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Date 25th April 2010Sermon series:None
The Pride of Babel and the Praise of Christ
Bible Reference: Genesis 11:1-9
A disclaimer from Pastor Jon
I am often inspired, provoked and corrected by such luminaries as John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Wayne Grudem, John McArthur, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Spurgeon and many others. If you know their writing and preaching well, you will no doubt sometimes find their thoughts, illustrations and quotations scattered throughout my sermons. I make no claim to original thinking; indeed I am very wary of anything that seems new or unique – it seems unlikely that the Spirit of God should reveal something to me that he has chosen not to reveal to the great preachers and teachers of the past!I try to footnote direct references to other peoples’ material, but sometimes they are just there in my head, perhaps from something I have read months or years ago, and I don’t really know where it’s come from!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Most of us have heard that, and many of us probably know if off by heart. But at some point or other, we all wonder how true it is don’t we? How is that obscure passage in the OT useful? How can the book of Numbers be useful in training in righteousness? How about Obadiah? How is that going to equip me for every good work?
Read Genesis 11:1-9
I want to show you two things:
1)That we can be confident in the history the Bible presents us with.
2)That there is purpose in obscure passages, and that God’s glory is revealed in them. Christ is glorified in them.
Put this in a bit of context:
The flood is over. God tells the remaining people to go and have big families and re-populate the earth:
Genesis 9:7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.
Chapter 10 describes how the decedents of Noah did just that. From the archaeological remains, we now know where most of these tribes were based.[i] Some of the names are not familiar to us, but they are certainly familiar to archaeologists. Mizraim = Egypt. Put = Libya.
There is an interesting person who appears here too.
Genesis 10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD…The first centres of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.
So this man Nimrod[ii] was the founder of 4 great cities in Shinar. We are in the ancient land of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). If you go to a museum and you see Mesopotamia – this is what we’re talking about: the people around the time of Abraham and a bit earlier. About 2500-2000BC.[iii]
So the story of the Tower of Babel – they build a city to reach the heavens – and God comes down - amusing one-liner in v5: The Lord “came down” to see what all the fuss was about. The tower they have built – so proud of it – but it’s so far from reaching heaven, God can’t even see it from where he is. One of the biggest put-downs in the Bible. He has to come down to see it![iv] “Where’s that little tower you made in Dubai?”
So God confuses the languages so they have to stop work. But it’s not just a tower they’ve built – it’s a city too:
Gen 11:8…they stopped building the city.
And who built the cities in Shinar? Nimrod. (Gen 10:8)
Well for many years no-one knew who this Nimrod character was. In fact, there are lots and lots of archaeological remains from ancient Mesopotamia, and Nimrod doesn’t feature in any of them. So sceptics come out and say the Bible isn’t accurate – made up – doesn’t fit the evidence.
In fact, according to the archaeologists, all these cities were built by a man called Enmerkar. Nothing to do with Nimrod.
Until 1993 when a German scholar made an interesting discovery:Enmerkar - Nimrod[v]
So, suddenly, after years of scepticism, it is clear that the Biblical account of these cities, and the tower of Babel stacks up precisely with the archaeology.
What about the tower itself?
In Mesopotamia, the people did not worship God. Instead, they built huge towers, rising to the heavens. They called them ziggurats (lit. rising building). 29 of these are known about, and the remains of 19 are known today.[vi]
The most important Ziggurat was built in Babylon, and became known as the Tower of Babel.[vii] Not a lot left now! (It was destroyed in 331BC by Alexander the Great)[viii]
Example of ziggurat in Ur (Abram).[ix]
What did it look like? Carved stone. 7 steps. This inscription:
“THE HOUSE, THE FOUNDATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, ZIGGURAT IN BABYLON…I MADE IT THE WONDER OF THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, I RAISED ITS TOP TO…HEAVEN”[x]
Brick from the tower of Babel. The bricks are specifically mentioned in Genesis 11:3 "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and bitumen instead of mortar.”These are mud bricks – there is little stone available in this area. The black bitumen is still visible on the back of the baked brick.
So that’s the first part: What people once thought was a fanciful made-up story has a great deal of historical, archaeological evidence to back it up.
