Genesis 4, 1 through 12, And
Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and
said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare
his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain a tiller of the ground. 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
his offering he had not respect, and Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do us well, shalt thou
not be accepted, and if thou do us not well, sin lieth at
the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his
brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field,
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I not my brother's keeper?
And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground. Now thou art cursed from the
earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. I will start by
reminding us that there are some very interesting lessons and
contrasts that are to be learned from the sets of brothers that
we meet with in the sacred and holy scripture. For example,
this one, Cain and Abel. Then there is Jacob, and there
is Esau. There is the prodigal son. There
is the older brother. And then there are those brothers
that our Lord tells about in the parable in Matthew chapter
21. They're coming here today to
Genesis 4 and the record of the brothers Cain and Abel. Now these brothers are representative
without doubt of two classes of people and of the animosity
that lies between those two classes of people on account of religion
or the things of God. Here begins with these men the
great warfare that began very early in human history and continues
now and will live as long as the world shall stand. Also,
here begins the propagation of the race of humanity in accordance
with the injunction in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 28. Be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth and subdue it. Now, as Calvin wrote, It
was not abolished by the fall, given before the fall, yet it
was not abolished or abrogated after the fall. We see also that
it was renewed again in Noah and to Noah, Genesis chapter
9 and verse 1. In chapter 3 of Genesis, you're
well aware that we have there an account of the most horrific
incident in all of human history of the fall of mankind, of their
expulsion out of the garden, of the cursing of the earth because
of the sin of Adam. In Genesis 3 and verse 24, God
placed on the east side of the garden cherubim and a flaming
sword that turned every way, this way and that, to keep the
tree of life. And the express purpose of it
was the guarding of the tree of life and the forbidding of
access to it and of ever eating of it again, Genesis 3 and verse
22. because now man has become a
sinner. He has fallen and has become
corrupt, and his fellowship with God is broken and is ruined that
he had before the fall, and now there must be a new way of approach
that is required for one to come unto God, that God now must be
perpetuated by a proper sacrifice, that man as a sinner is not able
to approach God in and of himself or in his own righteousness or
merit or whatever. Now, coming to the birth of the
brothers Cain and Abel, in verse 1 and verse 2 of this chapter,
Adam knew his wife, that is, in a conjugal way, and she conceived,
for God would not leave the human first couple barren and therefore
would multiply. And the firstborn, we read in
our text, she named Cain and we understand that the meaning
gotten or acquired or possession as she said. Verse one she bare
Cain and said I have gotten a man or a man child from the Lord. Verse two again she bore this
time the brother Abel the margin has it Hibble which some say
means vanity as something, some interpret the name to signify
nothingness, as if nothingness is expected or he'd amount to
nothing, swiftly disappearing breath of life. These seem to
be the meaning of this name given unto him. A few expositors have
offered their opinions that Cain and Abel, and of course others
early on, might have been twins on the ground that we read of
one conception and yet two births here in this passage of the scripture. It might have been that in those
early days, twins and triplets and such like, a litter if you
don't mind, were born so that the earth was peopled up faster
in that way. But it is interesting to note
the reaction of Eve to the birth of her firstborn Cain, and it's
reflected in the name that they gave unto him, the name Cain,
C-A-I-N. and her saying, I have gotten
a man from the Lord. Now, either she means with the
help and the blessing and the providence and the guidance and
the supply of the Lord, or could it be that she thinks that Cain
is that very one that was promised unto her in the garden that would
bruise the head of the serpent. And therefore, if she did, she
was sadly mistaken because her firstborn turned out to be an
apostate and a reprobate. And in verse two is an account
