THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Complete Salvation
Message One—Man’s Fall and the Line of Recovery
Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:8-9; John 1:1; 10:10b; Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:17b-18, 21b
I. God has two categories of work in the universe: the work of creation, which is the work of the old creation, and the work of building, which is the work of the new creation—Gen. 1:1; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1:
A. God’s work of creation was to prepare all the materials for His work of building, that is, for the work of the new creation; He created all things wholly according to His purpose and plan—Rev. 4:11.
B. God’s building work, that is, His work of the new creation on the man of the old creation, is to work Himself into the created man to be his life and content that He may have a corporate expression.
C. After man’s fall, God uses four different dispensations—the dispensation of the patriarchs, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of the kingdom—in the old creation, which has been corrupted by Satan and which has been judged by Him, to do the work of the new creation on the man of the old creation; He is carrying out this work by the Spirit and the life of the Triune God, who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, by His heavenly ministry after His ascension, and by the things that He will accomplish at His coming back, that He may gain a group of people to be built up into the New Jerusalem as His corporate expression in eternity.
II. The dispensation of the patriarchs was from Adam to Moses; this was the dispensation before the law; hence, it is also called the pre-law dispensation; in this dispensation, God’s work on man can be divided into the following—Rom. 5:4:
A. God created man in His image and likeness, and He put man in front of the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden, so that the created man might receive God as life—Gen. 1:26; 2:8-9.
B. That the fallen man might receive God’s redemption in Christ—Gen. 3:21:
1. Although God’s intention was that man should receive Him as life, but Adam took in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, receiving into himself the satanic elements of sin and death; thus, man was constituted a sinner, falling into sin and death; this was the first step of man’s fall—Gen. 3:6; Rom. 5:12.
2. In order that the fallen man might receive His redemption in Christ, God made coats of skins of the sacrifice for him and his wife and clothed them to cover their nakedness; moreover, He promised that Christ would come as the seed of the woman and as the redemptive sacrifice, shedding His blood to make redemption for sins and imparting His life to rescue the fallen man, that the fallen man might have the life of God and become God’s expression for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy—Gen. 3:21.
C. That the man who received God’s way of redemption might be accepted by Him through the sacrifices, Abel received God’s way of redemption; thus, he became a feeder of sheep, offered bleeding sacrifices to God as offerings, and thereby was accepted by God—Gen. 4:2, 4.
D. The second step of man’s fall—rejecting God’s way of redemption—Gen. 4:3, 5a, 17-22:
1. Cain rejected God’s way of redemption, he offered produce to God without the shedding of blood and was thus rejected by God; therefore, he was very angry and his countenance fell, and he even killed his brother Abel; as a result, he was cast out of the presence of Jehovah—Gen. 4:3, 5a, 8.
2. Having lost the light of God’s countenance, he and his descendants walked their own way and invented a godless culture; eventually, this culture caused his descendants to become so wholly corrupted that they were judged by God through the flood—Gen. 4:17-22; 6:11-13.
E. That the man who received God’s redemption might call on the name of Jehovah—Gen. 4:26; 12:8; 26:25; Deut. 4:7; 1 Sam. 12:10; 2 Sam. 22:4; Acts 9:14; 22:16; 1 Cor. 1:2.
F. That the man who was redeemed and who enjoyed God might walk and work with Him—Gen. 5:24; 6:13-14.
1. God gained Enoch and showed him the way to escape the ultimate issue of man’s fall—death; hence, Enoch rose up and walked with God for three hundred years and was then taken away by God, not seeing death—Gen. 5:24.
2. God went on further to gain Noah; not only did Noah walk with God in a corrupted age, but he also worked with God and built the ark; thus, he and his whole family were saved through the ark and were delivered from God’s judging flood, also delivered out of the corrupted world—6:13-14.
G. That the man who fell from God’s government might be governed by his own conscience—Gen. 2:8, 15; 3:7:
1. When God created man, He created a conscience in man; however, it was not until the time of the fall, when man partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that the function of the conscience was made manifest.
2. Man’s conscience has borne the responsibility of rejecting evil and accepting good, enabling man to discern right and wrong, to know what God justifies and what He condemns; therefore, God put man under the government of his conscience to maintain human existence, that man might receive the redemption of God in Christ to accomplish God’s eternal economy.
H. The third step of man’s fall—disregarding the government of the conscience—Gen. 6:3, 5, 11-12.
1. Because of man’s deeper fall, even the feeling of the conscience was cast aside; therefore, before the flood the earth was filled with violence, every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually, and all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth —Gen. 6:5, 11-12.
2. The Spirit of God had to withdraw, and man was fully cut off from God and rejected by God; eventually God used the flood to bring in the judgment of destruction, rescuing only the eight members of the house of Noah—6:3.
