The New Tower of Babel
Pastor Leslie Chua
“Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.””
Most churchgoers, including children, know the story of the Tower of Babel. It is a familiar story in the Bible.
Simply put, it is about the people of Babylon who wanted to make a name for themselves, and so, they built a very tall tower with its top reaching into the heavens.
God was so concerned with their prideful endeavour that He came down to the earth and confused their language. Unable to understand one another anymore, they began to disperse all over the world.
Most people would go on to conclude that the moral of the story is God resists the proud. They would also point out that the story tells us the origin of nations and languages.
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There is more to the story of the Tower of Babel than meets the eye. Deeper down is a sinister agenda. It is a conspiratorial tale with a cosmic connection.
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While all this is true, few realise that they are merely scratching the surface. There is more to the story of the Tower of Babel than meets the eye. Deeper down is a sinister agenda. It is a conspiratorial tale with a cosmic connection.
Read through the story again in Genesis chapter 11 and consider why God was so concerned with this building project.
What is wrong with making a name for themselves? Isn’t that what most countries hope to achieve when they embark on big iconic projects? Besides, isn’t the attempt to unite the people under a one-world government a good idea if the intention was to create order and peace?
Sinister Agenda - Rebellion
What really happened at the Tower of Babel?
It was a rebellion against God. They rejected Him as their God.
Nimrod, the builder and ruler of several cities (Genesis 10:9-12), led the people to rebel against the LORD. Though the story of the Tower of Babel does not mention Nimrod specifically, the brief account of him in the genealogy of Ham just before serves as a preface to the story.
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What really happened at the Tower of Babel?
It was a rebellion against God. They rejected Him as their God.
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We know from historical Mesopotamian sources that Nimrod was a wicked and tyrannical ruler. In the Scripture, he was described as ‘a mighty hunter before the LORD’ (Genesis 10:9).
This is not a flattering commentary of him as some people think. Essentially, ‘mighty’ suggests that he is a Nephilim, ‘hunter’ refers to his cruel nature of hunting down those who did not submit to him, and ‘before the LORD’ is better translated as in defiance of the LORD. So, the statement means that Nimrod is a tyrannical ruler who opposes God.
Josephus, the famous first-century Jewish historian had this to say about Nimrod – ‘Nimrod set up tyranny. He opposed Yahweh and did his utmost to get people to forsake Him.’
Just that you know, Nimrod means ‘to rebel.’ Names in the Bible have meaning and they often describe the nature of the person. Nimrod is a rebel against God.
Cosmic Conspiracy
Nimrod did not just unite mankind to rebel against God. He enlisted the help of the gods in this daring endeavour. That was the purpose of building the tower.
Bible scholars and archaeologists agree that the Tower of Babel was a ziggurat. It was a massive four-sided pyramidal temple complex serving as a stairway to heaven. The gates of the gods were situated at the pinnacle of the ziggurat. Essentially, it was a portal to access the spiritual dimension where the gods dwelled.
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Nimrod did not just unite mankind to rebel against God. He enlisted the help of the gods in this daring endeavour. That was the purpose of building the tower.
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This is the reason God took the building of the Tower of Babel so seriously. He personally came down to earth to confuse their language. At that time, the people spoke one language. But suddenly, they found themselves speaking different languages. The ensuing confusion caused the people to give up their rebellion and dispersed according to their languages.
This is the real story of the Tower of Babel. An anti-God figure allied with the gods led mankind to rebel against the rule of God.
God Gave Them Up
God took the people’s rejection very seriously. In the words of Paul in Romans chapter one, God gave them up to their rebellion. He literally gave them up to the gods that they sought.
The story of the Tower of Babel ends with the statement – “And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9).
What happened after that?
God assigned these gods whom they sought to rule over them.
Deuteronomy 32:8 (ESV) - When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
Most other translations do not read “according to the number of the sons of God” but “according to the number of the sons of Israel.”
