https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrw-k7bl3KE&list=PLPhb5GPf3Rfc944An2iDh_kTHkrKhoCED&index=5&t=0s
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
God’s Covenant with Noah
Gen 9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.[a] 3 Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. 4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. 5 And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood;[b] I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.[c]
6 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans his blood will be shed,
for God made humans in his image.
7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”
The instructions were clear enough. God had just recently destroyed most of the people on earth, all but eight, with the flood, because of wickedness. We might think that the survivors of the flood would have a better memory than to disregard the direct command of God to Noah and his sons.
But instead of spreading out over the earth as commanded, they decided to build a tower into the sky to make a name for themselves, and to keep everyone together.
Genesis 11 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
2 Timothy 3 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Tower of Babel
After the flood, God told Noah and his sons to "be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it."Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
God’s Covenant with Noah
Gen 9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.[a] 3 Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. 4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. 5 And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood;[b] I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.[c]
6 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans his blood will be shed,
for God made humans in his image.
7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”
The instructions were clear enough. God had just recently destroyed most of the people on earth, all but eight, with the flood, because of wickedness. We might think that the survivors of the flood would have a better memory than to disregard the direct command of God to Noah and his sons.
But instead of spreading out over the earth as commanded, they decided to build a tower into the sky to make a name for themselves, and to keep everyone together.
Genesis 11 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
The Tower of Babylon
11:1 The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary.[a] 2 As people[b]migrated from the east,[c] they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
5 Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans[d]were building. 6 The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore it is called Babylon,[e][f] for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.
11:1 The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary.[a] 2 As people[b]migrated from the east,[c] they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
5 Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans[d]were building. 6 The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore it is called Babylon,[e][f] for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.
The problem was not that everyone was together, and speaking the same language. The problem was that they had decided to do the opposite of what God had commanded. He commanded multiply and fill the earth, and their desire was to concentrate in one place and do something big to make a name for themselves.
Human will directly opposed to God's will! Do we see anything like that today? Maybe we are seeing a return to Sodom and Gomorrah as well as a return to Babel. These Old Testament stories were written for our instruction, and able to make us wise about the salvation that is in Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 3 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Difficult Times Ahead
3:1 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
6 For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, 7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.
3:1 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
6 For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, 7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.
Struggles in the Christian Life
10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God[a] and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Separation to God
2 Cor 6:14 Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial?[c] Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we[d] are the temple of the living God, as God said:
I will dwell
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.[e]
17 Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord;
do not touch any unclean thing,
and I will welcome you.[f]
18 And I will be a Father to you,
and you will be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.[g]
10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God[a] and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
But many who profess faith in Jesus Christ have rejected the message He approved. Recently the United Methodist Conference rejected the traditional and biblical message about sexual relations between members of the same sex.
Rejection of the traditional message is not about changed understanding of what the Bible actually teaches, but is about exchanging human feelings, and claims of empathy, for Biblical teaching. How we feel becomes more important than what God commanded. Return to Babel. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah.
But He said, "Come out from among them and be separate".
Apostle Paul referenced Leviticus when writing to the Corinthian believers about living lives dedicated to God.
Separation to God
2 Cor 6:14 Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial?[c] Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we[d] are the temple of the living God, as God said:
I will dwell
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.[e]
17 Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord;
do not touch any unclean thing,
and I will welcome you.[f]
18 And I will be a Father to you,
and you will be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.[g]
Just as physical separation from unbelievers was a requirement under the Law, spiritual separation is a necessity for believers today. Joining ourselves to every popular spiritual fad (encouraging paganism, atheism, Islam, sexual immorality, etc.) is not how believers are taught by the Holy Spirit through the scriptures to live successful lives. Love speaks the truth.
The flood, the Tower of Babel, and the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians and later by the Romans, teach us that there is a price to pay for disregard of what God says.
Claiming love while teaching lies is a corruption of the very idea of what love is. Love tells the truth. Love died on a cross to show how terrible sin is, and to make a way for righteousness for all who will choose to have faith in Him.
Love does not enable lawlessness nor encourage disregard for righteousness. Love respects law. Love learns from Babel.
God wants each of us to be together in His Family. But we must get there by meeting Jesus at the Cross.
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