Monday after the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Posted on January 30, 2023 by under
Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9 (NKJV)
11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 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. 4 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.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And 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. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 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.
Devotion
Sinful men said among themselves, “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.” On the Mount of Transfiguration, heaven came down to earth, and the Son of God spoke with Moses and Elijah, in the presence of Peter, James, and John. Men who typified the faithful, heaven-sent teachers of the Old and New Testaments were gathered around their Incarnate Lord, and from thence Moses and Elijah returned to heaven, even as Peter, James, and John prepared to minister to the saints when the Lord had risen from the dead.
Sinful men built a tower, that they might make a name for themselves. They did not remain united in the land of Shinar, but were scattered over the face of the whole earth, the Lord having “confused the language of all the earth”. The Apostles went forth to proclaim the unchanging Word of the Triune God, so that men of every tribe, tongue, and nation would be gathered into the one Church with the hope of dwelling forever with the Lord.
Prayer: O God, Who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine Only-begotten Son, hast confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers, and Who, in the voice that came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner foreshow the adoption of sons: Mercifully vouchsafe to make us coheirs with the King of His glory, and bring us to the enjoyment of the same; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
