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Towards a True Tower and New Name
Genesis 11:1-32
We’re builders by nature. Give a child a bucket at a beach, he’ll make a sandcastle. Kids also love Lego - after building, they want to display their work. They refuse to break apart their creation and will fight others who try to. They always want to make the biggest, the tallest, the prettiest. But not just children. Grown men too. From the Empire State Building to Taipei 101 to the Burj Khalifa - architects and corporations aspire to build great monuments. Why? There’s a longing to build, to leave a mark, and create something bears their name. And this longing is not, in itself, evil. It’s a reflection of the Creator. God created us. We’re creative because we’re created in his image. But like every good thing, it becomes a tower of rebellion when we reject God’s Word, and build for our name. Eve rejected God’s Word and wanted to be like God. Cain rejected God’s warning and asserted himself over Abel. Noah took God’s good gift, and filled it with sin. He didn’t drink to God’s glory. It’s the same today and in today’s passage.
From the plains of Shinar to the family of Shem, we see a clash between man’s plan for paradise and God’s plan for His people. Man has his own vision of things, but God has his. We’ll see how pride is scattered and how hope is gathered in the most unexpected place. And we’ll see these verses in 3 descriptions. Firstly, man’s plan to construct paradise. Secondly, God’s plan’s to crush pride. Thirdly, the Promised Seed’s curious pedigree.
Firstly, man’s plan to construct paradise. In Genesis 9:1, God’s command to Noah and his sons was very clear. After the flood, they were to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth. God would no longer destroy the earth with water, so that the Promised Seed of the woman - the savior who’d destroy sin and Satan - would be born. So what did they do with this gracious and hopeful promise? They disobeyed! There was a refusal to fill the earth. Verse 1 says - “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.” It tells us there was a unified humanity - but not in a good way. Normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing. One language means they could understand each other. And they had the same speech - meaning vocabulary - meaning, they understood each other perfectly. No misunderstanding. And it’s wonderful because with the same speech, you can accomplish much good. You can understand each other. But you can also accomplish much evil. And they pursued evil. Verse 2 says, “And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.” So the “they” in verse 2, refers back to the “whole earth” in verse 1. The whole of humanity moved to the plains of Shinar and settled there. This is the meaning of dwelt - not a temporary stay, but an immigration. And since God already commanded them to be fruitful, to multiply, and fill the earth; their settling shows evil rebellion toward God.
But evil is also seen in how they traveled. The phrase “journeyed from the east” is hard to translate. Some versions say “journeyed to the east” and others “journeyed in the east.” But the significant word is “east.” This cardinal direction shows they were moving away from God. In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden, God placed an angel to guard the east entrance. They were east of Eden, away from paradise. Similarly, when Cain traveled to Nod, away from God’s presence, Genesis 4:16 says, it was east of Eden. So it signified they were moving away from God, away from his command to fill the earth. And because the whole world did this, this disobedience was not isolated but consolidated. It was a conscious choice by all. Now what’s quite sad is that Shem’s line was also involved. Remember, it was the whole earth. Meaning, all the descendants of Ham, Shem, and Japheth had common speech and plotted to consolidate, not dissipate. So whereas Genesis 9:26 called the Lord the God of Shem, all of Shem didn’t follow God. They all used the same language for insurrection. Why? Because they refused dispersion, but chose fortification to rival God.
Verses 3-4 tells us that. They said to one another - come, let us make bricks and bake them. And they had brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. They said, “come, let’s build a city and a tower whose top reaches the skies. This will make us famous, and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” Instead of being dispersed, which to them implied insignificance, their strategy was rebellion - that was their grand plan for significance. They wanted to construct their own paradise, by building a city and a tower. Significance was not found in God’s plan, but theirs. To them, only theirs would result in glory. And so their goal was two-fold. Firstly it was to build a monument to mark their achievement - they said, “let us make us a name.” Secondly it was to be a fortress against God’s will - “lest we be scattered abroad.” But how’d they do this? By using brick and mortar. This means their technology was more than stone-age. They could make brick by firing it in a kiln. And they used asphalt in construction, meaning, they knew how to mine it or extract it from the ground. After all, the flood produced lots of petroleum. So ironically, they used gifts of the land which God created to defy their Creator - to build a self-glorifying and God-rejecting city from brick made of mud and straw from God’s land and asphalt from under God’s land.
