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Now, we are looking at Genesis, chapter 11. You say, "What is Genesis?" Genesis is the very first book of the Bible. If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Genesis 11, and we'll be looking at verses 1-9 this morning.

Now, I want to ask you, "Do you know this man?" He's a very famous man by now in Singapore. He was in the social media this week, because his video clip of him selling this miracle mop was put up on the internet. He did this real well by the way. He's obviously someone who has Indian origins. He's a half Indian, I'm told, but he was able to fluently; eloquently sell the mop using Chinese and Hokkien.

And that was what made it phenomenal! And other reporters actually reported about him and discovered that he was able not only to speak Hokkien and Chinese only, but he can speak 11 languages, including Vietnamese and Thai. He did such a good job that social media was raving about this man.

They said, "I wanna buy, so I can '打开到像一朵花' [dǎ kāi dào xiàng yī duǒ huā]. The reason why they say that is because every time he introduced the mop, he said, '打开橡一朵花'. You know the mop can twirl around, and that's what he was found saying over and over again. People say, "Hired him for live", wanted to get him to promote their own products. "And where is he now, I have wanna buy the mop, please."

While we are all fascinated by people who can speak many languages because we know how hard it is, right? I have two sons, they have to study English and Chinese, and they are probably better, way better at their English than Chinese. They hate Chinese, I think they're getting better now, but still it's not easy to cope with two languages. But please don't blame Mr. Lee Kuan Yew for the bilingual strategy, or plan.

The problem with languages, really started way before this. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter, 11:1, that actually, "The whole earth had only one language and the same words" . Now, don't ask me what language, I don't know what was the original language, thousands of years ago. But something happened so that by the end of this story we read, "There's this place now called, Babel, because there the Lord confused, the language of all the earth."[Gen 11:9]

So very interesting, it began, "The whole began with one language", but because of something that happened, every one now had a different language, "The Lord confused the language of all the earth."[Gen 11:9] So much so this place, we called Babel, is called Babel. The word, Babel is actually a play on words. It is related to another word, another Hebrew word that means confusion.

So something happened right here at the Tower of Babel, that resulted in this confounding, this confusing of languages. So this morning we're going to look at this historic event, very well-known story in the Bible, studying this tower and what it all represents.

[1] Rebellion Against God
The first thing I'd like you to notice about the Tower of Babel is that this tower represents - man's rebellion against God. It is a monument of defiance. It is man trying to show God who's the boss. It is one of incredible arrogance and hubris.

Now, we say that, "This tower is a tower of rebellion, because early on in Genesis, God had already said to Adam and Eve, the first man, "Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it."' [Gen1:28] Later on God said the same thing to Noah, "Multiply and be fruitful", and obviously the people living thousands or hundreds of years later during the Tower of Babel, they knew this was God's command.

However, they did not want to obey God's command. That's why "They said to themselves, "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] Why? "...Lest we be dispersed."

"We don't want to be dispersed. We don't want to fill the earth. We don't want to do what God had told our ancestors to do. We won't want to obey His will. We want to defy Him. We want to show him who's boss, so let us make ourselves a city and a tower. Let's make our name, great. Let's show that we can do what God can't do. Let's make this tower, with its top, reaching the heavens."

God knew exactly what was going on. It was not just an outward tower. It was an inner motivation of rebellion manifesting in this monstrosity. "And therefore God said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do ..." [Gen 11:6] This is the beginning of their organized rebellion against Me, "... and nothing that they do, they propose to do will now be impossible for them."'

So what is the Tower of Babel? It's a tower; a monument of rebellion against God. Now let's be clear, the Bible does not forbid the building of tall structures. Tall structures are not evil things in and of itself, alright. Let's get that clear. In Singapore, we have the ice-cream cone - Changi Airport Tower. Is this ... is this a evil thing? Is this a sinful thing? Is this a rebellious thing?

