Sabbath Afternoon - April 9
Memory Text:
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” KJV — Genesis 4:7
According to the law of the Bible the priesthood was to be made up from the first born of every family. Thus, by the rights of the law, Cain was the priest. The Lord himself stated this fact as He spoke to Cain saying: “And unto thee shall be his desire [margin, subject], and thou shall rule over him.” (Gen. 4:7.) Therefore, these two men represent two classes of people. Since this fact cannot be denied, Cain must represent a class of leadership (priests), and Abel the true church membership. It was Cain who rebelled against God by presenting a false sacrifice, and because Abel obeyed and worshiped in the manner prescribed by the Creator, he incurred the displeasure of his elder brother.
Sunday - April 10
Cain and Abel
Genesis 4: 1, 2
What do we learn from these passages about the births of the two males?
“Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, were unlike in character. Cain cherished feelings of rebellion and murmuring against God because of the curse pronounced upon the ground and upon the human race for Adam's sin; while Abel had a spirit of meekness and of submission to the authority of God. ST December 16, 1886, par. 2
“These brothers were tested, as Adam had been tested before them, to see if they would be obedient to God's requirements. They had both been instructed in regard to the provision made for the salvation of man. Through the system of sacrificial offerings, God designed to impress upon the minds of men the offensive character of sin, and to make known to them its sure penalty, death. The offerings were to be a constant reminder that it was only through the promised Redeemer that man could come into the presence of God. Cain and Abel understood the system of offerings which they were required to carry out. They knew that in presenting these offerings they showed humble and reverential obedience to the will of God, and acknowledge faith in, and dependence upon, the Savior whom these offerings typified.” ST December 16, 1886, par. 3
Monday - April 11
The two offerings
Genesis 4:1-5
Why did God accept Abel’s offering and reject Cain’s offering? How are we to understand what happened here?
In the beginning the Lord created Adam and Eve and placed the holy couple in the garden of God, but our first parents transgressed the counsel of the Most-High, and sin entered the Eden home. In order to preserve His original plan for the human family, He was compelled to remove our parents from their Edenic abode. To them were born sons and daughters; see Genesis 5:4. Their first two sons are brought to our attention by the Scriptures in a contrast that is most striking, and one that should be carefully considered by every professor of religion.
The sacrifice and religious worship of the two first born in the human family, reveals that the Saviour of the world had made known the divine plan of salvation to the family of Adam. Their system of worship being devised by the Creator Himself, was perfect, and able to save the sinner from his sin. Abel’s careful religious observance, according to the instruction of the Diety whom he worshipped, shows that only such worship, honor and praise, can be acceptable to God. Cain was not mindful of the commandment, and thus by presenting that which God had not required went about to establish a religion of his own. As he immediately afterwards slew his brother it should be an object lesson to all: that a worship according to the inclination of men, however good and innocent it may seem, cannot sanctify and save the worshiper. But instead, it takes him deeper into sin, and final ruin. Those who are inclined to persecute the ones who do not worship as they do, are bowing down with Cain at the altar made of bricks. Such altars are the product of man by converting the form of the original; and though more attractive than the altar of stone may seem, there is no sanctifying power in them, and their worship is as deadly as poison. The evidence cannot be denied that both forms of worship (true and false) were introduced at about the same time and ran side by side. Both seem innocent and were conducted about the same way with the distinction that the one is in harmony with God’s book and law, and the other is not.
Tuesday April 12
The Crime
Genesis 4:3-8, 1John 3:12
What is the process that led Cain to kill his brother?
A remarkable fact is the crime committed by Cain in slaying his brother Abel. These being the first two brothers and the first quarrel over religion, also the first murder in the human family, it certainly must hold out a lesson of great importance.
According to the law of the Bible the priesthood was to be made up from the first born of every family. Thus, by the rights of the law, Cain was the priest. The Lord himself stated this fact as He spoke to Cain saying: “And unto thee shall be his desire [margin, subject], and thou shall rule over him.” (Gen. 4:7.) Therefore, these two men represent two classes of people. Since this fact cannot be denied, Cain must represent a class of leadership (priests), and Abel the true church membership. It was Cain who rebelled against God by presenting a false sacrifice, and because Abel obeyed and worshiped in the manner prescribed by the Creator, he incurred the displeasure of his elder brother.
If the statement that Cain and Abel represent two classes of people is correct, then the same must be proven by historical facts. We stated that Cain who typified the leadership persecuted him who typifies the true membership. Thus, every section of God’s church has apostatized through unconsecrated leadership, and every message that called for reformation was likewise, by them, thrown out of the church. In their blindness they were determined to keep the people ignorant of the truth and thus they persecuted the messengers and those who embraced the message and obeyed the truth. Therefore, necessity called forth one movement after another. How fearful the thought for those who bear this great responsibility! And how dangerous to the class who permit others to think and act for them! The class that accepts the decisions of others, whether for or against the truth, are deceived and robbed of eternal life, for they can have no experience of their own, no true conversion, no change of heart. My brethren: these words are not against you, for it is God speaking through His word of truth to save you from the bottomless pit. Will you not let Him work for you and for His people? Will you not be His sheep?
Wednesday April 13
The Punishment of Cain
Genesis 4: 9-16
What is the mark that the Lord set upon Cain?
