Part 2. From the Flood to the Calling of Abraham
I proceed now to show how the same work was carried on through the second period of the Old Testament, that from the beginning of the flood till the calling of Abraham: for though that mighty, overflowing, universal deluge of waters overthrew the world, yet it did not overthrow this building of God, the work of redemption. But this went on yet, and instead of being overthrown, continued to be built up, and was carried on to a further preparation for the great Savior's coming into the world, and working out redemption for his people. Here,
1. The flood itself was a work of God that belonged to this great affair, and tended to promote it. All the great and mighty works of God from the fall of man to the end of the world, are reducible to this great work, and, if seen in a right view of them, will appear as parts of it, and so many steps that God has taken in order to it, or as carrying it on; and doubtless so great a work, so remarkable and universal a catastrophe, as the deluge was, cannot be excepted. It was a work that God wrought in order to it, as thereby God removed out of the way the enemies and obstacles of it, that were ready to overthrow it.
Satan seems to have been in a dreadful rage just before the flood, and his rage then doubtless, was, as it always has been, chiefly against the church of God to overthrow it; and he had filled the earth with violence and rage against it. He had drawn over almost all the world to be on his side, and they listed under his banner against Christ and his church. We read, that the earth "was filled with violence;" and doubtless that violence was chiefly against the church, in fulfillment of what was foretold, I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. Their enmity and violence was so great, and the enemies of the church so numerous, the whole world being against the church, that it was come to the last extremity. Noah's reproofs, and his preaching of righteousness, were utterly disregarded. God's spirit had striven with them one hundred and twenty years, and all in vain; and the church was almost swallowed up. It seems to have been reduced to so narrow limits, as to be confined to one family. And there was no prospect of anything else but of their totally swallowing up the church, and that in a very little time; and so wholly destroying that small root that had the blessing in it, or whence the Redeemer was to proceed.
Therefore, God's destroying those enemies of the church by the flood, belongs to this affair of redemption: for it was one thing that was done in fulfillment of the covenant of grace, as it was revealed to Adam: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head." This destruction was only a destruction of the seed of the serpent in the midst of their violent rage against the seed of the woman, and so delivering the seed of the woman from them, when in utmost peril by them.
We read of scarce any great destruction of nations anywhere in Scripture, but that one main reason given for it is, their enmity and injuries against God's church; and doubtless this was one main reason of the destruction of all nations by the flood. The giants that were in those days, in all likelihood, got themselves their renown by their great exploits against Heaven, and against Christ and his church, the remaining sons of God that had not corrupted themselves.
We read, that just before the world shall be destroyed by fire, the nations that are in the four quarters of the earth, shall gather together against the church as the sand of the sea, and shall go up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and then fire shall come down from God out of Heaven, and devour them, Revelation 20:8, 9. And it seems as though there was that which was very parallel to it just before the world was destroyed by water. Therefore their destruction was a work of God that did as much belong to the work of redemption, as the destruction of the Egyptians belonged to the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt, or as the destruction of Sennacherib's mighty army, that had compassed about Jerusalem to destroy it, belonged to God's redemption of that city from them.
By means of this flood, all the enemies of God's church, against whom that little handful had no strength, were swept off at once. God took their part, and appeared for them against their enemies, and drowned those of whom they had been afraid in the flood of water, as he drowned the enemies of Israel that pursued them in the Red sea.
Indeed God could have taken other methods to deliver his church: he could have converted all the world instead of drowning it; and so he could have taken another method than drowning the Egyptians in the Red sea. But that is no argument, that the method that he did take, was not a method to show his redeeming mercy to them.
