Grace: "Gracious Intervention" 6-9-24
Overview
Gracious Intervention at Babel
About a hundred years after the flood, humanity migrated south and settled on the rich farmland of the plain of Shinar in the region we now call Iraq. The question worth pressing is whether the people who came off the ark were truly different—whether the judgment of the flood had produced a change of heart. The answer comes quickly in Genesis 11:1-4. Using fired bricks and bitumen—materials chosen for permanence—they resolved to build a city and a tower "with its top in the heavens" in order to "make a name for ourselves," and to keep from being scattered.
Two sins surface in that single verse. First, they sought their own glory rather than God's. This is the same temptation Eve heard in the garden—"you will be like God" Genesis 3:5—and the same boast Nebuchadnezzar would later make from his palace roof: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built…by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" Daniel 4:30. When the Messiah was born, the angels sang "Glory to God in the highest" Luke 2:14; the perennial human counter-song is "glory to me in the now." Second, they refused to scatter, which was direct disobedience to God's command to Noah and his sons to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1, Genesis 9:7). Their posture was the old human posture: nobody tells me what I can or cannot do—not even God.
We carry the same heart. Call it the "center of the universe syndrome"—the innate pull to make everything about us, to wonder whether anyone noticed, and to live as though we are accountable to no one. The four narratives of Genesis 1–11 (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the flood, and Babel) all run on the same plot line: sin, judgment, and grace. At Babel, the sin is self-glory and defiance; the judgment is the confusion of language Genesis 11:7; and the grace—often missed—is that God restrains them. Knowing what sinful humanity united in one tongue would do, the Lord scattered them in mercy, frustrating their plans so that His good will would prevail.
When verse 5 says "the Lord came down to see the city," it is anthropomorphic language—not a near-sighted God squinting from heaven, but the assurance that no detail escapes Him. And in the fullness of time, God truly did come down. The second Person of the Trinity, true God and true man, bore on the cross every repetition of our self-glorifying, God-defying sin—past, present, and future—and won for us forgiveness. Day after day, through Word and Sacrament, He keeps coming, picking us up, and making us more like Christ. Linger here on the plain of Shinar long enough to see it: the same God who graciously intervened against humanity's proud project graciously intervenes for you.
Transcript
But you'll open your Bible's Please to chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis. 3s
The first book in God's Holy Word, if you're using a Puedition, you're going to find that 9s
on page 8 Genesis 11 chapter for our study today. 13s
We continue in our sermon series today, Sunday drives. 20s
We're going on a biblical event tour throughout the summer. 25s
So we're filling up the Station wagon with gas and off we go for a Sunday drive each 29s
and every week. 35s
Last week we were driving around looking for the location of the Garden of Eden. 36s
Well, as we saw from Scripture, we can't pinpoint exactly where the Garden of Eden was 43s
because after the flood, everything had been changed. 50s
Mountains had been changed, rivers redirected and so to say, here was the Garden of Eden 56s
you can't do it. 62s
We also saw the picture of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, the picture of heaven in Revelation, 64s
the similarities of those two pictures. 75s
And we could see that because of Christ, Eden has found us. 81s
Well, back in the car, then today we go for another Sunday drive and we're going 90s
to go today to Iraq, to Iraq. 95s
The time table here that we're going to study is it's 100 years after the art, 100 years 100s
after the art. 111s
And the Bible tells us that the people they migrated south and the people wound up in 113s
the plain of the land of China, which was in Iraq. 121s
And they wound up with very, very good farmland. 131s
Really good. 137s
Makes a lot of sense why they were settling there. 138s
It was luscious, wonderful farmland. 142s
Here's the question, though. 149s
Were the people that left the ark, no one is family? 154s
Were they different after the flood? 161s
Were they different after the flood? 167s
Was there a heart change? 170s
They knew, for well, why God had brought about the flood? 174s
Remember, God saw the wickedness upon the earth, God green, that he had created humankind? 178s
God said, I'm going to wipe it out because of the sin. 185s
Save Noah and his family and two by two of the animals. 192s
So, knowing the reason for the flood, experiencing the reality of that being saved by God, 196s
when they got off the ark, were they different? 209s
Are they different? 214s
People had their hearts been changed. 216s
Well, to answer that question, we have to ask another question. 224s
What did the people do on the plain in the land of China in Iraq? 233s
Look on the place. 244s
Chapter 11, verse 1. 245s
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 248s
And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of China and 253s
