Genesis 4:1-15 - In the Grip of Death

This chapter is the second part of the early history of the human race: the first part is the story of Adam, and the second the story of Cain. Both of these stories parallel each other: Adam is created to work the ground (2:5,8,9) and Cain is a tiller of the ground (4:2). God comes to a clear judicial decision regarding the two: Adam is not to eat of a particular tree (2:17); Cain's worship is not satisfactory (4:5). In both cases, disobedience follows, and God interacts with the perpetrators, saying to Adam 'Where are you?' (3:9) and to Cain 'Where is your brother?' (4:9). In both cases there is a curse on the ground (3:17-19; 4:10-12). God mitigates the effect of the curse in Adam's case by clothing him with skins (3:21), and in Cain's by setting a mark on him (4:14-15). God casts Adam out of the garden (3:23) and makes Cain a vagabond (4:12,16). In Adam's case, he 'knew his wife and bore him a son, Cain' (4:1); in Cain's, he 'knew his wife and she bare Enoch' (4:16).

Is this just a literary parallel? It is not less than that, but it is, in fact, much more. It is an indication of how quickly the human race fell into sin, and how quickly the human heart succumbed to sin's corrupting influences.

When we move into Genesis 4, we come face to face with the devastating consequences of sin in human experience. The Fall of Genesis 3 brought mankind into the pit of sin, with death now separating man from God. The results and the fruits of that action now set the scene for all that happens subsequently in the history of the race.

Let's remind ourselves that a real, historical Fall of mankind is the teaching of the Bible, and is essential to a Christian philosophy of history. Unless there was such a Fall, then either God created the world and man in sin (which is hardly a good reflection on the Creator), or else evolution necessarily means that man evolves in sin. The theory of man's evolution cannot explain the fact of human depravity - in evolution man is meant to get better, not worse. Only the Bible's teaching - that the world was originally good, and subsequently became evil - satisfies the reality of our human condition and life.

Genesis 4 introduces us to the disruption of the first family as a result of sin. Let's simply highlight three aspects of this narrative:

(1) Hopes Dashed

At the beginning of the chapter, we are told that Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Their drama and their story are well known, and have furnished many writers with material as they struggle with the themes of jealousy, betrayal, envy and lust which meet us in Genesis 4.

But I believe there is something here which ought to give us pause. When Cain was born (his name means "acquired"), Eve said "I have gotten a man from the Lord". What was the significance of this?

You remember that in Genesis 3:15, when God pronounced his judgement over Adam and Eve in their sin, God promised that one would come who would right the wrongs and deliver mankind from the grip of sin and death. From the seed of the woman God promised a victor who would crush the head of Satan.

I believe that when Cain was born, Eve named him Cain because she believed that he was the promised deliverer. "He's come!" she shouts. This is the one of whom God spoke - the one whom God promised to bring light and life.

Instead, Eve realised only too quickly her folly. In sorrow and pain she bears another child, whom she calls Abel, meaning a wisp of smoke, or a breath. She acknowledges, in the naming of her second son, the mistake she made with the first. She looked in the wrong direction for salvation and blessing. Cain was not the deliverer. Mankind would have to wait many, many years, before He would come. The promised Saviour was to be no ordinary man, but the God-man, Christ Jesus.

What an indictment on the human race, which could not provide its own deliverer! And what a glorious indication of the sovereign mercy of God, that what man could not do, God did by stepping in to provide a Saviour in the Person of Jesus Christ. How many people today are looking for salvation in the wrong direction, and in the wrong place, to find their hopes dashed and carried away like a breath of wind! Only Christ has the answer to our need and our lost condition.

(2) Passions Aroused

The story moves on. Cain and Abel both brought their worship to God. Cain brought God an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel brought a lamb from his flock. God rejected the offering of Cain, and accepted that of Abel. How these things were made apparent we do not know. But we do know that Cain's evil heart was roused in a passionate outburst of anger - and he murdered his brother Abel.

Envy and jealousy and covetousness all combined in Cain's heart. He struck the blow, not at his own sinful tendency, but at his righteous brother. He excuses himself and blames Abel, instead of correcting himself and bringing an offering acceptable to God.

There is an important lesson for us all here. What God thinks of us matters supremely. He sees right into our hearts, and into our homes and into our families. And, as with Cain and Abel, we are called to remove everything that is unacceptable and offensive to him. Instead, we are concerned with what is unacceptable and offensive to us. Cain wants to get rid of Abel, instead of his own passionate jealousy. Cain believes he can please God with his own works, his own efforts, his own fruit. Abel comes to God, as Hebrews 11:4 tells us, by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

I suppose that you could call this the first persecution of the church. Here was worldly, religious Cain, slaying Abel, his godly, faithful brother. How the Word of God can divide families and homes still!

(3) Justice Demanded

God cannot overlook the matter. He hears the blood of Abel crying for vengeance. Cain is punished. Sin is dealt with. God upholds the rule of law, and the strict requirements of justice are met. There is grace; God puts a mark on Cain so that none will hurt him; but there is also justice - Cain becomes a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.

Sin can never be hidden, or put away out of God's sight. He always sees it, and he always punishes it. We are open and naked before his eyes. How we need to know that our sin is dealt with, and covered and forgiven! And how can that be? Listen to the writer to the Hebrews 12:22-24: "but you have come .. to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel". The blood of Abel cried for vengeance, but the blood of Jesus cries for the pardon of sinners and for the washing away of every stain and every sin.

The blood of Abel points us to the only hope of cleansing and pardon - the blood of Jesus!