Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Genesis Chapter 4:1-to-Chapter 4:15: Zac Poonen

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And I’m sure many have proclaimed that truth, and we have proclaimed it many times in the church, that when parents are out of fellowship with each other, they are opening the door for the devil to come into their home and attack their children.

It’s amazing how, in spite of hearing that and in spite of seeing it in scripture, yet so many parents take it so lightly when their fellowship is broken with one another. They don’t realize that what they see in their own children is the effect of their own unwillingness to humble themselves in their relationships with each other. That’s why it’s very important what we learn here from this passage, for parents to keep fellowship with one another and with God.

Eve’s Expectations for Cain

Of course, when Adam and Eve had this first child, they had such expectation. It’s quite interesting to see. In the margin it says in verse one, “I have gotten a man child,” Eve says. And in the margin it says, “The Lord.” Somehow she knew that promise which God gave in Genesis 3:15, that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. She knew the serpent was Satan, and the seed of the woman, in some way I think she probably knew it would be God Himself coming in human form.

When she got this baby, she thought, “This is it. This is the seed. I’ve got a man, the Lord.” What expectations she had when she saw that little baby! How she must have dedicated it to God and hoped that this lovely boy called Cain would grow up to crush the serpent’s head, just like many a mother has wonderful expectations of their son or daughter when they are small.

Yet all those longings and all those expectations are not enough. Even getting so excited to think that this is the one who is going to crush the serpent’s head is not enough if those children are not brought up in the fear of God, and if the father and mother don’t have fellowship with one another and the children don’t see that.

Two Brothers, Two Destinies

I can imagine that Cain and Abel saw Adam and Eve blaming one another. You think they blamed one another only in Genesis 3? That must have continued all through the nine hundred years of Adam’s existence. And that infection got a hold of Cain. And instead of being one who would crush the serpent’s head, his own head got crushed by the serpent. What a tragedy and what a warning for all of us.

We can say in one sense, spiritually speaking, that he became the seed of the serpent. He became a child of the devil instead of being the one who would crush the serpent. But Abel was a God-fearing person.

It’s also an amazing thing that two brothers can grow up in the same home with the same instruction. I’m sure that Adam and Eve taught them about God. Two brothers can grow up in the same home and be so completely different, with the same parents and the same instruction and the same teaching, and be so completely different that one can be a child of God and the other can be a child of the devil.

Adam and Eve saw these two sons of theirs grow up, separated for all eternity, one into an eternal heaven, and the other into an eternal hell. That’s happened again and again throughout history.

The Offerings of Cain and Abel

We see that in verse three, “It came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.” This obviously was the result of parental teaching. The parents must have taught Cain and Abel that you can’t approach God except by sacrifice.

They must have taught them what they had learned before they left Eden, when God killed an animal and took the skin and covered Adam and Eve with the skins. There God must have taught them that a lamb needs to be killed, an animal needs to be killed, its blood needs to be shed to atone for sin. And they taught that to their children.

But Cain did not bring an offering of blood; he brought an offering from the fruit of the ground. But Abel, on his part, also brought an offering, but he brought an offering of blood. And not only that, it says here, “He brought the best of his flock.” We don’t know what Cain brought. It doesn’t mention that it was the best of the fruit. He just brought something along.

Cain was also religious. He also wanted to offer something to God, but not in God’s way. He didn’t offer the best to God. Abel brought the best, “the fat portions.”

God’s Regard for Abel and His Offering

There are two things it says in the last part of verse four, “The Lord had regard for Abel first and for his offering.” It is the man first that makes the offering acceptable. The Lord didn’t just regard Abel’s offering; He regarded Abel and his offering. The offering was right, and the man behind the offering was also right.

In Cain’s case, the offering was wrong, and the man behind the offering was also wrong. So there was something in Cain’s character that wasn’t right.

The Danger of Parental Favoritism

I don’t want to speculate as to what the cause of that was. But having observed many families through these years, I’ve come to see that sometimes parents have a soft corner for their firstborn child, particularly if it’s a boy. They allow their firstborn to have a lot of freedom because it’s their special one. And those are the ones who are groomed for the devil, who are not disciplined because it’s the parent’s pet.

