A
reminder of the Priest, the Levite, their Neighbor and the Good
Samaritan
Today,
reply is on grace, love, and divine mercy that operate with
righteousness as a restraint to divine wrath against sin during final
judgment. One of the fighters in the “Yahoo! Answers” public
forum on Religion and Spirituality who uses the ID “Anonymous”
(no profile information shared) posted the following:
Why
didn't God smite Cain for killing Abel?
THE
GOLDEN ARROW: Grace be to you and peace from God our Father,
and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. (2nd Corinthians 1: 2-4, King
James Version, KJV)
THE
DOUBLE DAGGER: Satisfying Creation and Law (01/22/2019); Judgment
Perfects Divine Revelation (12/18/2018); The Priesthood of Adam
(11/02/2018); GOD's Will Be Done (04/27/2018); Being A Good Samaritan
(02/18/2018); In Spirit and Truth? (10/02/2017); Punishment To Show
Love? (11/29/2015); Cain and Genealogy? (11/27/2015)
“Anonymous”,
in the same way, GOD did not smite the parents of Abel and Cain,
divinity did not smite their offspring. Throughout the holy
writings, the Creator who Christian believers worship has revealed
and shown himself also to be a GOD who determines quality, substance,
and value for all that exists (we say, renders judgment deciding the
duration and eternal life imparted to created beings and
living creatures). In addition to forgiveness, impartiality and
righteousness that ensure balance against the condemnation and
harshness that may appear through correction and punishment, mercy is
to be understood as one of the most important aspects of divine
substance that will appear and soften judgment. The divine sentence
against transgression (we say, sin) was pronounced to be death long
before disobedience appeared. Sin opposes the continued existence of
divine law, and promotes destruction along with the conditions of
chaos, confusion, destruction and uninterrupted streaming that were
in place before the establishment of heaven and earth (we say,
preexistence). Both Adam and the devil using the form of a serpent
(yet, like the holy angels,
continuing as neither mortal nor immortal)
became subject to the sanctions within the divine law.
Despite mankind’s fall, the
Creation as an expression of divine fullness (we also say, divinity;
the Godhead; the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit), eternal purpose,
and the sovereign will of GOD has not altered nor changed. Divinity
employs atonement, correction, generational curses, mercy, rebirth,
and a host of other devices to ensure that sin does not make death
permanent for those who genuinely repent, and who receive fresh
endowments of spirit substance from the exalted character and makeup
of GOD. Consider again the following that uses language from the
Bible:
1.
Genesis 3: 13-19, King James Version (KJV): 13 And the LORD
God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast
done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because
thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and
above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and
dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And
unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy
wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
2.
Genesis 4: 9-15, KJV: 9 And the LORD said unto
Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not:
Am I my brother’s keeper? 10
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s
blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11 And now art thou
cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy
brother’s blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto
thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the
earth. 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My
punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, thou hast
driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face
shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the
earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth
me shall slay me. 15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever
slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD
set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
3.
Hosea 6: 1-7, KJV: 1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD:
for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will
bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he
will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we
know, if we follow on to know the LORD:
his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us
as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 4
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the
early dew it goeth away. 5 Therefore have I hewed them by the
prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy
judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6 For I
desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than
burnt offerings. 7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant:
there have they dealt treacherously against me.
There
is far more that should be said, correctly examined, and spiritually
apprehended. (For example, 4. Ezekiel 18: 19-23, KJV: 19 Yet say
ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the
son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept
all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. 20 The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son:
the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. 21 But if the wicked
will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my
statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely
live, he shall not die. 22 All his transgressions that he hath
committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his
righteousness that he hath done he shall live. 23 Have I any
pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD:
and not that he should return from his ways, and live?) Even
so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according
to your faith.
Washington,
DC
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