GENESIS 4
Cain was the oldest son of Adam and Eve. Cain was the first human being to ever be born. (He was not the first human being, Adam and Eve were the first, but they were “created” directly by God, they were not born.) Cain was also the first person to “inherit” the fallen nature of man. Adam was created in the image of God. Adam and Eve were created to reflect the image of God. Adam was created directly by God, and Eve was created out of Adam, so Eve reflected Adam’s glory, or the image of Adam. They were created with the power of choice, and their choosing to forsake God and disobey Him distorted, or corrupted their ability to reflect God’s image. Adam passed that corruption on to his offspring, of which Cain was the first. Cain was the first man to commit murder. God had told Adam and Eve if they chose to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that they would die. They did not die physically immediately, but the process of physical death started, and eventually they did die physically, and the process of death was passed onto all mankind. When they ate the fruit they died spiritually, because they were cast out of the presence of God, who is the source of all life, the Author of Life, as the Scripture says. To move away from the source of life is to move into Death.
Cain committed the first act of murder before the physical death of Adam and Eve, so it did not take long for the curse of death to manifest itself within the human race. The power of death had taken root in the heart of man, and it claimed its first victim in Abel.
There are a lot of very interesting and enlightening things that we learn here in Genesis. Ii did not take mankind very long to deteriorate once man had made the choice to disobey God and fall into sin.
In the New Testament, we read these words in the Book of James: “When tempted, no one should say “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” The tragic consequences of Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience did not take long to show up.
Adam and Eve’s sin gave birth to first, their own spiritual as well as physical deaths, and then their first child became the first murderer. Truly, “The wages of sin is death.”
“Cain was a farmer. Abel, the younger brother was a shepherd. In the course of time, they both brought offerings to the Lord. God looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor.”
This portion of Scripture used to puzzle me. It almost seems, from a superficial reading, that God is being unfair to Cain. We must ask; Why did God favor Abel’s offering over that of Cain? I have heard and read some people comment that it is because Abel’s offering was a slaughtered animal, while Cain’s offering was not.
While the Scripture does state; “In fact, the LAW requires that everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness…” (Hebrews 9:22) we must realize that, as far as Scripture indicates, this truth may not have been revealed to Cain and Abel at this point. God may have revealed something to Adam and Eve about blood sacrifices when He provided them with coverings made from the flesh of animals, but this is speculation, the Scripture does not state this specifically. Please understand that I am not negating the importance of blood sacrifices, the Old Testament prototypes were used to foreshadow Christ’s sacrificing of His own blood. I believe there is more to the picture here than just the issue of blood sacrifice.
Also, later in the Scripture, in Leviticus 2, we see that the grain offerings, such as Cain’s, were accepted: “When someone brings a grain offering to the Lord, his offering is to be of fine flour. He is to pour oil on it, put incense on it, and take it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. The priests shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil, together with all the incense and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”
So why was God not pleased with Cain’s offering? Let’s look at some other Scriptures that give us some more insight on offerings and see if we can find an answer.
We must offer our best. Leviticus 27:32-33 states; “The entire tithe of the herd and the flock- every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod, will be holy to the Lord. He must not pick out the good from the bad.”
God takes no pleasure in our leftovers and He does not want our yard sale junk! The trouble with the way many people make “offerings” is that they put themselves first, and then if there is anything left over, they offer it to God, or offer it to some charity they deem worthy. For most of us, even that plan will not work, because if we wait until all of our wants and needs have been met, there is nothing left over, because there is no end to our wants. There is no “spare” time to offer God either, because we pack so much stuff into our days we are beat by the end of our busy schedules, and there is nothing left. God does not want our “spare” time. He wants us to make time for Him. Giving God your spare time and your leftover cash is not the kind of offering that pleases Him. He wants our best, because He has given His best for us.
I remember several years ago, I organized a clothes drive at a church that I was involved in. There was a local man who was a truck driver, and every year at Christmas, he would gather donations of food and clothing to take to some of the small towns in West Virginia where the unemployment rates are very high, and there is a lot of poverty. Every evening for about two weeks, after I got off work, I would go over to the church and sort through the clothes that had been donated, and pack them in boxes, then label them according to age, gender, etc. To be honest, I threw a lot of the clothes that had been donated away, because some of it was pure junk. It seemed that a lot of people saw this as an opportunity to clean out their dressers and attics. After that, I invented a formula for giving that I like to use: Anything that I would throw out, or put in a yard sale should not be used as an offering. This is stuff that I do not want anymore. It does not mean anything to me and I just want to get rid of it. This is not the kind of offering that God wants. This is not a sacrifice. God wants my best, not my leftovers.
We must offer willingly. 2 Corinthians 9:7 reads; “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Have you ever gotten a Christmas present or a birthday present from someone that made you feel like they are just giving it to you out of obligation or tradition? That is the kind of gift that doesn’t really have any meaning for the giver, or for you. I don’t care if I ever get any gifts at Christmas or on my birthday if they are that kind of obligatory gifts.
