So pay careful attention to God's word as we read it from Genesis 11, again, verses one through nine. Now, the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 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. And 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. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language, this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 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. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's ask his blessing now upon that word, the word of prayer. The word of God. We come again before your holy scriptures, hearing words which are living and active, which you promise to work through, which can convey profoundest truth. And so we pray, Lord, that we would receive them as that sort of word. believing them, trusting them, being formed, molded, and shaped by them, having our faith strengthened, and our lives sanctified, having heard them. We do pray this in the name of our Lord. Amen. You have to have a pretty good reason to refuse an order from someone with legitimate lawful authority over you. Because rebellion usually carries hefty penalties. This is true on many levels. It's true in the military where refusal to carry out orders can result in something like a demotion in rank or a dishonorable discharge. It's frequently true in the workplace where insubordination can lead to termination, and it's true even in the home where the disobedience of children ordinarily leads to punishments of various sorts. And as we have seen so far in the book of Genesis, rebellion against God in particular incurs the steepest of all penalties. For listening to the serpent, Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden where God's presence could be most acutely felt. For killing his brother, Cain, was made to wander the earth like a vagabond. And once the chosen line of Seth began to fornicate with the children of Cain, leading to corruption of all mankind, God flooded the earth in order to purge it of rebellion. The story contained in Genesis 11 verses 1-9 is also a story of rebellion against God leading to dire consequences which would shape the history of the world. In fact, this is the last of the major rebellion and judgment stories which occurs prior to Genesis' narrowing of focus. That new focus, of course, will be on Abraham and his family. However, to understand how this is a rebellion story, we would do well, I think, to remind ourselves here at the outset what God told the Sons of Noah to do in the immediate aftermath of the Flood. Genesis 9-1 tells us the tale. God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." So according to God's own word, Shem, Ham, and Japheth were not to set up camp beside the ark. They were to go forth. They were to have children. They were to make babies. They were to fill the earth. with all manner of young'uns. And if you were here last week as we covered the so-called table of nations in Genesis 10, you might be led to believe that they did a great job with this immediately sprawling out on the newly dried up earth. However, when we come to Genesis 11, that impression is corrected as Moses takes us backwards in history explaining what it was that led the families of humanity to actually disperse and show off their distinctiveness. This is why two statements from Genesis 10 began to make a little more sense as we turn the page to Genesis 11. First, recall the description of Nimrod, a mighty, tyrannical hunter of men who founded his kingdom in Babel, among other places. This chapter is going to elaborate on how that kingdom developed and how it came to attract many of the peoples of the earth. Second, recall from Genesis 10 the introduction of Peleg, who is said to have lived in the days when the earth was divine. This chapter is going to make sense and narrate the story of that division. I mention this in order to set the context and avoid confusion once we dive into the text. Here's the thing to note. The important thing to remember is that Genesis 11 verses 1 to 9 does not follow Genesis 10 chronologically. I'll say that again. Genesis 11 verses 1 to 9 does not follow Genesis 10 chronologically. The story contained in tonight's text took place during the time period described in Genesis 10. And the clear distinction of nations, which is so apparent in Genesis 10, is actually a result of the events which took place in Genesis 11. Does that make sense? This is the backstory on how the world of Genesis 10 came to be. And when we take a look at that backstory, what we find is that man initially rebelled against God's command to fill the earth. Rather than spreading out and populating the globe, the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth initially bunched up. They stuck together, building a city with a tower in its midst, so as to permanently tether themselves to one particular piece of real estate. In sum, we might say that they sought to build a kingdom apart from God, grasping for autonomy as they ascended the heights of human folly. But God would not, as we're going to see, allow that rebellious act to go unchecked because He had plans for a bigger and better kingdom. That's the basic theme, that's the basic framework before us tonight. So then let us turn now to the text where the story unfolds in three phases. We will call the first phase of the story, which is described in verses 1-4, Man's Ascent. The story begins by sketching a portrait of a world that is very different from our own. The Bible tells us that at this point in time the whole earth had one language and the same words. No, everybody shared a common language, though we don't know what that language was, and they shared a common vocabulary so that they were able to speak freely with one another. They did not come up against language barriers as we do today. Communication was very easy, and this is mentioned for us at the outset because it's going to become one