Hebrews 12:22-23... But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, Many may wonder, what is this place Babylon that we so often refer to? Where is it? What is so wrong with it? How do we go there? But more importantly, how do we escape? I pray that through studying the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 we will understand the origins and nature of a spiritual Babylon. We will see that the Tower of Babel is a shadow of the gospel day – the day of the new covenant until the Lord’s return.
You see, there are many amazing, miraculous and captivating stories within the Bible that have been used as “bedtime stories” for children and have even been merchandised as movies for Hollywood. However, the Word of God was never written for entertainment purposes. If the events recorded in the Bible have served only as stories for your amusement then it has not achieved its full purpose in your life. The Word of God is more than merely a history book or story book.
It is from the Bible that we are to gain understanding of spiritual truth. God’s truth is revealed through all the scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments. Many who are caught in false religion like to dismiss the words of the Old Testament because they believe there is sufficient truth in the New Testament to give them the understanding of God’s truth they need. It is important that we understand that the Old Testament scriptures contain doctrine, and the New Testament scriptures bring light to the Old Testament.
1 Corinthians 10:11... Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. In this verse Paul is referring to the Old Testament events. God inspired men and women to record these events that they would serve as examples to us. The Word “ensamples” in 1 Corinthians 10:11 may also be interpreted as “figures” or “types”. God had these earthly happenings recorded that they would help us understand spiritual reality or truth. As we read the God-given scriptures penned in the Old Testament we must ask ourselves “what spiritual truth would God have me glean from this?”
Today as we study the Tower of Babel we will see the nature of false religion and what it has achieved in the gospel day. Before we begin reading of the Tower of Babel, let us read of the very first mention of Babel in Genesis 10:8-10. Genesis 10:8-10
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Here we see the very first kingdom upon the earth which was Babel in the land of Shinar. The very first King of this kingdom was Nimrod – a mighty hunter before the Lord. As the earthly things are to help us understand spiritual things, we may now be reminded of the Kingdom of God. It was the very first Kingdom ever, established in the heavens by its Heavenly King – God Himself. As the Old Testament scriptures are to serve as types or figures to us of spiritual truth we may gain much understanding of the Kingdom of God, by observing the very first earthly Kingdom.
We may now turn to Genesis 11:1-9 and read about this Kingdom. Genesis 11:1-9
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
The very first verse gives us an important truth. We see here that the whole earth was of one language and one speech. This truly does reveal to us a glorious example of the Kingdom of God. It is complete in holy unity. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could live in a country upon the earth whose government governed perfectly and where all the citizens lived together in harmony? The Kingdom of God is one that is unified. There has never been a civil war within God’s Kingdom as there are in earthly kingdoms. It is a Kingdom of one language and therefore the inhabitants understand each other perfectly. They speak with one voice. This aligns perfectly to the will of God. This is the prayer of God.
John 17:21-23... That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
In these verses Jesus was praying for His heavenly Kingdom. He was praying for those that had believed on Him and those that would believe on Him in the future. His prayer for all the believers was that they would be one. Jesus prayed for it, and it happened. His plan, His will, His desire was fulfilled.
Acts 2:1,4... And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
We may see that those that believed on Christ were all with one accord in one place, just as Jesus had prayed and just as we see in Genesis 11:1. This was then taught as foundational to all those who joined/was born into the family of God.
Philippians 1:27... Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And…
Philippians 2:2... Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
This is the spiritual reality of Genesis 11:1 where we see an earthly Kingdom of one language and one speech. God used the oneness of the earthly kingdom to help us see the beauty of the unity in His own Kingdom. When we see the delight and joy of being in a Kingdom with no division or hostility we may be drawn to the Kingdom of God knowing it is also free from the same. How often do we hear of political and religious uprisings within earthly countries upon the earth? How often do people moan about the decisions of the government that control them? How often do we hear of civil wars, hostility and violence between citizens of the one country? God’s Kingdom is one where all dwell together in unity and joy. When your living conditions are absolutely perfect you would see no need to move elsewhere. Where a person is completely content and lacking nothing they are likely to stay in that place of satisfaction. It would be foolish to leave that place of joy, contentment and peace. However, we find that this is exactly what happened in Genesis 11:2.
Genesis 11:2... And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
In this verse we see they journeyed from the east. This was where God had placed them when the flood waters had ceased after Noah’s Ark. God had them resting on Mount Ararat.
Genesis 8:4... And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
It is important for us to realise that they were placed by God in the east and upon the mountains. Why did God put them here? Firstly they were placed in the east where the sun rises. They were to see the sun rise early. They were to dwell in the light.
