The Rebellion of the World

Well, we're still in Genesis this morning and we're going to be looking at chapters 10 and 11. And as I've been studying this, I've realized that there's a temptation that I've faced as I've been studying Genesis, especially from chapter 3 through, well, now 11. And that is it's easy to look at these men and women. It's easy to go back and read about their lives and particularly their failures. and shake my head and say, shame on you. It's easy to look back and say, how could you be so foolish? How can you be so blatantly disregarding, disobeying and not trusting God? Well, I think this is a wrong attitude to have. And I've had to be repenting of it as I've been studying Genesis. Because if we're honest with ourselves, if people were watching our lives and recording the events of our lives, Other people will come alongside and say, shame on us. They would see the great failures that we have daily and weekly. These are recorded for us to be a lesson that we're all failing because we've all sinned against God. What we need to do is learn to trust God. And this morning, we're going to look at how the builders of Babel, especially, did not trust God. Before we get into Genesis 11, I do want to look over Genesis 10 briefly. That's our major section in Genesis 10. Well, Genesis 10 and 11 really conclude the first major section of Genesis. Genesis 1 through 11 should be seen as a unit, a whole. As we look at that whole, we can see there's two major sections of that particular unit. Chapters 1 and 2 are about God's goodness, God's glory, God's beauty. How He created all things good and right. And then from Genesis 3 on, we've seen nothing but sin, rebellion, disobedience, not trusting God. We see nothing but sin and it's growing rebellion against God. From chapter 3 through chapter 11. And chapter 11 finishes this particular unit because I think it's presented as the highest point of rebellion. Chapter 11 shows the highest point of rebellion before God introduces His specific people through whom He's going to bring salvation. Genesis 3-11 is a continual circle of man sending and God judging and man sending and God judging. But in the midst of all those judgments, we always see mercy. We always see love. We always see God keeping His covenant. And Genesis 11 hits the high point of that sin before God declares, through whom, Abraham, he will bring his covenant people. Genesis 10 is supposed to be read as a single story. Evidence of that is that it is contained by an inclusio. Inclusio is a bookend. Whenever you're writing a story, you begin and end with the same words or phrases. And it shows that it's supposed to be read as a whole. So, if we look there, you can see the inclusio very simply. Look at verse 1. These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. Look at verse 32. These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to the genealogies, and their nations. From these, the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. It's referring back to the flood. It's talking about the people who come after the flood from Noah and his sons. Interestingly, there are 70 nations or people mentioned. That's the perfect number. It's showing that the nations are being completed. The nations are being fulfilled. This corresponds with how many Israelites went to Egypt because of Joseph. In Genesis 46, 27, the number of Israelites is 70. The number of nations isn't perfected because God has ordered it to perfection. Seventy. And that corresponds the number of Israelites. It's showing that God is completing His purpose. This is called the table of nations. It shows the new lines, the new peoples. It's giving a declaration of how these people came about and where they came from. There are particular persons of note, namely the four main foundations or founts for all the peoples of the world. You see there, Japheth. Verses two through five, you see his lineage, you see his genealogy. They are the people of the coastlands. The next son is Ham. You see all of his people and how God organized them to be a particular kind of people. And in there we see this fellow named Nimrod. Very interesting, kind of like Enoch, only, well, the exact opposite from him, obviously. Nimrod's name is literally we shall rebel. He's a tyrant. a hunter king. He's not a shepherd king. He's the father of Babylon and Assyria, the two greatest enemies, the two of the three greatest enemies, including Egypt, that captured and enslaved Israel. Notice there he builds cities, not altars. When we read about Nimrod, he sounds a lot like Cain and his descendants. Now, obviously, he's not a physical descendant of Cain. But here, spiritually, he is like Canaan in every way. He's a murderer. He's a tyrant. He's building cities, not worshiping God. Notice also that Canaan is separated. Canaan gets his own line in a way. Now, he's not a son of Noah. He's a grandson of Noah. But the curse that Noah put on him because Ham laughed at Noah, that separates him. He gets his own genealogy. He is now set apart not in the right way, not in the good way, because of the curse. Finally, let's look at Shem. Now, if we look at chapter 5, verse 32, or chapter 6, verse 9, or even chapter 10, verse 1, Shem is named first among the brothers. Why is he placed last in the genealogy? I believe he's placed last for emphases. Again, a mark of Hebrew literature is in emphases. Shem is named