By the wicked world's being drowned, the wicked, the enemies of God's people, were dispossessed of the earth, and the whole earth given to Noah and his family to possess in quiet: as God made room for the Israelites in Canaan, by casting out their enemies from before them. And God's thus taking the possession of the enemies of the church, and giving it all to his church, was agreeable to that promise of the covenant of grace: Psalm 37:9, 10, 11. "For evil doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth." "For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be: yea you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." "But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
2. Another thing here belonging to the same work, was God's so wonderfully preserving that family of which the Redeemer was to proceed, when all the rest of the world was drowned. God's drowning the world, and saving Noah and his family, both were works reducible to this great work. The saving Noah and his family belonged to it two ways. As that family was the family of which the Redeemer was to proceed, and as that family was the church that he had redeemed, it was the mystical body of Christ that was there saved. The manner of God's saving those persons, when all the world besides was so overthrown, was very wonderful and remarkable. It was a wonderful and remarkable type of the redemption of Christ, of that redemption that is sealed by the baptism of water, and is so spoken of in the New Testament, as 1 Peter 3:20, 21. "Which some time were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water." "The like figure whereunto, even baptism, does also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." That water that washed away the filth of the world, that cleared the world of wicked men, was a type of the blood of Christ, that takes away the sin of the world. That water that delivered Noah and his sons from their enemies, is a type of the blood that delivers God's church from their sins, their worst enemies. That water that was so plentiful and abundant, that it filled the world, and reached above the tops of the highest mountains, was a type of that blood, the sufficiency of which is so abundant, that it is sufficient for the whole world; sufficient to bury the highest mountains of sin. The ark, that was the refuge and hiding place of the church in this time of storm and flood, was a type of Christ, the true hiding place of the church from the storms and floods of God's wrath.
3. The next thing I would observe is, the new grant of the earth God made to Noah and his family immediately after the flood, as founded on the covenant of grace. The sacrifice of Christ was represented by Noah's building an altar to the Lord and offering a sacrifice of every clean beast and fowl. And we have an account of God's accepting this sacrifice: and thereupon he blessed Noah, and established his covenant with him, and with his seed, promising to destroy the earth in like manner no more; signifying how that it is by the sacrifice of Christ that God's favor is obtained, and his people are in safety from God's destroying judgments, and do obtain the blessing of the Lord. And God now, on occasion of this sacrifice that Noah offered to God, gives him and his posterity a new grant of the earth; a new power of dominion over the creatures, as founded on that sacrifice, and so founded on the covenant of grace. And so it is to be looked upon as a diverse grant from that which was made to Adam, that we have, Genesis 1:28. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." Which grant was not founded on the covenant of grace; for it was given to Adam while he was under the covenant of works, and therefore was antiquated when that covenant ceased. The first grant of the earth to Adam was founded on the first covenant; and therefore, when that first covenant was broken, the right conveyed to him by that first covenant was forfeited and lost. Hence it came to pass, that the earth was taken away from mankind by the flood: for the first grant was forfeited; and God had never made another after that, till after the flood. If the first covenant had not been broken, God never would have drowned the world, and so have taken it away from mankind: for then the first grant made to mankind would have stood good. But that was broken; and so God after a while, destroyed the earth, when the wickedness of man was great.
But after the flood, on Noah's offering a sacrifice that represented the sacrifice of Christ, God, in smelling a sweet savor, or accepting that sacrifice, as it was a representation of the true sacrifice of Christ, which is a sweet savor indeed to God, he gives Noah a new grant of the earth, founded on that sacrifice of Christ, or that covenant of grace which is by that sacrifice of Christ, with a promise annexed, that now the earth should no more be destroyed, till the consummation of all things; as you may see in Genesis 8:20, 21, 22 and chapter 9:1, 2, 3, 7. The reason why such a promise, that God would no more destroy the earth, was added to this grant made to Noah, and not to that made to Adam, was because this was founded on the covenant of grace, of which Christ was the surety, and therefore could not be broken. Therefore it comes to pass now, that though the wickedness of man has dreadfully raged, and the earth been filled with violence and wickedness thousands of times, and one age after another, and much more dreadful and aggravated wickedness than the world was guilty of before the flood, being against so much greater light and mercy; especially in these days of the gospel: yet God's patience holds out; God does not destroy the earth; his mercy and forbearance abides according to his promise; and his grant established with Noah and his sons abides firm and good, being founded on the covenant of grace.
4. On this God renews with Noah and his sons the covenant of grace, Genesis 9:9, 10. "And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you," etc.; which was the covenant of grace; which even the brute creation have this benefit of, that it shall never be destroyed again till the consummation of all things. When we have this expression in scripture, my covenant, it commonly is to be understood of the covenant of grace. The manner of expression, "I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you," shows plainly, that it was a covenant already in being, that had been made already, and that Noah would understand what covenant it was by that denomination, namely the covenant of grace.
5. God's disappointing the design of building the city and tower of Babel. This work of God belongs to the great work of redemption. For that building was undertaken in opposition to this great building of God that we are speaking of. Men's going about to build such a city and tower was an effect of the corruption that mankind were now soon fallen into. This city and tower was set up in opposition to the city of God, as the god that they built it to, was their pride. Being sunk into a disposition to forsake the true God, the first idol they set up in his room, was themselves, their own glory and fame. And as this city and tower had their foundation laid in the pride and vanity of men, and the haughtiness of their minds, so it was built on a foundation exceedingly contrary to the nature of the foundation of the kingdom of Christ, and his redeemed city, which has its foundation laid in humility.
