CAIN, THE FIRST SON, PART ONE.
Reading: Genesis 4:1-18; 1 John 3:12; Jude 11.
“As Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered is brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous” 1 John 3:12.
The first son born after the fall to Adam and Eve was named Cain (Genesis 4:1). He was also a gardener like his father Adam, with much toil and labour they worked to gather the same fruit as before the fall, he is called “of the evil man” 1 John 3:12, and out of harmony with God (Hebrews 11:4). He offered unacceptable sacrifice to God (Genesis 4:3-7), and as a result murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8).
God punished him by sending him out to become a wanderer, perhaps a nomad, in the land of Nod (Genesis 4:9-16). To protect him from being slain himself God set a “mark” on him (Genesis 4:15). The nature of the “mark” is unknown. He was the father of Enoch (Genesis 4:7), and the ancestor of the Kenites, who in the Hebrew are called Cain in Judges 4:11.
There are many signs in the Bible, some are:
1. The sign of sin upon Cain, Genesis 4:15.
2. The sign of the rainbow over Noah, Genesis 9:12-13.
3. The sign of the covenant given to Abraham, Genesis 12:1.
4. The sign of the blood on the door given to Moses.
5. But most of all the sign of the bread and the wine of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the CROSS of Calvary.
1. CAIN THE FIRST MURDERER.
Cain was the original murderer, and even in that he killed his own brother. How early in human history does depravity display itself? The first son of man becomes the first murderer of man!
What a delight filled Eve's heart when her first child born after the fall was a man child, she cried out, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” The pain of child birth was forgotten in the joy of producing a man child. The promise that “the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head” was fresh before her. Could Cain be this deliverer? But unlike his father Adam who was created in the image of God, Cain was created in the image of his father Adam, a man of sin. No, the small child in the arms of Eve was already a sinner (wrong doer).
But what a disappointment he turned out to be! Given pride of place in the first family home, taking up his father's employment, “a tiller of the ground,” he lorded it over his younger brother, Abel. Taught by God and his father to observe sacred seasons, and to bring gifts of offerings to the Gate of Eden as an act of worship, Cain proudly exhibited the produce of his own endeavours.
Abel was more discerning; he presented unto the Lord a blood-sacrifice as the beginning. God accepted Abel's offering (by a consuming fire?) but rejected “the way of Cain.” Cain was furious! His wounded pride stirred powerful emotions that, unrestrained by reason, built up to murderous proportions; that he slew his brother Abel Genesis 4:8. See it was all to do with the works of Cain and the Grace of God given to Abel. Men today still try to use their works to please the Lord when grace is so free to them by the way of the CROSS.
How distressing that human nature could decline so quickly! Just one removed from the perfection of Eden and we have friction, sin and even murder. To make matters worse, Cain showed no remorse, but tried to justify himself before the Divine Judge, “Am I my brother's keeper?” He insulted the Lord God, for brotherhood is the strongest of all bonds. Man is responsible for man. Does God ask Cain where Abel is because Adam never knew where Eve was?
The Lord reasoned with him, but it was all in vain. There was no alternative but to punish Cain; Cain was banished (this is the second time, the first was in his father Adam banished from the Garden of Eden, and now Cain is banished from the sight of the Lord).
But Cain sought to lesson his curse by many devices; he was the first to build a city (Genesis 4:17), no doubt for self-defence. His family followed his downward ways, using ranching (Genesis 4:20), mechanics (Genesis 4:22), and music (Genesis 4:21), to lighten their godless lives. They flourished until the flood, but then all were lost.
