The pacific galaxy of languages may be extraordinary
Bure da! Wie geht’s, s’il te plait?
Now wouldn’t you think I was a bit of a Dummkopf if I came up to you in the street and started talking to you like that? Well, there was a day when something like that happened, and it was not just one man who did it, there were hundreds if not thousands who suddenly found that they could not understand the man who was working next to them.
The Bible tells us what happened in Genesis 11¹, which you may read below. The corroboration for what happened on that day, about 5ky ago, is all around us today, and is found in every record we have of human civilisation. Evolutionists would have us believe that our languages derived from the babblings of animals and gradually became the complex languages we have today. Sadly, for them, the evidence is against it. Far from languages becoming more complex, languages have become much more simple. English is a relatively simple language compared with most other languages, but it has not always been so, and the other languages of Europe in the main have been derived from the far more complex languages of ancient Greece and Rome. We also find that languages appear in history fully formed. There is no halfway house where a language is struggling to find expression.
But what we find in the experience of men is exactly what we would expect to find when we look at what the Bible says actually happened – and remember that the Bible was written by men who were there, who saw what took place. So then Genesis 11: This is somewhere around 3-500 years after the flood.
Now notice that this is a judgement of God on men. The fact that you cannot understand what people are saying when you visit Paris – or even some parts of Wales – is evidence of this that God is angry with us and has already judged us. You see God has left us without any excuse. We cannot say to him, I did not know you were angry. Just as he left evidence of the flood everywhere over the earth, so also he has left evidence of this judgement everywhere over the earth.
But notice also that in this judgement God is merciful. He had promised Noah that he would not send another great flood over the earth. He simply confused our languages so that men run away from one another and become scattered. Can you imagine the devastation and chaos that that would cause? But God kept his word. He had other things in mind, he knew that one day he would send a Saviour to undo all of the evil that men had done and pay the penalty for it.
And so it was about a week after Jesus went into heaven he sent his Spirit and the disciples who were together in Jerusalem at that time found themselves speaking languages that they did not know, so that all the strangers and visitors to Jerusalem could understand what these simple men were saying in their own language. Again that is in the Bible in the New Testament Acts 2².
You see in his Son, Jesus Christ, God is undoing the judgements that men deserve. I told you last time about the dreadful day of judgement that is coming. It is far more terrible than men have ever seen or could ever imagine, but that same judgement day sees the renewal of everything that there is. This old earth will be transformed into something far more wonderful than anything we can ever imagine, where God’s people shall live in peace for ever. The language barriers that we see around us today will be gone. Whether we will all speak one language or whether we will speak many different languages and pick and choose the best one for what we want to say at any time, who knows? We don’t know yet, but we do know this, it will be well worth getting there.
And God has provided the way. On the day when God began to undo the language barriers the people who heard Peter preach asked him: What shall we do? Peter said: Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the cancellation of sins! The promise is to you – to all – as many as the Lord calls³.
So then, we are without excuse. The evidence of God’s anger is all around us, but he has given us a way of escape – follow Jesus. Turn from your sins and trust him. He will save you. No one else can.
¹ Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. ²And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:1-9
² Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
⁵And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. ⁷ Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? ⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs–we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” ¹²So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” ¹³Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” Acts 2:1-13
³ “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” ³⁸ Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:37-39