Let’s Make a Name
“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech…Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” – Genesis 11:1,4
What’s in a name? An identity, a purpose, an ideology… People long for a name to rally around, come under, and find belonging. Eternity has been set in every human heart, whether known or not. If people are honest, they will acknowledge there is a hunger for something that lasts and does not change or diminish. But the world says we should all figuratively speak one language, and gather under the umbrella of its wisdom. The culture reigns supreme and forces its ideology into the corporate spheres, academia, entertainment, and across the nations, in an attempt to educate, promote equity, inclusion, and to govern. The ‘name‘ is everything it says its not: imperialistic… colonizing… proud… it seeks to ‘re-educate’ and ‘enlighten’ and ‘tear down’ what it perceives to be outdated and replace longstanding traditions and values with itself. The name exalts itself and comes by a deceptive guise of peace, harmony, and oneness for all, under the banner of canceling on the premise of some moral high ground that denies morality, or perhaps ‘the common good’ or ‘safety’ or even ‘health.’
For people without a name, identity, purpose, it’s appealing and easy to gravitate towards. For some it’s globalism, for others it’s wokism. Climate, gender, sexual freedom, the idea of truth being relative, all of these are part of the same name being forced and thrust upon the psyches of humanity, governments, and societies… we are watching a proud return to Babel, as a world now thinks it is more intelligent and enlightened than any generation to ever come before it. The irony in that mindset disproves itself. On a smaller scale, the name may be a hobby, interest, passion, career, relationship, or a person in which identity and purpose is derived from. Perhaps the name is simply oneself.
The name humanity seeks to make for itself stands in stark rebellion to God’s purposeful design. His command in Genesis was to spread out, be fruitful, multiply, and allow the formation of diverse people groups with their own languages, customs, cultures, foods, and preferences. As far as all people sharing in a oneness… He would take care of that in His own way and time… through a plan to reconcile the world to Himself through His Son. Those of us who are the Body of Christ experience this oneness today across every divide.
We see what would have happened if God hadn’t formed languages and allowed the One World Order to proceed in verse 6: “The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.'” To save humanity from itself, God intervened, and it wouldn’t be the last time. In the fullness of time, He would step in by coming to us Himself, to do and be for us all we never could without Him.
Rather than spreading out, the world wants likeminded, cookie-cutter clusters, promotes smart cities, and discourages procreation through abortion, the confusing of genders and sexuality, self and individualistic worship and lifestyles, and a disdain for marriage and the family unit, both of which are instituted by God, not stemming from mankind. There is a war against His design that comes cloaked in the most deceptive, gaslighting ways possible. “You will be happy and own nothing,” they say… “Take this pill, this vaccine, eat these foods, it’s for your good,” they persuade. “It’s not a life, it’s a cell. We need a great reset. Burn down the old to build something new,” they chant in the streets. Steal. Kill. Destroy.
God slowed down the end of the world by confusing the languages and forcing the people to scatter. But now, thousands of years later, in another ‘fullness of time’ humanity has circumvented the design. Driven by their egos, they continue the pursuit to make for themselves a name.
Meekness and might is the character and nature of God. Out of all the people groups and ‘nations’ that formed after Babel, He chose one ordinary man named Abraham, called him out, gave him a new name, a new identity, and through him, brought about a plan that would lead to the redemption of mankind and all the ‘nations’ being reconciled under the ‘oneness’ of Christ. But in keeping with His character and nature, God does not force humanity into the oneness, He extends His hand in love and offers it freely to whosoever, and has been for the last 2,000 years.
In the very same sense, on a much more personal scale, God repeats this with every person He saves. He calls us out of our old identities, transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His light, gives us a new name, a new identity that is in Himself, and sets us on a journey of trust and faith to become what we will be once we are physically with Him.
Because eternity is in every person’s heart, no matter their background, nation, or history, God has placed in everyone the innate ability to know and tap into Him. Existence itself declares and testifies to His glory, our humanity, bodies, nature, all of these point to a designer for all to see, know, and sense. Throughout history, many people start to find God because they acknowledge these things. In ancient Greece and Latin America, some philosophers and thinkers stopped worshipping the many ‘gods’ of their culture because that eternity hole in their heart told them there must be a God of the ‘gods’ and only He matters. Then, God would send someone to them to explain that this God has a name. Sometimes, those people are brought right to us. And we know it is God who is the one drawing His people, calling them out like Abraham, giving them His name. And then, when a person comes to the truth of who Christ is, they exclaim their newfound completeness like Adam when he saw Eve. “Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh! The eternity in my heart, the void has been filled, I now know who I am because of You. You complete me.”
Jesus is the only King and Master that if we submit to Him, serve Him, live under Him, we actually become better, not worse, in ourselves, and towards each other; more the people we were meant to be. Truly that is a Perfect King; The Name that is above all names.