of the driving factors in the drama of the text. In that day and age, communication was simple and free, and so when the people began migrating, they together began looking for a place to call home. And as they did so, they found themselves, we're told, out east. East of what? Well, they were certainly located east of Canaan. the place which Israel would eventually call home and where Moses was headed when these words were penned, but they were also probably southeast of the spot where the ark had landed. And so it's true, literally speaking, that they were out east wondering about, but I don't think this is mentioned just for geographical reason. It's also, I think, mentioned and highlighted for us for theological reasons. In the book of Genesis, to be wandering in the east is to be wandering from God. Adam and Eve sin, and they are driven east of Eden. Cain kills his brother, and he heads east. When Lot departs from Abraham, he's going to head east towards Sodom and Gomorrah. It's a persistent pattern in the book. And at some point in these travels out east, the people settled on a plain in the land of Shinar. This is a region in southern Mesopotamia, which has been known by various names throughout history. Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, et cetera, a number of kingdoms rose and fall in that land. If you wanted to put it on a map today, you could basically pinpoint it almost in the center of modern-day Iraq. We're talking about that particular part of the world. And it was there, in that what's sometimes called the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia, it was there that these early wanderers hatched their genius plan. And it's quoted for us in verses three and four. They said to one another, come, let us make bricks, let us burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. And then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower, excuse me, 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. So once this big traveling horde, once this large traveling caravan picks a piece of property to settle on, they commence a massive building project. They deliberate with one another, agreeing to make bricks. The text tells us they were working with bricks for stone and bitumen, which is a sticky black byproduct of crude oil, for mortar. And the way in which that information is conveyed to us in the text is a little bit clunky, but it's a reminder that the original audience of this book was Canaan-bound Israel. Genesis first readers were familiar with structures made of stone and mortar. But Moses is explaining to them that things were different out east. In place of stone they had handmade bricks and in place of mortar they had tar-like black bitumen. What is it that they build with these materials? Two things. A city and a tower. Now this entire account is commonly referred to in shorthand as the Tower of Babel story. But this is one of only a couple of mentions of the tower in the text. It's not greatly described or elaborated upon for us. And that's more understandable when you realize again that the tower was really just a centerpiece. It was the centerpiece of a much larger undertaking. Yet, at the same time, I don't think it's wrong to call this the Tower of Babel story because the tower is useful for us in understanding just what sort of city they were trying to build. How so? Scholars mostly agree that the tower described in our text was something like a ziggurat. What is a ziggurat? A ziggurat is a tower made up of stacked platforms, leading to a clearing at the top, well above the face of the earth. And stairs, staircases, perhaps on one or all sides, would have gone up the ziggurat, and sometimes they led to a temple structure, which was placed at the peak. It was like a stepladder, if you think about it, a stepladder reaching up into the heavens, giving humans access to the heavenly realm, giving humans access to the divine. That's at least the way these things were commonly thought of. And so in this sense, it was a way for humans to make their way to heaven, so to speak. And perhaps from this height, they would be able to get an upper hand on God. And there are still plenty of examples of these ancient ziggurats in existence today in this part of the world. In fact, I would agree with those who suggest that probably the existing ziggurats take their inspiration from this initial one. And why did these early settlers build such a thing? Why did they build a tower like this? They hoped that building so monumental a structure would exalt their name and leave them with a legacy. And they hoped that building a great and durable city would prevent them from being scattered. Both of those things are alluded to in the text. Verse 4. They wanted to concentrate their power, thereby dominating both earth and heaven. And placed within the larger context of the story which Genesis is telling, we can see that the building of the city and the tower in the land of Shinar was truly, I think, an attempt at wresting control of humanity's destiny out of God's hands. God said, scatter, and they said, no thank you. God said, fill the earth. They said, we'd rather not. They had no intention of doing that. And so they built instead a monument to human ambition, arrogance, and autonomy. It was a tangible picture. It was their line in the sand that they were intent on rebellion. The true nature of man's attempted ascent to heaven in the building of Babel I think is well captured by Meredith Klein. as he reflects upon the events described here in verses 1-4. And here's what he writes. He writes this, Babel, he says, was an idolization of man. Inspired by the spirit of human autonomy and omnipotence, the Babel builders would soar above their geophysical entrapment. by the resources of their scientific genius. They would master fusion and remove the sting of fission. They would stick together rather than be pulled apart from their experience of