Ball of Confusion Pt. 2. Genesis 11:9-32

Last week we found that our ancient ancestors began their determined practice of worldliness by disobeying God’s command to disperse throughout the earth to represent and carry His name and instead sought to settle in one place and make a name of themselves.

From there we began to see that the world is a ball of confusion by our own design. But since God is neither unmindful of and uncaring about His creation we also saw that He won’t allow us to permanently debase the world He created for our good and His glory.

Picking up the narrative in verse 9 we find that worldliness was embodied in the city that eventually was called Babylon. Babylon was not only a powerful city of the ancient world, it also became the biblical symbol of the essence and substance of worldliness. The physical city of Babylon was to the north of the kingdom of Israel and in time was home to one of the most powerful empires of humanity. It was this empire that eventually broke down the walls of Jerusalem, conquered and crushed the city, destroyed Solomon’s great temple, carried off a good many of the population and effectively put and end to the kingdom of Israel. Babylon was such an overwhelming traumatic event in the life of Israel because it was the very antithesis of the kingdom of God.
They had no consciousness of being set apart exclusively for the will and purpose of God.
The king of Babylon was totally unlike the kind of king God commanded for His people. He ruled by brutal force and was quite willing to send his servants to horrific deaths if his will wasn’t heeded. This tendency toward violence infected Babylonian culture and they were thus a extremely violent and oppressive people.
Babylon had absolutely no clue, awareness of inclination to join, live under or pursue God’s eternal kingdom.
Babylon was an idol loving culture. It prized wealth, pride, fame, prosperity and derived it’s contentment, security and significance from its own accomplishment, strength and beauty.
Babylon and its king were totally confused and deluded as to who the where the world real beauty, power, destiny etc. came from. In fact like their namesake in Gen. 11:9 the king of Babylon existed only to make a name for himself.
Babylon was a very ‘spiritual’ place. Any and everything could be worshiped.
Finally, Babylon was a wildly perverted and morally corrupt, disrespectful and depraved place.
It shouldn’t surprise us then that the worldly attitude of Babylon has set the tone and pattern for our 21st century culture today. Babylon became such a symbol of ungodly worldliness that when John described the world right before the return of our Lord he called it Babylon.

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice,
 "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living." Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; Rev. 18:1-4.

By the time of the end of the world we’ve reached a point where there is rampant spirituality yet no acknowledgement of the one true God and His one way of salvation through Jesus Christ, rampant, open and blatant sexual immorality, rampant injustice and political oppression and rampant greed and materialism. The very same vices present in ancient Babylon are present in our modern day world which John calls ‘Babylon’.

Worldliness is the desire and practice of existing and living apart from a biblically defined worshiping relationship with the one true God. Worldliness isn’t so much a series of actions as much as it’s a determined attitude that consciously pushes God’s worship, God’s word, God’s presence and God’s salvation to the margins of our existence.

Having conquered the Hebrews the Babylonians falsely believed that they had defeated YHWH the God of the Hebrews. Thus they continued living as though His worship, His word, His presence and His salvation didn’t exist or mattered.
Worldliness is the belief that the exclusive worship of the Triune God is a waste of time, a waste of effort and utter nonsense. If God is to be acknowledged for approached at all it’s only to manipulate Him into giving us what we really, really want. Even if worship does enter into the picture the attitude of worldliness refuses to accept, believe and acknowledge that the Lord God must be approached the only way He’s commanded which is having faith in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worldliness is the belief that the word of God is merely a collection of religious ramblings by some zealots who somehow got a great many people to believe them. As such the world once more considers it nonsense to actually pattern your life after what’s written in Scripture. From the world’s point of view even if there is a God he/she/it/they certainly could not communicate with any degree of accuracy or reliability to humanity. Think of how eagerly the world accepts bogus conspiracy theories regarding the life and death of Jesus Christ.
Worldliness is the belief that God’s presence is not wanted, not needed and not welcome. For the world they can get everything they want and need through their own strength, intelligence, motivation and hard work.
Worldliness is the belief that God’s salvation isn’t necessary. In the world’s mind God really isn’t all that good and holy and we’re not really all that bad and unholy.

