In this message we come to Gen. 11. According to the divine record in the book of Genesis, mankind has had four falls. The first fall was that of Adam in chapter three, the second was that of Cain in chapter four, and the third was that of the crooked and perverse generation before the deluge recorded in chapter six. Now, in chapter eleven, we see man's fourth fall (Gen. 11:1-9). These four falls continued one after another. Here in the fourth fall the subtlety of the enemy is exposed. This fall occurred after the flood. It transpired on the new earth after the restoration of human life under the headship of Noah. As we have seen, that life was a type of the life in resurrection. Man's fourth fall had such a background.
Behind each of the four falls there was one common unique source — Satan, the enemy of God. You may ask, "Is not God the Almighty One? Since He is the Almighty One, why did He not destroy this enemy? It would have been so easy for Him to do it." But even God's enemy is at least somewhat useful in God's economy. Although God's economy has so many positive things in white, it needs some negative things in black to show the whiteness of the white. One of the black, negative things is Satan.
Many philosophers have written books about the condition of man on earth. All of their writings are nonsense; not one of them has hit the mark. However, when we come to the Bible, we find that it is filled with facts and with the divine revelation. Not one word is wasted. For example, the first two chapters of Genesis reveal God's purpose and the relationship between God and man. In the next eight and a half chapters, from Genesis 3 to the middle of Genesis 11, we find the record of man's four falls. In the fourth fall man fell to the uttermost. No fall can go beyond this. This means that in the fourth fall of man, the enemy of God, Satan, has done his worst. He can do nothing more. He did everything within his limit that he could possibly do, using every available means to bring about man's fourth fall.
Satan instigated a rebellion against God in the heart of man. Thus, the fourth fall was altogether a rebellion. Although there was a small element of rebellion in the first fall, that fall was not a rebellion; it was mostly a fall. But man's last fall was truly a rebellion instigated by Satan. The fourth fall, along with the three preceding falls, had the two factors of Satan and man. In this fall Satan was the real cause because he instigated a rebellion within man against God. In a sense, he created a rebellion in the heart of man. In all the falls of man, man fell from at least three levels, and now we need to consider each of them.
The first level was that man fell from God's presence to man's conscience. This means that man fell from the divine government to self-government. According to Genesis 2, after God created man, He put him in front of Himself. Man was in God's presence, and there was nothing between God and man. There was no separation, hindrance, or frustration. Man was directly in the presence of God. In a very good and positive sense, man was directly governed by God's presence.
As we saw in message ten, God created man in three parts, with a spirit, a soul, and a body. The spirit was directly related to God's presence, the soul was under the direction of the human spirit, and the body was under the control of the soul. Originally, man's spirit was under God's presence, his soul was under his spirit, and his body was under his soul. That was the situation at the beginning. At the beginning, God's presence was the controlling essence. We may call this the divine government. Before the fall, the created, unfallen man was directly under this divine government. At that time man was not even controlled by something out of God. He was controlled directly by the presence of God. How wonderful that was! I like to be controlled by someone's presence. If the brothers simply leave me a word telling me to do certain things, I would feel quite bad. I do not like to be controlled by their word; I want to be under the direction of their presence. In married life, for example, the wives are often controlled by their husbands' presence. This is very sweet. I have observed this quite often when I have been invited to have dinner with a family. The husband did not have to say anything to the wife. As the wife looked into her husband's eyes, she knew exactly what to do next. Just a glance at the husband's face was sufficient to tell her that it was time to serve tea. How good it is to be governed and directed by the presence of our dear ones.
At the beginning, man was under God's presence from which man fell firstly to man's own conscience. This matter of the conscience has been a problem to most students of the Bible, because no one has been able to determine whether or not God created a conscience for man at the time of man's creation. There is no record concerning this. As a result, many Bible students have thought that man had no conscience before man's first fall. But we have to believe that, from the very beginning, there was within man an element created by God which eventually turned out to be man's conscience. The element of the conscience was within man from the time of his creation, but the function of the conscience was not developed until the time of the fall, until the time when Adam and Eve partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and their eyes were opened. Immediately, when their eyes were opened, the element of their conscience began to function. God is sovereign. He has foresight. In His creation of man, God made provision for the conscience. The element of the conscience was present in man, but its function was not in use until man had been seduced by Satan and had fallen. At the time of that fall, the conscience began to function.
