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Did you know the whole reason we
are in Costa
Rica studying Spanish is because of sin? Now
that I have your attention let me explain. The origin of all the differing
languages in the world goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. You
remember the tower
of Babel right? God
commanded Noah and his sons to "fill the
earth" in Genesis 9:1. By Genesis chapter eleven the people are saying, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a
tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and
not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). The people
wanted a name for themselves instead of being identified by God's name. They
were also in direct disobedience to God's command to fill the earth because they
wanted to build a city and a tower so they would "not be scattered over the face
of the earth".
Because God is a just Judge this
of course incurred His judgment. He said, "Come, let us go down and confuse their
language so they will not understand each other." So the LORD scattered them
from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why
it was called Babel because there the LORD confused the
language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of
the whole earth. (vv. 7-9).
We hope that by learning Spanish
we will help reverse the curse. Not the curse that changed the languages, but
the curse of sin's stronghold on the life of unsaved people. Since we, like
those in Genesis chapter eleven, directly disobey God we also will incur God's
just judgment. The only way to escape the deadly clutches of sin and the
punishment of a holy and righteous God someone must take our punishment in our
place. Jesus Christ is the only one God has sent and appointed for this very
reason. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by
which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Jesus Christ lived a perfect
sinless life, authenticated His message with signs and miracles, suffered
torture and humiliation by willingly taking the wrath of God on Himself, died on
the cross, and then He was buried. Three days later, however, He rose again and
this was the proof that God's wrath was satisfied and the curse of sin and death
defeated. This is the gospel of which we are not ashamed. "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it
is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans
1:16).
This is the message that everyone
must hear. The better we learn Spanish the better we can communicate the
wonderful message of reconciliation to God with the Latino world. We don't have
to be under God's judgment. We can be brought into a loving relationship with
Him because His Son reversed the curse for everyone who turns from their
sin, repenting and trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of their
sins.
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