I can imagine that when Eve got a baby and she thought this was the Lord Himself in human form, she must have thought this is special. Abel, yeah he’s second class but this one is first class. And therefore that son was ruined.

I feel sorry for parents who think that their children are innocent and harmless. Obviously, they haven’t read the Word of God. It is such parents who prevent their children from becoming men of God when they grow up, because they always think, “My children can do nothing wrong. My lovely little darling Cain can never do anything wrong.” And see what he turned out to be later on in life, a murderer.

And Abel was the second class one. He sought God and he was a God-fearing person. And Jesus called him, in Matthew 23:35, “Righteous Abel.” That’s the title Jesus gave him. So there was a difference between Abel and Cain. Righteous Abel. That despised second son was righteous. And the darling first one was a rogue, but the parents didn’t think that. So we’ve got to be very careful.

Faith and Blood: The Two Requirements

We read here that not only was there no blood in Cain’s offering, if you turn to Hebrews 11, there’s something else. We see there was a difference between these two. Hebrews 11:4, we read about Abel there, that “by faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain.” The sacrifice was better. Why? Because it had faith. There was faith in it, and there was blood in it. And that’s what made the distinction between these two types of religions.

We read that God testified about his offering. There in Hebrews 11:4, God testified. And that’s most likely by fire coming down from heaven upon that altar. I can imagine Cain setting up his altar like the prophets of Baal, and Abel setting up his altar like Elijah, and they’re both offering their sacrifices, and the fire comes and falls upon Abel’s offering, and Cain sees that. Cain sees the fire of God fall upon his brother, and he is jealous.

Two Religions in the World

There are two religions in the world. One is the religion of Cain, and the other is the religion of Abel. Right from the beginning of history, there have been two religions, the religion of Cain and the religion of Abel.

The religion of Cain is the religion of good works without any blood sacrifice, without the blood of Christ. The religion of human understanding, which can modify God’s Word. That’s what Cain did. There was no need of a blood sacrifice, he thought. “I’m a good man. I’m alright. I haven’t harmed anyone. I’ve lived an upright life.” And he comes with some offering to God. He’s religious.

All heathen religions are like this. To do good, be accepted before God. No, the fire of God never falls on that. There must be blood, there must be faith. Not only blood, not only faith.

And that’s why we need to preach the blood of Jesus Christ and we need to preach faith. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. That’s clear. And without blood, Hebrews 9:22, there is no forgiveness of sins. Absolutely none.

There are two things the Bible says: without blood there’s no forgiveness of sins, without faith it is impossible to please God. And Cain had neither, but Abel had both. He came with faith and he came with blood, not according to his reason, and he was accepted.

The Character Behind the Offering

We need to bear this in mind that there are these two, we can say spiritually speaking, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Two religions, the real Christ and the devil imitating Christ. False religion here.

And we can say that in these two, the Lord regarded, verse four, “for Abel and his offering.” I mentioned this, that it’s not only that Abel’s offering was acceptable, but Abel’s character had faith.

Something else we read in 1 John 3 about Cain and Abel. In 1 John chapter 3, when we compare the Old Testament with the New Testament, we get a better understanding of the Old Testament. In 1 John 3:12, it says, “not as Cain, who was of the evil one,” or in other words, Cain who was of the seed of the serpent.

Quite the opposite of what his mother thought he was. His mother thought he was the seed of God. And actually he was the seed of Satan. Just like lots of mothers who think their children are seeds of God, and they’re actually seeds of Satan.

“Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because Cain’s deeds were evil, and his brother’s deeds were righteous.” So you see there was not only a difference in their offering, the Word of God says something about their private life. Cain was living a wicked life. Abel was living a God-fearing life.

I’m sure their parents didn’t know about all the tricks that Cain was up to in his private life. But he was living a wicked life. The Holy Spirit says that in 1 John 3. And therefore, God did not regard Cain.

Notice in Genesis 4:5, “But for Cain and for his offering, God had no regard.” The man first, and then his offering. Notice that in verse four, “Abel and his offering,” “Cain and his offering.” It’s the man behind the offering that makes the offering acceptable.

You can have blood in the offering, but if the man behind the offering is not a righteous person, is not a man of faith, it’s not acceptable. And that’s very important in these days when a lot of people, when they come to this passage of Cain and Abel, the only thing that most evangelicals will say is this: “There was blood in Abel’s offering. There was no blood in Cain’s offering.” That’s all. Full stop.

