Washington, DC International Christian Church

“To those who sold doves [Jesus] said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’” John 2:16-17

“It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!” Galatians 4:18-20

In the Greek the word “zeal” is transliterated as “zelos.”  Its meaning includes “the ardor (passion) of embracing, pursuing, or defending something (good); a fierceness of indignation.”  Recently, I felt a burning zeal that inspired me to action.  Last Friday I was planning to meet a friend for bible study at the corner of one of the busiest streets in Washington, DC – 7th St & H St NW – the Gallery Place/ Chinatown Metro Station.   As I made my way up the Metro escalator to the street, I could hear the sound of an angry man on a microphone.  I arrived on the street corner and saw a black man on a soapbox, dressed in black leather and surrounded by other black men in black & white army fatigues – the infamous Black Hebrew Israelites.  Black Hebrews believe the descendants of American slaves and the indigenous peoples of the Americas make up the 12 tribes of Israel.  They also believe that “the white man is the devil” and that they are the only “people of God!”  After listening to his argument for a while, I was burning with anger.   Paul’s charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3 was running through my head – “command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.” This man was being extremely defamatory and humiliating to the multi-racial crowd that had gathered around them.  He even called other black men around him who disagreed with him, the “n” word!  I saw another brother arrive for the study and asked him to call our friend.   When he received no answer, I decided to make this Black Hebrew my bible study!
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“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, “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.”  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The LORD said, “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.”  So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:1-9

“Whatever disunites man from God also disunites man from man.”  ~~ Edmund Burke

In Genesis 11, we get an inside look at how the various languages, families and nations on earth ended up being divided and scattered.  To put it bluntly, the Tower of Babel is the true story of people attempting to “make a name for [themselves].” It is a lesson from history that we can learn from today!  Pride against man and against God will scatter us.

Earlier in Genesis 9, God had said to Noah and his sons, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” Though Noah’s descendants did spread out as God had said, at some point they stopped “filling the earth” and instead settled in one place.  They knew what they had to do.  Perhaps they decided to stop trying to understand God’s plan and began making up their own.  They stopped obeying God’s direction and became rebellious!  Their decision to “settle down” was in direct defiance of God!   They started building a tower that would “[reach] to the heavens.” How worthless of an attempt was that?  How does this relate to us?
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