Bible Blog

"I am the Resurrection and the Life, and whoever believes in me, even though they be dead, shall Live, and whoever that Lives and believes in me, shall never die.” John 11:25

Babble-on.

1. And the whole earth was one language and everyone spoke the same dialect. (And all earth was one tongue and spoke one.)
2. And as it was that they came from the East, they found an empty spot in the land of Sumer and they settled there.
3. And they said, a man to his friend, "Again let us cast bricks and burn them in the fire." And bricks became their stone and [they used] bitumen for mortar.
4. And they said, "Let us again build ourselves a city and a ziggurat with its head in the sky and let us call ourselves by a name, (make a name for ourselves- or use a national name) so we do not end up scattered all over the earth."
5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the ziggurat that humanity had built.
6. And the Lord said, "Behold, the people are one people and there is one language for all of them, and this is what they thought of doing, from now on they will not be at a loss to do whatever they imagine.
7. "Let us go down there and divide the languages, so that men will not listen to their companion's tongue (heed each other)."
8. And the Lord scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
9. That is why its name is called Babylon, because it was there that the Lord made the languages of all the earth sound like babbling, and from there the Lord spread them over all the earth.

Genesis 11
There is a very real reason why there is so much confusion and “diversity” in Christendom in that wherever men are given to building towers to reach the heavens and thereby perverting the appropriation and application of the principle of agreement, God will scatter, diminish, minimize and even prevent the destruction which inevitably results Man’s attempts at construction.

The principle is that God has consigned ALL MANKIND to disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all. Whether our prisons are individual or corporate, whether we are a denomination of one or one Billion, all Mankind was sold under sin and all Mankind was redeemed in righteousness so that Jesus might be all in all, and that all thing, both in heaven and earth, may be renewed all over again in Christ.

9. And He declared to us the sermon of His will, that which from the beginning He had consecrated through him,
10. The supreme reign over the fulfillment of all the Ages, so that everything that is in heaven and on earth is renewed through Christ all over again (from the head).
11. And we are chosen by him, according to how we were consecrated at the beginning, and according to how He wished everyone to be deployed by the intentions of his will. Ephesians 1

Picture if you will, denominations and organizations as towers built both as a means of getting closer to God and as strongholds and bulwarks against perceived threats posed by opposing or contradictory doctrines. It is said that the Lord Himself is our strong tower and refuge, but religious tradition encourages the building of edifices which are antichrist.

For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. Ps 61:3 NKJV

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe. Pr 18:10 NKJV

There is a perversity in the fallen nature which desires to have the privileges of salvation to ourselves while requiring judgment for others. Our own human pride requires that we be right and others wrong as we struggle to establish our position relative to others. You will notice that one of the first things a religious person will do when meeting another is to try and establish just where they are coming from doctrinally and relationally so that the target coordinates can be plotted, rather than just having the grace to simply accept people as they are and as God does. The Kingdom of God is our posterity, provision and reward and the self centered life desires to capture the Kingdom instead of sharing it with others, or it offers a glimpse of the Kingdom but its desire is to use it to bait the trap to snare the unwary.

In our attempts to defend our own bastions of (self) righteousness, we may become like Abimelech, who gathered his cohorts and came against Shechem. He took a bough from a tree and told his followers to do likewise and to lay them against the tower to burn out his rivals. Here trees represent judgment and the knowledge of good and evil, and taking a branch thereof and using it to burn down your enemy’s tower is a corruption of the typology of taking up your cross and laying done your life for your enemy. Abimelech’s wickedness of killing his brothers to establish his own rulership was repaid by his being killed by a millstone being dropped on him – a woman using an instrument designed to grind wheat to strike at his authority (head). This passage of scripture (Judges 9:46-56) is so rich with imagery.

It is not for us to attempt to burn out our brothers by the force of our own arguments, but rather to present the knowledge of the Kingdom as a provocation to righteousness. We can all of us resort to the strongholds of our own reasonings when we feel threatened or conversely go about in a show of supposed freedom encouraging others to leave their place of safety because secretly we want to gather them to ourselves to reinforce our own view and eventually help to build by the force of agreement our own tower to the heavens. Good heavens!

Lovelessness is the evidence of the mind which prefers learning to knowing.

There is no end to learning and the knowledge of the Kingdom is not facts and figures, it is not about meat and drinks, or genealogies or striving about words – the Kingdom of God is a person who is Jesus Christ and whatever we do to one another we do to Him.

Becoming as living stones in the temple of our God requires the proper comprehension and apprehension of the foundation, the Chief cornerstone and of the Head, which is Christ. We are the Temple of God – as we lay down our own lives we are as living stones.

