About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

The Deceptive Spirit Of Babylon

Nimrod (Genesis 10:9) appears to be the first man to aspire to political prominence.  Why was God so upset with him and his buddies for building the tower at Babel?  Was God afraid that they might climb the stairway to heaven? 

Genesis 11:2 states that as people increased in number they migrated eastward to Shinar, or Babylon.  There, they built a city with a tower that reached towards the heavens, not to heaven.  Towers like this were often places of pagan worship.  The higher the elevation, the closer people felt to their gods, something that could have bothered God. 

Genesis 11:4 states that these people were afraid of being scattered across the face of the earth.  Squeezing themselves into a city might have calmed their fear but it violated God's command to Adam to multiply and populate the earth (Genesis 1:28).  This too might have upset God.

Genesis 11:4 states that their tower "would make a name for themselves."  I suggest that Nimrod and his buddies' aspirations to make a name for themselves instead of for God irritated God. 

God admitted that if man continued in his humanistic pursuits he could do pretty much anything.  It was for this reason that God scattered man across the face of the earth and confused their ability to communicate.  The very thing man feared came upon him through divine judgment.  That's the nature of divine judgment.     

From Genesis1 to Revelation 22, Babel, or Babylon, is symbolized as man-centered egotistical nations that oppose God at every turn.  There never has been, and there never will be, a purely godly nation until this earth flees from God's presence (Revelation 20:11) and is replaced by a new earth (Revelation 21:1).    

It's no fluke that the events of Genesis 12 follow the events of Genesis 11 where God scattered the people across the planet, forcing them into nations.  Genesis 12 records God choosing Abraham to be the father of a great nation.  Israel was meant to be an example for nations to emulate and a priestly representative to the nations (Exodus 19:6).  Of course, Israel failed to be that priestly example.  There is, therefore, no nation on earth that does not oppose God to one degree or another, and that includes Israel.    

In the final analysis, all nations will
fall by divine judgment (Revelation 17 through 19 and Daniel 2:44).  The kingdoms of men will some day become the Kingdom of our God (Revelation 11:15).  When all nations surround Jerusalem, they will be annihilated by God (Zechariah 12:3).  The mother of all wars will end this age by the Lord Jesus merely speaking the word of victory (Revelation 19:15).  All the birds of the air will gather to feast at "the great supper of God where they will eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people ..." (Revelation 19:18).  

Until then the satanic spirit of Babylon penetrates the hallowed halls of every capital city on earth because satan is the prince of this world (John 12:21).  As this age draws to an end the arrogant and deceptive spirit of Babylon will dominate the nations.  The battle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men will escalate until it all explodes in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2).

The judgments seen in Revelation don't fall on godly nations.  They fall on nations that oppose God, and, if they oppose God they will oppose the people of God.  We have no choice but to be alert and sober minded lest we be deceived by this seductive spirit, as many are being deceived today.  The Apostle Paul was right.  Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).  So, just because a religious, cultural, or political leader supports a few Biblical principles does not mean he is not an angel of darkness disguised as an angel of light.  Such an angel is clothed in righteous, but deceptive, apparel.  He isn't recognized as being the angel of darkness that he really is by those without the ability to judge and discern.  Let's not be found among those who are deceived.