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Pastor Vic's Message
Cain and Able
“Escalation of Evil”
January 4, 2009
Genesis 4
There are 2
kinds of people in the world: When trees are waving wildly in the wind, one
group of people thinks that it is the wind that moves the trees; the other
group thinks that the motion of the trees creates the wind. (G.K. Chesterton)
Does the invisible give energy to the visible or does the visible affect the
invisible? Does God control the world or can man influence God? My greatest
effort does not change God.
The breath of God moved on the waters and spoke words. The Spirit of God
continues to create and speak. We receive life and language in the beginning.
It is the Spirit that gives life, not the flesh.
The Trinity is in Creation. The essence of Trinity is the centerpiece of
Christianity. God is personal, in community not an abstract truth or idea. God
is a mystery known in relationship. He is not a commodity, idea or power to
use. He is a person and invites us into relationship.
Man was created by the hand of God, in relationship with God.
The Bible begins with 2 creation stories. Genesis 1 gives us time and Genesis
2 gives us a garden. Genesis 2:4-4:26 tells a history of the heaven and earth.
The word ‘earth’ occurs 7 times. “Land’ occurs 14 times. ‘God’ occurs 35
times, the same as in Gen 1:1-2:3. The last verse in chapter 4 is the 70th
occurrence of God and the 14th for the word ‘call’. In chapter 4, ‘Abel’ and
‘brother’ occur 7 times. ‘Cain’ occurs 14 times. Lamek is the 7th generation
from Adam
Does God have a design?
I wanted to consider the story of Cain and Abel. Does God have favorites? Does
he show partiality for church attendees over non-attendees? Did God like Abel
better than Cain? Does God prefer shepherds to farmers? The Bible tells us
that God does not show partiality. So if God does not show partiality, what
was the difference between these two brothers and the first two sacrifices in
the Bible?
The language in which Scripture tells this second event in history is very
simple. Two of the children of Adam and Eve are identified as Cain and Abel.
There may have been others, but the story is about these two. The Bible only
describes people and events that will help us understand the story of God and
the kingdom of God.
Of the two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain was the elder, the first-born of all
their children. When Eve called her first-born son Cain (“gotten,” or
“acquired”), she said, “I have gotten a man from God.” Apparently she
connected the birth of her son with the immediate fulfillment of the promise
concerning the Seed, who was to bruise the head of the serpent. This
expectation was, if we may be allowed the comparison, as natural on her part
as that of the immediate return of our Lord by some of the early Christians.
It also showed how deeply this hope was hidden in her heart. It shows her
faith in the promise of God, and how much she longed for it. But her hopes
were crushed and her heart was broken by the sin of her first born. The other
son was named Abel, which is “breath,” or “fading away.”
Said Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, “In one of my last street meetings, during my
college years, a heckler kept shouting, “Where did Cain get his wife?”
“When I could ignore the disturber no longer, I replied, “When I get to
heaven, I’ll ask him!”
“Suppose he isn’t in heaven?” parried the disrupter.
“I retorted, “Then you can ask him!””
“Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.” They got
together and decided to bring an offering to God; Cain “of the fruit of the
ground,” and Abel “of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.”
They chose to give a part of what they had.
Jehovah “had respect unto Abel and his offering, but unto Cain and his
offering He had no respect.” How God communicated His acceptance we don’t
know. How does God communicate His acceptance to you?
The traditional interpretation says that the difference between Cain and Abel
is that one offered a bloody sacrifice and the other did not. Remember Moses
is writing this story. What is he telling us? Why didn’t he mention any
specific instructions on how to present a sacrifice to God? Why didn’t he
describe the why Cain and Abel decided to offer their sacrifices together? Why
are both sacrifices referred to throughout this whole narrative with the same
Hebrew word that means, a “gift” or “meal offering”? If both sacrifices are
the same, what is different?
Was this the first time anyone ever sacrificed anything or had they brought
gifts to God regularly? Did God command or request sacrifices? The whole
subject of the origins of sacrifice has been debated long but Moses was not
writing about sacrifices.
We must be careful about reading back into the times of Adam and Eve the
instructions that Moses was later given on sacrifices. The word used to
describe “sacrifice” throughout this story of Cain and Abel is the word for
gift used in the broadest sense. It can mean any type of gift that any person
might bring. Consequently, there is no indication that one gift is any better
than another.
The older son was responsible for the younger. The younger offered the choice
and first-born. The older did not offer first fruits.
4:6-8
Although there was no real problem with Cain’s “gift”—he was the problem. God
sees the heart. To have a good heart is always better than sacrifice. Genesis
4:3 describes how Cain merely brought “some” of the fruits of the field. As a
farmer he brought what farmers have to give. But when his offering is
contrasted with Abel’s, a flaw immediately shows up.