That’s part of the essence of worldliness and we see it’s effects all around us. We live in a world that accepts spirituality but refused to acknowledges the supremacy, uniqueness and deity of Jesus Christ.
We live in a world where His word is doubted, scoffed at, ignored, challenged and regularly disobeyed.
We live in a world that goes about its business as if God really did not exist, that He really does not see or know what’s going on, and even worse as if there’s nothing he could do about it even if he wanted to.
We live in a world that passes off the message of salvation much the way seasoned travelers pass of the flight attendant safety speech at the beginning of each flight.

And of course we live in a world that is crumbling, falling, fading and destined for God’s judgment and punishment.

Are you worldly? Do you have a desire to worship the living God? Does singing His praise, going before Him in prayer, reading and reciting His word, fellowshipping with God’s people and hearing His word preached something that you look forward to? Are you mindful to prioritize worship by adjusting your schedule to participate or do you allow and find things to do that crowd worship out?
What place does God’s word play in your life? Is it the nourishment you use to feed your soul? Is it your final appeal regarding issues of morality and life? Is it what guides and directs your actions?
Do you value, long for and find comfort in God’s presence? Do you live with a God-consciousness with the knowledge that through His Spirit God is with you and therefore your life and character are different? Do you look to depend on His presence and strength to accomplish His will through your life or are you busily doing your own thing confident in the belief that achieve you desires? Do you find yourself really feeling at home in this present world and are just waiting for things to break your way so you can begin living your best life now or do you long for the courts of heaven?
Do you prize God’s salvation in Jesus Christ? Do you see your own sin and unworthiness and realize that your only hope to avoid God’s certain judgment is by believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ?

Are you worldly? If you are, then take the warning of Rev. 18 very, very seriously. Understand that refusal, rejection or merely neglect of the things of God will provide the soil in which worldliness will grow, fester and eventually destroy you.

God’s plan for redemption continues despite our rebellion. Immediately following His judgment at Babel God moves on to redeem or recover the very peoples that rebelled against Him.

God still graciously and providentially watches over humanity, blessing their procreation and providing for their needs through the earth He created. God exercises His complete sovereignty by guiding the line of Shem down to the birth of Abraham who He would eventually call out of the land of the Chaldeans. It is through Abraham and his wife Sarah that God would preserve a people for Himself and birth the Messiah who is a blessing to all peoples. The goal of God’s redemption is to bring glory to Himself in and through the person and work of His Son Jesus Christ who secures our redemption through His sinless life, sacrificial death and powerful resurrection.

The end of God’s redemption is to in fact build a city which indeed will be the city of God.

Unlike Babel, the city of Zion is not made by human effort and thus subject to neglect, decay, natural disaster and conquest. Unlike Babel, the city of Zion is not an exercise of independent rebellion against the living God but one in which everyone will joyfully and completely bow to the gracious will of our sovereign king Jesus Christ. Unlike Babel, the city of Zion is a place where God's worship is preeminant, God's word establishes our righteousness, God's presence is welcomed and gloried in and God's salvation is the subject of our everlasting son. Unlike Babel the city of Zion is a place where there are no more tears, no more death, no more pain, no more mourning, no more grief and no more sorrow. Unlike Babel the city of Zion is a place of absolute and ultimate spiritual satisfaction, absolute and ultimate wholeness, absolute and ultimate beauty, absolute and ultimate righteousness, absolute and ultimate peace, absolute and ultimate delight and absolute and ultimate security. Unlike Babel, the city of Zion in not a city where we proclaim our own name, pride, achievement, accomplishment and autonomy but a city where the Name of the Lamb is worshiped, adored, praised and prized throughout eternity.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. Rev. 5:9-14.

What a spectacular city, what a spectacular salvation and what a spectacular Savior. Is this the city you've been looking for and the one you long for?

Babel can only ever be a ball of confusion where confused people collide and propagate conflict while trying to make a name for themselves. Zion on the other hand is the city of the great King Jesus Christ the place where all His redeemed people will proclaim His Name as we sing all created things declare your majesty, over all you rule in great glory.

To Him Who Loves Us...
Pastor Lance