Congratulations! It’s a Murderer!
Genesis 4 opens happily enough with the birth of Adam and Eve’s first child, Cain.
It’s a boy!
I wonder if they imagined the child that they cradled in their arms was the Savior God promised to send through Eve’s offspring.
Surely, they never imagined they were cradling a murderer.
Two Sons. Two Offerings. Only One Accepted.
After Cain was born, the joy continued with the birth of Adam and Eve’s second son, Abel.
Cain kept the fields, and Abel kept the flocks.
In time, God called Cain and Abel to bring an offering.
We know God called them because no one seeks after God. Cain and Abel would never have come up with this idea on their own.
We also know from the full counsel of God’s Word that whenever God calls someone to do something, He instructs them in how to do it, and He empowers them to be able to do it.
So, when Cain and Abel brought God an offering, we can be confident they knew what to bring and how to bring it.
Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. He was a farmer so it seems logical that he’d bring something from his fields.
Abel brought a “firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.” He was a shepherd, so it makes sense that he’d bring something from the flock.
Two sons. Two different offerings. But only one was accepted by God.
God had regard for Abel and his offering. But, He rejected Cain and his offering.
Was God Being Cruel to Cain?
We make a serious mistake whenever we think God is not being fair, or kind, or good. Adam and Eve made that mistake in the garden. They doubted God’s goodness.
Anytime our thoughts or our understanding about God paint Him in a bad light, we can know without question that our thoughts and understanding are way off.
Cain’s thoughts about God were so off, they were evil. Don’t take my word for it. God said it through the Bible:
We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
1 John 3:12
God also said to Cain,
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted?”
God knew the answer. He’s omniscient. He was leading Cain to confess and check his own heart.
God wouldn’t have asked Cain this question if Cain had no idea how to come to “do what is right.”
What exactly was WRONG with Cain’s Offering?
Why did God reject Cain and his offering?
There are several theories such as he didn’t bring a blood offering or he didn’t have the right attitude. Genesis 4 doesn’t actually spell it out here for us, but Hebrews 11 sheds some light.
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice—the RIGHT offering as God had instructed.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Hebrews 11:4 and Cain’s actions help us understand that Cain did not come to God by faith. And, since it’s impossible to please God without faith, God could not have been pleased with Cain.
Hebrews 11:6 continues:
“anyone who approaches Him [God] must believe that He exists.”
At least we can check that box for Cain. He obviously believed God exists since he brought Him an offering.
But Hebrews goes on to say that the one who approaches God must also believe that God “rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Cain’s actions make it clear he did not “earnestly seek” God. If he did, he would’ve come like Abel— by faith.
Faith in what?
Abel came by faith in God’s Word. He believed that what God had said was true and trustworthy. He could be obeyed and followed without fear. And in fact, He must be fully followed and obeyed, or else it’s not faith.
If Cain had earnestly sought God, he would’ve come the one way God had required to bring the offering.
Before we cry out that maybe Cain simply couldn’t get the right offering, let’s remember that God always provides what He requires we bring.
God provided Abraham with the Lamb. And He provided us with the Lamb of God, Jesus.
One Way to Salvation
In all of the Bible, we see God provided only one way for salvation.
When God sent a world-wide flood, there was only one way to be saved. Noah and his family entered the ark through the one door and were saved (Genesis 6-8).
When God called for the angel of death to pass over the Israelites’ houses in Egypt, there was only one way to be saved. They had to apply the blood of the lamb onto the door of their house and remain inside (Exodus 12).
When fiery snakes bit the Israelites in the wilderness, there was only one way for the Israelite’s to be healed. They had to look at the bronze snake lifted up on the pole (Numbers 21).
Over and over, we see that salvation comes one way—by faith in the Word of God
And each way gave a clear picture of Jesus Christ, who is, by the way, the Word of God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
Jesus is the Word.
Salvation has always been by faith alone in the Word of God alone—Jesus. Not by any offering or works of our own hands.
Our Righteous Deeds are Like Filthy Rags
What would you think of someone who rolled around in bacteria, infection, and diseases and then waltzed into an operating room in the middle of a heart transplant?
