Teaching Our Children the History of Babylon

Why is it important to teach our children about the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)?

Only the Bible contains true history.

There are a lot of theories in history textbooks, which try to explain the origins of our world. Some theories say that mankind had its roots in Africa. Some say that Egypt was the first great culture. Some even say that aliens from other planets came to our world and taught us how to build great empires.

Yet how can we explain how so many cultures have similar temple structures, worship the same kinds of gods, and even have similar myths of creation and a worldwide flood? If we understand that the Bible contains true, eye-witness accounts of history, then we know that Genesis explains all these things.

God says that mankind had its origins with a single set of parents, Adam and Eve, but that all their children except the godly line of Seth rebelled against God and were destroyed in a flood of water. After the flood, Noah’s three sons and their wives became the parents of all people, cultures, and nations that exist on the earth today. The reason every culture has similarities is because they all originated in the same place.

The Bible says that before people were scattered over the face of the earth, they united in Babel in defiance of God. Before God changed their languages, they had one religion and a one-world government. They built a temple there, known to us as the Tower of Babel, that became the template for temples, pyramids, and ziggurats all over the world.

Knowing what the Bible presents about the history of mankind and believing in its truth makes all the rest of history make sense. It is imperative that we teach it to our children!

Babel (Babylon) is the empire that has tried to rise up against God.

Babel (Babylon) was a real place in history, where Nimrod led a rebellion against the God of heaven.

Babylon is also a world system, a philosophy, and a religion, one that continues to permeate our world to this day.

Christine Miller has written extensively on the history of Babylon, with links to primary sources, which you could use to teach Babylon’s history to both yourself and your children. One of my favorite series she has written is called “The Babylon Connection,” which you can read here.

Christine writes,

“I trust I have shown beyond a shadow, through diverse authorities, that the original corruption of the true worship of the Creator, was turned to pagan nature worship centered in the sun; and that the corruption originated at Babel, and that the originators of it were the family of Ham, in Cush, and Nimrod; and that from Babel pagan worship spread throughout the ancient world.”

After the tower of Babel was abandoned, its world system, philosophy, and religion have continued to survive all the way down to our present time. By searching for references to Babylon in the Bible and by reading what it says, we can have a much better understanding of our own Babylonian-like culture, as well as God’s plan for the future. It is imperative that we teach it to our children!

There are only two world religions: God’s and Satan’s.

“Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against YHVH and against His Anointed?” (Psalm 2:1-2).

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Sometimes it’s difficult to understand all the religions in our world today. We have choices such as Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, Unitarian Universalism, and so many more.

The Bible says there are only two religions: those who follow God and those who follow this world’s system. All nations and mankind have united themselves together in their opposition against God, and the Bible calls this “Babylon.”

When we learn how the people of Babel “worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:18-32), we can then easily spot the lies of Satan when they are presented to us today. It is imperative that we teach it to our children!

God says that Babylon will fall.

“Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!'” (Revelation 11:15).

Every prophecy God has made so far has come true, exactly as God has said it would. In the same way, God’s prophecy of the downfall of Babylon, this world’s system, will also come true. You can read much more about it in Revelation 18-19.

Christine Miller has also written,

“The purpose of prophecy is not to give Christians a crystal ball into future events. Its purpose, once what is prophesied has clearly been seen to come to pass, is to produce the conviction that the God of the Bible is God, thus inspiring repentance, and faith.”

One of the purposes of using God’s Word to teach history is that it instills great faith in our children. They can easily see that God always keeps His promises, which gives them the courage and strength they need to walk with God in their daily lives. It is imperative that we teach it to our children!

God wants us to “come out of Babylon.”

“And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:4-5).

Again, Christine Miller writes,

“God’s own people are portrayed as dwelling in Babylon! God calling the righteous to depart from Babylon before it gets judgment dumped on it sounds eerily familiar. Remember the two angels visiting Lot and leading him away from the city while fire rained down on it from heaven? Remember Lot’s wife, who Jesus told us looked back on the city with longing, and was turned into a pillar of salt? We were warned not to be like Lot’s wife.”

We are to be different, from the inside out.

First, we are to mark our children on their foreheads, by firmly planting God’s Word in their minds. We are to help them use God’s Word as a standard for all their thoughts.
Next, we are to mark our children on their hands. We are to help our children do what God’s Word says, by teaching them how to be obedient in every way possible to God.

As you know, we accomplish these two goals by first placing God’s commands in our own hearts and then talking about them with our children all day long. This is why homeschooling is such a great opportunity! We have the time we need to study with our children and then to implement God’s Word (our textbook) into our entire lives. It is imperative that we teach it to our children!