Cain and Abel

    “The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.”

    Though there were no children born to Adam and Eve before the fall, there were many born to them after the fall (Gen. 5:4-5). Adam lived for 930 years! In all likelihood, before he died Adam had thousands of descendants, including sons and daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. Cain was his firstborn son; but how many sons and daughters Adam and Eve had between Cain and Abel we do not know.

    Verse 1 -- "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD." When Cain was born, Eve thought that he was the promised Messiah, Redeemer and Savior. She cried, “I have gotten a man from the Lord!” Those words might imply that she had already had many daughters; but now she had gotten a man.

    Verse 2 -- "And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." God the Holy Spirit has singled out these two sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, to teach us by example the blessed gospel doctrine of redemption by blood (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22), and to condemn the doctrine of salvation by works. The way of Abel is the way of grace. The way of Cain is the way of works.

    This is the line that divides the whole human race. It divides husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters. It probably divides your family, as it does mine. All who attempt to come to God must choose either the way of Cain or the way of Abel, the way of works or the way of grace. The two cannot be mixed, or intermingled, at any point, to any degree (Rom. 11:6; Gal. 5:2, 4).

    Verse 3-5 -- "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." Cain and Abel were not young boys. They were grown men. Evidently, they were heads of households, with wives and children and occupations. Cain was a farmer. Abel was a shepherd.

    In Genesis 3 we saw the entrance of sin into the world. Here we see the progress of sin and the fruit of sin. In Genesis 3 we saw sin against God. Here it is against man - The man who has no fear of God has no regard for his neighbor - In Genesis 3 we read about enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the sons of God and the children of the devil. Here we see that enmity displayed. Cain, the wicked works-monger, persecuted and murdered Abel, the child of God. However, the central, primary thing revealed in this chapter is that God is to be worshipped, and that he can only be worshipped by faith in a blood sacrifice.

    There was a prescribed place where God was to be worshipped. We are told that both Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to the Lord, to the place of the Lord’s presence. We are not told where this prescribed place of worship was; but it was somewhere east of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24).

    The Jamieson, .Fausset, and Brown Commentary translates Genesis 3:24, “So he drove out the man; and he dwelt at the east of the Garden of Eden between the Cherubims, as a Shekinah (a fire-tongue, or fire-sword) to keep open the way to the tree of life.” That translation is, in my opinion, very accurate. My reasons for saying so are…

    1.The word “placed” in this verse is never translated “placed” anywhere else in the Old Testament. It means “to tabernacle,” or “to dwell.” Eighty-three times in the Old Testament it is translated “dwell.”

    2.The Lord God is always portrayed as the One who dwells upon the mercy-seat, between the cherubims (Ex. 25:17-18, 22; 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron. 13:6; Psa. 80:1; 99:1; Isa. 6:1-6; 37:16; Ezek. 10:2, 6, 7).

    3.Our great God, the God of all grace, “who delighteth in mercy,” has kept open for sinners the way to the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). He kept the way open from eternity by our covenant Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). He kept the way open under the types and ceremonies of the law, all of which pointed to him by whom the way of access to God would be opened and maintained (Heb. 10:1-22).

    When the Lord God expelled Adam from the Garden, he appears to have established an altar, a mercy-seat, protected by the Cherubims. The flaming sword, or, as it might be rendered, the flaming tongue, represented God’s presence, the Shekinah glory. Anyone who approached God must worship him at this place by means of a blood sacrifice. There was a prescribed place of worship.

    I know that there are no holy places upon this earth. We are not idolaters. “God is Spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.” True worship is spiritual. It is a matter of the heart (Phil. 3:3). We have no material altar. Christ is our Altar (Heb. 13:10). We have no literal mercy-seat. Christ is our Mercy-Seat (1 John 4:10). Yet, God has always had a prescribed place of worship. --A place where men and women gather in his name. --A place where he gives out his Word. --A place where he meets sinners upon the grounds of mercy through blood atonement. --A place where he dispenses his grace.

    During the forty years Israel spent in the wilderness, the prescribed place of divine worship was the tabernacle. Later, the temple of God was established at Jerusalem. In this gospel age, the place appointed for divine worship is the local church, the public assembly of his saints (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 3:16-17). This is the prescribed place of the divine presence, divine instruction, and divine blessing (Psa. 122:1-9; 133:1-3; Heb. 10:23-26).

    It also appears that there was a prescribed time for the worship of God. Look at the marginal translation of verse three. The words, “in the process of time,” are translated, “at the end of days.” Though there was no appointed sabbath, it appears that at the end of every week men and women came to the altar at the east of Eden to worship God.