Consider the example of a burglar alarm. Although an alarm has been installed in a building, it does not function unless there is a burglary. If there is no burglary, the alarm does not function. But when there is a burglary, the alarm goes off immediately. This illustrates the element of conscience in man. It was installed in man at the time of his creation. It was built into the human building when God created man. But the conscience, which had been installed in man, had to wait for the time to function. That time was the time of man's first fall. When that fall transpired, the conscience began to function immediately, and Adam and Eve realized that they were naked (3:7). They felt ashamed. That was the beginning of the function of man's conscience.
It is a good thing that human beings are able to feel shameful. If I stole a certain thing and then was able to boast about it, that would be terrible. If I steal something, I should feel ashamed of it. But so many young people today have no feeling of shame. They are not ashamed of their evil doings. But shamefulness is a protection for fallen man; it is a part of the function of our conscience. If we have a genuine, good, clean conscience, it will always cause us to be ashamed whenever we do something unclean or immoral. This is an excellent protection.
The function of the conscience has preserved the human race throughout history. Simply trusting in the law, the courts, and the police force would not work adequately. There is the need of a fine, inner, and deeper work — the function of the conscience. The function of the conscience not only condemns us, but also causes us to have feelings of shame. But how the human situation has deteriorated in the past fifty years! Today there is open immorality. Some people even boast of their immorality without any sense of shame. It seems as if they do not have a conscience. They are like animals. What is the difference between man and the animals? Man has a conscience that causes him to have a sense of shame. Animals do not have such a conscience. This is part of God's sovereignty in His administration over man. In the first fall, man fell from God's presence to man's conscience. To fall from God's presence was really a sad thing. However, to fall to man's conscience was still a preservation.
Man did not remain very long under the government of his conscience. The first person to violate the rule of the conscience was Cain. Genesis 4 reveals that Cain was not shameful for lying and for murdering his brother, Abel. His lying to God about Abel's death was an open manifestation of his breaking of his conscience. He was arrogant and not at all ashamed about his sin. Since man violated his conscience, violence filled the earth before the time of the flood (6:11). As we saw in the previous message, before the flood there was no human government. It was only after the flood that God established a deputy authority. Man began to exercise God's authority to rule over others. That was the beginning of human government. Thus, secondly, man fell from self-government to human government.
In the first nine chapters of Genesis we see three kinds of government: the divine government, the government of the conscience, or self-government, and human government. All Bible students agree that these governments constitute three of God's dispensations, three of the ways in which God deals with the human race. The first dispensation was that of God's divine government, and the second was that of the government of man's own conscience. When man fell from the rule of his conscience, he came under the third dispensation, that of the human government.
I would like to say a word to the young people. We thank God that we are His creatures. As human beings, we are under Him and He is the real government above us. We also have a conscience that He has provided for us. This is a good thing. Moreover, we have many deputy authorities: the parents at home, the principals and teachers in the schools, and the government. All of these are the deputy authorities of God. By these three kinds of government the human race has been preserved. Although mankind has not been saved, it has been preserved by these three kinds of government. Humanly speaking, we all must have a fear of God, we all must listen to our conscience, and we all must respect God's deputy authority. We must respect our parents, the school administrators, and the government. God uses all the deputy authorities to maintain the human race so that He might fulfill His purpose. Never rebel against God, against the human conscience, or against human government.
God's salvation moves in a direction opposite to that of man's fall. Man fell firstly from God's presence to man's conscience; secondly, from man's conscience to human government; and eventually from human government to rebellion under Satan's instigation. In God's salvation we are firstly saved from rebellion to human government and from human government to the conscience. Eventually we are saved from conscience to God's presence in our spirit.
The fall from self-government to human government, however, was not the final fall. Man fell even further than this, falling from human government to Satan's instigation. Human government was of God's authorization. But Satan utilized the authority which God gave man to form nations and to instigate a rebellion against God with the nations. Hence, man fell into an open rebellion against God. What is rebellion? Rebellion is the denial of right and authority. At the rebellion at Babel, man declared that he denied God's right and that he was absolutely free from God's authority. We see this in the world today. Some people say, "Who is God? What is God?" They cast off the feeling of their conscience and deny God's right and authority over them. This is exactly what happened at Babel. In that rebellion the human race cast away God's right and authority over man. Although there is a tendency along this line today, a part of the human race still is not for this. This is the reason that God is able to allow the human race to remain on earth. If the human race suddenly all became like man at Babel, God would have to say, "This is the time when I must come down to intervene." We have already seen that at the fall at Babel God personally intervened and judged that rebellion directly.