Malachi 4:2... But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And secondly, they were placed in the mountains, high above the valleys and the things of the earth. God had them placed as close as possible to the heavenly place. God had them dwelling in a prime location, walking in the light in the heavenly places. It was to their detriment that they decided to move from the east, and rather than dwell in the mountains, they lowered themselves to a plain in the land of Shinar.
The same thing happened in the gospel day. The Church of the morning time, the early Church, was a glorious Church with full light of the gospel and living in the Heavenly places above the persecution and sin of the earth. They enjoyed victorious living and triumph over sin, self and the devil. However, it was not long until men and women began to turn their back on the light and move away from where God had placed them; they apostatised. Countless men and women moved away from the Mountain of Zion where the Church was and they moved to the plains. They forsook their high living in the heavenly places and became entangled with the affairs of the world.
The Heavenly place represents spirituality and so the earthly places, the plains, represent all that is carnal and earthly. The plains represent all that pertain to the things of this life upon the earth. The mountains are in full view of the light while the plains and valleys below do not receive the intensity of light that the mountains receive. The plain in Shinar was below the heavenly place and was not where God had placed them. This plain in Shinar was to become a place of captivity.
Daniel 1:1-2... In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. This movement from the mountains of Ararat was the beginning of a movement to complete darkness and captivity. It is no wonder God had commanded that we not move from where His will is. Once God has called us to the unity and holiness of His Church, we must not let anything draw us from that. God does not want us to move from the where He has placed us.
1 Corinthians 15:58... Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
To know the will of God and then to move from it, is to put oneself in great danger. To knowingly step outside God’s will is to distance yourself from Him and His guidance and protection. Because these people moved from the mountains of Ararat to the plain of Shinar, they removed themselves from the closeness they had with God and away from His guidance. When a person no longer receives guidance, counsel and direction from God they will look for help in other places. For this reason they began to seek counsel among themselves. They chose to guide and direct their own ways.
Genesis 11:3-4... And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
The true Christian, the one who desires to always be in the will of God will always seek counsel from God and allow Him to direct their paths. However, we find here that those of Babel said “one to another”. They made their own plans independent of God’s counsel. They were using their own intellect to fulfil their own carnal desires.
Even today we may look around at the various sects and denominations and we see men and women who look to a particular leader for their counsel. Multitudes of religious people choose to follow influential, wealthy and charismatic personalities that they may be just like them. Rather than seeking the plan and purpose of God for their lives, rather than hearing the Word of God preached from a true minister of God family, they choose to listen to the words of a man who will speak what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. In Babel, we find them firstly making their own bricks and using slime. This is a stark contrast to the temple that Solomon built which was made of no brick and no mortar. Rather, the temple was fashioned out of stone that had already been prepared before the building was to be assembled.
1 Kings 6:7... And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
It is no wonder that God refers to His people as “lively stones”. God’s people are not fashioned and moulded with man made tools and substances like bricks are. The born again believer is the result of the hand of God, in the same way stone is a creation of God. God prepares the soul of man to be made a part of His Church. Man cannot create stone, and neither can man prepare a soul for God’s building – His Church.
1 Peter 2:5... Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
You can now see that this tower of Babel, this Babylonian kingdom soon became a product of man rather than God. These men and women sought to build themselves a city and a tower that would reach into the heavens and they built it with man-made building blocks. It seems quite foolish that they went from dwelling in the mountains, in the heavenly places, and moved to the plains of Shinar that they might build a tower that would reach into the heavens where they were previously dwelling.
God had already placed them where they needed to be and did so without requiring them to expend the time, cost and energy into building their own way there. The problem is they wanted to get to Heaven their own way and make a name for themselves. We see the same thing happening again today. Many do not like the way God has made and revealed in His Word. Many do not want to give up their sin in order to get to Heaven. Many like to hold onto the things that the Word of God has told them they must give up. So they set about building their own way to Heaven. They set about making their own bricks and holding the bricks together with slime.
When thinking of slime, our minds may be drawn to the one animal upon the earth that lives in the slimy swamps – frogs. The Bible warns us about these slimy frogs in Revelation 16:13-14. Revelation 16:13-14
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
This tower of Babel was to be held together by slime. Here in Revelation we find that unclean and devilish spirits are likened to slimy frogs which inspire the mouths of the false prophet. God warns us of these spirits also in 1 Timothy 4:1…
1 Timothy 4:1... Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; It is the evil, seducing spirits that wish to dwell among the slime and in Genesis 11 we find many men and women who also wished to dwell among the slime. The child of God has no desire to dwell among slimy evil spirits, but rather desires to be a part of the building made of solid stone wrought by the hand of God. The Babylonians rejected the stone because they favoured a product they could create and shape themselves that they might make a name for themselves.
