THE EVENTS AROUND THE TOWER OF BABEL
Sakkie Parsons
Someone asked me how I see the events of the Tower of Babel and especially our Lord’s actions to confuse the people’s languages.
Here is how I understand this event in the Bible, but first read the section:
GEN 11:1-9
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 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.
4 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.”
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.
6 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.
7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
9 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.
Firstly, I do not think the construction of the tower was a huge concern to our Lord. Except maybe of His love and compassion for mankind – His highest creation, and that He did not want to watch how they waste their energy on such a ridiculous undertaking.
Today, because we have the knowledge, we can only smile about this really foolish mission that they came up to.
According to my opinion, here something else was happening and like anything that is against our Lord, it was satan who was fully busy behind the seen to do his evil thing for he knows human desire for self-worship.
The dictionary explains this ‘desire’ or ‘craving’ amongst other things, as “passion, lust” and this craving stood here also for self-glorification in full bloom and when ‘self’ come to the fore, our Lord is pushed into the background and obedience to Him, is abandoned.
This is then obviously what happened here.
Do you remember what our Lord’s instruction was to the people there at the beginning?
GEN 1:27-28
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Our Lord wanted man to spread all over the earth and possess it but satan concentrates on mankind’s sigh / passion / lust / craving for self-glorification and what did man decided?
GEN 11:4 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.”
That is according my opinion why our Lord said and did the following:
GEN 11:7-8
7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Our Lord saw that man is going to make a huge mess of his existence on earth and He stepped in – and this was not the only and last time that our Lord acted so drastically to save mankind:
There was also another time when our Lord came down and intervened. Because we know that we as people do not always learn by our mistakes and we were busy back then as usual to make a mess of our existence on earth.
GAL 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
Do you know what is so wonderful and great about our Lord?
Even if you also like the people of that time made your bricks out of your earthly clay possessions and self-centered flesh and your tar made of bad relationships, feelings and sinful desires and even if your Babylon tower stands sky-high..
There was a time!
JOHN 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
If you want to turn your back on your half-built useless Babel tower of ‘self-important’ and all that goes with it – and you want to turn to our Lord with all your heart and make your life right with Him – then He also tells you today:
MAT 11:28-29
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Do you know what is so wonderful if you completely surrender to Him?
You do not have to do this or that or to change the other – just leave it all and come to Him.
He did not then let the people first demolished the tower, it will go down by itself. Just come as you are – because His Word says:
ISA 42:2-3
2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
1JOHN 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Greetings,
Sakkie
Email: bediening@sakkieparsons.co.za
Website: www.sakkieparsons.co.za
Cell: 083 457 6669
Jude 1:24-25 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (TNIV)
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