The fourth fall at Babel was more than a fall; it was a rebellion. That rebellion was a satanic instigation. The fourth fall was not a matter of immorality, murder, or violence. If you read the record concerning man's fourth fall in Genesis 11, you will find that it says nothing about immorality and violence being involved there. When I read this portion of the Bible as a young man, I did not think that it was so bad. I said to myself, "What was wrong for people to build a city and a high tower? It seems wonderful to me. Why did God have to come down to judge? There was no theft, murder, or immorality." At that time I did not see what was behind that rebellion. At the back of that rebellion was the satanic instigation. Thus, man's fourth fall must be called a rebellion. The question in that fall was not morality or immorality. It was a question as to who would have the right and the authority in the universe. Do the right and the authority belong to God or to man? They belong to God. He is the Creator, the owner of all. All right and authority must be His. At Babel, the creatures of God rebelled against Him, saying that they did not care for Him. They claimed that they were the owners, that authority was theirs, and that they would do whatever they wanted to do. Thus, that was not merely a fall, but a rebellion instigated by the rebellious Satan.
Firstly, man was under God; secondly, man was under man's conscience; and thirdly, man was under human government. Where was man at the time of Babel? He was under Satan's instigation. At that time man was altogether under Satan. Man collaborated with Satan. This brings us to the second factor of the cause of the fourth fall.
The second factor of the cause of the fourth fall was the rebellion of the human race. The whole human race rebelled collectively against God's right and authority. As we have seen, the issue was a matter of who would have the right in this universe, of who would have authority on earth. The entire human race was stirred up, having been instigated into rebellion, to declare that they did not care for God's right or for God's authority.
In the first fall man did not use his spirit. If you read Genesis 3, you will see that Adam and Eve had probably forgotten about their spirit. They did not use it.
In the second fall man acted by his soul. If you read the story of Cain in Genesis 4, you will see that he was a man who was one hundred percent in the soul. He was absolutely outside of his spirit.
In the third fall man walked according to the flesh. Can you see these three steps? Firstly, man neglected the spirit; secondly, he acted by the soul; and thirdly, he lived and walked absolutely according to the flesh. So by the time of Genesis 6 man had become flesh (6:3). God could no longer tolerate this fallen flesh and He sent the flood as His judgment upon it.
In the fourth fall man rose up collectively to rebel against God. His whole being was stirred up by Satan to rebel against God. If you consider your experience, you will find these four things within yourself. Sometimes we do not use our spirit and sometimes we go by the soul. At other times we are much worse, behaving ourselves according to the flesh. At other times the situation is even worse, for deep within us we may say, "I don't care for God." I believe that we have all said this. If we have not said it many times, at least we have said it a few times. I do not believe that there is anyone who has never said this. Although we might not have spoken these words outwardly, deep within we have said, "I don't care for God. He is too troublesome. I am a free person. I don't want to be bothered by God." Even after coming into the church life, there is still within you this sort of satanic instigation. This is the work of Satan to build up Babel in your being once again. Whenever you say that you do not care for God, it means that you intend to build a city and a tower. That is rebellion, the rebellion that comes from Satan's instigation.
In the fourth fall man fell to the uttermost. He simply could not fall any further. He had reached the bottom. This ultimate fall eventually caused God to forsake the Adamic race. God decided to give up the created race. It had become hopeless. It had reached the point where not even God could do anything with it. Although God forsook the created race, He did not give up His purpose for man. On the one hand, He gave up the Adamic race, but on the other hand, He called a man out of that fallen race to have a new beginning. The name of that called one was Abraham. According to the Bible, Abraham became the head of a new race. Adam was the head of the created race, and Abraham was the head of the called race. In the following messages we shall have much to say about the calling of Abraham.
The Lord has a way to fulfill His purpose. Regardless of the instigation of Satan and the rebellion of man, God is still God. He is sovereign. God seemed to say, "All right, I will let go of the Adamic race." But, under His sovereignty, He selected one to be the head of a new race. This selection, this choice, was made before the foundation of the world. God planned it this way and worked it according to schedule. God has a schedule. In His schedule, He dropped the Adamic race and called out Abraham to be the head of a new race.