I. That the man who fell from the government of the conscience might be governed by man—Gen. 9:6:
1. After the flood, God gave man authority over the lawless ones to maintain the existence and order of the human race.
2. Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the authorities over them.” this is human government; God wants the man who fell from the government of the conscience to be ruled by man and be responsible to man; God uses all the deputy authorities to maintain the human race so that the man whom He has chosen and whom He will call may come into being, that His purpose may be fulfilled.
J. The fourth step of man’s fall—worshipping idols and conspiring to rebel against God—Gen. 11:3:
1. Human government was of God’s authorization; but Satan utilized the authority that God gave man to form nations and to instigate a rebellion of the nations against God.
2. The whole human race rebelled collectively against God’s right and authority; they made bricks of earth by human labor, and they built a city to carry on a man-made, godless life; moreover, they intended to build a tower that would reach into heaven in order to make themselves a name and to reject, to deny, God’s name; at this point, because man had fallen to the uttermost, God was eventually forced to give up the created race of Adam and to scatter it over the earth—Gen. 11:3.
III. God’s full salvation consisting of two great elements—redemption and salvation—Rom. 3:20-26; 5:10:
A. God’s redemption, with the precious blood of Christ as the focus, meeting the need in the judicial aspect—Rom. 3:20-26; Eph. 1:7.
B. God’s salvation, with the life of Christ (the life of God) as the focus, meeting the need for authority (power)—Rom. 5:10.
C. God’s redemption dealing with man’s fall; God’s salvation carrying out God’s intention, which is to give Himself as the Spirit to be life to man—2 Cor. 3:6.
D. The redemption through Christ’s precious blood laying the foundation and paving the way for the salvation in God’s life—Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:17b-18, 21b.
E. The four major steps of God’s salvation in life—regeneration, transformation, conformation, and glorification.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE TWO CATEGORIES OF GOD’S WORK
God has two categories of work in the universe: the work of creation, which is the work of the old creation, and the work of building, which is the work of the new creation. The sphere of His work of the old creation was the old heaven and old earth of His original creation (Gen. 1:1); the sphere of His work of the new creation is the new heaven and new earth, which are the original God-created heaven and earth that have become old and that will be renewed through the burning of God’s judging fire (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1).
The Work of Creation
God’s work of creation was to prepare all the materials for His work of building, that is, for the work of the new creation. He created all things wholly according to His purpose and plan (Rev. 4:11). The creation of all things was not accidental nor by chance, nor was it done in a casual way; it was something that came out of God’s will, something planned by God. In God’s plan, He decided to accomplish His work of building by means of all things; therefore, He created all things.
The Work of Building
God’s building work, that is, His work of the new creation on the man of the old creation, is to work Himself into the created man to be his life and content that He may have a corporate expression. After man’s fall, God uses four different dispensations—the dispensation of the patriarchs, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of the kingdom—in the old creation, which has been corrupted by Satan and which has been judged by Him, to do the work of the new creation on the man of the old creation. He is carrying out this work by the Spirit and the life of the Triune God, who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, by His heavenly ministry after His ascension, and by the things that He will accomplish at His coming back, that He may gain a group of people to be built up into the New Jerusalem as His corporate expression in eternity.
THE DISPENSATION OF THE PATRIARCHS
The dispensation of the patriarchs was from Adam to Moses (Rom. 5:14). This was the dispensation before the law; hence, it is also called the pre-law dispensation. In this dispensation, God’s work on man can be divided into the following:
That the Created Man Might Receive God as Life
God created man in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26) that man might have His life to become His expression and to represent Him in His dominion. However, God did not accomplish everything at the time He created man. He left a part, even the most central part, of His creating work incomplete; that is, He did not put His life into man. Therefore, after He finished creating man, He put man in front of the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8, 9). His intention was that man should exercise his free will to choose to receive the tree of life, thereby obtaining God’s life. The tree of life symbolized God as the source of life. Therefore, for man to receive the life of the tree of life was for him to receive God Himself as life. God also warned man that in addition to the tree of life there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which symbolized Satan as the source of sin and death. If man would touch it, the result would be death (Gen. 2:17).
That the Fallen Man Might Receive God’s Redemption in Christ
Although God’s intention was that man should receive Him as life, Adam did not receive the tree of life; instead, he disobeyed God’s prohibition and took in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:6), receiving into himself the satanic elements of sin and death. Thus, he was constituted a sinner, falling into sin and death (Rom. 5:12). This was the first step of man’s fall. In order that the fallen man might receive His redemption in Christ, God came to the place of the fallen man to seek him and to call him. Moreover, He promised that Christ would come as the seed of the woman and as the redemptive sacrifice, shedding His blood to make redemption for sins and imparting His life to rescue the fallen man, that the fallen man might have the life of God and become God’s expression for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy. Adam believed God’s promise, and God made coats of skins of the sacrifice for him and his wife and clothed them to cover their nakedness (Gen. 3:21). The skin of the sacrifice typifies Christ, who died and shed His blood to make redemption for sinners, as the righteousness of those who believe, that fallen sinners might be justified and accepted by God and have fellowship with God.