But is that all the Word of God says? Does it mean that if a person just brings in the blood of Jesus Christ, that’s enough? What does God’s Word say? It doesn’t say the Lord had regard for Abel’s offering, but “for Abel and his offering.”

# The Offering and the Heart Behind It

The Lord didn’t have regard for Cain and his offering. Yes, the offering is important as we emphasize the blood of Jesus Christ. But it is possible for a person like Cain, who doesn’t have faith, who does not have righteousness in his life, to present the blood of Christ. And then the Lord doesn’t have regard for that because the man behind the offering is not upright.

The man behind the offering is not sincere and straightforward. He’s deceptive. There’s guile in him. And God sees through all that pretense. So it’s important for us to see this, that it’s not only the offering, but the two things God’s word says about Abel, that he was righteous and he had faith.

And obviously, Cain didn’t have faith. He had his reason, his cleverness, and his deeds were evil. And I would even say this, even if Cain had brought a lamb and killed it, God would not have accepted that offering. Because it’s not a question of bringing your lamb and blood, it’s a question of faith and righteousness. Let’s see that distinction very clearly.

The First Instance of Anger

And then we see here in verse five, Cain became very angry. And when we are angry it affects our face. It says here, his face was fallen. A darkness came over his face. When a man is angry you know it’s reflected on his face, he can’t hide it.

He was angry. And there we see in the word of God the first instance of anger in the human race. And I want you to notice one significant thing that that anger is connected with religion. The first murder in the world was a religious murder. I don’t like this man’s religion, Abel’s religion. Therefore I’m angry. That is always the mark of false religion, even false Christianity.

When a man is angry with me because he doesn’t believe my doctrines, because he thinks I’m a heretic and he’s upset with me, he clearly proves that he’s got the religion of Cain. No, that’s not Christianity. To be angry and jealous.

Jesus was not upset because people had false religion. He was not bothered about the Pharisees. The thing that made Him angry was when those Pharisees tried to push their religion on those simple poor people sitting in the synagogue. That’s what made Him angry. But the Pharisees, if they wanted, they could keep their religion and go to hell with it.

He told them, “How will you escape the damnation of hell?” But notice this, that religion, religious difference brought anger in the first murder in the world between two brothers. And that’s why Jesus taught us that we were to love our enemies. And I believe that the test of love is when I see someone who doesn’t see eye to eye with me on something, then I know whether I love him or not, or whether I’ve got the religion of Cain that cannot love just because that fellow is different from me. I may not agree with the person, but what’s stopping me from loving him?

The Religion of Cain vs. The Spirit of Christ

If I can love only those who agree with me, I’ve got the religion of Cain. I can stand for the truth and never compromise, but I have to love all, whether they agree with me or not. Makes no difference. I can love them. Even though I can tell them to their face, I believe you’ve been deceived by Satan, I can still love them.

So there’s a warning for us that our religion and our religious convictions, if they make us mad, we’ve got the wrong religion. If they make us angry and upset with someone, we’ve got Cain’s religion. We need to cleanse ourselves from that. That’s not standing up for the truth, which is being delivered to the saints. Some people can have Cain’s religion and think, I’m going to stand up for the truth delivered to the saints.

Not in the spirit of Cain, but in the spirit of Christ. One test of that is I’m not upset. I’m not angry with people. The Lord said to Cain in verse six, there again we see—before I come to that, I think another reason for Cain’s anger is also worth considering. And that is that his brother was honored by God above him.

When Others Are Honored

Leave aside the religious part now, that another brother or sister has been honored by God. In a public way, the fire of God fell upon his altar. And it didn’t fall on mine. And I see that, and in the eyes of others, he’s honored by God and I have not been honored, publicly dishonored, publicly honored. There is a test of my religion, whether it’s the real one or not.

Whether I can humble myself and rejoice that a brother has been honored. And let me tell you the more difficult part, my dear brothers and sisters. When that brother who is honored is younger to you in age, and younger to you in experience, and younger to you in the Lord, and God honors him. And you don’t have the humility to humble yourself and stand back and say, “Lord, I acknowledge the fire of God on that younger brother. I praise You for it.”