of their vocation. Abel was a shepherd, a keeper
of the flocks. a feeder and a tender of sheep
was how he made his living and in this of course he was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ who is our great shepherd and who
cares for his sheep and loses none. On the other hand we are
told that Cain was a tiller of the ground, he was in agriculture
or a farmer, as we might say, he worked the land, even as Adam
did in Genesis chapter 3, 17 through 19. Now let's note something,
and that is that both vocation were honorable, and both vocation
of each son did serve the needs of the race. so that we need
not necessarily conclude that Cain's occupation was chosen
because he was an evil man, nor being a farmer make him evil
in the sight of God. But then in verse 3 and following,
we read of the offerings of the two from their occupation and
their field, and the manifestation of God toward them, one and the
other. First, we consider that there
are the first sacrifices on record. These are the first time in the
scripture that we're told that men made sacrifices unto God. And something is interesting
in verse 3. And it came to pass in the process
of time. in the process of time, each
one of them brought an offering. Now what is intended by the word
in the process of time? The margin has it at the end
of days. It came to pass at the end of
days. Now I know that strict Sabbatarians
take this as proof of a Sabbath observance early on in the history
of mankind, but Gill called that a hypothesis not sufficiently
established that it was, or could it be, that it was at the end
of a year? Or could it be that it was at
the harvest time? Upon what premise therefore,
did they bring their offerings under God? Was it from a direct
command? Was it something they learned
by example? Was it by instruction? Or was
it by revelation that they came and made an offering under God?
It would seem that there was not only an appointed time but
an appointed place for them to come and to make their sacrifices. And they seem to be at the same
place at the same time. We see the words, Abel brought,
verse 4, and verse 3, Cain brought. Their offerings were not made
at their dwelling, nor in their pasture, nor in their field,
nor in the byway. Where did they bring their offering,
therefore, to be presented before the Lord God? We do not read
of an altar. There was no tabernacle in existence. There was no temple as yet having
been raised up. There is a good hint that what
we read later that Cain went out from the presence of the
Lord in verse 16 as to the place where the sacrifice was made.
For whatever credit my opinion might have or weigh it might
carry, I believe that it was at the entrance of the garden
where the offering likely was made, at the entrance of the
original garden, in the vicinity of the sword there that we read
about turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life. And here there must have been
some kind of maybe continual manifestation of God's glory
or His presence, but also emblems and symbols here of the holiness
of our Almighty God. As a reminder as well that God
is displeased with a sin and where the flaming sword and the
oscillating cherubim, if that be the case, were representatives
of the need of a divine justice that none can pass through into
the presence of God except they have a proper sacrifice. No approach and no worship unto
God apart from a proper propitiation for sin that men might approach
him in peace and a good conscience. Near where Peter, Robert Candish
rather, referred to as, quote, near the seat of original innocence,
unquote. this place must have been. And
the brothers Cain and Abel brought their offerings there and presented
them before the Lord. Now their offerings are duly
noted as we read in the scripture. Cain in conjunction with being
a tiller of the ground, brought of the fruit of the ground, and
offering unto the Lord. Abel, being a keeper of the sheep,
brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And no doubt lay them out before
the Lord in a proper manner, or proper place, and a proper
way. Let us remember, if we might,
the fruit of the ground, and sheep, and the flocks, and herds,
and such like, let us remember that both sorts of these were
used as offering under the Mosaic economy. They were used there,
they were accepted as sacrifices, though the bloody sacrifices
have the predominance and the preeminence in the atonement
for sin. but also they best typified the
offering of Christ, that is, the sheep and such like, and
the bloody offering. But coming now to consider the
response of God to the brothers Cain and Abel and their respective
offering. Noted that they and their offering
are joined together. In verse 4, the last part, verse
5, the first part, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and his
offering, but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect."