fullness. Babel, he says, was the anti-city. the diametrical opposite of the city of God, which is the creation and gift of God. It's an altar of plain earth and unhewn stone because it must be holy. And man's technological processing would defile it. He's there referring to the fact that when Israel settled in the land of Canaan, they were to make their altars of unhewn stone. There's a number of references to this. And he goes on by saying that in contrast to that, made by man was Babel's trademark. Come let us make brick, come let us build. And then Klein goes on to conclude, turning the city of man into the temple of man, they projected a tower mountain that should open the way for them to the heights of the immortals. You see congregation, the settlers of Babel were trying to crawl their way back into the paradise which was lost in Eden. They united in their building of a city so that they might have a secure dwelling place which exuded human glory and renown. And they united in their building of a tower so that they might be united in their religious outlook. The only problem with their shared religious outlook was that it excluded God. Man himself, and maybe false gods of man's creation, man himself along with his idols stood in God's place at the top of the ziggurat, at the top of the tower. So the overall message then of their building project was that in their pride they had chosen idolatry rather than piety. and they had cast aside the commands of God. They would not listen. They would not fill the earth. They were staying right here. We should take this as a warning. Because this is the sort of thing that humans have continued to do down through the ages. What we continue to build, don't we? Massive monuments to our own ingenuity with the intention of glorifying man. We use our technological and scientific advances to create little heavens on earth for ourselves. And through our modern medicine we try to entirely, if we can, overcome bodily limitations. We try to cheat death altogether. And all that's not to say that science and technology and medicine are bad things. In their proper place, they can be great blessings. But when man rebels against God, these sorts of things, like they did in the Bible, become the instruments with which we work our way towards self-divinization. These are the things that we try to use to make ourselves like God. Incorruptible, unshakable, glorious and powerful. We want a name for ourselves and we do not want to be scattered. The problem is that when a rebel sinner seeks to ascend to the heavens on his own, he is actually ascending the heights of folly. He seeks to secure his position in life by acquiring money and pleasure and comfort and health, but the fool does not realize that he is laboring to build a kingdom of dust. A kingdom of dust which can be scattered with a single word from the Lord. And that's just what happens to the builders of battles. We come to the second phase of this story, and we can refer to this second phase as God's descent. We've read of man's ascent, or at least his pseudo-attempted ascent. Now we read of God's true descent here in verse 5. This second phase is incredibly short, but it is not for its shortness thereby unimportant. Verse 5 is actually the hinge around which the rest of this story turns. This is the turning point in the text. This is the event which makes all the difference. The scriptures tell us that the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. He came down to see the city. Those words are dripping with irony. The builders, in building their great tower, had thought that they had ascended to heaven. They had made it. They believed that they had conquered heaven and earth so that they would never be bothered by God again. But in order to see that great big tower which they had built, the God of heaven had to come down. He had to condescend and come down to their level. Now this is not to be taken crudely. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere. He's omniscient. He knows everything. even as he makes his abode in heaven. It was not literally necessary for him to come down to observe what had been built in Babel. He knew that they were going to do it from before the foundations of the world. But he comes down not for his own sake so that he might learn, but rather he comes down for man's sake. So that he might show the puniness of that great big city and that mighty tall tower. He comes down as judge to provide, well, not just a judgment. We might even say he's a judge. He comes down like a building inspector. He wants to evaluate the work which they have done. He wants to see if it's up to code, and it's not going to be. Now, you might think to yourself, hearing the language of verse 5, to read of God coming down, does that mean something purely metaphorical, or we sometimes use the language anthropomorphic? Many are quick to suggest that this is just a metaphor that God It's just a language, a play on words. He came down to see because he had to come down. And we've already said that's part of it. But I think to say that's all that's happening here is probably a little too hasty. I don't think that we can rule out the possibility that this, in verse 5, is what we call a theophany. A visible manifestation of God's presence which can be observed by His creatures. On the whole, I think Verne Poitras, one of my old seminary professors, he comes to the question in a balanced way. He says this twice, the narrative speaks about the Lord coming down or going down. The language, he says, implies a special presence in specific locations and therefore suggests theophany, God's visible appearance to people who were watching. He says God's inspection of the situation is reminiscent of Genesis 1 where God pronounces things good. It also calls to mind God's inspection of the situation before the flood in Genesis 6-5 and his inspection of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-12. But