn't send a fire.(18:33) He doesn't do any of these things. (18:34) He confuses their language. (18:39) It's an interesting judgment because in what God is doing is he's actually forcing them, (18:48) in a sense, into obedience.(18:51) He had told them to disperse and they had refused to do it. (18:56) And so he confused their language. (18:58) And you think about what is the purpose of language? (19:01) We use words, we use speech to move meaning.(19:06) Like in your head, you have something that you mean, an idea, a thought that you're trying (19:11) to move into the mind of this other person over here. (19:14) And how do you do it? (19:16) Through this miracle, we could call it, of language, of words, of speech. (19:23) It's the way in which we are as human beings, I think, most like God.(19:28) God is a speaking God. (19:30) The first thing that we find out about God in the Bible is that he spoke the world into (19:34) existence. (19:35) John chapter 1, when it refers to the Lord Jesus, calls him the word.(19:40) He's the logos, the speech of God, the reason of God. (19:46) And as human beings, central to our ability to have relationships with one another, to (19:54) communicate and understand and live with one another, is the ability to, with speech, move (20:01) what I'm thinking over into your head as you understand the words, sentences, and the (20:07) paragraphs that I use. (20:11) So when God comes down and he starts to confuse their language, all of their relationships, (20:18) all of their networks, all of their ability to build with each other is gone.(20:23) It's dissolved. (20:24) You see the impact immediately. (20:26) So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off (20:31) building the city.(20:33) Babel is stopped partially through. (20:35) It's not finished by Nimrod and those with him because we can't do it, guys. (20:40) We've got to go spread out with people who we can understand.(20:44) And obviously, we know that through history, languages have developed. (20:48) We don't have to think of God here splitting them into 10,000 different language groups. (20:53) Probably even just three or four would have been enough to destroy the effort that they (21:00) have here to build this magnificent city.(21:04) And the irony is what we see here in verse nine. (21:06) Therefore, its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all (21:13) the earth. (21:14) That word Babel in Hebrew means to be confused.(21:18) Sounds like the same word. (21:21) And from there, the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (21:26) One commentator notes that even though this division of languages, which would become a (21:31) divisions of tribes and peoples, would lead then to conflicts and would lead to wars and (21:37) it would lead to all sorts of things that we see as horrible.(21:40) It was still better for humanity to be divided and at war with one another than to be totally (21:49) united in rebellion against God as they were in building this anti-God temple. (21:55) Temple of anti-Christ, we might even say. (21:59) It's better to be divided.(22:08) But where this leaves us at the end of verse nine is pretty hopeless, right? (22:14) So here in Genesis, God had created everything and everything was good. (22:19) Genesis three, man and woman rebel, that's destroyed. (22:22) And by chapter four, Cain and his family are violent and destroying things.(22:28) And then chapter five, we just get a long list of people who lived and then they died. (22:32) They lived and then they died. (22:33) They lived and then they died.(22:34) And in chapter six, human beings have become so evil that God destroys the whole world (22:40) except for one family. (22:42) And we see their family on the ark through seven and eight, and then they get off the (22:47) ark and it's like a fresh start. (22:50) It's a new creation.(22:51) And then what we saw last week was that Noah falls and his family now has followed him. (22:58) Just like Cain's family, the descendants of Noah are running in rebellion against God. (23:07) And we get to the end here in verse nine and we don't have any indication that there's (23:12) actual worship of Yahweh still happening.(23:15) We're only probably a hundred years after the flood at this point. (23:19) And there, the whole earth had just united in rebellion against the one true God. (23:25) And then what we have in chapter 11, beginning in verse 10, down through verse 26 is something (23:32) that I think should kind of parallel in our minds.(23:34) Chapter five, a list of names following the line of promise, the descendants of Shem. (23:40) When Shem was a hundred years old, he fathered Arpaxad two years after the flood. (23:46) And Shem lived after he fathered Arpaxad 500 years and he had other sons and daughters.(23:51) And when Arpaxad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. (23:54) And Arpaxad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. (24:00) When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.(24:02) And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. (24:06) And when Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Pelag. (24:10) And Eber lived after he fathered Pelag 430 years and he had other sons and daughters.(24:15) And when Pelag had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. (24:19) And Pelag lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. (24:23) And when Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Sirig.(24:26) And Reu lived after he fathered Sirig 207 years and had other sons and daughters. (24:31) And when Sirig had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. (24:33) And Sirig lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.(24:39) When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. (24:42) And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. (24:47) And when Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.(24:54) Again, this genealogy follows the line of Shem, (24:57) which 926 had indicated to us as probably the line of promise. (25:02) But it's not a line of people who at least uniformly are worshiping God. (25:07) We know, obviously, there's this incident that's happening in the time of Eber and his son Pelag, (25:14) is when the Tower of Babel incident happens.(25:17) But then in Joshua 24, we are told that Nahor and Terah, so the direct ancestors of Abram, (25:27) who becomes Abraham, also worshiped strange gods. (25:32) So even this line, the line that had been blessed by Noah, (25:36) so blessed is the Lord, the God of Shem. (25:41) Shem may have continued to worship him.(25:44) Noah may have continued to worship him. (25:45) But their descendants have turned to strange gods. (25:53) There should be like a sense of longing and wondering.(25:57) These stories are so familiar to us. (25:59) But as we read here in chapter 11, we should be going, (26:03) how is God going to make this right? (26:05) This world that he started fresh with after the first one had gone so wrong, (26:11) it's right back where it was. (26:13) All the same problems are still here.(26:15) Sin is controlling. (26:19) And yet there is hope as we read chapter 11. (26:22) Because unlike chapter 5, which when we read just seems so repetitious, (26:30) this person lived this long until he had his son, (26:32) and then he lives this long, and then he dies.