Cain and Abel, or the Two Ways.

WHAT a lesson God would have us learn from the history of Cain and Abel, as set, forth in the 4th of Genesis. How plainly we can see that “the way of Cain” is all wrong, and that those who follow it must end their course under the judgment of God; and yet the way of Cain is popular, the many are to be found in it (compare Matt. 7:1313Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (Matthew 7:13)), although the Spirit has said, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain” (Jude 1111Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jude 11)).
The way of Abel, on the contrary, is the right way; it is the way that leadeth unto life, and yet there are few that find it (compare Matt. 7:1414Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:14)).
We will now look at these two ways, as set forth in Scripture, and let the reader discern for himself which he is on.
First, as to the way of Cain. I see in Cain a man who rejected revelation, and who approached God in his own way; a religious man, who brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
By faith (and faith always follows revelation) Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; that is, he 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.”
I shall now try to set down clearly the way of Cain. (Read from top downwards.)|{}|
You will observe where he begins. He was born outside of Eden, he came of fallen parents, lying under the sentence of death (Gen. 4:11And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. (Genesis 4:1)). Next we have Cain’s offering (vs. 3), or his attempt to approach God without blood-shedding, and with the fruit of the ground which God had cursed. This is his first wrong step, and his second is in verse 5. His offering and himself rejected, Cain was very wroth; in the pride of his heart he was soon angry, and dealt foolishly (Prow. 14:17). This was shown in his third step (vs. 7), when he rejected the word, of the Lord. And what wisdom was in him? (See Jeremiah 8:99The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them? (Jeremiah 8:9).) And so he took the fourth step (ver..8), and murdered his brother. God in His grace, instead of being silent to him (2 Peter 2:99The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2 Peter 2:9)), called him to account at once, which led to Cain’s fifth step (vs. 9). And what unutterable folly it was! He justified himself, and tried to conceal his sin then, when God in His government exposes, and visits his sin on him, he takes his sixth step (vs. 14), and is in despair; but God shows him mercy. He gives him space to repent, and will allow no man to take his life from him (vs. 15). Surely if Cain had not rejected the word of the Lord, if there had been any wisdom in him, he would have read this favor aright, and have even then come into blessing as a vessel of mercy; but no, he takes the seventh and final step in the way of Cain (vs. 16). He went out from the presence of the Lord, and we know well when the convicted sinner leaves the presence of the Lord in the day of grace unforgiven, there is no hope for him in the coming day of judgment.
All that is left for him―poor fugitive and vagabond, with the burden of unforgiven sin, hiding himself from God and in rebellion against His word―is Cain’s world. There men call their lands and cities after their own name (see verse 17, and Psa. 49:1111Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. (Psalm 49:11)), and try to make themselves happy without God, with commerce, music, and science. Even God’s mercy shown to Cain was turned into ridicule by Lamech, in verses 23:24, like scoffers in these last days who say, “Where is the promise of his corning?” (2 Peter 3:3, 43Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:3‑4).) But all this shall end as Cain’s world ended, “they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away” (Matt. 24:3939And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:39)).
Now, my reader, are you in the way of Cain? Remember the different steps.
First, Approaching God without blood, without owning you are a fallen, guilty sinner; and though morally and religiously upright, you come to God without Christ.
Second, pride and anger filling your heart when you find a poor sinner, who has done his worst, accepted and blessed through the blood of Jesus, whilst you, who have done your best, are rejected.
Third, The Word of the Lord, that shows you where you are wrong, refused, and rejected by you.
Fourth, You persecute and speak against those who trust only in the precious blood of Jesus.
Fifth, When your conscience accuses you, or when God speaks to you about your ways in a dream, or by His word, or through your neighbor, you justify yourself, and deny what you have done.
Sixth, You come to despair of mercy. You say religion is a sham; you sought the blessing, and could not get it.
Seventh, You throw the whole thing up, you go thoroughly into the world, you build again what once you destroyed, you say you make no profession, and you try your best to be happy without God, and perhaps you even scoff at His mercy and long-suffering to this poor guilty world. Take care, my reader. Beware of “the way of Cain.”
Thus we have in Christendom, where men have ceased to contend for “the faith,” many who have gone in the way of Cain, with its different steps: some only beginning, doing their best, attempting to find acceptance with God by their works, their almsgiving, or even by taking the sacrament and being baptized; same who Are angry when a poor sinner is saved by faith in, the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work alone, without any works of their own; some who, refuse to listen or believe when God’s way of salvation is declared to them; some who would (if they had the power) put the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to death; some who, when taxed with their hatred to the saints, deny it, and justify themselves; some who, while making a great profession, are bold, daring infidels, who have no hope in the mercy of God; and some (once religious) who have deliberately given up all profession of any kind of religion, and gone boldly into the world, trying to be happy without God.
Now for the way of Abel, and its seven steps, ending as it does, in separation from the world, and testimony for Christ.
“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” (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)).
Like the way of Cain, it begins outside Eden; but instead of being steps downward, it is all steps upward: —(Read from below upwards.)
 
