Genesis chapter four
written by
Cain and Abel:
The name, Cain, means "possession".
Generally speaking, children are a blessing from the Lord and Adam and Eve had many,
"...children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the body is his reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a man of war, are the children of the young.
Happy is the man who has a good store of them, he will not be put to shame,
but his cause will be supported by them against his haters"
"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord"
Cain's sacrifice to God:
There are many ways to offer a sacrifice to God but the question is- what kind of a
sacrifice is acceptable to God? Let us look at the holy scriptures to find out.
First, let us look at two examples of sacrifices that God did NOT accept.
Korah and Ananias:
Abel and Jesus Christ:
How is that relevant to you and I? There is only one way to come to God. We must
accept Jesus Christ and His blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.
One must invite Him into their heart to live on the throne there. That is a
sacrifice that God will gladly accept.
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
Abel's right sacrifice:
So, what is the problem? Let us remember what our problem is. The problem is the sin nature that that has been passed down to you and I from Adam and Eve. The problem for each individual is his or her sins and God cannot stand to look upon sin. Each of us should die for our own sins. The death penalty is required for our sins. Suffering in hell fire is how each one of us must pay for our own sins. But God, Who is the great judge, will pardon us and find us not guilty when He sees that the blood of Jesus Christ has been applied to our sins. There is only one way for a sinful person to get back to God- through the substitutionary death of Christ. What is that? Simply put, Christ died in your place and my place on that old Roman cross. Why? Because of His great love for us.
Sins can only be washed away by atoning blood- that is the only thing that God will accept. He will not accept fruit or vegetables, from a cursed earth, for the remission of sins. A pure and spotless lamb was to be sacrificed to God in times past. Why? Because in typology the spotless lamb symbolized Christ who is spotless or sinless. That is why God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's offering. Note: an explanation of typology can be seen further on (if you are studying typology).
In other words, mankind, got itself in a bad way. Mankind had willfully given Satan dominion over themselves by rejecting God and turning to Satan. Now, mankind was stuck with no way out, with no hope, and with no one coming to help them. What could mankind do now? Who would be willing to save some of mankind from the devil? Not all individuals wanted to serve Satan- some wanted to serve God but how could they do this? Abel talked to God about it and God was pleased to accept a repentant heart towards God, a choice towards God and away from the devil, and accept a suitable sacrifice. Abel was directed by God to offer a pure lamb without spot or wrinkle in sacrifice. This pure lamb was a type of Christ. This lamb was without spot or wrinkle meaning without blemish or disease. In typology this meant that Christ was without sin and any kind of contamination.
The only thing that could wash away our sins was His blood. Soap and water, bleach, or ammonia will not wash away our sins. Only His blood can do that. How do you apply Christ's blood to your sins? In prayer, repent and ask Christ to do that- to come and live in your heart and forgive your sins. Be sorry for having sinned against Him. Christ will come into your heart like He came into my heart and you will notice a change in your heart's condition when you become born again.
"but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very angry (wroth), and his self esteeem became depressed (his countenance fell)"
The Way of Cain:
Let us simplify what was going on here. Abel was obedient to God. He belonged to God. Cain was disobedient to God. He belonged to Satan. The attitude of their heart showed up in their sacrifice to God. Abel came God's way. However, Cain wanted to be righteous on his own terms, not on God's terms,
Can you ellaborate on this a little more? Yes. Cain came his way- the way of self will. Many folks, for one reason or another, do not want to do it God's way. They want to work their way to Heaven or buy their way into Heaven. They want to come to God keeping their wickedness and sin. They want to come to God keeping their spiritual rebellion against Him or by some other way that God won't accept. But it is God's universe and God's rules. He is the Potter and we are the clay. Let's be like Abel and do things God's way. Let's come to God through Christ- through His shed blood in a loving relationship with Him.
God's rejection is the opposite of His acceptance:
What I find interesting here is God's statement:
Cain and Abel
"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 was a tiller of the ground"
(Genesis 4:1-2).
(Psalm 127:3-5 Basic English Translation).
Righteous parents who raise righteous children are to be highly praised.
But righteous parents have children who have free will and sometimes those children
grow up and choose to live lives contrary to the wishes of their parents. When
children grow up to be rebellious adults and choose against the Lord, problems can
occur in family relationships. Righteous adults and sinful adults do not mix together
very well. We see that in the life of Joseph, later on in Genesis, as the brothers of
Joseph persecute him, attempt to murder him, and sell him into slavery. And we see it
here in this chapter of Genesis. So, the war
goes on between God and Satan over the ownership of the soul of every individual.
(Genesis 4:3).
Let us talk about ownership. Who did Cain belong to- God or Satan? In my opinion, I
think Cain belonged to Satan. Jesus appeared to indicate that to us when He called
Satan "a murderer from the beginning" referring to Satan instigating the
murder of Abel by Cain
(John 8:44). If Cain belonged to the devil, why would he want to render an offering
to God? Cain probably wanted to come to God in his own way, called the way of Cain,
so Cain rendered an offering of his own choosing. Offering vegetables from a cursed
earth to God did not wash away the sins of Cain. God rejected the offering from Cain.
