Chapter 3. Genesis 4. Cain and Abel.
AFTER Adam and Eve were driven from the garden of Eden, God gave them two sons, and they named them Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve surely had not forgotten that beautiful garden which was their first home, and no doubt as their two boys grew up, they often had them on their knees, telling them over and over again, that sad story, how they had listened to the voice of Satan, instead of God, and how He had to kill an animal to get its skin for clothes for them, and, no doubt, they learned that God must have blood to shelter a sinner from His judgment against sin. Both these boys were sinners too, born of sinful parents; for, as you know, a good tree brings forth good fruit, so, a bad tree, bad fruit. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me,” says David in Psalms 51:55Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5). So is everyone who is born into this, world.
As time went on, and they grew to manhood, they, also, had to go out to work, and so it has been ever since. We have to work, and our bodies grow weary; we have aches and pains. Boys and girls wonder sometimes why they are sick; why their parents get worn out; their hair turns gray. All this, dear children, is because of sin. God’s word tells us that the whole creation, animals as well as people, suffer and groan.
Now, the time had come when they must bring an offering to God. Cain, the eldest, who was a tiller of the ground, or as we might say, a farmer, brought for his offering, some of his choicest fruit, and Abel, who was a keeper of the sheep, brought a little lamb. God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s. Why?
Cain had forgotten the lessons he learned from his parents about sin, and the curse God had put upon the earth, and that a sinner could not bring to God, any of his own works. But his brother remembered that the only way to approach. God was by blood. So Abel slew the little lamb and offered it up to God. That spoke to Him of His own dear Son who was to come many years later, to offer Himself as a lamb, for a sacrifice for lost sinners, like these two young men, who could not put away their own sins. If we believe that Jesus, God’s lamb, died for us, then we have eternal life and shall not come into judgment, but have passed from death unto life. It was not because Abel was a better boy than Cain, that God accepted his offering. There was no difference in God’s sight. God says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:22, 2322Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:22‑23).
Hear what God says about these two offerings, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. Heb. 11:44By 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 11:4). Did Cain, when he saw his brother’s sacrifice accepted, and his rejected, own to God his awful mistake? No, he did not. God tried to reason with him about it, but he was angry, and one day, while he and his brother were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.
What wicked things come out of our hearts, and what dreadful results, angry thoughts indulged in and nourished, will bring! Does it not prove that we cannot bring to God anything of our own. God says: “The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Eccl. 8:1111Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11).)
God saw Cain kill his brother, and asked, “Where is Abel?” And wicked Cain answered, “I know not.” God said “Thy brother’s blood cries to Me from the ground.” “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4: 13.)
God cursed Cain and told him he would be a wanderer on the face of the earth; that he might till the ground but it would not give its strength for him. Cain thought his punishment too great and feared that those who saw him would kill him. But God put upon him a mark, so that no one dared hurt him. So Cain went and built a city, and had children, and tried to forget God. He may have succeeded for a while but when he is brought to stand before God at the last day, he will be judged according to his works.
ML 01/24/1909