Genesis 4:4, commentary and pictures

Abel the shepherd brought the firstborn best of his flock, a spotless lamb with its fat and blood as a burnt offering exactly as God had directed, and the Lord showed respect by sending holy fire from heaven to consume it while Cain's offering received no such token. His acceptance rested not on outward worth or privilege but on solemn faith in the promised Messiah to come and humble obedience to God's express requirement, while Cain followed his own will and human invention and refused to bring the slain lamb. By bringing shed blood Abel confessed he was a sinner under sentence of death in need of pardon and cleansing, and the slain lamb gave his offering its value because it represented the sinless Lamb of God to be slain for the world. Without that blood pointing to redemption there is no remission, so Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground, good in its place as a thank-offering, was empty and Christless and could not secure favor by human effort or merit. The two brothers stand for the two great classes to the close of history, for Cain grew angry, envious and hateful at Abel's acceptance and slew his righteous brother whose obedience condemned his own course.

Offering's Form and Setting

Abel, a keeper of sheep, built an altar like his brother's and brought of the firstlings, the firstborn of his flock, the best and choicest gift. What he brought was a lamb without blemish, with its fat and its blood, presented as a burnt offering exactly as God had directed, specified and commanded for salvation. He presented it in obedience to God's direct, explicit and express direction about sacrifice, in reverence for God and with humble reverence, showing dependence on the promised Redeemer to come. The slain lamb as it was slain was seen by faith as a sign of the Son of God who would die for transgression of God's law and for the sins of the world. God had respect to Abel and to his offering and accepted it, showing acceptance by flashing light and holy fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice.

The brothers' occupations belong to the same account, Abel a keeper of sheep and Cain a tiller of the ground. Their work continues God's provision for healthful employment of the physical powers instituted in Eden when man was put in the garden to dress it and keep it. That provision was continued after the Fall when Adam and Eve were sent out and Adam was instructed to till the ground from which he was taken. Even after the earth was cursed to bring forth thistles and to increase the work of tilling, the ground was still to be tilled. In this God's purpose stands that brain, bone and muscle be usefully employed together with mental and moral training.

The offering was brought to the cherubim-guarded gate of Paradise where the glory of God was revealed. That entrance of Eden still stood among men with watching angels barring the way. There was the place of the first worship, where altars were reared and offerings were presented. There God met with Cain and Abel and spoke with them.

Offerings to God were made from the earliest generations, before Moses, as gifts for religious purposes. They were a way to show gratitude for God's mercies and blessings. These gifts were voluntary, not compelled. The account of Abel and his acceptable offering is true history preserved by human lips passed down from one generation to another. Daniel and his three companions in Babylon had been educated in that history along with Seth, Enoch, Noah, Nadab and Abihu, and they cherished it as truth. It engraved the image of God upon the heart and held them loyal to the God of heaven against idolatry and defilement.

Faith and Obedience Expressed

Abel obeyed the direct, explicit and express direction of God that every sacrificial offering must be accompanied by a slain lamb, bringing a lamb from the firstlings of his flock with the fat exactly as commanded, while Cain followed his own will, ideas, reasoning and human invention, refusing counsel to slay the lamb and bringing only the fruit of the ground because he was unwilling to be dependent and thought his own works perfect. Abel built an altar like his brother's and presented the lamb without blemish as a burnt offering, and he urged his brother to approach God in the divinely prescribed way and repeated the directions to him, but Cain grew more determined to follow his own will, despised counsel, felt as the eldest above admonition, and reasoned it made no difference. Had Cain followed the directions and presented the offering typifying the Lamb of God, his beautiful offering, in itself very good and acceptable in its place, would likewise have been acknowledged, but leaving out the blood left out the only thing that made any offering of value.

