All governments try to dominate their people un one way or the other. Ideally, they should all think alike and speak the same language. In that case, the country would have the power to dominate other countries. The unity of the people is the basis of great power.
That was the objective at the time of the Tower of Babel.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words (Genesis 11.1)
Building a power base
But as we know, a little power tends to corrupt a little. And absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.
Though Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar (former Burma) reminds us that dictators oppress the people because they fear losing their power, nevertheless they mainly don’t accept that someone thinks differently than the mainstream doctrine.
In the case of the Tower of Babel, to build a power base, they decided to build a city with a tower that reached up to heaven.
Then they 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11. 4)
One thing man is desperate to do is push off his inevitable death.
But if he has to die, at least make a name for himself so that later generations don’t forget him. And that is what motivated the builders of Babel. And men (like Satan) have always wanted to “storm” heaven and take God’s place!
But the decision to avoid being scattered abroad was in direct opposition to what God had commanded:
Genesis 9:7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it
So God decided to multiply their language.
God saw the danger: “And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them”. (Genesis 11.6)
World government has always been a dream for every empire. But they have all imploded, usually because of immorality…
So God who loves diversity decided: Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there so that they will not understand one another. And to this day linguists say there are 7000 languages and some 20,000 dialects on the earth.
And people will not understand each other until a new language is given: The language of God’s love.
When the Holy Spirit came down the day of Pentecost (50 days after Easter) people from many different language groups were visiting Jerusalem.
In the Acts of the Apostles we read :
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews, and proselytes, 11 Cretans, and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” (Acts 2. 4-11)
Jesus’ disciples spoke a language all could understand.
For linguists, and of course, language schools and translators, each language is a work of art but also difficult to master. It is practically impossible to understand a message in a language we don’t know well especially when it has to do with the “marvelous things of God”.
However, even poorly educated Galileans were able to make themselves understood. All that was needed was obedience to Christ’s command to wait for the anointing of the Spirit to have the capacity to talk about the language of God’s love.
“Then how is it that each of us hears them (the marvels of God) in our native language”?
To benefit the whole world with the good news of Jesus, the disciples had received the “standing order” from the mouth of Jesus Himself:
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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Matthew 28.19-20)
What is our conclusion from this message?
- God tells us to « Go » (scatter ourselves) while often our evangelism is inviting people to come to our meeting
- The plan of men is to make a name for themselves, whereas God’s plan is to lift up the name of Jesus
- The way of men is unity in conformity (because you follow our rules and doctrines). God’s way is unity with diversity. Each member of the family has attributes that allow them to relate to certain types of people who wouldn’t be able to relate to someone else.
“For this reason, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, (Hebrews 2.11)
- Instead of the fear of oppression. God uses the language of love to attract us to Him.
Here is another principle of comprehension where the New Testament gives light to an event in the Old Testament.
What do you think?
Are you too educated (or not educated enough) to make yourself understood?
Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that your message can be understood by people who are different from you?
Read Genesis chapter 11 and Acts chapter 2
You can download the text of this message here
(Day 18) Am I the keeper of my brother?
(Day 20) The Impossible Miracle
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