Babel

I hate the tower of Babel. I hate it with everything that is in me. I hate the pride by which it came about, and I hate the consequences that we still face today because of God's judgment. I hate the separation that it brought...raising even higher walls between fallen people than were raised from our initial curse.

I trust that God's judgment was just, and I know that He is holy, and I believe that He is good. But I hate that humanity was so evil that God had to separate us from each other so that we couldn't do even greater evil. I hate that. I hate it.

On the day of Pentecost, God showed glimpses of His power by the reversal of this curse at Babel. He sent His Spirit to translate the apostles' words so that people from all languages could understand the truth of the Gospel of Christ. What a glorious moment in time! People from many different lands and walks of life were united by the power of the Gospel and this very tangible manifestation in their understanding of language. God showed His redemption in this small but very significant way.

And yet the separation remains. The curse of Adam still rests heavily upon us. Difficult roadblocks still mark our path. And I trust that God is revealing His glory through it. In Romans, Paul says that the whole creation was subject to futility, not by its own choice, but by the one who subjected it--in hopes that we might realize that we can't do this life on our own. In hopes that we might turn to God and be saved. In God's judgment, which has brought frustration and difficulty, His mercy remains. Even His judgments at the present time continue to direct us towards Him.

God is redeeming our world, and He is doing it through frustration and despair and hopelessness. These are the things that all people share. And God brings truth and light and a glorious end if we seek Him for answers. We can say to our friends, "Do you feel hopeless?" and "Do you feel like there should be hope? How can we feel hopeless if we don't think that there should be hope? How can we know something is missing until we know that it should be there in the first place?" We were created for Eden!! And we don't live there, but, instead, we live in a world filled with futility and frustration. And in the core of our beings we know that this shouldn't be. We know that there is an answer and we think that the answer should be good.

But it is only a good answer if we know the answer, or rather, if we know Him who is the Answer. Life and peace and joy and hope belong to those who trust Christ and His redeeming work. Eternal glory belongs to those who know God and are covered in Christ's righteousness.

And the tragedy is that our world has given into the lie that there is hope outside of Christ. They have made up other systems of thought which lead to happiness and escape the wrath of God. But these other answers are lies, and they end in death.

I tried to talk to a Cambodian man about Jesus today, and it didn't really end like I thought it would. It's not over yet, but after today, He had learned the word for Bible. But because of our language barriers, he thought that the Bible was any religious book. And he attributed buddhist sayings to Jesus. He told me that Jesus said something about just doing good in this life so that the next life will be better. And he told me that monks go up into the mountains to read the Bible. I was so frustrated at the end of our conversation and dying to break out of the boundaries of spoken language to be able to help him understand the beauty and the truth of the Gospel. The truth that Jesus is THE way THE truth and THE life. He is not just a person who told us to do good. He is not just someone who tells us to be nice so that there will no longer be wars on the earth.

Yes. Jesus commands us to obey Him and walk according to His commands. He tells us to do what is good. But not in a utilitarian sense. We're not doing this to bring world peace. We're doing it because God said so, and it is intensely personal--the response to our relationship to Him through Christ. Yes, if we all follow Christ perfectly, all wars will cease. But we know that this is not the way it will happen. One day, all wars will cease, but not because we are good people. Wars will cease because Jesus will return in all of His holiness and glory and power. And He will command us to bow and worship, and we will bow. Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.

And then there will be peace to those who are redeemed by Christ's righteousness, not by their own righteousness.

I hate the tower of Babel because I can't explain this truth like I want to. I hate it because it adds just another barrier when I try to explain this truth for those who don't know English. I wish I had the ability to speak Cambodian or Mandarin so that I could talk to my friend Cheanang. But I rest in the peace of the knowledge of God. I rest, knowing that His Spirit will move when He wills. I rest, knowing that He will communicate better than I could even if I knew every language. I rest in prayer.

I hate the tower of Babel. I hate it with everything that is in me. Almighty God, please show me if this is a righteous hatred, and help me to trust in You in the reality of Babel and Pentecost.