Babel

Genesis 11:4 - And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." 

The story of the Tower of Babel is interesting. The name Babylon comes from the name Babel and Babylon biblically is a type of the world, a type of worldly things, ideas. Babel means confusion. We must remember that it is God's desire we be in unity...and He is not the author of confusion. So, we either are of the world and all its confusion, it's varied cultures, lifestyles and beliefs, or we are in God's world of order and truth. I might lose some readers at this point!

The Bible is God's Word to us. It reveals His heart for mankind and specifically for His people, whom we are if we follow Him. Just before the story of the Tower of Babel is Noah and the Ark. God could see how evil was spreading throughout the world and was determined to stop it and start over with one very godly man and his family; a man whose intent was to obey God. Obedience to God is not a negative thing since He knows all things, knows what is good and knows what each of us needs. There is no confusion in obedience to God.

But time after time man chooses to do his own thing. They stray from God's perfect plan and we throw ourselves into confusion...throw ourselves into the world....Babylon. There was one language and unity among them before they chose to go out on their own. But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." (Genesis 11:5-7) Let Us...go down. He and the Word. The Word made flesh. The Word who is Jesus. The Word who we are to seek.

The prophet Malachi talks about the coming day of the LORD. He talks about those who do not fear God, who choose not to heed His warnings: “Your words have been harsh against Me,” says the LORD, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners before the LORD of hosts? (‭Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭13-14‬)  Are our words harsh against Him? If we do not truly follow Him, it is a form of rejection... Do we use His name in vain...that's a harsh word against Him. There's no reverence for Him. We might say we know there is a God...but how well is that? So, what profit is it to seek God? When we come to our last day will we truly know. 

We all will stand before God some day and He will pass judgment on all we've done in our lives. Anything apart from Him will be like hay, stubble...it will be burned up, meaningless. Even our good works done apart from God, as a friend reminded me yesterday, will be as filthy rags and will also be burned in the fire of God's judgment. 

In that day of the LORD followers will be spared but the unrighteous, those who choose to "do, build and make a name for ourselves," will experience ...the day [that] is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble, and the day which is coming shall burn them up...that will leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1) And our works will also be revealed. ...the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. (1Corinthians 3:13) Wicked in this instance in God's eyes is not believing, not seeking, living in the world's opinion of what one seems important...anything that excludes Him. 

We need first to seek God. Know Him, know His heart, know what He requires, move from the world and into His kingdom. Show an interest in Him. Opt to do His will...and this only comes from seeking Him, asking of Him what His will is for our own lives. Will we make mistakes? Yes. Will we always know if this is His will or ours? No. But He can lead us in the right direction even after we've made a mistake. 

This all seems harsh, but it is so outlined in His Word. Some churches today don't want to ruffle feathers for fear of offending so they won't preach this. Sometimes we don't want to know the truth. Or we fear the truth. Or we recognize we are not worthy and try to hide from God. He knows that and He still loves us. 

He loves us more than we can imagine. We have all built our own tower, wanted to make a name for ourselves. It can be our job, our hobby, our sport, our family. I used to pride myself in my bicycling from point A to point B under my own power. Yes, it was an accomplishment. I'm glad I could have done those things. But now I know He had to have given me the strength to do it. Do we glorify self or God in our endeavors?

I mentioned He likes unity. There is no unity without Him. Whenever people in the Bible strayed from Him there was distress. It may not have cropped up right away but it always did. Sometimes the people turned back to Him. Others chose not to. Somehow the one people and one language of the people in Babel is what He would like to see again. The people and language of our God. True believers. And in the end, when He returns for His people, that is what it will be like again.

1Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭11-15 - For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is l said, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with 
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he 
will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.