A More Excellent Sacrifice

These two brothers, Cain and Abel, represent the whole human family. They were both tested on the point of obedience, and all will be tested as they were. Abel bore the proving of God. He revealed the gold of a righteous character, the principles of true godliness. But Cain’s religion had not a good foundation; it rested on human merit. He brought to God something in which he had a personal interest—the fruits of the ground, which had been cultivated by his toil; and he presented his offering as a favor done to God through which he expected to secure the divine approval. He obeyed in building an altar, obeyed in bringing a sacrifice, but it was only a partial obedience. The essential part, the recognition of the need of a Redeemer, was left out….

Both were sinners, and both acknowledged the claims of God as an object of worship. To all outward appearance, their religion was the same up to a certain point of time; but the Bible history shows us that there was a time when the difference between the two became very great. This difference lay in the obedience of one and the disobedience of the other.

The apostle says that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Abel grasped the great principles of redemption. He saw himself a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, the sacrificed life, thus acknowledging the claims of the law which had been transgressed. Through the shed blood he looked to the future Sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary; and, trusting in the atonement that was there to be made, he had the witness that he was righteous and his offering accepted.

How did Abel know so well the plan of salvation? Adam taught it to his children and grandchildren…. After Adam had sinned, a feeling of terror seized him. A constant dread was upon him; shame and remorse tortured his soul. In this state of mind he wished to be as far removed as possible from the presence of God, whom he had so loved to meet in his Eden home. But the Lord followed this conscience-stricken man, and while He condemned the sin of which Adam had been guilty, gave him words of gracious promise.—Signs of the Times, December 23, 1886.

From the Heart p. 197
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for my sister Janine who is in the hospital with pneumonia. Pam
—-I have an unspoken prayer request. R
—-Jenny needs prayers due to injuring her ribs and knee.
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Dear Friends,

Pictures are so important to me that I have two external hard drives that I update each month. Each photo brings back a memory and makes me feel close to the one pictured. They seem even more important since we lost everything we had in a fire when Ronnie Jay was three months old. My mother had shared with me some old tintypes and some photos of relatives in their Civil War uniforms just a few months before. They could never be replaced. After the fire, my mother and my aunt, shared some more of their photos with me, but I had lost thousands of important photos, so many are nothing more than a dim memory now.

The modern methods of storing data helps us understand the great record keeping system in Heaven (although ours is but a shadow). Think of it! Our Great Creator stores a “picture” of each one of His children. His great system for storing data includes our thoughts, our attitudes, our motives, our words, our actions—everything about us. He assures us, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore.” Matt 10:31,32 He knows us so well, just as if we were the only person in the world. Because He has created us and redeemed us, we are precious to Him. He assures us, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Isa 49:15,16 What matchless love He has for us!

When the judgment is set and the books are opened, all our thoughts and words and actions will be carefully examined. The record of our life will be laid bare for all to see. Truly now we are in that time of investigative judgment. The message of the first angel is “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:” Rev 14:7 We will be judged in accordance to God’s Law, His Word. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Heb 4:12,13

Praise God! “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 2:1,2 He promises, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” Matt 10:32 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” 1 John 4:10 Think of it! We have no merit or goodness of ourselves whereby we may claim salvation, we cannot earn our way to Heaven, but we have the privilege of presenting before God the all-atoning blood of the spotless Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world as our passport to that Heavenly Land. Wondrous though! Truly, Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” John 14:6

Throughout the book of Hebrews, Paul explains this intercessory work. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb 7:25; 2:17,18;8:1,2; 4:14-16

Moreover, there will come a time when that judgment is executed. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Rev 20:12,15 Only those whose names are in the book of life will enter into the Heavenly Kingdom. “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Rev 21:27

May our name be written in the Lamb’s Great Book of Life is my prayer.

Rose