To Encourage You

1 Chronicles 1:17-19 “The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech. Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg (for in his days the earth was divided) . . . “

1 Chronicles 1, for the most part, simply provides us with a long list of names. It’s a genealogy that leads from the first man, Adam, through the time of the Edomites and the leaders of that land. But then, for a few of the names there are some details mentioned, and because those details are given, it is worthwhile that we take note.

One such detail is given with reference to the man Peleg. It tells us that “in his days the earth was divided.” It’s most likely that this is referring to what happened at Babel, when the Lord confused men’s languages, and they separated there into various people groups to spread out and inhabit the earth. It was at that time that the earth was first divided, and it’s been divided ever since.

It’s interesting that this happened so soon after the great worldwide flood at the time of Noah. One of Noah’s sons was Shem. One of Shem’s sons was Arpachshad, “Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg.” Thus, after the devastating flood that came upon the whole world because of its great sin, in just four more generations, God sent another judgment, but this time it was to graciously stem man’s sin, not destroy them! You see, at the time of Babel, men were caught up in such self-centeredness that they thought they could reach heaven by building a great tower. They thought they could reach God by their own efforts. We read about this in Genesis 11 where it says that the people said to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And what was God’s response? It was this (I’m using the KJV here as I think it gives a better sense of what happened): “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and NOW NOTHING WILL BE RESTRAINED FROM THEM, WHICH THEY HAVE IMAGINED TO DO. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

You see, this division was the Lord’s doing. It was his gracious work to stem man’s sin. When they He said, “now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do,” He wasn’t afraid of their knowledge. It wasn’t that He didn’t want them to develop advanced technology, build great cities, and in other ways advance. No, the language He used here harkened back to the earlier time before the flood when “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 KJV). Notice that it mentions man’s imaginations. It was the imagination of the heart to do evil. They were headed in the same direction as they had been going before the flood. So the Lord graciously restrained them. He confused their languages and their united efforts towards sin were thwarted by the division among them that resulted. And that division has continued ever since.

And so now we see division everywhere we look. While people speak of unity, it’s division that is the rule – be it national, racial, political, or whatever other means by which division occurs. And it is because of this division that we so often don’t just get our own way! There are others about us that think and act differently, and we can’t do as we might otherwise want to. There’s always those who oppose us. As a result, there’s strife. There’s prejudice. There are political campaigns like the one we’re experiencing right now. The nation seems so divided, but perhaps, in the long run, that division is for our own good. It puts us in the position of having to defend ourselves. It causes us to have to answer our critics. It makes us think more about why we do what we do, and why we think what we think in ways that we would otherwise not. We face challenges all the time because of our divisions. America’s founding fathers actually built division into our nation’s political structure. It’s called the separation of powers, and it was specifically designed as a safeguard against the unchecked power of people. It was specifically designed as a system of checks and balances to check the potential havoc that can come about due to man’s sinful nature. In effect, the founders were following God’s lead in that He has sovereignly and graciously, through division, built systems of checks and balances to control man’s sin.

But one of these days that division will cease. We get a wonderful portent of this in the account of Pentecost in Act 2. Here, 50 days after His ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised. Here is what this account says: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

“Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.’”
Isn’t it so interesting that it was the division among men brought about by their different languages that is the very thing that is reversed when the Holy Spirit came. And now, rather than speaking about how great THEY were, the thing that the Holy Spirit elicited was people miraculously speaking in languages they had not otherwise known with words that gave voice to “the mighty works of God.”

And so we have a wonderful unity that points to that which is possible only by the wonderful work of the Spirit of God. Paul speaks of this in the following words that are recorded in Galatians 3:26-29: “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

It is only in this way that man will ever have true unity. Yet even in the church today we see division that seems to be the rule. There are hundreds, even thousands, of Christian denominations, all purporting to be children of God who follow the same Christ. But again, even in our redeemed condition, we see through a glass darkly. And God in His sovereignty, even in His desire for Christian unity, allows such division to work towards correction of our understanding that is so often flawed. We are required to think more deeply about why we think what we think, and why we believe what we believe than we would otherwise. But one day soon, in the kingdom of heaven, all those divisions will wonderfully cease.

Yet, in the meantime, our divisions are a means of testing. We are tested to see if we are indeed practicing what we preach. And while we live on this earth, with all our human faults, God has wonderfully gifted His church to help us grow in our faith. Listen to Paul’s teaching about this as recorded in Ephesians 4:11-16: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, UNTIL WE ALL ATTAIN TO THE UNITY OF THE FAITH AND OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD, TO MATURE MANHOOD, TO THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

It’s no wonder that Paul exclaimed in Romans 11:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Praise God for His glorious wisdom. Praise Him for the way He has brought both division and unity into our lives. He sovereignly rules over all of it. But one day soon, there will be nothing but unity among all believers, i.e., “the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.”