In this sermon from Genesis 10-11, Pastor Mark shows that all nations came from Noah’s 3 sons and dives into the topic of the city and Tower of Babel, including what influence the events of Genesis 11 have had on language throughout history and even in modern times.
What Does the Bible Say About Globalism? (The City of Babel: Genesis 10:1-11:9) (9)
=Genesis = book of beginnings
1. How did we get nations?
- Nation = a group of people w/ A. Borders B. Culture C. Leader
- UN recognizes 193 nations
#2. Why are there so many languages?
- Around 7k known spoken, less written
- Top 7 spoken – English; Mandarin; Spanish; French; Arabic; Russian; Portuguese
= Genesis 1-5 Adam to Noah; Genesis 6-9 Noah, Genesis 10 Noah to Abraham
3 Sons Fathered All Nations
Genesis 10: These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. 15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
21 To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. 26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. 32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.
- Fulfils be fruitful & multiply = fill the earth
- Acts 17:26 “he made from one man [Noah] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place”
- God knows all nations & people of the earth personally by name
- All people & nations are ruled by 1 God (called Table of Nations)
- This explains the nations & enemies around Israel those in the wilderness are facing
- Nations descend from people & carry forth generational patterns & demons unless SAVED
- Jesus comes through Shem (Luke 3:36)
- Jesus Kingdom has a list of names like these nations (Lambs book of Life)
The City of Babylon and Tower of Babel
Genesis 11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 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.”
Evolution – external NOT internal (brick making 30% world houses today & tech for building)
City of Babylon = 1. Density 2. Diversity
Location: Shinar (ancient Babylon, modern Iraq)
- to move east is to move away from God (Adam Gen. 3:24; Cain 4:7)
Language = important
- Our God speaks (Gen 1-2 “God said”), & Jesus’ the Word of God
- We interpret communication & communicate because we bear God’s image
- Words define experiences
Was There One Language in the Days of Babel?
Genesis 11:1 says, “the whole earth had one language and the same words.” Linguists believe there was an ancient spoken (not written) language from the time-period of Babel, in the region of Babylon, that suddenly disappeared but gave birth to the known earthly languages. These language families can be broken into groupings: Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Armenian, Tocharian, Balto-Slavic, Albanian, and Unafilliated Languages. There has been an ongoing effort to reconstruct this “first language” by deduction from non-Christian scholars. Archaeology Magazine says, “By the 19th century, linguists knew that all modern Indo-European languages descended from a single tongue. Called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE, it was spoken by a people who lived from roughly 4500 to 2500 B.C., and left no written texts.”
Tower of Babel = World’s 1st skyscraper
1). Rule “like God” 2). See enemies coming & Military defense (on a plain)
3). 1500 yrs later Nebuchad. = Shinar (Dan. 1:2)
Globalism – everyone lives same region = 1st attempt at 1 world gov’t
God creates Satan counterfeits
New Jerusalem Babylon
Made by God Made by us
God’s name great Our name great
God comes down humbly We go up proudly
God saves & provides for us We save & provide for ourselves
Ruled by Christ Ruled by Antichrist
Did the Tower of Babel Really Exist?
The tower of Babel was in the ancient city of Babylon (Iraq), and part of Mesopotamia. In nearby Egypt, the famous ancient architect Imhotep built the legendary step pyramid. In 1899 the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey began an 18-year excavation of the mud brick ancient ruins that are widely believed to be the “ziggurat” Tower of Babel. The bitumen (asphalt), used for mortar (Genesis 11:3), was also excavated. The base was roughly 300 feet by 300 feet, it was over 300 feet high, and torn down by Alexander the Great (325 B.C.). Unlike traditional Egyptian pyramids, Mesopotamian ziggurats were step towers that could be built much higher. It is estimated that 17 million mud bricks were used for the 7 tiers, which engineers have determined would be possible to successfully build. Archaeologists have also discovered an additional 32 ancient ziggurats in Iraq and Iran.
PHOTO 1: Robert Koldeway and put his name over the photo https://artsandculture.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/robert-koldewey-left-and-colleague-in-babylon/AQH-cGaoQKkjuQ
PHOTO 2: An Egyptian pyramid next to a Mesopotamian ziggurat and if we can use this photo great, or find one similar https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/pyramids-and-ziggurats/
Nations and Languages Protect People from Each Other
Genesis 11:5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
=Unity – unified unbelievers are more powerful than divided believers
1. Scattering is better than Flooding (ancient language of defeated army)
2. Mary sang Lk 1:51, “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud”
3. Babel – 1. Ancient Acadian “gate of the gods”; 2. Hebrew “confusion”; 3. English “babbling”
-XNs – Bible translations & Missions
Nations Unite over = 1. Mutual Benefit 2. Common Enemy
–Post WWII – Axis (Italy, Japan, Germ) Allied (Sov Un, US, British Empire, Poland, France, UK)
Safety/Security – UN Security Council, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
Regional Trade – European Union; North American Free Trade Agreement
Tech – AI software that translates on your phone; Language Apps – Duolingo, Babbel
$ – World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Cryptocurrency
= Sodom & Gomorrah, Nazi Germany, N Korea, Iran, cartels, trafficking, political platforms, media, entertainment, social media – WORLD wants to overtake every sphere
City of Babylon
1. Past = Enslaved Daniel & friends after attacking & destroying Jerusalem taking to Babylon
2. Present = spirit” Babylon 1). Sex/Gender/Marriage 2). Kids 4). Educ 4). Gov’t 5). Religion
3. Future =
-Rev 14:8 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
-Rev 17:5–6 “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations….drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
-Rev 18:2 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit”
God’s Answer to Babel is Jesus Christ
- We don’t go up, our God comes down.
- Jesus Christ came down from his High Place to a lowly place
- Jesus only high place was hung on a cross
- Jesus ascended to His high place
- Jesus sent us to witness “to the ends of the earth” Acts 1:8
- HS came down @ Pentecost foreshadowing the New Jerusalem in God’s Kingdom
Rev 7:9 I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb [worshipping King Jesus]