That the Man Who Received God’s Way of Redemption
Might Be Accepted by Him through the Sacrifices
Adam and Eve received God’s promise of redemption and experienced the anticipated redemption. Thereafter they must have preached God’s way of redemption to their sons. As a result, Abel believed what his parents preached (Heb. 11:4) and received God’s way of redemption (Gen. 4:4). Thus, he became a feeder of sheep (Gen. 4:2), working and living for God and living by God. He knew that he had been born of fallen parents and that he was sinful, evil, and defiled in the eyes of God. Therefore, he offered bleeding sacrifices to God as offerings, not according to his own way, but according to God’s way of redemption, and thereby was accepted by God.
The Second Step of Man’s Fall—
Rejecting God’s Way of Redemption
Abel believed the gospel preached by his parents, but his brother Cain rejected God’s way of redemption, deviating from God’s way of salvation, which resulted in the second step of man’s fall. Although he knew that God used the skin of the sacrifice as man’s clothing, he presumptuously rejected God’s way of redemption. Although he knew that man needed redemption with the shedding of blood, he refused to adopt God’s way of salvation. Rather, according to his own idea and method, he offered produce to God without the shedding of blood and was thus rejected by God (Gen. 4:3, 5a). Therefore, he was very angry and his countenance fell (Gen. 4:5), and he even killed his brother Abel (Gen. 4:8). As a result, he was cast out of the presence of Jehovah. Having lost the light of God’s countenance, he and his descendants walked their own way and invented a godless culture that included building a city for self-existence, inventing cattle-raising for making a living, inventing music for self-amusement, and inventing weapons for self-defense (Gen. 4:17-22). Eventually, this culture caused his descendants to become so wholly corrupted that they were judged by God through the flood (Gen. 6:11-13).
That the Man Who Received God’s Redemption
Might Call on the Name of Jehovah
After the fall, man went far away from God and lost God as his supply of everything. Therefore, not only did man sense the emptiness of human life, but man also became frail and mortal. Enosh was the third generation of mankind. His name means frail, mortal man, indicating that man realized his own weakness, fragility, and mortality. Therefore, God desired that those whom He redeemed would call upon the name of Jehovah, receiving their supply from Him and enjoying His riches. Enosh thus called on the name of Jehovah, the One who eternally is (Gen. 4:26). Such calling continues throughout the entire Bible (Gen. 12:8; 26:25; Deut. 4:7; 1 Sam. 12:10; 2 Sam. 22:4) and is also enjoyed by the New Testament believers (Acts 9:14; 22:16; 1 Cor. 1:2).
That the Man Who Was Redeemed and Who Enjoyed God
Might Walk and Work with Him
The reason that God wanted man to receive His redemption and call upon the name of Jehovah was that man might walk and work with Him, so as to accomplish His purpose in redeeming man, that is, to gain a new race to express Him. Therefore, God gained Enoch and showed him the way to escape the ultimate issue of man’s fall—death. Hence, Enoch rose up and walked with God for three hundred years and was then taken away by God (Gen. 5:24), not seeing death. He not only realized that man’s emptiness and fragility needed the enjoyment of God’s riches, but he also walked with God; that is, he was not presumptuous, and he did not do things according to his own concept and desire, but he took God as his center and everything, living and doing things according to God and with God. Therefore, God caused him to be raptured and to escape death, that is, to escape the ultimate issue of man’s fall.
God went on further to gain Noah. Not only did Noah walk with God in a corrupted age, but he also worked with God and built the ark (Gen. 6:13-14). Thus, he and his whole family were saved through the ark and were delivered from God’s judging flood. Moreover, having passed through the flood in the ark, they were brought safely through by water and delivered out of the corrupted world into a new world in resurrection to begin in a new age with a new life.
That the Man Who Fell from God’s Government
Might Be Governed by His Own Conscience
According to Genesis 2, after God created man, He put man in front of Himself to be under His direct government (Gen. 2:8, 15), to live before Him and to be responsible to Him. That was the divine government. At that time there was no separation, hindrance, or frustration between God and man. Man could fellowship with God directly in his spirit; moreover, his soul was under the direction of his spirit, and his body was under the control of his soul. Man lived directly under this divine government, living and walking according to the guidance of God’s presence.
