Pentecost and Babel⤒🔗

A very important element of the gospel of Pentecost is surely this: that God, through the Holy Spirit, blesses and unites all the nations of the earth; and in this way fundamentally restores the bond which at Babel he was compelled to break. The event of Pentecost is the counterpoint to the building of the tower. Thus we learn to understand the meaning of Pentecost—in grace and calling—all the more deeply, to the degree that we gain a clearer insight into the beginnings of “Babel.”

The Time of Babel’s Beginnings←⤒🔗

We all know in what time men sought to lay the foundation of Babel. It was relatively soon after the flood; thus at the beginning of the second world. In the first world “the toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord had cursed” had been very heavy (Genesis 5:29). But sin too had already grown bolder; men persisted in their refusal to fill the earth and to subdue it for God, which brought the flood .

The Covenant with Noah←⤒🔗

But after the flood God established with Noah the “covenant of nature”: putting the fear and dread of man upon all the beasts of the earth; that is to say, he moderated the curse, for the dominion of man was confirmed and his superiority over the animals was made greater. But together with that promise, God repeated the ancient mandate of paradise, to fill the world and to cultivate it for him (Genesis 8).

Now this “covenant of nature” is not merely a covenant of common grace, which has promises only for this life, and which intends nothing other than to make a tolerable human existence possible. No, it is a phase in the history of the covenant of special grace. For the heart of the “covenant of nature” is this: that through it, God would also pave the way for the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. He grants man a permanent advantage over the hostile forces of nature, so that history may go forward, and life may unfold, so that life may be preserved from mass destruction, and that the history of mankind may not be prematurely cut off. Thus God gives fixed ordinances for nature, so that Christ might come to bear the curse in his body.

The Covenant as Gospel←⤒🔗

The promises and mandates of the “covenant of nature” are therefore truly affirmations of the gospel of grace. And so man stands at the beginning of the second world: under the promise of special grace, and charged with the calling of that grace.

Discoveries in the Service of Grace←⤒🔗

You also see that God fulfils his promise. He allows them to discover how to make bricks out of clay; that they can therefore even in the plain make themselves a dwelling, to protect against the curse. The clay hardens in the sun; and pitch, that is, asphalt, turns out to be a very good mortar. These discoveries are not merely an advance from the point of view of cultural history, but they are in the first place a very essential element in the course of salvation history. Life goes forward, so that Christ may come.

The Sin of Babel←⤒🔗

Set against that special grace, the ongoing sinfulness of humanity stands out all the more starkly. They want to build a city with a tower whose top reaches into heaven.

Men have therefore called the people of Babel “stormers of heaven,” as though they had the exceedingly presumptuous intention of dethroning God. But Scripture says something else: that they wanted to make for themselves a “name,” that is, a monument, so that they would not be scattered over the earth. That high tower aimed at nothing else than to be a point of orientation, so that anyone, however far he might stray in pursuit of others, could still find the way back home. They are afraid of losing each other, and they seek community, because in being bound together they stand stronger against the hostile forces of nature.

Thus the building of the tower is no presumptuous pride that challenges God; on the contrary, it is a demonstration of their pitiful fear of the accursed life. They seek to hold on to one another; as soon as they lose one another, and must do without mutual support, they fear they will succumb to the destructive power of wrath. No one thinks of climbing into heaven; they already find it hard enough to subdue the earth. Babel is not an overconfident assault on heaven, but a desperate struggle for the preservation of the earth.

Godlessness in Fear←⤒🔗

And yet for that reason the building of the tower is not less godless. The sin is precisely that they are so afraid; they do not rest upon the promise of grace; they seek their support not in the Word of the covenant, not in God, but in human cooperation. This is not a presumptuous world of men, as with the giants before the flood. But there is still no repentance, for even now they do not believe. They may no longer seek their strength in their own primordial power, but neither do they believe in God. They ignore, in their fear, the Word, and seek salvation in the massing together of the creature.

Rejection of the Calling←⤒🔗

And so they no longer give any attention to their calling. The mandate was to fill the earth and to subdue it. But in Babel they say, “Stay together; we will not fill the earth, and we will not seek to cultivate all that is created in the service of God. That is far too dangerous. We must make sure to keep a little place for ourselves.”

These are the beginnings of Babel. These are not a few deniers of God, a handful of atheists, bitter haters of God. No, Babel is the great city of those who, pressed by the anxieties of life, are paralysed by fear—yet refuse to flee to the God who gave the promise. Instead, they see their life’s purpose not in serving him, but in carving out security and space for themselves. They reject the promise and calling of the “covenant of nature.” They resist the work of God for redemption.

God’s Intervention←⤒🔗

But God confuses their language, and drives them apart. This is only their first undertaking; and if it succeeds, then they will care all the less about the command, and grow ever bolder in their opposition against the counsel of God. Therefore their project must be frustrated immediately. God compels them to cooperate in the fulfilment of his plan for the world.

The Limits of Dispersion←⤒🔗

Naturally, the world is not thereby saved, though the confusion of tongues was necessary for redemption. God now does achieve his purpose that the world is filled, and its treasures are discovered and used. But it is at the cost of something else: the unity among men; and it proceeds without faith and without obedience.

Pentecost Restores the Calling←⤒🔗

But now against this background you see the meaning of Pentecost. God has sent Jesus Christ into the world; and he unites all who believe in him, wherever they may be, and to whatever nation they belong. The world indeed was filled, but it was accompanied by hostility among the nations; it was accompanied by unbelief and sin. But when Pentecost came, the peoples scattered throughout the world were called to faith in Christ, so that, united in him, they might carry out the ancient task: to fill the earth and subdue it for God.

The Task of the Church Today←⤒🔗

It is therefore a good thing that in recent times attention has again been drawn to the old command of filling the world. The matter comes before Synod, now that several classes have pointed, in this connection, to the necessity of emigration. It is fortunate that the church speaks about such things. For the Pentecost congregation has here the first responsibility. And only the church can speak rightly about emigration, for the church knows the ancient mandate of the Father; the church knows the redemption in the Son; the church can fulfil the command in the right way through the Spirit. For what the grace of the confusion of tongues could not give, Pentecost does bring: the filling of the world not by compulsion, but in faith; not by the splintering of the nations, but with the brotherhood of the nations; not for the benefit of man in the first place, but for the glory of God.