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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Genesis 11:6
“The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them!’”
We’ve moved on a few years. The Flood is over and Noah has established a new world. However, almost immediately, we find that the heart of man has remained the same. Noah got drunk on wine from his own grapes and lay there in the nude. Ham discovered him and gloated over his nakedness, thereby shaming his father. Indeed, out of Ham came the Canaanites, Philistines, and the others that all the future sons of Abraham have had to contend with (Abraham was out of Shem’s line). Hence the terms, “Like father, like son” and “History repeats itself”.
I find today’s verse and the next one are two of the most amazing verses of the whole of Scripture. “Come, let US go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other” (v 7). (The ‘US’ suggests Trinity.)
It is the only time I can think of where God appears to get ‘worried’. The man that He had created was indeed beginning to show signs of becoming ‘like God’. That is neither a threat nor what worries God, however. It is ‘power in the wrong hands’ that is His real concern. God being a good God uses power for righteousness – man being basically evil will use it for the wrong motives – as we have seen throughout history.
But what of today’s verse? It also remains an amazing statement. “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (v 6). I guess in one way – this prophesied the exploration of space and led to men walking on the moon. It has also produced all the other tremendous discoveries and inventions of man. God did not skimp when He created the human brain, and as we all know, we still use so little of it.
Not only does it tell us of the incredible ability of mankind but also the added power that is generated through a common language and above all, unity. God was acknowledging here that He had done such a good job that man has intrinsically phenomenal potential. He is almost omnipotent. And when two or more get together on a plan, are single focused and fully determined – nothing is impossible for them. No wonder we have all the on-going benefits of modern science and technology.
If we in the Church could but grasp the significance of this verse, we would make a far greater impact on the world than we do. I believe this was what Jesus was referring to in John 17 when He prayed that we might be ONE as He and the Father are One, that Awesome, Omnipotent Unity that created the world and still maintains and sustains it. What a phenomenal influence we could have.
But wait – that isn’t all. We have an additional dimension. The Holy Spirit. The people of Babel never had Him. And to think – God said of them – nothing they plan to do would be impossible. How much more significant that must be of us who profess to be Christians and have the Holy Spirit within us.
May I challenge you today – where are you and where is ‘your church’ in the unity stakes? If we ever get this right, the Great Commission will be completed and Jesus will return.
Worth looking at, considering, and striving for, isn’t it?
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