(26:36) Chapter 11, we don't get the record of their death. (26:39) I mean, obviously, we have the total number of years (26:41) so we can know how long it was until they died. (26:43) But it doesn't say, and then he died.(26:46) It's like the note is shifting to a note of life. (26:56) And that's due to the fact that it's setting us up (26:59) for the great promise that we read in chapter 12, (27:04) where God speaks to Abram directly. (27:06) 12, verse 1, go from your country and from your kindred and from your father's house.(27:10) And part of what he's implying by leaving your father's house is (27:13) leaving your father's gods. (27:16) And I will make you a great nation. (27:18) Go to the land that I will show you.(27:19) I will make you a great nation. (27:21) And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. (27:24) And I will bless those who bless you.(27:26) And him who dishonors you, I will curse. (27:28) And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (27:31) So like I said earlier, the first 11 chapters of Genesis, (27:34) they're covering everything in the world.(27:36) And then you get to the next chapter, and it just zooms down to one family. (27:43) God makes a promise to Abram and his descendants and the whole rest of the Old Testament. (27:50) The next two-thirds of the Bible is focused directly on this one family (27:58) and their interactions with God and the world.(28:02) As we move back to Mark next week, we're going to... (28:06) Chapter 11, verse 27 here of Genesis is a natural break. (28:09) It's the next big section. (28:11) And so we'll pick it up later in the year.(28:12) We're going to move back to Mark. (28:14) But as we look at Mark, we're going to be looking at the life of Jesus. (28:19) And Jesus is the seed of Abraham through whom the nations are blessed.(28:25) So this shift here in chapter 11 of Genesis moves us from the whole world to the family of Abraham. (28:32) But then what happens in their history is that they're supposed to be a blessing to the nations, (28:37) but they failed in that over and over and over again (28:40) because they wanted to be just like all the nations. (28:44) But in Christ, the promise of Abraham is fulfilled, (28:48) and he is the one through whom the nations are then blessed and brought back to Yahweh.(28:56) The peoples of the earth will flow to Jerusalem, it says later in the prophets, (29:02) and they do so through Christ. (29:09) In Ephesians chapter 4, these people whose language has been confused, (29:19) their worship has been... (29:21) They go after all kinds of different gods. (29:24) Now in Christ, those who have trusted in him, (29:27) whether they are ethnically Jews and descended from Abraham, (29:30) or they're Gentiles and part of those peoples who were scattered, (29:35) are brought back together.(29:36) That's one of the main points of Ephesians. (29:38) But here he says, Ephesians 4 verse 4, (29:42) there's one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, (29:48) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, (29:51) who is over all and through all and in all. (29:54) One of the consequences of what happens there in Genesis 11 is that the the world is divided and there are all sorts of people who with good intentions want to forge some kind of unity. We want to make everybody love each other and every time it fails miserably because there is no true source of unity apart from unity around worship. It's not just our languages that divide us.It's who we worship. The only way to have a true common tongue, as it were, is to have a common tongue of worship to God. That's part of why we pray every week the Lord's Prayer.Though we're speaking it in a different language than Jesus spoke it in, than the disciples spoke it in, than most Christians throughout history have spoken it in, we are saying the same prayer to the same Lord. We are joining our hearts together as we pray. I think one of the great applications of like the ancient creeds is obviously they're trying to codify like good biblical truth, right? But one thing that they also do is give people common language for understanding who is this God that we worship.How do we approach him and as we say the same words we worship together even with our different literal languages. Just one practical way that I want to actually start applying this is on Communion Sundays. I want to start saying the Apostles Creed together.It's very simple, straightforward. It's not the full explanation of what we believe, right? But it's a very simple statement of what we believe as Christians and confessing that together I think gives us a taste of what we're going to be doing in heaven. In the first part of Revelation, John sees a vision of the throne room and there he sees a people gathered from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.And then when you get to the end of Revelation, you get a better version of what the Babylonians thought they had. That is something I didn't mention earlier but starting here in Genesis 11 and carrying all on through the Bible from here, almost every reference to Babylon is negative. You get to, I mean the people of Israel literally go into captivity in Babylon, but then Babylon becomes an important figurative, it's used figuratively to refer to essentially satanic worship.And you see that especially in the book of Revelation where that great whore Babylon is cast down ultimately. And after she is cast down in Revelation 21, there is a city built by God that descends to the new heavens and from the new heavens to the new earth and it's the new Jerusalem, which later on in chapter 21 we find out is the church. The new Jerusalem, the city whose founder and maker is God, descends to the earth.All of these bad things come untrue in Christ. So that's, I mean there's a warning here for us, right? If we reject what God tells us to do, we step outside of his blessing. There's a real warning here.We ask for, if we're not believers, his wrath, even if we are believers, if we step outside of what he's told us to do, there's the danger of his correction. Danger is the right way to put it, but we're asking to be corrected. He chastens those whom he loves, Hebrews says.But at the same time, there's also the promise that we have as believers that in Christ, God is, because God is so in control of everything, we don't ever have to be afraid. In Christ, we have the promise that the Babel will be undone and one day we will be gathered with one voice around the throne, praising and worshiping our father forever. Would you pray with me? Father God, we thank you that you are in control of all things, that if we have embraced salvation through your son, we don't have anything to be afraid of.If God be for us, who can be against us? Help us to remember that and to therefore be able to stand courageously against the world because the world wants to build Babels, wants to build towers to the heavens, to make a name for ourselves, and help us to have the courage as your people to say, we don't need that because we have Christ. We need your help to have that courage and that conviction. So we ask for it in Jesus name.Amen.
Divine Intervention