Now the thing to notice here is the connection between the
brothers Cain and Abel and their respective sacrifices or offering. Abel and his offering, Cain and
his offering. They and their offerings are
viewed together. They are viewed as if they were
one, and which defined them before God. Which one defined them before
God? They or their offering, where
their respective offerings are for reflective of their character
or of their spiritual significance and standing before God, or did
their characters determine what offering they brought unto the
Lord God? For what it is worth, we see
that in both cases, that of Cain and that of Abel, that their
person is mentioned first. Their person is mentioned before
their offering. They are named by name, and their
person is mentioned first. Unto Abel, respect. Unto Cain, not respect. And the same is true of their
offering. Some versions I know render it
regard. Jehovah had regard. Jehovah had not regard. Calvin said on this passage,
God is said to have respect unto the man and the person to whom
he grants his favor. unquote. And the favor toward
Abel and the acceptance of his person was prior to him bringing
his offering. So Moses is writing thus, and
he begins with a person of the offerer, and we'll say more about
that later, unto Abel and unto Cain. Let us see, however, that
the text leads us to believe that in some way not defined,
in some way not described in the text that we read, God did
make manifest his regard and disregard toward the brothers
Cain and Abel and their offering. We read in verse 4 and 5, but
under Cain and his offering, He had not respect and Cain was
very wroth. That is, Cain was angry and agitated. There was some evidence that
was given of God's view of the brother and of their offering
to elicit this response from Cain. We read in Hebrews 11 and
verse 4 concerning the sacrifice of Abel. By his sacrifice, quote,
Abel obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gift. So we can see two things there.
By the offering that he brought might be in mind, but the manifestation
of it, God testifying of his gift. Back to Genesis chapter
4, what might be the manner how God showed these things, and
there was no mistaking it, they knew evidently what had been
revealed. The most reasonable thought is,
I believe, that it might have been in some way that God later
used to accept the offering that were made unto him in the proper
way. For example, fire from heaven
came down out from God and consumed the offerings at time in the
Old Testament. Perhaps the fire of God came
down and consumed the sacrifice of Abel, but not that of Cain. As in Leviticus chapter 9, when
Aaron and his son, having been consecrated under the priesthood,
began to offer sacrifices. There in verse 24 we read, quote,
And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed
upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat. And when the people
saw, they shouted and fell on their faces, end quote. So at this inception of the beginning
of sacrifice, it did not happen at every time and later time,
but at this inception. Also, remember Judges chapter
6. There is an event when Gideon
was raised up and the sign given in verse 21 of that chapter,
when an angel of the Lord gives him and the people a sign, and
that sign being fire out of the rock to consume the sacrifice
that had been made. One more instance, 1 Kings chapter
18. This is an interesting one. One
of the great prophets of God, Elisha's sign there that day
to determine the one true God. You remember what he did? He
made an altar. He put wood all about the altar,
and then he did something unusual. He soaked that wood water. He soaked it in water. Then he
cut up the bullock, placed him upon the wood in verse 30 through
verse 35. Then Elijah prayed unto God,
verse 36 and 37. And in verse 38, then the fire
of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood
and the stone and the dust and licked up the water that was
in the trenches, unquote. Another special manifestation
from God out of heaven and it was by fire and it was upon a
sacrifice. And someone kiddingly has said
that Elisha was about the only man that could ever build a fire
with wet stove wood. That's not very easy to do. But
God did not send fire upon every sacrifice and made but one on
special occasion did he do so, to confirm a thing, to sanctify
it to the people, to convince them of it. The Lord did when
the brothers in Cain brought their offering, no doubt, made
some manifestation of his pleasure with one and his displeasure
with the other. And the first recorded in Scripture,
right here in the first family in Scripture, God began to make
a clear distinction, not only between the offering, but between
the persons themselves. Respect to one, not to the other. Now, before we move along, there
are some questions that might be raised here in regard unto
this matter. Questions such as, number one,
why is there no account of any acts or exercise of faith on
Adam's part, the first man? Why do we not read any such like
thing in the scripture? We do not read of Adam making
an altar, making a sacrifice unto God. Why does Moses, therefore,
pass over Adam? Why is it, as Manton wrote, after
the fall, scripture speaks nothing notable of Adam? And I think
that's certainly true. Nor is he in Hebrews chapter
11. And I think that is significant
as well. That begins with Abel. in Hebrews
chapter 11. Now another skeptic or a scoffer
might count it to be a contradiction when it said God had respect
unto Abel and his offering when in other places we read that
God is no respecter of person. Acts 10 34 Romans 2 11 Ephesians 6, 9, Colossians 3,
25. He is no respecter of person. Now, in checking the concordant,
I found the Hebrew word, which is translated here, respect,
in the King James Version, only three times in all of the Old
Testament. Twice it is here in Genesis chapter
4, verse 4 and 5. Then in Psalm 119, the 117th
verse, quote, hold me up and I shall be saved and I will have
respect under thy statutes continually, unquote. Now the word is from
a root word meaning to gaze at or to look upon or to regard.