Therefore God saw that it tended to frustrate the design of that great building that was founded, not in the haughtiness of men, but Christ's blood: and therefore the thing that they did displeased the Lord, and he baffled and confounded the design, and did not suffer them to bring it to perfection; as God will frustrate and confound all other buildings, that are set up in opposition to the great building of the work of redemption.
In the second chapter of Isaiah, where the prophet is foretelling God's setting up the kingdom of Christ in the world, he foretells how God will, in order to it, bring down the haughtiness of men, and how the day of the Lord shall be on every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, etc. Christ's kingdom is established, by bringing down every high thing to make way for it, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. "For the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." What is done in a particular soul, to make way for the setting up of Christ's kingdom, is to destroy Babel in that soul.
They intended to have built Babel up to heaven. That building that is the subject we are upon, is a building that is intended to be built so high, its top shall reach to heaven indeed, as it will to the highest heavens at the end of the world, when it shall be finished: and therefore God would not suffer the building of his enemies, that they designed to build up to heaven in opposition to it, to prosper. If they had gone on and prospered in building that city and tower, it might have kept the world of wicked men, the enemies of the church, together, as that was their design. They might have remained united in one vast, powerful city; and so they might have been too powerful for the city of God, and quite swallowed it up.
This city of Babel is the same with the city of Babylon; for Babylon in the original is Babel. But Babylon was a city that is always spoken of in scripture as chiefly opposite to the city of God. Babylon, and Jerusalem, or Zion, are opposed to each other often both in the Old Testament and New. This city was a powerful and terrible enemy to the city of God afterwards, notwithstanding this great check put to the building of it in the beginning. But it might have been, and probably would have been vastly more powerful, and able to vex and destroy the church of God, if it had not been thus checked.
Thus it was in kindness to his church in the world, and in prosecution of the great design of redemption, that God put a stop to the building of the city and tower of Babel.
6. The dispersing of the nations, and dividing the earth among its inhabitants, immediately after God had caused the building of Babel to cease. This was done so as most to suit that great design of redemption. And particularly, God therein had an eye to the future propagation of the gospel among the nations. They were so placed, the bounds of their habitation so limited round about the land of Canaan, the place laid out for the habitation of God's people, as most suited the design of propagating the gospel among them: Deuteronomy 32:8 "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." Acts 17:26-27. "And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him." The land of Canaan was the most conveniently situated of any place in the world for the purpose of spreading the light of the gospel thence among the nations in general. The inhabited world was chiefly in the Roman empire in the times immediately after Christ, which was in the countries round about Jerusalem, and so properly situated for the purpose of diffusing the light of the gospel among them from that place. The devil seeing the advantage of this situation of the nations for promoting the great work of redemption, and the disadvantage of it with respect to the interests of his kingdom, afterward led away many nations into the remotest parts of the world, to that end, to get them out of the way of the gospel. Thus he led some into America; and others into northern cold regions, that are almost inaccessible.
7. Another thing I would mention in this period, was God's preserving the true religion in the line of which Christ was to proceed, when the world in general apostatized to idolatry, and the church were in imminent danger of being swallowed up in the general corruption. Although God had lately wrought so wonderfully for the deliverance of his church, and had shown so great mercy towards it, as for its sake even to destroy all the rest of the world, and although he had lately renewed and established his covenant of grace with Noah and his sons; yet so prone is the corrupt heart of man to depart from God, and to sink into the depths of wickedness, and so prone to darkness, delusion, and idolatry, as that the world soon after the flood fell into gross idolatry; so that before Abraham the distemper had become almost universal. The earth was become very corrupt at the time of the building of Babel; and even God's people themselves, even that line of which Christ was to come, were corrupted in a measure with idolatry: Joshua 24:2. "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods." The other side of the flood means beyond the river Euphrates, where the ancestors of Abraham lived.
We are not to understand, that they were wholly drawn off to idolatry, to forsake the true God. For God is said to be the God of Nahor: Genesis 31:53. "The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." But they only partook in some measure of the general and almost universal corruption of the times; as Solomon was in a measure infected with idolatrous corruption; and as the children of Israel in Egypt are said to serve other gods, though yet there was the true church of God among them; and as these were images kept for a considerable time in the family of Jacob; the corruption being brought from Padan-Aram, from where he fetched his wives.
