In this message we come to the third fall of man, which is recorded in Gen. 6. If we study Genesis carefully, we shall realize that the intention of the Holy Spirit is to show man's continuous degradation. Man fell step after step and level after level. The record in Genesis reveals that there were at least four steps to man's fall. We may call these steps the four falls of man. In each fall man descended a step lower than the previous fall, falling lower and lower until he reached a point from which he could not fall any further. The third fall was not man's lowest fall; it was a further step of man's decline. As we shall see, after the third fall, there was a fourth. Man has fallen to a greater degree than we can imagine.
Firstly, again we need to consider the cause of man's third fall. We can find a reason or cause for every fall. The cause of the third fall of man was not simple. Even in the first fall the cause was not simple, because that fall was not only brought about by man, but by a source other than man — the serpent, that is, the Devil, Satan, the enemy of God. We have seen that the enemy of God, who had entered into fallen man, became a subjective cause of the second fall. So, in every fall there was a cause other than man himself. Each fall, of course, was the fall of man, but the cause in each case was not merely man himself, but also the enemy of God. In the first fall, the enemy of God was outside of man. In the second fall, this enemy was inside of man. Now, in the case of the third fall, the enemy took another step, causing man to fall even further. We need to discover what was this other step. It is much worse than we can imagine. Although you might have studied the book of Genesis several times, you probably have never noticed the secret mystery of Satan's device. As we consider this satanic device, we need to look to the Lord for the covering of His prevailing blood, for this message touches the evil power and exposes the subtle device of God's enemy.
In the first fall, Satan seduced man to partake of something other than God. In the second fall, Satan, who was in man's nature, distracted man from God's way of salvation. In the third fall, Satan caused the evil spirits, that is, the fallen angels, to mingle with man and to join with man through illegal marriage. At the time of his fall, before the creation of this present world, Satan captured a large number of angels (see Life-study of Genesis, Message Two). According to Revelation 12:4, it should be that one-third of the angels followed Satan in his rebellion. This is the reason that Ephesians 6:12 speaks of the principalities and powers in the air. The Lord Jesus even told us that Satan has a kingdom (Matt. 12:26). In this universe there is an evil kingdom of the subtle enemy of God, that is, the kingdom of Satan. Satan has a kingdom, meaning that he has under his rule a good number of principalities, dominions, and powers.
According to the whole revelation of the holy Word, at the time of man's third fall, these fallen angels under Satan's control did something which polluted the human race. They caused the human race to be extraordinarily sinful and to be a mixture. No longer was the human race merely the human race; it became a race that was mixed with the fallen angels. Perhaps this word sounds very strange to you. Very few Christians know that the human race was once polluted by being mixed with fallen angels, the fallen spirits. Nevertheless, there is such a fact recorded in the Bible. At the time of the third fall of man, a number of the fallen angels in Satan's principality came down to the earth, took human bodies, and used these bodies to form illegal marriages with the daughters of men. In this way, the human race was mixed with the fallen spirits.
This interpretation of Genesis 6 is neither my invention nor my discovery. When I first studied Genesis 6:2 fifty years ago, I was quite troubled. I had no difficulty with 6:1, but verse 2 presented a problem. Who are the sons of God mentioned there? Then I learned that some of the Brethren teachers said that there were two lines in Genesis 4 — the line of the descendants of Seth, that is, the line of the godly people, and the line of the descendants of Cain. They said that the sons of God were the descendants of Seth. Since the descendants of Seth belonged to God, they were the sons of God. They also said that the daughters of men were the daughters of the descendants of Cain. I was not satisfied with that interpretation. It was not logical. How can you say that the sons of God were the descendants of Seth and that the daughters of men were the descendants of Cain? Were not the descendants of Seth also men? I could not accept their interpretation. Eventually I found the proper interpretation in Brother Watchman Nee's writing. In his writings Brother Nee said that the sons of God in 6:2 were angels. He pointed out that in the Old Testament we are told clearly that the angels are called the sons of God (Job 1:6; 2:1). Although this was very logical, I found it difficult to believe. I wondered how angels could have married human beings. Brother Nee went on to say that the Syriac Version of the Old Testament renders "the sons of God" as "the angels" and that a few ancient manuscripts also use "angels" instead of "sons of God" in Genesis 6:2. Brother Nee then argued that we cannot say that only the daughters of Cain and not also the sons of Seth were the descendants of men. I was already in agreement with that point. Brother Nee went on to say that in Jude 1:6-7 there is a strong proof that the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6 were fallen angels. Brother Nee undoubtedly had studied Earth's Earliest Ages, by G. H. Pember. In that book Mr. Pember strongly proved that the sons of God in Genesis 6 were fallen angels. Thus, after much study, I was fully convinced that the sons of God in Genesis 6 were fallen angels.
The fallen angels committed fornication with strange persons, setting up an example which was followed by Sodom and Gomorrah. At this point we need to read carefully Jude 1:6-7. "And angels who did not keep their own principality, but abandoned their own dwelling place, He has kept in eternal bonds under gloom for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who in like manner with these gave themselves over to fornication and went after other flesh, are set forth as an example, undergoing the penalty of eternal fire." When Peter and Jude wrote about the degradation, they wrote with the facts recorded in Genesis as a background. In verse 6, Jude says that the angels did not keep their principality. Principality here means the angels' domain or rule, referring to the sphere of their rule. What is the principality or sphere of the angels? According to Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12, their principality is the air. God's dwelling place is the third heaven, man's dwelling place is the earth, and Satan's and his angels' dwelling place is the air. When Jude 6 says that the angels did not keep their principality, but left their own habitation, it means that they left the air, came down to the earth, and entered into illegal marriages with human beings. God has reserved these fallen angels under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day.
When did these angels leave their principality? When did the fallen angels leave the air of their principality and descend to the earth and do something which caused God to reserve them in chains unto the judgment of the great day? They must have done something very serious in order for God to take such an action. When did this happen? It must have been during the time mentioned in Genesis 6.
The word "as" in Jude 1:7 indicates that verse 7 is a continuation of verse 6. Because the subject of this sentence is not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but also "the cities around them," we need a comma after the word "them." Thus, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities round about them are the subject of the sentence. The predicate is "are set forth." Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them are set forth for an example. Between the subject and the predicate we have the modifier "in like manner with these gave themselves over to fornication and went after other flesh." To whom does "these" refer? It refers to the fallen angels mentioned in the previous verse. What does "in like manner" mean? It means in the manner of going "after other flesh." The fallen angels went after human flesh. Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities about them also went "after other flesh." This means that these cities followed the example of the fallen angels. They did not invent that kind of fornication, but followed the fallen angels who invented it. Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities were followers; the angels were inventors.
At this point I must say a word especially to the young people. Marriage is a holy thing. God instituted marriage in order to maintain the human race which He created for His purpose. No one should consider the matter of marriage in a loose way. We all must approach it as a most holy thing. Hebrews 13:4 advises us to respect marriage as being holy. There is a strict principle regarding marriage — the principle of one husband for one wife. God has ordained this holy principle in order to keep the human race in a proper condition for the fulfillment of His purpose. However, at the time of man's third fall, the subtle enemy came in to break the holy principle of human marriage by his fallen angels taking human bodies to marry human females. This violated the principle of marriage that protected the purity of the human race. This illegal marriage of fallen angels with the human race not only broke the principle of marriage, but polluted the human race. What was the devil's intention in doing this? His intention was not only to corrupt the human race, but also to pollute it to such an extent that it became a mixture of humanity and fallen spirits. The angels, the fallen ones, set up such an example of breaking the principle of marriage. Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities about them followed this example, breaking the governing principle ordained by God.
Now we can understand why God determined to flood the human race and condemn them all to death. God decided to do this because the human race had become a mixture. Now we can also understand why God burned Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities. When, as a young man, I read about the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the slaughter of the Canaanites, I did not agree with God. I said, "Isn't God a God of love? How could a God of love do such a thing? How could a God of love flood people, burn their cities, and slaughter the Canaanites at the hand of the Israelites?" I said to God, "God, You were not fair. Don't You think that the Israelites were sinful too? Why did You destroy all the Canaanites? How can You say that You are a God of love?" Eventually, God said to me, "Child, haven't you seen that before the flood the human race had become a mixture? I couldn't keep such a mixed race on this earth. I had to eliminate it. Don't you see that among the Canaanites there were the Nephilim, proving that the Canaanites were no longer a pure human race, but had become mixed with the fallen angels? I had to exterminate them." At that time I bowed myself and said, "Lord, You are God. I worship You. You did rightly."
If you read Jude 1:6-7, you will see that the fallen angels invented illegal marriage, breaking the governing principle of marriage ordained by God, and going "after other flesh", after human beings. That invention set an example which was followed by Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities. In like manner to those angels, those cities committed fornication and pursued "other flesh." At a certain time there were some angels that had fallen to such an extent that God intervened to judge them. When did this happen? We must apply it to Genesis 6.
This illegal marriage between fallen angels and the human race produced Nephilim. The "mighty men which were of old, men of renown" in 6:4 were a product of the fallen spirits mingled with the human race (cf. Num. 13:33). Although the King James Version uses the word "giants" in Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33, the Hebrew should be rendered "Nephilim." It is translated this way in the American Standard Version. The word Nephilim means "the fallen ones." G. H. Pember in his book Earth's Earliest Ages says that it probably refers to the fallen angels. However, the Nephilim were not purely angels, but were the product of the mixture of the fallen angels with the daughters of men. They were the product of the mingling of the human race, that is, human blood, with angelic spirits.
According to the Bible, the Nephilim were "men of a great stature" (Num. 13:32). If you were to look at them, they would threaten you, and you would be frightened. That is exactly what happened to ten of the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. They saw the Nephilim and were terrified (Num. 13:33). They told the Israelites, "We should not go into the land, for we saw the Nephilim there." The Nephilim which they saw should be again the descendants of the fallen angels that had mingled with the daughters of men. The Nephilim were giants, capable men, men of renown.
God sent the flood to exterminate Noah's generation because the blood of that generation had become impure. Likewise, God slaughtered all the Canaanites because the Nephilim again were among them, and the blood of that race again was no longer pure. God could not tolerate that situation. For the sake of the fulfillment of His purpose, He could not allow such a human race to exist.
We all must learn one lesson from this: fornication is a serious thing. In the entire Bible, especially in the teaching of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 19:9), fornication is regarded as a serious matter. When you read the Epistles in the New Testament, you can see that the apostles were very strict, not tolerating fornication in the church life (1 Cor. 6:9-10, 18; Eph. 5:5). Why were they so strict? If you read the Bible, you will discover that fornication is related to idolatry (Rev. 2:14, 20). Idol worship encourages fornication. In Buddhism, all the people who worship idols are careless about fornication. Their idol worship ushers them into fornication. In China, in front of the idol temples where people worshipped idols, the opera was performed quite often with the stories of fornication. If you read the book of Numbers, you will see that when the Israelites worshipped idols, they committed fornication (Num. 25:1-2). The worship of idols brings in fornication, and fornication ushers in idolatry. But this is not true in the genuine worship of God. The true worship of God keeps us pure with respect to marriage, maintaining the governing principle ordained by God. Several years ago a group of young people living together in San Francisco became involved in fornication. That fornication eventually brought them into witchcraft. Fornication brings people into contact with demons. Why? Because demons, fallen spirits, are searching for human bodies. If you are a person who exercises a proper intellect and reason, you will not allow an evil spirit to come into you. However, when people become addicted to fornication, they do not care about their intellect. They lose their reason, and the door is opened for demons to enter in and take full possession of them. None of the people who commit fornication care for their intellect or reason. They are not sound or normal. If you are a sound, normal person, you will care for your intellect and reason. You will not do anything which breaks God's governing principle. It is a dreadful thing to fall into fornication.
According to the record of the Bible, at the time of the third fall, men became flesh. They were full of lusts. Because men were in such a condition, the door was opened for the angels, the fallen ones, to enter in. At this point, man not only had the Devil in his evil nature, but some men had become possessed by the fallen angels who used their bodies to form illegal marriages and produce a mixture. That was the most evil thing in the eyes of God, and He could not tolerate it.
We have seen that the first cause of man's third fall was the mingling of evil spirits with humanity. Let us now consider the second cause. The second cause of this fall was that man had become flesh. Genesis 6:3 says, "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for that he indeed is flesh" (Heb.). In the first fall, man did not exercise his spirit. In the second fall, he overexercised his soul. Cain knew nothing about his spirit, but overexercised his soul, inventing a new religion. In the third fall, man abused the fallen body and became flesh. Man not only failed to care for the spirit, but did not even care about his soul. Man neglected the intellect and reason in his soul.
Many people are in the same situation today. They do not care for the spirit, for the presence of God. Neither do they care for their soul, for their intellect or reason. They only fear the police. If you were to remove the National Guard or the police department, the flesh would come to the surface, caring nothing for the spirit, for human intellect or for man's reason. People would simply abuse their flesh and act nearly the same as animals. When man is in this condition, he has almost fallen to the uttermost. The first fall exposes man's not using the spirit, and the second fall exposes his overuse of the soul. Because of the overexercise of the soul, man fell further and began to abuse his body. Thus, man wholly became flesh.
The Bible reveals that the strongest and most evil enemy of God is our flesh. We see this unveiled in the book of Romans, especially in chapters seven and eight. The flesh is thoroughly and absolutely hated by God. God will not tolerate it. In a sense, God may tolerate our mistakes and transgressions, but He will never tolerate the flesh. Anything that issues out of our flesh is an insult to Him. At the time of the third fall, the entire human race became flesh. Thus, God stepped in and told His servant Noah that He was going to destroy that whole generation.
The process is not difficult to understand. The first step in the process was the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh. When a person becomes flesh, he has no choice but to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The result of fulfilling the lusts of the flesh is that man becomes evil and corrupt to the uttermost (6:5, 11-13). Although the Bible is very economical, not wasting any words, Genesis 6 a number of times says that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence (vv. 11-13). In the eyes of God, the earth was corrupt. It was not only evil, but corrupt to such a degree that God could not tolerate it any longer.
The first issue of man's third fall was the withdrawing of the Holy Spirit, signifying God's forsaking of man. The Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever" (v. 3, Heb.). This word indicates the gracious work of God's Holy Spirit. It is a word which proves that before that time God's Spirit was continually working and striving with man. This is the second mention of the Spirit in the book of Genesis. The first mention is in 1:3, which says that God's Spirit was hovering over the dead situation in order to bring life into being. When the Spirit is mentioned the second time, we are told that God the Spirit would not strive with man any longer, proving that prior to this the Spirit had been striving and working. God was gracious. Do not think that Abel was good by himself. That was impossible. All the dear saints mentioned in Genesis 5 were helped by the Spirit of God. Do you think that Enoch could have walked with God by himself? I do not believe this. Enoch was helped, strengthened, and moved by the Spirit of God. God's Spirit was striving against man's rebellion. Nevertheless, in Genesis 6 a point was reached when the Spirit of God would strive with man no longer. How dreadful this is. If the Spirit of God were to withdraw from us, how terrible it would be!
The second issue of man's third fall was the coming of the deluge, which brought in the judgment of destruction (6:17; 7:10-12). The issue of man's third fall was that something so good, the Holy Spirit, was to be withdrawn and that something so terrible, the judgment of the deluge, was to come to execute the sentence of death upon fallen man.
The third fall of man was a prefigure of the present age. The Lord Jesus likened the present age to the time of the third fall (Matt. 24:37-39). The Lord said that before the flood came, they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and took them all away. People knew nothing except eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. At the time of the third fall, fallen man was abusing marriage. The situation is exactly the same today — eating, drinking, and abusing of marriage. It is not wrong to be married; it is holy. But do not abuse it. Your marriage must be according to God's principle. This will bring God's grace and blessing upon you and your family. But the abuse of marriage will cause judgment to come upon man. Look at the present situation. It is the same as in the age before the flood. People know about eating, drinking, and marrying, but they do not know the coming judgment. It seems that, as far as they are concerned, there is no God in this universe. They do not care about the coming judgment. However, the Bible assures us that God is still on the throne and that the earth belongs to Him. One day He will intervene and exercise His judgment upon this ungodly age. What then should we do? We must go to Noah and see what he did. We shall consider Noah in the next message.