We’d be horrified, right?
Coming to God with our sins is more offensive—more unacceptable—than coming with bacteria, infection, and diseases.
Only God can make sinners acceptable. So, when He calls us into His presence, we must come the right way—the way He instructs.
Cain didn’t come the right way. He exalted himself in his heart above God and he decided for himself what God should deem good and acceptable.
Cain Did What Was Right In His Own Eyes
His actions declared, “I can come to God any way I want, and He’d better be okay with it!”
Cain didn’t do what was right in God’s eyes. He did what was right in his own eyes.
Abel wasn’t perfect. He was a sinner, too. But like the notorious sinner, King David, Abel had a heart after God’s own heart. He did what was right in God’s eyes.
When God rejected Cain and his offering, Cain didn’t humble himself and repent. He got furious.
God warned him, “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
The word for “desire” is the same word God used with Eve in the curse. Her desire would be for her husband. But not in a good way. Not, in the way that says, “I desire you because I love you.” But rather “I desire to rule and dominate you!”
Look Out! Sin’s Desire is For You
Sin’s desire is—to rule and dominate us.
We fool ourselves when we think we can dabble in sin.
This sin won’t hurt anyone. It won’t hurt me.
It’s just this one time.
It’s just this one little sin.
That’s exactly what Satan wants us to think. But sin is never satisfied. It must have more.
Evil always increases. It’s insatiable.
Sin demands nothing less than our full surrender and rewards us with our utter destruction.
Jesus demands nothing less than our full surrender and rewards us with eternal life and joy!
Sadly, Cain let sin dominate him.
He went into the field with his brother Abel and killed him.
Sin works fast. The third person in history was a murderer.
We can choose our sin, but we can’t choose the consequences.
God came to Cain again.
Did you notice that Cain never sought God? He never ran to God for forgiveness. But God came to Cain with grace and the opportunity to repent.
Would Cain confess and repent this time?
Hint: No.
God said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
Cain said, “I don’t know.”
Really? You’re going to lie to an omniscient God? Good move.
But that’s the nature of sin—to lie.
Sin hates the Truth.
It hates the Light and thrives in darkness.
Just Like His Father
More and more, Cain reflected Satan, the prince of darkness and his father.
Remember, God revealed in Genesis 3 that there would be offspring of Satan. Not literal children of Satan by physical birth, but people who reflect Satan so much it’s like they’re his own children.
Satan is a liar and a murderer. He rejects Truth and embraces the lies and the pride of his heart.
Sin and pride in Cain’s heart grew until they turned him into a liar and a murderer.
God said, “Where is Abel your brother?”
Cain replied with a snarky comment and bold-faced lie.
“I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
No, you’re your brother’s murderer!
God said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying up to me from the ground.”
We know God knew what Cain had done. He’s omniscient.
And He’s omnipotent.
God Could’ve Stopped Cain. Why Didn’t He?
I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Him when you get to heaven if you get there, which you will if you come to God by grace through faith in Christ.
Anyway, I don’t know God’s full purpose for allowing Cain to do what he did,
But I know God.
And I know we can trust Him.
His purposes are always perfect. Nothing happens outside of God allowing it or causing it. Nothing sneaks past God.
One possible purpose we see for God allowing it is that God used Cain’s evil as a warning that there are only two ways we can go.
We can go the way of Cain and embrace sin and surrender to it rather than repent of it and surrender to the LORD. We can let sin drive us away from the God and into eternal torment.
Or we can go the way of Abel—by faith in God’s Word.
Yes, Abel died for His faith, but he lives now forever in His presence with great joy.
We can choose our sin, but we can’t choose the consequences:
God cursed Cain from the ground that was already cursed.
“When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Genesis 4:12
Because Cain loved his sin, he refused to humble himself before God. Instead, he whined and accused God of being unfair.
He was only sorry for the consequences of his sin and afraid of what man would do to him on earth. He wasn’t concerned about what God would do to his soul one day.
Is God Too Severe?