last because he's the son through whom the promise will be fulfilled. He's the line of the Savior. It's through Shem that Abraham will be born and that eventually the Savior himself, Jesus Christ, will be born. Now, let's look at one particular figure in Shem's line. Verses 25 and 26. To Eber were born two sons. One was Pelag and one was Joptun. And notice there with Pelag. For in his days the earth was divided. I believe this is maybe a reference to the Tower of Babel. If we look at all these different lineages and these different heritages, we see a number of languages all over the place. Well, how does that reconcile with the Tower of Babel where there's one people, one language? I believe there, when the earth was divided, that's referring to the Tower of Babel. I believe these people were all one, and then in the midst of this genealogy. It's not chronological. It's not the Table of Nations, then the Tower of Babel. I believe the Tower of Babel actually took place during these genealogies. Hebrew, the Jewish way of writing history, isn't chronological the way we would think of it. But now let's get into the Tower of Babel, our main focus this morning. Verse one. Now, the whole earth had one language and the same words, and as people migrated from the east, they found a plane in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for bitumen for mortar. Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city in the tower with its top in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city in the tower, which the children of man had built. 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. Come, let us go down. And there confused their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth. And they left off building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel. Because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there, the Lord dispersed them from over the face of the earth." This is a nice, concise, clear story. We see here first the description of these people. They're united. There's one language. There's no confusion. There's no problem with organizing and getting together and doing one single work. They're united. And as God later says, nothing is impossible for them. They're not yet dispersed throughout all the world. Notice also in verse two, they're moving east. Now, I do think there's something to the fact that Adam is discarded from the garden east. There's a guard put up in the east when Cain is fleeing, or when Cain is cast out of his family's place of living, he goes east. Here, the builders of Babel, they're going east. East, in many ways, represents a further moving away from God. Even more direct, they want to make a name for themselves. They want to have a heritage. They want to be known. They want to be like the great men of renown. They want to have a name, a privileged position. They also want protection. They don't want to disperse. They're fearful of being destroyed if they disperse. Safety is in the unity. Safety is in being together, protecting one another, working together. Maybe they want safety. with this tower even. There's two ways we can read this tower. These people would have remembered the flood. This tower is supposed to go into the heavens. The flood covered even the mountaintops. It's possible they're building this tower so in case there's another flood, they would have somewhere to go. They could get into the heavens. That's a possible reading of what this tower was. The other option, or maybe it's the same, Then it's a ziggurat. It's a tower used for worship. It's a tower used to worship other gods or worship themselves. Here we are. They've moved east. They're moving further away from God. They're united. They're wanting a name for themselves. They're denying the creation mandate that was given to Noah again to go fill the earth with God glorifying images of God, human beings. They're staying put. Ultimately, what we see here is a self-sustaining, self-governing people. They're denying God's right to be their God. They're denying God's right to direct, and to control, and to orchestrate. They're denying God's authority. They're wanting to be self-sustaining, self-protecting, and self-governing. Now, if we look at this a little closer, we see the clear sin of pride. They want to make a name for themselves. They wanted more significance than what God had created them for. God had created them to have dominion over all the earth. God had created them to be the maestros of creation that would lead creation in worship of him. God created them to fill the earth so that he was glorified with all people at all places. They're not satisfied with that. They're not satisfied with the name and the position and the place and the direction that God had declared. They want a name that they make. They do not want God's direction. They're not satisfied with what God created them for. They want to do it their way. Secondly, we see a fear. It's a fear that motivates them to not spread. They're not trusting God's promise that they built this tower to avoid the flood. They're not trusting God's promise. He's not going to do that again. There's a fear here of the flood, there's a fear of death. But you don't see a fear of God. You don't see a fear of God in His holiness. You don't see a fear of God in His goodness. You don't see a fear of God in His direction. They do not believe He is good. just like all