Series: The Tower of Babel; Knowledge; New Era.

Sun 05 May 2019 – Kobus Swart

Ps. 119:105; Acts 17:11; John. 1:1; Col. 1:15; Gen. 11:4-9; Dan. 12:1-4; (Matt. 13:38); (Matt. 24:22); Gen. 6:3-9; Dan. 2:42-44; Ps. 139:16-17; Eph. 2:6-10; Matt. 18:19-20; (Ps. 37:4); (John 14:12); Matt. 16:13-19; Jer. 29:11

In the book of Acts, the apostles arrived at a place where the Bereans were living, teaching the Word. This is how the Bereans responded: Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so (Acts 17:11 NASB). I challenge you to search the Scriptures. You need personal confirmation by the Holy Spirit that this word is true.

Jesus came as the Word made flesh (John 1:1,14). He, who was the word made flesh, was tempted by satan after a 40-day fast in the wilderness. Each time, Jesus responded by saying, “It is written”. He, who was the Word made flesh, quoted the Scriptures to satan! Right at the end satan, the liar, took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the earth. He said, “If you bow down and worship me, I will give you all these kingdoms”, as if they were satan’s. He is a liar. He who was the Word made flesh responded again, “It is written”, and satan disappeared. Do not underestimate the power of the Scriptures; not the dead letter, but the Spirit gives life to the Word of God.

Let’s look at what happened when they built the Tower of Babel. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (Gen. 11:5-6). That was the all- knowing God speaking! But what was their motive? They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name (Gen. 11:4). This reflected the condition of their hearts. What was God’s will right in the beginning when He created Adam and Eve? Multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, not stay together and build a tower. This was contrary to the commission given to man. God knew that if left to themselves, man would quickly develop technologies that would enable them to do anything for better or for worse (Gen. 11:7-9).

In the Garden of Eden there were two trees, two voices; one was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the other one was the Tree of Life. Many people make a mistake to think that the good side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not bad. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are both not good. It is the wrong tree! We have to eat from the right tree – the Tree of LIFE – to advance into new discoveries and developments. There are two seed lines that started after the Fall (Gen 3:14-19). These two seed lines run right through the Bible into the New Testament where Jesus taught about the wheat and the tares – sons of the evil one and the sons of God (Matt. 13:38).

Jesus warned about these days: Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short (Matt. 24:22). Which days? The days in which knowledge will increase exponentially. In fact, if God had not stepped in for good, along the history of man, we would have destroyed ourselves long ago.

The World Wide Web was originally conceived and developed to meet the need for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world. It has gone far beyond that. Can you see something of “one language” returning? It is something like the re-birth of the Tower of Babel, trying to find a way to address the confusion of languages. No matter what language is spoken, you can tap into www and it can even translate when you want to talk to each other. This is not necessarily wrong or demonic, but you have to see the mind of the enemy behind this knowledge that increasing. It is not all negative but we can see that knowledge has increased and continues to increase.

In the beginning satan tried to create a superhuman race. Now at that time and for some time to come, a great warrior race lived on the earth. Whenever the sons of God would have sex with the humans’ daughters, the women bore them children who became mighty warriors (Gen. 6:4, VOICE). The result was a super human race called the Nephilim. God’s reaction? “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart (Gen. 6:3-6 NASB). Wickedness reached a point that made God utter these words. If it was not for Noah, God would have wiped out humanity (Gen. 6:8-9). There was no mixture that came from fallen angels in the genealogy of Noah, he was clean. And Noah with his family were saved and humanity continued after the flood. Can you see the enemy’s plan to interfere with God’s plan in the seed of men? As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men (Dan. 2:42-43).

However, let us not miss God’s ultimate Plan: In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever (Dan. 2:42-44). There will be a kingdom that will crush every other kingdom and will stand forever. That is why it is so important for us to spend time in private worship with the Lord, spend time in His presence, in His word and worship. Connect with God’s plan for your life; do not be a target so that the enemy can come and mix things, connect with God’s master plan! (Ps. 139:16-17; Eph. 2:6, 10). God has a predestined plan for us to walk in.

The power of agreement with God is necessary (Matt. 18:19-20). This has been misinterpreted by the bulk of Christianity because you can manipulate agreement. Come into agreement with truth, come into agreement with God. The word ‘agree’ comes from the Greek ‘sumphoneo’, meaning symphony. When a harp with all its strings, or the keys of a keyboard, are tuned to blend, there is an agreement and there is a symphony. This type of prayer-agreement – like a symphony – reaches the Father. I would like to see that when we come to a place of agreement with God in his Word, that not my dream, but God’s desire, will become my desire. He will then give me the desire of my heart because it comes from Him. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you His desires in your heart – that is agreement! (Ps. 37:4).

I believe we are in for an amazing era and the Church is going to awake around the world. Believers are going to discover the futility of the old way of having Church and religion. They will discover new ways, and will come into a symphony with God and there will be creativity like we never, ever imagined possible. Jesus said, “”Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12).

Knowledge will increase but we are not going to take the short cut; we are not going to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is the wrong tree! We will eat from the Tree of Life. Jesus is the Tree of Life; He is the only way into the truth and this new creativity.

Jesus asked the people, “Who do you say I am?” (Matt. 16:13-19). When Peter answered Him correctly by revelation, He said: And you are Petros (a stone), and upon this ROCK (Petra) I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it! And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth, shall have been loosed in heaven!”. We cannot just bind and loose what we want. You have to correspond and agree (come into symphony) with what has been done in heaven. (the finished works!). That is when we will use the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever we loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. The gates of hell cannot stop us because God wants us to loose what has been loosed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not even Hell can stop us. Those of us with the keys to the kingdom of heaven will be given this mandate. It is calling for a response from God’s people. Knowledge coming from the Tree of LIFE, will increase!

There is a divine Architect and His motives are founded in love. The love of God! His motives are founded in love and His thoughts towards us are for good and not for evil (Jer. 29:11).