How is that relevant? Many folks today want to come to God their own way rather than
through the blood of Christ. But what does God say in His holy word?
"...neither is there salvation in any other (than in Christ)- for there is none
other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"
(Acts 4:12). Let us talk about this.
During the days of Moses, Korah and his followers, offered as a sacrifice to God some
copper or bronze censers in spiritual rebellion
(Numbers chapter 16, 26:9). One does not offer to the Greatest King in the Universe
(God) an offering spawned by God's enemy, Lucifer. But Korah did. God did NOT accept
the offering of Korah and killed him,
"...and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when
that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men- and
they became a sign"
(Numbers 26:10). What kind of a sign did they become? The sign was that no one better
do that again. Did anyone in the New Testament era ever try something like that?
Yes. Who was it? It was Ananias. He made a wrong choice to offer a lie in worship
to God. God did NOT accept the offering of Ananias and his wife and killed them,
"...but Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the
Holy Spirit (Ghost)...and Ananias hearing these words fell down, and died (gave up the
ghost)". Sapphira his wife was asked, "...how is it that ye have
agreed together to maliciously test (tempt) the Spirit of the Lord? Then fell she
down straightway at his feet, and died (yielded up the ghost)"
(Acts 5:1-10). Now, let us look at a couple of examples of sacrifices that God did accept.
Abel offered the blood sacrifice of a lamb to God that was a type for the blood sacrifice
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Sacrificial blood is the only cure for sin.
God accepted that sacrifice, "...and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering"
(Genesis 4:4). Jesus Christ offered to God as a sacrifice His own sinless blood and God accepted it, "...for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins"
(Matthew 26:28). "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins..."
(Romans 3:25). "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at the right hand of God"
(Hebrews 10:12).
(Genesis 4:4).
Why did God accept it?
The name, Abel, means "breath" and some infer it to mean "breath of life". Abel was a righteous person who came to God the correct way. God accepted him and his offering. What was Abel's motive? Abel loved the Lord and wanted to please Him. This is what the good Lord wants from you and I. He wants us to love Him and please Him with our obedience to Him. He wants us to come the correct way- that way is through Jesus Christ alone
(John 14:6). We can come to Him because of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf.
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh"
(Hebrews 9:22 & 11:4).
The answer for every single human is to repent and invite Jesus Christ to come to live upon the throne of his or her heart. This is God possession. Abel did this and his heart was right before God. God had forgiven him of his sins. How did Abel show his love for God? He humbled himself and came to God on God's terms and rendered the sacrifice to God that God wanted. And God accepted Him. You and I have to come to God through Christ. God will not accept any other way.
Jesus had to do something for mankind. He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world
(Revelation 13:8). But a sacrificial lamb needs to be sacrificed. Jesus offered to be slain in your place and in my place as our sacrificial Lamb. His sacrifice was bloody and painful but He did it because He loves us. What did He do? He came to earth to die for the sins of each person
(John 3:16). Christ allowed Himself to be persecuted, physically beaten, and crucified to death. But He arose from the dead. Because He is alive today, He can come to live in your heart when you ask Him to.
(Genesis 4:5)- my paraphrase.
Sometimes, if a controlling perpetrator does not get his or her own way they get angry
at whoever is blocking their goal(s). In the case of Cain, he got angry at God.
And later, he got angry at Abel. Then Cain misdirected his anger and killed Abel.
And Satan was behind it all.
"Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain..."
(Jude 1:11).
What is the way of Cain? Very simply, it is the way of fleshly carnality- one who does not confess sin in their life or come to God on God's terms. And it can be the persecution of any of God's children in a variety of ways, and their involvement in the taking of innocent life, witchcraft, satanism, rebellion against God, and other forms of spiritual idolatry. Later, King Saul got into trouble with God by following the way of Cain
(1 Samuel 15:23) and King David's pride and self-will got him into trouble with God
(2 Samuel 24:10). And it can be any person who belongs to Satan who wants to hurt God or who tries to manipulate God by something evil they do.
Christ, God the Son, loves the sinner but hates the sin of the sinner. I imagine that Cain brought an offering of contempt to God- he threw his offering in the face of God, so to speak. It was the offering from a cursed earth. This evil attitude of the heart against God resulted in sinful behavior called the "way of Cain"
(Jude 1:11) that the bible speaks about- the way of Satan worship, insult to God, and lawlessness in many forms.
"If thou doest well..."
(Genesis 4:7).
I will tell you what that means to me. That means that if a sinner, like Cain, repents and accepts the Lord, the Lord will forgive that person and give him or her the power to rule over sin. You and I do not have to let sin kick us around and mess up our life. We can use the power and authority of Christ to live an overcoming life.
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Genesis chapter four
verses 11 through 26
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As of April 1, 2013
Uncontrolled anger can be dangerous. God continually deals with each person about the spiritual condition of his or her heart. When one accepts Christ he or she will have peace, a conscience free of guilt, their sins forgiven, and a new purpose for living. However, when one belongs to Satan, the result can be quite the opposite. Sin splits and destroys. Certain negative attitudes of the heart can errupt like a violent volcano. This can include but is not limited to:
