Cain and God

So often we speak of Cain and Able,
two brothers who's relationship is marred by the murderous fruit of Cain's choice to ignore God's instruction.

The story is really about Cain.

Abel did well, made an offering by faith
(we are told in the letter to the Hebrews Ch 11).
Cain came up short, his "face fell".

Did he stew in resentment? Anger? Malice? His emotions aren't labled, but we know the result was murder.

God warned Cain. "...Sin is crouching at the door..."
God made it clear, "you must rule over it."

Are you in charge of Sin?

(The inhereted nature of fallen man)
Apparently, there are reins of the mind
that we are to take hold of!
Who is 'steering my car'?
(me or my desires that give in to sin?)

Romans 6:16 Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. (NLT( >

Cain worshiped God on His own terms: fruit of the ground that epidomized the human effort, the fruit of the fallen state of man who worked the accursed ground.

The Bible only says that God had regard for Abel...and his offering.

Literally, Abel's offering caused God to "look with a keen earnest glance"

Cain stands there with his best game on, earnestly seeking approval. The first born, showed up by his little brother; with God lifting up the offering that points to Christ, the Lamb that was slain from the foundations of the world.

It was never about Cain. The favour was shown toward the faith of Abel; toward the offering that pictured Christ. Not that there was fault in the offering of Cain as much as it lacked that in which God was keenly interested:

From the begining of the end, Adam, Man,
the man & woman were covered with coverings that resulted from sacrificial death. At the end of the end, we are covered with the only covering that results in eternal life, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

But Satan whips up the mind. Sin crouches at the door.
Cain is had by it; he fails to master it and succumbs to sin, becomes a slave, and the result is murder.

Cain is offered a opportunity to confess
and responds with insolence. What?! (my kids say)
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
Driven from the ground, from the community,
from the face of God, further east of Eden...

Chapter 4 ends with the ultimate good that is possible
even after the grave consequences of sin have destroyed generations: "...At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD." Gen 4:26 (ESV)