If we don’t have that attitude, we have something of Cain’s spirit within us that we need to cleanse ourselves from. And that can happen right in the church. When we see the anointing of God on someone, God giving a ministry to someone, transformation of character in someone, God blessing someone in a material way perhaps, in a way He has not decided to bless you, and jealousy, and criticism, and complaints, all can prove that the spirit of Cain is penetrating your life. And if you don’t cleanse yourself from it, your face will remain fallen, and you’ll never have salvation. That’s a warning right at the beginning.

Rejoice when you see God honoring somebody else, brother. Stand back and rejoice, that God’s seen the hearts of you and that person, and He’s seen that that person’s heart’s more upright than yours, and He’s honored it. The fire of God is on his life. You’ve sort of become cold and lukewarm, and he’s regained the fire of God in his life. Just humble yourself and rejoice that the fire of God is there.

God’s Approach to the Offended

And the Lord said to Cain—there again we see just like God approaching Adam when Adam had sinned, God approaching Cain. It wasn’t Cain who approached God, it wasn’t Adam who approached God. We see this wonderful thing, that God is so eager. When Cain got offended, God didn’t say, “Oh well, if you’re offended, get out. I’m not interested in you.” He went after him. That’s the heart of God, just like in the story of the prodigal son.

When the father welcomed the younger brother, and the older brother who had the spirit of Cain. It’s the same story. Cain and Abel all over again in the story of the prodigal son. The younger brother is accepted, and the older brother comes and sees that the younger brother is accepted by the father, and he’s jealous, and he won’t come inside the house. And who goes out to meet him? The father. God loves the Pharisee too.

He doesn’t only love the sinners, He loves the Pharisees. Jesus died for the Pharisees too. And even if we are Pharisees, God will come out to us, reason with us, but the elder brother would not come inside the house. And God reasoned with Cain, and the sad thing is that Cain would not accept even Almighty God reasoning with him. And that is how some people are lost eternally as Pharisees.

God’s First Question Outside Eden

That God speaks to them. The Lord came to Cain and said, “Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen?” And that’s something we must remember is the first question that God asked a man in the scriptures, as far as we know, after they were thrown out of Eden. The first question, “Why are you angry?” is the first question recorded in scripture outside of Eden. “Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen like that?” Second question.

If only we can keep these two questions before us, when we are angry and we hear God asking us, “Why are you angry, my son, my daughter? Why is your face fallen? Why are you so depressed right now? There is something in your heart, you’re upset with some brother because of something he didn’t do or something he did or some acceptance that I’ve given him that I’ve not given you, something in your heart against your brother. That’s why your face is like that. That’s why you’re angry. That’s why you’re upset. That’s why you’re irritated.”

And when God comes to you like that, you can either react like Cain and justify yourself, and give some reason, or you can humble yourself and say, “Lord, that’s right. I’ve got a wrong attitude in my heart against that brother. Please forgive me.” That would delight God’s heart.

Why are you angry? If only every time we got angry, we could hear God asking us this question, “Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen?” It would make a tremendous difference in our life.

Perhaps we could get victory over anger much sooner. We read here, the Lord further said to him, “If you do well, won’t we?” We can’t hide from Him. God was up in heaven, but down here on that speck of dust called the planet earth, there was one fellow called Cain who had an angry face.

God Sees Everyone

And I want to tell you something. Cain and Abel were not the only two people on earth apart from Adam and Eve at that time. We’ll come to that later on. I think there must have been at least twenty, thirty thousand people on the face of the earth by this time. Because we read later on that Adam and Eve were about a hundred and thirty years old when this happened, or nearly that. And during those hundred and thirty years, they had sons and daughters who married one another, the cousins who married one another and the population of the earth by this time must have been twenty, thirty thousand at least, or fifty thousand perhaps, or even more.

But among all these people who were on the earth, God saw one man whose face was angry. And it’s just as easy for God to see on four billion people on the earth one man somewhere in Bangalore whose face is angry. And He comes down to that one man and says, “Why are you angry? Why has your face fallen?” Let’s never forget that.

