At the end of the Chapter 3 , Adam  & Eve are thrown out of garden of Eden and now the “Tree of Life” is protected . This is the first price of sin . They had to leave the perfect place for living where all their needs were met and now in chapter 4  Adam & Eve are going to experience the true reality of conflict between seed of Serpent and seed of woman.

We do not know how much time elapses between chapter 3 & 4 but Cain and Abel are born and are grown man  ( verse 3 ) . During this period of time Adam &  Eve had fellowship with God probably at the gate of Eden . It is during this time practice  of sacrifice was taught to Adam ( innocent blood for guilty).  Adam taught this practice to his children.Now both Cain & Abel bring sacrifice to God but God is happy with Abel’s sacrifice and Cain is angry .

but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. Gen 4: 5

Here we see the sign of depression from Cain. Why did his countenance fall?   simple answer is because God did not respect his sacrifice but in reality his relationship with God was not RIGHT. Whenever you feeling angry or depressed , get on your knees and see if things are right with God.

Both brother were taught what is proper sacrifice yet Cain bought fruit of the ground. Remember you need BLOOD for atonement. Why did he bring  fruits? he was tiller of ground , meanwhile Abel was a shepherd thus Cain  had to go to his younger brother to buy or get a sheep. At this time I like to point out there is no indication , this is the first time they were sacrificing. Abel is called the first prophet by Jesus (Luke 11:50-51) thus Abel probably taught Cain or talked to him about God and where he was lacking spiritually. However , When Cain Began to resent this situation and finally decided to rebel against it . He probably thought his fruits were every bit as valuable and useful as were Abel’s animal. As you can see His heart was not right and he offered the sacrifice because he had to not because he wanted to . He also wanted to do it on his term not the terms his father taught him or one his brother followed in doing so he disobeyed God.  How many times we make this same mistake ? we want to worship and follow God on ” Our Term”.  There are certain requirements we need to follow to have relationship with God. Only the blood of lamb can give you atonement . Cain felled to see it and so many  good christian fell to see this. Your salvation only comes from ” Blood Of Lamb”  ( Jesus) . you must accept him and be born again . Like Cain do not bring your FRUITS  ( Good works, Tithes, Church attendance, Etc) to find your salvation. In next 2 verses we see how merciful and loving our God is. Although Abel was a prophet ,he sacrificed his best animal and God was pleased with him, God is speaking to Cain. When we are at our weakest , Satan always wants you to think God has abandoned you but that is when God is right there to show us the way . All we have to do is REPENT and obey his word .

⁶ So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

What a loving God, He is there in our time of need . He did not cast Cain out rather he said all you need to do is obey and you will be accepted. Please notice the change of wording before it was sacrifice was not accepted but now it says “will you not be accepted? “.  For God it is always about the HEART . We must follow God with our heart. Study the word because you want to not because you have to; go to church because you want to worship the LORD not because you need to put in that hour so you will have blessings. In verse 7 , for the first time in scripture word “SIN” is used. Here there is clear warning , one I believe every christian gets when we are about to sin but like Cain so many of us ignore the warning . Also we have ability to rule over sin if we choose to do so. If you are struggling with secret sin, you have power to overcome if it was not so God would not have said to Cain ” you should rule over it”.  As the spirit of Lord is speaking to Cain , he walked &  talked to his brother and in process he murdered him ( verse 8). I would like to think bothers were talking and once gain Abel, who is prophet is telling Cain to change , repent and submit to God bur instead Cain Slew him . He thought Abel was the problem . How many times we blame others for our sins ? When brother or sister in Christ is trying to correct us or guide us, we like Cain choose to murder. Sometimes we cut that relationship off or leave the church or slander that person or lash out. Next time it might be wise to step back and just make sure  “is the sin Knocking on your door “?

In verse 9 , God asked the question just as  he asked Adam , Where are you? As With Adam God was not asking for physical location of Abel but rather where are you spiritually. He knew exactly what Cain had done just like he knew what Adam had done but he wanted a confession and repentance instead he received defiance( verse 10) . I like to believe even if at this point Cain had confessed and asked for forgiveness , God would have granted that but instead he tried to hide cover up his deeds ( fig tree leaves). He lied to God and challenging his right to question him.  God, therefore could no longer speak to him in mercy  but only in judgement. God cursed him and like Adam he lost his home and becomes a wanderer. At this point suddenly can realizes what has happened and becomes somewhat remorseful. and God spared his life and puts a mark on him so no one would kill him. Just note on “MARK” lot of people have used this verse to abuse certain ethnic group but that is scripture twisting as MARK was only on Cain not his descendants and with destruction of world ( FLOOD ) all descendants of Cain died so there is no ethnic group that has mark of Cain.

In rest of the chapter we see Cain continues to move away from God. He leaves presence of God and goes to land of NOD ( no man’s land) . When establishes first city , he names it after his son instead of God again showing his has no reverence for almighty. This ungodliness continues through his generation and Lamech takes 2 wives breaking the Gen chapter 2 perfect union God had created between man & woman.In verse 24 he say If Cain shall be avenged seven fold,Then Lamech seventy-seven fold.” you here same number again in new testament, how many time should i forgive my brother? seventy times seven.

Points to Remember

Abel was first prophet. Like Jesus he was a shepherd. His sacrifice was pleasing to God. Jesus is perfect sacrifice . Abel was hated by his brother Jesus was hated by his people and world today. Abel’s blood was crying out to God for Justice, Jesus’s Blood is crying out to you .

You can never achieve salvation through works only the Blood of lamb can give you salvation.

Abel shows one lamb for sin of one man , later in exodus we will see one lamb for family then in Leviticus Aron sacrifices lamb for nation and finally  One lamb a perfect sinless sacrifice Jesus for the world.

God searches your heart. Is whatever you do for God done by faith ? If you following rituals or calendar set up by church , it might time to look within.

 

I hope you are blessed by this study. I did not spend much time on later part of chapter due to length but if you wish to learn more please contact me and I will expand on generations of Cain . I also did not address  who is wife of Cain as answer is obvious but if you need an answer , i will provide you one.

In His Grip waiting for second coming , Peace.