This is no different to the many false prophets we see today who like to build their doctrines on their own thoughts, dreams, visions and opinions. They make a name for themselves formulating a new doctrine or practice that is unique to them and their denomination. They like to create their own tower into the heavens that suits their desires and accommodates their life. Their tower is a creation of their own materials (doctrines and teachings) and it is held together by slime (evil, seducing spirits).
In verses 5 and 6 we find that God came down to see the work wrought by the hands of these men.
Genesis 11:5-6... And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
By now the people were most definitely absent from the Lord. They were no longer dwelling in the heavens with Him as when they were when God placed in the mountains of Ararat. Their move from the east in the mountains and removed them from the presence of God. Now, God had to COME DOWN to see the city and the tower as verse 5 says “the Lord came down…”
Let us be warned that when we move from the light God has given us, when we reject the truth preached and delivered to us by the servant of God, we then remove ourselves from the presence and glory of God.
Upon seeing this work God noted that these people in darkness were one with all one language and could not be restrained from doing what they had imagined to do. God was certainly not pleased with them. They were together fulfilling their own vain imaginations and would not allow themselves to be restrained by the Word of God.
This may remind us of the progression many made from apostatising from the Church to being in the complete darkness of the Roman Catholic Church. During the dark ages from approximately 530AD to 1530AD the Roman Catholic Church had complete universal sway and dominion upon the whole earth.
Anyone who did not conform to their man-made doctrines and worship of devils were soon persecuted and died a torturous death. Anyone who had a different voice was silenced in death, leaving only one voice which spoke doctrines of devils. It was in this time that the true family of God went into hiding that God may preserve His people upon the earth.
The next verses show us what God did in response to the rebellion of these people.
Genesis 11:7-9... Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
This one great, unified people were now confused and scattered abroad that there work would be destroyed. They were now in complete and utter confusion as they could not communicate in one language. For a group of people to build something significant and to achieve something of great height they must be in complete unity. The work had now been hampered by their confusion and this confusion brought about division.
In the same way from the year 1530AD to 1880AD the Roman Catholic Church crumbled as confusion set in and many departed forming their own sects and denominations. Men opposed the government and ways of the Roman Catholic Church and went about forming their own religious groups. The result today is we see false religion scattered upon the face of the earth while division and confusion have led many souls from the truth. This was the final result of Babylon.
Babylon began as a great city with one people all speaking one language and with one voice. Their rejection of the light and wandering from the heavenly heights led to their demise – a land of confusion and division. The word “Babel” or “Babylon” means “confusion”.
From this time in Genesis 11 Babylon has never been spoken of in a positive way. It was Babylon that took God’s people captive away from their home in Zion. We read of this in Psalms 137.
Psalms 137:1-4... By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?
As long as God’s people were in Babylon, they were miserable. They were absent from His presence and could not hear His voice. They could no longer sing the joyful songs of praise and worship to God as they once did in Zion. They could no longer play their harps to the music of Zion. Zion, the place from where the blessings flowed was far away and they were in a foreign land. It was a place of captivity, where they were held against their will when they wanted to be in the presence of God. It was a place of confusion. Today spiritual Babylon is still a place of confusion as evil spirits reign there.
Revelation 18:2... And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
In a physical sense, Babylon was a man-made city and tower and was the result of the vain imaginations and pursuits of man. Babylon became the departure from all that was spiritual and heavenly as man created his own dwelling place. Babylon became a place of confusion and consequently was the source of division.
So it is in the spiritual sense. Many have rejected the truth and departed from the teaching of God’s Word and chosen rather to create their own religion after their own vain imaginations. They have formulated their own creeds and doctrines and thereby caused confusion and strife. Today false religion is scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.
The good news is that following the scattering of the people in Babylon in Genesis 11, God brought new hope.
Genesis 12:1-3... Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. From Babylon, God called Abram out and led Him to the place of God’s will to start a new nation, a new Kingdom. Here God created a new kingdom upon the earth which was made up of His own special people. This was the Kingdom of Israel.
Today, there are still only two kingdoms. There is the Kingdom of God, which God calls all to join and there is the Kingdom of the world which consists of Babylon. All those that have been captivated by Babylon may now be set free and join the Kingdom of God. This is a Kingdom of one voice and one language. It is a Kingdom united with one people living in the Heavenly place. While false religion continues to scatter its people abroad, the Kingdom of God gathers and unites its people into Zion – the Church -- the family of God.
In Zion God’s truth, His Word is preached and the thoughts, opinions and doctrines of man have no place. God is the King of this Kingdom and not one building block is man-made. It is ordained by God, it is built by God and today God continues to rule His Kingdom. It is a Kingdom built in the mountains heights where God dwells and where the Son of God rises with healing in His wings. This is Zion, the Church ---the family of God.
Hebrews 12:22-23... But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,