A Tower Whose Top Is In The Heavens

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Throughout history, European nations recognized Christianity as the true religion. And then you have nations south of us.

This is really cool. You think about the nation of El Salvador. You've heard of that? You know what that means? The name of their country? The Savior. Their country is named after the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Trinidad. You've heard of Trinidad? Trinidad and Tobago? Is that what it is? Guess what Trinidad is named after? Yeah, the Trinity. The Holy Trinity. That's what their nation is. Now, nobody is saying these nations are perfect.

That's not the point. But this is what nation states produce. Israel, the Lord was their God. That's what it produces. It creates an environment where the faith can be accepted and protected. Where missions can be carried out and the gospel brought to countries that have never heard.

This is what God has ordained. But a one world system will not allow for that. Why not? Why will the one world system not allow for that? Because the one world system seeks to glorify itself. It seeks to bring glory to itself.

Just like Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, they were doing it to what? Make a name for themselves. Turn to Psalm chapter 2. Who gets the glory in John Lennon's vision for humanity? Where everyone comes together as one.

Does Jesus Christ get the glory? No. He wanted to get rid of God. To him it was about, you know, join us. It's about the collective. Some of you remember back in the 60's John Lennon bragged about, hey, we're more popular than Jesus.

And I'm not trying to pick on some of you if you're Beatles fans. I mean it's just the perfect illustration, my friends. Some people have suggested replacing our national anthem with his song, Imagine.

Quite frankly, if that happened in the next 10 years, would I be surprised? Not really. Psalm chapter 2 verse 1 speaks of this. Why do the nations rage or why do the heathen rage? Why do the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. But he who sits in the heavens shall laugh and the Lord shall hold them in derision.

Then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress, in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. They can resist Jesus Christ all they want. Resistance is futile. Jesus one day is going to rule this world whether the heathen like it or not.

Now, what we want, though, is to convert the heathen. We want them to join in the Lord's kingdom. That should be our heart's desire. But this is true. God has already ordained this will come to pass. So as Christians, we understand that the Lord is king.

Jesus has been given authority in both heaven and on earth. Think about it. Two thousand years ago, you had 120 people on the other side of the world. 120 people spread. And now the Christian church is on every continent and every nation, just about every town on earth.

Praise God. Thy kingdom come. That's what we pray in the Lord's prayer. It's coming. But whether it's Nimrod and Genesis or the Antichrist and the book of Revelation, there has been and will continue to be opposition to the kingdom of God.

So you have to understand there's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of Babylon, which is the world system. And then there is the kingdom of God. Now, we're living physically. We're living in Babylon, so to speak.

We are in the world, but we are what? Not to be of the world. So let's go back to Genesis chapter 11. Obviously, that's the application to all of this. Don't be of the world. Genesis 11 verse 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.

This would be what is modern-day Iraq. And they said to one another, Come and let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and they had asphalt for mortar. In that area, there are many structures still standing called ziggurats, which are a staggered, you know, like a step tower, one platform on another, similar to a pyramid, probably what the Tower of Babel was.

Verse 4,. And they said, the people, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Usually in the Bible, nothing good happens in the cities. That's probably still true, isn't it? Nothing good happens in the cities. You have Sodom and Gomorrah. You have this city. You have the city of Nineveh, again, also built by Nimrod, known for its wickedness.

Eventually, Babylon became the seat of idolatry in the ancient world. And even Jerusalem, the holy city. What did God call Jerusalem at times? Sodom in Egypt. Jerusalem is where the prophets were killed and where our Lord was crucified.

And of course, later on, Rome was the city that fed Christians to the lions. So as far as Christianity goes, nothing good happens in the city. And God bless those men who go to the city and set up churches, sort of like missionaries, and they're doing a work there.

But generally speaking, cities are the most dangerous place to be. The only city I want to go to is the heavenly city, New Jerusalem. The first time cities are mentioned in the Bible is right here. The only earlier reference was Cain and his descendants when they built cities.

And we know how his line was. They're the most ungodly places to live. If I were giving anyone advice, it would be don't move to the city. And you have nicknames like Sin City. They could all be named that.

So here in Genesis 11, all the people, they want to band together, they want to come together, concentrate themselves together in this one area. God says, no, spread out, fill the whole earth. They say, no, we are going to do this instead.

