Conflict & Courage

And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Genesis 4:21, 22.  {CC 34.1}        There perished in the Flood greater inventions of art and human skill than the world knows of today. The arts destroyed were more than the boasted arts of today. . . .  {CC 34.2}  ...

There were giants in the earth in those days. Genesis 6:4.  {CC 33.1}        The first people upon the earth received their instructions from that infinite God who created the world. Those who received their knowledge direct from infinite wisdom were not deficient in knowledge. . . .  {CC 33.2}        There are many inventions and improvements, and labor-saving machines now that the ancients did n...

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. . . . They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. Psalm 115:4-8.  {CC 32.1}       In the days of Noah a double curse was resting upon the earth in consequence of Adam's transgression and of the murder committed by Cain. Yet this had not greatly changed the face of nature. . . . The human race yet retained...

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Hebrews 11:5.  {CC 31.1}        When we learn to walk by faith and not by feeling, we shall have help from God just when we need it, and His peace will come into our hearts. It was this simple life of obedience and tru...

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18.  {CC 30.1}        In the midst of a life of active labor, Enoch steadfastly maintained his communion with God. The greater and more pressing his labors, the more constant and earnest were his prayers. He continued to e...

Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:24.  {CC 29.1}        Enoch, we read, walked with God three hundred years. That was a long time to be in communion with Him. . . . He communed with God because it was agreeable to him, . . . and he loved the society of God.  {CC 29.2}        Enoch was a marked character. Many look upon his life as something above what the generalit...

Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years. Genesis 5:21, 22.  {CC 28.1}        Of Enoch it is written that he lived sixty-five years, and begat a son. . . . During these earlier years Enoch had loved and feared God and had kept His commandments. . . . But after the birth of his first son, Enoch reached a higher e...

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Genesis 4:16.  {CC 27.1}        God had given Cain an opportunity to confess his sin. . . . He knew the enormity of the deed he had done, and of the falsehood he had uttered to conceal it; but he was rebellious still, and sentence was no longer deferred. . . .  {CC 27.2}        Notwithstanding that Cain had by his crimes merited the sentence of deat...

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Genesis 4:6, 7.  {CC 26.1}       The Lord saw the wrath of Cain. He saw the falling of his countenance. Thus is revealed how closely the Lord marks every action, all the intents and purposes, yes, even the expression...

And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Genesis 4:4, 5.  {CC 25.1}        Cain came before God with murmuring and infidelity in his heart in regard to the promised sacrifice and the necessity of the sacrificial offerings. His gift expressed no penitence for sin. He felt, as many...

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: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Hebrews 11:4.  {CC 24.1}        Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, differed widely in character. Abel had a spirit of loyalty to God; he saw justice and mercy in the Creator's dealings with the fallen race, and gra...

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 1 Corinthians 15:22, 23.  {CC 23.1}        Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints. . . . The dead shall hear that voice, and the...

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. Genesis 5:5.  {CC 22.1}        Adam's life was one of sorrow, humility, and continual repentance. As he taught his children and grandchildren the fear of the Lord, he was often bitterly reproached for the sin which had resulted in so much misery to his posterity. When he left beautiful Eden, the thought that he must...

God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. Ecclesiastes 7:29. The book of Genesis gives quite a definite account of social and individual life, and yet we have no record of an infant's being born blind, deaf, crippled, deformed, or imbecile. There is not an instance upon record of a natural death in infancy, childhood, or early manhood. There is no account of men and wome...

Between God and Man      Wherefore 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. Hebrews 7:25.  {CC 20.1}        The Lord did not place in Adam fallen and disobedient, the confidence He placed in Adam loyal and true. . . . The rewards of heaven are not granted to transgressors. . . .  {CC 20.2}        The eyes of Adam...

Genesis 3:14-17 But  ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the  air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach  thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth  not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? Job 12:7-9. Although  the earth was blighted with the curse, nature was still to be man's  lesson book....

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; . . . and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, . . . cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Genesis 3:16, 17.  {CC 18.1}        Eve was told of the sorrow and pain that must henceforth be her portion. . . . In the cre...

     And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. Ecclesiastes 1:17.  {CC 17.1}        Adam and Eve both ate of the fruit, and obtained a knowledge which, had they obeyed God, they would never have had, --an experience in disobedience and disloyalty to God,--the knowledge that they were naked. The garment of innocence, a covering from God, which surrounded them, departed; and...

She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:6.  {CC 16.1}        Having herself transgressed, she [Eve] became the agent of Satan working the ruin of her husband. In a state of strange, unnatural excitement, with her hands filled with the forbidden fruit, she sought his presence, and related all that had occurred.  {CC 16.2}       ...

And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:1.  {CC 15.1}        To man, the crowning work of creation, God has given power to understand His requirements, to comprehend the justice and beneficence of His law, and its sacred claims upon him; and of man unswerving obedience is required.  {CC 15.2}        Like the angels, the dwellers in Ed...

 It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18.  {CC 14.1}        After the creation of Adam every living creature was brought before him to receive its name; he saw that to each had been given a companion, but among them "there was not found an help meet for him." Among all the creatures that God had made on the earth, there was not one equal to m...

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:17.  {CC 13.1}        Our first parents, though created innocent and holy, were not placed beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. . . . They were to enjoy communion with God and with holy angels; but before they could be rendered eternally secure, the...

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2:15.  {CC 12.1}        Although everything God had made was in the perfection of beauty, and there seemed nothing wanting upon the earth which God had created to make Adam and Eve happy, yet He manifested His great love to them by planting a garden especially for them. A portion of their time wa...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27.  {CC 11.1}        After the earth with its teeming animal and vegetable life had been called into existence, man, the crowning work of the Creator, and the one for whom the beautiful earth had been fitted up, was brought upon the stage of action. To him was given dominion over al...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27.  {CC 11.1}        After the earth with its teeming animal and vegetable life had been called into existence, man, the crowning work of the Creator, and the one for whom the beautiful earth had been fitted up, was brought upon the stage of action. To him was given dominion over al...