of their ancestors. They do not believe that God will really provide for them. They don't believe God is trustworthy to protect and care for them. The third major sin is their wanting a life God had not intended them to have. They're breaking the boundaries of God. They are building a tower to be in the heavens. God didn't create us to be in the heavens. God created us to be here on the earth. God created us to rule this earth. They're wanting more than what God had demanded. They're not obeying God. They're breaking the boundaries of God. They're not obeying the creation mandate, and they're trying to live in a place that God has not intended them to live. If we look at verses one through four, we see all these descriptions, all these actions is all about These men. But then we come to verse 5. Verse 5, the central verse in this text. If you're a literary buff, this is the center point of the chiastic structure. Everything was building up to this and everything else would ascend in activity after this. This is the central sentence, the central action that changes everything. It's the turning point of the story. God came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. Now, that's supposed to be somewhat funny to you. Here are these men. Here are all of humanity. They're coming together to build a tower up to the heavens where God exists. And He has to come down to see it. There's great irony there. You're not smiling enough. This is great Hebrew irony. Here they are trying to be great and bold and magnificent and glorious in what they do. And the one true glorious God, He has to come down to see what they're doing. When God comes down, He sees their work. He sees the tower, he sees the building that they have done with their own hands. And he declares, behold, they are one people. They all have one language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. I think that's fairly just straightforward. God knows what we're capable of because God has uniquely and specially equipped us to be capable of great things. God knows that if we are unified in bringing all of our strengths, all of our energy, all of our abilities together, we can do great things as humanity. The problem here isn't that they're unified. The problem is they're unified in rebellion against God. God created us to be great. God created us to be well equipped. God created us to do the near impossible. He acknowledges how well equipped we are to do great things. The problem isn't that we're trying to do great things. The problem here is that the Babylonians or the builders of Babel, they're greatly sinning and rebelling against God. So God declares, and there's parallelism here. Come, let us go down. This parallels and contrasts the builders of Babel. Come, let us build. Come, let us make bricks. The builders of Babel are all united in what they're saying. Come, let us do this. The language here is clearly trying to parallel and contrast God's action. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language. so they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them from all the face of the earth." If we look here, God gives a clear judgment. He stops their work. But this is a mild judgment. I'm not even sure we should call it a judgment, because really it's merciful. God stops them from destroying themselves. God protects them from themselves. God stops their project of creating the greatest rebellious tower, the greatest rebellious activity so far recorded in history. He stops them. He stops their sinful work. This is God's grace. to refuse to allow them to continue in their rebellion. He stops them. By confusing their language and creating all different tribes and all different people and all different tongues. Now, with our brother missionary here as a language barrier, sharing the gospel, we can see that this is called some confusion. This is called some difficulty. It calls great confusion here. But this is merciful because it brings about God's ultimate purpose. It is merciful to disperse all people throughout all the places. Because this sets up God calling out one person, one nation among all the nations through whom he will bless all nations. This is setting up God's plan of salvation. This is setting up the fulfillment of the covenant in Genesis 3.15. He is setting up multiple nations to go out so that he will declare his one. And through that one nation, all nations will be blessed. This is God mercifully bringing about his salvation. Now, let's think about these builders of Babel. More particularly, let's think about how we are like them. The three sins, pride, fear, and disobedience. How are we like them in their pride, their fear, and their disobedience? Let's ask some questions. How do we try to build ourselves up to make a name for ourselves? The sin is pride. How are we prideful like these Babylonians or how these builders of Babel? And notice here, their pride is that they are uniting to make a name together. As opposed to God in his name. I think our sin is worse because we try to make a name not just opposed to God, but we try to make a name opposed to one another. We want a greater name than everyone else instead of having a unified name. How are we like them? Let's ask some questions. Do you put yourself forward for every opportunity so that others will think more of you? How do you serve? What is your motivation in serving others? What is your