Gems worth pondering
March 29
"And He (God) said, what hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. . . . A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. . . . And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord . . . he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son Enoch." (Genesis 4:10,12,16,17)
We have the true history of the world and its practical principles in Cain. He had slain his brother, and was cast out of the presence of God, despairing of grace, and refusing to humble himself. By the judgment of God he was made a vagabond (restless wanderer) on the earth, but such a condition did not suit him. He settled down where God had made him a vagabond, and he called the city after the name of his son, to perpetuate the greatness of his family. That his city should be deprived of all the delights of life would have been unbearable; therefore, he multiplied riches for his son. Then another member of the family invented instruments of music; another was the instructor of aritificers (craftsman, inventor) in brass and iron. The world being cast out of from God, sought to make its position pleasant without God, to content itself at a distance from Him. (The Christian Truth - Vol. 20 - March 1957)
N.J. Hiebert # 3658
March 30
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another."
(John 13:34-35)
THE NEW COMMANDMENT
Christ's aim, on the night of His betrayal, was to introduce a new dynamic conception of love into the hearts of His disciples. Under law the Israelite was to love his neighbour as himself (Leviticus 19:18). Under grace the disciple is to love his neighbour as Christ loved him (John 13:34). And so it comes about, that the matchless affection which the Lord Jesus has for His own, becomes the pattern and foundation, the model and standard, of their love for the brethren (1 John 3:16). By the manifestation of such love they would declare and attest their discipleship (John 13:35). (Henry Durbanville - His Last Words)
N.J. Hiebert # 3659