That God sees our face all the time. And He sees anger in our heart whenever it comes. And He said to Cain, “If you do well,” that means if you’ve got a good attitude in your heart, your face will be lifted up. And to me that’s a very helpful test, like a litmus paper test in the laboratory. If my attitude in my heart is right towards all people, my face will always be cheerful and bright.

It’s when there’s something wrong in my attitude, something with which I’m upset, that it affects my face. My face can’t be lifted up. That’s a warning.

Sin Crouching at the Door

But if you don’t do well, the Lord says here, “If you don’t do well, sin is crouching at the door.” That means sin is in your flesh. Crouching at the door of what? At the door of your heart. Here we see what temptation is and what sin is. Temptation is sin crouching at the door of your heart that is in your flesh, wanting to get in if you will just open the door like a tiger sitting outside your door waiting to get one paw inside, even if the door is open just a wee little bit. And he gets a paw inside, and then the whole tiger is inside in a few seconds.

It’s waiting for just a slight wrong attitude towards someone. Sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you. Here is a teaching on sanctification. Sin’s desire is to swallow you up. This tiger wants to just come and ruin your life. Wants to come in and destroy your whole life. Sin is crouching. Be careful.

The Original Gospel of Victory

And here is the gospel of victory over sin. And the first person who proclaimed it was God, and the first person He proclaimed it to was the first human being born into the world, Cain. This gospel of victory is not new. It’s as old as Genesis 4. “You must master sin.” One would think that’s Romans 6:14. It’s not Romans 6:14, it’s Genesis 4:7. “You must master sin.”

Think of that! You see, when we preach the gospel of victory, we’re coming back to the original gospel, which God proclaimed to a sinner like Cain. We don’t proclaim victory over sin only to highly mature, sanctified believers. If there’s a rogue like Cain, we can proclaim to him the gospel of victory over sin. “You must master sin in your life.”

God didn’t believe that you have to lead people to this message by stages. That Cain’s not ready yet for the message of victory. Let’s just tell him something like, “God loves you brother. He’s a father and He cares for you” and all that. No. Straight away, “You must master sin in your life.” It’s a gospel of victory that God Himself proclaimed to Cain.

And we’re in His footsteps when we proclaim that, “You must master sin.” We’re in God’s footsteps when we proclaim that sin is crouching at the door of your heart in your flesh. We’re in God’s footsteps when we proclaim that its desire is to master you and swallow you up and ruin your life. And we are also in God’s footsteps when we say, “But you must master it. You mustn’t let it in. You must resist it.”

And I’m sure that God would have helped him if only Cain had said, “Oh God, please help me. I feel this pressure so much of jealousy against my brother. Please help me.” God would have helped him, but the fellow didn’t have the humility or the honesty to do that.

# Cain’s Rejection and the First Murder

And he just walks off. What do we read there? What’s the next sentence? We don’t even see Cain bothering to reply to God. It’s almost as though it’s like somebody comes and says something to you eagerly, earnestly, and you just turn your back to him and walk off. Think of that, that the Lord reached out to Cain and Cain didn’t even have the decency to reply to Him.

He just walks off. He’s not interested. He’s got a grudge against God as well for sending that fire on Abel’s offering. If you do well, will your countenance not be lifted up? And the margin says, If you do well, you’ll also be accepted.

We can take that also as the meaning of what the Lord was saying. Cain, I’ll give you another chance. Come on, straighten out your attitude and come to Me in faith and bring the offering I require of you and you’ll be accepted too. But he didn’t want it. His ego was hurt.

His ego was hurt that the first time he was not accepted. How true, and what a picture of so many people today. They are hurt. They were not invited for something. Accidentally their name got dropped off the list. They are offended, they are hurt, and the person recognizes the mistake and comes back and says, I’m sorry, I forgot your name, why don’t you come? No, I won’t come now, I’m hurt. Followers of Cain, millions of them, even so-called believers, hurt!

When your ego is hurt, you can either follow Cain, or humble yourself and find salvation. Beware of that hurt ego.

I believe a hurt ego has led more people to hell than almost any other sin. That pride, being offended – here’s the first fellow who was offended. That’s why we often say, get victory over getting offended. If we don’t get victory over getting offended, the chances are we’ll never get victory over anything else. Particularly when something happens to hurt your big ego.

When God sticks a pin into that balloon called your ego, and it’s deflated. And all the air goes out of it. You’re hurt. Humble yourself.

