The Stranger Within Thy Gates. Part [3] 07/31/2025 (Morning thought)

Leviticus 19: 9 And when you reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.

The Lord caused instructions to be written in His word, for the treatment of strangers, foreigners and those persons who had come to live within the borders of the Hebrews. The instructions were not meant for the Hebrews only, for they represent a gold standard for all to follow…. Exodus 12:49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you.

Exodus 23:9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for you know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt…. Leviticus 19: 33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, you shall not vex him. 34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

In other words, deliberate provision was to be made for the stranger, from the bounties God had blessed His people with. That same counsel is still alive, and well today, for whenever the Christian gets paid, he should not only think of returning tithes alone, with the rest of his salary being entirely devoted to bills. The Christian should set aside something from his or her paycheck for the less fortunate the poor and the stranger. It’s not a mere suggestion; it’s a moral duty enjoined upon all who name the name of Christ.

Deuteronomy 15:11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!

The Stranger Within Thy Gates. Part [2] 07/31/2025 (Evening thought)

Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Again, during the times of the Antediluvians, God provided food and drink for the rebellious, up until the very day of the flood, for as was stated before, there are some basic fundamental mercies that God dispenses to all of humanity, including the stranger within thy gates. This will also be manifested when the seven plagues of Revelation 16 are being poured out. They will not be universal in nature, for then all the inhabitants of earth would be destroyed.

[The Great Controversy pp 628] These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off…. Just because Cain turned his back on God, it did not mean that he and his offspring would be deprived of the essentials for daily living. Yes, it is true that the natural consequences of his choices and actions will produce a natural curse as time went by, but Cain would have access to food and drink.

God does not starve sinners into submission as the devil would attempt to do in Revelation, chapter 13. Instead, The Lord gives to persons a lot of grace and mercy, even where sin abounds. Thus, God sets the gold standard for the treatment of the strangers within our gates, and it is of critical importance for us Christians to reflect the goodness and character of God, for His character is magnified or reproached by what the professed Christian does or does not do.

Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Savior. 12 I have declared, I have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore, you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.

May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!