(Genesis 4)
Cain and Abel were the first two people to be born from a woman’s womb. They were the first two people to enter a world that was fallen before they arrived. They were the first two people to be born with a sin-nature. Their parents, Adam and Eve, had chosen to listen to the Tempter and be convinced of the lie that God was withholding good things from them. And as soon as they had ventured to see if it were true, their perfect relationship with God had been shattered and now the whole world was broken and hurting and dying.
But not all hope was lost. There remained a glorious promise that one day, an offspring of the woman would come to crush the deceiving serpent and turn death’s sting into victory. And in the meantime, God had provided a way for sinful mankind to enter His holy presence. He had slain an animal. And with its skin, He had covered Adam and Eve’s shame. For God had warned that the penalty for disobedience would be death. And they would surely die, although their physical death was not immediate like their spiritual death had been. But in His mercy, the animal died in their place, and its blood covered their sin...temporarily. And so, a new way of communing with the Lord was created: animal sacrifice.
So while Cain and Abel didn’t know the sweet fellowship of walking with God in the garden in the cool of the day, they would have known the story of their parent’s folly and that even after sin had damaged man’s relationship with God, He still wanted relationship with them. Their Creator wanted them to enter into His presence in worship, and He had made a way for them to come to Him.
Cain, the older of the two brothers, was a farmer. He worked the ground that had been cursed because of his father’s sin. Abel was a shepherd. He tended flocks of animals, probably of sheep and goats. And in the course of time, both brothers brought a gift of worship as an offering to the Lord. Cain offered some of the fruit of the soil, while Abel offered the very best fat portions from the firstborn of his flock. God was pleased with Abel and his offering, but did not look favorably on Cain and his.
While the passage doesn’t tell us exactly why Abel’s gift was accepted and Cain’s wasn’t, I don’t think it’s very hard to figure out. For one thing, we’re told that Cain just brought some of his crop, while Abel brought the best of his flock. For another thing, it’s clear from the rest of the story that Cain’s heart was not in the right place. And most importantly, I believe it would’ve been clear to the original Hebrew audience that Abel gave a blood sacrifice, which is necessary to atone for sin, and Cain didn’t.
It’s clear from the conversation that follows, that Cain knew exactly the expectation God had for worship, and had refused to obey it. Cain became angry and upset when God favored his brother but not him. And God approaches him with the question, “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; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)
I love that God graciously gives Cain the opportunity to do a heart-check and repent. He comes to Cain in his pity-party, and reminds him that he not only knows what is right, but that he has to power to choose to keep his emotions under control and keep his heart from sin. But sadly, Cain isn’t interested in changing his heart attitude or exercising self-control. He lets his jealousy and rage rule over him and he goes out and kills his brother Abel.
Once again, God approaches Cain with a question that gives him an opportunity to repent. “Where is your brother Abel?” But Cain doesn’t feel like confessing or asking for forgiveness. “How should I know,” he retorts, “I’m not responsible for him” (paraphrase mine). But of course, God knew exactly what had happened, and now Cain would face the consequences. His punishment would be banishment from God’s presence, and the curse of loosing his home and his occupation. No longer would the ground yield it’s crops for Cain, and he would become a restless wanderer on the earth.
And once again, Cain shows no remorse or desire to repent, but rather focuses on how miserable his punishment will be. “It’s more than I can bear!” he complains. “And whoever finds me will kill me.” Cain was more concerned about his suffering than his sin. But surprisingly, yet again, God shows mercy. He promises that no one will lay a hand on Cain’s life or they will suffer vengeance seven times over.
It may be a sad murder story, but it’s also much more than that. It’s full of many valuable lessons and reminders for us as followers of Jesus….
