What if you were reading a history book that covered a period of history for 500 years? Let’s say it was a history of the United States, so 500 years would cover from the time Columbus discovered America through the Revolutionary War, Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII and then landing men on the moon … a 500 year period. Let’s say you were reading that book and as you read it, one-fourth of the entire book focused on one single event. Think about that. It seems rather odd. If you’re trying to cover 500 years in a book, and a quarter of it focuses on one event during that 500 year period. The conclusion you would draw is that that event must be very, very important. It must be fundamental in influencing what went on in those 500 years.
That is exactly what happened in the Book of Genesis. Genesis Chapters 10 and 11 cover almost 500 years, from the flood to the death of Abraham’s father, Terah, spans about 500 years, and a quarter of those two books are on one single event. Obviously, that event must be very important for God to include that and that time. That singular event is the Tower of Babel. It covers half of Genesis 11.
So we ask the question, if we read that, the first thing that comes to mind (at least in my mind) is why did God inspire Moses to record the story of the Tower of Babel and put so must emphasis on it? What reason does He have? What does He want us to learn? Is it just a story of a man gone bad, or is it just a story of how languages were developed and how that started in world history, or is there something more to it? Is there something more to that event than what I just mentioned?
So, the title of the sermon and what we’re going to explore today is, "The Lessons We Can Learn From the Tower of Babel", that incident.
Now, we need to establish some background and some context for that event. The true story of the Tower of Babel, the text of that story is in Genesis 11. If you have a marker, you might want to put it there, but the true story starts much earlier. So, to get the context, let’s turn to Genesis, Chapter 6. We’re going to read verses 5 through 8. We’re familiar with this account of the coming of the flood.
Genesis 6:5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, (just like He’s looking down and seeing it today) and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart (meaning mankind’s heart) was only evil continually.
Verse 6. And the Eternal was sorry that He made man on the earth and He grieved in His heart,
Verse 7. And the Eternal said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air; for I am sorry I have made them.
Verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (NKJV)
We know what happened. God started by bringing the flood. It occurred approximately 2,370 B.C. That’s an approximate date. This is the best intelligence we have to date of when it started, but it could vary many years on either side, 2,370 B.C. We know that Noah, Shem, Ham and Japeth (his three sons) and their wives were saved. The line of Seth was saved, but the line of Cain was wiped out in the flood.
Now let’s go to Genesis, Chapter 10. We’ll start in verse 6. Then we’ll read verses 8 through 10.
Genesis 10:6. Now the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan.
Cush was the first born.
Verse 8. Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (KJV)
Now Clarke in his commentary says the following about Nimrod, "The name Nimrod comes from the word "Marad" and that means ‘he rebelled’". God tends to call things what they are and call humans what they are. So his very name gives us an indication of his character and his actions. Going on, Clarke says, "And the Targum" (Targum is a translation of Hebrew into Aramaic . Aramaic was the language that was spoken in Christ’s day.) This translation, this Targum, he says in I Chronicles 1:10 (we won’t turn there) but it talks about Nimrod. Clarke is quoting the Targum, "Nimrod began to be a mighty man in sin, a murderer of innocent men and a rebel before the Lord." Clarke goes on to say the Jerusalem Targum says, "He was mighty in hunting and in sin before God for he was a hunter of the children of men, and he said unto them, "Depart from the religion of Shem and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod."
Clarke goes on to say the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says, (I’m quoting from his Targum) "From the foundation of the world, none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in hunting and in rebellions against the Lord." Then Clarke finally says the Syriac, (Syriac is an ancient Syrian language) he says, the Syriac calls him a warlike giant.
So, obviously he was a very imposing man, a man to be reckoned with, he had hunting and military skills and he was quite a leader. Going on now in Genesis 10:9.
Genesis 10:9. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. (KJV)
The Hebrew word for "before" can also be translated "in front of" or "in place of". Now that’s the same Hebrew word that is used in Exodus, Chapter 20, in the Ten Commandments where God says, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Meaning "in place of Me."
So, verse 9 could be translated, "Nimrod, the rebel, the tyrant hunter in the place of the Lord;" replacing God and Jesus Christ.
Clarke goes on to say, "The word which we render "hunter" signifies prey and is applied in the scriptures to the hunting of men by persecution, by oppression and tyranny. Hence, it is likely that Nimrod, having acquired power, used it in tyranny and oppression; and by violence founded that domination which was the first distinguished by the name of "kingdom" on the face of the earth." Jewish tradition says that he encouraged and threatened the people to look to him in order to survive.