settled there. 258s
And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burned them thoroughly. 260s
And they had brick for stone and bichuman for mortar. 266s
Now, they weren't using dried clay here. 271s
The process that they were using indicates to us that they had every intention to build something 275s
permanent that would last in fact. 283s
What's revealed to us here is the building method where there are some ancient structures that are still 288s
standing today that were built that way. 296s
So, what was it that they wanted to build that would be permanent? 302s
Verse 3, they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burned them thoroughly. 311s
And they had brick for stone and bichuman for mortar. 316s
Then they said, come. 321s
Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for our 324s
selves. 336s
All this their motivation to make a name for themselves, to bring glory to them, 340s
to themselves. 352s
I think back in Genesis, the third chapter, Genesis chapter 3, we read of the temptation 356s
to Adam and Eve. 366s
And the scripture says, but the serpent said to the woman, you will not die. 370s
For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like, 376s
God, knowing good and evil. 381s
Remember in the garden, God said, you can eat of every tree, say one tree of knowledge 387s
of good and evil. 391s
God was establishing himself as the creator and them as the created. 393s
God said, you determine for yourself what's right and wrong, that's death to you, it's 397s
death to you. 402s
But the temptation that comes, God knows that you will be like, God, if you eat of that forbidden 404s
tree. 415s
Why should God get all that glory? 420s
Huh? 425s
And so what was the temptation that they would bring glory to them? 430s
Think of King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4th chapter, the King of Babylon. 444s
Scripture says that he, Nebuchadnezzar, was walking on the roof of the royal palace of 450s
Babylon and the King said, is this not make nifis and Babylon, which I have built as 456s
a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty. 466s
Sof. 478s
And the Messiah was born, Luke tells us in the second chapter that the angels sang, glory 481s
to God in the highest, but what's the temptation? 487s
Glory to me in the now. 493s
But that's not all. 502s
That's not all. 505s
Look again, ever's four of our text. 506s
Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city in a tower with its top and the heavens 514s
and let us make a name for ourselves. 519s
That's the first sin, wanting to bring glory to the self, here's the second. 522s
Otherwise, we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 527s
They had found a good place and good land and that's where they're going to stay, 535s
but here's the problem when they came off the ark. 541s
Scripture tells us in the ninth chapter of Genesis, God bless Noah and his sons and said 545s
to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 550s
It was reiterated same chapter verse 7, and you be fruitful and multiply a bound on the earth 556s
and multiply in it. 563s
God had commanded Noah and his family that when they came off the ark, not to go find a good 567s
piece of property that you really liked and stayed put there. 575s
No God had commanded that when they come off the ark, they should scatter and fill the earth. 579s
So what do we have here? 587s
We have absolute disobedience. 588s
We have absolute opposition to God to put it another way what they're saying is, 591s
nobody, nobody is going to tell me what I can or cannot do and including God. 598s
No, he's going to tell me what I can or cannot. 610s
Back in Genesis chapter 3, so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that 621s
it was at the light in the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, 630s
she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, 635s
and he ate, some. 642s
Nobody is going to tell me what I can or cannot do and including. 647s
When they got off the ark and when they migrated and a hundred years later there they 664s
are in the plain on the land of Shai Nara, had the flood changed them. 677s
How about with us? 697s
How about with us? 699s
Have you ever heard the phrase the center of the universe syndrome? 703s
Have you ever heard that? 708s
One author and giving a very simple example. 711s
He said, I was in the airport and there were three people they were pushing wheelchairs. 714s
There were perhaps going to a gate to assist someone but there was nobody in the wheelchairs. 719s
They were pushing all three of them. 726s
They were they had all formed a straight line and they were talking and laughing with each 728s
other. 733s
They were oblivious to the fact that people were having to go this way along the wall to get 734s
around them to get to their beets. 742s
It's the center of the universe syndrome. 748s
Have you ever been staring at your phone? 754s
And almost plowed through an entire family as you're staring at the phone. 756s
It's the center of the universe syndrome and you can take that and you can apply it 764s
in much more serious examples. 774s
Can't wait. 778s
We have a pinch-end. 782s
We have a proclivity. 788s
There is an innate hole in us to make everything about us. 790s
There is an innate hole in us to want to bring glory to ourselves and to wonder, I wonder 800s
if someone noticed that. 809s
That's the innate hole in us. 813s
