Lesson Eight Setting the Stage for the Counter Attack

Reading: Genesis 9: 18 – 12: 3

As we learned in the previous lesson, God had promised in a covenant that He would never again allow the raging flood waters overtake his creation. Instead of wholesale destruction, God would now begin a counter attack. He is going to create a kingdom for himself as a beach head from which He will retake the whole creation as his rightful Kingdom. He begins this Kingdom restoration project with one man (and his wife), one family, and one nation. From this nation He will bring forth the One who will slay the dragon (the seed of the woman shall crush the serpent’s head! Genesis 3: 15), so that all creation can become once more the Kingdom of God.

Setting the Stage: the Antithesis: “I will put enmity between the serpent and the woman (3: 15)”

God guarantees that he will separate the forces of good and evil. He is going to ensure that there will always be godly people to stand up against the destructive forces of godliness. In the second half of Genesis 9 we read about the forces of godliness starting to make their presence felt, even in the new creation.

Noah enjoys his home made wine, but as a result he loses control. As people of God we must always be on our guard against evil. When we get drunk and lose control, we open the door for evil spirits to attack us by leading us to evil and destruction. Noah lies naked in the tent, and one of his sons, Ham, finds him there. In a perverse, homosexual lust and disrespect he abuses his father’s exposure. Yet, his brothers recognize the evil, and they treat their father with respect and cover him with a suitable piece of clothing. But God hates the resurgence of sexual perversity, and through Noah he curses Ham’s offspring, who indeed –especially in Canaan- continue to grow in these ways of wickedness.

By cursing Canaan, ‘the perverse people’, God sets the stage for the history of many generations to come. Yet, God remembers his promise, and therefore we can anticipate that there also must be a ‘people of the promise’, through which God will preserve his dominion and restore his Kingdom. In our first glimpse of Genesis 12 we realize that God choose Abram for exactly this purpose! Abram’s offspring will be the people of the promise, the people of God’s blessing. So, we can already anticipate that the battle between the seeds (of serpent and woman) will first play out between the children of Abram (blessing) and the children of Canaan (curse)!

Babylon: Rebellion against God 

Reading: Genesis 11: 1 – 9

God had told the people of the new creation that they must multiply and spread out into the earth. Yet, not long afterwards, the people decide to stay together in one fertile valley. Not only are they resisting God’s command, they also seek to make a name for themselves (rather than to fill the earth with God’s glory!). So, in defiance against their Maker (Creation) and Savior (Flood), they build a mighty monument as symbol of their uprising against Heaven. They have learned to bake strong bricks, and they plan to utilize this (God-given) technology against God.

But, God is there. He is pictured as enthroned in highest heave, so He must come down to see what these tiny creatures are doing down below. And God intends to put a stop against the evil developments that challenge the rule of God.

So, against the conspiracy of humankind (Come, let us...), God comes with his own action plan (Come, let us...). And so, the potentially dangerous plans of Satan and his seed are brought to nothing. Instead of unity and solidarity, the people become confused and begin to scatter. God uses the confusion of language to secure that the people spread out into all the earth. The

people of the great Babylon (or Babel) become babblers (people with unintelligent chattering).

The stage is set: God destroyed the plans for the building of a city against Him. Now, He will begin to build a city-state, a nation for himself! Abram is called to become a great nation, and this nation must be a kingdom for God; a people dedicated to him and his service!

M.C. Escher: The Tower of Babylon

The Tale of Two Cities: Babylon vs. Jerusalem

In Revelation 18 we read that Babylon is the image of the city that symbolizes human rebellion against God. At the surface it appears as a glorious city with prosperous trade and luxuries, but the wealth was obtained by adultery and “sins piled up to heaven”. So, God urges his people to come out of this city and to abstain from its excessive luxuries. At the end the great Babylon has fallen to God’s judgment.

So, as God brings about the fall of boastful Babel (or: Babylon), he sets the stage to build his own city; the city of God, where righteousness dwells. Pentecost is a decisive moment in God’s Kingdom building project. Jerusalem is the symbol of God’s Kingdom whereas Babel depicts the kingdom of the prince of darkness. So, God scatters the people from Babel to counter the dominance of the Enemy, and He does so by confusing their language. At Pentecost, however, He starts another scattering process to build his own Kingdom. He empowers his church for world-wide missions. They are now to revisit all nations, tribes, and people groups to proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven has come on earth. And on the day of the Grand Opening, God breaks down the barriers of language confusion so that everyone hears God’s people prophesy in their own language! In the end (Revelation 7: 9) there will be an enormous multitude of people from all nations, tribes, and people groups to praise Jesus as the King of kings.

In Revelation 21 we read that God brings down (from heaven) his own city: the New Jerusalem. God and creation will finally be fully reconciled. The consequences of the Fall (suffering, pain, and death) will have disappeared. Finally, God (the beginning and the end: Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) will have fully restored His Kingdom! His Glory will fill the earth! (Rev. 21: 26, 27)

What does it have to do with Abram? Hebrews 11: 8 – 10 shows us that Abram had long-term vision. Somehow he realized that God’s promises to him meant that through him God would build a city, a kingdom for himself. Matthew 1: 1 claims that God did so through Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham. Matthew 28: 18 tells us that this Jesus is the King of kings. In other words, Jesus is “he who is seated on the throne” (Rev. 21: 5). Indeed, it was Jesus, who had made the grand claim, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (see Isaiah 55: 1, Rev. 21: 6)

Food for Thought

1. 1  Read Acts 8: 1-3 and Acts 11: 19-21. God often turns a tragic event like persecution of the
   church into a wonderful blessing. He allows the Enemy to attack his people for a while, but then he uses it to grow and strengthen his people for the promotion of his Kingdom. When God’s faithful ones are scattered across the earth they must and will fill the earth with the glory of God!

2. 2  Study Paul’s speech at the Areopagus in Athens, as described in Acts 17. How does it relate to our story, and how does Paul lead his audience to teach them about the role of Jesus Christ?

3. 3  Wycliffe Bible Translators is an organization that seeks to translate the Bible in all languages so that all people groups have access to the Good News. See, for example: http://www.wycliffe.net/Features/tabid/86/Default.aspx?id=1789 (available in Chinese)

4. 4  The New Jerusalem

1. a  Who will dwell in this New Jerusalem, the City of God? (Rev. 21: 7, 8)

2. b  Read the rest of Revelation 21, especially verses 22 – 24. Find other Bible references to Jesus as ‘the Lamb’ and ‘the Light’.

3. c  What should be the response of today’s church, considering the promises of Rev. 21 in light of Abraham’s faith (Hebrews 11)? Who, according to Paul, are the real ‘children of Abraham’? (Rom. 9: 8; Gal. 3: 7)

4. 
   The Little Tower of Babel c. 1563 Pieter the Elder Bruegel