What happened then is going to be repeated again in the future when people are going to look to the mark of the beast to allow them to survive. If you don’t have the mark, you’re not going to survive. People back then, if they didn’t cleave to Nimrod, there was a fear they would not survive and he used that to his advantage. He founded the first kingdom. Now let’s look at verse 10.
Genesis 10: 10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, (The margin in the King James says Babylon.)
Verse 10b. and Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar.
So all of these cities that he built, established the first kingdom recorded in the Bible. The tradition is that he perpetuated the paganism that existed before the flood. He continued the teachings of Cain, against God. There’s also the tradition that Ham’s wife smuggled idols onto the ark and, thereby, continued that form of idol worship that existed before the flood.
Now the Bible doesn’t specifically say that Nimrod built the tower, but tradition tells us that he led the effort, and given what we’ve seen so far, this makes perfect sense. So now with that background, let’s go to the story in Genesis, Chapter 11. As I said, if you have a marker, you might want to put it in Genesis 11 because we’ll be coming back to that throughout the sermon. I’m going to read the first two verses out of the NIV.
Genesis 11:1. Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
Verse 2. And as men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. (NIV)
Now Genesis 9:28, (we won’t turn there) tells us that Noah was alive at that time, so I think we can certainly imply that men moved eastward into Shinar, but not Noah, not those loyal to Noah or those loyal to God. Noah stayed where he was and they began to spread out after that, but this group moved east into Shinar. At first, after the flood, the people did not want to come down and live in the valleys and they didn’t want to come down and live in the plains because they were afraid of another flood. They tended to congregate on the high places. God previously commanded them (we’ll cover this later) to spread out and colonize and spread out far and wide (Genesis 9:1). But, guess what? Would the people obey God? Of course not; they disobeyed.
Notice what Josephus says in Book 1, Chapter 4 and Page 30, about this incident, "Now it was Nimrod who excited them (the people) to such an affront and contempt of God; he was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God as if it were through His means they were happy (God’s means), but to believe that it was their own courage which procured their happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God."
So Nimrod began to change the view of the people away from God, introducing paganism, idol worship and obviously looking to him (Nimrod) to help them and to protect them. He pursued power and he set up systems to retain that power. I mentioned that in a sermon a while back about seeking power and seeking systems to retain that power. One of the ways he could retain power was a giant building project; bring all the people together. He’s the leader and the boss and you put them to work for a common goal.
Verse 3. And they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime they had for mortar.
(Notice verse 4.)
Verse 4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city (No. 1) and a tower (No. 2) whose top [may reach] unto heaven; (KJV)
Now the construction of that tower started roughly 115 to 125 years after the flood. That would put it at approximately 2256 B.C., which is approximately 1,750 years after creation. Now if you do the math, after the flood (I ran some numbers) to try to figure out what the population was at the time the tower was built. Of course, there are a lot of variables, how long people lived, how many children they had, what was the death rate, all those kind of variables, so these can vary quite widely. But, if when the tower started 115 to 125 years after the flood, there were in the mid hundreds of thousands of people. They had large families back then. Young women married early, as we know, in their early teens, and so it was possible to be in the mid hundreds of thousands at the time the tower began to be constructed. If it was more like 150 or 175 years after the flood, it could have been over a million. Also it could have been more from the standpoint that people apparently had more twins back then, because you read prior to that time, there was often a mention of twins. So, if for whatever reason, more twins were born back then, that would have escalated the population even more. But I think it’s safe to say that the population was at least in the hundreds of thousands.
