Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #6 of Genesis, chapter 11 and we are going to read 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 JEHOVAH 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 JEHOVAH did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did JEHOVAH scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Here, God is once again declaring that He will confound their language and scatter them. We have discussed some of the reasons why God did this. It had to do with containing the spread of evil until the proper time and it had to do with containing technology and advancement until the proper time. Primarily, it had to do with God’s program of times and seasons.

There is also a spiritual picture that can be seen here. These people journeyed from the East and, in the Bible, the East often represents the kingdom of God, so they were coming from the kingdom of God and they were intending to build a tower and a city, which requires work and effort. However, they were unified – they were on language and they had one goal. It was very likely they would accomplish their mission, but the spiritual picture really involves mankind going away from God and His kingdom. The kingdom of God is established in the earth through His Word, the Bible, and the Scriptures reveal God as the God of salvation. He is the Saviour. He is the one that shows mercy and grants His grace to certain individuals. In doing so, He lifts His elect people “up to heaven,” so to speak. He brings them into heaven and exalts them through His salvation plan.

These people that come from the East had former identification with God and His kingdom, but they have decided to work together to build a city and tower that would “reach unto heaven,” as it says in Genesis 11:4:

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…

Historically, we do not know what they had in mind with their building project. We do know that mankind can be very “religious” because God designed man in the image of God, so ancient people would often build religious places of worship. When it says that they wanted to build a city and tower “whose top may reach unto heaven,” it would have been some type of religious structure that the people thought would grant them favor in reaching heaven. There would have been this kind of a spiritual picture with this historic building project. It says in Luke 14:26-33:

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

I wanted to read this passage in its entirety, because it all ties in to verse 33, where Christ said, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” God ties the idea of building a tower and first counting the cost of it with taking up your cross and following Christ. And not only does it mention the building of a tower, but it says, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” Not only do we see the construction of a tower in view, but it is a tower whose construction was unable to be finished. That is the cost that must be considered if you seek to build a tower. First, you must take account of the expense and effort to complete the tower and, if you fail to do that, you would have insufficient funds to finish it and people would mock you. You can see how this relates to the construction of a tower in Genesis, chapter 11 because they were not able to complete the tower, as it says in Genesis 11:8:

So JEHOVAH scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

The word translated as “left off” is elsewhere translated as “ceased.” They were not able to finish the tower. The historical record matches the parable in Luke 14, so that is a very curious thing. What is God saying in Luke, chapter 14 and how can we relate it to this historic event. It is a historical parable, which is a true historical occurrence and, yet, it is teaching a deeper, spiritual truth. When we go back to Luke, chapter 14 and we look at verse 28, which says, “For which of you, intending to build a tower,” the Greek word translated as “intending” is Strong’s #2309. This word is also translated as “would” or “will.” It is translated as “will” in Matthew 16:24:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

The context is the same as Luke 14, where it said, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple,” so it is significant that the word “intending” is the same word translated as “will” in a verse that has to do with taking up your cross and following Christ.

Let us substitute the word “intend,” and it would say: “If any man intend to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

And that is the idea with building a tower. If you are “willing” to build a tower that reaches to heaven. The similarity between taking up your cross and following Christ or building a tower that reaches to heaven is that both transport you to the heavens. That is the goal of man, a religious creature that wants to get to heaven. How do we get there? The Lord Jesus laid out the way. You must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. However, that is too stringent or too difficult for mankind, so they develop another plan: “We will build our own city and tower that will reach unto heaven.”

How do you build a tower? You make bricks. You put forth effort and you work. The work is devised by the imagination of man and he will develop it based on his own good works and what he thinks is appropriate. Then he thinks he can build a tower that will reach unto heaven.