I will look at it, I will have respect. Thus he had respect
under Abel and under his offering and He looked upon Abel with
favor, he looked upon Abel with regard, and therefore did the
same with his offering. However, the New Testament it
is that rounds out the account of the brothers Cain and Abel,
as both of them are mentioned there. Abel as a good man, a
righteous man, Cain as a wicked, apostate, rebellious, God-hating
murderer. They're even mentioned together
in reference to Genesis chapter 4. First, what the New Testament
said about Abel. In Matthew, our Lord speaks the
word. Chapter 23 and 35, also in Luke
11 and verse 51. The Lord Jesus refers to Abel
as a righteous man, referring to, quote, the blood of righteous
Abel, unquote. And of course, He is the first
one mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 as we said. Now our examples
of his faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence
of things not seen, and how without faith it is impossible to please
God, Hebrews chapter 11. He is mentioned again, Abel is,
in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 24 as the blood of Christ speaks
better things than the blood Abel. Finally, he is mentioned
in 1st John chapter 3 and verse 12 as Cain's brother, not by
name but by relation. Cain is also mentioned in the
New Testament in Hebrews 11 and 4, in 1st John 3 and 12, and
particularly in Jude verse 11. numbered among the apostate. He is among the apostate for
Jude is a book of apostate. And there we read, quote, of
the way of Cain, unquote, an apostate. Yes. one defecting
from the truth of God. So let's understand, if we might,
using Hebrews 11 and 4, by faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent, a choicier, a better sacrifice than Cain. That Abel
neither attained faith or became righteous when he offered his
sacrifice, that the acceptance of his person must precede the
acceptance of the service and the worship and the prayers and
the such like. It was manifested when he offered
unto God, his faith was. On the other hand, Cain was also
what he was before bringing his offering. The rejection of it
did not change his character, but it manifested it. It brought
it out in the open. It brought it to light. Now,
Cain, to be fair, was no atheist. He was not a heathen. And he
brought his offering to the same God at the same place, at the
same time, acknowledged God as did Abel. But it seemed that
Cain, according to some of the commentators, more offered to
thank God as preserver and creator rather than savior and lord and
master. and that he did that from that
standpoint not of a true believer but of an artificial believer
or a halfway believer that while Abel was moved by true saving
faith to do what he did or justifying faith to bring a bloody offering
before the Lord his God upon that particular occasion. Cain
gave what Owen called a naked, bare ascent to the existence
of God, unquote. He came in that light or in that
capacity. Now, in this, Cain therefore
stands as a type of many, a type of many who, though not real
believers, think that they are acceptable to God even as they
are. They think that they are rendering
him a service with which he would be pleased and would be very
acceptable unto him, seeing not themselves as sinners, separated
from God by sin and needing an atonement, going to church, as
they do if nothing comes up, desiring to be considered as
a good person. And this is a reflection of Cain
in the life of many. And Cain seemed to be civil enough,
and we need to catch this point, he seemed to be civil enough
until the incident in Genesis chapter 4. And there at verse
5, there came a major turning point in the attitude and the
behavior of this man, Cain. When he saw that God did not
look with favor upon him or his offering, he was exceedingly
insulted and angry. And the scripture said that his
countenance fell. You could tell it or see it in
the countenance. Gil describes this, quote, he
looked churlish, morose, sullen, ill-natured, unquote. He was
rebuked by the Lord in verse six and seven as we read, but
was not smitten with guilt or conviction. He found no place
repentance and soon thereafter he murdered Abel and he went
out from the presence of the Lord. All of that told us in
our text. Now consider Genesis 4 and verse
8. Cain conversed with Abel in the
field and it came to pass when they were together in the field
and he rose up and slew Abel his brother. The first murder
recorded in the scripture, and the first murder was a result
of a religious difference. The first murder was from the
animosity against the things of God and the way of God. And Cain of a sudden rushed upon
Abel, his brother, and he killed him. We have an explanation for
it in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 12 in that passage. Not as Cain
who was of that wicked one and slew his brother and where in
did he slay him? because his own works were evil
and his brothers were righteous. This looks to their character.