No, you need this, at least in time past, otherwise you have crashes all around you, especially if you stay in the east. So this is not a bad thing. Is this a evil thing? No! Your HDB blocks are super tall. I think way taller than what they were trying to build at the Tower of Babel. They're not evil, they're not wicked! And maybe commercial buildings in downtown Singapore, they're not bad things.

So, we are not saying that, "Tall structures are bad but it's the motivation; the reason behind it that makes it evil." The tower of Babel is evil not because tall things are evil but because of what they hope to achieve from it. They want to oppose God. They want to show who's greater. They want to make a name for themselves. It is all about me and that's what makes it terrible.

I want to apply this to even Christians today. Do you know that sometimes we can be guilty of having little towers of Babel in our hearts? You see, having a good career is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think Christians should be lazy and irresponsible and just 'nua' [being lazy in Hokkien dialect], you know, in their jobs.

I think we should do our level best. We should always look for opportunities to have a greater influence to serve people to bring about greater good for the flourishing of those around us. Nothing wrong to have a good career, but everything wrong, if you want to have a good career, in order to make a name for yourself.

It's everything wrong if you say, "I do not want to fulfil God's will for me. I do not want to be about my Father's business. I do not want to be about the Great Commission, but I just want to have a great career because I want to prove to the world how capable I am." We may not admit it, but so subtly but so prevalently, that's what is in the minds of many, many even churchgoers. We want a good career and before men we justify it as saying, "This is just being responsible," but really in our hearts, we just want to make a name for ourselves.

The Bible does not say that wealth is a bad thing. Now, I know sometimes people say, "Oh, it's bad to be rich!" Well, the Bible does not really say, "Being rich is sinful." But the Bible does say, "Loving riches is sinful, wanting to be rich is sinful." And so it is, nothing wrong for you to have savings, but everything wrong for you to want to make a name for yourselves by being rich, by being seen as rich, being successful in life. Those are little towers of Babel in the human heart.

Can I also even go further and say that, "Family is a good thing." Praise God for families! Praise God for fathers; for mothers; for children; for spouse. What a wonderful blessing it is! But do you know that even from ... for us, families can become little idols. I have known people who sacrifice families for church, for spiritual ministry. They neglect their homes, they serve God. Now, I don't think that's a good thing.

But on the other hand, I think it is equally dangerous if we sacrifice God for family. We say, "I have no time to serve God. I have no time to be in ministry. I just want to give my life to my family." Now, be a responsible father, be a responsible mother, be a good spouse, but be very careful of putting your family above God, as an idol.

We can be guilty of building the best family, like the Tower of Babel, if all we want is to be seen as a good family man, to be a successful man. I think all these things are rather abstract, but perhaps this is more tangible - church building. Ha, whoa, what a blessing to have a church building! And almost every church here in Singapore, "Oh, we wish we will have a church building!"

But do you know that church buildings can become little towers of Babel too? Just to show off, just to be arrogant, just to be proud. "Hey, my church has a church building! We have a nice piece of property, what a majestic building!" Oh, that would be such a sad day, if that is our pride and not the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Maybe people today want to be in ministry, some young people you want to be serving God, and I praise God for that, if your motivation is right on. But it can be a very dangerous thing, if we want to be in ministry just to be seen as capable or influential. We want a big crowd. We want people to praise us. We want our church to be real big so that, wow, people admire all that!

I think you get the point. The Tower of Babel is a manifestation of the rebellious; arrogant pride in the human heart. It manifested itself in a very blatant way, thousands of years ago at Babel, but I think subtly, it can also manifest in our own lives.

I was going through some photos in our church website, Facebook, and I was reminded about that time we had our 'Topping-up Ceremony' here in 39 Punggol Field Walk. I'm not sure if you remember that, but you could see the background there that's Flo Residence, the condo that is just beside us. And the 'Topping up Ceremony' is a kind of symbolic ceremony that the construct ... the contractors would tell us to be engaged in to mark, symbolically mark the fact that, "Hey, the building is almost ready and you can move in soon!"