We know buildings like that were certainly built, at that time and in that place. We know they were built to be wonders, to make a name for their builders. We know what the tower looked like, where it was and who built it, and what it was made from. And in every detail, the Biblical account ties in perfectly with the archaeological evidence. And I chose a story at random – had no prior knowledge of this until this week.
Don’t be dismayed when you see TV documentaries that say there are things in the Bible that aren’t true. You can go to the British Museum and find thousands of artefacts that tie in exactly with Biblical history, and over time, more discoveries will be made. You can have confidence in the Bible.
So, part 2: There is a purpose in obscure passages, and God’s glory is shown through them.
So, ask 2 questions:
1)Why did they build this city, and tower?
2)Why did God stop them?
Why did they build the city & tower?
Gen 11:4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves”
So their reason for building this impressive city and tower, was to make a name for themselves – to become famous – to make themselves look impressive. And even more than that – to create something that would be so big that it would reach heaven – and challenge the authority of God himself. This is an “in-yer-face” challenge to God himself. It all comes down to pride[xi]. Nimrod and his followers wanted to build something great because they thought they were great. They thought they could challenge God himself.
So what will God do? He takes it seriously:
Genesis 11:6-7 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
So God’s response to the pride in the heart of mankind is to make it harder for people to communicate. Why? Because it makes it harder for proud humans to belittle God. Look what they will do if they are not stopped! Messing up their languages is God’s way of stopping all the humans on earth getting together to do evil.
So that’s what God has done. The pride of different groups of people restrains the pride of other groups of people. God knows that if we were left to ourselves, the evil in our hearts is such that we would cause havoc and destruction on each other, and in open rebellion towards God.
And that’s precisely what happened before the flood. But God promised to Noah – first covenant in the Bible – that he would never wipe out humanity again. So there needed to be another way to deal with the sin of mankind. And creating confusion was his chosen way. God confused all the languages to prevent humans doing the evil that all our hearts are inclined towards.
So, this is a spectacular sin – prideful rebellion against God. Now, we believe that God is Sovereign – that he is in control of all things – he is God.
2 Chronicles 20:6"You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no-one can withstand you.”
And yet God allows this spectacular sin that results in all the nations and languages we have in our world today. Why does God allow this sin to take place if he is God? He could have stopped it, right? Yes of course. He’s God.
I want to show you that God, in his great global, cosmic purpose, used this sin to bring Glory to Christ. How does this sin bring glory to Christ?
Four ways that this sin was used by God to bring glory to Christ:
1)Christians Protected from a Super-State
Human languages and cultures and nations came from Babel. We often think that human languages and nations are a barrier to world evangelization – wouldn’t missions be easy if we all spoke the same language? That’s not the way God sees it. God is more concerned about human uniformity than he is about human diversity. We humans are far too evil to be allowed to unite into 1 government. If you’re not sure about that one: just look at the totalitarian states there have been over the years: Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China; Pol Pot’s Cambodia; Nero’s Rome.
If we had 1 global super-state, it would have the power to simply wipe out all Christians. That would be a very dangerous place for God’s people to live. The Tower of Babel was only the start of what humans would be capable of if we were allowed to do as we pleased, together. “Look what they’re capable of” says God. (paraphrased v6)
6,500 languages is a way of protecting God’s people from totalitarian regimes that would threaten to destroy them.
2)Destruction of Antichrist / Babylon
Babel = Babylon. Same word in Hebrew. Throughout the Bible, Babylon is used as a symbol of evil power. The ruler of Babylon is the Antichrist (Jesus) – the Lawless One (Paul) – the Beast (John). In the very last days will rise up someone with immense power, who is inspired and energized by Satan himself. The book of Revelation says the Antichrist will cause immense suffering for Christians - be drunk with the blood of Christian martyrs.[xii] There will be horrific persecution of Christians.[xiii]
What will become of this future Babylon? He/she/it will be destroyed by Jesus.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.
In one instant, Christ will come in his glory and destroy Babylon, the Antichrist, not in some evenly-matched duel, but he will be overthrown – beaten –tossed through the air - by the breath of Jesus’ mouth! And destroyed by the glory of Jesus’ splendour.
