Cain and Abel

As we continue in the book of Genesis we will focus on both the first sin and the first animal sacrifice for sin, we will also include verses on why Abel's offering was accepted by God but Cain's was not. Hopefully this study will edify many who are confused in this part of God's Word.

Let us review what happened after sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve:

Genesis 3:7
"they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

Genesis 3:8 "And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden."

Sin in the Bible is oftentimes described as 'Nakedness'. It is meant to teach us how serious God views our sin and the need of a covering for it.

Now let us proceed with a verse taken from Hebrews 9:22

"And without the shedding of blood is no remission (of sin)."

This above verse is very important because in it God tells us what is needed for sin. God revealed this first to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21

"Unto Adam also, and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Gen. 3:21

The above is the first example of an animal sacrificed to cover sin. We would see this sacrifice repeated again and again throughout the Old Testament. The animal sacrifices were meant to teach man how grievous sin is and what God himself tells us he requires for sin, which is . . the shedding of blood. We read that God made a covering for Adam and Eve with the animal skins. These animal sacrifices were to point us to the Savior who would shed his blood for us and be our covering for sin. The garment he would clothe (cover) us in is his own righteousness. Without this covering of Christ's righteousness we could never stand before a holy God, but now God does not look upon our sins, he sees only his Son!

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10

Let us turn to Genesis 4:2-5

2 "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.

We should now understand why Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground was rejected by God. Since it was bloodless it was not what God required. Cain in his rebelliousness rejected God's only plan of salvation.

Abel ( a keeper of sheep), in contrast did what was right in God's eyes and brought the sacrifice he required, which was the firstborn of his flock and the fat portions (that which burns most quickly rep. of fire, holiness.)

Once again, these sacrifices are a picture ('a shadow or type') which points us to the true Lamb of God who would be sacrificed (on the cross) for his sheep, his flock. This is what God's people in the O.T. understood and laid their hope upon. Christ was the firstborn of the dead:

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." Col. 1:18

Abel (a picture of the spiritual man) knew he was a sinner but had faith in the One who would eventually come to take away the sins of the world:

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh!" Hebrews 11:4

Cain is a picture of the man of the earth who is rebellious and angry towards God. He does not come before God with the only sin offering that God accepts, which is Christ, the true Lamb of God.

Hebrews 10:4

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."

We now have Christ:

"But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Hebrews 9:26

The Book of Genesis, ‘Made in God’s Image’

There can be some confusion in God's first book of the Bible and we do not have to go too far along in our reading before questions may pop up; therefore, I believe it would be profitable for us to examine what God has said in this foremost book of the Bible. Genesis is at the top of my favorite books in the Bible and is one which I never tire of reading, mainly because God reveals the end from the beginning. I hope that if it is not already a favorite of yours, it will soon become one. From these pages we will lead up to our main focus in this study which will be who is made in God's image and how God goes about doing this work.

And as God himself created us, so He also knows how best to teach us; it is just as we teach our very children. He takes us by the hand and holds us up as we take our first steps, talking to us and teaching us things all the while He is walking with us. As parents to our own young children we see how quickly they learn by reading to them from picture books. This is also how our heavenly Father teaches us many spiritual things, using 'pictures'. Sometimes these 'pictures' in the Bible are called 'types or shadows' of things to come.

In this study from the book of Genesis, I have tried to write very carefully and simply. As we are God's children, we will proceed cautiously, as with children.

For those who do not have their Bibles close at hand, I will place below the verses we will focus on as we go along. Let us pay close attention as the Lord speaks to our hearts through his Spirit.

1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

We take note the first mentioned-heaven, the second-earth.

2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

God gives to us the description of the earth. His Word is true. It was "WITHOUT FORM"
(w/o an essential nature) and "VOID"
(vain and useless.) The first mention of 'darkness' is seen here. It was upon the "face of the deep". God does not add anything to this darkness "upon the face of the deep", but we take a cue here as it is mentioned right after God describes the earth.

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Now we have something new! It is 'waters.' We have now so far been introduced to three things, heaven, earth and waters. Right now God does not mention just where the waters are. We note it is in the plural form. We are told, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." So now, we associate God's Spirit with the 'waters'. His Spirit is "moving upon the face of the waters."God is active here.

