阅读经文 

神创造人类，要他们生养众多和遍满地面。在建造巴别塔时，天下人的口音言语都是一样的，众人说他们要传扬他们的名和避免分散在全地；然而，神最终使他们分散。

他们为什么要建造一座塔呢？他们说：“来吧，我们要建造一座城和一座塔，塔顶通天……”（创 11:4）根据上古时代的文化，我们知道一座塔的顶通常被视为神明居住的圣地；可是，在巴别的人却不以塔为敬奉神的圣地，反而想用它来传扬自己的名；他们只想尊崇自我，而不是尊崇神。他们这样做，就是把神从他们生命中逐出，并且违背了“遍满地面、治理这地”（参创 1:28）的命令。他们既这样背叛了神，神便变乱他们的口音，使他们分散。

在变乱他们的口音时，试想像一下神当时的感受。众人的言语彼此不通，再不能一起工作；他们便停工不再建造那城，彼此分散，往各地去了。

凡抗拒神的，最终都没有好结果。既然言语彼此不通，他们便不可能去建造一个共同尊崇神的群体了。

God created people so that they would increase in numbers and populate the earth. At the time of the tower of Babel, everyone had the same language, and the people said they wanted to make a name for themselves and not be scattered across the earth. But God ultimately scattered them.

Why did they build a tower? They said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens…" From ancient civilizations we have learned that the top of a tower was seen as a holy place where gods lived. But instead of having a holy place that would honor God, the people at Babel wanted this to be a place where they made a name for themselves. They wanted to honor themselves instead of God. In doing so, they banished God from their lives and disobeyed his command to "fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). Because of this rebellion, God confused their language and scattered them.

Imagine how God felt as he confused the people's language. They couldn't understand each other. They couldn't work together anymore. They stopped building, and they moved away from each other.

In the end, people who drive out God cannot do well. They cannot understand each other, and they cannot work together to build a community that honors God.