Gen 4:1-15
Gen 4:1-15
As a missionary among a post Stone-Age culture, of animistic demon worshipping people, if I could only give them a limited amount of scripture, Gen 1-11 would be an absolute must!
We have done that and more, I am just saying how important these early chapters are.
Gen 4:1-2 tells us of the birth of Cain and Abel, and v.3 jumps right to the important event, the event that reveals their state before God, and the fact that all people are either “of God” or “of Satan”; that is all that matters. We are not told of their sisters, marriages, children, or general living. While these things are of interest to many, “Who were the wives of Cain and Abel?” they are not important to the message of the bible, which is: The Salvation of Man.
Here is what we learn from Gen 4:1-15
1) God was present on earth, in a “physical” way.
2) Men were bringing offerings to God.
3) God tells us how to worship him, we do not tell him how we will worship.
4) The hearts of men are revealed by what they do.
5) There are bad people.
6) This hated can be a dynamic of family life.
7) God wants us to do the right thing and live.
8) God sees what we do, and deals with us accordingly.
9) God’s people suffer for being righteous.
Firstly, God was present on earth, in a “physical” way. Cain and Abel went to where God was, and they presented to him real offerings, which he sees; he talks with Cain. God, I would say the second person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus, continued to be on earth, though not necessarily continuously 24/7, from the time he formed Adam from the ground, until he closed the door of the Ark for Noah.
Pro 8:31 “my delights were with the sons of men.” “Men,” plural; Gen 4:25 “men called upon the name of the LORD,” which would include the renewal of animal sacrifices at the location where Cain and Abel had done it; and remember, Enoch walked with God.
God was around, accessible, inter-acting with individual people, and delighted in doing that.
Secondly, we see Cain and Abel bringing offerings to God. I would say Adam was doing the same, but since he is not involved in the Cain-Abel story, there is nothing written about him. The point here is that God requires offerings, and the only offering which God would accept was a blood sacrifice. When Adam and Eve sinned, they made leaf coverings; God killed an animal. Cain and Abel knew the story, and they would have seen their father, Adam, bringing slain animals to God as offerings. Abel followed what God did, and what his father was doing: he brings slain animals, blood sacrifices, to God. Cain however, wants to be accepted on his own terms, he ignores what God did, and brings vegetables; no different than the fig leaves which his parents first used to cover their sin!
But God wants blood sacrifices; these blood sacrifices pre-figure the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Adam and Eve should have been killed for their willful disobedience. Instead God kills an innocent animal, and they live. A substitutionary, propitiatory, atoning sacrifice. The entire Old Testament Jewish system was built on that. All of those animal sacrifices pointing to the death of Christ. They were not sufficient in and of themselves, they pointed to the one sufficient offering of Christ. Heb 7-10 is about that one truth.
I will expand on these First and Second points in my next Blog.
Thirdly, God tells us how to worship him.
This is called the Regulative Principle. During the Reformation, the question of “Worship” was of huge concern. The Roman Catholic thought was, and still is that we can do what ever is not PROHIBITED in Scripture; but the Protestant Reformers, using the 2nd Commandment as the basis of their position, said we can only do what is COMMANDED, by word or example, in the New Testament.
Accordingly, the Roman Catholics have carried forward from the Old Testament System, things like vestments, altars, candles, etc into their church services, saying, God never told us to stop doing those things. The Protestant Reformers took the opposite position, saying that since we do not see the New Testament church doing those things, we have no positive command to carry them forward.
The 2nd Commandment God gives instruction regarding worship, but even before that, in the time of Adam and Cain and Abel, God had given instruction regarding acceptable worship: he killed an animal to cover sin. Cain though thought as the Roman Catholics do, thinking, God did not say, “Do not bring vegetables!”, so I will bring them; but Abel thought, “God showed me what to do, I will do as he did.”
This probably applies to “Worship” today; exam how your church is worshipping, and if it is not in accordance with the simple pattern we see in the New Testament, it should be modified.
If anyone reading this thinks that God will accept whatever kind of worship they bring to him, or that he will “OK” whatever they do, they are dead wrong! We must do what God wants; he does not accept whatever we what to do.
All religions do not lead to God; all “worship” is not acceptable to God.
So the question is always: is this method of worship approved by God? Is this method of worship according to what God has told us to do, either by verbal precept or by example?
Fourthly, we see the hearts of both Cain and Abel revealed. It is wrong to say we do not know what is in a person’s heart: we do! We know what is in their hearts, by how they act, and by what they say. Our conduct reveals who and what we are. “Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” “You will know them by their fruit.” We are not talking about one off actions, because of course Christians sin, and of course non-Christians do good things, just as good trees have some bad fruit, and bad trees have some good fruit; but what is the overall tenor of a person’s life.
“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” Heb 11:4
Abel, being a man of faith, believing that God wanted blood sacrifices, because that was what God did to cover his parent’s sin, offered the correct sacrifice, and God accepted it. Based on the offering he offered, we can say he was a believer, a born-again person, one having God-provided righteousness, (“he obtained witness that he was righteous”; not a righteous doing one, but one having God provided righteousness via the new birth); because he was a believer, he offered the right sacrifice.