3 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Now, what we already had was: God's Spirit moving upon the waters. God next says, "Let there be light." God's Spirit is now moving upon the waters, and we also have light.

4 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

God saw the light was good. It has already been connected to God's Spirit moving upon the waters. We note that there was no work done with the 'darkness' at all, only that these two are divided.

5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

Light-Day Darkness-Night Evening & Morning = Day One

We note that God first gave a name to the light (day) then a name to darkness (night), but that each day will begin the opposite way, first with the evening then morning.

6 "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

Now we come back to something God talked about earlier, the 'waters'. They are to be divided. By what? Something called a 'firmament'!

7 "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so."

Here God makes the firmament. Now He divides the 'waters'( under/above the firmament). It was so.

8 "And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

It is now that God reveals to us what this firmament is . . . Heaven! So we now have an idea just where God's Spirit was as He moved upon the waters in the light. We also know where this separation of waters occurred; it was all done above, in heaven. Evening and Morning = Day 2.

9 "And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."

Now we begin to see a picture forming. The waters that were under the heaven were gathered together and the dry land appeared. (In our minds we will probably see a picture forming of the earth with the oceans/seas, all as one.) But wait. . . !!

10 "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." Please Note . . .

It was the DRY land only that God called EARTH! The gathering together of the WATERS, (those that were from the heaven) he called SEAS. These are separate.

"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:" 2 Peter 3:5

Now that we have an idea what God has said in his Word from chapter One, verses 1-10 we can proceed cautiously:

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Gen. 1:2

We remember at that point, these waters were all yet above, with God's Spirit, in heaven. We saw:

God's Spirit, Moved upon the face of the Waters, & Light.

From these three, mentioned above, we should start to see a picture (or shadow) forming of the child of God. One who is born of God's Spirit from above, from water as we are in His light.

Let us turn to John 5:4 (For a thorough review, start at John 5: verses 1 through 9).

"For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."

Does the above sound familiar? Yes, from these verses in John we see the same picture we saw from the very beginning in Genesis 1:1-10. God reveals to us the beautiful 'picture' of salvation.

For an angel (Spirit of Christ) went down (to world) at a certain season (in the day of salvation) into the pool (picture of the gathering together of the waters or "seas") and troubled the water (moved in our lives): whosoever then first (Christ is the firstfruits . . . we are found in him)after the troubling of the water stepped in (that work he continues to do in our lives) was made whole of whatsoever disease (set free from sin/bondage) he had.

That above pool of water is where all God's children are gathered, we live in it. We should realize that this pool of water is 'the washing of water' through God's Word:

"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." We are sanctified (set apart, made Holy) through the washing by God's word.

Let us look at another picture of this same healing . John the Baptist was in prison when he heard the works of Christ,

See Matthew 11:4-6

"He sent two of his disciples to ask: Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered and said unto them:

" Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:"

"The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and poor have the gospel preached to them."

"And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."

This is a spiritual picture of the healing that God does in the life of each of his children. For we were all blind, lame, as lepers, deaf, dead! The blindness he heals are the scales from our eyes; he opens them anew whereby we can see those things spiritual. The lame now walk in his light. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalms 119:105) Sin is pictured as disease (leprosy). It is for this reason Christ came into the world. He came to save us from sin and its bondage. This is the healing he came to do described throughout the Bible in many different pictures. We are no longer servants to sin, but servants unto God. The deaf can now hear and fully understand. The "dead are raised up' and become new creatures (creations) in Christ, whereas we were once considered dead to God when we followed after our own lusts and desires. We are raised up in newness of life and have Christ's promise of eternal life. God's children are those 'blessed' who will not be offended at the Gospel of salvation through Christ. It is to those 'poor' that the gospel message reaches. This 'poor' God equates with the spirit. The poor in spirit are humble before God. They repent of their wicked ways and follow after him. (Repent means to 'turn from', it is a turning away from sin and a turning to God). The opposite of those 'poor' are the 'rich' in spirit who believe they have no need of a Savior and will think they are doing just fine in themselves. In the Bible they are likened to the Pharisees.