We don’t get to come to God on our own terms. He makes His requirement and expectation clear: We can only be saved by grace, through faith in the Lamb of God as our atoning sacrifice. If we want to approach His holy presence and be found acceptable and pleasing to Him, we have to be covered in the blood of Christ. From the very beginning, the shedding of blood has been the only way to atone for sin. Adam and Eve tired to cover their own shame with fig leaves, but they couldn’t. Cain tried to worship God in his own way, by his own efforts. He wanted God to be pleased with the labor of his hands. But he failed to find acceptance, because he failed to depend on God’s grace. “If you do what is right will you not be accepted,” doesn’t mean that doing the right things will get us into heaven. It means we have to come to God in the prescribed way: by grace, through faith, because of the Blood. Otherwise we become guilty of the same sin as Cain: the sin of trusting in ourselves and our own righteousness instead of Christ and His righteousness. Favor with God is not something that we can earn, it’s a gift of grace that we have to receive by faith.
And I think that’s something we as Christians all know. How many times have you heard the verses in Ephesians 2:8-9? And yet, somehow abiding in God’s grace and unconditional love is a struggle. We know that we need God’s grace for salvation, but we fail to depend on His grace for every breath we take. We think God will be more pleased with us if we go to church, or read our Bibles, or spend time in prayer, or give generously to others. Which are all good and wonderful things to do, but they have to come out of an overflow of our love for God, not in an effort to earn it. The wonderful truth is that there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you any less. He doesn’t love you because you’re good enough or strong enough or holy enough. He loves you even though you aren’t enough, because Jesus IS enough. Because of Jesus, your heavenly Father is well-pleased with you. He delights in you. He rejoices over you. All you have to do is simply relish that love and rest in His grace.
But what about faith? That’s a requirement too, right? The book of Hebrews tells us that it was by faith that Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. So if you’re not living with enough faith, will God be disappointed with you then? Faith IS important, and it is a requirement. For “without faith it is impossible to pease God.”(Hebrews 11:6) But here’s the thing: faith is a gift of grace too. Faith isn’t something you have to beat yourself to conjure up more of in order to please God. Hebrews also tells us that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. Faith comes from Him. The reason we have confidence in God’s grace is not because we have confidence in our faith. Our faith is not in faith itself. True faith is in God! Which means looking to Him, following Him, and trusting in Him, NOT in our ability to trust Him. And as we fix our eyes and our desires and our hearts upon Him, HE increases our faith. That, my friends, is a gift of grace.
What God wants more than anything is relationship with us. And again, that’s something we know, something we always say, but do we truly seek intimacy with Him? From Cain’s attitude and reactions, it’s clear that he was really just looking for a stamp of approval, not relationship or connection. If he had cared about knowing and loving God, he would have turned back to Him in repentance when God graciously and patiently gave him the opportunity to do so. Do you long to know Jesus more and more? Do you seek Him wholeheartedly? Do you offer yourself to Him in worship and adoration? Or do you just show up looking to get a nod of approval and a pat on the back? True worship is drawing near to God because you love Him and desire intimate relationship with Him.
God gave Cain everything he needed to have a relationship with his Creator. He gave him an open invitation to come, clear expectations for worship, the opportunity to get up after he fell down, and the chance to turn back when he’d turned away. But Cain continually chose his selfish desires over the love of God. And so in the end, Cain received the painful but natural consequence of rejecting the Lord: isolation from God’s holy and loving presence. Which is the very definition of hell; eternal separation from the relationship that our souls crave and were made for. God in His love, gives us the gift of choice. He invites us to come to Him and He longs for us to choose Him, but if we don’t He won’t force Himself on us. He’s a gentleman. He gives us what we choose. And perhaps you would never choose eternal separation from the One who created you and died to be with you. But do you continually choose to spend time simply basking in His presence, on a daily basis? Given the choice, do you chose time with Jesus over time with family and friends? Over time enjoying hobbies? Over time relaxing or mentally checking-out? And of course, God is always with us, and we should invite Him into all our daily activities, and talk to Him all throughout the day. But it’s also important to set aside quality time with the Father, and to savor time just enjoying His presence. If that’s not a priority, it’s all too easy to slip into the sin of choosing other things over Jesus.
So my question to you as you contemplate this story is this: Are you trusting fully in the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb? Are you resting in the loving arms of your Savior? Are you abiding daily in His grace? Are you allowing His unconditional acceptance to change you from the inside out? Are you choosing intimacy and seeking heart-connection with Him? Are you intentionally spending time enjoying His presence? If not, maybe it’s time for a heart-check.
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