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.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 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. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 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. –Gen 11:4-9 ESV
Warrior;
Genesis is the first book in the Old Testament, it is the BEGINNING book of the BIBLE- God’s WORD! It is the Launch PAD of God’s STORY: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1) Genesis is a Greek word for “beginning”. In Genesis, we see the BEGINNING of Creation, the beginning of our introduction to God. It is the book of BEGINNINGS! In the book of Genesis we find the beginning of man, the beginning of sin, the beginning of disappointment, the beginning of Israel, the beginning of the plan of redemption and the BEGINNING OF RELIGION- man’s attempt to build a TOWER TO GOD, the beginning of PRIDE and man’s attempt to be GOOD ENOUGH for GOD! 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. 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. (Gen 11:3, 4a) The BEGINNING of RELIGION!
Leader, God sits above time, He is NOT constrained by the dimension of time and its limitations! We sit IN TIME, where God sits above time. God is OMNISCIENT and IMMUTABLE, this means that God CANNOT learn. God is the GREAT KNOW IT ALL! He cannot know more today, then He knew yesterday or He would cease to be GOD! I believe this is HOW we have things NAMED for the way they turn out or show up. The word Israel means to WRESTLE WITH GOD! The original meaning of the word BABEL, was, “Gate to Heaven” but it came to mean CONFUSION! Man was rebuilding, POST FLOOD, and man was working to do the GROUND work to CONNECT with GOD; religion. I have heard it said that the first King of Babylon, NIMROD, was building a tower to GOD to confront him about his decision to end the world with the FLOOD. Man believing HE was ON PAR with God, HIS PRIDE, HIS STRENGTH, HIS GLORY, HIS ABILITY- this is what we call RELIGION! However the book is about REDEMPTION and GOD’s plan to build a RELATIONSHIP with man- HIS MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION!
Conduit, CHRISTIANITY is a RELATIONSHIP with GOD. It is understanding that we can’t BE GOOD ENOUGH, and we CAN”T BUILD a TOWER to GOD, for HE HAS ALREADY built a BRIDGE to HIMSELF, in the PERSON of JESUS! For He is the ONLY WAY to GOD the FATHER! Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.(John 14:6) Religion is always about MAN attempting to FIND THE GATE TO HEAVEN, but when man attempts to be the BUILDER, then CONFUSION is the SPIRIT that we are following! Man is attempting to find the GATE TO HEAVEN: if I wear the RIGHT clothes, or say the RIGHT things, or DO ENOUGH STUFF, then I WILL be the builder of the CONNECTION to GOD- I will FIND the GATE TO HEAVEN! Christianity is about realizing HE IS THE GATE and HE HAS done the planning and the construction- IT IS FINISHED! (John 19:30) In the BEGINNING GOD- the CREATOR of the HEAVENS and EARTH- GOD BEGAN, PROVIDED for and COMPLETED the process of connecting a HOLY GOD to an UNHOLY creature, MAN! The GATE to HEAVEN was GIVEN, there is no need to be CONFUSED and to attempt to BUILD your TOWER TO HEAVEN! In John’s Gospel, the apostle quotes GOD INCARNATE, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. (John 10:9) Quit building your GOOD WORKS and start BUILDING your RELATIONSHIP with JESUS- the GATE TO HEAVEN! “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (John 10:1-3) TODAY, BUILD that relationship and know IT IS FINISHED- He paid the bill- PAID IN FULL!
Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional 