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This series of messages is not a verse-by-verse study like an ordinary Bible study. On the contrary, we want to see the line pertaining to life in the Word of God. Apart from the line of life there are many other significant points in Genesis, such as the ark in chapters 6 through 8. Even so, we must emphasize that our intention is not to study Genesis in order to identify every item of truth in it. Rather, our intention is to see the line of life.
Our burden is also not to expound the Bible but to speak concerning life. Bible exposition alone is for the increase of human knowledge, but the line of life is for man to know God. Our desire is not merely to help the children of God to increase their biblical knowledge. Instead, our earnest hope is that we can see the way pertaining to God’s life in the Word of God. Therefore, instead of merely studying with our mind, we should open our spirit and be willing to see the revelation concerning God’s life and to know the way of God’s life. This is not a matter pertaining to knowledge but a matter pertaining to life.
In the garden of Eden there were two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The issue of touching the tree of life is life, whereas the issue of touching the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is death. All biblical truths include a certain amount of knowledge, but our speaking will be a failure if we cause people only to gain knowledge rather than touch the life of God.
In John 6:63 the Lord clearly said that the words He spoke are spirit and life. I hope that when we study the Lord’s Word, our spirit will touch the Lord’s Spirit and the Lord’s life. Therefore, when we study, we should not come to comprehend only with our mind, but even more we need to have a heart and a spirit to touch God and contact His Spirit.
In this chapter we will consider the fourth fall of man. In brief, man’s first fall was in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3), the second fall was with Cain (ch. 4), and the third fall was before the deluge (ch. 6). Man’s fall involved more than one step. Once man began to fall, he fell step after step. Once man fell, he continued to fall. The first fall in the garden of Eden was the beginning, the first step, of the fall of mankind. After that step there was a second step. After the second step there was a third step, and after the third step there was a fourth step. After the fourth step man had fallen to the uttermost.
Genesis is divided into three major sections: the first section is on God’s creation (chs. 1—2), the second section is on man’s fall (3:1—11:9), and the third section is on God’s calling (11:10—50). We have already seen God’s creation in previous messages (see Revelations in Genesis: Seeing God’s Desire and Purpose in Creation). In regard to man’s fall, there is a total of four steps, which constitute man’s complete fall; therefore, we refer to them as the four falls of man. The first fall in the garden of Eden was like man’s enrollment in a “school of falling,” whereas his fourth fall was like his graduation from this school. Adam’s fall was merely the beginning of the fall. It was not until the fourth step of the fall that the fall of the entire human race was complete.
The Adamic race became incurable and hopeless in God’s eyes because of these continuing falls, and God had no choice but to give up on the Adamic race, that is, to give up on the human race. This does not mean, however, that God had no further work with mankind. Instead, God had a new beginning. God’s first beginning was His creation of man. After created man fell to the uttermost, God had a new beginning by coming to call man. The man whom He called was Abraham. The record in the Bible from Genesis 11:10 to the end of Revelation is not a record of the Adamic race. God gave up on the Adamic race because of its repeated falls, but after man fell to the uttermost, God called Abraham and his descendants, that is, the Abrahamic race. After Genesis 11:10 the Bible covers the Abrahamic race. The remainder of the Old Testament covers Abraham’s earthly descendants, and the entirety of the New Testament covers Abraham’s heavenly descendants. Every Gentile believer in the Lord has become a son of Abraham through faith (Gal. 3:7, 29). Therefore, the emphasis from Genesis 11:10 to the end of the New Testament is altogether on the Abrahamic race, the called race.
Hebrews 3:1 says that we, the saved ones, are “partakers of a heavenly calling.” As saved ones, we are God’s called ones. The first section of the Bible covers the created race, the Adamic race; the second section covers the called race, the Abrahamic race.
We need to consider the cause of man’s fourth fall. In each of the four falls there is a cause related to Satan and a cause related to man.
