WE will venture to take an Old Testament text clean out of its context, and give it a modern application. We are assured however that in this we shall not be doing any violence to the spirit of the text.
As we contemplate the many and varied opinions and activities and enterprises of men, whether in the world of which Satan is the god and prince, or in that smaller sphere where men profess to own Christ as Lord, we are constrained to say, in concluding any description of it we might give, “Therefore is the name of it called, Babel [i.e. Confusion].”
The world is full of big ideas. It always has been. Yet it is always Babel when it comes to putting them into execution. The professing church equally bristles with ideas and is equally filled with Babel. We need not be surprised. It is the result of the working of God’s government.
But though not surprised the true believer may very easily become distressed and confused. This should not be. We would like to remind all our readers of One, whom we have, strong and immutable, acting outside the present order of things altogether.
Again will we go to the Old Testament for a striking word.
We turn our thoughts away from the modern Babel to where He lives in heaven’s unclouded rays, and it is as though a great silence falls upon us. We know the greatness of our God; and we know more, for turning our eyes upon Jesus we see Him fully revealed. We know His infinite stability as the Rock, and we know the perfection of His work as executed by the Lord Jesus. God be praised for that!
Here is rest amid the turmoil. Here is quiet amid confusion. Here is substance and solidity amid the unsubstantial and passing away.
Let it not be said of us as Moses had to say of Israel later in his song, “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful.” In a very real sense we have been begotten of the Rock, hence some very rock-like qualities lie fundamentally in each believer. They are fostered and enlarged as our souls stay themselves upon the Rock.
The men of the world have the rocks wherein they trust. One after the other they give way. Be it ours to show in a practical way how great is our Rock, by the implicit faith with which we rest our all upon Him. Thus shall we rightly recommend Him to others, and be able to say with triumph what Moses said ere his song was finished,
“THEIR ROCK IS NOT AS OUR ROCK, EVEN OUR ENEMIES THEMSELVES BEING JUDGES.”
Let us aim at building one another up in the knowledge of Himself.