motivation in always taking the next promotion? What is your motivation in always taking that opportunity to work more, to serve more? Is it that others will think more of you, that you will gain a great reputation? Or is it to glorify God? to serve the church, to respond to God's great love for us. Now, I don't want to pretend that this is an easy answer because we're all sinners and I pray that the church is also all saints. And so we have mixed motivations. The goal here is to get rid of those motivations that are selfish, fight against that desire to do things because they're selfish motivations. We don't stop serving. because we have selfish motivations. No, we intentionally fight against those selfish motivations and always think intentionally, I'm going to do this for the glory of God. Do you boast of yourself? Do you like to tell others about your achievements? Do you feel the need to be recognized for what you do? For what you've accomplished? Do you need others to recognize your own greatness? Well, there's a couple of different problems here. Maybe you don't receive enough attention from your spouse. Maybe you don't receive enough praise for your good work. But regardless of those problems, your problem is that you want to boast in yourself. And as Christians, we're supposed to boast only in Christ. We're supposed to boast in Him whenever we're seeking to find acceptance from others. Praise from others. When we're seeking to get acclimated, when we're seeking to get praise, we need to tell others what we've done so they think more of us. That's evidence of an identity crisis. That's evidence of you not being firmly found and based upon who Christ is, what He's done for you and who He's made you today. See friend, you're a son or daughter of Christ if you believe in Him. That's all the security you need. That's all the identity marker you need. That's the greatest comfort. That should make you content. If you find yourself needing to tell others about who you are or what you've done and you're a Christian. Challenge yourself this morning. Is that evidence that I am not content in being a son or daughter of Christ alone? is that evidence that my foundation is my worth in this world, rather than the Savior's purchase of my soul in heaven. Another way I fear, or I find myself wanting to build myself up, is when others speak ill of me. When someone attacks me, I want to go out and attack back. I want to go out and defend myself. Let me give a very personal, very maybe complicated illustration. Before I came to Jefferson Park, your leaders asked me how to respond to false accusations and misrepresentations that were being said about you as a church. Well, I put on my theological jacket and I gave a very clear, bold answer. You need to not respond. You need to wait upon God to protect you. You need to wait upon God to vindicate your name. You are not a defender of your name. Jefferson Park, when you're falsely accused or misrepresented, you're supposed to wait upon God and trust Him and His timing. Then I came. Now I'm with you. Now we're together. And I'm being or I have been accused. and falsely represented against you. And you know what my first inclination was? Oh, we're going to go get this. I say that because when people falsely accuse you, when people misrepresent you, it's counterintuitive to do nothing. It's not your first inclination. It's a very difficult thing to not do. It's difficult not to go defend yourself. But I'm very thankful for the leaders of the church that when I wanted to go defend my name, defend our name, they reminded me the advice I gave. That was the clear biblical prescription. It's difficult. Being a Christian, being a faithful Christian, it's difficult. This isn't the easy street. This is the street of redemption. This is a narrow way. This is a way that we deny ourselves and take upon our cross and glorify God. Friends, when people accuse you wrongly, when people lie about you. Think of your Savior. When going to the cross, didn't say a word. He didn't correct. He trusted God to be the one who would protect his name, vindicate him, and God will be glorified. When people misrepresent you personally, when people lie about you, don't be so bothered with your reputation and your name. Be worried. Be most concerned about the name of Jesus Christ and how you can glorify him in the midst of that difficulty, in the midst of that suffering. That is how we relate to their pride. We boast of ourselves. We seek to defend ourselves. We put ourselves forward for praise. The second way, referring to the fear. How do we protect a sphere of our lives from being under God's rule? They refuse to be scattered because of fear. They refuse to fulfill the creation mandate. Go, fill all the earth. the cause of fear. Let's just jump straight to the equivalent of the Christian creation mandate, and that is the Great Commission. We are all called to go proclaim the Gospel. We are all called to evangelize, to teach the world everything Christ taught us, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are all called to proclaim the Gospel. What keeps you from proclaiming the gospel? It's fear. It's fear of man. It's fear of being mocked. It's fear of being thought as inferior in the world. Friend, there isn't a special gift of evangelism. There's a special calling upon all of us. It's not just a few that Jesus Christ said, I have given you all