Now the tower of Babel was probably a ziggurat, and that is a central place of worship for a city or region. There are many ziggurats that archeologists are investigating in the middle east. Most of the ziggurats resembled a pyramid. We think of the Egyptian pyramids as the typical pyramid and we know the Egyptian pyramids had smooth sides before they were looted and the rock facing was stripped off. But a ziggurat was a stepped pyramid. It’s a square with a smaller square on top and then another smaller square on top of that and then another smaller square on top of that. It’s like a square layer cake if you want to draw an analogy. A ziggurat could be seen from anywhere in the city or anywhere in a region, so people could look to this step pyramid as kind of their anchor or their foundation, and that’s where they would go to worship their pagan gods. The ziggurats were made of a mixture of mud and straw bricks that were heated to a high heat to be made very hard. I am personally familiar with that because when I was in grade school, my Mom took up the hobby of ceramics and she was very good at it. She would buy a clay figurine of, let’s say, a woman; they were generally minus the hands and no hair or anything, and she would sculpt the fingers, the hands and the hair and add them to the figurine. She would dip lace into a slurry of clay and then build a lacy dress. At the end when it was finished in that stage, it was clay. You could scrape it with your finger and put a crease in it. She had a kiln, about that high and that big around, and it ran on 220 volts; it could be heated quite high. So she would put the clay figurine in the kiln and fire the clay. After a few hours and after it cooled down, you would bring it out and it was like glass. It was porcelain. You could tap it with your finger and it would ring. If you dropped it, it would break into hundreds of pieces. So it totally changed the nature of the clay and made it very hard, and that’s exactly what happened in the production of bricks for Babylon.
Now we have to ask the question, how big was it? There’s a lot of speculation about that, but Professor J. E. Gordon in his book, "Structures or Why Things Don’t Fall Down," talks about the Tower of Babel and I’m quoting from his book. He says, "Brick and stone weigh about 120 pounds per cubic foot and the crushing strength of these materials is generally rather better than 6,000 pounds per square inch." He says, "Elementary arithmetic shows that a tower with parallel walls could have been built to a height of 1.3 miles, 6,864 feet, before the bricks at the bottom were crushed. However, by making the walls taper toward the top, either in a tapered pyramid or a step pyramid, they could well have been built to a height where the men of Shinar would run short of oxygen and had difficulty breathing before the brick walls crushed beneath their own dead weight." Now we know today you cannot pilot an airplane (I’ve been a private pilot) without oxygen above 12,000 feet, and so what he’s saying is that, just from a structural standpoint, it could have been almost that high. I’m not saying it was that high, but it could have been as high as a large mountain.
Now the Eifel Tower, which was built in 1889, is 986 feet. The Empire State Building, which was built in 1931, is 1,250 feet and the One World Trade Center, which is under construction now to replace the Twin Towers, will be 1,776. That’s by design, commemorating 1776. Now the tallest structure in the world today is the Buri Khalifa, which is in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It was completed in 2009, and it is 2,723 feet tall, the tallest structure in the world.
So, how tall was the Tower of Babel? The answer is, nobody really knows, but from a structural standpoint, a step pyramid could have been taller than any current building today. I say "could have"; we don’t know, but from a structural standpoint, there’s no reason why it couldn’t have been taller than anything built today. Now my personal opinion is that it was at least as tall as the low cloud cover would be, and we’ll see why that might be in a little bit.
Now, is there archeological evidence? Yes, there is the existence of a tower. Now Jewish tradition has that an excavated tower or ziggurat at Nimrud in Northern Iraq, is the remnants of the Tower of Babel. Now another location might be where Nebuchadnezzar II built a tower over the ruins of an earlier tower, and there’s some speculation that the Tower of Babel was that location, and Nebuchadnezzar built a tower over the ruins of the original Tower of Babel. Now archeologists who are excavating in Babylon today have found what appears to be the foundation of a tower. It has square earthen embankments, some 300 feet on each side. So it’s a football field on each side in a square, and that’s kind of the foundation that they’ve found. Now it is also reported the King Nebuchadnezzar II (he lived from 605 to 562 B.C.) rebuilt a tower on that location and that tower (there’s more accurate records) was 295 feet tall, about a 30 story building, and according to an inscription made by the king, the tower was constructed of "baked brick enameled in brilliant blue". The terraces of the tower, it is speculated as the step pyramid went up, that they had terraces of trees and plants at each level. Now the Greek Historian Herodotus, visited the tower in 460 B.C., according to his own writings. Of course, by then the tower had been crumbling for many, many years. But quoting Herodotus, he says, "It has a solid central tower, one furlong square." A furlong is 220 yards, so that’s over two football fields on each side. He says, "With a second erected on top of it and then a third and so on, up to eight. All eight towers can be climbed by a spiral way running around the outside and about half way up, there are seats for those who make the journey, to rest on."
So there’s plenty of archeological evidence of a tower. Now let’s go to verse 5.
Genesis 11: 5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, (to see both) which the children of men built.
Verse 6. And the Lord said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imaged to do. (KJV)
They are united. They’re pursuing a purpose and they’re accelerating pretty quickly.
