"Who do you think you, are?

5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6And 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.

7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9Therefore 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.

A majority of the posts prepared on this blog, has made reference to who we are in Christ and not of whom we think we are, ourselves. For so long, many of us have lived below the standards of God, enslaved by this world system. What is the world system? Let's look into some bible history, starting in the beginning with Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1):

1Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.

Now, notice God gave the command to Noah and his sons by saying,
"fill the earth." Instead, man chose to fill his own desires and seek his own will, in the name of God. We can see this as we read further in the book of Genesis, Chapters 10 and 11.

Nimrod is the son of Cush, whose father was Ham. Ham was Noah's youngest son, and was cursed by Noah for having told his older brothers (Shem and Japheth) of his father's nakedness while lying drunk in his tent (Genesis 9:20-25).

Of the descendants of Ham, Nimrod was the first heroic warrior on earth, the founder of Babylon and Nineveh, the two great cities of antiquity and sadly the first to introduce false gods and humanism into the world. What is Humanism? An article written by The Internation Humanist and Ethical Union defines Humanism as:

"Humanism is a way of thinking and living that aims to bring out the best in people--so that all people may have the best in life. Humanists reject all supernatural and authoritarian beliefs and believe that we must take responsibility for our own lives and for the community and world in which we live. The humanist life-stance emphasizes rational and scientific inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, and the need for tolerance and cooperation."

In Chapter 11 of the book of Genesis, we see at one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and migrated to the east, settling in Babylonia. Now Nimrod, being the founder of Babylonia we can get a good sense of what his character was like.

However, it's been suggested, that Nimrod was part of the demonic invasion of the race, with sexual overtones, brought into being a race of giants that were morally degraded (see Genesis 6:4 and Genesis 10:8-10). Suggestively, Nimrod was one these "mighty men," and introduced a perverted, degraded form of religion into the world, which started in Babylon and spread to Nineveh. Thereby, through Nimrod idolatry and false religions began to form.

Now, let's take a look at the command God gave to Noah and his sons, once more in Genesis Chapter 9:

1Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.

When the people of the earth migrated to Babloynia that dreaded emotion called fear seeped in. The fear of the unknown and unhonored caused them to build a tower and a city. With the ultimate goal being to make themselves famous. Let's look at Genesis 11:3-4):

3They began saying to each other, Let's make bricks and harden them with fire." (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)

4Then they said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world."

Nimrod gained a great reputation as a hunter of wild animals. But, the Jewish Talmud provides that he was more than a hunter of wild animals. He was "a hunter of the souls of men."

Here we see man's strong desire to defy God. God had given Noah descendants the command to go and fill the earth. He didn't tell them to go and stablized themselves in one particular area of the earth. But, man's desire (even unto this day) to live separate from God will forever be his downfall. From the beginning Babylon's goal was to resist any further scattering of a united and integrated people would be centralized.

First and foremost, the builidng of the tower had a religious theme, one which was made by man and not of God. For the bible traces all false religions to Babylon. Whereas, the people of Babylon had rejected the knowledge of the one and only true God and created a false religion as part of their cultural achievements.

The false god of Babylon was known as Marduk. In fact, Nimrod himself was later deified as the chief god (Marduk) of Babylon. In the Babylonian religion Marduk (or Nimrod) and his wife Semiramis were the ancient god and goddess of Babylon. They had a son, who Semiramis claimed was virgin-born. Which was a feeble attempt on Satans's part to disrepute the story of the Jesus being born into history later.

Further, it was the Chaldeans (Babylonians) for the reason of astrology, who first developed the zodiac by dividing the sky into sections and giving meanings to each on the basis of the stars that are found there. Supposedly, a persons's destiny is said to be determined by whatever section or "sign" he is born under. From Babylon, astrology passed to the empire of ancient Egypt.

Nimrod built a city and established a common religon. Whereby, the tower which was built to be a religious, was in essence, built to make a name for man. The master motive behind man's religion is a means by which man attempts to share the glory of God.

However, it is not just a question of the diety of other gods versus God, each person thinking that his or her god is the true one. It is the rebellion of man against God, period. For, God is He to whom we are responsible. But fallen men and women do not want to be responsible to anyone. They want to rule themselves. They want to exclude God from His own universe.

But, what has been ultimately forgotten is God who in the affairs of men that their achievements and successes are possible only through the common gifts of God to humanity.

God reiterated the same command to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden(Genesis 1:28), to "increase in numbers and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1). However man chose to defy God's command and settled in Shinar. From the beginning it was the goal of Babylon to resist any futher scattering of the peoples over the earth and instead to create a city where the achievements of a united and integrated people would be centralized.

Therefore, God came down and punished the people's arrogance by creating a confusion of different languages and possibly racial distinctions. This way man would be forced to obey God's original command to be "fruitul and fill the whole earth."

The tower was a grand structure, and undoubtedly was intended to be a means by which man would glorify God. But it was not really for the glory of God; it was a way of controlling God, a way of channeling God by using him for man's glory. That is what man's religion has always sought to do. It is a way of making God available to us and not us to Him.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, man has made every attempt to live without God. Even in our everyday lives, we put Him aside and call upon Him, only when we feel trapped and in dire need. We realize, however, that we need God, "but let's keep him under control. Do not let him step out of his place. "Don't call us, God we'll call you." This is the fundamental philosphy of society, as the tower of Babel all over again.

Now, God could have destroyed the people and the tower, however, he performed a miracle in the minds and vocal cords of the builders. He confused their language so that now, instead of speaking together and working together, their words were confused and because it was divinely appointed that man should fill the earth. Therefore, the people scatter over the earth.

You see God used His His heavenly council and moved to confused their languages. For He said:

"7Come, let's go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won't be able to understand each other." (Genesis 11:7)

God always has the last word. We can assemble our councils; but God will assemble His councils, and the decree of His council will prevail. Which means, in the end those who choose to go their own way will always end up frustrated. The prize which is sought after so earnestly, is liken to a bubble that bursts at first touch. The fruit for which we desire, taste like ashes in our mouths. At every opportunity we try and buck up against this, but it will forever be this way because we live in God's world, not our own. Genesis 1:1 says:

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

So many times, we try to do things on our own. We think that we don't need God in our lives, and our able to fulfill or destiny without Him. Thereby, we rationalize our behavior and believe in "other gods", such as our careers and material possessions, placing the one and only True God, on the shelf until further notice.

So, who do you think you really are? Do you believe the accomplishments that you've made, are by your own hands? We must begin to realize, the only true significant accomplishments are God's (sometimes in and through us), for only these partake of the nature of God and endure forever, as God does.

Remember, everything was created for Him and by Him, and all things consist because of Him!