Big Picture: While Adam and Eve aspired to become like God (Gen 3:5), the inhabitants of Babel/Babylon seek to establish themselves as supreme not only on earth, but in heaven as well (Gen 11:4). Uniting to make a name for themselves, they attempt to build a tower that will enable them to access and control heaven. Babel/Babylon typifies two contrasting aspects of human existence: (1) the capacity to achieve great things and (2) the arrogance of those who have turned away from God.
Although God intervenes to halt the Babel/Babylon project by scattering the city’s inhabitants throughout the earth, the human ambition to construct an alternative, godless city remains. Babel/Babylon typifies every social enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the Creator. From Genesis to Revelation, Babel/Babylon features prominently as the symbol of humanity’s attempt to govern themselves without reference to and in defiance of God.

1. The Table of Nations

• Japheth’s descendants (10:2–5)
• Ham’s descendants (10:6-20)
• Shem’s descendants (10:21-31):

2. A Tale of Two Cities: Babylon and Jerusalem (The Whore and the Bride) (11:1-9)

This sermon owes a debt to T. Desmond Alexander’s “The City of God and the Goal of Creation.