Verse 7. Go to, let us go down
That is obviously another tangent we could go off on, but there’s at least two that could go down and take a peak.
Verse 7b. and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Verse 8. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they (notice this) left off to build the city.
It doesn’t say anything about the tower, and that probably is indicating that the tower was already finished, because they didn’t stop building the tower.
Verse 9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from there did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (KJV)
We know the Hebrew word for "Babel" means "to mix or confuse". So God had to intervene here I think, in part, to keep them on track for His six thousand year plan. Otherwise, they would have been advancing too quickly.
Now let’s stop here and ask the question; Is this just some interesting story that we read our kids or grandkids at night and they get all excited about building a big tower and they take their LEGOS and try to build a tower, or is there more to it than just that?
Keep your marker here and let’s go to Romans 15:4. The Bible is very clear that what is in the Old Testament, is there for a reason. Paul is saying to the Church in Rome and to us today…
Romans 15:4. For whatsoever things were written before (and the only thing at that time that was written before was the Old Testament) were written for our learning, that we (it’s there fora reason) through patience (and the Greek can also mean "endurance") and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (KJV)
These examples give us hope and give us hope so that we can endure. Paul was making the point that these are much more than just bedtime stories. So again, why did God devote so much space to this singular event? I can think of five reasons why God did that; five lessons we can learn about the Tower of Babel. Some are very, very obvious when you think about it.
The first one, and the most obvious, is that mankind was attempting to emulate Satan. In building the tower, man was doing nothing more than what Satan had already done. Genesis 11:4. We read it earlier.
Genesis 11:4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; (notice) and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth. (KJV)
So we see mankind had two goals.
Let us build a tower to reach up to the level of God and,
Now let’s look at those two. The first one is, to get up to the level of God. Now, it’s interesting in the Babylonian language, which is Acadien, Babel means, "the gate of God". Now were they building a tower to get up to God’s gate? Were they building a tower to elevate themselves up to the level of God? That’s exactly what Satan did. Keep your finger there in Genesis and let’s go to Isaiah 14:13-14. What we’re going to see is that Satan had already done what humans were doing at the Tower of Babel.
Isaiah 14: 13. For you (referring to Satan) have said in your heart, (guess what?) I will ascend into heaven, (I will ascend to the gate of God) I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; (theangels of God), I will sit also on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Verse 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (KJV)
We know that mankind has been deceived since day one, since the Garden of Eden, to follow in Satan’s footsteps. We won’t turn there; we know the scripture, Revelation 12:9, Satan deceives the whole world. This is why I feel the tower at least went up into the clouds. We know the climate was totally different from the climate today. So the cloud level had to be 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 feet, and this was so Nimrod could go up the tower and disappear into the clouds, just like Satan wanted to do and "commune with God", to get up to God’s level.
Actually, I think it was a counterfeit of Moses. You know, Satan counterfeits all of God’s Holy Days and all of the events, a counterfeit Christ, counterfeit virgin birth and all of that, and this is a counterfeit of Moses going into the cloud atop Mount Sinai. We know that he did that seven times beginning in Chapter 19 in the Book of Exodus. So again, this is just my opinion that the tower was at least up to cloud level so Nimrod could disappear into the clouds and, again, to retain power and control over the people. So, get up to the level of God was the first goal.
The second goal was … to make a name for themselves. Now the Hebrew word for "name" is Strong’s 8034 and the Hebrew word is "Shem"; in English it is pronounced Shame, and it’s a primitive word. I’m quoting from Strong’s now … "A primitive word with the idea of definite and conspicuous position; as a mark or memorial of individuality, by implication, honor or renown." We want to honor ourselves. We want to be renowned; Nimrod as leader and then, of course, the people to follow. What they did is they built a monument to themselves. They built a monument to their achievements, to call attention to their own abilities. "Look at what we’ve done! Look at what we’ve built!" They didn’t want to give God the glory. They wanted to give mankind the glory, and we see that in man’s buildings, in sending people to the moon, etc. Whatever the accomplishment is, man says, "Look at us! Look what we’ve done!" There was a huge race between Russia and the United States for national glory to send somebody to the moon. It’s the same thing here. Modern science is nothing more than a monument to mankind. Look at the mind of man; look at what we’ve been able to do. The same thing happened at Babylon, and it’s the same attitude that Satan had. We just read it in Isaiah 14:13, "I will exalt my throne. Look at me. Look at what I’ve done."