It was pride that got Satan – Babylon - thrown out of heaven. It was pride in the hearts of men that built Babel.
So the defeat of Babel is a foreshadowing of the defeat of the Great Babylon, the Antichrist. And all the glory goes to King Jesus.
3)The gospel reaches all nations
Because of the sin of Babel, we have all the languages and nations that we have today. 6,500 languages. Jesus is glorified more because we can see that he has the power to make disciples in every tribe and nation and language across the face of planet Earth.
Matthew 28:18-19 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of allnations”
Today, worshippers of Jesus are found in every tribe & nation & people-group everywhere. Worshippers of the one true God are not just a single culture or language. Islam is basically a single culture group. They must read and learn the scriptures in Arabic – they strive to create a 7th century middle-eastern culture everywhere they spread.
Christian faith is not like that. Christian faith is hugely diverse. A church service in Malawi looks very different to a church service in England, or Singapore. Christians the world over wear different clothes, sing different songs, in different styles, using different languages, in different buildings. And yet we feel such a bond with believers all over the world don’t we?
The gospel of Jesus is glorious because it breaks into every tribe and people and nation. And in doing so, it brings more glory to King Jesus. He is glorified more because of all our languages and nations. The sin of Babel brings glory to Jesus.
4)Jesus is praised by all nations
The praise that Jesus receives from all nations and languages is more beautiful and more glorious because of its diversity.
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Revelation 7:9-10 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
That praise from every tribe, language and nation is a direct result of Babel, and the sin that was committed there. If that sin had not been committed, we would all speak 1 language, and less praise would be brought to Jesus. God in his awesome sovereign power and planning has turned that sin on its head and used it to glorify Jesus – in ways that we could never have conceived of!
God used the spectacular rebellious prideful sin of Babel to bring glory to Christ. That’s a big concept! And if God uses even sin to bring glory to himself, when we see the big picture, we can have confidence that he is fully in control over all things that happen to us.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful.
All scripture points to Jesus – even the seemingly obscure bits in the dim and distant past. All scripture points to Jesus and says “Worship him”. It’s all about him. However bad it seems, in the end he will be glorified. He will be exalted. Let’s worship him as the sovereign ruler of all time, and history and over all people and nations and languages.
[i]Rohl, D. Legend – the Genesis of Civilisation. Random House, 1998. p224
[ii] Nimrod is portrayed in the Bible as a type of the Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist, as founder of Babylon, the arch-enemy of God’s people. cf. Rev 14:18, 16:19, 17:5, 18:2, 18:10, 18:21. Pink observes that Nimrod was from the line of Ham, the cursed son of Noah (Gen 9:20-25). There are many other tribes and peoples descended from Ham that caused Israel no end of trouble later. Perhaps Pink goes a bit far in reading his pre-mil eschatological framework back into Genesis though? cf. Pink, AW. Gleanings in Genesis. Moody Press, 1981. p129ff
[iii] Edwards, B. Through the British Museum with the Bible. Day One, 2004. p25-27
[iv] The rest of this sermon relies heavily on John Piper’s essay, “The Pride of Babel and the Praise of Christ”. See: Piper, J. Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. Crossway, 2008. p68
[v]Werner Papke – explained in: Rohl, D. Legend – the Genesis of Civilisation. Random House, 1998. p215-216
[vi]
[vii]Rohl believes that it was built in Eridu, the ancient capital, and points out that Eridu and Babylon once had the same name, Nun-ki, which may account for the confusion.
[viii]
[ix]
[x]The images are of Nebuchadnezzar II, 604-562 BC, who finally completed the construction of Babel in 562BC. I have not mentioned the attribution of the quote in the main body of the sermon because it would confuse the issue, which is the appearance of the structure. See:
[xi] Dixon, J. Genesis – Expository Thoughts. Evangelical Press, 2005. p229
[xii] Revelation 17:6
[xiii] My understanding is that this belief is common to almost all eschatological positions, except for the (to me at least) hopelessly optimistic postmillennial viewpoint, and the borderline heretical full preterist position.