Most of us have read about
Cain and Abel. They are even well known by those outside
the Church as the
brother who murdered his brother. Cain was the murderer, and his younger
brother Abel was the victim.
In speaking of Cain and Abel I
am using Genesis 4:1-16 in the New American Standard Bible (NASB) since it is
the most accurate English translation. We see in the passage below that Cain
was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.
“…Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.”
We don’t know how old they
were, but obviously their parents, Adam and Eve, had explained to them what
happened in the Garden of Eden. I’m sure they explained to their children how
God clothed them with garments of skin to cover their nakedness after they
sinned against Him. Perhaps God also explained to them the necessities to
satisfy how they would worship Him. Nevertheless, one day they both came with an
offering to present to God.
“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to the LORD. And Abel also
brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.”
Was this the first gift they
ever presented to God? I don’t know, but perhaps all was fine up to this point.
I don’t know. Anyway, let’s read what happened next.
“The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and
his offering he did not look with favor.”
Uh-Oh, now somebody’s got a
problem. When I was much younger I used to scratch my head in puzzlement about
this. God accepted Abel’s gift, but why wouldn’t He accept Cain’s gift? Abel
was a shepherd and gave from his flock. Cain was a farmer and gave from his
harvest. So what’s the big deal? Oh, it is a big deal, a very big deal.
Big Deal #1: Notice that Cain
brought “some” of the fruits. It doesn’t say the “best” of the fruits, but
“some” of the fruits.
When my Dad was alive and
well, he would raise green beans and sell them by the bushel. Everyone wanted
to buy his green beans, because they knew that as good as the beans were on top,
they would be just as good all the way to the bottom of the basket. He would
sell ‘no junk.’
I have a feeling that Cain’s
green beans may have looked real good on top, but progressively worsened
further down in the basket.
Notice that Abel gave “fat portions
from some of the firstborn of his flock.” He gave the best, in other words,
from his flock. But this still isn’t the reason God did not look with favor on
Cain’s offering.
Big Deal #2: The difference
between the two offerings is one thing; i.e. the blood. Beans, turnips,
cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. do not produce blood, but the firstborn of
Abel’s flock had to give its innocent blood to be an offering.
God did not clothe their
parents, Adam and Eve, with lettuce and onions. He clothed them with the
garments of skin from an animal(s). The innocent had to die to clothe the
guilty. Hebrews 9:22 says, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all
things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness.”
Many years down the road God
provided a final offering for mankind. This offering was His Son. His Son,
innocent and guiltless, would shed His blood on a cross so that all who come to
Him in faith would be clothed in His righteousness once for all.
The wages of sin is death
(Romans 6:23) and we have all sinned (Romans 3:23). The result is that we are
all guilty, and there is not one drop of innocent blood in any of us.
Therefore, not one of us can be an offering unto God. We cannot clothe
ourselves and we cannot clothe anyone else. Only God can do that, and He does
so by the blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ, every time one comes to His Son
in faith. All that is required from God is that we put all of our faith in His
Son. That’s all. Let’s read on.
“So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said
to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is
right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Let me tell you what I think
Cain was thinking. This is only my opinion of course, but I think I’m right in
this case.
Cain is thinking, “I worked
out in the hot sun all summer. I pulled weeds. I plowed. I watered the ground.
I staked the plants. I gathered the harvest. I worked like a dog. I’m tired. My
hands are calloused. My skin is browned from the heat of long summer days, and
this is the appreciation I get? My brother Abel just walks around and sits all
day while his sheep follow him from pasture to pasture. I’ve worked hard. What
has he done? How dare God to reject my offering and accept Abel’s offering!” I
really believe that Cain’s eyes were on his own work and not upon the grace
offered by God through the shedding of blood.
Maybe Abel didn’t work quite
has hard as Cain, but he did work. However, it isn’t Abel’s work that God
accepted. It was his obedience in providing a blood offering. I think Cain knew
God required a blood offering, but he was like so many people today who think
their work should satisfy God’s requirement for an offering.
When Abel gave the “fat
portions from some of the firstborn of his flock,” he took the best he had of
the flock and sacrificed it in the memory of the animal(s) that God had to slay
to clothe Adam and Eve, and in anticipation of the Son of God who would be
slain for the sins of the world.
Abel looked forward in time
to the cross, while we look back in time to the cross. The point of reference
is the same. Only the work of Jesus upon that cross and the grave that remains
empty satisfies God. The only thing left for us is ‘faith.’ That’s all God
requires.
Cain missed the point. He
thought it was about work. He wanted to do it his way. Many today miss the
point. They want to do it their way. God says there is one way.
““Jesus said to him, “I am
the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through
Me.”” (John 14:6 NASB)
The only way to come to the
Father is by faith in His Son.
“For by grace you have been
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as
a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB)
Cain wanted something to
boast about, but all he got was rejection from God. Many today think they can
boast before God, but one day, if they don’t change, they too will be rejected
by God.
Those who know Jesus Christ
as their own personal Savior and Lord will someday see Abel in Heaven, but Cain
will not be there. Will you be there?
Again, the Lord told Cain,
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” He is telling us the same
thing today. So what is right? What will make us acceptable before Almighty
God? The answer is found in John 6:40.
“For this is the will of My
Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal
life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
This is what God desires and
requires. This is doing “what is right.” Anything else is unacceptable.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
