Cain And Abel - The.. Story Of Every Man Series

10-12-04

Cain and Abel - the Story of Every Man

Genesis 4:1-4:12

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 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.

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

The Bible story of Adam and Eve, our first parents, while they were in the garden before their Fall, shows the perfect life of happiness and fulfillment that could have been theirs. But it wasn’t to be. It ends with the guilty pair being driven out, with cherubim and a flaming sword guarding the way back. It’s to the Bible that we must look to gain an insight into why this world is in the situation it’s in and how it operates.

This world of ours is in a conflict between God and the devil and the forces of good and evil. The apostle Paul writes: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph 6:12). That’s the Bible’s ultimate explanation of the whole of human history. But God hasn’t finished with His damaged creation. He allows life to continue in the fallen world because His objective is to renew and restore. He won’t accept that His divine purposes are to be thwarted by evil.

The author of Genesis turns to the second generation and here we see a picture of life after Eden. It sets the scene for humanity in a way that we can see our own world and ourselves. On the positive side, there’s the beginning of community life with the expanding population developing into the occupations of agriculture and farming.

The early humans were conscious of spiritual life, for the in-built desire for worship was there. Men and women still bear the image of God, although it is grossly distorted. All this is good but underlying this progress is the problem of the human predicament. The sins of the first parents are embedded in the character of the children. Yet, God hasn’t abandoned His creation. Here in the world, which has been turned topsy-turvy by the entrance of sin, God is still revealing Himself and looking for a response from each person, for all of us are answerable to Him. This is clearly seen in the life and times of Cain and Abel, the first of the many case histories that the Bible gives for our understanding.

The illustration provided by these two brothers presents truth in the form of their different personalities. These two sons of Adam and Eve are representatives of every man, and I could add every woman. Abel is the man who pleased God, while Cain didn’t. In this world there’s "Abel", and there’s "Cain". Let’s see what we can learn from them, for in ourselves also, perhaps there’s "Abel" and there’s "Cain". It’s important that we know which of these men we are more similar to.

We see: TWO BROTHERS BUT THEY ARE SO DIFFERENT.

Cain was the firstborn, followed by Abel. They had the same parents but soon developed into different characters. There’s nothing wrong with that because God has made us as individuals; each of us are a unique person. We can see that in our children; my son Mike is very different from my daughter Mary. I believe we raised both of them the same way, but they were different even as little children. I bet you would say the same thing about your children. Today, science wants to get involved with creation. The present talk of cloning human beings is quite alien to God’s creation. We must pray that this evil will be thwarted.