On Satan’s side, the cause of man’s first fall was Satan’s tempting of man by hiding himself in the serpent. The cause of the second fall was Satan’s deception of man by hiding in man’s will. The cause of the third fall was due to the mixing of evil spirits with man. The cause of the fourth fall was Satan’s instigation of man to rebel against God.
On man’s side, the cause of man’s first fall was man’s assumption of the headship. The cause of the second fall was man’s acting according to his own will. The cause of the third fall was man’s acting according to the flesh. The cause of the fourth fall was man’s rebellion against God, his rising up to oppose God.
In the first fall mankind had not yet rebelled against God. At that time man committed sin, but he still had a heart that feared and revered God. Although man violated God’s prohibition, he still feared God. In the second fall man was corrupted and became arrogant toward God, but his heart was still fearful of God. Although Cain sinned and was dealt with by God, Cain and his descendants still acknowledged God. Among his descendants some had names that included the Hebrew root el, meaning “God,” indicating that they still acknowledged God’s right and authority and were not rebellious toward God. Among Cain’s descendants one was named Mehujael, meaning “opposed by God” or “smitten of God,” and another was named Methushael, meaning “man of God” (Gen. 4:18). Even after the third fall of mankind, man still acknowledged God’s right and authority. Although man was utterly corrupt in his morality individually, he did not rise up to oppose God collectively or to rebel against God’s right and authority collectively. However, the fourth fall was not related to individual conduct or behavior; it was a collective rebellion to deny God’s right and authority.
In considering the four falls of mankind, man’s violation of God’s prohibition in the first fall can be likened to making a mistake. In the second fall man committed an individual act of murder. In the third fall all the people on earth began to indulge in lusts, murder, and fornication. Although this process shows a continuing corruption, it still involves problems related only to individual behavior. However, in the fourth fall people conferred with one another to collectively rebel against God in heaven. In this fall mankind collectively rebelled to deny God’s right and authority.
Satan instigated this fall because his intention when he rebelled was to overthrow God’s authority. According to Isaiah 14:13-14, Satan said in his heart, “I will ascend to heaven...I will exalt my throne...I will make myself like the Most High.” Hence, the thought of overthrowing God’s authority is entirely of the evil one, Satan. He wanted to overthrow God’s throne, but he did not succeed. At the time of the fourth fall he imparted the thought of overthrowing God’s authority into man, causing man to rise up collectively to oppose God’s right and authority. At that time the people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens” (Gen. 11:4). To have a tower with its top in the heavens was to set themselves against the heavens. They seemed to say, “Since God is working to come down from heaven to the earth, we will work to go up from the earth to heaven.” They opposed God to this extent, and their intention in building a tower was to make a name for themselves. God considered this fall as something that could no longer be tolerated. The previous three falls were related to the corruption of individual morality and behavior, which could be considered as falls on a smaller scale. The fourth fall, however, which involved the rebellion of mankind collectively, was a fall on a much larger scale.
The universe cannot be without authority, and the authority in the universe is God. Man was created by God and therefore should be under God’s government and authority. However, in Genesis 11 the human race united together to deny God’s authority collectively and to exalt man to the heavens. They attempted to build a tower with its top in the heavens. They said, “Let us make a name for ourselves” (v. 4), meaning that they intended to exalt man and put God aside. This was not an issue of individual morality or behavior but an issue of authority, an issue of collective rebellion. In God’s eyes this was an extremely serious matter.
The fourth fall may be likened to a family with four children who at first are secretly disobedient to their father’s forbidding word. Later, the eldest brother may hit his younger brothers, and still later, all four may create a mess by playing in the house. However, none of these acts are as serious as all four saying, “Down with our father! Let us be the king!” This is no longer merely a matter of disobeying the father’s word, hitting younger brothers, or turning the house into a mess; it is a matter of collectively overthrowing the father’s position, a matter of exalting themselves to the position of the father. This is a serious matter. By the fourth fall man had fallen to the uttermost. In the first three falls God still wanted to rescue man. With the fourth fall, however, God came down to see the city and the tower that the children of men had built (v. 5), and He said, “Come, let Us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (v. 7). God seemed to say, “We have to go down and see what they are doing. Created mankind is attempting to overthrow Our authority; this is very serious. Come, let Us confound their language and scatter them.” This shows that the fourth fall was the most serious fall.
