Brothers and sisters, one of the great patterns in scripture is the contrast between two kinds of societies. One tries to reach heaven through human power. The other becomes prepared so that heaven can receive it.
These two patterns are represented in scripture by Babel and Zion.
The story begins in Genesis 11.
The Beginning of Babel
After the Flood, humanity was united. The scripture tells us:
“The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”
Unity, by itself, is not a problem. In fact, unity can be a great blessing. But what mattered was what spirit governed that unity.
The people said:
“Let us make brick… let us build us a city and a tower… and let us make us a name.”
Their goal was clear: they wanted security, identity, and permanence. They feared being scattered across the earth.
So they began building the Tower of Babel.
Then the Lord said something very revealing:
“Behold, the people is one… and this they begin to do.” (Genesis 11:6)
This phrase is important. The Lord was not concerned about the height of a building. What He saw was the beginning of something much larger.
Human beings had discovered the power of organized, unified civilization.
The Significance of the Bricks
Genesis tells us something curious:
“They had brick for stone, and slime for mortar.”
Why mention that?
Stone is something God creates.
Brick is something humans manufacture.
Stone is found.
Brick is made.
Bricks are uniform, standardized, and mass-produced.
The builders of Babel were creating a civilization built not on what God had given them, but on what they could manufacture themselves.
This was more than construction. It symbolized a civilization attempting to secure its future independent of God.
The “Let Us Make” Parallel
Earlier in scripture we hear God say:
“Let us make man in our image.”
(Genesis 1:26)
At Babel, humanity echoes that language:
“Let us make brick… let us build… let us make us a name.”
It is almost a mirror of the creation story—but reversed.
Divine Creation
Babel Creation
Let us make man
Let us make brick
Image of God
Human name
Life
Structure
Identity given
Identity manufactured
Instead of creating life, humanity was creating systems and structures meant to replace dependence on God.
So the Lord said:
“Let us go down, and there confound their language.”
Humanity tried to ascend to heaven.
God had to descend to intervene.
The languages were confounded, and the people were scattered across the earth.
Why the Lord Intervened
The Lord explained His concern:
“Nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
The problem was not technology or construction.
The problem was unified rebellion.
Humanity had discovered the power of collective organization without righteousness.
Unity multiplies human capacity.
But it multiplies whatever spirit governs it.
So:
Pride + unity = Babylon
Righteousness + unity = Zion
A Faithful Family at Babel
Amid this great scattering, scripture preserves an important story.
In Ether 1, we learn that one man—known as the brother of Jared—prayed to the Lord during the confusion of languages.
He asked that his family and friends might not have their language confounded.
The Lord granted his request.
Because of faith, this small group was preserved rather than scattered.
The Lord then led them away from Babel to a promised land across the ocean. Their journey eventually produced the Jaredite civilization recorded in the Book of Mormon.
This brief account shows something remarkable:
While most people at Babel tried to secure their future through towers and cities, the brother of Jared turned to the Lord in prayer.
And the Lord made a way.
The Opposite Pattern: Zion
Scripture then presents the opposite model of society in the account of Moses 7, the City of Enoch.
There we read:
“The Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and there was no poor among them.”
Notice how different this unity is from Babel.
Babel
Zion
One language
One heart
External unity
Spiritual unity
Make a name
Become righteous
Built tower
Became holy
Babel tried to reach heaven.
Zion became the kind of people heaven could receive.
And the result was astonishing.
Scripture says:
“Zion… was taken up into heaven.”
Babel climbed upward and failed.
Zion was lifted upward by God.
The Pattern Continues in Every Age
These two patterns continue throughout scripture and history.
Human societies repeatedly attempt to create:
security without righteousness
unity without charity
identity without covenant
salvation through human systems
This is the Babel pattern.
But God calls His people to a different path.
The Zion pattern.
It does not begin with towers or systems. It begins with transformed hearts.
The Choice Before Every Generation
The lesson of Babel is not that human progress is evil.
The lesson is that human power without divine guidance leads to confusion.
Unity itself is not the danger.
Unity governed by pride is the danger.
But unity governed by righteousness becomes Zion.
So the real question for every society—and every individual—is this:
Are we trying to build a tower to heaven?
Or are we becoming the kind of people that heaven can receive?
In one sentence:
Babel shows what happens when humanity becomes one without God.
Zion shows what happens when humanity becomes one with God.
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