“So Many Languages!” – FBC Morning Light (1/6/2025)

Good morning to you. I hope you're having a good morning thus far. Today I'd like to share with you some thoughts on Genesis chapter 11. You know, if you've ever been to a foreign country where, you know, the language was not one that you knew, it can be quite intimidating, can't it?

Several years ago I had the privilege of going to Singapore and Malaysia, and while Singapore is English-speaking and Malaysia is too, that's not their first language, and a lot of the people in Singapore would speak Mandarin Chinese.

Well, I couldn't understand a word that they would say in Mandarin Chinese. You ever wondered why there are so many different languages? Ever wondered how many there were? Well, I did a little, I did a little deep research.

Yeah, I googled and asked how many language groups are there, you know. Found out that there are 14 major language families, and those 14 language families encompass about 8 ,500 different languages, and some estimate that the actual number of language families is more like 150 or more.

Well anyway, that's a lot. That's a lot of language families, and that is that, you know, in those families and there are sub-languages and so on and so forth. Well the root of all that is actually found in Genesis chapter 11, and what is the root of all the various languages are, is really tied into three things that men wanted and one that they didn't want.

Three things that man wanted and one that they didn't want. And we can see these same dynamics involved in contemporary pursuits, all right? Here they are, Genesis chapter 11 verse 4, man said, come let us build ourselves a city.

There's one thing they want, they want to build a city for themselves. Let us build ourselves a city. Number two, build a tower that reaches the heavens. Number three, make a name for ourselves. Okay, those are the three things that man wanted in this coming together.

They wanted to build a city, they wanted to build a tower, they wanted to build a name for themselves. You see how self-centered all this is, and again like I said, a lot of these same motives drive people in what they do, in their motivations, you know, in their goal setting and so forth.

They want to do, they want to build something for themselves, they want to be able to reach heaven by themselves, they want to make a name for themselves. But I said there's something that the man didn't want, that also affected, and was a root of all the hundreds and hundreds and thousands even of languages in the world, and that is found at the end of verse 4.

He said, let us do all this, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. We don't want to be separated from one another, we don't want to be divided, we want to make a name for ourselves, we want to build a unity for ourselves, we want to be self-dependent.

Well, again, these same motivations drive nations, they drive people, they drive corporations, and so on today. Well, you know, the reason that this is a root of all the language families in the world, in the various languages, is that it all violates the very thing God told man to do.

Back in Genesis chapter 9, after the flood, what was Noah's commission, the sons of Noah and their brides, their wives, what was their commission? Their commission was to be fruitful and replenish the earth.

They were to fill all of the earth, they weren't supposed to all congregate together and build a city for themselves and make themselves great and make themselves get up to heaven. That wasn't their commission, that's not what they were called to do.

They sought to overcome the curse of the fall and overcome the consequences of the flood by self-generated efforts, self-made efforts. What was the consequence of it all? Well, verse 7, God said, let us go down there and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech.

They won't be able to have this self-aggrandizing unity, they're going to not be able to understand each other. Then it says in verse 8, so the Lord scattered them abroad. The one thing that they were afraid of is the one thing that God ensured would happen, that man is scattered abroad.

And again in verse 9 it says, therefore the name of this place was called Babel, 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.

Isn't it interesting that the one thing that man was afraid of is the very thing that God ensured would take place? Because they sought to overcome their fear by themselves, by their own means, by their own efforts.

Well, you know, I think we can learn from this, I think we can understand that if we're just self-absorbed, and we're simply in life trying to make a name for ourselves, trying to build up stuff for ourselves, and to try to, by ourselves, avoid the things that we fear, we can expect that we're going to fail in it all.

The Lord called upon Noah and his sons to look to him, to trust him, to follow him, to obey him, and therein they would find true happiness, and there they would find true fulfillment, and there they would find, by their faith, access to heaven.

Well, let's learn from this. Our Father and our God, we thank you for these challenging ideas from Genesis chapter 11, and Lord I pray that given this understanding, we would avoid the kind of pride and arrogance that caused the scattering abroad so many years ago.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Lord bless you, have a good rest of your day.