The Tower of Babel

Throughout Mesopotamia, archaeologists have discovered the ruins of ziggurats, built thousands of years ago. The main architectural feature was a stairway or ramp that led to the top, where a small room would house a deity. In Genesis 11, we have, presumably, the story of such a structure under construction.

This story helps us understand two contrasting communities that we find in the Bible: a fallen community (Babel) up against a faith community (the Church). Each has two contrasting characteristics:

Fallen Community

• Pride

Augustine noted, “The inhabitants of Babylon construct the tower because in their pride they want to defy the power of God.” Clearly this is a story of blind ambition. The story of pride, the father all sins. Seeking to “make a name” for themselves. Instead of bringing glory to God, and reflecting “His image” (Gen. 1:26-27), they seek to bring glory to themselves. This is pride.

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

• Uniformity

A less explicit and often missed characteristic of a fallen community is central in this story. We see the repeated, “let us”, “for us”, and then, “lest we be scattered”. Pride leads to uniformity. There’s a difference between uniformity and unity. Uniformity means we must believe and practice all things exactly the same; there’s no place for differences, no diversity. This mindset leads to exclusion, an inward focus and not an outward focus. Many Christians continue to live and practice “affinity” (people like me), not biblical community. If you want unity then you must begin by recognizing, encouraging, and celebrating immense diversity. Theirs was the opposite of biblical community.

Notice the irony. The “Lord came down” (v. 5). He couldn’t see their little Lego project. This is grace, descending love. As He always does, God intervenes. He pushes us out of the garden and He pushes us out of Babel. What seem like acts of judgment and punishment end up being acts of grace and mercy because, “the Lord disciplines those He loves” Hebrews 12:6. The Lord disperses them. In the end, the place is called, “Babel” – confusion of noise, clamor. This is Babylon.

Look at the marks of a faith community (now the Church):

Faith Community  

• Humility

“But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ James 4:6

Humility is difficult for us to put our minds around. How do you become humble? Humility means that you do not promote yourself and do not defend yourself. You trust God enough to be your sole advocate in your relationships, as you lay your life before Him. According John Stott, humility is “the rarest and fairest of all Christian virtues.” It’s also the chief Christian virtue because it’s the exact opposite of the worst of sins – pride.

In Philippians 2:3, Paul tells how to be humble. He gives two negatives to avoid and two positives to follow. Two negatives: Humble people do “nothing out of selfish ambition” . They do not “try to impress others”. They don’t seek glory for themselves. Two positives: They always, “think of others as better than [themselves]”. Humble people, “look out, not only for their own interests, but take an interest in others, too”. Then, of course, Paul goes on (vv. 5-11) to describe humility in its greatest form by pointing us to Christ.

• Diversity

The story of Babel presents diversity not as the problem for community but as the plan for it. So their great sin was to remain homogenous, fight against diversity for the sake of solidarity or “oneness”. God’s plan is diversity, unity not uniformity. This event provides the setting for the call of Abraham in Genesis 12- out of this very region, he goes to bless the whole wide world.

This sets in motion God’s redemptive plan to rescue the world through Jesus Christ. Babel is reversed, as confusion becomes clarity. Jesus is the better and truer Tower. He is “the Word” who became flesh, the perfect language of God to us. You can’t get to God on your own. God has to come down to you. Stop building your tower. Christ has offered His life, death, and resurrection as your Substitution. Then, in Acts 2, God’s Spirit comes at Pentecost. The prophet, Zephaniah, prophesied this event when he said, “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him with one accord.” Zephaniah 3:9

And then it happened: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.” Acts 2:4-6

Here the Spirit replaces confusion with clarity as unity in diversity becomes the Church. The Church is not a tribal movement. We’ve made it that. The Gospel (Jesus) triumphs over all cultures, races, and languages. God created diversity for His greater glory. We must break down the walls of uniformity and exclusion and, with humility and grace, determine to be united under Christ. Our mission is found in Matthew 28 (the Great Commission) but our vision (God’s preferred future), is found is seen in Revelation:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands…” Revelation 7:9

This is where we’re heading. May His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. A Fallen community is marked by pride and uniformity. A Faith Community is marked by humility and diversity.