This was the second time that the church was almost brought to nothing by the corruption and general defection of the world from true religion. But still the true religion was kept up in the family of which Christ was to proceed. Which is another instance of God's remarkably preserving his church in a time of a general deluge of wickedness; and wherein, although the god of this world raged, and had almost swallowed up God's church, yet God did not suffer the gates of hell to prevail against it.
I now turn to show how the same work was carried on through the second period of the Old Testament — from the beginning of the flood to the calling of Abraham. For though that mighty, overwhelming universal deluge overthrew the world, it did not overthrow this building of God — the work of redemption. Rather, the work continued to advance, and instead of being overthrown, it kept being built up and carried further in preparation for the great Savior's coming into the world and the working out of redemption for His people. Here,
1. The flood itself was a work of God that belonged to this great plan and served to advance it. All the great and mighty works of God from the fall of man to the end of the world can be traced back to this great work. Seen rightly, they all appear as parts of it — so many steps God has taken toward it, so many ways of carrying it forward. Surely so great a work, so remarkable and universal a catastrophe as the flood, is no exception. It was a work God accomplished in service of this design, by which He cleared away the enemies and obstacles that were threatening to overthrow it.
Satan appears to have been in a terrible rage just before the flood, and as always, his rage was directed chiefly against the church of God to destroy it. He had filled the earth with violence and fury against it. He had drawn nearly the entire world to his side, enlisting them under his banner against Christ and His church. Scripture records that the earth "was filled with violence" — and that violence was directed chiefly against the church, in fulfillment of the prophecy: "I will put enmity between your seed and her seed." Their hostility and violence were so intense, and the enemies of the church so overwhelming — the whole world arrayed against it — that things had reached the most extreme crisis. Noah's warnings and his preaching of righteousness were completely ignored. God's Spirit had striven with them for 120 years, all in vain. The church was nearly swallowed up. It appears to have been reduced to its narrowest extent — confined to a single family. There seemed to be no prospect of anything other than the complete destruction of the church — the total wiping out of that small root that carried the blessing, from which the Redeemer was to come.
Therefore, God's destruction of those enemies of the church through the flood belongs to this work of redemption — for it was one fulfillment of the covenant of grace as it was revealed to Adam: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head." This destruction was nothing other than the destruction of the seed of the serpent in the midst of their violent assault on the seed of the woman — a deliverance of the seed of the woman from them when they were in utmost danger.
In Scripture, nearly every great destruction of nations is given the same primary explanation: their hostility and violence against God's church. Without doubt, this was one chief reason for the destruction of all nations by the flood. The giants of those days almost certainly earned their fame through their great exploits against heaven, and against Christ and His church — the remaining sons of God who had not corrupted themselves.
Scripture tells us that just before the world is destroyed by fire, the nations from the four quarters of the earth will gather against the church like the sand of the sea, spread across the breadth of the earth, and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city — and then fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour them (Revelation 20:8-9). It appears that something very similar happened just before the world was destroyed by water. Therefore, the destruction by the flood belonged to the work of redemption just as much as the destruction of the Egyptians belonged to the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt, or as the destruction of Sennacherib's great army that had surrounded Jerusalem to destroy it belonged to God's redemption of that city.
By means of the flood, all the enemies of God's church — against whom that small remnant had no strength — were swept away at once. God took their side and appeared on their behalf against their enemies, drowning those they had feared in the floodwaters, just as He drowned the enemies of Israel who pursued them in the Red Sea.
God could certainly have used other means to deliver His church — He could have converted the whole world instead of drowning it, just as He could have used a different method than drowning the Egyptians in the Red Sea. But that is no argument that the method He did use was not a means of showing His redeeming mercy to His people.
When the wicked world was drowned, the wicked — the enemies of God's people — were dispossessed of the earth, and the entire earth was given to Noah and his family to possess in peace. This is just as God made room for the Israelites in Canaan by driving out their enemies before them. God's taking the possession of the enemies of the church and giving it all to His church was in keeping with the promise of the covenant of grace, as Psalm 37:9-11 says: "For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land." "Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there." "But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity."
