Last month, seven men were selected as possible candidates for the mark of becoming the first human to travel in space. These were chosen out of 110 likeliest military test pilots from the Air Force, Navy and Marines last winter. The purpose of this separation is to pave the way for possible inter-planetary space travel. After travel between the planets of our own solar system is achieved, other conquests of space could be considered. it is also the desire of scientists to establish space stations which would orbit around the earth and play an important part both in war and peace in transmitting valuable information from outer space to the earth below. It is also dreamed that some day whole cities might possibly be constructed in space, thus providing an almost inexhaustible arena for expansion.
Dreams such as these are a quite natural product of the age in which we live. The conquest of space and orbiting of artificial satellites for the purpose cited above would only be the discovery and organisation of the laws of nature originally put there by the Great Creator. There is, after all nothing new under the sun. The materials are there and have been ever since creation, merely waiting to be tapped by the ingenuity of mankind. Ever since man has been placed upon the earth he has been in a continual quest for new horizons. He seems to possess an unquenchable thirst for the unknown, and an insatiable desire to achieve that which is prohibited. Will he be successful in his efforts to conquer space ? Will he succeed in throwing off the shackles of gravity and leave this earth forever? At this point we are reminded of the words of God in Isaiah 45:18; “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens: God Himself that formed the earth and made it ; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord ; and there is none else.”
From both a natural and spiritual point of view man has sought to throw off the restrictions placed upon him by his Creator. Human nature naturally rebels against the commandments of God when they tend to prohibit us in the exercise of our own will. A splendid example of this can be found in the 11th chapter of Genesis where we find the descendants of Noah busily engaged in the erection of a huge edifice, intended to reach into the heavens. The Lord had commanded Noah and his family immediately upon their safe altar on land, “And you, be fruitful, and multiply ; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” This restriction was intended to fulfill the purpose of the creation of the earth. The Lord had formed it to be inhabited; all of it, not just a small part, and Noah’s family was, therefore, commanded to spread abroad and fill again the barren earth. The obedience to this command would subject the people to a certain amount of discomfort and danger, and was therefore ignored. Instead, we read in Genesis 11 .3-4, “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said Go to, let us build us a city. and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
On this occasion God found it expedient to intervene that the vain purpose of the people might be frustrated. Their language, and possibly their outward physical appearance was altered, to such an extent that they could no longer work together. The venture was abruptly halted, they were scattered abroad and forced to migrate to all parts of the earth. The site of which this tower was constructed was Babel, in the land of Shinar. This area later became the site of the ancient city of Babylon, the city of confusion, which was destined to completely disappear from the face of the earth.
Can there be any similarity between the times in which we live and those of Babylon and the tower or Babel ? The people of that time were deeply engrossed in the affairs of this life. They were destitute of the truth, and like their ancestors before the flood, oblivious to the commandments of God. Today, in man’s effort to break the barrier of outer space can be seen his discontent.
In his desire for new horizons he seeks to loose the bands of the earth and soar to heights above. But like the men of old whose combined effort to build a tower to reach unto heaven, was doomed to failure, they labor in vain. Even in the religious beliefs of mankind, there is a complete abandonment of the basic elements of the Truth.
They have forsaken the hope of the gospel, which scripturally defines the saints’ reward as being an everlasting inheritance in the earth. Instead, they have looked for fairer lands beyond the skies, and have built their hopes on someday being captured away to ethereal mansions above. Thus in both the spiritual and the natural can be detected the waywardness of human nature. They will yet learn, “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’s but the earth hath He given to the children of men.” (Psalm 115:16)
The time is almost upon us when the Great God of Heaven will once again intervene in the affairs of men; when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven to the utter confusion of those who know not God and that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Revelation 16:19, great Babylon is to come into remembrance before God.
That is, she is to feel the impact of His wrath for her incessant persecution of the true Body of Christ. Now, Babylon, herein referred to is not, of course the ancient city of Babylon, for God declared that it was never to be built again (Isa. 13:20) : It is, rather, the spiritual counterpart of the ancient city of religious and civil confusion.
In Revelation 17:5, the prostitute which John beheld sitting upon a scarlet coloured beast is called, “Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” This vision symbolised to the apostle, the great religious apostasy that was to gain such great eminence the latter days. The judgement of this system was to take place immediately after the thief-like advent of Christ. and subsequent to the judgment of the household of faith. All of this takes place in the outpouring of the seventy and final vial, and is associated at least in part with the gathering of the nations together to battle.
The analogy of these events not difficult to discern. To declare that science will not succeed in placing a man in space simply because God has declared that He is to abide on the earth, would be in our estimation too narrow a view. However, it may safely be assumed that great masses of the human race will not be transported to space platforms and the like, previous to the advent of Christ, Man’s “tower” of escape and religion’s flight to Babylon are both destined to failure when the Lord of the whole earth returns to give to His saints their inheritance.
“The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. “Psalm 37:29.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One