Now what does God say about that? Let’s go to Proverbs 6: 16 and the first part of verse 17. God hates that. He does not like that attitude. This is a traditional saying in the Hebrew. It’s done for emphasis.
Proverbs 6:16. These six [things] does the Lord hate: yea seven [are] an abomination to Him.
So they use the number six and then add one more for emphasis; and the very first one, what does it say?
Verse 17. A proud look.
Meaning God hates pride. That’s exactly what Nimrod exhibited to the people. He wanted them to look at him and exalt himself in front of the people.
God wants just the opposite from us, doesn’t He? We won’t turn there, but you know the story in Luke, Chapter 14, of the parable of the wedding feast when Christ was with His disciples and He remarked, He said, "Look, look at the people coming into the feast. Notice how they take the upper rooms, the chief rooms." Then He said to them, "When you’re invited, go to a lower room." He went on to say, "Whoever exalts himself is going to be abased and he that humbles himself will be exalted." So, God’s way is that way, but what we see in the Tower of Babel is just the opposite and it is Satan’s way. So, the lesson for us is we should never seek to exalt the self and what was happening at the Tower of Babel (the first lesson) is, they were attempting to emulate Satan, who has deceived them.
The second big lesson we can learn is that the human mind is the enemy of God. The human mind, in and of itself apart from God’s Holy Spirit, is the enemy of God. God’s mind and the human mind are polar opposites. Now after the flood, what did God tell men to do? Let’s go to Genesis, Chapter 9 and verse 1. I’ll read it out of the New King James. Notice God’s instruction. Right after the flood and it tells us …
Genesis 9:1. So God blessed Noah and his sons, (and what did He tell them to do?) be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (NKJ)
The King James says, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
Meaning, replenish the whole earth; go all over the earth and spread out. The wording suggests that God intended people to diffuse themselves widely over the earth, over land. But what did man do? What did he decide to do? Let’s go back to Genesis 11 and verse 4.
Genesis 11:4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, (notice the motivation why) lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (KJV)
The express purpose of building the city and the tower was to prevent population dispersion, to go directly against what God commanded.
He said, "Spread out". They say, "No, we’re not going to spread out. We’re going to come together and we’re going to build a city and build this tower." This is one of the great lessons of the Bible.
We are pointing out that the mind of man is opposite from the mind of God. Why is that? Let’s go to Romans 8 and read verses 7 and 8. These are very familiar scriptures. The mind of man is not compatible, not sync with the mind of God. That’s one lesson, I think, all of us have learned and we keep relearning it over and over and over again.
Romans 8: 7. Because the carnal mind (carnal mind means fleshly mind) [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (KJV)
And we’ve just seen that in the case of the Tower of Babel.
Verse 8. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (KJV)
The Greek work for "enmity" means "hostility or hatred". The human mind, the carnal mind is hostile toward God and God’s way, and hates God and God’s way. Remember God said in Isaiah 55:9 (we won’t turn there). He said, "As the heavens are high above the earth, My thoughts are equally higher than your thoughts."
It’s clear from this account, that Satan led the minds of men into rebellion against God, which is the complete opposite of the mind of God. Now we have to realize today, in learning this lesson, that we have the same human nature they did. We are no different. We are the weak of the world. I mean, we are starting a step or two lower than maybe the average Babylonian in those days. I’ve had to learn in my life that when something happens, a pressure situation or something that gets your blood going or gets your dander up as we say, I have to question my first reaction. I’ve learned to question it, because my first reaction in many cases can be a carnal, human, fleshly reaction. The best thing to do is take a deep breath, keep one’s mouth shut, even sleep on it a day or two, if necessary, and get your mind under control. Because of our human nature, we tend to have that same opposition to God; and we’re told in Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." If we have the mind of Christ, we will not be the enemy of God. We have to remember that. If we have the mind of Christ, we will not be God’s enemy; we will be God’s disciple; we will be God’s friend; we will be God’s children. So that’s the second big lesson … The human mind is the enemy of God’s mind.
The third big lesson and this is something we need to pay attention to, especially as we get down closer to the end of days: The father of lies has deceived the world into thinking that God is the liar. I’ll say it again. The father of lies, the originator of lies, has deceived the world into thinking that God is the one who is doing the lying. The Bible is very clear that Satan is the originator and the father of all lies. Let’s go to John 8: 44. Christ was railing on the religious leaders of the day and He was telling them who their father was, because they were rejecting Christ and many of them were knowingly rejecting Christ, because they didn’t want to be replaced.
