THE LAUGHTER OF EARTH AND HEAVEN (16 OF 17)
Scripture: GENESIS 18:13
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The Laughter of Earth and Heaven (16 of 17)
Series:Strange Texts but Grand Truths
Clarence E. Macartney
Genesis 18:13
Why did Sarah laugh? Laughter is one of God's greatest gifts to man. At least two great gifts of God to man have survived the wreck and ruin of the fall: laughter, which for the moment, at least, causes man to forget his sorrow and his care; and beautiful, incomparable, invincible hope, which paints with the iridescent colors of the rainbow the horizon of man's ofttimes stormy and clouded life. We all like to hear a man laugh, and we all enjoy a good laugh ourselves. As the wise man said in the book of Proverbs, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."
There are many kinds of laughter. There is the innocent laughter at the ridiculous and absurd, the scornful laughter, a secret laughter as when one "laughs up his sleeve"; the laughter of delirium, the laughter of the maniac, the laughter at the obscene and vile. Whether laughter is good for the soul or not depends upon the kind of laughter. The Bible describes at least four different kinds of laughter: the laughter of incredulity and unbelief, the laughter of the fool, God's laughter, and the laughter of heaven.
The Laughter of Incredulity and Unbelief
It was the early afternoon, and at the encampment of Abraham at Hebron, as was-and still is-the custom in those countries, all life was at a standstill. Ishmael, the child of Hagar, was asleep. The sheep and the goats were huddled together under the oaks at Mamre. Abraham was sitting in the shadows before his black tent. Suddenly, although he had been looking along the road that led to Hebron from the north and had seen no travelers, he was aware of the presence of three men. There was something very mysterious about the presence of those three men. Christian thought and worship have often seen in their visit to the tent of Abraham an early manifestation of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. There w ...
Series:Strange Texts but Grand Truths
Clarence E. Macartney
Genesis 18:13
Why did Sarah laugh? Laughter is one of God's greatest gifts to man. At least two great gifts of God to man have survived the wreck and ruin of the fall: laughter, which for the moment, at least, causes man to forget his sorrow and his care; and beautiful, incomparable, invincible hope, which paints with the iridescent colors of the rainbow the horizon of man's ofttimes stormy and clouded life. We all like to hear a man laugh, and we all enjoy a good laugh ourselves. As the wise man said in the book of Proverbs, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."
There are many kinds of laughter. There is the innocent laughter at the ridiculous and absurd, the scornful laughter, a secret laughter as when one "laughs up his sleeve"; the laughter of delirium, the laughter of the maniac, the laughter at the obscene and vile. Whether laughter is good for the soul or not depends upon the kind of laughter. The Bible describes at least four different kinds of laughter: the laughter of incredulity and unbelief, the laughter of the fool, God's laughter, and the laughter of heaven.
The Laughter of Incredulity and Unbelief
It was the early afternoon, and at the encampment of Abraham at Hebron, as was-and still is-the custom in those countries, all life was at a standstill. Ishmael, the child of Hagar, was asleep. The sheep and the goats were huddled together under the oaks at Mamre. Abraham was sitting in the shadows before his black tent. Suddenly, although he had been looking along the road that led to Hebron from the north and had seen no travelers, he was aware of the presence of three men. There was something very mysterious about the presence of those three men. Christian thought and worship have often seen in their visit to the tent of Abraham an early manifestation of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. There w ...
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