So, the 'Topping-up Ceremony' was going to be held and I was asked, "Would you want to have a banner? And what words would you want to have a banner?" They say, "You always should have a banner, alright. So what words would you want to have on the banner?" I did not think very long, I think it was 10 seconds and I immediately told our guys, "Maybe we should put this words up."

What ... what do you think should be appropriate words, or if you could remember, what were the words there? Anybody can remember? Or anybody can get ...? No one remembers? No one bothers? All of you facility fascinated with the pouring cement. Well, these are the words we chose, or I chose, "To God alone be the glory."

This is what I think we always should fight for. It was Charles Spurgeon, I was going through some discipleship materials and I saw this statement. It said, "It is perhaps one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this sentence - "Not unto us, not unto us but unto Thy Name, be glory."' Spurgeon in a sermon in 1863.

"Not unto us, not unto us but unto Thy Name be glory." This is the constant battle in our lives, isn't it? It's so easy for us to slip into that pride; that self-will; that arrogance. And that can slip in in our career; in our family; in church; in ministry.

May God have mercy upon us. May God have mercy on ... on ourselves today. Maybe you're so obsessed with success in the world, that you are forgetting that maybe you're building not a tower that glorifies God, but a tower that rebels against God.

So what is the Tower of Babel? It's a symbol of rebellion. Be careful!

[2] Reminiscence
Can I also say number 2, the Tower of Babel is a symbol of reminiscence. It ... that is a big word but basically is a word that means, it reminds us of something.

Now, when I read a story about the power of Babel in Genesis, 11, it reminds me of something else that happens in Genesis, chapter 4. It's almost liked deja vu. It's almost like the same story again, because in Genesis, chapter 4, we read of another man, his name is Cain. The first man who is born into this world. Cain rebelled against God, he killed his brother Abel in jealousy. So now, God punished him and sent him away, but "Cain settled in the land of Nod, East of Eden and built a city." [Gen 4:16-17]

Now, most of the time, building a city is not a bad thing. It's not an evil thing but in the case of Cain, it is bad. Why? Because God explicitly said to Cain, "You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." [Gen 4:12] "This is your fate. This is your due just punishment ... punishment. You'll be a wanderer. You're not to settle."

But you know, Cain is such a rebellious guy, he's 'tee kee'[stubborn in Hokkien dialect], he's stubborn, he defies God. "He settled in the land of Nod, and he built a city." [Gen 4:17] And what's interesting is not only that he built a city in defiance against God, but the descendants he had, had names that really were defiant against God too.

And I see a hint of that when we read of their names here. Some of the names are so hard to pronounce, but well the first one, "His son is called Enoch." [Gen 4:8] Enoch means initiation, which means to start something new. So Cain is probably saying, "I've been wandering, I've been sentenced to this fugitive lifestyle, I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm going to settle down, build a city and start something new, even though God doesn't want me to. I don't care!"

And after Enoch, "Enoch had his own son, Irad." [Gen 4:19] And Irad means wild donkey . You say, "What's wild donkey?" He's probably an ... a tyrannical bully, wild man. As you might probably guess in the description of a wild donkey in Genesis 16:12. He takes things into his own hands, he forcefully takes, probably that's why he's called Irad.

And then you have the name, Mehujael, which means smitten or afflicted of God. A kind of maybe bitterness; anger; unhappiness against God, in the great grandson Mehujael. And in a great, great grandson of Cain, or the son of Mehujael, there's this name, Methusael which means the death of God - hate God, wish God is dead. Maybe that's why he calls him Methusael.

And Methusael fathered Lamech, which means, powerful and in that long genealogy, long ancestry there, there's this part of Scripture attributed to Lamech singing this song. "Adah, Zillah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech ..." [Gen 4:23-24] So he gathers his wives to say, "Listen to me sing, and let me show you how powerful I am, how great I am. If Cain's revenge is seven-fold ..." God promised that if Cain is murdered, God will execute judgment seven-fold on the murderer. So Lamech is saying, "If Cain can do it, or God can do it seven-fold, Lamech will do it seventy-seven fold."

