The great cities of the world are centres for the display of human achievement of past and present ages, and men find much of their pleasure in viewing the productions of human skill, in studying the thoughts of man's heart and mind, and in listening to his music. Religious shrines, museums and art galleries portray the works of the architect and the craftsman; universities, colleges and libraries preserve the learning and philosophy of the world's thinkers, sages and teachers; while cathedrals and music halls resound with the productions of the great composers.
From Genesis 4:16-17 we learn of the origin of man's cities, for in the divine record we read, "Cain went out from the presence of the Lord … and he builded a city." Cursed from the earth because of his sin, Cain was a fugitive and a vagabond. There was no thought in his heart of repentance on account of the murder of his brother; there was no desire for reconciliation to God; he sought to forget God, and hush the stirrings of a guilty conscience, in a place of his own devising and construction, where he could find his pleasure with those derived from him, away from God.
Lamech, a descendant of Cain, became a polygamist, and confessed that he had "slain a man," exposing the self-gratification and violence that characterised the dwellings of Cain. Jabal, the son of Lamech, "was the father of such as dwell in tents, and … have cattle." This was not evidence of a pilgrim path, but rather that men were settling down to a life of prosperity without God. Jubal, the brother of Jabal, "was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ"; and no doubt his sweet music charmed those who heard it, and helped to quieten the voice of the accusing conscience in the city of violence and corruption. Another son of Lamech was Tubal-cain, "an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," whose skilful works of art and scientific invention would doubtless fill his fellows with admiration and gain for him their applause.
Although there was so much in Cain's city for man's pride and pleasure, there was nothing to gratify the heart of God, for when God looked down, He saw that the earth was corrupt, and filled with violence, "and it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" (Gen. 6:5, 11). Man's prosperity, music, art and science had not in the least degree improved his state of moral depravity. So great was the evil in God's sight that He swept the earth with a deluge, removing man and all his works from the face of the earth, only sparing Noah and his sons, and their wives, for "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord," being "a just man and perfect in his generations."
After the flood, when men multiplied on the earth, Nimrod "began to be a mighty one on the earth," and "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel" (Gen. 10:8, 10). Nimrod had other cities besides Babel, but it is specially to Babel and its building that the Spirit of God calls attention in Genesis 11. Taking counsel together, men said, "Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
Men were united in their desires, and in their endeavours, but it was not to seek the glory of God or to give Him pleasure; He was not in all their thoughts. Their own security, advancement and pride of achievement completely filled their minds and hearts, from which God was excluded. Men have learned much since that day. They know that they can never reach to heaven with a tower of bricks, but they are still occupied with securing peace without God, in advancing their own interests, and priding themselves on their achievements. Instead of seeking to reach heaven with bricks, they are using great rockets to escape from the influence of the earth and to search the vault of heaven. Are they not inviting, as did the builders of Babel, the judgment of God on their works and on themselves?
At the call of God, Abraham left one of the great cities of his day, Ur of the Chaldees, and became a stranger and a pilgrim in the land of Canaan. He was content to move from place to place in obedience to the word of God, not settling down in any of the cities of the land to which God had called him, "for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10). Abraham did not find the city for which he looked while he was on earth, for it was a heavenly city; but in the coming day he will have his part in the City of God, where the glory of God rests, and in which God will find His pleasure, and where divine joy will fill the hearts of all who, like Abraham, wait for their portion there.
Lot, who accompanied Abraham when he left Ur of the Chaldees, was a just man, but his eye was on the things of this present world, and he was attracted by that which appealed to the natural senses. At first it was the beauty and fertility of the plain of Jordan that he admired, and that drew him, for it "was well watered every where … as the garden of the Lord," but he was eventually allured into Sodom to dwell there, but learned to his cost that the cities of men are not only centres of pleasure, but dens of iniquity that draw upon them the righteous judgment of a holy God.
Many hundred of years after the building of Babel, the voice of the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar was heard saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Dan. 4:30). Although so far removed in time from Nimrod, and from the builders of Babel, this great Gentile monarch was marked by the same indifference to the claims of God, the same pride and self-seeking; and like them, he invited upon his works and upon himself the judgment of God. Nothing of Babel remains for man to see today; and only the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's great Babylon can be seen to witness God's displeasure in man's pride and arrogance.
From Revelation 18 we learn that the evils found in the cities of men, down the ages, are concentrated in "Babylon the great," the great religious system of Western civilisation, where the bright light of Christianity has shone for so long. There has been the profession of possessing and valuing the light of God, but the great mass in Christendom have no living link with the Son of God; and when the Lord comes to take His own to heaven, the professing church will be left behind, and exposed, as it is in this Scripture, to be "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."
Instead of seeking the true, abiding, heavenly riches, the false church has enriched itself with the things of this present world, adorning herself with that which attracts the great, the wise, and the learned of this world, instead of seeking the glory and the praise of God. Instead of fasting during the time of the rejection and absence of her Lord, she has been feasting with those who crucified Him; and she has sought the honour and glory of a world that knows not God, and that still refuses His Son.
All that has resulted from man's building will soon receive from God its irrevocable judgment, and be found in irretrievable ruin. This is plainly foretold in our chapter, where it is written, "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." Rev. 18:21. In patience and longsuffering God has borne with men, giving time for repentance; but the time is fast approaching when He will no longer tolerate man's sin, for He cannot for ever allow His fair creation to be defiled. How solemn it is to find the accumulation of the evil of the ages in that which bears Christ's Name and professes allegiance to Him.
When the divine judgment is poured out upon Babylon the great, every department of man's world will be remembered. The musical world that began with Jubal is not forgotten, for "the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee." God was pleased to have the music of David in connection with the temple worship, and He will again have music from Israel on earth; but the music of man's world, which is used to charm his heart away from God, is marked out for judgment. In this, the Spirit's day, instrumental music has no place in the worship of God, for we worship by the Spirit of God, and sing with the spirit, and with the under-standing (Phil. 3:3; 1 Cor. 14:15).
The world of Tubal-cain, with its art, inventive and constructive skills, comes into remembrance in this day of judgment, for "no craftsman, of whatever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee." All the vaunted progress of man in the realm of science and art will be brought to a sudden and violent end, for all the wonderful inventions of science have been applied for the comfort, pleasure and pride of man; they have been used to keep man at a distance from God, and to make man happy in a world without God.
Riches and material prosperity have come to Christendom through "the sound of the millstone," but it shall be heard "no more at all in thee." The mill-stone tells us of the industrial world, and the industrial revolutions in Western Europe have brought to these lands "fulness of bread"; and, like Sodom and Israel, when in prosperity, there has been pride of heart, luxury, leisure, and forgetfulness of God.
How loudly man boasts in Christendom of his educational systems with their learning and philosophy; and this is what he is taking to the dark places of the earth for the enlightening of the heathen. Once it was the light of the Gospel that was offered to those in spiritual darkness, but this has largely degenerated to "the light of the candle," that which man has made for his own illumination. As they have rejected the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus Christ, God has rejected them, and will bring their learning and philosophy into judgment, for it "shall shine no more at all in thee."
The pleasures of the social world are indicated in "the voice of the bridegroom and the bride." If there is any true and pure joy to be found in this world it is where the voice of the bridegroom and the bride is heard. But Christendom has found its joys without Christ, and because of this the voice of joy "shall be heard no more at all in thee." How great is the contrast between the false church and the true. Here, the false church loses for ever all that it called joy; but in the next chapter we read, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready" (19:7). The false church has sought the "pleasures of sin for a season," and has lost them for ever; the true has sought and found with Christ in heaven the "pleasures for evermore."
Wm. C. Reid.