Let us now consider the process, the procedure, of this rebellion. In this rebellion there was a conspiracy (11:3). Under the instigation of Satan, man came together to conspire to rebel against God. The rebellion against God instigated by Satan always begins with a conspiracy. Throughout the generations, many times such a conspiracy against God has happened among the human race. The first one was at Babel. That was the beginning of mankind's rebellion against God. Under Satan's instigation, man decided collectively to give up God and to rebel against Him.
What did the people do in their conspiracy to rebel against God? They made bricks and burned them thoroughly (v. 3). Apparently, this is a simple story, and even little children are familiar with it. However, the deeper significance of this matter is profound.
According to the whole revelation of the Bible, God's building has never been with any kind of bricks. God's building is with stones. Eventually, the New Jerusalem will be built with precious stones (Rev. 21:18-20). Stones are different from bricks. Stones are God-made; bricks are man-made. Precious stones are not only God-made but also God-transformed. Bricks are made by man with the earth. At Babel, man burned the earth, the mud, into bricks to build a city and a tower. Pharaoh also built his treasure cities out of bricks (Exo. 1:11, 14a). Now we need to allegorize this portion of the holy Word in order to see what this story signifies.
According to the biblical record, the earth is for growing life (1:11). Growing life requires certain elements. The earth has all the elements necessary for producing life. Even we grow physically with the elements found in the earth. The meat, vegetables, and cereal we eat all come from the earth. All of the nourishing and growing elements in these foodstuffs come out of the earth. Thus, the earth contains the elements needed to grow life. What does it mean to make bricks? It is, for the sake of man's building, to kill, to burn, every bit of the element in the earth that grows life. If you have the insight, you will realize that today every society, every human culture, is burning the earth into bricks. The schools, for instance, kill the element that grows life, burning it in order to make bricks.
In figure, the earth signifies humanity. The rebellion instigated by Satan kills the element within man that grows life by burning it out and it misuses man to build something against God. This happened at Babel and, in the same principle, it has happened throughout human history.
To make bricks requires human labor, even a great deal of labor. Since man has denied God, man has to labor so that he might build up something. All of human history is a record of man's building by human labor with the misused earth (mankind). This was the way that Babel was built — with the misused earth plus human labor.
The building by human labor with the misused earth is simply to build up a manmade, godless life. The city built at Babel could grow nothing. It was godless and lifeless. Look at human culture, at society, and at the situation throughout the world. What are the people doing? They are burning the earth into bricks in order to build up a city that is without God and without life. This is today's society. Every society is a Babel. Today's society is built up with bricks made by men who burn the element that grows life out of the earth created by God. Every organization in today's society is burning the earth into bricks and building up a Babel that is godless and lifeless.
Have you ever seen a society that is not doing this? If you have seen such a thing, it must be the church. The church does not burn the earth; the church plows the earth and sows seed into it. The church is not building up a lifeless and godless city; it is building up a city that is godly and full of life. The building in the church is with precious stones, not with bricks that come out of burning the earth. Not only in secular society but even to some degree in so-called Christian society, in Christianity, people are burning the earth into bricks. They are burning to death the element that grows life in order to build up a city that is godless and lifeless. I hope that everyone in the church will see the difference between the church and any type of society. The church is unique in that it does not burn the earth. The church plows the earth, sows seed into it, and waters it. That life seed, which is Christ, will grow and produce materials for the building up of God's holy city. This is what the church is doing here. However, every other society, including many of the so-called Christian groups, are burning the element that grows life for the purpose of building up a city that is godless and lifeless. But here in the church life we are not burning the earth; we are watering it. We are doing the work of planting and growing. We are plowing, sowing, watering, and growing; we are not burning or killing. We do have a building, the building of God, but it is not built with man-made bricks or by human labor; it is built with God-created and transformed stones and by the divine work.
When I was young I did not understand why those people at Babel built a tower as well as a city. What was the purpose of the tower? If you read this portion of the holy Word, you will find that the tower was a declaration made to the whole universe, especially to God, that man had become independent of God and everyone else.
The principle of a city with a tower is the same in human society today. A tower signifies advertisement. Even in Christian work there may be the building of a tower for advertisement. A certain Dr. So-and-So may be advertised as a world-famous preacher. That advertisement is a tower. In such a case, Jesus Christ would not have as great a name as Dr. So-and-So, the world-famous preacher. People go to hear him, not Christ. Big signs, extensive advertisements — these are the building of a tower.
