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Read Genesis 4:1-16

“The LORD God mad garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.  Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like on of Us, knowing good and evil…” –Gen. 3:21-22

 

Here God is setting up the path to the atonement of sins.  There is a blood atonement here as the animal is killed, the animal skins clothe the shame of Adam and Eve being naked (there is shame in their nakedness because of their disobedience to God, their sin but God is providing them freedom from that shame in giving them an atonement, an appeasement for their sin.  This is seen as an act of forgiveness from God towards Adam and Eve.

 

The Point:  God created order.  Sin created chaos.  Sin leads to destruction, death and evil yet even in our disobedience God is there to change us, to love us, to bring us back to Him. 

 

  1. The penalty of Sin must be paid with a blood atonement. There is a right way to worship God and a wrong way to worship God.

 

There is a right way to worship God and a wrong way.  How do we please God?  Remember sin is not to be blamed on God rather on the disobedience of Adam and Eve—God demands the penalty of sin to be paid because of their disobedience—this is what needs to happen if they are to be with God in eternity. 

 

There needs to be a perfect sacrifice in place, with a perfect life with perfect blood to pay wages of sin, in order to pay back the debt in which Adam and Eve owe because of their disobedience towards God. 

 

God is setting up the order of atonement, the ceremony of atonement in Genesis 3:21-22.  The story of Cain and Abel highlights what true atonement look like versus improper atonement.  We know of the atonement process and law surrounding the atonement sacrifice found in Leviticus 17:1-7 and Genesis 4:1-5

 

If we look at the grain / agricultural offerings in Leviticus, Cain’s offering, simply is not meeting God’s standard of worship.  In Leviticus there are three main types of offerings to God—these were ways that God instructed the Israelites to worship Him and atone for their sins. 

  1. Burnt Offering (Leviticus 1:3) this offering teaches that God is pleased to accept anyone who comes to Him through His prescribed sacrifice. The whole was consumed on the altar, and it atoned for the worshipper’s sin.  It satisfied God’s wrath against sin and made fellowship possible between a holy God and a sinful person “If His offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting.”
  2. Grain Offering (Leviticus 2:2) someone accept by God by His grace—through the burnt offering—could respond in gratitude through a grain (or cereal) offering. It usually was an offering of flour and oil in which a handful was burned and the priests ate the rest.  It was a gift to God from the best of the worshipper’s agricultural produce in an act of thanksgiving for sin’s forgiven.
  3. Peace Offering an optional offering given an addition to the burnt offering. The peace offering closed with a meal, in which priests the worshipper, and his or her friends at together.  The sacrifice’s had to be eaten in one or two days.

 

“Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.  And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering.  But for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.  SO Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.” –Genesis 4:4-5

 

Abel is following the proper burnt offering atonement ceremony—he even brings the fat portions to be burned for a pleasing aroma to God.   Abel’s worship is pleasing to God because it is following God’s commandments, following His instructions that would have been given to Adam, Eve and their family.

 

When we worship God, we are offering Him a gift, a donation, a sacrifice—what is that sacrifice? It now becomes are bodies, our hearts and our lives devoted to Him—this is what Paul reminds the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 5:1-6  (Ephesians 5:1-6 and Jude 1:10-12)

 

These rebellious men learned from the rebellious angels and worshiped Balaam—they went the way of Cain, spat in God’s face and worshiped God improperly by worshiping themselves and other false gods. 

 

  1. Sin brings destruction and chaos. Satan is always waiting for humanity to do what is wrong—he is the ultimate tempter. 

 

Cain was filled with anger and jealousy leading him to murder which brought chaos into Adam and Eve’s family. Genesis 4: 6-16 Cain is elevating himself, his feelings, his anger and his truth above Abel and above God.  Sin loves death.  Sin loves chaos.  Sin loves destruction and disorder.  Sin is self-serving not self-less.  --1 John 3:11-12

 

Remember, God is just, God will destroy sin, He will convict sin, punish sin because a good God must correct disobedience in His children—otherwise those children will remain children for the rest of their lives.  They will never learn, never grow up this is why God disciplines Cain, because He is a good father.  Cain was given many chances to repent, to apologize, to confess His sin but Cain decided to defy God and to remain unrepentant.   There is a similar act of disobedience, sin, and punishment of that sin that God inflicts on two people in the New Testament.  Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5:1-11.

 

  1. Even though Sin brings Chaos God brings order. Jesus is God and He is the light in the darkness—Jesus overcomes sin, Jesus forgives Sin and Jesus will destroy Satan.

 

When we look back at Genesis 3:15 we are reminded of God’s punishment of the serpent for his tempting and trickery of Eve. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

 

This word “Seed” in Hebrew:

זֶרַע zeraʻ, zeh'-rah; offspring, child, fruitful this usage of the word is paired with a singular, pronoun inflection found in Hebrew which would point to this word “seed’ being used to describe a specific person.

 

“…From this data it becomes clear that, on the syntactical level, the singular pronoun hû’ in Genesis 3:15 is quite consistent with the pattern where a single individual is in view. In fact, since the subject pronouns are not normally necessary for the meaning, we might wonder if the singular hû’ in Genesis 3:15 is used precisely in order to make it plain that an individual is being promised, who will win a victory over the snake at the cost to himself…” –Jack Collins, Tyndal Bulletin

 

Cain’s story is bleak, evil prevails over good, life is destroyed by Cain’s sin and Satan has a brief victory—but it doesn’t take long for God to continue fulfilling His promise in bringing Jesus into the world. –Genesis 4:25-26

 

“The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:  anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” –1 John 3:8-10

 

We are given a choice—to worship God, to love God and to love others because He first loved us and to live a life that leads to eternal life with God  or to worship ourselves, to put ourselves first, to worship the things of the world and put them first leading to pride, death and destruction in eternal hell and torment.  To live like Cain or to live like Abel. (Psalm 29)