It will greatly enhance the grace of this lovely passage of Scripture to bear in mind what it was that rendered the cloven tongues necessary. In the eleventh chapter of Genesis we have the inspired record of the first grand effort of the children of men to establish themselves in the earth, to form a great association, and make themselves a name. And all this, be it remembered, without God. His name is never mentioned. He was not to form any part of this proud and popular scheme. He was entirely shut out. It was not a dwelling-place for God that was to be erected on the plain of Shinar. It was a city for men, a center round which man were to gather.
Such was the object of the children of men, as they stood together on the plain of Shinar. It was not, as some have imagined, to escape another deluge. There is not a shadow of foundation in the passage for any such idea. Here are their words:
“And they said, Go to, let us build a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
There is no thought here of escaping another flood. It is sheer imagination, without any Scripture basis. The object is as plain as possible. It is precisely similar to all those great confederacies, associations, or masses of flesh, that have been formed on the earth from that day to this. The Shinar Association could vie with any association of modern times, both in its principle and object. But it proved to be a Babel, for divided tongues were sent as the expression of divine judgment upon this first great human association.
An association without God, is really nothing but a mass of flesh, based on pride, and ends in hopeless confusion.
“Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces” (Isa. 8:9).
So much for all human associations. May we learn to keep clear of them. May we adhere to that one divine association, namely, the Church of the living God, of which a risen Christ in glory is the living Head, the Holy Ghost, the living Guide; and the Word of God, the living Charter.
It was to gather this blessed assembly that the cloven tongues were sent in grace on the day of Pentecost. No sooner had the Lord Jesus Christ taken His seat at the right hand of power, amid the brightness of heaven’s majesty, than He sent down the Holy Ghost to publish the glad tidings of salvation in the ears of His very murderers. And, inasmuch as that message of pardon and peace was intended for men of various tongues, so the divine messenger came down prepared to address each “in his own tongue wherein he was born.” The God of all grace made it plain, so plain that it cannot be mistaken, that He desired to make His way to each heart with the sweet story of grace.
Man, on the plain of Shinar, did not want God; but God, on the day of Pentecost, proved that He wanted man. Blessed forever be His holy name! God had sent His Son, and man had just murdered Him; and now He sends the Holy Ghost to tell man that there is pardon through that very blood which he had shed, for his guilt in shedding it. Matchless, marvelous, overwhelming grace! O! that it may subdue our hearts, and bind us to Him who is at once its source, its channel, and the power of enjoyment! The grace of God has far out-topped all the enmity of man. It has proved itself victorious over all the opposition of the human heart, and all the rage of hell.
Thus, then, in Genesis 11 divided tongues were sent in judgment. In Acts 2 divided tongues were sent in grace. The blessed God of all grace would cause each one to hear of full salvation, and hear of it in those very accents in which his infant ears had hearkened to the earliest whisperings of a mother’s love! “His own tongue wherein he was born.” It mattered not whether the tongue were soft or harsh, refined or barbarous; the Holy Ghost would use it as the vehicle for conveying the precious message of salvation right home to the human heart. If divided tongues had once been given to scatter in judgment, they were again given to gather in grace; not now round an earthly tower, but round a heavenly Christ; not for the exaltation of man, but for the glory of God.
Now, it is well worthy of notice that when God was giving the law from Mount Sinai, He spoke only in one tongue and to one people. The law was carefully wrapped up in one language, and deposited in the midst of one nation. Not so the gospel. When that was the burden, God the Holy Ghost Himself descended from heaven, in cloven tongues, to waft the soul-stirring tidings far and wide over the whole world, and convey them “to every creature under heaven” in the very dialect wherein he was born.
This is a great moral fact. It comes down upon the heart with uncommon weight and power. When God was speaking in terms of requirement and prohibition, He confined Himself to one language; but when He was publishing the message of life and salvation, pardon and peace, through the blood of the Lamb, He spoke in every language.