God provided the way to salvation to anyone who will come by faith through His Son.
He doesn’t require—or want—elaborate sacrifices and good works.
All God requires is that we surrender our all to the One who loves us. That we turn away from our sin, which seeks to destroy us and to bow forever to the One who came to seek and save us.
Jesus took our punishment for sin upon Himself so that we could receive Christ’s righteousness.
Abel wasn’t righteous. God counted him as righteous because of his faith. His obedience didn’t make him acceptable. It demonstrated his faith. He came the right way with the right offering because he had faith in what God had told him.
Cain didn’t. Cain’s pride said, “No, I won’t come the way You said, God. I’ll come the way I think is best. I’ll bring what I want, and You’d better be okay with it.”
Cain still didn’t repent even after God confronted him again. Nevertheless, in grace and mercy, God put a protective mark on Cain and preserved his life.
God continued to shower blessings and grace upon Cain and his descendants.
Cain and his wife had children. He and his descendants built cities and had more children.
As they grew, so did their evil.
Cain’s descendant Lamech, took two wives. (There goes God’s design for marriage of one man and one woman.)
Lamech told his two wives, “I have killed a man for wounding me, and a young man for striking me.”
Increased sin is the legacy of Cain’s line—the offspring of Satan.
By God’s grace, they enjoyed success in the world’s eyes—their own eyes. But who cares about worldly success when your end is hell?
Who cares that you built amazing cities and inventions when your end is destruction?
Sin destroys. But God saves all who surrender to Him.
Cain didn’t.
There’s no record that Cain ever surrendered to or sought God by faith.
Cain is a tragic example of the judgment to come for those who don’t surrender to Christ—who, like Cain, go out from the presence of the Lord.
The Real Surprise
It’s actually not surprising that Cain brought the wrong offering and walked away from God. That’s really not the surprise.
The surprise is that Abel brought the right offering and that his deeds would be considered righteous—good and right before God. It’s surprising because no one seeks after God. No one does good.
We all want to go our own way. We’re all inclined to go the way of Cain.
But one day, Final Judgment is coming. We’ll all stand before the Judgment Seat of God.
The best of us can be the worst of sinners. But Jesus is the perfect Savior.
Far From the Presence of the Lord
Those who’ve heard the gospel message of salvation through Jesus but go the way of Cain and cling to their sin and reject Christ will spend eternity away from God, rejected by the Lord.
When Christ judges the world, many will cry out, “Lord! Lord! Didn’t we do this and that for you?”
But Jesus will say to those who never truly surrendered to Him by faith, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.”
Genesis 4 breaks my heart because we see the Truth that there are people who simply want nothing to do with God’s grace. Or with Jesus.
God showers them with blessings in this life, but in the end, because of His righteousness and holiness, God will reject them. Everyone who never came by faith with the right offering—with faith alone in the righteousness of Christ alone to make us acceptable to God.
Nothing Stops God’s Hand or Plan
As deeply tragic as Chapter 4 is, it ends with a comforting Truth. God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth, which means appointed
God appointed Seth to be the line of Christ.
This reveals an Important Truth: Nobody and nothing can stop God’s plans.
Cain didn’t stop them.
Satan didn’t stop them.
The line of Christ had always been appointed to go through Seth, and nothing would stop it.
Nothing did stop it. Jesus came through Seth’s line.
And it was through Seth’s line that men began to call upon the name of the Lord—to Worship the Lord.
The line of Cain multiplied sin—rage, murder, the distortion of marriage and all sorts of rebellion against God.
The line of Seth multiplied worship and brought salvation by faith in the right offering—Jesus.
Two Ways to Come to God
Cain and Abel taught us there are two ways to come to God.
We can come the way that’s right in God’s eyes. Or the way that is right in our own eyes, but is wrong.
One way leads to salvation. The other to destruction.
Which way will you come?
In our next video, we’re going to look beyond the powerful information we’ve seen here to how our knowing this will lead to our transformation.
We’ll consider the question: If we believe and act on what God has revealed in Genesis 4, how will our hearts be changed and our lives be different tomorrow?