2. Another thing belonging to this same work during this period was God's wonderfully preserving the family from which the Redeemer was to come, while all the rest of the world was drowned. Both God's drowning of the world and His saving of Noah and his family belong to this great work. The saving of Noah and his family belonged to it in two ways: this family was the line from which the Redeemer would come, and it was also the church He had redeemed — the mystical body of Christ that was saved there. The manner of God's saving these people, while all the rest of the world was overwhelmed, was remarkable and extraordinary. It was a wonderful and striking picture of the redemption of Christ — of that redemption sealed by the baptism of water — as the New Testament describes it in 1 Peter 3:20-21: "who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." The water that washed away the filth of the world and cleared it of wicked men was a picture of the blood of Christ that takes away the sin of the world. The water that delivered Noah and his sons from their enemies is a picture of the blood that delivers God's church from their sins — their worst enemies. The water that was so abundant it filled the world and rose above the highest mountains was a picture of that blood whose sufficiency is so abundant that it is enough for the whole world — enough to cover the highest mountains of sin. The ark, which was the refuge and hiding place of the church during that time of storm and flood, was a picture of Christ — the true hiding place of the church from the storms and floods of God's wrath.
3. The next thing to note is the new grant of the earth that God gave to Noah and his family immediately after the flood, grounded on the covenant of grace. The sacrifice of Christ was represented by Noah's building an altar to the Lord and offering a sacrifice of every clean animal and bird. God accepted this sacrifice, and He blessed Noah and established His covenant with him and his descendants, promising never to destroy the earth in the same way again. This showed that it is through the sacrifice of Christ that God's favor is obtained, that His people are kept safe from His destroying judgments, and that they receive the blessing of the Lord. On the occasion of this sacrifice that Noah offered to God, He gave Noah and his posterity a new grant of the earth — a new authority and dominion over the creatures, grounded on that sacrifice and therefore grounded on the covenant of grace. This is to be understood as a different grant from the one given to Adam in Genesis 1:28: "God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" That original grant was not grounded on the covenant of grace — it was given to Adam while he was under the covenant of works, and therefore became obsolete when that covenant ended. The first grant of the earth to Adam was grounded in the first covenant, so when that first covenant was broken, the right it conveyed was forfeited and lost. This is why the earth was taken from mankind through the flood — the first grant had been forfeited, and God had not made another until after the flood. If the first covenant had not been broken, God would never have drowned the world and taken it from mankind, for the first grant would have remained in force. But it was broken, and so after a time God destroyed the earth when the wickedness of man was great.
After the flood, when Noah offered a sacrifice that represented the sacrifice of Christ, God accepted it — smelling the pleasing aroma of this representation of the true sacrifice of Christ, which is indeed a pleasing aroma to God. He then gave Noah a new grant of the earth, grounded on the sacrifice of Christ and on the covenant of grace established through it, with the promise added that the earth would not be destroyed again until the consummation of all things. See Genesis 8:20-22 and 9:1-3, 7. The reason this promise — that God would not again destroy the earth — was added to the grant given to Noah but not to the one given to Adam, is that this grant was grounded on the covenant of grace, of which Christ was the guarantor and which therefore cannot be broken. This is why, even though human wickedness has raged dreadfully and the earth has been filled with violence and sin again and again throughout the ages — wickedness far more serious and aggravated than before the flood, committed against far greater light and mercy, especially in the days of the Gospel — God's patience holds. He does not destroy the earth. His mercy and forbearance endure according to His promise, and the grant established with Noah and his sons stands firm, being grounded on the covenant of grace.
4. At this point God renewed the covenant of grace with Noah and his sons, as Genesis 9:9-10 records: "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you," etc. Even the animals benefit from this, in that the earth will never be destroyed again until the consummation of all things. When Scripture uses the phrase "My covenant," it ordinarily refers to the covenant of grace. The form of expression — "I will establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you" — plainly shows that this was a covenant already in existence, already established, and that Noah would know which covenant it was by that title, namely the covenant of grace.
5. God's thwarting the plan to build the city and tower of Babel. This act of God belongs to the great work of redemption. That building project was undertaken in direct opposition to the great building of God that we are discussing. Men's attempt to build such a city and tower was a result of the corruption that mankind had quickly fallen into. This city and tower were set up in opposition to the city of God, and the god they built it for was their own pride. Having drifted into abandoning the true God, the first idol they erected in His place was themselves — their own glory and fame. Just as this city and tower were founded on human pride and vanity and the arrogance of their minds, they were built on a foundation completely opposed to the nature of the foundation of the kingdom of Christ and His redeemed city, which is founded on humility.
