“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it” - wise words from the past, but often ignored. For example: when humans try to unite the earth and rebel against God, they’re going to have a bad time.
In a SUPER-short history: God created Adam and Eve, and roughly 1,600 years later God was wiping out humanity with a flood. When Noah and his family left the ark, they began repopulating the earth. But rather than spreading out, they all moved east together and settled in the land that would become Babylon. In Genesis 11, we see them decide to build “a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…”
Life is hardly about making a name for ourselves.
Now, this is extra-biblical, meaning it’s outside of the Bible, but there is a highly-respected Jewish historian that lived over 2000 years ago named Josephus. Everything else he wrote about has been proven archeologically, so we tend to trust what he wrote about religion as well, and he chronicles that a man named Nimrod set himself on keeping God from ever destroying the earth again with a flood. Specifically:
“He (Nimrod) would revenge on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would built a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 4)
So, in general, the Tower of Babel is synonymous with a rebellion against God. Just like Satan and the fallen angels, just like Adam and Eve, and now with Nimrod, people see God’s plan and say “okay, except I’m going to go do this other thing…”
It never turns out well.
How did God handle it? He could’ve sent a meteorite. He could’ve instructed His followers to mark their doorposts with lamb’s blood and the Angel of Death would pass over them. But He didn’t punish them physically, or turn their hearts to stone, or shorten their longevity, or set upon them with warts and boils. He just… confused them. He stirred up their languages so they couldn’t work together anymore.
For 4000 years, the people have scattered. They have been fruitful and multiplied. They have reached the ends of the earth.
And now, especially in the last 50-100 years, they’re coming together again.
With the development of the United Nations, there was a push to reunite the world on a basic level (good). Then there was a push for a New World Order (bad). What started as a governing body designed to keep peace across the world has now suffered scope creep and it takes stands on a variety of positions. Their website shows 23 different areas they are involved in, from climate change to human rights to population issues. The UN takes a stance and tells countries what to do and how to do it.
There are currently only 5 countries with the power to veto a UN decision: Russia, China, the United States, France, and the Untied Kingdom. What are we moving towards? One world.
Every other time humans all band together, they put themselves in place of God and claim not to need Him.
Again, the world working together sounds like a good idea. Then again, it feels like Marxism: On paper? Great idea. In practice? “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” (W.B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”)
We’re already seeing things fall apart in the massive efforts put into globalization. There was a massive expectation of interdependence, just let every country focus on the things that they are excellent at because all of the other the countries can support the things your country lacks.
But here in Texas, we’re getting notices from the natural gas companies that gas is going to be a lot more expensive this year, because of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine can’t export their grain, which means chicken feed has skyrocketed, which means both bread and eggs have nearly doubled in price. What happened to the country that was “o beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain”? Did we run out of plains and grains? No, we just decided to import, because we could and because if we did, it would help balance their budget… and now we’re all suffering for it.
The countries ruling the world have undue influence because of their wealth. In fact:
Wealth lends power, and power granted by wealth is usually irresponsible.
Our children and young adults are being taught what the government dictates. Why? Because if school districts do not support the new mandated curriculum, they will lose their government funding. Even Christian universities (looking at you, Baylor) support evolution instead of theism because their science departments will lose their grants if they teach otherwise.
When kids take their parents money, they are beholden to their parents’ will. When you take government money, you are beholden to government influence.
The people that hold the resources hold the ability to influence our government, our media, our laws, our politics, our universities, our supply chains, our grocery stores, our commerce, and ultimately the world.
Man is rising up like a Relevational beast out of the earth
Revelations 13:11-18 describes a second beast (the first being Satan) rising up out of the earth, exercising the authority of the first beast (hello), making all of the earth worship the first beast whose fatal wound had been healed (that tracks). The second beast is given power to give breath to the image of the first beast (wow), and it forces “all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads” (more on that another day), and those who refuse to worship the first beast will be killed.
Now, interpreting the Book of Revelations is always dicey, but we’re going to take a stab at it: the second beast is Man. We will give breath to the image of the first beast. We will demand that people be marked.
And those without the mark will not be able to buy or sell. They won’t make the rules. They won’t have a say. Oh, they’ll be saved, and to us that’s all that matters. But it’s coming. The ones in control will not be saved. They will not know God. But they’ll have all of the power in media, in government, in commerce…
We are the Tower of Babel, mankind working together to go against God’s will.
So we pray. We pray earnestly, fervently, for wisdom, for courage, for discernment, for strength.