"They confessed that they were STRANGERS and PILGRIM’S on the earth." -- (Hebrews 11:13)

THE RELIGION OF CAIN

Text: Genesis 4:1-17

Man enjoyed uninterrupted communion with God from the time of his creation in Genesis chapter two until the time of his rebellion in Genesis chapter three. The heart of man the creature reveled in God his Creator. We are not told how long a period elapsed between his creation and fall. Some Hebrew scholars believe the period was as long as a week, while others believe man fell before midnight the day he was created. When once he sinned, however, he was cut off from God. He died

spiritually immediately. To this day man is left by nature without remedy, without help, without hope.

"But God Who is rich in mercy" intervened. There in the Garden He promises that through the woman who had been his temptress would come a seed --a child, who would destroy the serpent forever, but that this Redeemer must Himself be bruised for man the creature’s sin. Blood would have to be shed because it was necessary life should go for life: that without shedding of blood there would be no remission of sins --no exception. The condition of man was otherwise unalterable.

So God instituted the sacrificial system by which a man could express his faith in the promise of God in a coming Redeemer. There in the Garden God took the first lives for the first sacrifice. Not satisfied with aprons to cover the Nakedness --the shame of our first parents, God took the skins of the animal sacrifice and made them "coats." Hebrew tradition states these victims were rams. But the blood and not the skin is the valuable part of an animal "for the life of the flesh is in the blood."

What joy must have filled Eve’s heart as she cried, I have acquired a man from the Lord." Without a doubt she believed God had provided the Savior He promised; and she called his name "Cain." But she "again bare" or "vattoseph laledeth" --she "added to bring forth"

Abel his brother. From the Hebrew text it appears quite reasonable that Cain and Abel were twins.

"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." From antiquity, worship consisted of a "minchah" or thank-offering (thanksgiving) and a blood sacrifice. The blood attested to the faith of the offerer in the promise of God to send a Saviour, while it attested to the Justice and Holiness of God.

Adam was a gardener, Cain was an agriculturalist -- "a tiller of the ground," and Abel was a shepherd, while Eve was the "mother of all living." Note: Prostitution is not the oldest profession.

While Cain offered unto God an offering of the "fruit of the ground", God had no respect for Cain or his offering. Cain brought a thank offering, but where was the blood God had instructed to be brought?

"Abel, he also brought" a thank offering, but by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." The sacrifice of Abel was more excellent: it came from the flock; and on account of his obedience in bringing a blood sacrifice, Abel’s thank offering was accepted, and God attested to his righteousness. Hence, he is known as "righteous Abel." Abel brought "a greater sacrifice" than Cain, for God testified of his gifts --he brought more than one.

God had no respect for Cain and his offering, and as a result, Cain was filled with anger. The very idea his brother would be accepted and he would not be accepted caused him to rage. But God said, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" If we come obediently as God has directed us, will God refuse us? "He that cometh to God must believe that He is AND that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him --but without faith it is impossible to please Him."

Cain rose up and the Hebrew implies he lured Abel away to the field where he murdered him. Adam Clarke is of the opinion that the Greek text in I John 3:10-12 describes how Cain cut the throat of his brother. The apostle John tells us why Cain thus killed his brother:

"because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous." Thus the first man to die was murdered -- a victim of religious bigotry and persecution –a man who suffered violence on account of his righteousness.

Cain’s religion was founded in the belief that he could come to God in his own way. He was sure it would be unreasonable for God to reject the best he could do. He thought it certain that God would accept the labors of his hands. He would come to God in his own way, in his own time. And such people today are no more acceptable to God than was Cain.

God has appointed blood as the only way by which a man can be reconciled, and communion with Him restored. No one can come to God on his own terms. So today, man must have a blood sacrifice to be acceptable to God. For this reason, the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured by the apostle John in his first epistle as a Lamb newly slain --with fresh, bleeding wounds.

Reader, do you have a blood sacrifice to plead? You have no respect with God unless you bring His bloody Christ with you.

Not all the blood of beasts

On Jewish altars slain

Could give the guilty conscience peace

Or wash away the stain.

But Christ the Heavenly Lamb

Takes all our guilt away

A sacrifice of nobler name

And richer blood than they.

-Isaac Watts

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PROSTITUTE LABORERS

People, who labor for no higher motive than salary, who sell their labor and loyalty to the highest bidder, regardless of what that work entails, are prostitutes. Such people cannot be trusted. It is said "Money is the name of the game," but it is one game at which an honorable man cannot play for to play this game one cannot remain honorable.

When Michelangelo was commissioned to undertake the work at St. Peter’s, he agreed on condition he receive no salary. He asked to labor, "for the love of God alone."

The slogan, "You have to look out for number one" is the slogan of the barbarian. Sir Humphrey Davy invented the "safety lamp" for coal miners working in flammable gas, He could have been guaranteed five to ten thousand pounds a year, but he said "My sole object was to serve the cause of humanity. I have enough ...More wealth might distract my attention from my favorite pursuits."