In the first fall man assumed the headship; that is, man did not live according to his spirit. In the second fall man lived according to his own will, his own idea, that is, according to his soul. To act according to one’s will or idea is to live according to the soul. Not only was Cain’s murder of his brother Abel an issue of living according to the soul, but even his offering to God was an issue of his living according to the soul. In the third fall man lived according to the flesh.
According to God’s creation in the beginning, man should live according to the spirit, with the soul under the direction of the spirit, the body under the direction of the soul, and the spirit under the direction of God. In this way man and God can have a proper relationship. However, in the first fall man did not live according to the spirit but rather assumed the headship. In the second fall man lived according to the soul. In the third fall man fell into the flesh and lived according to the flesh. Thus, the more man fell, the more he fell from the inside to the outside.
The closer a person lives in relation to his deepest part, the spirit, the nobler he is. In contrast, the closer a person lives in relation to his flesh, the baser he is. The more a person lives according to his inward parts, the more virtuous he is, but the more he lives according to the lusts of his body, the more corrupt he is. Before the fall man had fellowship with God because he lived according to his innermost part, his spirit. He was honorable and noble. Man fell the first time because he failed to continue to live according to the innermost part, the central part, of his being. In effect, man fell from his innermost part into his soul to live according to the soul. This was man’s first fall. When man fell yet again, he fell from his soul into the body, which became the flesh. The human body with Satan’s sin became the flesh. The more a person lives in his flesh, the more he indulges in its lusts. The more a person comes under the control of his soul and then under the control of his body, the more corrupt he becomes. The Chinese sages speak of the bright virtue, which is man’s conscience. By the time of the third fall the function of man’s conscience was made completely void, and man was living according to his flesh and indulging in its lusts.
After the third fall man had fallen into the flesh. However, there was still a fourth fall related to man’s collective rebellion. At this point man was completely of the flesh, and these fleshly people consulted one another, “and they said to one another, Come” (v. 3). These words indicate that they were going to rebel in a collective action. The first three falls resulted in a progressive corruption from the spirit to the flesh, resulting in the complete corruption of their entire being. However, in the fourth fall they expressed an intention to rebel against God and to deny God’s authority collectively. In God’s eyes they were not only utterly corrupt but also extremely wicked. The first three falls involved matters of individual morality, but the fourth fall involved the matter of collective rebellion. This is very serious.
The process of man’s fourth fall began with a discussion, a conference (v. 3). These corrupted people came together to confer over the matter of rebellion. They were created and governed by God originally, yet they met together to confer and discuss their intention to rebel. This was extremely wicked.
After their discussion they took a further step of making bricks and burning them thoroughly (v. 3). The Bible always mentions the use of stones in relation to God’s building and the use of bricks in relation to man’s building.
Let us consider four items in God’s work. According to Exodus 20:25, the altar was built with stones. It was not only built with stones but with stones in their original form, that is, unhewn stones. When the children of Israel built an altar with stones, they could not use tools. This means that the element of human labor should not be added to God’s work. The temple in 1 Kings 6:7 was also built with stones. In addition, the city of Jerusalem was built with stones, and the city of the New Jerusalem, whose Architect and Builder is God (Heb. 11:10), will be built with precious stones (Rev. 21:18-20). God’s building work involves stones, whereas man’s building work involves bricks. The tower of Babel was built with bricks, and the two storage cities of Pharaoh were also built with bricks (Exo. 1:11, 14; 5:7-8).
