Genesis 1 to 11 by John F. MacArthur

Author:John F. MacArthur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

2) Cain and Abel lived together on a daily basis. What sort of person was Cain? What kind of neighbor would he be?

3) How does Cain’s response to God after the murder of Abel indicate whom he served in his heart?

4) How was the curse God gave to Cain similar and different from the curse He gave to Adam and Eve? How did God show grace even after pronouncing the curse?

EXPLORING THE MEANING

There is only one way to enter God’s presence. Cain’s sin was that he insisted on entering God’s presence on his own terms. He evidently knew that God demanded an animal sacrifice, but he still brought an offering of fruits and vegetables. Ironically, the Lord would institute “grain offerings” under the law of Moses many years later, but Cain was not given that option. This early sacrifice was a sin offering, intended to represent God’s atonement for the sins of mankind. For that, the shed blood of an innocent lamb was required.

God’s response to Cain demonstrates that He was determined to show mankind what it would cost to bring redemption. These sacrifices were pictures of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, and nothing but the blood of an unblemished lamb would do.

Cain is the archetype of the world’s teaching that there are many ways to God—that there are multiple paths to eternal peace and bliss. There are undoubtedly many paths that lead to Christ, but the path to the Father is only through the shed blood of Jesus. All who insist that they can find their own way to God will suffer the same fate as Cain: they will shut themselves out from the presence of God forever.

We must shut out sin when it crouches at our door. Abel’s offering was acceptable not just because it was an animal, nor because it was the best of what he had, nor even because it was the culmination of a zealous heart for God, but because it was in every way obediently given according to what God must have revealed. Cain, disdaining the divine instruction, just brought what he wanted to bring: some of his crop.

Rather than being repentant for his sinful disobedience, Cain was violently hostile toward God, whom he could not kill, and jealous of his brother, whom he could kill. God reminded Cain that if he had obeyed Him and offered the animal sacrifices He required, his sacrifices would have been acceptable. He also told Cain that if he chose not to obey His commands, ever-present sin, crouched and waiting to pounce like a lion, would fulfill its desire to overpower him.

Cain had the opportunity to examine his heart and change his path. However, he rejected the wisdom spoken to him by God Himself, rejected doing good, and refused to repent. Sin thus pounced and turned him into a killer.

We are our brother’s keeper. The world tells us that we must learn to love ourselves before we can truly love others. The Bible teaches the opposite. In

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