Babel is the source of Babylon, for Babylon is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Babel. Eventually, we not only have Babel in Genesis 11 but Babylon in Revelation 17. The Babylon found in Revelation 17 is today's Christendom. Many leaders in today's Christianity know that Babylon in Revelation 17 is Christendom. Nevertheless, they continue building their own Babylon. Not only do they remain in Babylon, they are building it. They want to build their towers as high as possible.
One day as I was considering this kind of situation, the Lord showed me that the city of Babel is like a tomb and that the tower is like a tombstone. If a tomb does not have a tombstone, it will be incomplete. When people erect a sign for advertisement, they should realize that it is a tombstone, a mark of the dead.
The tower was also built for the purpose of making themselves a name. In seeking to make themselves a name, they denied God's name, that is, they denied God Himself. What offended God the most was that the purpose of building the tower of Babel was to make a name for man. To make a name for man is actually to deny God's name. If you read the next chapter, Genesis 12, carefully, you will see that when Abraham went into the good land, he did not build a tower to make himself a name; he built an altar that he might call on the name of the Lord (12:7-8). Here, at Babel, rebellious man built a city with a tower for making a name for man, but Abraham, in the good land, erected a tent for his dwelling and built an altar for calling on the name of the Lord. That manmade tower at Babel was surely an offense to God. To set up a tower for making ourselves a name is equal to denying God's name. It is better that we conceal our name. If you intend to get a name, it is better that you get a bad name.
The first result of man's fourth fall was that mankind was scattered in living, no longer able to live together in one place (vv. 8-9). According to the Bible, the church in the first century was not scattered. The church was spreading. Likewise, in all of our migrations, we have been spreading. Scattering means division. But we are not divided. We are one and we are spreading. We expect more churches to be raised up in the years to come. But that will not be a scattering; it will be a marvelous spreading. The church is not going to be scattered; it is going to spread.
Secondly, as a result of the fourth fall, mankind was confounded in language, no longer able to have the same language (vv. 7, 9). At Babel the language was confounded and confused. As I pointed out in Message Thirty-four, language is the utterance, the expression, of our concepts. In the church we should not have different kinds of speaking, because in the church we should have only one mind. In Romans 15:5-6, 1 Corinthians 1:10, and Philippians 2:2, the Apostle Paul charged the believers to be of one mind. We have only one mind. Some people criticize us severely, saying that all the local churches are the same, speak the same thing, and have the same concept. Although they claim that this is terrible, I say that it is marvelous. This is the reverse of Babel.
The curse always results in confusion. If in the church in Anaheim we have different thoughts and opinions, that is a sign that the curse has come upon us. In all the years that I have been in the work, I have never spoken a dissenting word. This does not mean that in every respect I was the same as the other co-workers, but I did realize that I should not be one who is under the curse. Everyone who is dissenting will be under a curse. Be careful. Do not be dissenting. If you are dissenting, you will be the first to be under the curse. God's commanded blessing of life evermore is upon the unity (Psa. 133:3). I thank the Lord that throughout the years I have not received a curse but a blessing because I have never been dissenting with the co-workers. In the church life we must be on the alert not to say things differently. Do not try to display your smartness or your sharpness. Do not try to show that you are better, higher, than others. The sharpest one is the person who receives the blessing, and receiving the blessing depends upon our speaking the same thing. Romans 15:5-6 even speaks of having one mind and one mouth. The church should have one mouth because the church is one body. Look at yourself. How many minds and mouths do you have? Of course, you only have one mind and one mouth. If you had two minds, you would be in a great deal of difficulty. The reason that today's Christianity has so much trouble is that there are thousands of minds. Today's Christianity has hardly any hands or feet; it only has minds and mouths. Every part is a mouth. When I was in that situation, I could not hear anything except, "I don't agree with that," or, "I don't think so," or, "I don't like it." Not even the wives would agree with the husbands nor the children with the parents. That is the poor situation in so-called Christianity. That is why Christianity is full of the curse.
What do we have in the church life? We have the blessing because we have one mind and one mouth. If you visit the church in Hong Kong today and the church in Tokyo tomorrow, you will be surprised to hear them speaking the same thing. Recently I stayed in Taipei for a month and then spent a few days in Korea and Japan. The believers in Korea and Japan spoke the same thing as those in Taipei. Although I could not understand the Korean or Japanese languages, I could understand their lips. Their lips were not confounded. This is not Babel — this is Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, all the different peoples with different languages understood one another (Acts 2:7-11). The church life today is the real Pentecost. We do not have scattering; we have unity. We do not have confusion; we have one speaking. We are truly Pentecostal.