I have a brother who has made me several things from time to time for either my birthday, or for Christmas. Several years ago, he went on a trip to Hawaii. I told him that I wanted him to bring me back something genuinely Hawaiian, not a t-shirt or a trinket. He took some glass vials with him and filled them with different sands and soils from the different beaches, mountains, etc., from all over the islands. Then when he got back, he labeled them all, and typed up a description of each, and where it came from. Monetarily, this gift did not cost him anything, except maybe the cost of the paper, but it did cost him a lot of time and energy. It was a very special gift because he put his heart into it willingly. I treasure it still.
I believe that is the kind of giving that God wants from us. He wants us to give willingly, out or a heart of love and gratitude, not begrudgingly, out of a sense of guilt or obligation.
Regarding the Lord’s displeasure with Cain’s offering, the only conclusion that I can come to is that when he made his offering, his heart was not right. It was not the gift, per se that displeased God, it was the giver of the gift.
God does not need our sacrifices that we offer with wrong motives. We cannot bribe God. If people think that just because they tithe, God owes them something, and that they can get away with sin, they are mistaken. Look at what the Lord says through Isaiah the prophet:
“The multitude of your sacrifices, what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings; of rams and the the fat of fatted animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls, and lambs, and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you? This trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings!”
Cain became angry. The Bible says his face was downcast. He went into a serious pout. I have a picture in my mind of my children when they decided to throw a good pout. Sometimes they would stick that bottom lip out so far it looks like you could balance a quarter on it. I remember the words to a song that they used to play on the radio many years ago. I don’t remember but one line from the song, “Poor, poor, pitiful me.” I think that was Cain’s attitude. That kind of attitude is a sickness to the spirit of man.
Are you now, or have you at some point in the past, gone through a time in your life when you felt like things happened to disappoint you? Things did not turn out the way you planned? We all go through times like this. I know that I have had my share.
Perhaps you are mad at God. You might not admit it to anyone else, but in your heart you know that it is true. This is what happened to Cain. Cain became angry with God. Cain projected his anger with God onto his brother. If you are a Christian, we need to learn a lesson here. We need to not take it personally when we speak the things of God, and lost people become offended with us, and treat us badly. Ultimately, it is not us that they are angry with, it is God. The message of the Cross is a message of hope for mankind, but first, the Gospel message confronts man with his own sinful nature. This makes people angry and uncomfortable sometimes. Listen to what God said to Cain:
“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
These words are so powerful, and so true! Think about this for a moment; suppose someone has done you wrong, or you perceive that they have done you wrong. You have a burning anger in your heart towards him (or her). It puts you in a rage. Who is that anger hurting? It may be hurting the other person, but more than that, it is hurting you. It is changing you into something that is displeasing to God. It is making your own heart ugly. Your anger will give sin a foothold in your life. “Sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it.” As it says in Hebrews 12: “Let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles us.”
God warned Cain. He told Cain the truth. “I will accept you if you do what is right. Don’t let sin fill your heart with hate.” But like so many today, God’s words fell on deaf ears. Cain nursed his jealousy and anger, and he made a plan to kill his brother. This was not manslaughter. This was not second degree. This was cold blooded, premeditated murder, first degree.
Throughout the history of the world, mankind has been at war. Jesus even went so far to inform his disciples that wars would continue up until His return. There seem to be very few places in the world that are free from war of some kind for very long. For as far back as has been recorded in history, what we refer to as the Middle East has been plagued with bloody wars. The Israelites and Palestinians have broken more peace treaties than anyone can remember. Massive genocides and tribal wars have plagued many areas of the world, and there seems to be no end in sight to the madness. After the wars are fought, mostly we are worse off. Revenge and aggression don’t solve anything ultimately. Satan sits back and laughs at us when he can plant the seeds of anger and hate in our hearts. These evil seeds grow until they ruin our happiness and our lives.
Next, notice how God confronted Cain. “Where is your brother? What have you done?” God confronted Cain in the same manner that He confronted Adam and Eve. He did not accuse Cain. He gave him a chance to confess.
God already knew that Cain had killed his brother. He did not need to ask him. By asking him, He was putting the ball in Cain’s court, as we would say. He was giving him the opportunity to confess and ask for forgiveness.
God is giving us that chance today. God knows your sins and my sins. He is giving us a chance. He sent His Son Jesus Christ as an offering for our sins. Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, after laying down His life for us, and He sits at the right hand of God the Father, as our high priest, making intercession for us to the Father God. But our time is running short. There is coming a day, very soon, when we are no longer going to be given that chance. God is going to close the door. Then it is going to be too late.
“Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground,” God said to Cain. How foolish it is for us to try to lie to God and hide our sins. God is no different today than he was then. Are you angry or depressed? Are you out of fellowship with God? Have you taken the time to get to know God and find out the truth? Don’t be like Cain. Don’t allow your anger or disappointment to drive you from God. You have a chance today. Tomorrow may be too late. The hour is growing late for mankind, and God is going to wrap up His work in this world. Ask Him to help you turn loose of your anger, and turn to Him for life. Eternal Life that cannot be taken away from you.
Danny's Stump 