Testimony.
Heb. 11:4; Phil. 2:15.
 
Persecution.
Gen. 4:8; 1 John 3:12.
 
Acceptance.
Gen. 4:4; 1 John 4:17.
 
The Cross of Christ.
Gen. 4:4; Heb. 9:13-14.
 
Repentance.
1 Thess. 1:6; Acts 20:21.
 
Faith.
1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 11:4.
 
Hearing.
Rom. 10:17; John 5:25.
 
Born outside Eden.
Gen. 4:2.
The first step is hearing, for as Romans 10:1717So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) tells us, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” So we know that Abel heard. The word came to him, whether by Adam or Eve we cannot tell. And, like the Thessalonians, he received it, not as the word of men, but as it was in truth, the word of God (1 Thess. 2:1313For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)). Thus Abel took the second step―he believed. It was “by faith” he offered, and his faith came by hearing, as we have seen.
Now when the word of God is heard, and believed as His word, the third step, or repentance, always follows.
With Abel, his faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (the fourth step) was shown in the sacrifice he brought. As Genesis 4:44And 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: (Genesis 4:4) tells us, he “brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.” In other words, he came to God as a poor repentant sinner, with no merit of his own, but with the blood and fat, which represented the life and excellency of the spotless victim which he brought. He confessed by his sacrifice (what every poor sinner must own if he is ever to be saved) that through the death and blood shedding of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in due time would offer Himself without spot to God, and suffer for sins, the Just for the unjust, he confessed by that alone he could draw near to a holy God.
The fifth step, or acceptance, followed immediately; “he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts”; but this was speedily followed by martyrdom. Cain slew him because, as 1 John 3:11Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1)2 Says, “his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”
Some are still at the first step; they have heard the Gospel again and again, but they have not hearkened. It is written in John 5:25,25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25) “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” ―or we might read it, “they that have heard shall live.” Well, have you heard? that is, have you hearkened? When a man hearkens to the voice of the Son of God speaking to him in the Gospel, faith always follows. It comes to his soul as the word of God. This is the second step, and many have heard and believed, and are now at the third step, “much affliction,” or “repentance toward God.”
It is a blessed thing to see souls here, for the more deep and real their repentance, or condemnation of themselves in the light of God’s Word, the greater their joy in the Holy Ghost (1 Thess. 1:66And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: (1 Thessalonians 1:6)). When they take the fourth step, and trust their souls for time and eternity to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, they learn that His precious blood shed there cleanseth from every sin (1 John 1:7,7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) R.V), and that such is the excellency of the One who offered Himself without spot to God, and so perfect the work He has done, that God has raised Him up from the dead. What a blessed thing it is to know that!
Now, it is the resurrection of Christ, which is the, great proof of God’s acceptance of Him and of the sacrifice He offered, that leads us on to the fifth step, namely, our personal acceptance with Him. God had respect to Abel’s offering; he obtained witness that he was righteous, and this was in figure what we have now through the death and resurrection, and ascension of the Saviour (see Ephesians 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6) and 1 John 4:1717Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)). Now the moment we confess Christ, or the world knows that we claim to be accepted in Him, through what He has done, we find ourselves at the sixth step, or persecution. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:1919If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:19)). And remember we must not resist. See James 5:6,6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (James 5:6) “Ye have condemned and killed the just: and he doth not resist you,” and also 1 Peter 2:19-2419For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:19‑24). I am sure of this, that whenever the Lord’s people have resisted their enemies by force of arms, it has been to the serious loss of the whole Church of God. “But,” says someone, “How can you bear testimony if you do not resist? Will not the enemy put out the light?” So no doubt the devil thought when he got Cain to kill Abel; but “he being dead, yet speaketh,” or is “yet spoken of,” that is, in spite of all the devil can do, Abel and his way of approach to God are not forgotten. The light lit then has never been, and never will be quenched, although the vessel of the testimony suffered martyrdom. He was killed, and did not, resist (James 5:66Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (James 5:6)). Still his testimony of how man can approach God and be for God, although outside of Eden, goes on.
Now, if my reader will turn to Philippians 2:5,5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5) he will see that this is what the Christian is left here for.
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”
The Lord grant that we may be so in the way of Abel, that we may shine as lights for Him here till He come. Amen. W. M.