Title: BRIDGING HEAVEN AND EARTH
Focus: By sending Christ’s Spirit at Pentecost, God overrules any human attempts to bridge heaven and earth. God does so by building his own city—the New Jerusalem.
Function: To move the people to be part of the city or people of God by turning to Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Text: Genesis 11:1-9
I was intrigued when I learned that Amy Thompson will be working as a “bridger.” I had never heard of that term. As a bridger, Amy will help people, for example, from North America to bridge the cultural divide or gap when they enter the foreign culture of a country such as Kenya. It’s tough to work and function effectively in the name of Christ in a culture that is unfamiliar to you. So, Amy, may God bless you as a bridger in the years to come!
My curiosity about bridgers increased when I began to explore the story of the tower of Babel and the subsequent confusion caused by God’s interference. And as I reflected upon the meaning of Pentecost Sunday with its celebration of the coming of God’s Holy Spirit into our lives, I realized that God is a bridger too. In fact, God is the bridger par excellence.
You see, by sending Christ’s Spirit at Pentecost, God overrules any human attempts to bridge heaven and earth. The city of Babel is a city of man—doomed to fail. The story of Pentecost, however, points to the building of the city of God. In fact, God gathers or builds his own people, his own “city” by sending his Holy Spirit into the world and gathering people from all over to enter and participate in the life of Christ.
By raising up men and women and children for Christ, God is building the New Jerusalem—uniting his very own people into the church, the body of Christ. By sending his Holy Spirit, God bridges—reconciles—brings together in full harmony heaven and earth. Today, I urge all of us to be part of the city or people of God by turning to Christ and his Holy Spirit. God is the bridger par excellence.
The story about this city with a tower on steroids, reaching to the heavens, takes place in present day Iraq. The Bible, however, refers to that country as Babylon, or as the Land of Shinar, or Mesopotamia. We do well to observe the following:
Following the story of the city and tower of Babel, however, is the account of God calling one man from all the dispersed nations on the earth to become God’s own nation. Chapter 11 focuses on the nations of the earth. Chapter 12 focuses on God calling Abram out of the nations to become a blessing for the nations of the world. In fact, it’s through Abram—and his offspring, including the Messiah, the Son of God—that God will build his own city—the New Jerusalem. The story of the city and tower of Babel, then, comes at a very critical point, a decisive moment, in history. Note also
And thus we hear the collective voice of Noah’s offspring say: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens….” Noah’s race is thinking big. Noah’s race is planning. But here’s the irony: God does the ordaining. And at times God overrules. Listen to the voice of the triune God: “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” Here the collective voice of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit expresses the resolve of God to thwart the plans of the human race.
Do not miss this irony in the text. For it is instructive for us today: you and I may plan and scheme and resolve to go our own ways. But God ordains, overrules, elects, predestines, and intervenes to accomplish his very own purposes in history. Note also
The tower becomes an extension of man’s arms to take hold of God, to take hold of what has always been out of their reach—to become as God. The people want fame, renown, make a name for themselves. Their heads are swelling with pride. They want to bridge heaven and earth and become like gods.
The second motivation for building a city with a huge tower is fear. Listen: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Unity equals power and might, so the people think. United we stand. United we have nothing to fear; united we shall always stay together and not fear getting lost or run over by any force in this world. The people seek security in unity; but they forget that their only security lies in belonging to God and resting in God’s sovereign will and power.
And thus we see how the city of man is formed: on the basis of pride and fear. And thus we notice God’s response: confuse them with diversity of tongues and scatter them in frustration throughout the world.
Our observations from the
passage now call for some biblical insights. For one thing,
Wanting to stay together for fear of filling the earth and thus for fear of losing each other or losing the security of numbers, the people built a tower and a city. These became the visible signs of their flagrant disobedience of God’s command. The next insight is this:
And that leads us to the next insight:
Jesus has said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jhn. 14:6). Jesus is our bridge. Also, Jesus’ work leads us to call him the bridger.
For example, in Col. 1:16ff, we learn that “…by (Jesus) all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” In other words, heaven and earth find their head, their source, their center in Jesus Christ.
So it is also with the new humanity, the people of God. Scripture says: (Col. 1:18) “(Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” It’s this biblical teaching of God reconciling the world to himself through Christ Jesus that leads us to say: God is the bridger par excellence.
How, then, does God do this awesome work of reconciliation? God applies the work of Jesus Christ by sending us his Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ brings to bear in our lives all the riches, all the work, all the benefits and all the fruit of Christ’s work.
As Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent us his Holy Spirit. And by means of God’s Word and Spirit God forms, gathers, unites one holy nation, one people, one church, one city—the New Jerusalem. As Scripture says: “…If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (II Cor. 5:17).
ACTION
What, then, must be our response? We must refrain from making a name for ourselves; we must not act out of fear and try to find our security in life by building fortresses of wealth and instruments of military power. Our security, our only security in life and in death, lies in this: that we belong to God in Jesus Christ. We must ‘hallow’ (make great and make known) the name of our heavenly Father, who in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, is the bridger—the One who has reconciled us to himself.
Come to God the Father, through faith in Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Find rest in him. And participate in his city, his nation, his people, the church, the people of God. Be open to the Spirit of Christ; be filled with his presence; walk in his steps—with trust and with obedience.
In doing so, you and I may embrace the vision of the apostle John when he speaks of Christ’s final coming and restoration of all things: (Rev. 21:2) “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
You see? The story of Babel tells us NOT to go our own way, NOT to fall into the traps of pride and fear. We cannot, in our own strength, bridge heaven and earth.
The story of Pentecost, however, tells us that God bridges heaven and earth by means of his Holy Spirit. By sending Christ’s Spirit at Pentecost, God overrules any human attempt to bridge heaven and earth; God does so by building his own city—the New Jerusalem.
Glory be to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!