Spiritually speaking, God was Abel’s father!
Cain though is another story, he knows the facts, he knows that God wants blood sacrifice, both by hearing the story of what God did for his parents, and seeing what his brother and father were doing, but he was not a believer, he was not born-again, spiritually his father is the devil, so he does not bring the right sacrifice.
“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one ...” 1Jn 3:12
And then, after being clearly told by God, face to face, that if he did the right thing, i.e. if he brought the correct sacrifice, he would be accepted, he refuses to obey, and instead kills Abel.
Does this reveal what is in Cain’s heart? Of course it does!
Fifthly, there are bad people. How people can deny this is a mystery to me. Just read the newspaper, listen to the news, there are bad people everywhere; people who are doing numerically more bad things than most people do, and doing things that are worse than most people do. We live in a fallen world, among fallen people, whose ruler is the devil, who from the beginning was a liar and murder.
It is Poly Anna thinking to say, “People are basically good;” no actually, people are inherently evil. We have inherited Adam’s fallen nature, “we are of our father the devil, and his desires we will do.” Jhn 8:44 This is the doctrine of “Total Depravity.” Not that everything we do is bad, or as bad as could be, but it is all infected with sin.
And if you think it is bad here, what will eternity be like for those in hell, in the company of the demons, whose only entertainment will be to torment people, even while they themselves are being tormented; and everyone in flames and darkness!
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” Mat 25:41
Sixthly, this dynamic sometimes carries into family life. Cain’s evil heart seethed as he watched his brother Abel living a righteous life. Abel was a righteous man, that is why Cain hated him, and killed him.
“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.” 1Jn 3:12
They were brothers, they grew up together, but Cain hated God, and loved to sin; Abel loved God, and hated sin.
The same dynamic operated with Ishmael and Isaac, and with Esau and Jacob.
The same dynamic operated in Jesus brothers toward him!
“His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him.” Jhn 7:3-5
This should not surprise us, for Jesus clearly said:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” Mat 10:34-36
Reader, “Are your parents and sibling Christians, but you are not? Do you feel outside?” In fact you are outside! Stop hating them and their God, repent!
Parents, if you see strife among your children, it might just be because your non-believing children hate their Christian siblings.
Seventhly, What does God want from us? He wants us to do the right thing.
As he tells Cain: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Gen 4:7
God wants us to do the right thing. God tells us to do the right thing.
I am not talking about becoming righteous in God’s sight, by doing the right thing; that is works righteousness, which the bible condemns! I am talking about fighting against sin, repenting, and believing in Jesus Christ. We are not to obey the devil! God does not bless sin. God tells Cain, that the Evil One, Satan, the father of lies and sins, a murdered (Jhn 8:44), is at the door of his heart, seeking to destroy him, by leading him away from God.
The devil is doing the same to all who are lost; he is deceiving you to think evil thoughts about God. That is what he did to Eve. In essence, the devil told Eve, “God is withholding good from you.”
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Gen 3:4-5
God wanted Cain to repent and live! He clearly told him the state of affairs: Satan is seeking to destroy you; and he told him the remedy: resist; and he assured him of victory, if he resisted: you will prevail!
God does not delight in the death of the sinner. Repent and live; come to the Lord Jesus in faith: do it his way, do not bring the vegetables of your “good works” to him; he wants you to bring the blood of his Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Lamb God has provided: Jesus Christ.
And another note regarding God’s punishment of Cain, which Cain specifically calls “punishment” in Gen 4:13, is that in wrath, God shows mercy to Cain. Cain tells the Lord that he will be killed. Even though the Death Penalty had not yet been officially stated, which was done in Gen 9:3, yet it was probably true that Cain would have been killed, in retribution for his murder of Abel. So God in mercy puts a mark on Cain, as a warning to all,
“And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” Gen 4:15
Let it never be said that God is mean, or bad; he only wants to be obeyed, just like governments and bosses and parents.
Eighthly, God sees what we do, and deals with us accordingly.
Cain thought God could only see what was in front of him, so he was safe to kill Abel in the field. As a note, this is another proof of the “physical” presence of God upon the earth; Cain thought God could only be in one place at one time. Do you think God only sees what you do in church, in the “Special Place” (Sanctuary; sacred place) and what you do outside he either does not see or does not care about; like a criminal who goes to church, figuring that is all he needs to do to please God, and he can do whatever he wants outside of church.
If that is what you are thinking, you are woefully wrong; God sees everything, in all places, at the same time.
Ninthly, God’s people suffer for being righteous.
Jeremiah was put in a pit because of what he said to the king.
John the Baptist being beheaded because of what he said about Herodias.
Stephen being killed because of what he said to the Jews.
John was exiled to Patmos because he spoke faithfully about the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus was killed because he told the Jews he was the Son of God.
Christian, we live among enemies.
Jesus said:
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 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.” Joh 15:18-19
“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” 1Jn 3:13
So here I have given 9 truths that we learn from Gen 4:1-15. May you be blessed as you consider these things.
24 February 2024