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.
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.
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).
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).
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.