Genesis 11:4 they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens. (NIV)
If you’ve been reading this book, you’ve probably noticed that ever since Adam and Eve left the garden, the world has not seemed like a very safe place. First, there were thorns and predators. Then one person was killed. Then people started growing old and dying. Then wars started, and tons of people died. And then, out of nowhere, the world filled with water, and the huge flood killed pretty much everything. The only survivors were the animals and plants on Noah’s boat.
And so the family of Noah started all over. And they grew and grew into a town, then a city, then a nation, which is when they decided to build a tower. A tall tower that was more of a ladder. It was a tall, tall ladder that they could use to climb right out of the world and into heaven. “Because in heaven,” they thought, “there are no wars, or tornadoes, or murder, or death or dying. Because God is there. And God will keep everyone safe.” In heaven, the people would be protected from thorns, predators, bad ideas, other people, and, of course, floods. The people really didn’t want to drown in any more floods.
And so they started building, floor by floor. And the higher they got, the more excited they became. “Look how tiny the trees are from here!” they said. “We can almost touch the clouds.” How much further will they have to build? They must nearly be there. Maybe God was on top of the next cloud. But soon enough, they were through the clouds and still no heaven and no God. And so they kept building. And building. And building.
Soon, they thought, we will be in heaven and we will knock on God’s door and say, ‘Hello there! Can we stay with you?’” And they imagined seeing God and how he would respond. He would certainly be proud of them for finding their way back home and maybe even a little impressed.
But God was not proud of them, though he was a little impressed. Working together, they managed to build a most remarkable skyscraper. It was an architectural triumph. There was something so right about what they were doing. They were looking for heaven. And they were doing it by working together. But there was something very wrong about why they were doing it.
The whole grand endeavor was being motivated by fear. Fear of the world. And fear of death. And while they thought they were running towards God, they were running away from him as well.
Because God did not live in the sky. He was not hiding behind a cloud. Heaven was not up there at all. It was going to be built here, on the beautiful earth God had created. And so God wanted his children to stop building a ladder to climb to heaven, and to start building heaven, on the very world they were trying to escape.
God didn’t want them to fear the world, or to run away. He needed his children to face their fears. To love the world so they could help fix it. They didn’t need to run back to God, because he was coming for them.
Because heaven was not a destination in the sky, but a project. It was a community built not with bricks but with people. This big tower was getting in the way of what they ought to be building. And what they ought to be building was a community. And this community would grow sideways, not upwards.
It would stretch wider and wider, spreading across the entire world. It would include all kinds of people with all kinds of different ideas and experiences. And together, they would build not one thing, but millions. They would produce food and purify water. They would build schools for children and universities for adults. They’d build cities and write books and discover planets and molecules and equations. They’d overcome famine and war and disease. They’d save plants and animals and each other from floods, hurricanes, and extinction. They’d bless the world in thousands of different ways, with millions of different people using their billions of different talents. They’d do so much, learn so much, and accomplish so much more than building a tall tower.
But to do this, they needed to understand not just the power of unity but also the blessing of differences. They didn’t need just one goal, or a master architect, or a king, or a CEO. They needed to learn how to fit together, and be together, and disagree together, and forgive together, and love together so they could keep living together forever.
Then God had an idea. He would help the family of Noah remember their differences. So God performed a miracle. While everyone was sleeping, he changed their languages. When people woke up and went to work in the morning, they found that some of them spoke English, while others spoke Mandarin, Russian, Malaise, French, Vietnamese, and Zulu.
And just like that, the people stopped building the tower because they could not understand each other. The brick makers were using centimeters while the bricklayers were using inches. The mortar mixers didn’t make enough mortar. People no longer fit so nicely into owners and workers, supervisors and laborers, bricklayers and brick makers.
Because the bricklayer was no longer just a bricklayer. They all spoke different languages, and some of them were also mothers, aunts, knitters, and runners as well. The mortar mixers were no longer just mortar mixers. They all had different dialects and different hobbies. Some played chess, others checkers, and others were soccer enthusiasts. And the architects were not just architects. They communicated differently, and some were also grandparents, painters, and cheese connoisseurs. They were all so incredibly different.
But instead of learning to deal with each other as the full, complex individuals they all were, they just gave up. How could they talk together with so many different languages? How could they solve problems with so many different opinions? How could they achieve new heights with so many different perspectives? And so, instead of learning to work together, instead of harnessing the power of their different skills, backgrounds, and perspectives, they split apart. And instead of building heaven on earth, they created armies and walls and fences. And they split up into different groups and ran away from each other.
And over the next thousand years, the tower decayed and crumbled, and then all at once it fell, collapsed, and pounded the earth with so much fury that it almost seemed angry to have been left unfinished. And in its place, the people began to build new cities and new empires. They fought over land and killed each other for water. And they divided into countries and continents. And it seemed like the earth had never been further from heaven.
And God decided that if he was ever going to help his children build heaven on earth, he’d have to start with a single family. And he would teach that family to care for each other, and to not turn away or be afraid when people were different or confusing or inconvenient. And that family would grow and fill the whole earth. And as they grew wider and wider, heart by heart, generation upon generation, they would stretch nearer and nearer to heaven. Until at last they would realize that they were themselves the tower. God’s tower. And he was already there with them, welcoming them home.
To purchase a hard copy of The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament, visit ForLittleSaints.com
To access the complete audiobook of The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament, become a Friend of Faith Matters by subscribing at FaithMatters.org/subscribe.