He was an evil man and Abel was a righteous man. And here their
characters are clearly defined by the word of God. Cain was
of that wicked one. and killed his very own brother. And because Cain's works were
evil and Abel's were righteous, Cain hated his brother. And when
they talked about religion and the experience and sacrifices
and such like, his animosity rose to such a level that he
threw up against his brother and actually slew him there in
the field. Cain is the founder of the liberal
wing of the worship of God, if we may say so, and that is yet
alive in the world today. Denying total depravity. Oh no,
men are not so depraved as to need a savior. Hating divine
sovereignty. rejecting the need for God to
be propitiated on account of the sin of man, preaching a social
gospel and a do-good gospel, preaching an undeified Savior
who might have sinned. In short, apostate and another
gospel it certainly is. Now consider something that is
said in Jude verse 11. As I said, some have called the
book of Jude the Acts of the Apostate. Now the part is this,
they have gone in the way of Cain. Now those words, the way
of Cain. What is that? What is the way
of Cain? Well, it is a way of apostasy,
of falling off into error, of falling away from the true worship
and way of God. Thomas Rhett Manton wrote a book
that thick on the book of Jude, and he had this to say, Cain's
example is produced. because he was the first and
the chief of them that departed from the true worship and service
of God," unquote. And Tertullian, an earlier writer
of the second century, called Cain the devil's patriarch, the
first kernel root of the serpent seed in which persecution began
against the children of God. And Cain's club stained with
the blood of righteous Abel, as the old Puritan said, is still
wielded in the world today by the society that lives after
the manner and after the fashion of Cain. They're angry to be
told that God will not accept them as they are or in their
own person. God is angry with their filthiness
and their unrighteousness every day, and that their righteousness
is like filthy rags in the sight of Almighty God. And so they would destroy that
thought from the earth, how they hate it, how they rise up against
it. I think that lately we've seen
the strongest push in the war against Christianity that we've
seen in our country yet, and it will get stronger and stronger,
I predict. But they hate that kind. They
hate Bible Christianity. They love liberal Christianity. God loves everybody, wants to
save everybody. Nobody's going to hell. That
kind of a social Tommy Rock is what is popular in the world
today. Finally, According to Hebrews
11 and verse 4, Abel offered by faith. And that means that
he had grace and that he had a revelation. He, in faith, offered
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And he, though he is dead,
is yet speaking. The blood of Abel cried unto
God from the ground, crying out for vengeance, the first Christian
martyr for the cause of Christ, the first to shed the blood of
martyrdom, the first to be killed for the sake of Christ. And from
Matthew 23, 35, that all righteous blood from Abel on will be avenged, our Lord has
said. Now this shows from the first,
faith has been the effectual means of men and women having
fellowship with God and being saved from their sin by faith
able offered unto God. Yes, we have the clear full picture
filled out in the New Testament for us. Now this is a great example
of the two thoughts that permeate the world, the two kinds of thinking,
that of Cain, that of Abel.