Making a Name for Ourselves

The Tower of Babel Stele depicting Nebuchadnezzar II (c 604 – 562 BC).

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves …” (Genesis 11:4).

Genesis 11 begins with a rebellion. God commanded mankind to spread out over the earth and fill it. The world’s first tyrant and dictator, Nimrod, gathered mankind together in one place to make a name for ourselves.

That’s been the problem with mankind since the Garden of Eden. We want to be “like God” but independent of Him. We want to reach Him by our own methods and efforts. We seek after our own righteousness rather than the righteousness which God alone provides. The Tower of Babel is an historical symbol of mankind’s never-ending rebellious attempts to reach God by our own means. 

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us … (Ephesians 2:4) intervened in the life of an insignificant idol worshiper (Joshua 24:2). After confounding the plans and confusing the languages at Babel, God called a man named Abram out of Ur of the Chaldes. He told him to Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-2).

As Babylon was being founded, man tried to make a name for ourselves; in Abram, God would make your name great. At the Tower, mankind sought the glory for himself; in Abram, God would be glorified. The former a work of self; the latter a work of God by grace.

God’s purpose in creation, as well as in salvation, has always been to the praise of the glory of His grace … the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). The earth, sun and moon, and even the uttermost reaches of outer space declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). We were created to shine forth His glory so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:7-9).

Whose glory is your life declaring today?

In His Image

This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female (Genesis 5:1, 2).

There is a belief that every person reflects the image of God. Sometimes that likeness is obvious, other times it requires a microscope, but it’s there. Nothing could be further from the Word of God.

In the beginning, God indeed created humanity is His own likeness, fashioning mankind after His moral image. Adam and Eve were both innocent, having only experienced the goodness of God. But in the center of the Garden of Eden, God placed man and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:9). Eating from this tree didn’t merely give man a head-knowledge about good and evil, the word “knowledge” refers to an intimate and personal familiarity. With disobedience, mankind began to personally experience both good and evil and innocence disappeared … and the moral image and likeness of God also disappeared.

Consider Adam and Eve. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image … (Genesis 5:3). When the first pair gave birth to their children, these children were not in the “likeness of God” but in their own fallen, sinful likeness. The image of God had been replaced. So it has been ever since.

If you can see the “likeness of God” in fallen humanity, you don’t understand the image of God or the depravity of sin described in the Bible. But there is hope through the new birth and faith in Christ Jesus alone as Saviour!

And all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:28-29). God’s purpose (in part) in choosing His elect is to shape us to the image of Jesus. In the new birth, God redeems the fallen nature of mankind (John 8:44) and restores His image within us (John 8:42).

** Inspired by my friend Bernie Webb. Thanks! (Returning to the Incorruptible Image of God)