Stones are natural and God-made; bricks are produced by human labor with the mud of the earth, that is, by using human labor to burn and harden the mud of the earth. God’s work, however, is made with stones, meaning that God builds everything with something of Himself as the material. In contrast, man’s work is made with bricks, meaning that it is accomplished with human labor using earthy things void of the element of God. Genesis 11:3 says that man used “brick for stone” when the tower of Babel was being built. This meant that man replaced God’s work with his own work. In the Bible all the things made by man are “bricks,” that is, something of the earth plus human labor. Everything produced by human labor and earthy material is brick.
After producing bricks, the people built a city. When reading Genesis 11, most people focus on the tower of Babel rather than on the city of Babel. This is not accurate, because verse 4 plainly says, “They said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower.” This verse mentions a city and then a tower. Hence, the emphasis is not on the tower but on the city. We know that a city is the center of human life, and therefore, it is a symbol of human life. A city made of bricks is a symbol of a life built by human labor, that is, a life without God. This shows that the kind of life that man builds does not have God, does not want God, does not rely on God, and is not for God. The city of Babel symbolizes such a life. The city of Babel represents a living produced by a group of fallen, rebellious people who put God aside, deny God’s right and authority, and use their human labor on the things of the earth. Such a life has man but not God, wants man but not God, relies on man but not God, and is for man but not God. Such a living is symbolized by the city of Babel.
People on the earth today, including those in so-called religions, are still building the city of Babel. It is possible that even many works in Christianity are cities built only with human labor. If the work that we are doing in God’s name is really being done by ourselves and for ourselves, our work is building only the city of Babel.
After building a city, the next step was to build a tower. In chapter 11 the people built a city and then a tower. The city was central, whereas the tower was auxiliary. Using an analogy, we can say that the city was like a tomb, and the tower was like a tombstone that declared who is in a tomb. The tower of Babel was an epitaph, a declaration, of the city of Babel. Since the city of Babel is a symbol of a godless life built by men apart from God, the tower of Babel is a declaration that their life denied God and rejected His right and authority.
The building of the tower of Babel not only declared that the people did not want God but that they wanted to make a name for themselves. Their renouncing of God’s name was actually their renouncing of God. Their making a name for themselves was actually their exalting of themselves. Genesis 4:26 says that men began to call upon the name of Jehovah at the time of Enosh. The name Enosh means “frail, mortal man.” When a person truly knows the vanity and frailty of human life, he will prostrate himself before God, call on God’s name, and exalt God’s name. However, men exalted their own name, making a name for themselves. Chapter 11 shows that people fell to the uttermost by building a city and a tower in order to make a name for themselves. However, God would not allow them to succeed in their conspiracy.
Because the people intended to rebel against God collectively, He scattered them so that they would not be able to live together in one place (vv. 8-9).
God confounded the people’s language, causing them to not be able to understand one another’s speech (v. 7). After God’s confounding, they could, for example, no longer easily understand the word come. In order to understand one another’s speech, there was a need for translation. Therefore, not having one language is God’s judgment. When Jehovah confounded the language of all the people, they were scattered over the surface of all the earth. Babel, the name of the city, means “confusion,” which was the issue of being cursed and judged.
God had a way to deal with the first fall, a way of escape for the second fall, and a way of salvation for the third fall. However, there was no dealing, no escape, and no salvation for the fourth fall. There was only a revelation of a way for deliverance, as seen in Abraham’s calling.
Abraham’s deliverance involved leaving everything related to his background and environment. When God called Abraham, He told Abraham to go from his land, from his relatives, and from his father’s house (12:1), that is, to leave everything of his background and environment. At that time Abraham was in Chaldea (11:28), the land of Shinar, which was the place of man’s rebellion against God, the source of man’s rebellion against God (10:10; 11:2-4). Joshua 24:2 and 14 tell us that the land of Chaldea, the birthplace of Abraham, was a land full of idols. It was a place where people worshipped idols and exalted their own name. However, God came to call Abraham, telling him to leave everything of his background and environment.