Jesus did not tell us to build a tower, He told us to count the cost, and the cost of discipleship is simply EVERYTHING! Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, when you do not even love your own brother or neighbour? By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you have love one for the other.

26. "Whoever comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and his brothers and sisters and his wife and children and also himself, my disciple he cannot be. (Jesus must have the pre-eminence as the Head and Lord of All)
27. "And whoever does not pick up his cross and follow me, my disciple he cannot be.
28. "For who among those that desire to build a tower does not from the start sit down and consider his expenditures?
29. "[And] not while laying the foundation and as he cannot complete it, so that everyone who sees him laughs at him.
30. "And they say, 'Here is a man who begins to build and cannot complete it.' Luke 14

If or when we have forsaken all to know the foundation, there is nothing left of ourselves with which to build and there IS NO OTHER FOUNDATION LAID OTHER THAN CHRIST. For we are His workmanship.

9. For we are working with God, and you are God's labor and His laborers:
10. And according to the grace of God, given to me, I consecrated a foundation like a wise architect, upon which others would build. Every human being then should see where upon to build.
11. For no other foundation can be derived from that which is already set, no human being can erect it, that which is [already set by] Jesus Christ.
12. And if a human being builds upon this foundation in gold, silver or precious stones, or wood, brick or bamboo,
13. Every human being's deeds shall be revealed. For daylight shall reveal it, because by the fire it will be revealed, and the deeds (desires) of each human being shall be separated by the fire.
14. And the one whose deeds remain shall receive his wages.
15. And the one whose deeds burn off, shall lose out. They (the deeds) shall be consumed like the fire itself.
16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17. And whoever shatters God's temple, God will shatter them. For holy is God's temple that is you. 1 Corinthians 3.

There is no other foundation – Christ is all and in all – He is comprehended as sin or as righteousness.

He took our place – he laid down His life to become our Life – it is a completed work.

When we first get “saved” or even “revived”, the water of the Word mingles with the clay or dust of our humanity so that we may be molded by the Potter. If we begin to manipulate our own lives, and by extension those of others, we will define a mold, mix in the gleanings of humanity (all flesh is as grass) and make bricks according to our own pattern. We then fire or dry the bricks, driving off the water which initially enabled their manufacture, and build our tower to the heavens. By not rightly comprehending the foundation of righteousness, we still see ourselves and others as sin and so we build a foundational dungeon to capture to control our own sin – being our control and coping mechanisms – and then build a tower to distance ourselves from our sin.

If we comprehend that Jesus was made to be sin for us, lifted up like the serpent on the stake, so that we may be made righteousness in Him, we will see our foundation as being His righteousness instead of it being our sin. Simply put, if our consciousness is Old Testament oriented, we will continue to see the cross and be forever coming back to it, crucifying Christ anew to ourselves and ever repenting of our own sin, still searching for the cleansing of our original sin.

The resurrection is the foundation of our faith and Life, not the crucifixion which is the death of the old.

The sacrifice always was, God having had a Lamb slain since before the foundation of the Universe!

19. The true foundation that God has established is that very resurrection, however, and it has a conclusion, and the Lord knows those who are His, and He shall save from oblivion all those who call on the name of the Lord.
20. In a house, then, there are not only vessels of gold and [vessels] inlaid with silver, except there are also those of wood and clay -- some for honorable use and some for desecration.
21. If a person thus cleanses themselves [from the latter,] they will become a clean vessel that deserves to be used for the honorable purposes of its owner and is appreciated for every good use.
22. Run away from all the lusts (desires) of youth and chase after righteousness, faithfulness, love and peace with those who call after our Lord with a clean heart.
23. And the foolish perversions, that are non-edifying -- have nothing to do with them, for you know they breed strife.
24. A servant of our Lord need not get involved in strife, except to be gentle to every human being and a teacher, possessing a generous spirit,
25. So as they may be able to tolerate (put up kindly with) those who act foolishly against them, to understand why God did not grant them goodness and why they know not the truth,
26. And to rediscover (recall) themselves and escape the traps of Satan, by whom they were entrapped for the sake of HIS purpose. 2 Timothy.

For God has imprisoned all people in their own disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. Rom 11:32 NLT.

32. For God combined all human beings in non-communion, so that He may be merciful to every human being.
33. Oh, the depth and wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God, that no human being can wipe out their debt and follow on the heels of his ways.
34. "For who understands the Omniscience of the Lord? Or who can be His councilor?
35. "And who first gave him righteousness and received it back from him?"
36. For all is from him and everyone is through him and everything is in his hands,
To him glory and blessing, to [the end of] the universe, of all the universes, amen. Romans 11:32-36

All scripture references from the Victor Alexander Ancient Aramaic Translation unless otherwise noted.