Question: What is 1,454 feet tall, weighs 222,500 tons and has 16,000 windows? Answer: a really big building! While in Chicago a few days ago,  I took the elevator to the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower for a grand view of the Chicago Skyline. Even on a hazy afternoon, the view was spectacular. The Sears Tower is the tallest office building in the world. And (depending on which expert you ask) vies with the twin Petronas Towers in Malaysia for the title, "tallest building in the world." One cannot help but be impressed with what the mind of man can conceive and the hand of man can construct. While poking my nose to the glass in the observation area, my mind wandered back to history's first recorded skyscraper. The story of this mammoth construction project is found in Genesis 11:3-4 "Then 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. And 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."  The builders of this city and this tower knew that they could not step off the top floor into heaven, but the building of it had a religious significance. In essence, they were establishing a man-centered religion as an alternative to obeying creator God. They were violating God's clear command to fill the earth (Gen. 9:1) and  were attempting by the work of their own hands to demonstrate that they had no need for God. As you know, they never got to have the ribbon-cutting ceremony on this building. God's response was as follows: " 'Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore 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 11:7-9.

Unfortunately, man's first organized attempt to usurp God's authority was not his last. A couple of nights after the Sears Tower visit,   I walked with a group of friends about six or seven blocks from where we were staying to the John Hancock Center. This 100-story building is the 5th tallest in the world. From the 94th forth floor observation deck, we enjoyed Chicago's night-time face. However, on the walk we passed a shelter where those whose lives and bodies had suffered from self abuse were gathered for a meal and a place to spend the night. We were approached by a homeless lady begging for money; we passed a crowded bar, noisy with the sounds of a party in progress. A finely dressed lady in a gleaming white stretch limousine pulled to the curb to ask for directions. All of these people have one thing in common. In fact, all of humanity has it in common. There is nothing within man's grasp or ability that can meet our spiritual need. We cannot build anything that can bring us to heaven or give us eternal life or even a lasting peace of mind. We need help from the outside. We stand in need of a Savior.

If you haven't come to the Savior, turn to Him in faith. If you need help with that decision, let me know. If you have found the Savior rejoice in Him, and don't allow yourself to ever slip into seeking to find fulfillment in what the hand of man can make.

Jesse Waggoner
Associate Pastor
© 2002 Bible Center Church

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