Missionary-Spectacles: Abel to Babel

Let us continue to look into the first book of the Holy Scriptures wearing our missionary-spectacles. Read the previous article on this series here:  http://graceidarajan.blogspot.in/2017/03/adam-eve-thru-missionary-spectacles.html

False Religions & Sin

Alternate religious systems appeared after Adam and Eve obeyed satan-inspired serpent, giving a head-start to false religions. We know how ignorantly people worship serpents even today. Cain offered a vegetable sacrifice. God had earlier given a precedent of how a blood sacrifice is needed for the covering of sins when he made skin garments for Adam and Eve. No wonder God looked with favour on Abel and his fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock (Genesis 4:4).

Cain killed his brother Abel, disobeying God’s counsel he had offered prior to that. God had said, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (v. 7) Also think about this: Why did Cain, the older brother of Abel evade his responsibility and say to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (v.9) What is our response today regarding our brothers and sisters in the whole wide world? Aren’t we each other’s keepers? Only when we realize our own responsibility can we fight evil in this world. Sin kept multiplying in the lives of our fore parents like gangrene. There is no sin, new in our society today that is not found in the book of Genesis. People are perishing in their sins not knowing our Saviour even this day. Abel speaks to us still, to be our brother’s keepers by rescuing the perishing. (Hebrews 11:4)

Cleansing of Sin

The earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. So God decided to destroy the people and the earth. (Genesis 6:11-13) Sin needed a cleansing, this time with water!  But God also came up with a redemptive plan because God found one man, Noah, who was a righteous preacher among the people of his time (2 Peter 2:5). I am always amazed to note that this preacher could not win the then world by his preaching, but he won his family! It is sad to note that in preacher’s families today, they go about winning the world, but not their own families. So when God cleansed the world by a flood, it was Noah’s family alone that was spared, his wife, three sons and their wives. Praise God for there is always hope in a hopeless world. Are we those who bring hope like Noah?

Solution for Sin

External cleansing was not enough as we come to see that sin pops up again after flood, starting from the family of Noah itself. Noah got drunk unknowingly and we see the mysterious sin of Canaan, his son (9:21-25).  People became non-vegetarians after the flood, following God’s words (9:3). Was it an aftermath of sin? The solution for the super natural problem of sin should also be a super natural one, though the progressive aspect of sacrifice of animals has restarted in Noah’s time after Abel (8:20-22)! As people living on the other side of the cross, we now understand that  it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away our sins. We believe in Christ who came into the world to become a super natural sacrifice for our sins. His blood cleanses us from all sins.We need to note that the command to the sinning people after flood was still the same, that was given to Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and increase in number, causing people to be restored back to the image of God (9:7).

Babel & World Evangelization

While God wanted his people to carry His glory everywhere by filling the world, there was a group of people who rebelled and 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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4). The triune God responded by saying, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." (v.7) The roughly 6500 languages we speak across the world today was born on that day.  Bible translation sparked off seriously when a tribal man in Central America confronted missionary, Cameron Townsend, with this question: “If your God is so great, why can’t He speak my language?” Many language groups still do not have the full Bible in their hands. What is my role in the evangelization of a diverse world in my generation?

Last but not the least, when people did not spread His glory, God spread them out. How many of us would want to join with the great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb, singing: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” in heaven? If yes, let us spread the good news to the ends of the world. We can travel to places, physically doing that. We can also travel through our knees, praying intelligently for the people who have not heard about Jesus. We can give our resources for the cause of world mission. Shouldn't we?

NB: A primary source for this article apart from the Bible is a book titled, "Down to Earth: A Biblical Theology of Missions" (Mission Educational Books) by Frampton F.Fox. I had the privilege of doing a course on Missions facilitated by this author at Hindustan Bible Institute, Chennai in the late nineties.