The Tower of Babel 1 – The Antithesis of the Church

At that time all mankind spoke a single language. As the population grew and spread eastward, a plain was discovered in the land of Babylon and was soon thickly populated. The people who lived there began to talk about building a great city, with a temple-tower reaching to the skies-a proud, eternal monument to themselves.

"This will weld us together," they said, "and keep us from scattering all over the world." So they made great piles of hard burned brick, and collected bitumen to use as mortar.

But when God came down to see the city and the tower mankind was making, he said, "Look! If they are able to accomplish all this when they have just begun to exploit their linguistic and political unity, just think of what they will do later! Nothing will be unattainable for them!

Come, let us go down and give them different languages, so that they won't understand each other's words!"

So, in that way, God scattered them all over the earth; and that ended the building of the city. That is why the city was called Babel (meaning "confusion"), because it was there that Jehovah confused them by giving them many languages, thus widely scattering them across the face of the earth. Gen 11:1-9 TLB

As I mentioned in a previous entry, judgment came to the people at Babel for several reasons.
They refused to obey God and scatter throughout the planet to fill and have dominion or rule over it.
They sought unity and power outside of God and His plan for them.
They were arrogant and defiant, self-serving and egotistical.

There are a number of observations that I would like to make regarding this bit of history.
1. All the people were of one language and at this point had all descended from Noah’s 3 sons – Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives. It follows, then, that at this point the whole world was one race as well.
2. They developed a detailed plan in which they would defy God. They worked hard at being disobedient.
3. The people used the best materials at hand in an attempt to preserve their monument – burnt bricks and asphalt.
4. God recognized that their unity of language brought about a unity of purpose that made them nearly invincible.
5. Once the languages were “confused”, the people scattered themselves throughout the known world according to their new dialect which incidentally had nothing to do with race in that at this time they were all from the same three sets of parents.

What is the meaning and what are the implications of the word redemption?

“The idea of redemption in the Old Testament takes its start from the thought of property (Lev 25:26; Ruth 4:4 ff). Money is paid according to law to buy back something which must be delivered or rescued (Num 3:51; Neh 5:8). From this start the word "redemption" throughout the Old Testament is used in the general sense of deliverance.

In the New Testament the idea of redemption has more a suggestion of ransom. Men are held under the curse of the law (Gal 3:13), or of sin itself (Rom 7:23 f). The Redeemer purchases their deliverance by offering Himself as payment for their redemption (Eph 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18).

In trying to discern the meaning of redemption from sin, toward which the entire progress of Biblical and Christian thought points, we may well keep in mind the Master's words that He came that men might have life and might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). The word "life" seems to be the final New Testament word as a statement of the purpose of Christ. God sent His Son to bring men to life.”*

Jesus gave his life to redeem that which was lost. He was the ransom paid for sin. Through His sacrifice, mankind can be redeemed and creation will be redeemed.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:11-14 NIV

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Rom 8:22-24 NIV

Through His sacrifice, Jesus prepared the way by which man could return to the relationship that God originally intended to have with him before Adam fell.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. 2 Cor 5:18-19 NIV

From before the beginning, it was God’s purpose to have a people who would praise Him just for who He is, who would choose to love Him, who would, by an act of their will, seek a relationship with Him. For this reason, He created Adam. But Adam rebelled. Adam chose not to serve His creator. Still God had a plan, a way to redeem mankind so that they could still have the opportunity to choose life or death.

In the same way that all of humanity as well as creation has been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20), so it is that we can see the principles of the Tower of Babel redeemed.
First, man was of one language.

During the time of Christ, all the world was unified with one language – Koine Greek. It was the language of commerce. It did not matter if you were Roman, Phoenician, Jew or Greek, if you wanted to conduct business internationally; you spoke Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the day. God had ordained this development in order to allow for the Gospel to be spread quickly.

In today’s world, the lingua franca is English. You can go to nearly any country and be able to communicate. However, I do not see this as the language that brings unity as in the days of Babel.

The inhabitants of the earth in those days were of one tongue, one idiom which brought them unity. Unity that was so strong that even God said they could accomplish anything they set their mind to. Christians, today, have been given a language that brings us into perfect unity with the Father. It allows us to speak directly to God without the interference of our minds and flesh or of the enemy’s schemes and devices. It is called “tongues”. Unfortunately, most denominations have cheated their adherents out of the gift through reasoning and false teaching. That does not negate either the truth of its existence or the power of its working.

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Mark 16:15-18 NIV

One of the signs that will follow those who believe is that they will speak in new tongues.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 NIV

Jesus told the disciples that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and that when this occurred that they would receive the power [dunamis - force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself]** when the Holy Spirit would come upon them. This power had a purpose –

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 NIV

The power of the Holy Spirit, through the baptism with the Holy Spirit, is an explosive force by which we can lay down our lives and one of the tools in the arsenal of God’s army is tongues. If you are a soldier preparing for battle and you are presented with an array of weaponry to use to defeat the enemy, to advance and set captives free, wouldn’t you be a fool not to choose the best weapons, learn to use them and then enter into the fray fully equipped?

Speaking in tongues affords us a definite advantage over our enemy. Just as the “Code Talkers” during WWII used the Navajo language to communicate to HG to give information and receive instructions, so it is that we are “Code Talkers” for God in that His Spirit in us talks directly to God in a language that only God can understand and communicates our concerns that are to deep for words.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. Rom 8:26-27 NIV

In Paul description of the armor of God, with which we are to be vested each day, he includes this mandate.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Eph 6:18 NIV

Jude writes this encouragement.

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Jude 20 NIV

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12 presents a discourse on the differences between prophecy and tongues. They each have their place but tongues exist, among other purposes, to edify the individual. In other words, we can speak or pray in tongues when we don’t know how or what to pray, when we are afraid or worn out from praying in a known tongue or when we are feeling low and need encouraged.


Paul’s conclusion regarding tongues is this,

So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 1 Cor 14:15 NIV

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 1 Cor 14:18 NIV

I believe that if the church was “firing on all cylinders” and the people of God were praying in the Spirit as the Word commands that there would be a great deal more unity in the Body of Christ. I believe this because the one of the purposes of the Spirit is to empower the believer and the church to accomplish the will of God. The prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17 reveals one aspect of that will –

“that all of them may be one…” John 17:21 NIV

It is God’s will that we be one. Jesus is coming back for a Bride who is without spot or wrinkle. Division would be one huge tear in the wedding dress, don’t you think?

More next time on the Tower of Babel.

*(from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)

**(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)