We need not look any further than our own baptisms to see a picture of this new life, as we follow the example that Christ set before us in Matt. 3:13-17.

"And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." Matthew 3:14-17

We read in Exodus 2:10 She (Pharaoh's Daughter) called his name Moses, "because I drew him out of the water."

Two more:

"He sent from above; he took me; He drew me out of many waters." 2 Samuel 22:17

David repeated the same prayer in Psalms 18:16, "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

We were told by Christ himself, we would be 'fishers' of men (Matt. 4:19). Here again Christ is talking of water ('seas'). The fish Christ is talking about are the poor, the humble to whom the gospel message is preached and will reach. There are numerous pictures in the Bible where water is used in connection to washing and to make someone (or something), such as clothing or vessels clean (holy). We are washed by water through the reading of his Word.

"Jesus answered verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

God's children are born from the Spirit. The 'woman' who was taken from man's side (rib) was then reborn (or born again) from Christ's pierced side, of water and blood. In her is pictured the elect or chosen of God. Once again, the water is the washing through his word and the blood, that which Christ shed for his children.

"But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." John 19:34

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again." John 3:6-7

"Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." 1 Thessalonians 5:5

God's spiritual food (his Word, his truth) is often times seen as rain. 'Manna' was also a picture of this bread of life which was rained down from Heaven to Israel.

The opposite is seen of the earth. A lack of God's word in the earth is seen as drought or famine, or darkness and 'no sun'.

After sin, God said that the serpent (Satan) would be upon his belly and eat dust. Man is formed from the dust of the ground.

"Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." Gen. 3:14

From all of the above we should be able to see the distinction that God makes in those who are born of the Spirit and those who are of the earth. It is the spirit which lives on, the physical body will disintegrate.

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19

Christ's promise to his own:

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:28

"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Acts 13:48

"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Titus 1:2

We see from the start of Genesis, that when God's Word is spoken, it is as good as done!

read the rest here.

God's Grace From Eternity

“And you shall be unto me a kingdom of Priests, and an Holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

God’s wonderful eternal plan for His children is seen in the above verse.

Yet, we learn through scripture that from before time God knew how mankind would sin and also how He would send a Savior to redeem them.

We read God’s message of salvation through a Savior in both the Old and New Testaments. It is through the covenant of grace God made with man that we would see his plan. This covenant of Grace is undeserved favor. What sinful man deserved was God’s wrath.

To see the first mention of God's plan we must go back to the book of Genesis. When man was first formed he was without sin. There was no commandment given from God yet, therefore he was not in sin. (I do not agree with the phrase that some will use, 'Adam was perfect'. When I buy a new appliance for my home I believe it is good but until I have tested it I do not say it is perfect. To say something is 'perfect' we must put it through various tests or circumstances.)

Let us begin at Genesis 2:8

"The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.”

“Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Gen. 2:9

Here we now see the One Commandment God gave the man:

“Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:16-17

God would make a ‘help meet’ for man, taken from his side:

“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” Gen. 2:22-23

We see how subtle the serpent was, whereby he deceived the woman in making her doubt what God had said. She was also told “ye shall not surely die.”

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Gen. 3:6

Afterwards they knew they had sinned (“the eyes of them both were opened; they knew that they were naked”). They attempted to make their own covering for sin (made from fig leaves), and then hid from God.

The Shepherd’s voice was soon calling out for His lost sheep, “where art thou?” And the man said, “I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.” He would blame the woman: “She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” And the ‘woman’, she also found someone to blame: “the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Gen 3: 9-13

From this first sin of disobedience we see how mankind has since failed to recognize sin in their own lives.

Now to those 'Blessed' of God. . . "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. 1:29

Surely, from this lesson in God’s Word we now realize that there are two trees to eat from. Man will eat from either one or the other. We must ‘eat’ from God’s ‘tree of life,’ from the true ‘seed’ Christ who died on that tree (the Cross) which brings eternal life.

“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.” Mark 14:22

There is only one other tree to eat from. . . the ‘tree of good and evil’. Satan would try to deceive the very 'elect' (if it were possible) into following after him into disobedience!
We must recognize who Satan approached with his deception. It was ‘the woman’, who was to be the ‘help meet’ of man.

