January 14, 2018
taught by Ken McGarvey
First Baptist Church of Tellico Village, Tennessee
Background
Following the Flood God gave instructions to Noah and his family to multiply and fill the earth. In the next few hundred years many of them did so pretty well. As they multiplied they began to spread out. Many moved to other places — for adventure, to escape local conditions, to seek their “fortune,” to get away from in-laws, who knows what else. As they multiplied they formed local societies — cities, towns, etc.
God made us social creatures, so we seek each other to some extent. We gather in groups for social, economic, ergonomic reasons. As our cities grow, density brings about social problems, causing many to move away to new surroundings. But the group that settled in the city of Babel had other ideas. Many of the leaders were very proud of their abilities and their accomplishments. They sought to preserve what they had, and to make their city the envy of all others by building a big city and a great and impressive building (not unheard of today, either). This was to keep them together and prevent their scattering. This was a political move, made to build their own territory and reputation, and, possibly, their wealth.
Since the town was built on the plain, rather than surrounded by mountains, a tall structure would stand out impressively. So they built a tower that would “reach toward the heavens.” In that area we have found remnants of what we call ziggurats, round or square buildings with ramps or stairs taking them up many stories, getting narrower as they went up. In those we have found on the top level reminders of God, or at least gods. There are signs of the zodiac and other reminders of their awareness of a higher power. Some have estimated that this tower might have been up to 300 feet tall.
This was not a rocky area, so they made bricks of clay, then baked them in ovens of some kind. The writer of Genesis states this, and that is also the observation of archaeologists who have studied the ziggurats.
We find the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1–9. It is mentioned shortly after the flood; but it happened long enough afterward that much of the earth was populated.
As in all generations of mankind, there were some who didn’t want God in control of their lives. When that happens, people sometimes get creative in ways to remove him. Today we do it with materialism, atheism, philosophy or dozens of other ways. Back then they sought to do something by themselves that would rival anything God had done (so they supposed). They tried to build this tower that would reach to the heavens, and establish themselves as being the masters of their own universe.
Before we marvel at their ignorance, let us not be unaware of ours. While God created man in his own image, man has been forever creating his own gods in his own image. Hence, the gods of Greek mythology are really not much different from the gods of today. Various cultures worship science, popularity, sports, wealth, the earth, or dozens of other things rather than God, who created us, who loves us, and who has provided a plan of redemption for all of us.
What Happened
God was displeased, and came down and took action against the city. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11:6-7) He scattered them all around the world, so they would never do this again.
Exactly why did God do this? The information in Genesis is scant. Numerous ideas have been put forth — social, ecological, but mostly theological. This group of people disobeyed God’s instructions to spread throughout the earth. They wanted to “Make a name for themselves.” This is a combination of disobedience and pride which led them to challenge the place of God. Their tower was to “reach to the heavens.” Then at the top came the signs of the Zodiac.
Several places in the Bible refer to and condemn astrology as demonic. The signs of the Zodiac at the top of the ziggurats show an attempt to worship Satan and his system. He had been condemned by God for trying to become like God (not like him in character, but in power and fame). Both Isaiah and Ezekiel paint that picture of Satan (Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28).
God would not tolerate a large group of men challenging his authority. He saw the possibilities of Satan’s rule once he got control of more and more people with their selfish pride and rebellion; so he thwarted it at the start. He scattered humankind throughout the earth and gave them different languages. It’s been pretty effective.
There are literally thousands of languages and dialects spoken in the world today. The Bible, or portions thereof, has been translated into hundreds of the languages with the most speakers; but there are still many spoken by small societies with no access to scripture. The proliferation of languages has been a great hindrance to the spread of the Gospel; however, it has prevented the control of the world by Satanism quite effectively over the centuries.
Relationship to Globalism?
What is globalism? It is a recent word that describes viewing the entire world as a unit made up of diverse parts, yet whose parts must function in relationship with one another. It describes economic, social, moral and familial values as they interact with others.
Most of the world is used to viewing such relationships hierarchically. Our concern begins with ourselves, extends to our family, locality, state and country. In the early 1940s it was observed that the United States owned 50% of the world’s wealth, yet had only about 6.5% of its population. Many leaders thought it our primary goal to never lose this kind of control. Last year many of our leaders rallied the people with statements supporting that same idea with an “America First” economic program.
Many others believe that we have a great responsibility for people in the rest of the world. These responsibilities are economic, ecological, social and moral.
These kinds of global concerns are of recent development. Most societies in world history were out for their own preservation, or for their own advancement, often at the expense of weaker societies. It became the “survival of the fittest,” except it wasn’t really the fittest that survived, but the most aggressive, richest, best educated, sneakiest, or even least moral. In recent years America has decried bullies in our schools, playgrounds, and social media. However, while we have complained about it in our children, it has gone rewarded in politics and economics, with apparently no moral objections by anybody I’ve heard of.
Is Globalism Likely to Take Over the World”Probably not. Because self-preservation and greed are so pervasive and today’s technology allows competition to be so widespread, the likelihood of a world takeover is virtually impossible, even by Satan. So for that reason, I don’t think the dispersion and confusion of speech at the Tower of Babel will be affected by any globalism today.
However, there is another kind of globalism that the Bible speaks of which ought to be of concern for all of us. And that is spiritual globalism.
Spiritual Globalism
This is my own expression created to describe God’s desire for us. He created the world. He placed us into this world. He loved the world. He didn’t love America, Canada, Germany, France or England — he loved the World. Yes, it includes our country, but no more than any other country or countries. Should we sing, “God Bless America?” I don’t know — sometimes I think not. He has already blessed us so much, yet we have ignored or misused so many of those blessings. But we should definitely rejoice with other nations whom God is blessing. Right now Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anyplace else in the world. It won’t be long before there are more Christian believers in Africa than in any other continent.
God wants us to also love the world — the people of the world who need the love of God, not the world-system (see 1 John 2:15). When God made his covenant with Abraham, he said that through Abraham all the world would be blessed. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. The Holy Spirit was given to all believers in the whole world. For the past 230 years the Church has been sending missionaries to take the Gospel to the whole world. And God has enabled other countries to send millions of people to the United States, where many have been evangelized. They have come here for education, money, or opportunity, but many have found Christ.
God’s vision is for the whole world, and we need to share that vision. Sometimes our God is too small, and so is our vision. Let us see a moral and spiritual obligation to the entire world — ecologically, socially, morally and spiritually.
If you have an annual income of $32,700, that puts you in the top 1% of the world’s population. And if you don’t already realize that the first responsibility of wealth is sharing with the poor, then you need to read a whole lot more of your Bible than John 3:16. I highly recommend that you read, The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns. It could change your life, as he shares what changed his. Published by Thomas Nelson, it is available as a paperback or as an e-book on Kindle.
We must remember that in the Old Testament businessmen, vineyard owners, were not allowed to reap their whole crop, but had to leave some for the poor. Nations were condemned for not helping the poor. This is a theme that runs through the entire Bible. In Ephesians thieves were told to reform and use their money to help the poor. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
Note:
More than 1,400 languages have access to the New Testament and some portions of Scripture in their language. More than 600 languages have the complete translated Bible. Approximately 2,400 languages across 165 countries have active translation and linguistic development work happening right now. More than 1,600 languages still need a Bible translation project to begin.
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