After man was expelled from the garden for rebelling against God, man’s rebellion did not cease. Even after a worldwide flood wiped out everyone on the face of the planet except Noah’s family, man continued to rebelled against God. In Genesis 11:4 we read,
“Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4)
We are not sure how many years, but several generations (see Gen 10) removed from Noah, man has a new technology. They are able to make bricks and put them together in such a way as to build stronger and grander structures. Instead of spreading out on the face of the earth exercising dominion for God’s glory, they decide to stay and build a city that will bring them glory.
Man has been after their own glory since the beginning. Adam and Eve desired to determine what was right and wrong according to their own judgment. Lamech killed a man for wounding him and bragged to his wive’s that his justice would be greater than the justice God promised Caan (Genesis 4:23-24). In Noah’s day, men did what was right in their own eyes so much so that God regretted making man (Genesis 6:5-8). They had no care for God at all. Whatever glory they had earned for themselves was taken in a worldwide flood (Genesis 6-9).
Mankind is still doing the same today. Armed with newer technologies, man seeks to carve out a name for themselves. Man, however, will never succeed in making a name for themselves. Death comes to us all. None will live forever.
As we have seen recently, even those who succeed in making their way into the history books, have schools named after them, and statues erected in their honor, face the real possibility of being cancelled, erased from the history books and the public eye forever.
Try as we might, we cannot succeed in making our name greater than the Lord’s.
