A LADDER * ~ J AND A TOWER by Dr. W alter L. W ilson r iR h u n d red s and hundreds of years, and more particularly this age in which we are living today, men have been interested in outer space. I want to tell -you about a ladder that reached to heaven and a tower that didn’t. In Genesis 11:1-4 we read, “And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and bum them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scat tered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” This is such an interesting story from history. Even with our new pro jected missiles and space ships, when one considers the immensity of the uni verse, they will not be able to travel such tremendous distances. Some men expect to go to the moon. I don’t know what they want to go there for. We can’t take care of this country, let alone taking care of the moon. We need money to reduce the national debt, to help build hospitals and homes for the aged. But instead of that we spend billions of dollars trying to get to the moon; We are not much differ ent than the civilization about which we read here in Genesis. Man wanted to make sure that the flood never overcame him again. He planned to build a tower so big, so high, so projected that even God couldn’t drown it. Like they said about the T i t a n i c — God Himself couldn’t sink that ship. God didn’t have to do a single thing, an iceberg did it. I have found folks today who are the same way. There are those
Miss Helen W hite, left, is honored for 30 years of faithful service w ith Biola. Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland is in the center, and M r. A l Sanders at the microphone. who think, “Even God couldn’t hurt me. He couldn’t stop me.” I heard of a man who took out his watch and foolishly declared, “If there is a God let him strike me dead in the next five minutes.” The Lord isn’t inter ested in striking anybody dead. He has all eternity to do that. God sits in heaven and laughs at man’s puny effort: a tower that will reach up to heaven. The Lord didn’t do anything but to confound their lan guages. This is where all the different languages began. Since they couldn’t understand each other they had to sep arate and quit building. There was confusion and no means of communi cation. Somehow, one thing which amazes me is that these people wanted to get to heaven at all. People are not usually interested in going there. They would rather have their sins, iniqui ties, and evils and in order to avoid going to heaven, they live in sin. They try to make a heaven on earth for themselves. On the other hand there is another account in Genesis of a man who saw a ladder reaching up to heaven. Jacob “dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28:12). This was not a tower but a ladder: the very thing the people in chapter eleven wanted, Jacob had in a dream. At this point, may I ask to what 11
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