    In this gospel age we do not keep a literal sabbath day. The Holy Spirit expressly forbids any form of legal sabbath keeping (Col. 2:8-19). Believers are not under the law, in any sense whatsoever. Sunday is not the “Christian Sabbath.” Our Sabbath is Christ. We rest in him. Yet, Sunday is “the Lord’s day.” God the Holy Spirit says so (Rev. 1:10). This is the day of Christ’s resurrection (Matt. 28:1). This is our appointed day of divine worship (Acts 20:7; Psa. 118:21-24). I do not suggest that the Scriptures require a specific day or time when we must gather in the house of God. However, it is obvious from the universal testimony of Scripture that it is always both proper and needful for us to have specified, appointed times set aside for the worship of God. God will not be worshipped haphazardly.

    God’s ordained means of worship was and is blood atonement. The holy Lord God cannot be approached and will not accept the worship of fallen sinful man, but means of a blood sacrifice. It appears that the children of Adam and Eve had been clearly instructed in the worship of God.

    Adam showed his sons what he had done, how he had sinned against the Lord. He told them plainly what God had done for him and Eve, sacrificing the innocent victim for them, stripping away their fig leaves, and clothing them with the garments of salvation he had made specifically for them. He spoke plainly to them about God’s promise of redemption through the woman’s seed. Adam understood and taught his family the necessity of blood atonement. Believing God, our father Adam, in his fallen state, taught his children that the only way a sinner could ever worship God is by faith in that One whom the Father would send to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Abel believed the gospel his father preached to him. Cain refused to believe.

    What was wrong with Cain’s sacrifice? No doubt, this proud man brought the very best thing he could to God. Yet, God despised his sacrifice. Why? Because It was a bloodless sacrifice! (Heb. 9:22). Cain’s sacrifice, his religion, was a denial of his need of Christ, the Redeemer. Cain thought he could approach God on his own merit, be his own priest, his own mediator and his own intercessor. His sacrifice was a denial of sin. Cain denied his guilt and sin before God. He denied that he deserved condemnation and death under the wrath of God. He approached God on the ground of his own merit and works. Cain’s sacrifice, indeed, his entire religious system, was a refusal of God’s revelation. God had revealed the way of worship and acceptance and life (Lk. 24:44-47; Eph. 1:6-7); but Cain did not believe God. This man was not an infidel. He was a proud religionist, a self-righteous Pharisee, an unbeliever. His offering to God was the fruit of his own labor. He really thought, just as most religious people think today, that he was really good enough for God.

    Why did the Lord God have respect unto Abel and his offering? God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, because it looked to Christ. It was an offering of faith (Heb. 11:4). Abel believed God. He came to God through faith in a Substitute. His offering was a confession of sin, guilt, and just condemnation.

    Our sins deserve the wrath of God. The only way for a holy God to justify guilty sinners is by the satisfaction of Divine justice through blood atonement. That blood atonement which magnifies God’s law and makes it honorable is found only in the substitutionary death of God’s own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Abel’s offering was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God (Ex. 12:5-6). It was a lamb, the innocent, dying for the guilty. It was a male of the first year, in the prime of life. It was a lamb without spot or blemish, as Christ was without sin. It was a slain lamb. Its blood was shed in a violent death. Abel’s slain lamb was consumed by fire of God (Lev. 9:24), because God accepted it as a type of Christ, whose blood of atonement is a sweet smelling savor to the holy, Lord God, our heavenly Father. There were only two differences between Cain and Abel: -- blood and faith. These are the only differences between God’s elect and the lost world around us. The only distinction between God’s elect and the reprobate is the distinction of grace (1 Cor. 4:7).

    The way of Cain is the way of natural religion (Jude 10-11). It is the religion of works. It gives no comfort, but only misery (Gen. 4:6-8). It is the way of all men and women by nature. The way of Cain is the way of ceremonialism and ritualism. The way of Cain is the way of every persecutor. The first human blood to be shed upon the earth was shed by a religious legalist; and the blood he shed was the blood of a sovereign gracer, a worshipper of God. The battle still rages. The issue is still the same. The way of Cain persecutes the way of faith. The way of Cain is the way of God’s curse (vv. 10-12). The way of Cain is the way of endless wandering (vv. 12, 16). “Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the Land of Nod.” Nod means “wandering.” There is no rest for the wicked; neither in this world, nor in the world to come.

    The way of Abel is the way of life everlasting. It is the way of grace. It is the way of blood redemption. It is the way of faith. It is the way opposed and persecuted by the world. It is the way of life. It is the way of acceptance with God. Here two ways are set before us. The way of Cain (Pro. 14:12; 16:25) is the way of works religion and everlasting destruction. The way of Abel (John 14:6; 10:9) is the way of free and sovereign grace in Christ, the way of everlasting salvation. Which way will you go?