The Gate of Confusion

It should be noted that God divides men at Babel not by race, nor intelligence nor vocation or station in life. He allows their division by language. A unit or commonality to all people. I again believe people are being divided by language. This time much more subtly. Most are speaking English as a universal language but words within English are being bastardized and deliberately confused so that they do not mean the same thing to people in the same society and it is happening quickly. Tolerance, hate, science, infrastructure, terrorist, etc. 

The same errors or sin repeated this time much more subtly and communicated much more efficiently via mass media. The result the same. The confusion that ensues is punishment because no one can communicate properly. People scattering all in their own directions. They splinter and divide. [ I find it interesting that Pentecost or salvation reverses this effect ]. When division starts the kingdom leaves. When division stops unification is possible and the Kingdom returns. Or perhaps it is the Kingdom doing the unifying?

It is further ironic that when one seeks to control another in chattel slavery one of the main things restricted and prevented is the ability of the slave to read and write or communication in an organized, coherent, formal institutionalized way. We saw it in the Dark Ages with the Catholic church and in the Antebellum South in the United States.

It therefore should come as no surprise that the word Babel in Hebrew has two different meanings based on who is using the word. In Hebrew it means 'confusion'. In the tongue of the Babylonians who used the term in their self-identity of Babylon it meant, "gate to God" or essentially 'truth'. The Babylonians are essentially claiming truth or the path to truth... but God is essentially saying, no, you are confusion. Babylon or failure to communicate and division equates today to the things of the world not of God, and are confusion. To those of the world or Babylon although they believe they are the gate to God, truth or the thing that will bring or ring in the unity of the Kingdom of God. Instead they are bringing something wholly other...inferior. Nefarious and godless.

1 Corinthians 14:33 …for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

In 1 Corinthians 14:33 it is translated ἀκαταστασία/akatastasia or confusion and in James it is translated disorder. It is actually a compound Greek word formed from (a) meaning not, (kata) meaning down and (stasis) meaning stand/steady. Together it means "cannot remain steady". It literally means something is unstable or it is an instability brought on by disorder. In the case of Babel not only disorder of language but the disorder of society brought on by the confusion of language unsettles the entirety of the human population. We are seeing the same now. The confusion brought on by the purposeful confusion of language is causing complete societal disorder, division and violence. So why would chaos and confusion reign in Babel and the world today if they are still God's creation under his providence? Because, man has rejected God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom but ignoring God and the absence of God is chaos. The world worships a god of confusion but a wise man worships the true God.

Our society prides itself on multiculturalism and unity in diversity. There are many cases where this is a good thing. True diversity is indeed an asset to not only the Body of Christ but also our nation. One man’s weakness can be another man’s strength. Additionally, gasoline in the right environment can make a vehicle go but used incorrectly or with evil intent and it can be used to make a Molotov cocktail. Mixing and using differences can always be used to suit God’s good purposes. Just like anything else that the Devil can counterfeit, it can be used for destructive ends…even subtly as in the manipulation of words. This is where the word diversity and confusion begin to fuse and become almost indistinguishable. It takes a diversity of people mixed chaotically together to cause a confusing uproar. This is not a good diversity.

It is here we see that there are types of melding that just shouldn’t take place. The reason they shouldn’t be mixed is because they cause chaos, not unity. They cause disunity and mayhem. It is the exact idea gleaned from 1 Corinthians 14:33 and the fact that God is not a God of confusion. By removing God from the equation, disorder reigns. The absence of God’s presence allow it to happen. God Himself is order and maintains order. So to remove Him from any given situation is to produce disorder. Remove God and still use the same words and you still get confusion.

The restraint of God’s grace is removed and the sin and evil of man enters in its place like a spiritual vacuum. This is exactly what we see in Babel. It is also what we see today. It is the idea in the word translated uprisings. In the End Times when people ignore or turn away from God…there will be more war, disorder and confusion. Chaos will reign. 

That is why the Apostle Luke says of the End Times: 

“When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away. Then he said to them: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. Luke 21:9-11

The word uprisings here? You guessed it, it is ἀκαταστασίας/akatastasias again….confusion will reign in the last days. The lord of confusion and division. That is because God will be, for all effective purposes...absent and that will be its own punishment.