So they build the Tower of Babel. And to them, this marked a high point, no pun intended, but it marked a high point for humanity in their eyes. Because this would have been a massive project, building a skyscraper today.

This is basically the ancient equivalent of a skyscraper. So to them, it was a monument of greatness to the Lord. It was an offense. It was a monument for them to their own glory. And by the way, when it says they built a tower reaching into the heaven, these people were not stupid.

Sometimes you have the idea that ancient peoples, they just didn't know anything totally wrong. As a matter of fact, some of them were probably a lot smarter than some of the wisest people today, the things they were able to accomplish without technology.

So they didn't actually think they could build a tower that got them to heaven, like literally. And they were going to find God at the top. That's not what this is. Some have speculated that the Tower of Babel was a site devoted to astrology and the worship of the stars.

Since the signs of the zodiac, all that originated in Babylon. So it may have been an early form of false religion in that regard. We don't know. What we do know, it was very, very tall. It was no doubt an engineering masterpiece.

So when they say, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, this is mankind saying, we don't need God. We can do it ourselves. We can accomplish anything we set our minds to.

What do we need God for? Isn't that the attitude that most people have today? You know, and they talk about science. And they talk about science. Of course, we believe in science, like real science. But they pit science against God as if it's either or.

All true science is God's science. But this is the common attitude today. Mankind doesn't need God. We can do it ourselves. Genesis 11, verse 5, look at it. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

So when it says that the Lord came down, that's anthropomorphic language. We talked about this a few weeks ago where you're using human terms and applying it to God. God didn't need to come down and look.

God is everywhere all at once. It's just a way to help us understand. The use of the term sons of men, it's the sons of men who are building, that likely implies that the line of Shem, including Eber, they're not involved in this.

It's the sons of men, as in those people. And God had reserved for himself a remnant that, again, was likely not involved. Verse 6, and the Lord said, indeed, and by the way, they weren't involved. We shouldn't be involved.

Christians should not be involved in the world's affairs like that. Verse 6, and the Lord said, indeed, the people are one, and they all have one language, and this is what they began to do. Now nothing that they proposed to do will be withheld from them.

So come, this is God speaking about himself. You see a plurality, which is a reference, I believe, to the Trinity. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. So the Lord brought this project to a screeching halt, verse 9, therefore its name is called Babel, which means confusion, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

So that's what the story of Babel, the Tower of Babel, is all about. But what's the takeaway for us? As you leave, okay, you've heard this. You might say, well, that's interesting, but what does this mean for me?

What's the takeaway? You need to realize you are living in Babylon. Spiritually speaking, you are living in Babylon. Any nation that is not following the Lord that is Egypt, it can be spiritually called Sodom, we are living in Babylon.

But just because you're living in it does not mean you are to be of it. God's people are called to be different, set apart, holy, separate. So how does that apply? Well, whatever the latest trend is, whatever the next thing that they're gonna push, and we don't need to go through the list, but whatever the current narrative is, whatever the culture is pushing, you know, it's really, really easy because we live in the world.

It's really easy to get ensnared in it all. So the application is, don't go along with what everyone else is doing. Be different, be like Eber, be like his descendants, be like the descendants of Shem.

It doesn't matter if the whole world is rebelling against God, which they pretty much are, you don't do it. You remain faithful to God in this sin sick age, amen? Amen. All right, let's close in prayer.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for this story of the Tower of Babel, and it reminds us that you're in control and that you are going to bring these plots and schemes and this planning, you're gonna bring it to naught.

And Father, even greater than that, perhaps, as we're gonna see next week, here in Genesis 11, in the land of the Chaldeans, people were trying to build a worldly kingdom to make a name for themselves, but from that same land, Lord, you called a man, Abram, who would seek to bring you glory.

They tried to build their kingdom, but Abraham was the beginning of the building of the kingdom of God. Lord, I thank you for that. And if there's someone here listening today who has never placed their faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and savior, I pray that they would do that.

And if there's someone, Lord, who maybe they have believed many years ago, but they've, in their heart, they know they've become ensnared in this world system. I pray that you would grant repentance and bring them back into right fellowship with you.

And I pray all this in the powerful name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.