Abraham also lived a life that was altogether in opposition to the living in Babel. When he arrived in the land of Canaan, he pitched a tent, built an altar, and called on the name of Jehovah (Gen. 12:5, 7-8). Abraham’s tent stood as a testimony in opposition to the city of Babel, and his altar stood as a testimony in opposition to the tower of Babel. A human city symbolizes a life without God, whereas a tent symbolizes a life with God. A human city symbolizes a life of not trusting in God, whereas a tent symbolizes a life of trusting in God. Abraham’s life was the life of a tent, which was altogether contrary to Babel, and Abraham’s distinctive mark was an altar, not a tower. The tower of Babel was a declaration of man’s renunciation of God, whereas Abraham’s altar was a mark of man’s calling on God. The tower was for man’s name, but the altar was for calling on the name of God. Abraham’s life was completely in opposition to the living in Babel. Whereas the people of Babel had a city, Abraham had a tent. Whereas the people of Babel declared their renunciation of God, Abraham declared his acceptance of God. Whereas the people of Babel did not trust in God, Abraham trusted in God. Whereas the people of Babel built a tower to make a name for themselves, Abraham built an altar to call on the name of God.
At the time of Abraham’s calling, the city of Babel and the tent of God were in opposition to each other. Ever since the fall of man, human life has been divided into two different lines. One line involves the living of those who follow Satan, those who are the seed of the serpent (3:15), which is a godless living symbolized by a city. The other line involves the living of those who belong to God, those who are the seed of the woman, which is a God-trusting life symbolized by a tent. In the Bible these two kinds of life are always in opposition. Actually, the opposition between the tent and the city did not begin with Babel. According to Genesis 4, Cain built a city called Enoch before the deluge (v. 17), and after Noah came out of the ark, he lived in a tent (9:21). Hence, Noah’s tent and the city built by Cain were in opposition to each other. In chapter 12 Abraham’s tent was an anti-testimony to the city of Babel. When the children of Israel were serving God in the wilderness, they dwelt in tents and pitched a tent of meeting for God (Exo. 33:7-8, 10). These tents were in opposition to the cities built by the children of Israel during their enslavement in Egypt (1:11). When they entered into Canaan, the city of Jerusalem, which was the enlargement of the tent, was also in opposition to the city of Babylon, which was the enlargement of the city of Babel. Ultimately, at the end of the Bible Babylon the Great (Rev. 17—18) and the New Jerusalem (21:2-3, 9-27) are in opposition to each other.
The Bible is a record of these two lines: the line of the city and the line of the tent. The Bible tells a story of the city, beginning with Genesis 4 and continuing through Revelation 18. First, there is the city of Enoch built by Cain (Gen. 4:17); later there is the city of Babel (11:4, 9); still later there is the city of Babylon (Psa. 137:8; Isa. 13:19); and finally there is Babylon the Great (Rev. 14:8; 18:2). These are all on the same line. Another line is the line of the tent. First, there is the tent of Noah (Gen. 9:21); later there is the tent of Abraham (12:8); still later there is the city of Jerusalem, which was brought forth after the descendants of Abraham entered into the land of Canaan with the Ark of God (1 Kings 11:32, 36). Finally, there is the holy city, New Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from God. Although the New Jerusalem is a city, it is still called a tabernacle (Rev. 21:2-3), and it is the ultimate issue of the line of the tent.
These two lines are never joined; their ways of life are completely different and always in opposition to one another. The line of the city is filled with idols and completely rejects God, whereas the line of the tent is filled with people who want God and trust in God completely. With a tent there is always an altar, and in the city of Jerusalem there was an altar (1 Kings 9:25; 12:27). An altar is a sign of man’s need for God. When there is a “city” with a “tower,” people continually declare that they do not want God. When there is a “tent” with an “altar,” people continually declare that they want God. Man wants God, trusts in God, and takes God as his center so that everything is for God only when there is a tent and an altar.
The way to be delivered out of the fourth fall is by being called by God to leave our background and environment and by living a life in opposition to the living in Babel. Babel does not want God, but we want God. Babel makes a name for man, but we exalt God’s name. By leaving our background and environment and by living a life in opposition to the living in Babel, we can be delivered and preserved from the fall.