he concludes, as usual, the description is sparse. We do not know whether there were visible phenomena accompanying God's special inspection of the tower building. Now, to state his point more briefly, what he's saying is that the language of the text suggests that there may have been some visible phenomena. some visible appearing when God came down to see what had been built. Maybe it was there at the top of the tower which they had built in order to commune with the gods, but the details in the text are not explicit. This is an incredibly sparse account. It's very brief, very to the point. The important part, regardless of what could or could not be seen, is that God, in this moment, drew near. And he casts, whether literally or metaphorically, his long shadow over the tiny little tower that the children of man had built. And he readied himself to judge them for what they had done. And it's with this pivotal movement of the one true God that we come to the final phase of the story, which is the resulting judgment in verses 6-9. So man ascends, God descends, and the result is judgment. Having situated himself here near the scene of the crime, God begins to assess the situation, and this is what he determines in his self-deliberation. 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. God sees the building of the city and the tower in Babel as a sign that the people have unified in their sin. They're unified in their rebellion. Even if mighty Nimrod, the mighty hunter described in verse 10, got the project started and started developing the kingdom which led to this, we see that the people now, they're all in this together. And left unchecked, their rebellion would proceed unhindered. And they would, if possible, advance beyond even the pre-flood generation's lawlessness. They would continue to use their technological ingenuity to serve their flesh, and to distance themselves from the Lord. And so God determines that He must act. Both to judge them for this great act of rebellion, and also to mercifully restrain them from greater wickedness. so that humanity might be able to continue on according to design. He judges and he mercifully restrains. See, what happens here has the aroma of both wrath and grace, as we will see. And what is it that he does specifically? It's been noted a couple of times already that the people benefited from the fact that they possessed a common language. This comes up even in God's own self-deliberation. Their unity, which they hope will be their saving grace, is quickly becoming their downfall. It's the thing which is tripping them up. And so the Lord says, come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech. Now sometimes folks ask who in this moment God was talking to. Come, let us go down. Some will propose an answer like angels or something of that sort, but it's I don't think necessary to see anything more or less here than the sort of intra-Trinitarian deliberation which we've already noted in the creation account. Remember there God said, let us make man in our image. Now God says, come, let us go down. It's not revealed clearly at this point in the Bible, but this is the triune God speaking. And so the triune God determines within himself to having descend to look, now to descend further. He's taking it to the streets at this point, and he's going to confuse the language of Babylon's inhabitants. How he does this, what it looks like, we don't know. Again, the text is sparse in detail. But what we do know is that in the blink of an eye, a unified people suddenly becomes incoherent. They cannot understand each other. The various families represented at Babel suddenly begin speaking in their own language. The sons of Shem and Ham and Japheth each take on a tongue of their own. And since a common language is one of the primary ties binding all of the people together in one place, this simple change drastically alters their plans. In verse 8 we read, "...so the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city." This right here, in verse 8, this is how all of those people groups mentioned in Genesis 10 get to the places where they are commonly thought to have lived. This is how they come to be distinguished by language and land. As an act of judgment, God disperses them. And at the same time, as an act of grace, God helps them, actually. Here, He's helping them to get back on their mission. He's helping them to get back on their mission of filling the earth. Now, the graciousness of this is not the dominant note of the text, but it's there in the background, I do think. The dominant note is judgment. as is made clear by verse 9. The builders of Babel had aimed to make a name for themselves. That was their stated intention. But instead, they ended up with a derogatory name for their city. Therefore, we're told 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. Among the ancient pagans who lived in the land of Babylon where this story took place, Babel was thought to mean the gate of the gods. That's how they interpreted the name Babel. That was the place you went to meet with the divine, and there they don't mean the one true God. But to those who lived through this divine judgment, Babel was not the gate of the gods. It was the place of confusion. The connection here is that the Hebrew word for confusion sounds very similar to the name Babel. And so in the end, they get their name just as they wished, but it's not the name that they were looking for. And furthermore, they are unable to avoid dispersal after all. Their scheme to avoid being dispersed is exactly what leads to their scattering. They're unable to secure their claim on heaven or earth, either one. Instead, as their language is confused, they are spread out across the face of the globe. Now, the fact of the matter is that we, tonight, are living in the aftermath of Babylon. We, tonight, are divided by nations and lands and languages and, for the time being at