Abel gave what cost him dearly, the “fat pieces”—in that culture considered
the choicest parts—of “the firstborn” of his flock. Abel could very well have
rationalized, as we might have done, that he would wait until some of those
firstborn animals had matured and had lambs of their own. Certainly at that
point it would have been possible to give an even larger gift to God, and Abel
would have been further ahead as well. But he gave instead what cost him most,
the “firstborn.”
Literally, the Hebrew of verses 4 and 5 says, “And Abel, he brought, indeed,
even he, some of the firstlings of his flock and some of the fat portions
belonging to him. And the Lord regarded with favor Abel and [then] his
offering. But unto Cain and [then] unto his offering, he did not have regard.”
Clearly the focus of this passage is on the men first, not the offerings.
There are four emphatic words used to indicate that it was the men, and their
hearts’ condition that was the determinative factor in God’s deciding whose
sacrifice was to be accepted. The text almost stutters: “And Abel, he, he
also, he brought.”
The word for “to regard with favor” is literally ‘to gaze toward’. God’s favor
was directed toward the person first and then toward the offering that person
brought. If the heart was not found acceptable, the gift was likewise
unacceptable. God is still the same today.
Cain’s heart and not his offering was the real problem. The last part of verse
5: “So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast”—literally, “it burned
Cain greatly [or, to the core] and his face dropped.” He could not look in
God’s eyes.
God’s displeasure with Cain revealed Cain’s heart. Instead of changing his
attitude, Cain let a root of bitterness harden into murder. For the moment,
however, anger hid itself in Cain’s eyes—he avoided looking anyone in the eye.
Averting his own gaze, he kept others from seeing (through the eye gate) what
was in his heart.
Sacrifice in the Old Testament is not a formula for earning divine credit. God
always inspects the giver and the worshiper before he inspects the gift,
service or worship. 1 Samuel 15:22
Instead of repenting for his bad attitude and seeking direction from God, Cain
now gave way to feelings of anger and jealousy. God reminded him of his sin,
warned him of its danger, and pointed out the way of escape. But Cain had
chosen his own way. Meeting his brother in the field led to murder and earth
witnessed the first death.
4:7 If you do good, you can look me in the eye. If you do well, there is the
honor due to the first-born. If you do not do well, sin crouches for the
first-born.
4:9 God knows where Abel is. He invites Cain to acknowledge his
responsibility. When Adam was confronted by God, he told the truth. Cain tells
a bare-faced lie. He plays with words and asks, “Am I the shepherd’s
shepherd?”
God called Cain to account, and again he hardened himself, this time almost
disowning the authority of God. Adam committed sin, but Cain committed both
sin and crime. As a warning, and yet as a witness to all, Cain, driven from
his previous chosen occupation as a tiller of the ground, was sent out as “a
fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.” But even this punishment, though
“greater” than Cain “can bear,” leads him not to repentance, but only to fear
its consequences. And “lest any finding him should kill him,” God set a mark
on Cain. He “went out from the presence of God, and dwelt in the land of Nod,”
that is, of “wandering” or “unrest.” The last that we read of him “he built a
city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.” 4:17
To be driven from the land is to have all family relationships broken.
Alienation from God leads to fear of other men. Cain rejects God’s authority
and then grumbles about the consequences.
The story that began with the attempt by Cain and Abel to draw near to God
through sacrifice ends in Cain’s leaving the Lord’s presence from which his
parents had been expelled. All aspects of human culture are in some way
tainted by Cain’s sin.
4:23-24 Lamek is even more depraved than his forefather Cain. Lamek, the 7th
generation is part of the development of technology, the arts, and the growth
of violence.
4:25-26 The line of Seth offers hope. All nations are invited to worship God.
All nations can pray to God.
There are some obvious lessons in this story. Thus we mark the difference in
the sacrifice of the two brothers—the one “of the fruit of the ground,” the
other an animal sacrifice. Again, the offering of Cain is described merely in
general terms; while Abel’s is said to be “of the firstlings of his flock”—the
first being in acknowledgment that all was God’s, “and of the fat thereof,”
that is, of the best. Secondly we note, how faithfully God warns, and how
kindly He points Cain to the way of escape from the power of sin. Third,
bitterness leads to murder. Fourth, no punishment, however terrible, will
force man to repent. Fifth, God cares about the death of the innocent. Sixth,
innocent blood pollutes the holy land and God cannot be present. Seventh, only
those who offer their best are acceptable to God. But what does this story
tell you about God?
In the Epistle of Jude (ver. 11) we are warned against going “in the way of
Cain.”
After the sin of Adam and Eve the relationship of man towards God was entirely
changed. In the garden of Eden man’s relationship with God depended on his
perfect obedience. But man disobeyed and fell. God in His infinite grace now
opened to man another path. He set before him the hope of faith. The promise
which God freely gave to man was that of a Deliverer, who would bruise the
head of the serpent, and destroy his works.
Eve was looking for the promise of God that would reverse the consequences of
her sin. We know the rest of the story.
Sunday
Morning Family Worship -- 9:00 a.m.
Vic Dunton,
Chaplain
Phone: (503) 829-8591
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