authority. It's to the entire church. It's to every saint. Do not let fear keep you from fulfilling the great commission of Christ. Other things that we're fearful of letting God have control over our money. We like to protect our finances, we like to protect what we think we might need for retirement or for a rainy day. We don't let God have sovereign rule over how we spend our money, over what we give. We need to be Letting God look into our checkbook. Let Him see what we're spending. What we're spending it on. And let Scripture or other brothers and sisters give us good, godly correction in what we spend our money on and how we spend it. My worst is time. I'm selfish with my time. I have a hard time letting go of time. I want my time for my things. God's sovereign over every second that I possess, that I get to enjoy. We cannot be selfish with what God has given us. The other way we might be fearful. We may question God's goodness. That is the root problem here. We're questioning God's faithfulness and trustworthy with our time, our money, with his ability to save sinners while we evangelize. Do you trust God is good to you today? Do you find yourself daydreaming about a life that you wish you could have? The life you think you should have? Do you find yourself thinking, if only I had this? What you're doing there is questioning God's sovereignty and what He gives you and how He gives it to you. If we believe God is sovereign, if we believe God is ultimately the orchestrator of all things, He has put you where you are to do what you're doing when you question that. When you want more, when you want something else, you're questioning God. You're questioning His goodness and His provision and His faithfulness. We must learn to be content in what God is doing to us and for us. Finally, look at the disobedience. Do we try to overstep God's predetermined boundaries, just like the builders of Babel sought to build up into heaven? One of the clearest ways this can happen is in families. Wives and husbands, are you faithfully following your prescription in Scripture? Husbands, to lead your home, to love your wife as Christ loved the church. Wives are respecting and submitting to your husbands. These are practically the easiest ones to overstep. We must be mindful always of the sin that's seeking to destroy us. Children. Your role is to honor and obey your parents. Your temptation is going to try to undermine, overthrow your parents. Your temptation is to try to push them to the limits to see how much freedom they can give you. Don't do that. Trust your good parents and their good wisdom to help you know how to live the life that's going to most glorify God. Honor and obey them. They know what's best for you. If you look at this passage, I want to conclude with three things we learn about God. First, from the table of nations, we see that God is the ruler of all people. God is the God, the loving, merciful God of all nations, of all peoples. I believe the table of nations is there so Israel can go back and remind themselves that before Abraham was, all nations were, and all nations were under God's control. Israel is supposed to have a reminder that yes, they are special, but they're called out for a special purpose, not because they're actually a special people. God loves them because He loves them. There was nothing level about Israel. Paul says in Acts 17, 26, And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, and having determined a lot of periods in the boundaries of their dwelling places. Acts 17, 26. Paul looks back, I believe, and he sees that God predetermined who would be, where they would be, and what they would be. God is sovereign over all nations. What's the first application we can think of that? Any form of racism is sin. Any form of hating or not liking or wanting to avoid other people because they're from other cultures, they have other colored skin. Racism is not an option for the Christian. We are not to look down upon any other people. Instead, we are to see the beauty of God's creation, that we are diverse. We're supposed to see the beauty of God's creation, that we have different characteristics. We're supposed to desire that all people with all their different characteristics, all their different cultures, are going to come together and worship the one God. So negatively, destroy any hint of racism in your soul. And more positively, pray for all the nations. Pray that all these nations, all these people groups, created by God, for God. Pray that the gospel would go to them. Pray that they would have hearts to worship God. Pray that they would be redeemed by God. The second thing we see is that God created us to be in communities. God created us to work together. Again, the sin wasn't the unity of the Tower of Babel. The sin was the purpose they were accomplishing in their unity. They were working toward the wrong end. We are supposed to be unified, not for the purpose of sin. We're supposed to be unified for the purpose of glorifying God. We're supposed to be unified for the purposes of God. We're not meant to be loners. We're not meant to be independent. We're not supposed to be self-reliant. Somehow in the world of ideas in America, we've adopted this idea that being an adult is being independent and self-reliant. That's not being an adult. It's being foolish. We're supposed to be depending upon one another. We're supposed to