What hubris! What pride! What arrogance against God! So, when Cain settled in the land of Nod and built a city, it was not a neutral city. It was an act of defiance and rebellion. And that's why I say, "When I read Genesis 11, it's deja vu. It's like seeing the same story replay itself." And the point I think God is making in these stories is that, you know, the rebellious heart of men is not limited to any one generation. Whether it's during Cain's time, or in this period, the leader is probably Nimrod, another man. The human heart has always been and will always be rebellious against God.

And this reminiscence is not just about something that happened before the Tower of Babel in Cain's city, but it is also very ... for those of you who have read the Bible, it will remind you of something you read in the future, in the book of Revelation.

Because in the book of Revelation, you have a city that is like patterned or likened after the Tower of Babel, the city of Babel. It's called Babylon the great.[Gen 14:8] Now, I know, if you're not a churchgoer and I know there may be visitors here today. I always say this, "If you want to sleep you sleep, during this time, this is a 'chim chim' [difficult in Hokkien dialect] part, this is a technical part. You can sleep for three minutes, I'll wake you up after that, alright."

But in the future there will be this city called, "Babylon The great". It will be an anti-God city. It will be a rebellious city. It will be a very sinful city. It will be a city that is so influential and so powerful and so evil that it will kill God's people. But it will be a city that will ultimately be destroyed. It's a city that is associated with the beast.

You read about the beast in the book of Revelation. It's called, Babylon The great, after the city of the Tower of Babel, Babylon. Now, what is this Babylon The great? For those who are students of Revelation and prophecy, predictions about the end times. Now, there are very many views as to what Babylon The great exactly is. There's a certain mystery to it, but no one can be absolutely sure.

Some people say that, "Babylon the great that persecutes Christians, that is evil and so on, is the city of Rome." During those days, Rome did kill many Jews, many of God's people. It's a powerful nation, at least 2000 years ago. So they say, "It's probably Rome."

But then there are others who say, "No! No! No! No! It's probably not Rome, it's Jerusalem." Very interesting, the people of God, externally who killed the prophets of God. "It's Jerusalem ..." they say, "... that's Babylon the great." The great harlot; prostitute who is supposed to belong to God, but is unfaithful to God. They say, "It's the nation of Israel themselves."

And then there are those ... now, I'm just listing out to you what you could find on Internet, what you could find even on Wikipedia. There are some who say, "It's not Rome, it's not Jerusalem, but it's the Roman Catholic Church." The Roman Catholic Church has persecuted the Protestants, the Christians. They have killed many of God's people. And they say that, "RCC is Babylon the great."

And then the others who say, "No! No! It's not any of these cities or any of this particular religion but it's false religion as a whole, that's Babylon the great."

And then, interestingly, there are also people who say, "It's not! It's not any of these but it's one country today." You know which country? They say, "It's the USA, America. America is Babylon the great."

Now, it's very hard for us to know or to detail exactly who and what it should be. But the fact of the matter is, when it comes to end times, it's hard to be dogmatically sure. And all I could conclude is - it's clear that Babylon the great represents a system of great evil associated with antichrist, with the beast that would stand in opposition against God. It's that city that is very much like the Tower of Babel.

Now, some other verses, you might want to read up on, it's called, the great prostitute. [Rev 17:1-2] When you talk about sexual immorality, I think it might mean more than physical, sexual immorality, it's most likely talking about spiritual idolatry; immorality, being unfaithful to God.

You could see that, "She would be sitting on the Scarlet Beast, full of blasphemous names and so on. There will be great riches and yet at the same time, great abominations and impurities." [Rev 17:3-4] Can I also look at this, how, "This woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." [Rev 17:5-6]

So this Babylon would really be anti-God; anti-God's people. And so what I'm saying here is, "When you read the Tower of Babel is not one isolated incident. It's going to be a reflective picture of what happens before and what happens after. In fact, what happens all the time."