The difference is due to different Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts used for different Bible translations. But “sons of God” is the correct reading as is now known from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Common sense also tells us that it cannot be translated as “sons of Israel” because the context of Deuteronomy 32:8 is the Tower of Babel story. This event happened before the call of Abraham, from whom the nation of Israel originated. Therefore, it makes no sense for God to divide up the nations “according to the sons of Israel” when Israel was not in existence yet.
The sons of God in the Old Testament refer to divine or angelic beings. These are the gods whom Nimrod and the people sought to reach through the Tower of Babel.
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This is an obscure but important biblical truth. When you understand this truth, you will understand that the nations are under the control of fallen angelic entities, and they work against the purposes of God.
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This fact is authenticated by a parallel passage in Deuteronomy 4:19 - And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
Again, we see that God has allotted the nations to the gods, which are depicted as starry hosts.
This is an obscure but important biblical truth. When you understand this truth, you will understand that the nations are under the control of fallen angelic entities, and they work against the purposes of God. An example is the prince of Persia who fought against the archangel, Michael (Daniel 10:13).
Christians should not be surprised because the Scripture clearly says that Satan is the god of this world. Satan does not work alone. He rules the world through an organised network of high-level angels presiding over the nations.
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel
At the end of this present age, another Nimrod-type figure commonly known as the Antichrist will emerge to unite the nations and peoples and lead them in rebellion against God.
A new Tower of Babel will be rebuilt, figuratively.
Already, we are seeing many signs converging and pointing to the formation of a one-world government as prophesied in the Bible. The efforts have been in progress for many decades.
Barely two months after the end of World War Two, the United Nations (UN) was formed. 51 nations committed themselves to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations and promoting social progress, better human standards and human rights. Today, the UN has 193 member countries.
Interestingly, a year before World War Two ended, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established. 44 founding member countries sought to build a framework for international economic cooperation. Today, its membership stands at 190 countries. The IMF is a major financial agency of the United Nations.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) was established in 1948. It is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
These are just 3 examples of global organisations that were formed in the past few decades. Their formation came in the aftermath of the major crisis of World War Two.
I observe that crises have a galvanising effect. People and nations would be motivated by fear to come together and fight the common enemy. This common enemy might be a wicked regime like Nazi Germany and Japan in the Second World War or a deadly virus.
In the Tower of Babel story, the crisis was the Flood that destroyed the whole world. Nimrod and the people resented God for sending the Flood, and they vowed that was not going to happen again. So, they sought the protection of the gods.
Well, you can argue that many good things have come from globalism and the cooperation of nations. For instance, peace and order allow for global trade and economic activities to flourish. As a result, many nations prosper and the lives of their citizens improve.
While that might be true to an extent, there are many unjust practices perpetrated by powerful nations against resource-rich but weak nations. These nations are kept in perpetual debt and therefore under the control of the powerful nations.
And don’t forget that the nations lie in the sway and influence of the gods presiding over them. Ultimately, their agenda is to usurp God and prevent Him from setting up the millennial kingdom on earth.
These fallen angelic entities and their human agents will show their true colours as we get closer and closer to the end of this present age.
Presently, they are beginning to rear their ugly heads as they attempt to seize totalitarian control by manipulating food and energy supplies. Instigating wars, and the climate change, LGBT, and pandemic agendas.
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We are presently witnessing the building of a new Tower of Babel.
The one-world government, as predicted in the Bible, will be a reality soon.
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Here is an example. Recently, the WHO is trying to make amendments to the Pandemic Treaty that will give it the power to dictate pandemic response policies in its member states. If successful, it is essentially a power grab where the member states yield their sovereignty to the WHO in the event of a health crisis. This is an extremely dangerous development.
In 2010, the US National Intelligence Council and EU Institute of Security Studies, in consultation with major think tanks of developed countries, published a report titled “The Global Governance 2025: At a Critical Juncture. The report predicted that a global government could emerge in 2025.
We are presently witnessing the building of a new Tower of Babel. The one-world government, as predicted in the Bible, will be a soon reality.