John 8:44. He says, "You (the religious leaders of the day) are of [your] father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. (KJV) (meaning the originator of it).
The Jewish New Testament says, "He is a liar, indeed, the inventor of the lie.
The first lie was likely in the angelic realm when he convinced a third of the angels that God was not God; that God was something different and that they should follow him, just like Nimrod convinced the people of Babylon that moved east into the plain of Shinar that they should follow him and not Noah and not God. You see, the key is, Satan deceived the world into thinking God is a liar.
Now what did God promise after the flood? Let’s go to Genesis, Chapter 9. We’ll read verses 11 through 13. What did He promise? The Being that created the flood, who had the power to create the flood, also made a promise after the flood, with that same power.
Genesis 9:11. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. NKJV
Verse 12. And God said: This [is] the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations. KJV
God says, "I’m making you a promise and I’m going to give you a visible token of that promise.
Verse 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and [it] shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. (KJV)
God promised to never flood the earth again and the sign of that promise exists today. Yet, what did the builders of Babylon think about that and what did they do about that?
Go back to Genesis 11: 3. There’s something very interesting about the materials they used in building the tower that indicates they did not believe God and did not trust God, because Nimrod was influencing them and Satan was influencing Nimrod.
Genesis 11:3. And they said one to another, "Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly." (as described earlier) and they had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. (KJV)
The Hebrew word for "slime" is Strong’s 2564 and it means "bitumen". Now you remember when God commanded Noah to build the ark. We won’t turn there, but in Genesis 6:14, He said to coat the inside of the ark with pitch. That word also means bitumen. In other words, bitumen is a water proofing agent, the point being that the builders of Babel were using bitumen to water proof the tower, because they didn’t trust God not to send another flood. So if the mortar they used was impervious to water and the brick was hard, they felt they could withstand another flood. In other words, they didn’t believe that God would not flood the world again.
Josephus in his book, "The Antiquities of the Jews", says this, "It was built of burnt brick cemented together with mortar made of bitumen that it might not be liable to admit water." The sole purpose was to water proof the tower. I’m sure when that tower was being built, there were countless times when rainbows were in the sky and the workers were down there, slaving away, building bricks in the tar pits and whatever, and they were looking at the very evidence that God said, "I’m not going to send another flood. I have the power to create a rainbow; I have the power to make the flood and I have the power to promise you I’m not going to do it again, and here’s the evidence of it, but they totally ignored it. They totally ignored it. It’s bizarre they believed God was strong enough to send another flood, but that He wouldn’t keep His promise not to. That’s how warped the human mind can be, and it speaks to the influence of Satan.
Okay, so what is the lesson for us today about God being the liar? Jesus Christ, who was the One who made that very promise, what did He promise again? What did He say? He promised He would return. He would come back. John 14. Let’s read the first two verses and the beginning of verse 3. We read this on Passover evening. Christ made a promise to the disciples; it is a promise to us today.
John 14: 1. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me.
You believe in God. I want you to believe in me.
Verse 2. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if [it were] not [so] I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Verse 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. (KJV)
That is a promise, just like God made to the children of Noah. He made a promise. The very Being that promised He would never flood the earth again, made a promise that He would return. Satan convinced the builders of the Tower of Babel He was a liar and Satan is doing the same thing today. He is convincing humanity that that is a myth, that Christ was not the Son of God. Yes, He was a good man; He said a few good things, but He’s not the Son of God, and society and the world in general, scoff at the thought or the notion that this God is going to come supernaturally again. People laugh at it today. They think it is just myth. Scientists just turn up their nose at that notion, of a spirit world, that there’s an Almighty Creator and He is going to send His Son again.
Notice II Peter 3:3-4. God inspired Peter to tell us that this was going to happen in our day and our time. God is the liar; Satan is telling the truth. There’s a big lesson to learn from the Tower of Babel.
II Peter 3: 3. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
Verse 4. And saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?"
We haven’t seen anything. He hasn’t come so far. Then they go on to say…
Verse 4b. For since the fathers fell asleep (down through all these generations throughall the millennia) all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of creation. (NKJV)
That is called the "doctrine of uniformitarianism". It means, what happened yesterday is going to happen today; nothing is going to change. What happened yesterday is going to happen in the future. Nothing is going to change.
