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Desponding soul, take courage, even though you have done wickedly. Do not think that perhaps God will pardon your transgressions and permit you to come into His presence. God has made the first advance. While you were in rebellion against Him, He went forth to seek you. With the tender heart of the shepherd He left the ninety and nine and went out into the wilderness to find that which was lost. The soul, bruised and wounded and ready to perish, He encircles in His arms of love and joyfully bears it to the fold of safety. {COL 188.3} |
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When Cain saw that his offering was rejected, he was angry with the Lord and with Abel; he was angry that God did not accept man's substitute in place of the sacrifice divinely ordained, and angry with his brother for choosing to obey God instead of joining in rebellion against Him. Notwithstanding Cain's disregard of the divine command, God did not leave him to himself; but He condescended to reason with the man who had shown himself so unreasonable. And the Lord said unto Cain, "Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?" Through an angel messenger the divine warning was conveyed: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." The choice lay with Cain himself. If he would trust to the merits of the promised Saviour, and would obey God's requirements, he would enjoy His favor. But should he persist in unbelief and transgression, he would have no ground for complaint because he was rejected by the Lord. {PP 72.3} |
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Other false prophets arose to sow confusion among the people by turning them away from obeying the divine commands given through Jeremiah, but God's judgments were pronounced against them in consequence of their grievous sin of bringing rebellion against Him. {4T 173.3} |
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What does the Lord require of us?-- The observance of his Sabbath, "as a perpetual covenant." God wishes every family to bear this sign. Thus we may show that we are loyal and true to his commandments. Look at our world, full of disrespect for God, in open rebellion against him who in a moment could destroy every soul that breathes the breath of life. What has made the world so full of violence? -- A disregard of God's law. This was what filled the earth with rebellion and corruption in the days before the flood. See the regard shown today for the spurious sabbath. And those who make laws to guard this false rest day make laws also which legalize the liquor traffic, a curse that is brutalizing the beings made in the image of God, by taking away their reason. Knowing full well the sure result, man takes the wages of his fellow man, giving him in return poison that destroys his reason, and sends him from the saloon full of false ideas. He has sold his reason for liquor, and is led into all kinds of violence. Satan presents before his mind things that, though unreal, seem real to him. He is filled with a determination to kill the one who, he supposes, stands in his way. Terrible crime, and sometimes murder, is the result. Yet notwithstanding its fearful effects, the liquor curse is protected by law. {RH, April 17, 1900 par. 9} |
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"It is time for thee, Lord, to work," David said; "for they have made void thy law." David lived many hundreds of years ago, and he thought then that the time had come for God to interfere to vindicate his honor and repress the swelling unrighteousness. Today men have almost filled the cup of their iniquity. But the Lord does not execute the death penalty on the transgressors of his law until they have heard the warning, and have been given an opportunity to see the result of rebellion against him. How wonderful is his forbearance and patience! He is putting a constraint on his own attributes. Omnipotence is exerted over Omnipotence. {RH, December 15, 1904 par. 4} |
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Every excuse which men offer for neglecting to obey God's requirements in regard to the use of their property, is an evidence of rebellion against him. The plea of the unprofitable servant is man's plea today, that the Lord has no right to require his servants to employ their time and ability in making money for him. But God requires of none of us that which it is not for our best interest to do. Many would be loth to put into words the reason they secretly cherish to vindicate themselves and silence their own conscience; but they are no less bringing upon themselves the denunciation pronounced upon the unprofitable servant. "Take the talent from him," will be heard by many unwilling ears. {ST, January 14, 1886 par. 12} |
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The dwellers on the plain of Shinar disbelieved God's covenant that he would not again bring a flood upon the earth. Many of them denied the existence of God, and attributed the flood to the operation of natural causes. Others believed in a supreme being, and that it was he who had destroyed the antediluvian world; and their hearts, like that of Cain, rose up in rebellion against him. One object before them in the erection of the tower of Babel was to secure their own safety in case of another deluge. By carrying the structure to a much greater height than was reached by the waters of the flood, they thought to place themselves beyond all possibility of danger. And as they would be able to ascend to the region of the clouds, they hoped to ascertain the cause of the flood. The whole undertaking was designed to exalt still further the pride of its projectors, and to turn the minds of future generations away from God, and lead them into idolatry. -- "Patriarchs and Prophets," p. 119. - {CE 208.2}
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