be in unity as communities. We're supposed to rely upon one another. We're supposed to be a community of friends that help one another. We make life more complicated and less enjoyable in our independence and our self-reliance. Community is a big buzzword today. If we're going to talk about a community as a church, we've got to talk about in the context of the body of Christ, which means we as the body are under His headship. We as the body are empowered by His Spirit. We as the body are supposed to be united for the glory of God. We are supposed to come together and work for the same purpose, not our own. When we gather together, we're coming together to bless one another for the glory of God. When we come together, we're coming together so others can experience Christ in me and I can experience Christ in you. We must set aside our own desires, our own desire to build up our own reputation, our own desire for selfishness, You must set those aside for the greater purpose of Christ. And that is discipleship and evangelism in the church. When we come together, we're not looking and thinking about how others can be a blessing to us. You're going to come to church always unsatisfied if that's why you come. If you're always coming thinking, what can I get out of this? You're going to be unsatisfied. Come. hoping to hear a word of God that will encourage your soul and challenge your sin, and come hoping to find a way to bless other believers. Come thinking of how you can be a blessing to the most Christians possible in any given Christian gathering. If it comes selfishly, wanting to just do things that we're comfortable with. If it comes selfishly, wanting to do things that we're only interested in. You're not coming to worship. You're coming to be selfish. Let's be a body unified. I praise God for the unity in this church. My very first Sunday, that's what stood out. The unity of love. Don't let that be a stopping point for you. We can always grow in our unity and our love for one another and our love for God. Finally, the last thing we see here. God is rich in mercy and salvation. He spreads all the nations out so he can claim his one nation. He spreads all people out in a very patient, merciful way. He doesn't destroy all humanity. He doesn't even destroy a single human being in the midst of this tower building. He had the right to judge them and kill them. He had the right to put them to death for their rebellion. But in his wonderful patience, in the midst of our disobedience, He's patient and merciful. And I love the language, God came down. It's sweet. God descended to us to save us from ourselves at the Tower of Babel. There's a sweetness to that. There's a humility we see in God. There's a great love in God. And that love is perfected even more so in another descent that God makes. The Father sent His Son. He sent His Son who is worthy of all honour and glory in the heavens. The Son who should have been worshipped by angels for all eternity. That Son set aside His right to be worshipped so that He could come and take upon our nature. The Son who is worthy of all glory took upon our likeness a humility so that He could be mocked and beaten and spat upon, so that He could be falsely accused and lied about, so that He could be hung on a cross. Why would God come down in such a humble way? So that on that cross, when Christ died, He could forgive us of our sins. The one thing that is impossible for us. The one thing that we cannot do for ourselves. And that is remove the sin debt. That is remove the great judgment that is upon us because of our sin. God came down to love us and forgive us. Jesus Christ, God Himself, the Son of the Father, He died so that we can know Him. And He rose again, giving us proof, giving us hope, giving us eternal life. And there was one more descent. The Father and the Son, then sent the Holy Spirit, who's with us now. The Father and the Son who indwells our hearts. The Spirit has descended after the Son, so that He is always illuminating our hearts, pointing us to Christ, pointing out our sin, so that we may have hope when Christ returns or when we die. Let's pray. Father, we thank You We thank you, Lord, that you are patient with us. Thank you, Lord, that in your great mercy, you have watched us rebel. You knew we would rebel. You knew that even after we call upon you and we see your gospel and we see your great salvation, that we would still doubt you, that we would still question you, that we would still rebel against you. But yet you said, I'm going to save those sinners. We praise you, God, for that great love. We praise you, God, for that great forgiveness. We praise you for your glorious descent into our world so that we can be reconciled with you, so that we can know you, so we can be your sons and daughters. Forgive us, Lord, for our pride, for wanting to make a name for ourselves rather than a desire to proclaim your name, rather than waiting on you to make a name for us. Lord, I pray that You would forgive us, Lord, for our fear, for our lack of trust in who You are and what You've done for us and what You're doing for us. Help us, Lord, to be mindful always of Your goodness and Your provision. Forgive us, Lord, for our disobedience. Help us, Lord, as a church to be obedient to the call to be united. Help us, Lord, to be obedient to the call to share Your gospel and to love one another. In the name of Christ, Amen.