Now, technically, there’s nothing wrong with building a city. If they spread across the earth and built cities - there wouldn’t have been an issue. But this was done after the pattern of Cain. Notice the similarities. In Genesis 4, when Cain was judged and sent packing like a vagabond, Genesis 4:17 says he traveled east of Eden to Nod, and sought to cope with his judgment by building a city. He didn’t repent, but built a city. So here, after the pattern of Cain, they moved in the east and built a city. But why was this happening again, when Cain’s line was eliminated? Because all men are corrupt. Even though Cain’s seed was gone, its spirit was still present. It’s the sin nature. And this was significant to the Exodus generation. They were just in Egypt, forced to make bricks for Pharaoh. Exodus 1:11 reads - “Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” They knew the vanity of men. They saw the magnificent pyramids that stretched from earth to heaven. And in building the city, these also built a high tower, whose top would reach heaven. It was like a ladder from earth to heaven - not to worship, but to rival - to make a name - to be like God. It’s Eve all over again. So they used their words, their minds, their hearts, the fruit of the land, to resist God, to construct their own paradise - their own tower and name.
But what was God’s response? We see, secondly, God’s plan to crush their pride. The scene here is almost comical in its contrast. Here, we see his simple plan to sabotage. Verse 5 says - “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” While they were straining to build to the heavens, God simply came down to see the city and tower. All their achievements were made nothing by God’s simple coming down. They tried so hard to reach heaven, but hadn’t. Instead God had to come down. They weren’t equals. Their great moment of pride was insignificant. It showed that God doesn’t compete with our little empires. He dismantles them. Notice this dismantling in the text. They didn’t disperse. Their same language led to rebellious building. Then God saw the rebellious building and confounded the language. They were forced to disperse. Easy.
Now, there’s a troublesome phrase in verse 6. After saying they were one - meaning united - God declared that “now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” This doesn’t mean they could do whatever they put their minds to. But rather, their defiance will be unrestrained, and intentions evil. In fact, it’ll be worse than before. Before the flood, wickedness was great and every intention of minds and heart was only evil continually. But there was Noah and family. Remnants. But now, there was no remnant. If they rebelled in such a way - not to disperse, but to rival - they’d do and be far worse. So the city and tower were not the worst they’d do. It’d be much worse. If God sent the flood to preserve man to preserve the godly seed, what would he do this time, to ensure the promised seed would come?
He intervened. Whereas they said in verses 3-4, “come let us make brick and build,” God said, “come, let’s confound their language.” He didn’t dismantle their city or their tower; which would be simple enough. He didn’t do it by an army of angels. But he simply sabotaged their evil by confounding their speech. The judgment fit the crime. The very tool of their unified collaboration became the instrument of their fragmentation. God didn’t use destruction, he used frustration. The speaking God, who spoke to create and made the tongue and created language, confounded their words because they refused to hear his Word!
And the conclusion? He made them fill the earth. Verse 8 - “So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.” Simple plan to sabotage, profound results. They stopped building and had to disperse as God intended before. Now, we must never think that God never wanted them to build cities. Cities are fine. After all, when Israel came into Canaan, they had cities. David captured and built Jerusalem. And God was never against structures. In the wilderness, Moses received instruction to construct the tabernacle. David built the temple and his own palace. Cities and building were not the issue - rebellion and rivalry were. And God wanted them to fill the earth, to have children. He created so he’d have a people - a people who’d worship him. According to Genesis 9:27, God said that Japheth would populate the earth. But when they refused, God scattered them by bringing confusion, verse 9. Or in Hebrew, Babel. And that continued to be the Hebrew name for the city - Babylon. Confusion. Ironically, the Chaldean name for Babylon, Babilu, means “gate to god.” They wanted a glorious name, but God gave them a name they deserved.
But after this dispersal, what was to become of mankind? God had promised not to destroy them with another flood; but they were all wicked. And now spread over the world. To be clear, they’d no longer with one voice oppose God; in fact, history tells us, that they’d oppose one another - kingdom shall rise against kingdom, nation against nation. But in the midst of this chaos, there’d be a family from which the promised seed would come.
