Sermon Central
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The Tower Of Babel Series
Contributed by T.j. Conwell on Apr 17, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: God's intercession, or judgment, in Babel was to again bring His creation back to Himself. It was done to place within them a desire to seek God out for what they need and not to be self-reliant.
Alpha and Omega, Part 15
The Tower of Babel
Introduction
- 2023 has been led with “one purpose”: To know there is a God!
-- Continuing our series, “Alpha and Omega”; examining the beginning to the end
- Last time (Gen 9) we discussed the aftermath of the great flood
-- Re: The annihilation of all life on Earth, except for Noah & his family
- Saw that sin weakened our ability to manage the earth (due to corruption)
-- FACT: Our sin ruined our destiny & ability to have sovereignty over the Earth
-- We do have some authority, but it is not how we were orig. created
-- Yes, we have life - but it is to be lived differently than how God intended
-- Very imp that we understand this: Sin changed everything about life
- Saw that God also established law and order for mankind – 1st: to protect life
-- He sets up one of the governing principles of living that preserves life
-- Re: If you take a life, you shall lose your life also … still in effect today
- We also saw God establish a new covenant w/ man, while affirming His orig. one
-- The covenant said that world will not be flooded again because of 1st covenant
-- Re: promise to send a redeemer to rescue all of mankind (Gen 3:15)
-- The covenant of the ages: Someone else will have to come and rescue you
- God’s covenant with Noah is our covenant as well … we will be saved also!
- This morning, we are going to look at a global rebellion to God’s instructions
-- I would encourage you to pay special attention to this today (teaching)
-- APP: We must see ourselves in this scripture and be encouraged also
-- It is in our understanding of how we are that we have opportunity to change
- Let’s dive in and read our passage for today … Read Genesis 11:1-9 / Pray
Point 1 – Mankind is at it again!
- The first thing we see following the flood and Earth’s repopulation is UNITY
-- We see there is common language; a common focus; and a common peace
- The people settled in a land called Shinar, located in Mesopotamia (MAP)
-- For reference: it’s in the valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
-- The region is now home to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria
- So far, this seems extremely picturesque and a great place to live
-- Of course, it’s not the Garden of Eden; but its civilized and is harmonious
- Don’t miss this … this civilized community gets 2 verses of scripture …
-- And then they absolutely trample living for God and decide to go it alone!
- (v3) Can you just imagine the arrogance of the people living here?
-- These were a people just loaded with themselves; and destined to rebel; why?
- They took it upon themselves to decide what their next course should be
-- Not pray to God, not sacrifice/offering and go to Him in worship; just “DO!”
- Naturally, making bricks is not the problem; brick is still used today
-- Notice the key words in v4 and v5 (and see they really lay it on thick):
-- “come, let us”; “ourselves”; “we”; “ourselves”; “we will be …”
-- There is so much self-pride that the results of it must’ve been a stench to Heaven
- The brashness here is NOT that they would want to build to worship God
-- APP: They’ve decided they should build a tower to make themselves known
-- They wanted fame, recognition, reputation, honor, and glory for themselves
-- It is the ultimate ego trip: “Let’s show everyone how great we are!”
- Their intention is simple: Let’s exalt ourselves and marvel at our majesty!
- Yet, they seem to have forgotten what God’s command was for them:
-- They were commanded (Gen 9:1) to subdue the earth and live on it for God
-- But their drive now is to show everyone how glorious / able they are
- We must examine why they are building to understand their thought process
-- Notice there is no mention of God in any of this, just “we are going to do this”
- This building is commonly agreed upon as a religious center (center of town, etc.)
-- It would have stood as a monument to everyone around: “look at us”
-- Hebrew: migdal; a tower
-- Hebrew: rosh; head or the top
-- Hebrew: shamayim; heaven
- In essence, their intent is to build a tower that reaches into the heavens
-- NOT literally TO Heaven … else why start on a plateau and not a mountain?
