SERMON MANUSCRIPT
Sermon Reading by Elder Gani Ong, Prepared By Rev. Nollie Malabuyo
In 1889, the race to build the tallest building in the modern world began when the 896- foot tall Eiffel Tower in Paris was built. Today, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the king of skyscrapers at 2,722 feet. Why is mankind obsessed with building these skyscrapers? One of the biggest factors is the lack of space for increasing urban populations. But a big reason is pride: Who can make a name for himself by building the tallest structure in the world?
It is not only modern man who is obsessed with heights. Our text goes back to the centuries after the flood in Noah’s days destroyed all mankind, in the land of Shinar. Our text tells of a proud, unified humanity planning, “let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4). From the beginning, mankind has always vainly attempted to reach God in heaven. And just like today, making a name for himself takes the highest place in his life.
In only nine verses, the Tower of Babel narrative is short, but not in significance. Verses 1-4 tell of mankind’s pride and plan to build the tower. Verses 6-9 inform us about God’s perspective on mankind’s plan and how he dispersed them from Shinar. The structure of the narrative centers in verse 5, when God came down from heaven “to see the city and the tower.”
But the story does not end in the dispersion of mankind into the whole earth. Instead of man reaching hopelessly for heaven, two thousand years ago, Jesus the Son of God came down from heaven as a human baby born in Bethlehem. He was crucified and rose again from the grave to save his people from their sins. After he ascended back into his exalted place in heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples on Pentecost Sunday to reverse the effects of Babel.
Today, our theme is “Glory to God!” under three headings: first, Man Glorifies Himself in One Tongue; second, God Confuses Man with Many Tongues; and third, Man Glorifies God in One Tongue.
Man Glorifies Himself in One Tongue
Already in Genesis 10 is a table of nations, apparently already scattered and speaking different languages. Why then does Genesis 11 begin the Babel story saying, “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words” (verse 1)? It is because Genesis 11 is meant to be a flashback, explaining why there are now many nations with different languages.
Several connections between these two chapters are of note. Babel is mentioned as a kingdom built by Nimrod, a name which means “we shall rebel.” In addition, Shinar is named as another city built by Nimrod (Gen 10:8-10). The name Peleg, which means “division,” is explained by “in his days the earth was divided” (Gen 10:25). This is most probably the same event as the dispersion from Shinar.
Notice also the similarity between the Tower of Babel and the Garden of Eden events. Both show how man attempted to be like God and to ascend to heaven. Both stories tell of God referring to himself using the plural “us”: “The man has become like one of us” (Gen 3:22), and “Come, let us go down” (Gen 11:7). The two events happened in the same area between two great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Shinar is another name for Babylon (Gen 2:14; 11:2). Finally, both stories end with the expulsion of man from the place where they have settled (Gen 3:24; 11:9). Therefore, in one sense, Babel is another Fall of man.
In rebellion against God’s command to fill the earth, all the people of the earth after Adam’s fall migrated from Eden as one, traveling eastward. When they found the fertile plain in Shinar between the two great rivers, they “settled” there. This means they congregated in this one place.
The phrase “from the east” is ominous of bad things to come. In the Bible, Genesis in particular, “from the east” or “east” usually implies moving away from God’s will and blessing. This was so with Adam and Eve (3:24), Lot (13:10-12), and Jacob (29:1).
If the Egyptians, Mayans, and other ancient peoples built pyramids, Babylonians built towers, known today as ziggurats. They were massive structures, several stories high, and with giant terraced steps. What did the people use? Ancient Israel used stone and mortar for their buildings, but the Babylonians had sun-dried or kiln-baked brick and bitumen (verse 3). On the top floor of these ziggurats, they built their temples to their gods, thinking that these temples were their gateway to heaven. So the people conspired together to build “a tower with its top in the heavens” (verse 4). The higher the temple on top of the tower, the closer they are to heaven when they worship their gods.
Ever since creation, man has always been deceived into thinking that they can reach God in heaven with their own independent efforts. All kinds of unbiblical religions have always sought to appease their man-made gods through all sorts of works, sacrifices, and even pilgrimages. Make sure you are not like those at the tower of Babel trying to reach God by your own works.
Another reason for building the Tower of Babel was “to make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Recognition and even fame are two of man’s deepest needs. Before the flood, the “giants” on earth were “men of renown,” probably mighty warriors and powerful kings. With the rise of these mighty men, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). Just as then, it is now. The heroes of today are Hollywood celebrities, great athletes, the rich and famous. Even churches have their own celebrity circuit of charismatic speakers.
Those who are not rich and famous like us are not exempt from trying to make a name for ourselves. We want to have our own “legacy” to pass on to our children. We want to be remembered by our friends as those who are kind, loving, plus fun-loving and full of life. We want to be known as those who accomplished much in the workplace. Like Nebuchadnezzar, we look at our accomplishments and declare that all of them are our own, not God-given (Dan 4:30). We are to glory and boast in God. In stark contrast to the tower-builders who wanted to make their name great, God promised Abraham that his name will be great (Gen 12:2). The names of Abraham and all the Old Testament heroes did not become great of their own desire, because they too were just like us, prone to sin. It was God who made their name great.
