The Blood of Abel
Notes
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Context leadup
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
4 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;
5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.
Much speculation about reason for acceptance and rejection, but the scriptures give enough evidence to see exactly what happened…
First, let’s look at how Cain and Able’s gifts are contrasted:
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
Now look at the description of Abel’s offering:
4 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;
Even before we get to the substance of the offerings, the contrast between their motivations is found in the timing of the gifts…
For Cain, it came about in the course of time… That phrase is literally translated “at the end of days.”
It is an intentional illustration by the biblical author to show how at odds these two were in their prioritization of God’s portion.
in the course of time… at the end of days… after a while… the idea that there was much that transpired before Cain decided to give an offering to God…
But Abel gave of the firstlings… He gave not after he had everything established… not after a course of time… not at the end of days… at the beginning, at the start… from the first!
God doesn’t deserve your leftovers. He deserves the first.
Even the lives of Cain and Able stand at odds in the context where we are reading…
Remember what was said of the ground just a few verses before?
This is right on the heels of the fall and the curse:
17 … Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
Now immediately after that with the work of the ground still fresh on the mind, we hear that Abel is a keepr of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground…
It’s not that these were good or bad occupations, but they are symbolic in the sense that the ground is presented as hard work that demands from the one who toils in it…
In other words, Cain has chosen the occupation that represents what it looks like when man thinks he can sustain himself… The typical man position…
And his offering coming at the in the course of time shows exactly where he ranked God in his priority list… His focus was on doing and producing and working and laboring…
This is the image of Cain…
Then there’s Able… Able is a keeper of flocks… He’s not a maker or cultivator or producer… He’s a keeper… a feeder… a shepherd…
He stewards the natural process God put in place, he watches and protects what God has put under his charge…
Notice the contrast… Cain is working to produce, but Abel is a keeper of what God provides…
It’s no wonder, then, why Cain felt it necessary to only bring his offering after some time had passed.. He couldn’t bring what was first, because he was working too hard to produce it and what if he did all this then took God the first, but ended up needing that to replant as seed…
Surely God will understand that I can do more with that first fruit and make a larger return later, I don’t need to give it, I need to reinvest it…
God doesn’t really need it anyway, so I might as well use it right now and then when I get enough… in the course of time…
But Abel stands before God, knowing it is God that has provided everything he tends over…
It’s God who created the flocks I lead… It’s God who causes them to multiply… so I bring Him an offering of the first of my flocks.. The best I have to offer, as a thank you to the One who provided everything I have…
Cain represents what it looks like when we see our role as working hard trying to produce… Abel represents what it looks like when we see our role as tenders of what God has provided…
This is why giving is important both in scripture and in life, because giving reveals your source…
If you believe you are your own source, you will hoard all you can tightly grasping everything you can hold on to with a closed fist…
If you believe God is your source, giving becomes a natural outflow, cheerfully motivated by the perspective that God has provided it all and allowed you to have what you have, so why wouldn’t you give your firstfruits back to Him?
Hebrews describes it this way:
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
Notice what this says… God didn’t just accept the sacrifice of Abel because He prefers blood over grain…
The sacrifice of Abel was better because it was done in and by faith…
It required faith for Abel to bring the first of his flock.. and yet it was that same faith that compelled him to do just that…
This is opposite of what Hebrews calls “dead works” wherein man follows the example of Cain and relies on themselves to produce and when they do give it is not by faith, but by comfort… motivated by image and response rather than by love for God…
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
And what was the way of Cain, the error of Balaam and the rebellion of Korah?
Each of these had more confidence in themselves to produce what God had already provided and in the ase of Balaam and Korah led others to do the same…
This is why we give… because our faith compels us to declare with our giving that God is our source and He can provide better than I can produce…
And there in that declaration lies a Gospel message…
The entire life and occupation of Cain and Abel are contrasting parallels showing the difference between two lives, one marked by the need to produce and the other compelled by faith to give back to God what He provided…
Their very lives contrast the difference between a Gospel driven person and a self reliant, works driven person.
This is why Jesus said,
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If your treasure is in what you can produce, you will always grasp it with an iron fist…
But if your treasure is found in what God has provided, you generously give because God has generously given to you…
This is the picture of the Gospel… that you cannot produce what God has provided…
You cannot earn your way into His grace, and you cannot work hard enough, be good enough, or fein righteousness long enough to produce what was provided in the sacrifice of Jesus…
Whereas God told Cain..
10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.
Hebrews says…
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
Abel was killed as the first martyr because of his righteous actions, and his blood cried out to God against Cain, but the blood of Jesus speaks better…
But why the blood? Why is the bible so illustrative about the blood?
22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Just as Abel represented a better way than Cain, one of relying on God’s provision rather than attempting to produce on our own, so too does the Gospel tell us that we must rely on the provision of salvation through the blood of Jesus and that we CANNOT produce that righteousness in ourselves…
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
That word propitiation is not part of our common vocabulary and it sounds complicated, but it literally means mercy seat…
It is the place of atonement…
God displayed Jesus as the mercy seat, the place of atonement in HIS BLOOD.
Jesus IS the place you run to in order to find forgiveness and righteousness and transformation…
Many of you think in your mind that God is mad at you and that the blood of Jesus speaks like the blood of Abel against Cain, but the blood of Jesus has a better testimony because He is the place of mercy where we can run to and His sacrifice covers us…
I cannot produce it because God has provided it…
27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
In other words, you can’t earn it, you can’t produce it, and there is no boasting in it!
This salvation is by faith… Just as Hebrews says of Abel… It was by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain…
Why was it better?
Because it was BY FAITH!
It was rooted in and compelled by Faith and trust and reliance on God!
This is the message of the Gospel that Jesus came and did what we could not!
That we are now rooted in and compelled by our faith and trust and reliance on what Jesus did for us and in us!
This is why we live like we do, with Jesus at the center, dedicating our time to the Word and the Body and to God in worship and prayer…
This is why we give like we do with generosity and joy and thanksgiving…
This is why we care for one another like we do, because He has showed us what love looks like!
Why do we talk about the blood so much? Because it is the means by which we were justified before God and empowered to a transformed life…
11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
I just wonder today with two starkly contrasting examples before you… which pattern will you follow?
Will you continue attempting to produce in self reliance, holding tightly to all you can grip, seeking for any control you might have, following after the way of Cain?
Or will you answer the Gospel call to live as Abel, who attained his righteousness by FAITH, trusting in what God has provided?
Altar Call
Maybe you need to answer the call of the Gospel for the first time…
Or maybe you need to answer the call to live a Gospel driven life that relies on God at every turn rather than attempting to produce what He has already provided…
Alter Time. Life Decision, Giving an offering like Abel, making a public declaration, or something else, but whatever it is, it will take a faith that trusts and relies on God.
