SkyscrapersQuestion: 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 "And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. 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; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon 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). They 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: "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth" Genesis 11:7-9.
Unfortunately mans first organized attempt to usurp God's authority was not his last. A couple of nights after the Sears Tower visit a I walked with a group of friends about six or seven blocks from where 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 the YMCA where those whose lives and bodies had suffered from self abuse were gathered for shelter. 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 have 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, give us eternal life of 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
Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church
©1998 Calvary Baptist Church
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