Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

done and the falsehood he had spoken to conceal it; but he was still
rebellious, and the consequences were no longer postponed. The
divine voice pronounced the terrible words: "So now you are cursed
from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's
blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer
yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on
the earth."
A merciful Creator still spared Cain's life and granted him
opportunity for repentance. But Cain lived only to harden his heart,
to encourage rebellion against divine authority, and to be the head of
a line of bold sinners. His influence exerted demoralizing power
until the earth became so corrupt and filled with violence that it
needed to be destroyed.
The dark history of Cain and his descendants was an
illustration of what would have been the result of permitting the
sinner to live on forever, to carry out his rebellion against God. The
patience of God only made the wicked more bold and defiant.
Fifteen centuries after the sentence pronounced upon Cain, crime
and pollution flooded the earth. It became clear that the sentence of
death on the fallen race was just and merciful. The longer people
lived in sin, the more degraded and reckless they became.
Satan is constantly at work to misrepresent the character and
government of God and to hold the inhabitants of the world under
his deception. God sees the end from the beginning. His plans were
far-reaching and comprehensive, not merely to put down the
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