“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. 11:4.
The question, how a sinner can approach to a holy God, is all-important. It was then by bringing in his hand an acceptable offering; and it is here most clearly solved and very early in man's history. For sin God drove the man outside the garden which the “Lord God had planted” for him, when all came from His hand” very good.” Although justly turned outside into a world where toil and sorrow were found in consequence of sin, God did not refuse intercourse with man—nay, He desired it; as is proved by His seeking Adam, who was hidden away from Him amidst the trees of the garden. So we read (Gen. 4:3) “In process of time, Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the LORD.” The firstborn of sinful parents, grown up to manhood, comes before the LORD with his offering, but was grievously disappointed when “The LORD had not respect to his offering.” Why was this? Cain had tilled the ground, and brings the fruit of it as an offering to the LORD. Why could not the Loan accept it? Doubtless it was of the very best, and it seemed hard to Cain that the LORD had not respect to his fruit. His disappointment was such, that his countenance fell, and himself was very angry with the LORD. The LORD gently expostulates with him; asking why he was angry, and why his countenance was fallen. It was simply a question of what was right or wrong. “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” And who was to judge of this? The LORD or Cain? Surely the LORD, as it is written: “Let God be true, and every man a liar, that Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou art judged” (Rom. 3:4). But what was doing well? Did the LORD mean that the fruit which Cain had brought was inferior in quality; and thus disqualified. Was Cain to go and try again by his toil (the sweat of his brow) to produce a better sample? Certainly not. The LORD points out to him that a “sin offering” was required. Cain's fruit, however good of its kind, could not meet and settle the question of sin; and this was ignored in the offering that he brought: his state as a sinner was not taken into account by himself. It could not be overlooked by the LORD; and this He points out to Cain. Was there not a sin offering at the door? Why not bring that being a sinner? If he had no sin offering in his hand, by which he could be accepted, his sin remained. Where was faith? Where repentance?
Alas! for Cain! This did not meet his views, nor accord with the feelings of his heart. He, the first Pharisee, must stand upon the merit of his own works; and reject the sin offering, and so be himself rejected; as himself and his offering were identified. He ought not to have been, and could not be but by hardness of heart and unbelief, in ignorance of this. For the LORD had Himself, when sin came in, taken life, and clothed our parents with coats of skins out of death.
This was the real issue between the LORD and Cain. It still remains the great question between God and man; yet man in his indifference and willfulness, neglects, and rejects the great salvation. So Cain leaves the presence of the LORD, and prefers to live in the world without Him, being not only angry with the LORD, but the murderer of his own brother. This casts light upon Abel's offering, both by comparison, and by contrast. “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” In what did its excellency consist?
It was entirely different in principle, and suited to the character, and relationship, in which man then stood before God. Abel's offering of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof, owned the need of blood-shedding, as a propitiation for his sin. He had faith in that which could atone for sin, and by which he a sinner could meet God in truth, and be accepted for the sake of his offering. Thus he secured glory to God, and free blessing to himself, a sinner; for surely Abel was such, as was his brother Cain. His pastoral occupation, as “keeper of sheep,” did not make his moral state better than that of Cain, as a tiller of the ground. In the sight of God there was no difference; they both were sinners. Abel owned it in the offering which he brought to the LORD, Cain in effect denied his sin, and the holy demands of a sin-hating God, but withal a God Who would accept a sin offering, as He did at the hand of Abel.
Abel brought no fruit which his own hands had produced; no weary labor, no toil of his, had resulted in the offering which he brought to the LORD. It was a victim, whose life must be taken for his sin. “For without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” It is shown from the beginning.
Abel by faith saw it, and received an immediate response from Him in Whose eyes it was excellent, God testifying of his gifts, and counting him righteous. The believer is counted righteous by a holy God, for the sake of the sin offering, which he by faith brings to God. As it was, so it is, and must ever be. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” So the one then counted righteous, “being dead, yet speaketh.” G. R.