Cain: His World and His Worship

From: Christian's Library: Volume 8 By: Alfred Henry Burton

• 5 min. read • grade level: 5

“Woe unto them: for they have gone in the way of Cain.” — JUDE 2²Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. (Jude 2)

MAN, having sinned against God, is turned out of Paradise; and all Adam’s children are born outside: In two of his children we have striking types of what exists around us today. Cain and Abel both had a religion. But the one did what he thought right and his duty, the other what God told him.

Cain slew his brother. And why? God tells us: “Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” And Cain, after the murder of his brother and God’s sentence on him, “went out from the presence of the Lord, and he builded a city, and called the name of it after his son Enoch.” He tries to make himself a place of rest and security. You may say, what harm in building a city? None, if he had not been a sinner, driven out of Paradise, then a murderer, and under the curse. But it is in this sad state that he acts as though nothing were the matter, and tries to make himself happy without God.

We find further, among the family of Cain, not only “the father of such as dwell in tents,” and “of such as have cattle,” but “the father of such as handle the harp and the organ, and the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron” (Gen. 4:20-22²⁰And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. ²¹And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. ²²And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. (Genesis 4:20‑22)).

Now there is nothing wrong in the things themselves; Christians are to profess honest trades for necessary uses, and we read of harpers in heaven. But what Cain was doing and what men are doing today, was seeking to make the world pleasant without God. Man has settled himself down in a world where judgment has placed him — in a world which has crucified the Lord of glory, forgetting that God who said to Cain, “Where is Abel thy brother?” will yet call them to account for the death of HIS OWN SON. If you saw a man who had committed some wicked crime against his father the next day playing on musical instruments, would you say there was no harm in that? And is not Cain’s world like your world? Is it a better world because Christ has been crucified in it? That has happened since the days of Cain. Where is the difference? They had their harps and organs, so have you. They had their workers in brass and iron, and so have you. It was Cain’s world away from God, and it is Cain’s world still. Man is doing all he can to keep God out of sight, to do without Him, lest He should touch his conscience and make him miserable.

But Cain also had a religion. He was a religious man, as religious as Abel. But he had no love to God; he had no faith. Cain was not an idolater, but he worshipped in his own way. He took some pains too. He did not offer what cost him nothing. He was “a tiller of the ground,” and he “brought of the fruits of the ground an offering unto Jehovah.” But he came in the way of nature, offering the fruit of his toil and labor, and you have done the same. This is ever the character of false worship. You may be sincere, so was Cain. But human sincerity means nothing; it is often the proof of the great darkness man is in. Saul of Tarsus was sincere when he was persecuting Jesus; he acted, moreover, on the advice of the religious leaders of that day. He was sincere and zealous, but utterly blind as to God and Christ. Cain brought as his offering what he thought God ought to accept. But God did not accept it, because it made nothing of the fact that the ground he tilled was cursed.

God could not accept Cain’s offering. Do you think He can accept yours? Will you think if you attend a place of worship, take the sacrament, give your alms, God must accept you? He will not, cannot, dear friend. But He is telling you of His Lamb, “foreordained before the foundation of the world, manifested in these last times for you.” “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29²⁹The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)).

Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Abel’s offering was “by faith.” He had the word of God for it, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17¹⁷So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)). God remonstrated with Cain, and told him that “a sin-offering lieth at the door,” and He warns souls today of their sin, their danger, and tells of His remedy.