So, outside the walls of this building that we’re meeting in today, how many people truly believe Christ is going to return? Not many. Less than fifty percent of the people in the United States (this just happened here not long ago) are religious or believe in Christ and God the Father. The rest of the world, just forget it. Ten percent of the people in Europe, Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand are religiously oriented or believe in Christ and God the Father.
As the end approaches, we need to affirm the fact that Christ made a promise that He is going to return. We have to believe that; we have to understand the lessons from the Tower of Babel, because Satan is trying to convince us and the world that God won’t keep His promise, that God and Christ are liars. The one who is doing the convincing is the originator of all lies.
The fourth lesson we can learn. Being of the Godly line does not insure righteousness. We’ve been taught and feel that the line of Shem was the righteous line. The line of Cain was the unrighteous line. Through the line of Shem came Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and Christ, and we see Shem’s descendants as the "good guys".
We won’t turn there, but Genesis 9:26, Moses said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem." So that was the righteous line, and we associate the sons of Ham as the guys with the black hats. They built the Tower of Babel, they brought the idols through the flood, they began to set up paganism again and Ham’s son was Cush, the grandson of Nimrod and they are the guys with the black hats. But, what if it could be demonstrated that the descendants of Shem, the righteous line, actively participated in building the Tower of Babel? This righteous line was caught up in it too, not just the sons of Ham, but also of Shem.
Now this brings up the question that just being a part of the line of Shem, did it insure that people were righteous? Well, let’s go to Genesis 10:11-12. Notice something here that is easy to read over and not think about.
Genesis 10:11. Out of that land (meaning Shinar) went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
A man named Asshur went forth out of the land of Shinar, the same area where they all moved eastward to. Noah did not do that, but Asshur went forth with them and he built Nineveh and the city of Rehoboth and Calah.
Verse 12. And Resen (he built) between Nineveh and Calah: the same [is] a great city. (KJV)
The Tanakh translation says, "From that land, Asshur went forth and built Nineveh." If you have a new King James Bible, that translation is in error. It is not accurate.
The fact is that Asshur went into Shinar and he built cities in the very same area that Nimrod was building cities. Now, who is this Asshur? Who is this guy? Look at verse 22 of Genesis 10. We’ll read it out of the New King James.
Genesis 10:22. The sons of Shem [were] Elam (first born), Asshur (second born), Arphaxad (third born), Lud, and Aram. (NKJV)
Asshur, as you can see here, was the second son of Shem. The tradition is that Elam and Asshur were twins and they were conceived on the ark. We can’t prove that, but it’s a Jewish tradition. Notice here that Elam and Asshur are mentioned first, Elam first and Asshur second. Now let’s go to Chapter 11 and verse 10. This is the genealogy of Shem. This is the righteous line.
Genesis 11:10. This is the genealogy of Shem. (This is the righteous line.) Shem was 100 years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood. (NKJV)
Oh oh, Oops! Something happened here, because the two that were listed first in the previous chapter are no longer mentioned. We just read in Genesis 10:2, Elam and Asshur were born first and yet they’re missing. It skips right to Arphaxad. They aren’t even mentioned in the genealogy, so we can conclude somehow they were disqualified. They did something wrong. Could it be because Asshur built cities in the area, (the same area where Nimrod built cities) that he was in partnership with Nimrod and that Elam, his twin brother, was also in partnership there doing the same thing? It’s a logical assumption. We can’t prove that, but it’s a logical assumption. And could it be because they were partners, and they joined in building the tower of Babel, that their names were taken off the righteous line? Asshur was of the righteous line of Shem, but that didn’t make him righteous, did it? Just because he was of the righteous line, it didn’t make him righteous.
You know, Christ jumped all over the Jews. We won’t turn there, but in Luke 3, they were accusing Him of being from Beelzebub and they say, "We have Abraham, our father." Christ said, "Just because you have Abraham as your father doesn’t make you righteous." Don’t trust the fact that you’re a descendant of Abraham; that doesn’t make you righteous."
So, what does that have to do with us today? One of my favorite humorists said it best, Garrison Keillor, the host of the Prairie Home Companion. We will listen to that occasionally. It’s on NPR Radio (National Public Radio). He said, "Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car."