The First Murder

And we read in verse eight, “And Cain told his brother Abel his brother spoke to Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” We read there the first murder, a religious murder, is the progression of sin that we read in James 1:15. Every man is tempted when he is drawn by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived in the heart, it gives birth to sin. And sin when it is finished, brings forth death.

So we see the same progression here in Cain as well. And we read here in verse nine, “Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.”

A number of things we can learn there that there is no sin that is committed in secret that God does not see. No doubt, Cain led Abel to a quiet spot in the forest where nobody would see him. There were no police, no CIDs those days to follow-up a murder. But he couldn’t get away from God.

God saw, God sees every secret sin committed anywhere in the world. He sees it and He questions us through our conscience. What have you done? Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I don’t know.

A liar. He not only became a murderer, he became a liar. Sin multiplies. Once you get into this sin, it’s just one after the other. You tell a small lie, then you have to tell another lie to cover up that one. Another one, later on, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It’s a very interesting question.

Am I my brother’s keeper? Of course the answer is yes. God didn’t create us on this earth to live just for ourselves.

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” is one of His laws. And that makes us our brother’s keepers. We are responsible for our brothers and sisters when they stumble. If we had something to do with it, we are responsible. We have a responsibility if we are the cause of our brother stumbling.

And we read here that Cain tried to cover up his sin. He was not even honest. Adam his father was at least honest to say, this woman gave me the fruit and I ate it. But Cain wouldn’t even do that. Sin had gone one stage further in the son than it was in the father.

If the father tried to hide a little bit, the son is a greater crook to hide even more. And he tries to cover up his sin.

The Blood That Speaks

Notice here in verse ten, it says, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.” It’s an amazing statement there that blood has got no life in it. It’s poured out, it can’t speak. We can say that blood is lifeless matter. It’s amazing that lifeless matter can cry out to God and say, This fellow is a sinner.

Think of the day of judgment, the lifeless matter that will proclaim the sins of various people. Lifeless matter proclaims that Cain is a sinner. Your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. It’s not in English or some human language that that inanimate matter speaks, but it’s speaking in a language that God can understand. That blood was speaking to God. Judge this man. Punish him. Take vengeance on him for what he’s done for me.

And we can see in contrast, says in Hebrews chapter 12, a beautiful contrast in the New Testament, where it says here in Hebrews 12:24, that we have now come. It says here, verse 18, “You have not come to a mountain that may be touched. That is Mount Sinai, which blazed with a fire.” In other words, you have not come to the old covenant at Mount Sinai. But in contrast, verse 22, “you have come to Mount Zion.” And you have not come to Moses, verse 21, but you have come, verse 24, “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood of Jesus, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

So what do we learn there? That the blood of Abel was symbolic of that old covenant attitude people had. You read that in the Psalms. Lord, don’t spare this enemy of mine. Finish him off. He’s harmed me Lord. Don’t spare him and don’t spare his children. And when I see him suffer, and when I see his children suffer, it shall delight me because I’m an old covenant follower of Moses. Delighted to see vengeance on my enemies.

But now, we have come to the new covenant to Jesus’ blood. The blood of Jesus also fell to the ground, just like Abel’s blood fell to the ground. We can say that Cain, religious Cain, is a picture of the religious Jews who were jealous of Jesus because the fire of God was on Him.

Abel and Jesus: A Parallel

You see Abel and Cain are a picture of Jesus and the Jews. Exactly. They were all religious. But Abel’s religion was one type, Cain’s was another type. The religion that Jesus brought was different and the religion the Jews had was quite different. And that’s what made the Jews mad. What made Cain mad? Cain was jealous.

The Jews were jealous. Because there was an anointing on Jesus’ life which they didn’t have. And it finally made them so mad that they did what Cain did. They killed Jesus, just like Cain killed Abel. Exactly the same story, four thousand years later.

And the blood of Abel fell to the ground and cried out for vengeance, and the blood of Jesus fell to the ground too and cried out, “Father, forgive them.” That’s the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant.

And when we come to the breaking of bread and we take the cup, Jesus says, “This is My blood of the new covenant.” And I drink it.

