TRUE UNITY OR UNINTELLIGIBLE STAMMERING LIPS~ EXPOSING HYPOCRISY ~ Part 8

 

The tower of Babel has always been a fascinating study for me. Many scholars believe that chronologically the events of Chapter 11:1-9 precede those of Chapter 10.

 

Yesterday, we looked at Nimrod. His name means “rebellion” or “valiant”. Nimrod led the people in rebellion against God; that rebellion looked like the building of a tower that would reach into the heavens. How many people today who profess to follow Christ are led into simple acts disguised as “good or neutral deeds” which are really rebellion towards God all because they don’t know doctrine? They don’t know God’s will because they have never studied His Word. There is a good reason we are often referred to as sheep in Scripture. We must learn to be discerning so that we do not follow false shepherds whose sole intent is to lead sheep away from the Good Shepherd.

 

Nimrod can mean rebellion or valiant. Where God saw a heart of rebellion, the people no doubt saw a valiant leader. Some stories passed down through the ages tell us this new land was overrun with wild animals which were a constant threat to the safety and peace of the inhabitants. They say it was Nimrod’s success as a “mighty hunter” that caused him to become famous among the people. Whatever it was, you best believe this rebellious leader touted some great achievement to get the allegiance of his followers. The first dictator, Nimrod, organized a kingdom. He was a “mighty (gibor) one on the earth” (powerful; by implication, warrior, tyrant). (Genesis 10:8) He was a “mighty hunter before the Lord”. The people may have thought he was hunting wild animals to protect them; he was actually a hunter of men’s souls. Men like this feed on the admiration and devotion of the people.  

 

Today, it is accepted as a worthy goal in life to make a name for oneself. The fact that it is a noteworthy goal shows us exactly how much progress man has made in his evolutionary growth when compared to this story of the Tower of Babel. None. We need to understand that the promotion of and love of self is our default as part of our depraved human nature. Genesis 11 is the first public declaration of humanism recorded in God’s Word. Before our minds are renewed with the truth, we see nothing wrong with this thinking! Our Sovereign God has made us for Himself, to glorify Him, not to glorify ourselves. Our purpose in this life is to make HIS name great among the earth.

 

The story of the Tower of Babel is found right in the middle of two lists tracing the descendants of Shem (10:21-31; 11:10-32). This is important. Nimrod is a descendant of Ham. The main theme in the story of the Tower of Babel is that these people wanted to make a name for themselves, an offense to God. Shem means “name”. God will scatter those who proudly seek to make a name for themselves through their own successful achievements in this world. Eventually, they will be separated from Him for all eternity. The antithesis of this story is seen in the calling of Abraham in Chapter 12. In verses 1-3 God tells Abram: “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God’s blessing comes through obedience to Him.

 

Genesis 11:1—Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. Aww! Such unity…must be a good thing because unity is always good, right? The whole earth was using the same language to communicate with one another. Literally, “they were of one language and of one speech”. One would naturally assume that when people can understand one another, when they are all on the ‘same page’, that they would be more apt to love each other and help each other. These people didn’t want to be separated from one another because they were united. They thought that physically staying together brought true unity. For all the proponents of “unity in all things”, the concept of separation in a spiritual sense is strange and offensive to their ears. But unity is NOT always a good thing when the goal of that unity is rebellion against God. We shall see that they were united in their rebellion against God. They were united in their unbelief.  

 

Make no mistake about it…the goal at Babel has never been erased. There are those who have always pushed for a One World Order with a One World Government and a One World Church under One “Mighty” Leader. And one day this will be a reality, their agenda will succeed…for a short time. As I said yesterday, there is only one thing around which people can join in unity; that is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Genesis 11:2—And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. What’s wrong with that, right? Journeyed can mean “departed”. First, they migrated “east” to the plain of Shinar. This was in the Mesopotamian basin which is Babylon or modern-day Iraq. The emphasis on the founding of Babylon here leads us to see a much larger scheme at work which goes to the end of the Bible and to the end of time. The contrast is God’s way of blessing which was Eden and the Promised Land versus man’s own attempt to find “good”. When we see man going east in Genesis, we see him leaving the land of blessing with all his hopes and dreams in hand but always leading to ruin and futility. Here they have found a lush fertile land that is pleasing to their flesh, so they settle when God told them to fill the earth.

What’s wrong is that after the Flood, God’s command to Noah and his sons was: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1) Obedience therein leads to the blessing of God. Why fill the earth? To make HIS NAME GREAT! God would bless them in their fruitfulness to multiply and to fill the earth. All they needed to do was obey. To go!

 

And what is the Great Commission? Matthew 28:19-20—Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

 

Then this right before Pentecost: Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8)

 

Acts 2:1—And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Peter goes on to quote from Joel 2, then addresses the men of Israel directly with these words of judgment: “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death…” (Acts 2:22-23) Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36) Peter then calls them to repentance and “those who received his words were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common.” (vss. 41-44) Verse 46 says day by day they were continuing with one mind in the temple. True unity that is good is based on the likemindedness of belief in the truth.

 

Pentecost was the reverse of Babel.

 

Jesus came to His own—the Jews—and they received Him not. In Matthew 23—which we will be looking at in this series of blog posts—Jesus says this at the end: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” Pentecost was the birth of the church of whom all first members were Jewish.

 

If you read My Journey in the last post, you will understand why this rabbit trail is important to me.

 

Pentecost was a sign of warning to the unbelieving Jews who were there listening. Every time the Jews were taken into captivity, their judgment by God was evidenced by being among a people speaking in a foreign tongue. Isaiah 28:1-4 talks about how, after turning their back on God, He will speak to His people with stammering lips and another tongue. We all know what hearing a foreign language sounds like to our ears. While in prison I was surrounded by many women who chose to speak loudly in their native tongue at all hours of the day. It was unnerving, to say the least. When my sister and I were younger we would pretend to speak in different languages by speaking childish gibberish. It was unintelligible and served absolutely no purpose. Speaking in foreign tongues at Pentecost was a miraculous sign to the Jews of their disregard for God’s Word and the fulfillment of warning discipline.

 

1 Corinthians 14:21-22 says: In the Law it is written, “BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,” says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers; but prophecy (preaching) is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe.

 

The ecstatic utterances (unintelligible sounds of a non-existent language) are not what the gift of tongues was in the days of the early church. That gift was a known foreign language for a specific purpose for a specific time. (A fulfillment of judgment to the Jews and for the transitioning from God’s work in and through the Jewish nation to the Church which included Jew and Gentile together in one body.) A “prayer language” is not the evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit. Evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit is obedience to the Word of God. Every true believer has been baptized by the Spirit of God at their spiritual birth.

 

People tell me all the time how their “prayer language” makes them feel. I had one young lady in prison try to convince me to let her teach me how to pray in a heavenly language. She didn’t understand why I would not concede while she pleaded with me, “But it feels so good!” When I was Catholic, I remember on several occasions being extremely upset about something, going to my “prayer corner”, and praying the Rosary over and over again. I described that action as very calming bringing me much peace. What a lie from the pit of hell!

 

Pentecost was the reverse of Babel in the sense that every man heard the works of God in his own language. When everyone wanted only to talk about their great works, God confused their language so they could not understand one another. Confusion (babel) results when we leave God out. Stay tuned for more to come.