Cain slew Abel and therefore he deserved to be slain himself. He did not deserve life any longer, but God said that if anybody dare kill Cain sevenfold vengeance would befall him. The Lord put a mark on him for the safety of Cain, and so long as he had the mark no one should dare kill him. What is the mark? -- You may say that the mark is as much as an angel guard present all the time. God set a guarding angel with Cain to protect him from anyone's killing him. Now we come to another marking period, that described in Ezekiel 9.
In this chapter the Lord called the angels who had charge of the city, showing that they had charge of the city perhaps in a way similar to the charge of the angel over Cain. These six angels who have charge of the city are called to come forth and one among them is seen to have a writer's inkhorn. And he is to set a mark on everyone that sighs and cries for the abominations. When the marking is done, then the five other angels which have the slaughter weapons in their hands are to smite everyone who has not the mark. This indicates that the mark in Ezekiel 9 assures safety from the angels' slaughter.
John in Revelation 7, says that he saw 144,000 with the seal of God in their foreheads, and since we understand through Inspiration that this sealing and marking are done to the same people, let us now see what the seal is. To serve as an illustration, let us suppose that this book that I now hold up is an envelope. And let us also suppose that this slip of paper which I have now in my hand is very precious to me and I want to save it from all manner of defacement and destruction. Is it not reasonable that you would expect me to put it into this envelope and seal it well to keep the paper from falling out? Moreover, if you do not want the wrong persons to open your letters you seal them. When God places His seal upon the 144,000, then nobody can hurt them. Do you see then that the winds were held by the angels because the servants of God were not as yet sealed -- under special protection? Unless they were sealed when the winds start to blow, God's people would be left utterly without protection from the danger of the hurting of the winds. Were they sealed, however, before the winds blow, the winds could not harm them.
Let us read--Eph. 1:13, 14 -- "In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory."
The people spoken of here were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the mystery of God is finished, until the sounding of the seventh trumpet. In other words, they did have the promise that they were sealed for the resurrection day. But the 144,000 are not sealed with a promise of the resurrection, they are sealed for some other purpose. They are sealed for protection from the hurting of the winds. That shows that the 144,000 are not sealed for the resurrection day, but for protection from being harmed by everybody and everything. They are alive at the time they are sealed, and the sealing enables them to live on. And since the message that is to seal the 144,000 is here, we believe that we are now living in the period when God is going to seal first the 144,000 and when they are sealed their destination is God, New Jerusalem, not the grave and the resurrection
Thursday - April 14
The Wickedness of Man
Genesis 4:17-24
What was Cain’s legacy, and how did Cain’s crime open the way for the increasing wickedness of humankind?
“In sparing the life of the first murderer, God presented before the whole universe a lesson bearing upon the great controversy. The dark history of Cain and his descendants was an illustration of what would have been the result of permitting the sinner to live on forever, to carry out his rebellion against God. The forbearance of God only rendered the wicked more bold and defiant in their iniquity. Fifteen centuries after the sentence pronounced upon Cain, the universe witnessed the fruition of his influence and example, in the crime and pollution that flooded the earth. It was made manifest that the sentence of death pronounced upon the fallen race for the transgression of God's law was both just and merciful. The longer men lived in sin, the more abandoned they became. The divine sentence cutting short a career of unbridled iniquity, and freeing the world from the influence of those who had become hardened in rebellion, was a blessing rather than a curse.” PP 78.2
“Satan is constantly at work, with intense energy and under a thousand disguises, to misrepresent the character and government of God. With extensive, well-organized plans and marvelous power, he is working to hold the inhabitants of the world under his deceptions. God, the One infinite and all-wise, sees the end from the beginning, and in dealing with evil His plans were far-reaching and comprehensive. It was His purpose, not merely to put down the rebellion, but to demonstrate to all the universe the nature of the rebellion. God's plan was unfolding, showing both His justice and His mercy, and fully vindicating His wisdom and righteousness in His dealings with evil.” PP 78.3
Friday - April 15
Further Study
“The holy inhabitants of other worlds were watching with the deepest interest the events taking place on the earth. In the condition of the world that existed before the Flood they saw illustrated the results of the administration which Lucifer had endeavored to establish in heaven, in rejecting the authority of Christ and casting aside the law of God. In those high-handed sinners of the antediluvian world they saw the subjects over whom Satan held sway. The thoughts of men's hearts were only evil continually. Genesis 6:5. Every emotion, every impulse and imagination, was at war with the divine principles of purity and peace and love. It was an example of the awful depravity resulting from Satan's policy to remove from God's creatures the restraint of His holy law. PP 78.4
“By the facts unfolded in the progress of the great controversy, God will demonstrate the principles of His rules of government, which have been falsified by Satan and by all whom he has deceived. His justice will finally be acknowledged by the whole world, though the acknowledgment will be made too late to save the rebellious. God carries with Him the sympathy and approval of the whole universe as step by step His great plan advances to its complete fulfillment. He will carry it with Him in the final eradication of rebellion. It will be seen that all who have forsaken the divine precepts have placed themselves on the side of Satan, in warfare against Christ. When the prince of this world shall be judged, and all who have united with him shall share his fate, the whole universe as witnesses to the sentence will declare, “Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.” Revelation 15:3.” PP 79.1