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: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
B. That the fallen man might receive God’s redemption in Christ—Gen. 3:21: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
D. The second step of man’s fall—rejecting God’s way of redemption—Gen. 4:3, 5a, 17-22: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
F. That the man who was redeemed and who enjoyed God might walk and work with Him—Gen. 5:24; 6:13-14. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
G. That the man who fell from God’s government might be governed by his own conscience—Gen. 2:8, 15; 3:7: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
H. The third step of man’s fall—disregarding the government of the conscience—Gen. 6:3, 5, 11-12. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
I. That the man who fell from the government of the conscience might be governed by man—Gen. 9:6: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
1. After the flood, God gave man authority over the lawless ones to maintain the existence and order of the human race. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
J. The fourth step of man’s fall—worshipping idols and conspiring to rebel against God—Gen. 11:3: (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
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. (Truth Lesson, Level 2, Vol. 1, lsn. 9)
III. God’s full salvation consisting of two great elements—redemption and salvation—Rom. 3:20-26; 5:10: (God’s Salvation in Life, msg. 1)
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. (God’s Salvation in Life, msg. 1)
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. (God’s Salvation in Life, msg. 1)
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. (God’s Salvation in Life, msg. 1)
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. (God’s Salvation in Life, msg. 1)
E. The four major steps of God’s salvation in life—regeneration, transformation, conformation, and glorification. (God’s Salvation in Life, msg. 1)