And like the sons of Shem, who built Babel, sometimes we think, being the first fruits, we’re of the righteous spiritual line. We’ve been called. The rest of the world hasn’t. We’re the first fruits. But the lesson is, just because we can sit in a room full of first fruits, doesn’t make us a first fruit. Just like being of the righteous line of Shem doesn’t make us righteous. Look at Revelation 14: 1 and 4. We look forward to this day.
Revelation 14:1. And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Sion (notice what was with Him) and with Him an hundred forty [and] four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Verse 4. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, [being] the first fruits unto God and to the lamb. (KJV)
So you see, just because we were called, doesn’t make a first fruit. What makes us a first fruit is being a virgin, not polluted with the world, not polluted with Satan. And what makes us a first fruit is following the Lamb wherever He goes, following His teachings, following His examples. Just because we’ve been called doesn’t make us righteous. Just as back then, because you were of the line of Shem, did not make you righteous, because we see Asshur and Elam most likely helped build the tower.
The key is, we have to act like first fruits. We have to do like first fruits. We have to think like first fruits. Christ said in Matthew 7, twice He said, "You shall know them by their fruits." So we have to bring forth fruits that tell God and show God that we are, indeed, first fruits.
The last and fifth point. This has to do with the holy day that we just celebrated last Sunday. Pentecost marks God’s reversal of the Babylonian condition. Pentecost marks the reversal of the Babylonian condition.
Now at Babel, God turned a single language into many languages. But notice what happened on the Day of Pentecost, the first Pentecost in the New Testament. Let’s go to Acts 2 and begin in verse 1. We will read it out of the New King James. We read this very scripture on the Day of Pentecost, but for a different point and for a different purpose. Let’s read it again.
Acts 2:1. When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (NKJV)
We talked about that, all unified and in one place.
Verse 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Verse 3. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and [one] sat upon each of them.
Verse 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and (notice this) began to speak with other tongues (languages), as the Spirit gave them utterance (or the ability).
Verse 5. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
Verse 6. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
Verse 7. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?" (Don’t they have that Galilean accent and dialect?)
Verse 8. "And how [is it that] we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?" (NKJV)
Verse 9. Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (And it goes on and on, and there were over sixteen languages and the same thing that happened here in Acts, Chapter 10 happened to the Gentiles.)
At Babel, a single language was used to promote a human/Satanic agenda. They all worked together; it was probably the only time in the history of mankind that mankind came together and worked for a singular purpose. They had one language, they had one purpose, they were united under Nimrod and Nimrod was being deceived by Satan. They all came together and served (not a good purpose) but an evil purpose.
Now at the first Pentecost, all of these languages, these divisions in languages were reversed, because no matter what language you spoke, you heard one message. You heard one message, and what was that? Verse 11.
Verse 11. Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own tongues thewonderful works of God. (NKJV)
So God totally, 180 degrees reversed the Babylonian condition. Many languages were there, but they heard one message, just the opposite of what happened at the Tower of Babel.
So, in many ways, what happened on the first Pentecost in the New Testament, is the perfect anti-type of Babel. God confused the languages of men to stop the works of men and the work of Satan; but at Pentecost, God made one language understood by all to show His wonderful works and the gospel then was preached to them. Even though they understood and spoke different languages, they all heard the simple gospel message. What they heard and what they understood was the truth from God.
So the lesson for us today is to hear and act upon that truth; to hear it, act upon it, obey it and believe it; and given that information, to prepare ourselves to be the very bride of the One who performed the miracle on Pentecost and the One who performed the miracle in scattering the people and creating the different languages back during the Tower of Babel.
So Pentecost marks the reversal of the Babylonian condition.
So let’s conclude. God says in Genesis 11:6, I’ll read it out of the NIV.
Genesis 11: 6. If as one people speaking the same language, they have begun to do this, (God and Christ looking down from Heaven) then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. (NIV)
They could have done almost anything, as mankind is getting close to doing today, cloning humans, artificial intelligence, making machines that can think and act faster than humans. Nothing is going to be restrained from them. God realized that when people are unified in purpose, they can accomplish almost impossible feats. The problem is, some of those feats are noble and some of those feats are ignoble.
So we have to dedicate ourselves to building the body of Christ. We have to dedicate ourselves to building this one body, one language, one mind, and yet we all have various parts to play in that one body. We are not to build an edifice that honors the self, as the Babylonians did, but to build the body of Christ with one purpose, one goal, all working together.
So let’s learn these lessons from the Tower of Babel.
Transcribed by RV 06/27/2012