About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

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Undoing Babel Through The Cross

 

In a previous article entitled Undoing Babel I
proposed that mankind, through technical advances, immigration policies, and other such things,
has been undoing God's decision to separate mankind into various ethnic peoples, as seen in Genesis 11.  From then on, Babel slowly evolved into the city,
and then into the empire, of abylon.  We see the
final expression of Babylon
as a world wide empire that falls to the Kingdom of God in Revelation 17 and 18.  In my above mentioned article I concluded that man's undoing of Babel will be ultimately undone by God's undoing of end time Babylon.  To provide balance to this conclusion I now point out how Jesus, because of His death on the cross, is undoing Babel.      

 

We should know that God relates to humanity as individuals and as nations.  Nations may be undoing God's decision to create various ethnic peoples on national levels through their political and cultural decisions, but Jesus is undoing our ethnic differences one individual at a time.    

 

Jesus died on the cross for individuals, not for nations.  Although His disciples hoped that He'd deal with nations in their lifetime, that wasn't in God's plans.  The fate of nations is left to the end of this age.  During this present age, known as the age of grace, God's grace is being offered to every individual of every ethnicity, through the Lord Jesus Christ.  His wrath is reserved for the nations during the last seven years of this age.  Until then, Jesus has commanded His disciples to go into the entire world and teach every person in every nation to obey all He has taught.    

 

When an individual, no matter his ethnicity, embraces God's grace by giving himself to Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit into his life, he is joined in Spirit to God and to others in the Body of Christ.  The apostle Paul made it clear that when it comes to salvation and functioning in Christ's body, there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles (Galatians 3:28).  The distinction is seen in our individual ministries within His body.  It's not seen in the colour of our skin or the language we speak (1 Corinthians 12).  The wall that once separated ethnic peoples in regards to salvation and the Body of Christ was torn down at the cross (Ephesians 2:14).  Despite what we may hope, God has no favourites (Romans 2:11).  We are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).

 

Because of their association with Jesus, first century Christians were persecuted and driven throughout the known world.  While being scattered across the land they preached the gospel to everyone.  Ever since, Christian missionaries have gone to the uttermost parts of the earth calling every person to the grace of God.   

 

The Biblical fact is that the cross of Christ is undoing Babel in many respects.  There's no difference between red, yellow, black, or white, as you may recall the old Sunday school song putting it.  In regards to salvation and the Body of Christ, there is no colour or language barrier.  That being said, and here's where I began, God will deal with the nations and their humanistic attempts to undo Babel.  The Bible predicts the day when the kingdoms of men will become the Kingdom of our God (Revelation 11:15).  Babylon will fall when Jesus returns to Jerusalem to sit on what the Bible calls the throne of David.  He will secure the boarders of Israel and designate Israel as the lead nation among the nations.  During His thousand year rule, there will be nations (Revelation 21:24) with ethnic differences that will live in harmony.  If any nation chooses differently, it will pay the price (Zechariah 14:17).  Until that day comes, the call goes out to every individual of every ethnicity to embrace God's grace found in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus is undoing Babel, and He's doing it one individual at a time.  

 

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