“She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.” Gen. 3:6

We shall see what happened to the man:

“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen. 3:23-24

Has Satan beguiled you? Do you know from which tree you are eating?

Christ is seen as the 'second Adam', whereas earlier the 'woman' was taken from Adam's side . . . On the Cross, it was Christ's side that was pierced and the Church (the 'woman') was born (or born again).

"Jesus answered and said unto him: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3

“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came their out blood and water.” John 19:34

(His children are washed in His blood and continually cleansed through the washing of water, His word.)

The Bible tells us that man was banished from the garden. He was now a sinner, following after the serpent in rebellion and would eventually also die physically. Since man descended from Adam, they inherited his sinful nature and are under God’s wrath and curse.

The first hint of God’s plan is told us in the garden when he told Satan:

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15

This verse reveals to us that the ‘woman’ (the ‘help meet’) would become the church, the redeemed. She is taken out of man and redeemed through the 'Son of man', Christ. She is the ‘elect’, the ‘chosen few.’ Christ is the true seed.

"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1Cor.6:11

Let us carefully read Genesis 1:26-28:

"And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he him. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it.

We must remember God is Spirit. The Old Testament saints looked forward to a Savior, the N.T. saints look back on Him. All believed God and are 'created in God's image'. We were already flesh and blood but are now led by God's Spirit.

Let us also read Genesis 2:7:

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

The above is a description of the physical man formed only of the dust of the ground. (God breathed into his nostrils.) But, he is not of the spirit. He needs a 'help meet' which was 'the woman.'

"That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:6-7

We can now understand. One is of man 'formed' out of the dust of the earth and one "created in God's image", Jesus Christ. Have you been born again?

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:29-30

God's children were known by Him even in those days when "the heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them." Gen. 2:1 We realize God saw us through time, even as He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

As we look ahead into the book of Revelation, we see how angry Satan is with the woman who was born again in Christ.

"And the Dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17

And once again, going back to the Old Testament, we see a gradual unfolding of God’s plan of salvation. Man is in such darkness he must first recognize what sin is. The law is seen as a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we may be justified by faith” Gal. 3:24. We are taught how grievous sin is through the many blood offerings and sacrifices of bulls and goats to ‘cover sin.’ The Old Testament sacrifices had no power to take away sin but God used these types or shadows to point us to the true Lamb of God who would yet come to redeem us from our sin. Christ was that fulfillment. Man was not saved through the keeping of the law, but by the law is the knowledge of sin. Through it God shows man how much he is in need of a Savior. Christ fulfilled all the law for us.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Romans 3:20-22

Christ was the ‘mediator of a better Covenant’. This covenant was made with man in which God purposed to save the ‘elect’ or ‘chosen few’ from among mankind. These few are sometimes called the Woman, the Church, his children, the redeemed of God, etc.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Eph. 1:4-5

This covenant is by faith in Jesus Christ. It is through faith in His finished work alone that our sins are forgiven. We lay hold of the salvation found in Christ as the Holy Spirit applies God’s grace to our hearts by giving us the very faith to lay hold of Christ. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was a most important gift that was promised and received by us after His Ascension. Through the Holy Spirit’s power of regeneration and sanctification we are made new creatures in Christ.

It was on the Cross that Christ, the true lamb of God, redeemed us with his blood; and through His death on the Cross, God’s penalty for sin was paid. He died in our place.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

We are blessed with eternal life and are once again in fellowship with God. It is only because of Christ’s sacrifice and His obedience to God that His children inherited these blessings in the covenant of grace. We are now clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

God Himself declared the price of sin, but . . He Himself paid the price in our stead!

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burndt offering: so they went both of them together.” Gen. 22:8

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12

Through the Cross the power that Satan had over Man was broken. Man is no longer held in bondage to sin.

For God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” Col. 1:13

We can freely serve God and receive His blessings. Christ was the true ‘seed’ in which “all the families of the earth would be blessed.” This is no longer confined to the nation of Israel. True Israel consists of those ‘circumcised of the heart.’ All nations now have the knowledge of the Lord and His salvation, both Jew and Gentile.

“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life." Revelation 22:14.