When God interacts with man, he does so on the basis of a covenant. When God announces a new relation between man and God, he does so on the basis of a covenant. God is a covenantal God. He initiates the covenants, sets the boundaries of the covenants, and He remains faithful to his covenantal promises.
In chapter 9, God has made a covenant with mankind beginning with Noah. In that covenant, he has promised to never destroy the ground and every living thing because of man’s sin again. That covenant extends grace to every human being, and we are called to remember that gracious covenant every time we see a rainbow!
In chapter 12, God has called Abram out of Haran and has made him a promise. He has promised to make Abram a great nation, to bless him, and in him to bless all the families of the earth! The beginnings of the Abrahamic covenant are here and will be solidified in chapter 15. Again, we have a promise, but as will be revealed soon, this is not like the covenant with Noah. This covenant is not for all people, but for God’s people, that is, the people of faith. In calling Abram, God has set forth his plan to have a people for himself out of the peoples of the earth. The nation of Israel is the not the object of this covenant. They are the seedbed from which this covenant will grow. The object is every family of the earth, that is, every tribe, language, tongue (Rev 5:9-10)! However, like Noah’s covenant, this is a gracious covenant as well. Just like we don’t deserve common grace, as Noah proved in chapter 9 by getting drunk, so we don’t deserve saving grace, as Abram proved in chapter 12 by not trusting God. For not only is God a covenantal God, he is a GRACIOUS covenantal God!
Just a thought regarding the Tower of Babel: Of all the ways God could have chosen to stop the arrogance of the tower (+ NAME) builders, He chose to diversify their speech. I mean, He could have leveled the tower with an earthquake, or paralyzed all of the workers, or chosen any number of other ways to stop their progress, but languages! That's divided people around this world ever since! We don't understand each other's cultures and even when we want to understand, so often we don't use words the same way even if there is a translator to help. I was trying to find a verse in my concordance but not having any success. Somewhere in one of the minor prophets, it says that one day we will all worship Him shoulder to shoulder, with cleansed tongues, one language, altogether. I wish I had the reference. Only when we are worshipping Him, not Ourselves and Our Great Name, will it be safe for us to all speak the same language again. Any idea where that verse it? Any comments on languages as a curse that will be lifted one day?
ReplyDeleteLearned this one from my hero John Piper! God's original plan was for man to multiply and fill the earth. They grouped together and built a city. The way to make sure they split up and fill the earth was the languages. The different languages are part of God's plan to be glorified to the greatest degree possible by EVERY language and tongue. Diversity glorifies God! I believe we will still speak different languages, but in heaven we will understand them all!!!!
ReplyDeleteI finally checked back to see if you had accepted my blog addition. Oh, I like this "take" on the languages "curse" so much better!! To see the profusion of languages as a means for God to help the people to finally obey His command, AND for God to be glorified by many different people with all the many-faceted ways that their cultures help them to understand Who God is, well, that's GOOD! Isn't it just like God to take something that could be construed as a curse or trial and weave it into a great blessing instead. Doesn't He do this all the time in our lives as well??
ReplyDeleteI still haven't found that elusive verse in the minor prophets, maybe I'd better shelve that idea and wait until I do find it again and look at it a bit more closely!