Sermon Text: Genesis 10-11:1-9
Sermon Title: Whose Kingdom Come? Whose Will Be Done? Part 2
Scripture Reading: Revelation 7:9-17
Introduction
Where do all the languages and people groups in the world come from? Is it a good thing that there are separate, independent political states that are often in conflict? Wouldn’t it stop wars and violence if there were one super-state?
Remember, as we discussed last week, Genesis 10 and 11 are not in chronological order. The author documents the spread of the nations and diversity of languages in chapter ten. Chapter 11 is a snapshot out of chapter 10 to tell of their (diversity and migration) origin.
Nimrod (10:9), meaning, “we shall rebel,” is the leader of this rebellion in Babylon.
The arm of the flesh (east): 3:24; 4:16; 11:2; In Genesis 13:11 Lot journeys eastward.
The key to the passage (11:1-9) is found in verse 4; contrast vv. 1-4 with Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 9:1, 7
Inward sins (root or heart):
- The love of praise
- A preoccupation with their kingdom on earth, rather than God’s Kingdom in Heaven
Outward manifestations of an inward problem (fruit or behavior):
- They build a city; not filling the earth (security and praise; personal kingdom building) – this is exactly what Cain did in Genesis 4:17
- They build a tower (make a name for themselves; security and praise; personal kingdom)
Remember the humor we discussed last week. God has to “come down” from Heaven to see this tower, which is built to the Heavens.
What is the writer saying to the original audience?
- Do not go into the Promised Land and begin establishing a kingdom of your own and forget the Lord (Deuteronomy 8).
- The first set of spies had returned with discouraging reports (Deuteronomy 1:28) – the people are stronger than we and their cities are fortified up to the Heavens.
What is the writer communicating to us?
- Contrast Genesis 12:1-3 (Abram); II Samuel 7:9 (David); Philippians 2:9-11 (Jesus) with the objective of the “Babylonians” in Genesis 11:4. God is the only One in Scripture who makes a name for Himself (Isaiah 63:12, 14; Jeremiah 32:20; Nehemiah 9:10).
- Superiors give names to inferiors (1:5, 8, 10; 2:20, 23; 3:20; 4:17, 25-26; 5:1, 3, 29) – by Laurence Turner. The human desire to make a name for himself suggests not only a desire for a reputation, but also for autonomy (independence).
- Acts 2:1-13 compared with Genesis 11:1-9 in light of Matthew 28:16-20: All authority is given to Christ; God has built His Kingdom and has placed all things under the authority of Christ; we are receiving the Kingdom; the unified language is that of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2), by which the Gospel “bricks” build the Kingdom.
Where do we see God’s character continuing in consistency with Genesis 1-9?
- Genesis 11:5-7 – Generous Justice
- God expels from the Garden so they do not eat of the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22)
- God sends Cain to Nod to protect Seth (Genesis 4:16, 25)
- God transports Noah to a new land in the vessel of wrath (the Ark)
- Generous Justice: God confounds their language to keep them from reaching the full potential of their evil desires.
How do multiple languages and nations further glorify God?
1) Christians are protected (John Piper in Spectacular Sins): God’s division of the world into different languages hinders the rise of a global, monolithic anti-Christian state that would have the power to simply wipe out all Christians. We often think that the diversity of languages and cultures and peoples and political states is a hindrance to world evangelization – the spread of Christ’s glory. That is not the way God sees it. God is more concerned about the dangers of human uniformity than he is about human diversity. We humans are far too evil to be allowed to unite in one language or government. The gospel of the glory of Christ spreads better and flourishes more because of 6,500 languages, not in spite of them.
2) Pride destroyed: God scatters the self-reliant. The tower of Babel is a monument of human effort. Prayerlessness There is no greater judgment God could give to man than to allow man to have his own desire (Romans 1:18, 26, 28; John 13:27). The word “Babel” in Hebrew occurs over two hundred times in the OT and is translated Babylon in all but a few. This is significant because what Nimrod did in Genesis 11 will be done in the end by the Antichrist (Revelation 18:5-10). Although God allows sin for a season, His righteous and just wrath will bring glory to His name. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (I Peter 5:5; James 4:6). Point out the significant phonetic allusion between “let us make bricks (nilbena)” and “let us mix up (nebela).”
3) Because of Babel, the Gospel (God’s character and wisdom revealed in Christ) is highly exalted: Compare Romans 1:16 with Revelation 7:9-12
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