And we see the Promised Seed’s curious pedigree. That’s the last point. From verse 10 onwards, the scene of this global judgment and dispersal takes a startling turn - from scattered nations to focus on one man’s family - the family of Shem. We see a narrowing down of families. Genesis 9 said that Shem’s family would call on God. But at Babel, Shem’s family was disqualified. They joined a global rebellion. But this didn’t negate God’s promise. So we read with anticipation this narrowing down of his family, to the better Shem. Who would it be from this family? Well, we see 10 generations listed: Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah. And the way it’s presented is a repetitive, almost monotonous list: “after he beget so and so, he lived another how many years” emphasizing that he also died. This is God’s answer to Babel - not a human project, but a line. And these names are of those who lived and died. So while man is obsessed with making a name, God was quietly preserving a line through whom He’ll crush sin and Satan. And the focus narrows from all humanity to one family, to show God’s saving plan is specific, historical, and covenantal. While the rest of man would build their civilizations, God’s counter strategy was quietly selecting a line for his name. At the end of the genealogy we come to the final name - Terah - who’d father Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
This must be the man! The good seed! The Noah of his generation! Nope! To the wilderness generation, they’d have seen the irony and immense grace of God. Terah was not faithful; neither his descendants from verse 27 onwards, even Abraham - father of the Israelites. They’d have remembered the harrowing details of this family. In Joshua 24:2-3, God revealed something about them - “Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.” This is what verse 31 says - they left Ur to go to Canaan. And what’s more, verse 30 says Sarai was barren - they had no child. From this, we see some amazing truths. Firstly, this was not good seed. They were pagans. They worshiped other gods in lands beyond the Euphrates River. They were not builders of a godly name, but worshipers of false names. Secondly, they were from the region of Shinar. Ur of the Chaldees. The change in language didn’t result in dispersal for them - they stayed put at the place of towering rebellion. Thirdly, Sarai was barren. She couldn’t be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Fourthly, there was death. The account ends with Terah dying in Haran - a place named after his dead son. Fifthly, there was Lot - the ancestor of the Moabites who opposed Israel in the wilderness! Why start here?
What could God do with such wickedness and weakness? Beloved, he gave him a new name. Abram meant exalted father - except he was no father, neither exalted. But he’d be Abraham, a father of a multitude. And God brought them into a new land - Canaan. He opened Sarah’s womb. And for years, they’d have no city. Abraham would have no land. But that didn’t matter. Why? What did Abraham seek after? Hebrews 11, the chapter of faith tells us that “by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise! [Why?] For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” God didn’t respond to Babel with annihilation by a flood, but with a promise. He chose a man from a pagan family, from a city of confusion, and told him - “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 how does God do that? Through his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. And he said, he’s building his church, and the gates of hell, the gates of Babel shall never prevail against it. And that he alone is that tower to God - that ladder - on which the angels of God would ascend and descend. And he prepares a place for us - in my father’s house are many mansions. And how does he do this? By the preaching of the gospel to gather in God’s people. He did this at Pentecost, when his disciples preached the Word in every tongue. He did this by telling them to go into all the world to preach the gospel - to make disciples of all nations. This is how God will gather his people.
Dearly beloved, what’s the application to us? The clear application is kingdom growth. Not our kingdom, but Christ’s. It’s to go into all the world, with the gospel. That through it, people who naturally oppose one another, would worship Christ together. It’s too easy, to apply this to our own endeavor in building renewal and planting. But for whose name do we do it? And as we do it, are we speaking the same thing? The same language? To be one, in a godly way? How has love for God’s kingdom motivated us? When Christ wrote to the church of Philadelphia - the church of brotherly love - he acknowledged their gospel endeavor. They were weak and small, but the work of the gospel was before them. Would they do it? Would they disperse? Would they build their name and their tower? Or would they labor towards a true tower and a new name? Listen to Christ’s words to them who’d do the work of ingathering in Revelation 3:12 - “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”
1. Man’s Plan to Construct Paradise (1-4)
A. They refused to fill the earth (1-2)
B. Their grand plan for significance (3-4)
2. God’s Plan to Crush Pride (5-9)
A. His simple plan to sabotage (5-7)
B. He made them fill the earth (8-9)
3. The Promised Seed’s Curious Pedigree (10-32)
A. The narrowing down of families (10-23)
B. The harrowing details of this family (24-32, Joshua 24:2)
Conversation for Change:
- What is the one “project” or area of your life where you are most tempted to seek your own significance and security apart from God (e.g., career, reputation, family, ministry)?
- Has God ever “confused” or frustrated your plans in a way that, in hindsight, you now see as His grace?
- You are not a citizen of Babel but a citizen of the New Jerusalem. What is one practical way you can live this week as a citizen of the New Jerusalem rather than as a builder of Babel?
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mark Chen, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2026, Rev. Mark Chen
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