Dispersed Over the Face of All the Earth
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
8/9 Reading Portions: Ruth 2; Acts 27; Jeremiah 37; Psalm 10
Genesis 11:7-9
“Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
BABEL
As mentioned in the devotional on August 6th (Gen 11:3-4), by settling in one place and desiring not to be scattered, they were defying God’s command to be “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1). They refused to fill the earth, so the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. We must remember this about our sovereign God:
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Galatians 6:7
Moreover, as He purposes and commands, so it will also be done, as YHVH God had spoken through the prophet,
‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose,’ Isaiah 46:10
Although we looked at a few aspects of the seventh verse yesterday, it is important to note two more things about God going down to earth in His visiting the mischief of man. First, His words denote the Trinity, when He says, “Come, let us go down…” Spiritually speaking, there is nothing that is done by one person of the Triune deity that isn’t experienced by the other two persons of the Godhead because the three Persons of the one true God are the same in essence, equal in power and glory.
But the Person of the Trinity who actually does descend is the preincarnate Lord, Jesus Messiah. The ancient ante-Nicene church father, Novatian (c.200-c.258 AD), points this out in his treatise on the Trinity. With regard to this event, Novatian states that the confounding of the languages was accomplished by the Son, Novatian citing the New Testament: [1]
He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. Ephesians 4:10
The Lord Jesus Himself said as much when conversing with Nicodemus:
“No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” John 3:13
What does this mean to you and me? Simply this: The discipline of our souls, and even the judgments upon unbelievers to bring about the Father’s purposes are held in the nail-pierced hands, the gracious heart, and the eternal wisdom of Jesus Messiah. He told His disciples so before He ascended into heaven:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Matthew 28:18
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
FOOTNOTE:
[1] A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity, Novatian; Ch.17, “Argument. - It Is, Moreover, Proved by Moses in the Beginning of the Holy Scriptures.”