Genesis 11:5

The Bible says in Genesis 11:5-6, “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” These verses show how much the Lord is displeased with human religion. God wants to see everyone become saved and then to live by faith. Therefore, of course, He is displeased with any religion or religious organization that keeps people from the truth about Jesus. Once Jesus is no longer given His proper place of preeminence in any group, then that group starts becoming just like the group that built the Tower of Babylon. “The children of men” built the tower of Babylon. But the Bible says in Psalms 127:1, “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

God wants unity in the name of Christ. But when man gathers together in opposition to the revealed will of God, the greatest potential for iniquity is created. It happened when the Kingdom of Babylon first came into existence, and it will happen in the last days in that last manifestation of the Kingdom of Babylon. It says in Revelation 19:19, “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.” God has His way of dealing with these ungodly kingdoms. The way that Christ will deal with the ungodly in the last days is given in Revelation 19:20-21 which says, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

The way that God dealt with the circumstance that gave rise to the Tower of Babel is given in Genesis 11:7-9. God said, “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” There are hundreds of languages on the earth today, and for most people it is difficult to learn to speak another language as fluently as their mother-tongue. The Bible tells us that the reason for these diverse languages and the difficulty to learn many of them is because of man’s arrogance and self-glorification in the building of the Tower of Babel.

We have seen the kingdom that man built: a kingdom built by man’s aggression, and a kingdom built by man’s effort without faith in God. But now we are going to see God build a kingdom made of human beings who put their faith in the power of God. We will be introduced in Genesis chapter 11 to a man named Abram. Abram’s genealogy starts with Shem, the son of Noah, in Genesis 11:10-11 that says, “These are the generations of Shem; Shem was an hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.” This genealogy continues until we get to Abram’s father and it says in Genesis 11:26-30, “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child.” Of course, Genesis 11:30 tells us a very important circumstance about the marriage of Abram and Sarai: they had “no child.” Having a child is very important to many couples, and it was especially important to people who lived following the flood because they had been told by God to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

Another important detail about the life of Abram and Sarai had to do with where they lived. Abram originally lived in the city of Ur. The Bible says in Genesis 11:31-32, “And Tarah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came into Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.” Of course, we know that later God would call Abram to leave Haran and travel to a new land: the land of Canaan. In reading about Abram’s life, we can see some of the ways in which God works in all of our lives. God was going to ask Abram to pack up and move. Perhaps because Terah, Abram’s father, had already moved from Ur to Haran, that later it was easier for Abram to also move. God works in the hearts and minds of those who are around us to prepare us for His will. As the father Terah was the leader of this family unit. Abram, Lot, and their wives followed Terah’s leadership. Eventually Terah died and Abram became the leader. God wants us to follow those whom He has put in a position of leadership. If God wants an individual to make the decisions, God has ways of putting that individual in a leadership position. God is in control. He is guiding, and He is working in the lives of everyone around us to accomplish His will in our lives. God’s will for us is that we live by faith in Jesus Christ and allow Jesus to become our leader.

The Bible says in Genesis 12:1-3, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” God gave four commands, and then six promises. God told Abram to leave his country, his kindred, his father’s house, and to go to a land that God would choose. We know that God chose the land of Canaan. We can make a reasonable conclusion that Abram was told to leave his kindred and his country in order to get him away from the bad influences of idolatry. In Abram’s time the cities of Ur and Haran in Mesopotamia and Babylon were immersed in false religion and idolatry in every facet of society. The spiritual principle is this: “Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” “In the world, but not of the world.” “Love not the world.” “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”

To leave your country, your kindred and your family can be very difficult from an emotional standpoint. It would have also been a frightening thing to do, because family support and protection was very important in those ancient cultures. That is why God’s promises were so important and comforting. The Lord said to Abram, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” In this context to be blessed by the Lord means to be made prosperous. To be blessed by the Lord means that He opens doors that no man can shut. To be blessed by the Almighty means that He makes sure that things work out for good.

Unfortunately, the reality of life is that we do have enemies from time to time. We have those who will oppose us or fight against us. We have spiritual enemies. Abram must have known that by traveling to a strange country, he was exposing himself to some as yet unknown enemies. How strong would those enemies be? Would Abram be able to fight against those unknown enemies? God said, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” How do people get through this world without God’s help? They do not do it very well. But with God’s help, we can get through anything, and we can face anything and anyone. God loves His children, and He will take care of them. Those who oppose God’s children will find that God will protect His own. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 23:5, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay.” God is going to take care of His believers, and because of this, Jesus said that believers should love their enemies and do good to them.

God said to Abram, “And I will make of thee a great nation.” There were two fulfillments of this promise: a physical fulfillment and a spiritual fulfillment. The physical fulfillment referred to the nation of Israel which came from Abraham. The spiritual fulfillment referred to the kingdom of all believers, who would have the same kind of faith that Abram had: faith in God’s promise. In our day the promise has to do with salvation through Jesus the Savior. Of course, in order for a physical nation to come from Abram, a child would have to be born. But Abram and Sarai had no children, and they were already advancing in age. Genesis 12:4 tells us that Abram was seventy-five years old at the time of his departure for the promised land. God made a promise that would require a child to be born. Of course, man was not able to fulfill the promise. God had to work wonders in order for the promise to be fulfilled. It is always like that. If we are realistic, we are very aware of our own weaknesses and inabilities. We are very dependent upon God doing things that we cannot do. God has made many great and precious promises. We serve Christ by doing the best that we can, but at the same time we must constantly rely upon the Lord to do for us the things that we cannot do ourselves.

God said to Abram, “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” This is a reference to the Messiah who would be the descendent from Abram who would be the blessing to “all families of the earth.” What greater blessing can there be than to be saved from one’s sins? God has a plan for the world, and God has been working that plan since before creation. The plan centers around the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible, up until the birth of Christ there is a great emphasis on the linage of Christ because nothing was more important for the human race than the coming of the Savior. God promised to Adam and Eve that there would be a Messiah. Now we see that God chose Abram to be the one through whom the Messiah would come.

Why did God choose Abram? We see why in Genesis 12:4. It says, “So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” Notice that it says that Abram departed “as the LORD had spoken unto him.” Abram had a willing and an obedient heart. Human beings tend to be rebellious, stubborn, and self-willed. What good would have come if God had called Abram, but then Abram had decided to stay with his family? The promises would have been given to someone else. The nation of Israel would have been born from some other lineage. Someone else would have been known as the father of faith instead of Abraham. Christ would have had a different lineage. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” The Spirit of God is everywhere in the world. According to John 1:9 Jesus is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Everyone is given some Light, but then how we respond to that Light will make all the difference in the world. To truly be saved, you must be willing to bow down at the feet of Jesus to say, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” The apostles left their nets, and “followed” Jesus. No one gets saved by saying, “I will believe, but I am going to go my own way and do my own will.” God knows ahead of time if each person has a hard heart or a tender heart. One of the things that God is doing with unbelievers is leading them to the point where they have an opportunity to look up to Christ with the right attitude and the right desire to know Him. Some people will only seek help from God when they are flat on their back.

Abram was not that kind of a person. He immediately did what God asked him to do. The Bible says in Genesis 12:5-6, “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.” Notice the phrase “the Canaanite was then in the land.” The wheels of God may appear to move slowly to you and me, but they move ever so finely. Almost four hundred years before God called Abram, God had pronounced judgment upon the descendents of Canaan. The land of Canaan was going to be taken away from the Canaanites. Abram was the beginning of the end for the Canaanites because it was God’s will. God decides what is going to happen in this world to individuals and to nations. This is our Father’s world. Jesus is King of Kings.

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