God Confuses Man with Many Tongues
As mentioned before, verse 5 connects the two main parts of our text. After God saw the towerbuilders’ rebellious ambition, he decided to come down and see the city and the tower. As in the later story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God himself came down from heaven to see the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:21). He mocked the tower-builders who thought that their tower was great and lofty. In God’s sight, the people of the earth are like grasshoppers (Isa 40:22), and he laughs and mocks man’s ambition to reach the heavens with a tiny tower (Psa 2:2, 4).
So when God sees that the tower-builders were unified as one people with one language living in one place, God saw that they will stop nothing to do what they want to do (verse 6). Was God threatened by their unity? No, he was not intimidated one bit. No, God feared not for himself, but for man. If they are unified in their rebellion and independence against God, they will never turn to God. Total wickedness would again prevail over the whole earth, so that God in his righteous anger would destroy them again, just as when he destroyed mankind in the days of Noah. God’s holiness and righteousness would again demand capital punishment.
Because of this, God made a decision: he will force the unified people to scatter abroad by confusing their unified language into many tongues. The people will then form groups of people with the same language. In those days, there were no translators nor subtitles, so the different language groups naturally separated from those whom they did not under-stand. What they feared most in verse 4, dispersion, had come upon them. They abandoned their tower project and scattered over the face of the earth. Their plans failed, but God perfectly accomplished his plan and intention.
Moses makes the connection between what God called the city—Babel—with the similarsounding Hebrew word balal, which means “mixed-up” or “confused.” Thus, from its beginnings in the land of Shinar, Babylon had become a symbol for the wicked, rebellious, godless—and confused—world. All those who are like Babylon will incur the wrath of God (Isa 14). Isaiah prophesied the fall of proud Babylon, who imagined sitting on a throne in heaven above the clouds, to be like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 13:19; 14:12-14).
John describes Babylon as that proud and wicked harlot—spiritually unfaithful—who also persecutes God’s people. But like the tower of Babylon and the ancient Babylonian empire, it will fall to the ground with a great thud, and burn with a great fire, until it is no more. As a picture of the godless political, economic and military powers of the world, its destruction will be complete (Rev 18). The tower of Babel narrative ends in verse 9, when “the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”
But the story does not really end here, because even with Babylon leading the whole earth in wickedness, there is hope.
Man Glorifies God in One Tongue
Hope begins unexpectedly in Zephaniah’s prophecy of doom. The Lord will gather the selfsufficient, rebellious nations and kingdoms for judgment (Zep 3:8). But the prophet not only pronounced judgment against the nations; he also gave the Old Testament people hope. In the next verse, Zephaniah says, “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.” This is a prophecy of the reversal of Babylon. The people whose tongues spoke the filthy language of rebellion, wickedness and idolatry, will call upon the holy name of the Lord. Their language will change into the pure language of those who worship God.
Not only will their language be pure; they will all speak one language. The Son of Man was born on that first Christmas night 2,000 years ago to gather those whom his Father had given him before the creation of the world. That night, a host of heavenly angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). After he ascended into heaven, he poured out his Spirit on his disciples, and they started speaking in different tongues. Devout men “from every nation under heaven” started hearing the disciples speaking in their own language. And although the preaching was in different tongues, the message was one: the gospel of the life, death and resurrection of the Jesus the Messiah who was born to save his people from sin. They heard the mighty works of God in their own tongues. Now people give glory to God in thousands of tongues.
Wherever the gospel is preached, people are united to Christ in one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God the Father of all. All believers might be speaking in thousands of tongues all over the world, but the Word that we hear and read, the prayers that we pray, and the songs that we sing have the same message: Repent and believe in the gospel of Christ, and you will be saved.
Because we hear the same Word, we understand one another. Therefore, when believers from many places in the world gather together in a conference in the Philippines, we have a bond that unbelievers will never understand. We do not separate from one another. We speak the same pure speech from the pure Word of God. We love our brethren and help those in other nations who are suffering. We pray for the safety of those who are being persecuted. Churches send missionaries to preach this one pure gospel into all the world.
Those who hear the preaching of the gospel will come out of rebellious wicked Babylon, which is the unbelieving world. This is what Christ calls us to do, “Come out of [Babylon], my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Rev 18:4-5). We must abandon our love for the wicked world, and our desire to be independent of God. Unlike those who reject the one gospel of Christ, our minds and hearts must not be dominated by “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 John 2:16). The tower-builders wanted to reach heaven by building a lofty tower, but instead, they heaped sin upon sin like a staircase climbing to heaven.
Dear people of God, this Christmas, be mindful that it is not only us at ZCRC (Imus) who give glory to God. Churches worldwide give glory to God every Lord’s Day. And in the end, the confusion in Babel will be reversed in heaven. The new heaven and new earth will not be built by human hands with the aid of human technology. It will be a city “whose designer and builder is God” (Heb 11:10). It will not be built from the earth trying to reach up to heaven. Rather, it is a city “coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God” (Rev 21:10-11).
There, all the nations will speak one language of praise, united in giving glory to God and to the Lamb: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev 5:9, 13).