Therefore God saw that this project threatened to undermine the great building founded not in human arrogance but in Christ's blood. The thing displeased the Lord, and He foiled and confounded their plan, not allowing them to complete it — just as God will ultimately thwart and confound every other building set up in opposition to the great work of redemption.
In Isaiah 2, where the prophet foretells God's establishing the kingdom of Christ in the world, he also foretells how God will humble human arrogance in preparation for it — how the day of the Lord will come against every high tower and every fortified wall, and so on. Christ's kingdom is established by bringing down every high thing to make way for it, as 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says: "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God." What God does in an individual soul to make way for the kingdom of Christ is to destroy Babel in that soul.
The builders intended to raise Babel up to heaven. The building that is the subject of our discussion is itself designed to reach to heaven — and it will indeed reach to the highest heavens at the end of the world when it is finished. Therefore God would not allow the building of His enemies, which they intended to raise to heaven in opposition to it, to succeed. Had they gone forward and succeeded in building that city and tower, it could have kept the mass of wicked men — the enemies of the church — united together, which was their design. They might have remained joined in one vast, powerful city, making them far too powerful for the city of God and capable of swallowing it up entirely.
This city of Babel is the same as the city of Babylon — for Babylon in the original language is Babel. Babylon is the city Scripture consistently presents as the chief opponent of the city of God. Babylon and Jerusalem — or Zion — are set against each other repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments. Despite the early setback God imposed on it, this city later became a powerful and terrible enemy to the city of God. But it likely would have been far more powerful and far more capable of harming and destroying the church of God had it not been checked at the beginning.
Thus it was out of kindness to His church in the world, and in pursuit of the great design of redemption, that God put a stop to the building of the city and tower of Babel.
6. The dispersing of the nations and the dividing of the earth among its inhabitants came immediately after God halted the building of Babel. This was done in a way that best served the great design of redemption. In particular, God had in view the future spread of the Gospel among the nations. They were placed so that the boundaries of their territories were arranged around the land of Canaan — the land appointed for the dwelling of God's people — in a way best suited to the spreading of the Gospel among them. Deuteronomy 32:8 says, "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel." Acts 17:26-27 says, "and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him." The land of Canaan was the most conveniently situated place in the world for spreading the light of the Gospel from there to the nations generally. In the period immediately after Christ, the inhabited world was concentrated mainly in the Roman Empire — the countries surrounding Jerusalem — perfectly positioned for the Gospel to spread outward from that place. Seeing the advantage this arrangement of nations gave to the advancing of the great work of redemption — and the disadvantage it posed to his own kingdom — the devil afterward led many nations to the most remote parts of the world, attempting to put them out of reach of the Gospel. In this way he led some to America, and others to distant northern regions that are almost inaccessible.
7. Another thing to note from this period was God's preserving true religion in the line from which Christ was to come, at a time when the world generally fell into idolatry and the church was in grave danger of being swallowed up in the widespread corruption. Although God had recently worked so wonderfully for the deliverance of His church — going so far as to destroy all the rest of the world for its sake — and although He had recently renewed and confirmed His covenant of grace with Noah and his sons, the corrupt human heart is so prone to wander from God, to sink into wickedness, and to fall into darkness, delusion, and idolatry, that the world soon after the flood descended into gross idolatry. By the time of Abraham, the problem had become nearly universal. The earth had become very corrupt even by the time of the building of Babel, and even God's own people — even the line from which Christ was to come — were to some degree infected with idolatry. Joshua 24:2 records, "Your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River in ancient times — Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor — and they served other gods." "The other side of the flood" refers to the region beyond the Euphrates River, where Abraham's ancestors lived.
This does not mean they were entirely given over to idolatry and had forsaken the true God entirely. For God is called the God of Nahor in Genesis 31:53: "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." Rather, they had simply been touched to some degree by the nearly universal corruption of the times — as Solomon was partially infected by idolatrous corruption, as the children of Israel in Egypt are said to have served other gods though the true church of God still existed among them, and as idols were kept for a considerable time in Jacob's household, the corruption having been brought from Paddan-aram, from where he had taken his wives.
This was the second time the church had come close to being entirely extinguished by the corruption and widespread falling away from true religion. Yet true religion was still preserved in the family from which Christ was to come. This is another remarkable example of God's preserving His church in a time of a sweeping flood of wickedness — where, though the god of this world raged and nearly devoured God's church, God still did not allow the gates of hell to prevail against it.
