Please read Genesis chapter 4 vs1-17,25

In Genesis ch3 the sin was against God in chapter 4 here the sin is against a fellow man. We to can see the local fulfillment of Gen 3:15, the enmity between the 2 seeds, the wicked and the righteous, Cain and Abel.

Let us look at Cain.
The central truth following on from chapter three is that God is to be worshipped, that he is to be worshipped by means of a sacrifice which is appropriated by faith. Further careful contemplation of our scriptures tells us there was a place for their worship, there was an altar upon which the sacrificial lamb was to be offered and there was a time they were to come to worship. In the reading of these scriptures we must conclude that Cain and Abel had been instructed in the way to worship, by Adam and Eve or by the Lord himself.

This leads us to consider the nature of the offerings Cain and Abel brought unto the Lord and God’s rejection of the one and His acceptance of the other.

So far as the record goes there is nothing to intimate that up to this time that Cain was any different from Abel. From our scriptures we can see Cain was no infidel or atheist. He was ready to acknowledge God’s existence and he was prepared to worship God BUT it was after his own fashion. He ‘brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord’. His offering was a bloodless one (Heb 9:22), Cain’s offering was of the fruit of the ground, it consisted of the fruits of his own labour and ignored the Divine sentence ‘cursed is the ground’ (Gen 3:17). Therefore God had no respect to Cain’s offering. And Cain’s countenance fell, he was furious that all his labours should stand for nothing. He was Angry at the thought that he could not approach and worship God according to the dictates of his own mind. It is the same today people working their own way for salvation.

The Lord said to Cain “Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen?”. God knew Cain’s heart just as He knows ours. Cain’s worship was merely a form of godliness but denying the power thereof (2nd Tim 3:5). There was no humble desire to learn God’s will.

Verse 7 is very interesting “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”. God here is giving Cain a second chance! ‘Do it right Cain and all will be well’. Praise the Lord that our God is the God of a second chance. Also look and see that God is saying to Cain ‘you shall retain the right of the first born, the right of primogeniture and have the precedence over Abel your younger brother ,just bring the correct offering if you don’t or won’t sin like a roaring lion is crouching and will pounce on you and devour you’. And so it did. Can we see here a double motive for Cain being wroth, rejection by God of his offering and through his rejection of God his loss of primogeniture and Abel now being his ruler. Rather than submitting to Abel Cain rose up and killed his brother. Cain personified James ch1:15.
So Cain refused to obey God’s command and the Lord said to Cain, ‘where is Abel thy brother?’ Cain replied with a lie ‘I know not’. And then with total irreverence ‘Am I my brothers keeper.’ There is no contrition, no confession of sin but instead as with Adam a repudiation and covering of it. And so with all of us at sometime .

So after the Divine inquisition comes the Divine sentence upon the guilty Cain. 1. Cain when he tills the ground it shall not give forth it’s strength to him. 2. Cain is now a fugitive and a vagabond where ever Cain would wander the ground is against him the people are against him. The remembrance of his murder would follow him. And Cain said unto the Lord ‘MY’ punishment is greater than I can bear.’ Cain realises something of what he has done but his mind is occupied with his punishment and not the sin which caused it. The consequence hits him, his way is not the way, ‘From thy face shall I be hid’

No repentance, ‘And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod.’
Nod means wandering…..There is no peace or rest for the wicked who reject God. In death just wandering in the darkness and blackness for eternity.

But “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

God bless
Michael Whitehouse