The Tower of Babel
Nov 26, 2007 Devotions
Genesis 11: 1-9
1 – And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
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.
3 – And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
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, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5 – And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 – 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.
7 – Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8 – So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 – 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.
Sometimes we humans get “a little too big for our britches” as my Grandma used to say, and one of the best examples I can think of is the time that a bunch of folks decided to take it upon themselves to build a tower to heaven – what we know today as “The Tower of Babel”. I suppose they figured they didn’t need the Lord’s help to reach paradise, they could simply build a tower and get there on their own.
But God didn’t quite agree, so He confounded their language which made it impossible for them to work together on their wicked enterprise. He then scattered them “abroad” to diverse parts of the world, a process which created what we recognize today as tribes and nationalities. Actually, the Lord went pretty easy on them since He could have easily just killed them off as punishment for their transgression, but instead He chose to let them live.
As always, the Lord was patient and merciful in His judgment, but there will come a day when God’s patience and mercy will run out. That’s why it is so important that sinners repent and ask Jesus to save them before it’s too late. You see, our days on this earth are numbered, and not one of us even has a clue about how long it will be until we die. Not only are we not promised tomorrow, we aren’t even promised the rest of today!
In a nutshell, it all boils down to this: If you die before you “get around” to accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, you will spend a literal eternity suffering in a fiery hell. There will be no second chances, no pardons, and no parole.
Have you accepted Jesus’ wonderful (and free) gift of life? If not, I urge you to do it right away. After all, as a mortal man or woman you just might take your last breath of life before the sun goes down tonight, and if you wait until you pass on you will have squandered your one and only chance to avoid a nightmare that will be all too real and will never come to an end.
Leave a Reply