[3] God's Rejection
Sin has so corrupted men that we stand in constant rebellion against God. But nothing's going to come to a good end when you oppose God. And so thirdly, we say that the Tower of Babel is a symbol of God's rejection of all human pride. There's a bit of a humor, a bit of a sarcasm here. The Bible says, or the people said, "We will build a tower with its top reaching the heavens."

And you know what God said, "Let us go down." [Gen 11:7] It's that kind of a language that says, "You thought your power is so tall you will reach up the heavens? I can't even see it, man! I got to come down and search for that tiny puny little tower you built." That's the kind of humour, I think that is injected by Moses here.

"Come, let us go down! Take a look. Can't see from here, let's go down." And when God got down, "He dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth and they left of building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth." [Gen 11:8-9] No effort whatsoever - minimal. "That's it, guys! Fun's over! Rebellion's over! Go, go, go!" And they dis ... they were dispersed.

I think it must be really funny that as they were building this structure, the foreman; the supervisor, shouting at the people carrying the bricks and the bitumen, suddenly spoke in different languages. "Ay, bring the bricks!" "Tak tahu" [I don't know in Malay language". "Gua mm chai" [I don't know in Hokkien dialect]. "Leh kong mak ye" [What are you saying in Cantonese dialect]. Wah, and all of them so confused and they just fed up, and they just dispersed and the project is aborted!

This is always the case, isn't it? No opposition against God ever ends well. The Psalmist writes, what an appropriate Psalm, I think, "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision." [Psalm 2:4]

What an appropriate description! Nothing that we have against God, would ever end well. And so that will also be the case for Babylon the great in the book of Revelation 18:2. We read, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!" verse 8, "She will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord who has judged her."

All sin, all rebellion against God will be absolutely eliminated and destroyed. "So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more. [Rev 18:21]

[4] Hope of Redemption
Well, quite a ... quite a look at rebellion, reminiscence, rejection, but finally I always love to end on a positive note if I can. And I think, I see something positive even in a bad story like this, a sad story like this, because this reminds me of - the hope of redemption.

You say, "How do you see redemption?" In this story, God just destroyed or not destroyed but God just foiled their plans, right? That's right! But that's exactly where I read mercy and grace. If you think about it, God is absolutely just and right to what ...? Destroy everyone who opposes Him, but the Bible tells us that, "God did not destroy them, God only dispersed them." [Gen 11:9]

It will be absolutely just and indeed called for ... for ... for the destruction of sinners, especially blatant rebels in organized defiance, but God did not, He merely dispersed them because He is still going to save them. He is still going to fulfil His promise; His commitment that He made in Genesis 3:15, that there will be Someone who will be born in a line of Eve, a Seed, a Descendent of the woman who will defeat sin, who will crush the serpent's head.

And God is going to keep His Word. And God is going to be merciful to humanity. God is going to provide the Savior for men. Therefore, He only dispersed them and just a few verses later we read in Hebrews, not Hebrews ... Genesis, chapter 12:2-3.

And we see how God is going to choose one man. Out of the 1000s, it is estimated that there were maybe 30,000 people living in those days, I'm not sure how they got it, estimated 30,000 people. Out of the 30,000, God is going to choose one man. His name is going to be Abraham. And from this one man, God is gonna bless him with a child of promise, even when his wife is barren, postmenopausal. God is going to give him a special child.

So that from this child will come another child. So that from this other child will come another child. And if you extrapolate that further and further, you see until some 2000 years ago, from Mary, who is a descendant from this line, she will be pregnant with the child from God, pregnant with a child of the Holy Ghost; Holy Spirit - His Name is Jesus.

And so that's how we see God's promise in Genesis, that tension being built up with the rebellion of men, and yet God never gives up on men. And God is going to in the fullness of time, bring about the birth of His Son, so that He might go to the cross and die and save us from our sins. So that you and I today can be forgiven of our sins; can be reconciled with God, even though we are sinful, and we can't save ourselves.