There is an innate hole in us to say and to live out the phrase, nobody is going to tell 815s
me what I can or can't do. 829s
Including dot. 841s
But you see when we're so focused on bringing glory to ourselves, the number one, when 847s
we're so focused on, I'm going to do whatever it is I want to do. 854s
All we're asserting is our selfishness. 860s
All that we're displaying is our sin. 870s
Turns out that Noah and his family and the generations that would come after they were 879s
no different than the ones of the pre-art turns out that sin is still quite prevalent. 889s
Turns out that sin separates us from God and that's the biggest problem. 908s
When you look at the narratives in Genesis 1 to 11, there's four of them. 928s
There's four narratives. 933s
Four different stories. 936s
You've got Adam and Eve, you've got Canaan Abel, you've got the flood, you've got Babel. 938s
There's four different narratives Genesis 1 to 11 and they all had the same outline to 944s
them. 948s
It's all the same theme. 949s
It's all sin, judgment, and grace. 951s
Different stories, same plot line, sin, judgment, grace. 955s
One looks there at the full one looks at Adam and Eve. 963s
What was the sin? 969s
Eating of the forbidden fruit? 971s
What was the judgment? 972s
What was the grace God comes and looks for them? 974s
You've got the story of Canaan Abel. 978s
Canaan kills his brother, Abel. 981s
What was the sin? 984s
Canaan killing his brother, Abel. 985s
What was the judgment? 987s
The judgment was that the land would not yield then for Canaan, and that he would be 990s
a fugitive upon the earth where was the grace, God marking Canaan so that he would not 996s
be killed. 1002s
He comes to the flood. 1005s
What's the sin? 1006s
The wickedness of the earth. 1007s
What was the judgment? 1008s
The earth would be wiped out where is the grace? 1009s
The ark and the preservation of Noah and his family and the animals, two by two. 1012s
You come then to Babel. 1017s
What was the sin? 1021s
It's too full. 1024s
I'm going to bring glory upon myself. 1027s
And I'm not going to scatter. 1031s
Nobody's going to tell me what I can or can't do, including God. 1036s
What was the judgment? 1042s
The judgment is first seven of chapter 11. 1044s
Come let us go down and confuse their language there so that they will not understand 1051s
one another's speech. 1057s
Look at the heart of God, verse 6. 1066s
And the Lord said, look, they are one people and to have all one language. 1070s
This is the only beginning of what they will do, nothing that they propose to do will 1078s
now be impossible for them. 1084s
God knows that sinful human beings with a common language, banded together, God understands 1088s
the problem. 1098s
Mercy. 1104s
So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth and they left 1106s
off building the city. 1116s
The grace is that God foretained their plans. 1121s
The grace is that God's will will be done and God scatters them. 1133s
How about for us? 1154s
How about for us? 1156s
That had the same heart condition, the same problem of those pre-flod and post-flod? 1160s
How about us? 1170s
Look at verse 5, please. 1173s
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which mortals had built. 1177s
That does not mean that God is somehow near-sighted and sitting on His throne is desperately 1185s
squinting to see what it is that His humans are doing down there. 1191s
No. 1197s
God knows full well what is going on. 1198s
This is what is called an anthropomorphism. 1200s
You see Him in Scripture. 1202s
Where God is portrayed in human language so that we can grasp Him. 1204s
We can try to understand Him so it's an anthropomorphism. 1213s
God inspiring the author here Moses to portray God as one who comes down. 1218s
All that means is there's not a detail that God doesn't know about. 1224s
Literally? 1231s
What we see in Scripture is that indeed God did come down. 1235s
The second member of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, 1244s
true God and true man. 1248s
And on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, he bore all of our sin, all of it, 1252s
including our repetitive sin of wanting to bring glory to ourselves, 1258s
including that sin that we just keep repeating of nobody is going to tell us. 1271s
Now meet what I can and cannot do and clothing God. 1280s
Who bore in the hall? 1292s
Off. 1297s
The sins of the past sins of the present and the sins of the future. 1298s
Jesus bore it, God in the flesh on the cross. 1305s
And what God won for us, forgiveness, forgiveness. 1309s
And day after day after day, he is at work in us through word and sacrament to make us more and more like Jesus Christ. 1319s
And day after day after day, we will realize that we fall short every single day. 1333s
And day after day after day, he continues to come picking us up and embracing us with his word of grace, 1342s
one through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1353s
Well, we're out of gas now. 1368s
We'll take another trip next week. 1375s
I'll get some more gas in the tank. 1378s
And a way we'll go. 1381s
It's got to be a full tank next week. 1384s
These were headed to Iran. 1388s
And what happened there? 1391s
So let's linger here for a moment in Iraq on the plain. 1395s
Let's linger here. 1404s
And see the grace of God. 1408s
And know that that grace is for you. 1415s
Every single day. 1424s
And day after day, he continues to come. 1441s