Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
“[The people] said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4).
So, what do we make about this incident we heard about in our Old Testament reading from Genesis 11? Well, have you ever thought, “Why is it that there are so many languages?” You know, it would be so much easier to communicate if we all had a common language! It would also be cheaper! Then I wouldn’t have to pay to learn another language to properly experience life in another country. Well, if you have ever pondered things like that, well, here, you would have your answer.
Our reading speaks of a time when all of humanity had a common language. And this is understandable as all of humanity then came from the family of Noah, so the vocabulary they used would have been the same, and the way they spoke would have been the same.
But something did change. Their attitudes changed – and not for the better.
In our reading, we see a development similar to the one observed in the family of Adam and Eve after the Fall into sin when we saw the faithful descendants of Seth gradually patten their lives after the unfaithful descendants of Cain. And this ultimately brought down God’s judgement of the Flood upon the whole world.
So, what pattern are we seeing at Babel? Well, here we see the Shemites, the line that had received Noah’s special blessing rebelling against God’s expressed will for them. And what was God’s will for them? “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1), which was the same will God had for Adam and Eve before the Fall (Genesis 1:28). So, this was a “sort-of” re-start for humanity.
So, it was God’s will that in time the whole earth would be filled with people who would live for His glory, so that from east to west His reputation as Savior would be magnified. But what happened?
Well, to start, it began well, as Noah’s descendants spread. But then, didn’t. They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. At first, they wandered, but then, they settled. The land of Shinar was a well-watered plain that naturally looked good to farmers. The land was fertile. It looked good. So, they decided to settle down. They chose to stay in direct disobedience to God. For Noah’s descendants, it didn’t matter what God said. To God’s will and command, they proclaim: “Why would we ever want to leave? It doesn’t get any better than this!”
Now, God wanted any settlement to be temporary. So, what did they do? “They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar’” (Genesis 11:3). Instead of living in tents, they built a fortified settlement. Everything they used was for their permanence. Instead of sun-dried clay or stone, they chose fire-hardened brick for their building project, with bitumen for mortar instead of the customary mud. And what was the purpose of this building project: to make a name for themselves.
Instead of giving God all the glory, they are glorifying themselves. “Glory to man in the highest,” they proclaim!
But it wasn’t just sinful pride that led them to undertake this extensive and difficult construction effort. It was actually the belief in that pride in their accomplishment that would be a unifying force that would hold them together as one people. Their ultimate sin was their cultural identity. They were putting themselves equal or even greater than God Himself. They were in charge now. They no longer obeyed God’s will.
So, by building this city and tower, God’s people are rejecting His goal for life and creating a new goal of their own. They have forgotten that everything they have – food, shelter, and security – are all gifts from God. They are now claiming they have accomplished everything for themselves without any assistance from God, which is not true. For these people, Satan doesn’t even have to work hard upon them, since they have knelt down to the idol of self, which is exactly what Satan wants for them.
So, what does God do? He doesn’t leave them to their own demise, He comes down saying, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do” (Genesis 11:6).
God is bringing judgment in order to save us from ourselves. For if the human race remained united in self-interested pride, there would be no limit to their rebellion against God.
But unlike at the time of the Great Flood, God’s judgment isn’t even visible. God simply made changes inside the minds of the builders. Through these changes, God’s people could no longer understand one another’s language. So, this meant that everything came to an abrupt stop. They were confused. They were puzzled. They became suspicious of each other.
The spirit of friendliness and confidence they once had was now replaced by confusion and suspicion as they just “left off building the city” (Genesis 11:8). They had hoped to make a name for themselves and bring fame to themselves, but all they accomplished was moving away from their dream home.
God would not let His will be neglected. He would not be overlooked. He would not be mocked. So, He is unwilling to let people wipe their feet on His great plan for this world. He will have them “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1).
For Martin Luther, he called God’s action at Babel a much more horrible judgment than the Great Flood. Yes, the Great Flood was devastating, but it only wiped out a single generation of humanity. But the confusion of languages at Babel has had a greater consequence. It has bred confusion, suspicion, and hatred in every generation since then, and all the way to today’s broken and disordered world. So, why are so many nations pitted against each other? Why are we so often at war with one another?
Now, we can easily point back to Adam’s sin in the Garden, but with Noah and his family, we had a “sort-of” restart of humanity. And so, after God again created everything good, our sinful nature would rear its ugly head again at Babel. So, besides Adam’s Fall into sin, the answer to why there is so much confusion, suspicion, and hatred today is because of the events at Babel. You could say, Babel is like a second Fall of man. Although Noah and his descendants remained sinners during the Flood.
But for us here today, there is another practical result from the events at Babel. And this is what we are celebrating today. When the day of Pentecost arrived – fifty days after the Passover Sabbath, the people whom God scattered at Babel, He brought back.
“And divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance”(Acts 2:3-4) … and “devout men from every nation” (Acts 2:5) heard Jesus’ apostles speak “in his own language” (Acts 2:6) … “the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11).
Just days earlier, Jesus commissioned His apostles to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19-20), but on this day in Jerusalem, people from all over the world were gathering around them celebrating the Pentecost.
So, just like everything else, it is the Holy Spirit who equips them and us. So, the Holy Spirit equips the apostles to proclaim God’s saving work in many languages. The confusion of languages that resulted at Babel when humanity tried to glorify themselves was reversed at Pentecost. So, on this day nearly 2,000 years ago, the Holy Spirit moved these men to glorify God in languages that were understood by all who heard.
Today, on this Day of Pentecost, is a great day to proclaim the work of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity: the Holy Spirit, aka: the Holy Ghost.
Often, the Holy Spirit is the third wheel, the forgotten Person of the Trinity. In fact, we don’t always know what to call Him: Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost! But may we never forget about Him! You see, He is vital to yours and my faith. Without the Holy Spirit, you would not know what Jesus has accomplished for you. It is through the Means of Grace that the Holy Spirit reveals and preaches as He illumines and enkindles hearts, so that we come to right understanding the gifts of God. For where Christ is preached, the Holy Spirit creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church.
And this reversal of Babel still occurs today with each time God’s Word is proclaimed to those who have not heard the mighty works of God as the Holy Spirit continues to create saving faith in the mighty works of God accomplished in Jesus.
So, as followers of Christ, our goal is not to make a name for ourselves, but to glorify the name of Jesus through our lives, since through repentance and faith in Him, He has given us pardon for yours and my sins through His atoning death and resurrection, and has taken His rightful place above all things by His ascension. Through Christ’s victory over sin and death, He forgives your pride, your self-centeredness. Today, Jesus intervenes in our lives as He comes offering you forgiveness through His Word and Sacraments. He comes to give you the gift of life and salvation! Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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