Passage: Genesis 11:1-9
Points
1. The whole earth had one language and they settled in the land of Shinar.
2. 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, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
3. The Lord saw their intentions thus He gave them a variety of languages and dispersed them throughout the earth, thus the city was known as Babel.
Personalize
After the flood God began to rebuild the nations with the descendants of Noah. In Genesis 9:1, God instructed mankind, through Noah, to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” And again in 9:7 he told them to “Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.” God’s message was clear: scatter and multiply. The people of Shinar were focused on the opposite. They planned to prevent the immigration of their people so they gathered in order to make a name for themselves. They had no interest in moving throughout the earth and making a name for God.
In Opening Up Genesis, Kurt Strassner writes.
“Here also is a reminder that God knows and cares for the nations and peoples of this earth by name; a foreshadowing of God’s promise to one day gather people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation into his kingdom through Jesus. He spread them out so that he might bring them back in. That is what Acts 17:26–27 says: “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God.”
The gospel message is not to be kept to ourselves so we will “make a name for ourselves”. The gospel is the good news for all people and nations. Like those in Shinar, we love to gather for self preservation and glorification. It is comfortable among people “like us”. Our focus is not on taking the gospel to all nations but on enjoying the benefits of the gospel for ourselves and our own. Abraham would later be called to be “a blessing to the world” and not just to his own. Our goal is to bring glory to God among the nations. Let us step out and scatter, not gather.
Prayer
Scatter us among the nations so You will be made known and glorified in all the earth.