God will do it and that's why God said to Abraham, "In you will all the nations of the earth be blessed." [Gen 12:2-3] "Not because Abraham, you can save, but because from you, Abraham, there will be someone who can save." There is redemption, even in the story of the Tower of Babel.

And you know what, what's really interesting is - have you thought about it, next time for Christians ... I'm speaking to Christians now? Next time when we die, or when Jesus comes, and we are with Him forevermore in the new heaven and new earth, how will you look like, and what language will you speak? Will we all speak in one language in heaven? Will it be English or Chinese?

Wow, you say, "Siow liao lah!" [crazy in Hokkien dialect], Chinese, what will it be? Will it be Hebrew or Greek? Horror of horrors! You know something, when I read the Bible, I think we will all speak with ...? What language you want? You vote lah, maybe God will hear. Hokkien ah, 'Kum Sia Zhu'! [Thanks be to God in Hokkien dialect]
Well, I don't know, but I think when we all get to heaven, we will speak in different languages. That's a trick question. See, John was given a privileged glimpse into the future to come. When he saw the future, he said, "Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood ..." This is talking about Jesus, "... You're worthy by Your blood, You ransomed, You purchased, You saved people for God from every tribe, and language and people and nation." [Rev 5:9]

Alright, that tells you Christianity is not an 'ang moh' [Caucasian in Hokkien dialect] religion, is not just a Middle-East religion. It's Christ is the Savior for everyone, in every nation, and every tribe. But then you also see that, "Behold a great multitude, that no one could number from every nation, from tribes from all tribes and peoples and languages." [Rev 7:9-10]

John could appreciate that they were people from different tribes and languages. And maybe it could be that in heaven, we will all maybe retain our own languages, distinct ethnicity. By the way, I think when I go to heaven, I'm not going to look 'ang moh', I'm not going to look Indian. When you go there, "Ay, Pastor Jason! Yah, this is how you look like Indian form ah!" Or "This ... you look like Caucasian."

No, I think I'm going to look Chinese. John could recognize I'm a Chinese, ah, ah, John could recognize the different races. I think race and gender are sacred things. You don't change them. God gave you them and it will not change. So when I go to heaven, I'm going to have a glorified body, I'm going to look different, less ... less tire [referring to Pastor's tummy] around here, flawless complexion, baby soft, muscles everywhere.

Maybe that's how I will look, "Wah, this one look better!" Alright, and you will look better there, I'm sure. But we are still going to look Chinese or Filipino or Indian or whatever your race may be. And maybe that's language applied to language as well.

But the beauty is, man sinned against God and that resulted in a diversity of languages. But in the redemption of Jesus Christ, that is all going to be turned around. And men and women of different backgrounds, ethnicities and languages, would unite in one voice to praise God. I think that makes it even more beautiful and that's what redemption would be all about.

Well, that sort of brings us to a kind of a conclusion, in our journey through Genesis from chapters 4 to 11 about the corruption of man. We have seen how sin like cancer grows and multiplies and climaxes at the Tower of Babel, but God is still merciful and He's going to work out His plan of salvation.

I pray today, if you're here with us, you will come to know Jesus. He is the Savior for our sins and I long for that day, different races; different backgrounds; different languages, we all gather in heaven, and we praise God together for His mercy in one voice.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

Father, we thank You this morning for the privilege to worship You. Indeed, we ask that You will help men and women gathered in this hall to see their sin, and to see Jesus Christ, Your Son, who came to die and pay for our sins. Grant to them, understanding; conviction of their sin. Help them to repent and to believe in Jesus Christ. May You grant to them eternal life, and in their salvation, may You be greatly glorified.

We pray too that, Your Church, each and every follower of Jesus Christ, that we will be careful; diligent, that we will not sin against You, by building little towers of Babel, to make our name great. But let us all labor for Your Name, not unto us, not unto us, but to Thy Name be glory forever, O God. Help Gospel Light be a church that is all about Your glory. Thank You, we pray all this in Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

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