The Book of Genesis is the outline of God's plan of creation and redemption. God made everything found them as good. Chapter 3 describes the root of sin whereas chapter 4 is a continuation that describes the fruit of sin. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12). As a result of the sin of Adam, all men are now born in sin. David prayed in Psal 51, “My mother conceived me in sin.” The consequences of sin are permanent and long lasting. It may not be politically correct to say that man is born a sinner. In these days of virtual technologies and social networks, everybody wins and nobody loses. Now we have an image problem. "Can you bring clean thing out of an unclean thing?" (Job 14:4).
Sin is like radioactivity, the effects of which can be carried for generations. Madam Curie received Nobel prize in Chemistry and in Physics and died of leukemia caused by prolonged exposure to radioactive materials. Even today, scholars who wish to read her handwritten journals and lab papers must wear protective clothing because these archives are still radioactive. No one today would approach radioactive material without protection.Her pens and papers are still infected.
Adam and Eve did not have any genetic defects, and that enabled them and the first few generations of their descendants to have a far greater quality of health than we do now. Adam and Eve’s children had few, if any, genetic defects. The human genetic code has become increasingly “polluted” over the centuries as genetic defects are multiplied, amplified, and passed down from generation to generation. In marriages within the family now, recessive characteristics becoming dominant leading to abnormalities. Cain kills his younger brother Abel due to jealousy that God accepted Abel's offering and not his. Cain was not an infidel or an atheist, but a self-centered man with no remorse.
Why did God accept Abel’s sacrifice and reject Cain’s? This question stands forever in history as the answer is expected from every generation since then. Cain's sacrifice was the fruit of his toils, the product of his labors which he took pride in. He lived to please himself and honored God with lips. His heart was far from God. The actions of Cain and the events that followed explain to show that Cain's offering was more centerd on himself than God. Our attention must not be so much upon the difference between their offerings, but difference between their hearts. John wrote, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous" (1 John 3:12). The evil in his heart was further revealed when the Lord asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don’t know," he replied. "Am I my brother’s keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." (Hebrews 11:4). Faith is the acceptance of grace, saying that God is greater than sacrifice. One offesr sacrifice not out of generosity, but because of the greatness of God. It is not paying God a compliment, rather it is an expression of love.
Why did Cain kill Abel? Killing the messenger will not kill the problem. Cain and Abel stand before us as two representative men. God knows the heart and sees the heart, and not the external stuff. God told Cain that if he did what is right it would be accepted, but "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you." (Genesis 4:7). In Jude’s epistle, we read, "They have taken the way of Cain," referring to lawless men. This may mean that they, like Cain, disobediently devised their own ways of worship; they did not come by faith. Cain’s offering, while acceptable in his own eyes, was not acceptable to the Lord. The result was that Cain became very angry, and later, in the field, he killed his brother Abel.
Canin refused to repent. Repentance is remorse over sin, not over the consequences. David prays, “God does not reject a contrite heart. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. O God, acceptable sacrifice is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51). Blood of Abel was a symbol of a better sacrifice to come in Jesus Christ. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) "Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." (Hebrews 12).
While the joy of Eden was replaced with the barrenness of shame and guilt, Jesus came and won victory over both. In that victory He gives us hope that we too can have victory. A victory that shows us that evil no longer holds sway. A victory that assures us the day is coming when we will no longer toil in wilderness but will be ushered into heaven, where the joy of Eden will be restored forever. Christ’s blood is better than Abel’s blood of the sacrifice (not Abel’s own blood shed). Abel's own blood cries for vengeance (Genesis 4:10); Christ's blood cries for peace and pardon. We can find peace in the fact that Christs’ sacrifice is better than Abel's sacrifice. God’s Son hung on a Roman cross as a sacrifice for the sin of the world and His blood cries out for pardon from sin.