And then I go away from there, and I have the attitude of Abel’s blood towards someone. I am a liar. I am a hypocrite. I have no right to drink from that cup at the Lord’s table. Because I’m drinking the blood of Abel in my daily life.

Vengeance on that man Lord. Revenge on that person. Delight when something bad happens to my enemy. Joy when some punishment comes on someone who has harmed me in some way. What is that? The blood of Abel. I’ve got no right to come to the Lord’s table. I need to go somewhere else and drink the cup of Abel because that’s how I’m living.

That’s the difference between the new covenant and the old covenant. How many people have understood it? We have a Christendom that’s completely blind to revelation and God’s word. The human bakeries of Bible schools have taught them all types of stupid things. They don’t know what the blood of the new covenant is. No, the blood of Jesus is better than the blood of Abel. And we praise God that we fellowship with Jesus in His blood.

In that same spirit, in which Jesus’ blood was shed, “Father forgive them.” Have they done a great crime against you? Not greater than the crime committed against Jesus. Do you know that the greatest crime that was ever committed in the world was the crime that the Jews committed in killing Jesus Christ? There’s no greater crime.

Anything that you may think another person has done to you is far inferior to what Jesus suffered. So He could say, “Father forgive them.” You can also say it if, and there’s a big if, if you have entered into the new covenant. If you are a follower of Moses and of the Old Testament, then of course it’s another thing. But if you have entered into the new covenant, then we have to have the attitude that Jesus had.

The First Curse on a Human

And now, verse eleven, this is very interesting to see here something. This is the first time that God looks at a man and says, “You are cursed.” You know He never said that to Adam. We saw that when we studied Genesis 3. He only cursed the ground. You read Genesis 3 carefully. He never cursed Adam. But for the first time now He looks at a human being and He says, “You are cursed because of the wrong attitude that you had towards your brother and because you killed him.”

What does it say in 1 John 3? Let’s turn back to that. “This is the message,” verse 11, “which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the evil one.” To whom is that exhortation given? Is it an exhortation given to unbelievers? You unbelievers don’t be like Cain. Is John writing to unbelievers? No.

My little children, you born again children of God, you can become like Cain if you are not careful. That’s the meaning of this exhortation. And if I don’t see it seriously, that all that we are speaking about Cain is not referring to some ungodly Jew or some unbeliever, but to me, if I don’t see that in the volume of the book, it’s a warning for me, then I’m in great danger.

If I don’t see that I have the same flesh that Cain had. Is there anybody here who’s got a different flesh from what Cain had? That’s why the warning comes, not like Cain. My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be like Cain. That’s John’s exhortation. “Who was of the evil one and slew his brother?”

Why? Because he didn’t have victory over sin, and his brother had victory over sin. That’s basically the reason. That’s what it says there. The person who doesn’t have victory over sin is upset with the brother who has victory over sin.

And we see that even today. Religious people who don’t believe in victory over sin are upset with their brothers who are righteous, who believe in victory over sin. Who are they following such religious people?

“Do not marvel my brethren,” verse 13, “when these so-called worldly, so-called Christians, worldly people hate you. But we know, we have passed out of death into life because we hate nobody. We love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in the same death that Cain was living in.”

And God spoke to Cain and said, “You are cursed from the ground which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. And when you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. You shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

And what does Cain say to all that? Said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear.” He doesn’t say my sin is too great. He’s not bothered about that. “My punishment is too great.” He still doesn’t have any consciousness of the greatness of his sin, even after all this. Only my punishment. And that is the language of people who go to hell, burning in hell like the rich man who went to hell.

The words they say is, “My punishment is too great to bear.” It is too great to bear in hell. But do they think of their sin? No. What does that teach us?

That when I am more afraid of the punishment of sin than of sin itself, I’m not really holy. I’m just like Cain.

Cain was also afraid of the punishment. Oh, if I do this, God may punish me. That’s bad. Punishment is bad, I don’t want it. But the sin itself, I’d like to do it if only I could avoid the punishment. There’s no holiness there my brothers and sisters. The language which says, “My punishment is too great to bear,” it’s not the language of a godly person, it’s the language of an ungodly child of the devil. And he says, “Lord, you have driven me.”

