Review: Babel, Genesis of Kosmic Thought II, Gen 10,11
Genesis 11:1-9 describes the tower of Babel, and it is
the rebellion at the tower of Babel—man uniting with one language against
God—that gives the reason for the scattering that occurs in chapter ten.
Babel, then, becomes a picture or a type of what happens to mankind in
rebellion against God, that the nations of human history cannot survive unless
they are in obedience to God. This is the principle. Babel sets up and begins
to crystallize what the Bible calls the world system. This world system is that
which dominates human history. It dominates all nations, all peoples that are
in rebellion against God. And in contrast to that God calls out one individual,
Abram. It is through Abram that God is going to work to counter the world
system. Through the promised seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, God is going to
provide a salvation that will in turn come back to redeem the world. What
happens with God’s judgment on the tower of Babel is in grace. God begins to
work through one individual because nations, the peoples, in their volition
have turned their backs on God.
Romans chapter one is a picture of what happens
historically and what took place after the flood. Eight people came off the
ark. They knew what happened, had witnessed the flood. They had witnessed the
fact that God had closed and sealed the door on the ark. God protected them and
preserved them. When they came off the ark they were witnesses to the covenant
that God made with Noah—a verbal, audio covenant. Shem, Ham and Japheth
all know that, and yet, within just three or four generations their descendants
were setting themselves up in antagonism to God, shaking their fists, as it were,
at God, and creating alternate deities. This is what happens to the human heart
that is sinful and wicked above all things—Jeremiah 17:9.
Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth
in unrighteousness;
Romans 1:19, “Because that which may be known of God
is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.
Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans 1:22 “Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools,
Romans 1:23 “And changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
four-footed beasts, and creeping things.”
This is the beginning of idolatry. They begin to
worship that which is in the creation rather than the creator. And it doesn’t
have to be limited to some idol made of stone, wood or metal, it can be the
worship of some kind of intellectual ideal or process, or something abstract.
Romans 1:24, “Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves:
Romans 1:25, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
for ever. Amen.”
This is the breakdown. In every single system of human
thought, including the most sophisticated scientific theories today, buys into a
form of monistic pantheism where the universe itself becomes God. So they are
worshipping, deifying something in the creation. The consequence of that is
that there are three stages of divine discipline, where God, as it were, pulls
back the restraints and gives man over to the consequences of his rebellion. We
see that these are signs of judgment.
Romans 1:26, “For this reason God gave them up unto
vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that
which is against nature:”
Lesbianism and homosexuality is all a part of God’s
judgment on a culture for their rejection of God. It is not that for which we
will be judged, it is God’s judgment on the culture.
Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those
things which are not fitting.”
Perversion and all manner of sins are listed after
that.
Romans 1:32, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that
they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but
have pleasure in them that do them.”
Man knows at his very core that he is accountable to
God: “knowing the judgment of God.” They not only know that they engage in
things that are deserving of death but they also approve of those who practice
them. This is the backdrop of what happened historically in that period between
Noah and Abraham. What this is, is the establishment of the cosmic system, and
this becomes solidified at the tower of Babel. So throughout the Bible there is
a battle that culminates eventually in Revelation between Jerusalem, the city
of peace, and Babylon, the confusion created by human viewpoint paganism. This
is the struggle that we have down through history and is not resolved until the
Lord Jesus Christ comes back at the Second Advent. Babylon represents what the
Bible calls worldliness or the world system, and this becomes solidified in
Genesis 11 in all of its dynamics. It has a political structure: the tyranny of
Nimrod. Every political system, other than that which was originally designed
by God is the theocracy of Israel, is going to deteriorate into tyranny
eventually. Every political system is going to deteriorate because it comes out
of this cosmic thinking.
1 John 2:15 is a crucial text for understanding the
world system: “Love not the world [cosmic system], neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world
[cosmic system], the love of [for] the Father is not in him.” In other
words, you can’t love the world and God at the same time. This is the same
thing that James writes about in James chapter four: “Friendship with the world
[cosmic system] is enmity [hostility] with God. Whoever therefore wants to be a
friend of the cosmic system makes himself an enemy of God.” These are mutually
exclusive ways of thinking.
1.
Cosmos in its negative sense has to
do with an arrangement or system of thinking that is arrayed against God.
2.
Satan is the ruler of the cosmic
system. As such cosmic thinking reflects the kind of thinking exemplified by
Satan at the time of his fall. John 12:31; 14:30.
3.
The whole world lies in the power of
the evil one and thus is under his influence and cosmic thinking. 1 John 5:19.
4.
Satan as the ruler of the cosmic
system was judged on the cross. John 16:11. Cosmic thinking has been judged or
condemned by what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Cosmic thinking asserts
independence from God; Jesus submitted Himself to God. It is fearful of God;
Jesus loves God the Father. Cosmic thinking is antagonistic to God whereas
Jesus Christ totally fulfilled everything God planned; He was obedient to the
point of death. The cosmic system is the expression of Satan’s agenda.
5.
The cosmic system has its own way of
thinking. It may be manifested in a number of different ways but they are all
manifestations of the same basic arrogance and hostility towards God. In cosmic
thinking you have an ultimate view of reality and all of these systems of
thought, all these religious systems, can all be boiled down to one basic view
of reality.
6.
Man has always sought to establish
his authority for his knowledge/truth apart from revelation, either in terms of
reason or experience or mysticism. But reason, experience and mysticism are set
over against revelation, so that rationalism is used to denigrate the Bible,
empiricism is used to try to destroy biblical truth. But it never does, it
always destroys itself in history. This is not to say that there is something
wrong with empiricism or rationalism, but empiricism and rationalism must
operate under the authority of Scripture.
7.
A way of thinking, i.e. whatever
mode of thinking one adopts, produces a lifestyle that is consistent with it.
So every cosmic form is going to produce certain lifestyles that are consistent
with it. We call those lifestyles culture. The core of every culture is the
idea of religion. What made western European history different was
Christianity. Christianity changed the dynamic. If it hadn’t been for the
infusion of Christianity and Bible doctrine in the early church age which
changed the trend of western Europe, western Europe would have been just as
animistic and pagan as everybody else.
8.
The elements of cosmic thinking are
three. a) Arrogance. It is creaturely centered. b) Fear, dread of judgment.
That in turn motivates antagonism, hatred for the Word of God and the desire to
destroy Christianity and the truth of the Word of God. This is why James says,
“Friendship with the world is hostility toward God.” They are not compatible at
all.
9.
Therefore the believer is to
extricate himself from the morass of cosmic thinking in his soul. At the point
of salvation a person’s soul is loaded with cosmic thinking. It is our job as a
believer to be reeducated. Romans 12:2, “Be not conformed to this world [the
modes of cosmic thinking] but be transformed by the renovation of your
thinking.”
This is the mission, and what God is going to do
through Abraham. At the end of
Genesis eleven the world is in a state of collapse, almost the same condition
as before the flood (minus the demonic infiltration), and there were just a few
people who were believers.