We can see the similarity if we look at John 1:51:

And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Christ says that it is upon Him that mankind may climb unto heaven. The language of “ascending” has to do with going up. It also mentions “descending” because Christ is speaking of what happens when an individual would become saved during the day of salvation. At the moment of salvation, they were “transported” into heaven in the Person of Christ Jesus and they were immediately dispatched (descended) back to earth as a messenger of the Gospel. That is now their responsibility for their days upon earth. This all took place in the spiritual realm. The individual child of God remained on earth during this process and he never went anywhere physically. However, spiritually, it was as if he ascended upon the Lord Jesus Christ and then descended to perform his duty of sharing the Gospel with others. If you think that is saying too much, look at the verse that John 1, verse 51 is drawing from, in Genesis 28:12:

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

This clearly illustrates that the “angels” or messengers of God are going up and down a “ladder.” They are climbing up to heaven and then coming back down to earth and Jesus is that “ladder.” That is what He declared in John 1, verse 51 and, therefore, He is this tower that reaches to heaven. Notice it said this in Genesis 28:12, where they said, “and the top of it reached to heaven.” Again, it said in Genesis 11:4:

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven…

This was entirely man’s effort, apart from Christ, to climb into heaven. When that happens in Christianity, we call it a “works” gospel. That is what every works gospel does. Every Gospel except the true Gospel is a “works gospel.” The free will gospel is everywhere today and it is a works gospel. They present it to their congregations or to a packed stadium and they say, “Here is what you have to do. It is very simple. You do not have to do all that much, but you must ‘accept Christ.’ Do that little bit of work for Jesus because, after all, He died for you and paid for your sins, so won’t you do that little part that only you can do? Accept Him and you will be a child of God and you will go to heaven.”

So, there is that “work” or that “tower” that you must build yourself. Yes, you can build it upon the idea that Christ did most of the work, but you must set your own brick and through your own good work, you can finally reach heaven through accepting Christ or whatever else these churches say you should do in order to build this tower to heaven.

That is what God is condemning. Spiritually, that is why God is interrupting that process and causing it to cease. He is destroying their work and they are not successful. Even in Luke 14, there was no success when the man was willing to build the tower, but if he did not count the cost and was unable to finish it people would begin to mock. The reason why Luke 14 is presenting an unsuccessful attempt and Genesis 11 recorded a historically unsuccessful attempt to build a tower to heaven is because man never succeeded in this effort in the entire history of the world. What is proclaimed in all the world’s churches is a promise of liberty and a promise of eternal life, if you perform your part by “picking up a few sticks.” The promise is there. It is the “tower” mankind wants to complete, but it can never be accomplished and completed. The New Testament churches were actively involved in the construction of a “tower” through a multitude of works gospels in numerous denominations. Each denomination had their own theme regarding salvation and how their members could become saved. They were “busy bees” trying to construct their tower to heaven and God came down on May 21, 1988 to see it all. Did He confound their language? Yes, that is exactly what God did. Remember that in Deuteronomy, chapter 28 God gave the blessings of being obedient to Him, but in the last part of the chapter He stated the curses of being disobedient to Him. It says in Deuteronomy 28:39:

JEHOVAH shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

Historically, it was the nation of Babylon that came against Judah, but, spiritually, Babylon’s coming against Judah typified the forces of Satan coming against the New Testament corporate church at the end of the church age on May 21, 1988 and during the entire Great Tribulation. Not coincidentally, the “tongues phenomenon” in many churches came to the forefront. There was that mysterious event that took place in Corinth during the 1st century AD before the Bible was completed and God very purposely inserted this account about this “gift of tongues” in 1Corinthains, chapter 14. It basically lay dormant throughout the church age until it neared the time of the end and then there was a tremendous fascination with “speaking in tongues,” a language that people did not understand. It was “babel.” It was not an indicator to them that believe, but it was a “sign” to them that do not believe. It was a sign of unbelief to indicate that the wicked were taking over the congregations and that Satan and his forces had overcome the camp of saints. So, Babylon (the kingdom of Satan) spoke a language that was not understood and they took over the corporate church. God “confounded the language” of the corporate church and He turned the churches and congregations of the world into “babel.” The word “babel” in Genesis 11 is the word for “Babylon.” God turned the churches into Babylon.