The Consequences of Sin

He doesn’t even call Him Lord. “Thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from Thy face I shall be hidden. I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me.” So what is the Lord’s punishment for him? There will be no fruitfulness in his life. Verse twelve states when you cultivate the ground, nothing will come. There’ll be no stability in your life; you’ll be a wanderer, and that is the spiritual condition of all those who have a loose attitude towards sin.

We can apply that spiritually. When a person’s attitude towards his brother is not right, when a person’s attitude towards sin is not right, there’s no fruitfulness in his life. He works, he comes to the meetings, he does this, he does that, but the ground yields nothing. Ten years of cultivation yield nothing.

And he’s a wanderer. There’s no stability in his life because the man doesn’t take sin seriously. He just comes to the meetings. I’m sure Cain would have come to the meetings if he were living in Bangalore. He may have even come to CFC. Sure. Why not? The religious type, he may have come here and sat here. But there’d be no stability in his life.

No spiritual stability, no spiritual fruitfulness. The ground yields nothing. Wanderers, wandering around, drifting. No growth, no stability, no fruitfulness. Only afraid of punishment.

“I don’t want punishment. My punishment is too great to bear.” God’s face hidden, verse fourteen, “That from Thy face I shall be hidden.” Says in verse sixteen, “He went out from the presence of the Lord.” And that is what hell is.

God’s Mercy Amid Judgment

Hell means to be forsaken by God, out of God’s presence. That’s what Jesus suffered for three hours on the cross. Hell. And Cain began to experience it right there. When he says, “It’ll come about that whoever finds me will kill me.” There were so many people—there were forty, fifty thousand people on the earth already. Any of them may kill me now.

So the Lord said to him—see God’s mercy, even to a man like Cain who has rejected Him—we see something of the fantastic mercy of God. “Therefore, if anybody kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.”

Mercy, in God’s judgment there is mercy. And the Lord appointed a sign, set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. And I want you to see here brothers and sisters, I said that Cain and Abel were a picture of these two religions. One, the true religion that Jesus brought. And the other, the false religion, which is a perversion of the true.

Two Religious Streams

We can say the origin of Jerusalem and Babylon is here in Genesis four. Babylon is a religious system, and Cain was a religious man. And the Jewish religion in the time of Jesus was thoroughly Babylonian spiritually. It was like Cain. That’s why as I said they were jealous of Jesus and like Cain killed Abel, they killed Jesus.

And what was the result? Like God cursed Cain, God cursed the Jews. That’s the symbolic meaning of Jesus cursing the fig tree. He cursed the Jews, and what happened? For two thousand years, like we read in verse twelve, the Jews have been wanderers on the face of the earth, never able to live in any country for two thousand years.

And whoever saw the Jew wanted to kill him. It’s not so much in the twentieth century, except with Hitler who killed six million of them. But it has really been true in history that the Jew has been hounded to death just like Cain. But the Lord has put a mark on the Jew like He put a mark on Cain. There was mercy.

So that where people have killed the Jews, vengeance has been taken on them sevenfold, on Hitler, on Haman, and all the others. And that’s just in passing to see how all this is pictured there in Cain and Abel, in the religion of the Jews, in the religion of Jesus.

Now today it’s not the Jews. Today it’s harlot Christianity that followed on in the stream of Cain and those Pharisees of Jesus’ time, and it has become what we call today Babylon. And that true faith that began with righteous Abel, two streams that began way back there with Adam’s children. And that’s come on right down till the end of time now.

A Warning for Believers

Don’t think there’s not much of a difference between Babylon and Jerusalem. That’s like saying there’s really not much of a difference between Cain’s religion and Abel’s religion. There’s a world of difference. One is born in the pit of hell, and the other is born in heaven.

And we know that there’s a warning to those who live in Jerusalem in the epistle of John:

Don’t be like Cain. Be careful that you never allow even a small seed of such an attitude towards another brother.

Even in seed form, you may never kill, none of us will ever kill. But the seed, God sees the anger. He says, “Why are you angry? You aren’t a murderer yet, but why are you upset? Why are you upset with that brother? Why have you got all those thoughts in your heart against that brother right now? Why have you got all those thoughts in your heart against that sister right now?”

If you can hear God there, and judge yourself there at that point, we can save ourselves from Babylon. Otherwise, we can sit here and be a part of that religious system that Cain started. May God save us.

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