4. Single Language

 Chapter 5: 4 

Four, Babel, but in reverse. 

It's a story you probably know. 

In the beginning, all humanity spoke a single language and shared one goal, greatness. 

They said to one another, "Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens. Then we'll make a name for ourselves, and we won't be scattered   across the face of the earth." 

Then God came down. 

He saw their pride, their perfectly unified rebellion, and his judgment was almost poetic. 

He did something both subtle and devastating. 

"Let us confuse their language there, so no one understands what their neighbor is saying."

Picture the scene. 

People were shouting, but no one understood. 

The project ground to a halt. 

Unity shattered into chaos and mistrust, and the result was exactly what they hoped to avoid. 

They were scattered over the whole earth. 

But here's where the story takes a fascinating turn. 

Have you ever wondered why God used languages specifically as judgment? 

Why not something else? 

God was saving that move for a master stroke centuries later. 

Keep that question in mind. 

Let's travel to Jerusalem thousands of years later. 

Jesus disciples are hiding in a room frozen with fear and with no clear plan. 

Their leader had just been crucified. 

They were alone. 

Outside the city was teeming with people. 

This wasn't an ordinary day. 

It was the feast of Pentecost. 

Jews from every corner of the known world. Parthians , Medes and Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Rome were there. 

An astonishing international mix. 

Suddenly, a roar like a hurricane force wind filled the whole house. 

Then they saw the impossible. 

Tongues like fire that separated and settled on each  one of them. 

In that moment, the unthinkable happened. 

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the spirit enabled them to speak. 

Hold on a second. 

Isn't this the very opposite of what happened at Babel? 

Why was the Holy Spirit, who is God, now reversing the judgment of the tower? 

The crowd drawn by the sound gathered in confusion, but their confusion was nothing like Babels. 

They didn't hear a jumble of meaningless noise. 

They heard clarity. 

The Parthians heard in Patheon, the Medes in Midian, the Egyptian in his own language. 

They listened to these humble Galileans proclaim the wonders of God, and each one understood them perfectly in his native language. 

How is it that we hear them, each of us, in our own native tongue? We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our languages. 

That day, about 3,000 people came to faith. 

Do you see God's master stroke? 

Now, at Babel, humanity used a single language to seek its own glory. 

And God's response was to multiply the languages to judge their pride and scatter them. 

At Pentecost, God used those many languages for a radically different purpose to glorify Christ, uniting the scattered nations through a single message of salvation. 

Chapter 6:5 

Five, the connection between Melchizedek and Jesus. ( Click here to continue )

At the heart of Christianity lies a colossal legal problem. 

By the Bible's own laws, Jesus could not be our high priest. 

He didn't belong to the right tribe. 

He lacked the proper lineage. 

Did God break his own rules? 

Think about it for a moment. 

In ancient Israel, there was a strict separation of powers. 

If you were from the tribe of Judah, you could be a king, but never a priest. 

If you were from the tribe of Levi, you could be a priest, but never a king.