Judgment of the Nations (4/5)

Excerpt #4 from the book, Bible Prophecy, by Pastor Ken Garrison (Excerpt #1, Excerpt #2, Excerpt #3)

(Note: in order for this article to be effective, the reader needs to read the listed Scripture references. The full text of the Scriptures have been removed for copyright and space concerns.)

The fact that God intervenes in the history of the human community is evident from the earliest pages of the book of Genesis. As we consider this concept in its broadest sense, we can discern the rationale for God’s redemptive activities. God has intervened from time to time to limit the manifestation of evil while, in a positive sense, He is implementing redemptive activities. Eventually, when redemption is complete, evil will not be manifested at all. Satan, the spirit of evil, those spiritual beings under Satan’s authority (Matthew 25:41), and all those of the human community who became victims of Satan by actively cooperating with his activities will be isolated in the place referred to as the “Lake of Fire”. Evil will have no means of manifestation in the new creation. This is the most fundamental goal of redemption.

From the account of the early creation, we learn of the fall of man and the spread of, or manifestation of, evil in the creation. Murder occurred in the first generation after man was driven from the garden. In a few generations, evil had become so widespread that God declared concerning man, “Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5b). It is in this setting that we see God deciding to intervene. We may speculate that if God had not intervened, man would have been completely destroyed. We suspect that this is a true assumption although the Bible does not explicitly declare it. For whatever reason, God did intervene by the flood and by shortening man’s lifespan by about an order of magnitude (one-tenth of the original). Subsequent generations again rebelled against God’s word and began building the city of Babel. Again, God intervened, confused their language and through this, limited the manifestation of evil through mankind.

Now in our day we believe that God is ready to intervene again. He has already revealed the method by which He will intervene - He will send His king to whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess allegiance (Philippians 2:9-11). It is from this context of the limiting of the manifestation of evil that we must understand why God is judging the nations.

THE BABEL PROBLEM

To further understand the theme of God’s judgment of the nations we will consider the Biblical account of the formation of the nations. That account is centered on the city of Babel and God’s judgment of Babel. After the time of Noah, God again commanded mankind to be fruitful and fill the earth.

(Genesis 9:1)

Initially the descendants of Noah obeyed God’s command. The population expanded and the peoples spread out across the earth. Then the tyrant Nimrod arose to build his kingdom. We are told that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (Genesis 10:10). The account of Babel tells us that Nimrod and his kingdom rebelled against God’s command.

(Genesis 11:1-9)

Note, in particular, that the rationale for building Babel was to avoid being “scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth”. Hence, we conclude that Babel represents rebellion against God’s previously revealed purpose.
Babel was intended to be an empire based on the authority of man and not of God. In all likelihood Babel was also being built to facilitate the type of demonic interaction that characterized the period prior to the flood, when the Sons of God reproduced through the daughters of man resulting in the “Nephilim” or fallen ones. Jesus said that the last days would be like the days of Noah. In all likelihood, “Nephilim” will again appear in the human community (Matthew 24:37-38).
God made an assessment of the situation developing at Babel and decided to intervene. He disrupted this progress by confusing their language. Each individual or small family group was given a unique language. None could understand the other. They were repelled from one another and spread out across the face of the earth. They, therefore, did the will of God even though reluctantly. As those individuals and families settled in different locations the nations were born.
As world history is considered it is apparent that the quest to build Babel is repeated generation after generation. Empire after empire has emerged that struggled to bring as many people as possible under its authority. The differences of languages has always been a great limitation to empire building but this never dampened man's appetite for empire building.

Another limitation has been the logistical problem posed by a sprawling empire. The practical size of any empire was limited by the large distances over which armies could be supplied and communicated with.
In each empire we see an essential repetition of ancient Babel. Each effort at empire represents a “small Babel”. It is for this reason that God has a controversy with the nations. Therefore He has declared that He will judge the nations.