heaven,” which will be fought between “Michael and his angels” and “ the dragon . . . and his an gels” ; and Michael will prevail. No longer will Satan have access to the presence of God as “ the accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:10). No longer will he accuse us to the Father. He will be cast down to the earth, “ having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Rev. 12:12). That day is yet future. It will come to pass after the church has been translated, and before the return of Christ with the church to establish His kingdom on earth. Today Satan is still “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2 :2 ). Even as he went into the presence of God, falsely to accuse Job (Job 1:6-12); 2:1-7), so also he is still “ the accuser of our brethren.” Paul suggests to us something of the supernatural power o f the enemy of our souls when, in Eph. 6:12, he writes: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness o f this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It behooves us to “ put on the whole armour o f God,” that we “may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). It behooves us to “ resist the devil, and he will flee” from us (James 4 :7 ). Yet “ these filthy dreamers,” of whom Jude writes, scoff at the Bible teaching concerning a personal devil and a literal hell. They “ speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them!” (Jude 10, 11). “ T he W ay of C ain ” — A F alse R eligion , (Jude 11). “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain.” Again Jude takes three illus trations from the Old Testament to show that God’s attitude toward apostates never changes. “ The way of Cain” illustrates a false religion; “ the error of Balaam,” a false ministry; “ the gainsay ing of Core,” a false worship. Let us examine these forms of apostasy, for they tell the whole story of rebellion against God. “The way of Cain” is the way of all false re ligions which deny the efficacy of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse from sin. And it takes us back to the dawn of the history o f the human race. In fact, Cain and Abel are the religious leaders of all mankind. And you and I today are walking either in the way of Abel or in the way of Cain. Both were sons of Adam, who had lost for him
self and all his descendants his standing before God, his innocence, and his God-likeness. Then Jehovah showed him and his sons that only on the ground of sacrifice could fellowship with Himself be restored. Therefore, it was “by faith” that “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his g ifts : and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4). The ani mal sacrifice pointed on to the Lamb o f Calvary; whereas, Cain brought the fruit o f his own labors, a type of man’s self-righteousness, which is ever in God’s sight “ as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). Abel came God’s way. He showed by his act that he recognized in himself a helpless sinner needing a Saviour. And every sinner saved by grace, from the time of Adam, has put his faith in “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and . . . the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:24). Abel’s sacrifice was but a shadow of the death of our Lord and Saviour, who was our perfect Substitute on Cal vary. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” of sin (Heb. 9:22). “ The way of Cain” is not the way o f the infidel, my friend. He believed in God. He even professed to worship God. So do thousands of apostates today. That is why their teaching is so subtle and so dan gerous. They deceive the unwary, who think it is enough to be sincere, to talk about God and the Bible and prayer. But Cain is a picture o f the nat ural man, the unregenerate man, the eternally lost man, who refuses to go God’s way. His false re ligion looks more beautiful to the natural eye than the way of the bloody sacrifice, but it cannot save the soul. “ Cain went out from the presence of the Lord” (Gen. 4:16). Likewise, all who reject Calvary’s Lamb will one day hear Him saying unto them: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). Cain was a wanderer upon the face of the earth; so also will all apostates ever be as “wander ing stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13). Are you walking in “ the way o f Cain,” my friend ? Then “woe unto you,” unless you turn your steps toward Calvary. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1 :29). He alone can save you from eternal doom. (concluded next month)
God will never spare apostates~men or angels-who deliberately
turn their backs upon the Light of the world .
is
THE K IN G 'S BUSINESS
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