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THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE LAST TWELVE VERSES

OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK -- IV

demonstrated by the evidence of the ancient manuscripts

In very early times it was the practice to mark the portions of the Gospels appointed to be read in public worship. It is evident that before the Council of Nicea copies of the Gospels thus marked and including the disputed verses were in use throughout the Christian world and that these twelve verses were appointed to be read on "Easter day" and "Ascension day." Many copies were written specially for public reading and other ordinary copies had a note added in the margin before and after each reading.

e.g. In some ancient copies of Luke there is a note in the margin instructing the public reader to omit verses 43,44 of chapter 22 when reading the lesson for the Tuesday after "sexagesima" because these verses were read after Matthew 26:39 as part of the lesson for the

Thursday before "Easter." As a result these verses of Luke 22 are omitted from some copies. In many ancient copies marked for public reading the Greek word for "beginning" (arche) appears in shortened form in the margin or in the text in red ink where the lesson starts, and "telos" (end) in red at the end of the lesson, e.g. In Mark 14:41 we read "...it is enough, the hour is come...". Codex D of the 4th century and several others read " ...it is enough, the end and the hour is come... ". The marginal note "telos" "the end" indicated that the lesson to be read should end after verse 42, but the copyist put the note into the text of Verse 41 and set an example which others followed.

It is probable that an early copy of Mark included the whole of chapter 16 with a marginal note after verse 8 to indicate that the lesson for the second Sunday after Easter should end there. A copyist later misinterpreted the marginal note as meaning that the whole Gospel

ended at verse 8 and that the remaining words were not part of the Gospel. This mistake was repeated in a number of copies of which the defective manuscripts already referred to are specimens.

In Codex 24 there are very few such notes, but clearly written after verse 8 we find "telos" and again after verse 20 "telos."

The comment of Eusebius merely signified that some copies lacked verses 9-20, that most copies had "telos" "the end" after verse 8 (as well as verse 20), and that some people were ready to solve the problem of the apparent discrepancies between Mark and the other evangelists by rejecting the "lection" in which the disputed verses are found. Eusebius probably borrowed this suggestion from the earlier writings of Origin who was apparently familiar with defective manuscripts like the Vatican and Sinai copies.

Some ancient copies of the four-fold Gospel have the Gospels in the order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark. This is found in the Codex Bezae (D) and several others. If at any time such a copy had Mark 16:8 at the foot of the last page but one, and the remaining verses on the last page, this portion would have been the most exposed to damage and loss. If "telos" were written after verse 8 in such a copy a later copyist would conclude that he had the whole Gospel before him and would leave the new copy without its proper ending.

1.) Although many 19th and 20th scholars reject these verses we are more concerned to know what readers found in their New Testaments in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, and there is overwhelming evidence that the verses were included in most ancient copies.

2.) The two most ancient copies now surviving are not trustworthy representatives of the text of Holy Scripture used in the earliest times, and in this passage they exhibit a mutilated text.

3.) The majority of ancient copies, the majority of ancient writers and the majority of ancient translations all testify to the genuineness of these verses.

4.) The argument from style and vocabulary, far from leading to the rejection of these verses, actually confirm their genuineness.

5.) There are simple and obvious explanations for the absence of these verses from some ancient copies --

These disputed verses are part of the inspired and Holy Word of God and should be received with reverence by the whole Church of God.

In their determination to uphold the superiority of the Vatican and Sinai copies, Biblical scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries have elevated these documents to a throne of supreme authority, with the result that these last twelve verses are retained in the modern versions only as a late and spurious addition to the original text.

We stand on infinitely firmer ground when we insist that the whole of Mark’s Gospel from the first verse of the first chapter to the end of verse 20 of the 16^th chapter was given by inspiration of God and is to be respected as an integral part of the Divine revelation.

(Reprinted with permission from The Trinitarian Bible Society, 217 Kingston Road, London SW 19 3NN England)

YOU DO WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO

YOU say you love the Lord, and you want to do His will,

But I am made to wonder if your testimony’s real.

You claim the Devil really tries to hinder you,

But most of the time you do what you really want to do.

You were not in church last Sunday;

You had a headache you could hardly stand,

But you went to work in time on Monday,

You did not have to change a single plan.

If God should really make you as sick as you pretend,

After only once that foolishness would end.

So why blame a headache and make an excuse,

Just confess you did what you wanted to do.

The week went by and somehow you never

Found the time to study God’s Word.

You wanted to, but always something happened --

Now think about it, isn’t that absurd?

You never missed a single copy of the daily paper,

Read the funnies, and the sports; magazines and letters.

So don’t say you couldn’t study as you wanted to --

Just confess that you did what you wanted to do.

Yesterday passed by in such a hurry

You never found the time to pray a single bit;

But somehow in your busy schedule,

You found some time in front of your TV to sit.

You say you only watch the news just to be informed,

But why for several hours does that picture tube stay warm?

Don’t say there’s no time to pray as you used to,

Just confess that you did what you wanted to do.

When the offering plate came to you

You shook your head and passed it on by.

It seems that you cannot give a dollar,

The cost of living is so awfully high.

If God should really make you as poor as you pretend,

You couldn’t buy those cigarettes and chewing gum, my friend.

So why use the high cost of living as excuse,

Just confess that you did what you wanted to do.

So you say you love the Lord, and you want to do His will,

But I am made to wonder if your testimony’s real.

You claim the Devil really tries to hinder you,

But most of the time you do what you really want to do.

-Evangelist Harold Leake

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