EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/17/2025 9:00 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
“Satan’s Children Murder God’s Children”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1 John 3:12, 14
Message of the verses: “12 not as Cain, who
was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him?
Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous…14 We know that
we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who
does not love abides in death.”
I want to continue to talk about Cain as I begin
this SD. It is known that Cain was not a
true worshiper of God as both Cain’s disobedience and the fact that he slew his
brother revealed that he was of the evil one.
Now we want to look at Genesis 4:2b-8 to show us that these verses describe
the shocking story of what became history’s first murder:
And Abel was a keeper of flocks,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time
that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel,
on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat
portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain
and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance
fell. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your
countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be
lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its
desire is for you, but you must master it." 8 Cain told Abel his brother.
And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel
his brother and killed him.
MacArthur
explains “That Cain was of the evil one means he belonged to the kingdom of
darkness, as did the unbelieving Jews who, like Cain, hated true righteousness
and sought to kill Jesus. He said to
them, ‘You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your
father. He was a murder from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him’
(John 8:44a).”
Now the word translated evil one (poneros) denotes determined aggressive,
and fervent evil that actively opposes what is good. Look up the following verses Matt. 4:3-10; 2
Cor. 2:11; 1 Peter 5:8. Now the meaning
of this word extends beyond basic evil or corruption (kakos) to include a type of malignant sinfulness that pulls others
down into ruin, so it just does not ruin one person but then that person helps
to ruin others. (cf. Matt. 13:19,
38-39a; 2 Cor. 4:4).
MacArthur
then explains that “The verb in John’s phrase that Cain slew his brother is a
form of sphazo, which is a vivid term
that means to butcher or slaughter. It
was used of animals killed in sacrifice (cf. Lev. 1:5, LXX) and implies a
violent death. (In the only other
reference to killing prior to Cain’s action, God put to death and animal and
used parts of its skin to cover Adam and Eve [Gen. 3:21].) It is as if Cain, intensely resentful and
jealous became his inferior sacrifice was rejected by God while Abel’s was
accepted, violently slit his brother’s throat, thus defiantly making him his “replacement
sacrifice.’” This is a paragraph that
one needs to reread and think about what it says as there is some awful sinful
behavior found here.
Now
John asks a rhetorical question: And for
what reason did he slay him? This question is easily answered in a general
characterization of Cain: Because his
deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. That is a very simple to a difficult question. Cain was evil and thus he hated righteousness
so greatly that he even killed his own brother, whose righteous deeds had
rebuked him.
MacArthur
writes “Like Cain, the ungodly resent the righteous because, through their
righteous actions, they expose the false beliefs and wicked practices of those
who are evil (cf. Matt. 14:3-5; Acts 6:8-14; 7:51-60).
“On
the other hand, those who have passed out of death into life (cf. John 5:24)
are assured of that reality because they love the brethren (cf. 1 John 4:7,
12). The new birth (John 3:8; Titus 3:5;
1 Peter 1:23), which grants life to the spiritually dead (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal.
6:15; Eph. 4:24), turns hateful and even murderous attitudes into loving ones
(cf. Col. 2:11). John therefore reminded
his readers that anyone who does not so love has received spiritual life but abides
in the condition of spiritual death.”
1/17/2025 9:31 PM
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