least, that is all according to God's good plan. That's the world of Genesis 10. This is the way that things are meant to be this side of heaven lest, as we see in Genesis 11, man grow too haughty in his rebellion. So many of the mundane divisions in our world are just the outworkings of God's good providence. And yet, there is also a redemptive sense in which this division of nations had to take place so that God could do a little kingdom building of his own. The problem at Babel wasn't that kingdoms are evil per se. The problem was that God had plans for a much loftier kingdom. A much loftier kingdom than these rebels could have ever dreamed of. And their kingdom was going to get in the way of His kingdom. Their kingdom was going to get in the way of his kingdom. And we're going to see in a couple of weeks, Lord willing, how, once the peoples finally spread out, God begins his kingdom building project with Abraham. In Genesis chapter 12, what does he do? He promises, much like the Babylites wish, he promises to make Abraham a great nation, to give him a great name, and to bless all the families of the earth through him. And that nation would manifest first through the establishment of Israel. But with the coming of Abraham's descendant, Jesus Christ, it would transform into a kingdom capable of encompassing people of all nations. So in this lie, we can say that Jesus comes as a kingdom builder. He comes inaugurating the final form of the kingdom which was first promised to Abraham. Jesus describes his work in this way in Mark chapter 1 verses 14 and 15. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So Jesus is bringing in a kingdom that can be entered through repentance and belief. And according to his own teaching in Matthew chapter 13 verses 31 and 32, it was going to be a kingdom that was going to start small and grow larger. Jesus teaches there in Matthew 13 that the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It's the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants, and it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. It's going to grow. It's going to develop. It's going to expand exponentially. and the growth of this kingdom, which Jesus brought in in its final form, it's recorded, that growth is recorded in the most remarkable way after Jesus had died, risen and ascended on the day of Pentecost. We've already read that account, but I want to draw your attention to it again. What we see on Pentecost, is a momentary reversal of Babel, which points us forward to the consummated form of the Kingdom which will exist in Heaven. What we see on Pentecost is a momentary reversal of Babel which points us forward to the heavenly consummated kingdom. As the Spirit comes down, the language barrier of believers is overcome. as Jews and proselytes from all nations suddenly hear the people of God speaking in their native tongues. And interestingly, we're told that this group included residents from the land of Mesopotamia, which is where Babel is located. And when Peter begins to explain this amazing phenomena, he preaches that it is the fulfillment of prophecy. It's the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy that a day would come when the Spirit would work among God's people and that everyone who called upon the name of the Lord would be saved. So those speaking together in common tongues on the day of Pentecost are being invited to enter the kingdom of the one who is crucified and raised by repenting and believing. And this sort of language barrier breaking kingdom invitation was actually foretold by the prophet Zephaniah. in his pronouncements about the coming day of the Lord. In Zephaniah chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 we read this, Therefore wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger. For in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed. He's talking about the great and final judgment on the day of the Lord. What does he say? That pronouncement of wrath is immediately followed by an invitation into the kingdom. to experience God's mercy. He says next, for at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. Through the prophet, the Lord speaks of his coming day of judgment as one when earthly kingdoms will be destroyed while the survivors who seek refuge in God call upon him together with a purified and unified speech. See, what takes place on Pentecost is an initial anticipatory fulfillment of that prophecy. which points us toward the consummation of the kingdom when the language barrier will be forever broken as multitudes from every tribe, tongue, and nation stand before the throne with one voice and cry out, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, Revelation 7.10. You see, congregation, the message of Babel situated within the larger biblical story is that our attempts to build rebel kingdoms apart from God aren't worth it. Seeking to make a name for ourselves, seeking to find security without the Lord, those are worthless ends. To build a tower of Babel within our hearts is to ascend the height of folly. Why? Because God himself has created a better kingdom, promised to Abraham, inaugurated with the coming of Christ, vividly revealed on the day of Pentecost, and coming in its fullness in heaven. And therefore, as we close, I would implore you to set aside your kingdoms of dust and enter a kingdom which cannot be shaken by repenting of your sins. of idolatry, arrogance, pride, greed, sinful ambition, and by placing your faith in the King, the King Jesus Himself. Though many kingdoms have fallen, and though many may fall yet, His Kingdom will not fail. And we can trust that like On the day of Babel, he will one day come down again to knock down the rebel kingdoms of dust formed by his enemies. And on that day, those who have been made citizens of his kingdom will praise him with one heart and with one voice as we glorify together our great kingdom builder. Let's pray to him now.