However, man disobeyed God’s prohibition and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, man was constituted a sinner (Rom. 5:19), having a record of sin against him outwardly (Rom. 5:18) and the nature of sin inwardly (Rom. 5:12). At this time, the holy, righteous God had no alternative but to leave man, and man could no longer live before God to be under His direct government. Therefore, from the time of Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden to the time of Noah’s departure from the ark, God established the conscience within man to represent Himself in ruling over man. Thus, man was ruled by his own conscience and was responsible to his own conscience. That was self-government.
According to the truth of the entire Bible and also according to our experience, when God created man, He created a conscience in man. However, it was not until the time of the fall, when man partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that the function of the conscience was made manifest. Before the fall, man was in an innocent state, like a newborn babe. Therefore, at that time he was not ashamed of his nakedness. This proves that within man there was no concept of good and evil, right and wrong; this also indicates that there was neither the feeling nor the function of the conscience. After the fall, man immediately felt ashamed of his nakedness. This sense of shame was the beginning of the function of the conscience; that is, the function of the conscience was activated. Since then, man’s conscience has borne the responsibility of rejecting evil and accepting good, enabling man to discern right and wrong, to know what God justifies and what He condemns. Therefore, God put man under the government of his conscience to maintain human existence, that man might receive the redemption of God in Christ to accomplish God’s eternal economy.
The Third Step of Man’s Fall—
Disregarding the Government of the Conscience
God had prepared redemption for man that He might be man’s supply, thus enabling man to walk and work with Him; moreover, He had established the conscience within man to represent His rule over man. Nevertheless, man would not be governed by his conscience to receive God’s salvation. Thus he fell repeatedly, and was eventually judged by God through the flood. Man did not remain very long under self-government. The first person to violate the rule of the conscience was Cain. He murdered his brother Abel, lied to God, and was arrogant toward God. Later, because of man’s deeper fall, even the feeling of the conscience was cast aside. Man’s conscience became numb, as if it were seared with a hot iron, so that even when he indulged in licentiousness and lusts he hardly had any feeling at all. Therefore, before the flood the earth was filled with violence, every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually, and all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth (Gen. 6:5, 11-12). The whole human race had become flesh (Gen. 6:3), and man was wicked and corrupt to the uttermost, so that even the most tolerant God could no longer tolerate it. Therefore, the Spirit of God had to withdraw (Gen. 6:3), and man was fully cut off from God and rejected by God. Eventually God used the flood to bring in the judgment of destruction, rescuing only the eight members of the house of Noah.
That the Man Who Fell from the Government
of the Conscience Might Be Governed by Man
Fallen man disobeyed his own conscience and was not ruled by his conscience. Therefore, after the flood, God gave man authority over the lawless ones to maintain the existence and order of the human race in order to produce the new race, which was to be chosen and called by God, for the fulfillment of His eternal plan.
Before the flood, there was no human government. It was only after the flood that God established a deputy authority on earth. God commanded Noah, saying, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen. 9:6). This indicates that God put man under the authority of others. Because man was neither subject to God’s government nor obedient to self-government, God had to give man authority to rule over others. As a result, soon there began to be nations, and there came into existence among the human race the control of government, the restraints of society, and the regulations of the family. For example, in a nation there are the president and other officials; in a factory, the supervisors; in a school, teachers and a principal; and in a family, parents and elder brothers. All these are deputy authorities set up by God to rule over man. Therefore, Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the authorities over them.” This is human government. God wants the man who fell from the government of the conscience to be ruled by man and be responsible to man. God uses all the deputy authorities to maintain the human race so that the man whom He has chosen and whom He will call may come into being, that His purpose may be fulfilled.
The Fourth Step of Man’s Fall—Worshipping
Idols and Conspiring to Rebel against God
The man who fell repeatedly failed again under human government. He openly and outwardly rejected God, worshipping as idols people and things outside of God. As a result, God rejected the created Adamic race.
Man’s fall from self-government to human government was not the final step of the fall. Man fell further, from human government to Satan’s instigation. Human government was of God’s authorization. But Satan utilized the authority that God gave man to form nations and to instigate a rebellion of the nations against God. The whole human race rebelled collectively against God’s right and authority. They made bricks of earth by human labor (Gen. 11:3), and they built a city to carry on a man-made, godless life. Moreover, they intended to build a tower that would reach into heaven in order to make themselves a name and to reject, to deny, God’s name. Eventually, they fell into idolatry. Every brick that they used to build the city and the tower of Babel bore the name of an idol. The entire human race followed Satan, rebelled against God, and worshipped idols. At this point, because man had fallen to the uttermost, God was eventually forced to give up the created race of Adam and to scatter it over the earth. (Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)