Abel brought his offering in solemn faith in the promised Messiah, Redeemer and Saviour to come, as priest and representative of one of the two great classes, and his acceptance rested on that faith and not on the outward value of the offering or his own merit. He knew the firstlings of the flock had to be sacrificed to express faith in the coming Saviour typified by the offerings, to acknowledge total dependence on Him for pardon, and to show faith in the blood of Christ as the promised atonement, because without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, and conforming to that divine plan for redemption was the proof of obedience while the first-fruits of the earth were a separate thank-offering. By bringing a slain victim with shed blood he acknowledged that he was a sinner with sins to put away, that sin brings death and had broken fellowship with God and the transgressed law required death, that he was penitent and kept sin in mind, and that he needed cleansing, pardon and a Redeemer, believing in the efficacy of the blood of the future great offering. The sacrifice served as a pledge of God's pardon through the great offering to come and expressed repentance, obedience and faith, as he watched the animal die and understood that transgression had separated humanity from God and that the sacrifice pointed to the Son of God dying for sinners.

His offering expressed humble reverence, obedience and entire dependence on a Redeemer and a power outside himself, confessing weakness and sinfulness and acknowledging that people could come into God's presence only through the promised Redeemer whom the offerings represented. The blood confessed dependence on Christ, in contrast to coming with murmuring, infidelity, self-dependence and partial obedience, presenting only the products of labor as a favor to secure approval on the disobedient plan that a fruit offering was nobler and less humiliating. The Lord's respect to Abel and to his offering was not from an arbitrary purpose to accept one brother and reject the other, for Cain had the same opportunity to learn and accept the truths of redemption as Abel had, and the whole matter rested in personal choice. Abel chose faith and obedience and was accepted because he loved and revered God, while Cain chose unbelief and rebellion, so blessing rests on a righteous course of action and respect for God and His commandments rather than on birthright or privilege.

God accepts created beings only through implicit obedience to His law and plain requirement, and the verse warns against the first step of disobedience in following one's own ideas and reason instead of implicitly obeying God's voice. Abel implicitly obeyed the definite directions in regard to the offerings and the holy command, while Cain in a selfish, unthankful manner set aside the command, dishonored God by transgressing His law, and offered a sacrifice of his own choice which had no value. Talk of sanctification without obedience to the commandments is just as unacceptable as Cain's offering, for obedience to the commandments is the only true sign of sanctification and disobedience is the sign of disloyalty and apostasy, and had people followed Abel's example of obedience to God's law they would have found safety and salvation.

Christ Foreshadowed in Sacrifice

Abel's slain lamb, brought with its fat and blood as the firstlings without blemish exactly as required, represented the Lamb of God who was to be slain for the sins of the world. That innocent lamb pointed forward to Christ the sinless spotless offering for the human race, and because Abel's offering contained the lamb it had value and virtue while an offering of fruit alone was abundant yet worthless, empty and Christless. The blood made the offering acceptable as an atonement, for it expressed faith in the coming Saviour typified by the offerings, total dependence on Him for pardon, and faith in the blood of Christ as the promised atonement. Acceptance was shown by fire from heaven consuming the sacrifice, a token given to Abel and withheld from Cain who left out the blood of the atonement.

The offering declared the truth that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin and no pardon for transgression. Faith in that blood transfers transgression to Christ and places the righteousness of Christ upon the undeserving, so that the repenting sinner who acknowledges himself lost and undone and in need of a Saviour is declared sinless before God. To refuse that blood offering is to blind the eyes to light, harden conscience, refuse to acknowledge sin and need, refuse to believe in the only-begotten Son of the infinite God, and leave sin remaining. Mingling the blood of a victim representing the efficacious offering with his own offering stood against building faith on love alone without foundation and against stamping down God's holy righteous law as bondage.

Animal sacrifices were ordained by God after the Fall as the system proving faith and obedience, teaching that sin brings death and that sinners can come into God's presence only through the promised Redeemer whom the offerings represented. The shedding of blood signified repentance and typified the blood of Christ to be shed for the world, holding out hope of salvation through that sacrifice alone and pointing forward to a future atonement and Redeemer. This ceremony was prepared with Christ as the foundation of the whole system, and it began its work as a schoolmaster to bring sinful people to consider Christ, the true Sacrifice and Mediator between God and humanity. The system had no saving power or value in itself apart from Him, was later corrupted into idol worship, and ended forever at Christ's crucifixion when the temple veil was rent.

No sacrifice is acceptable to God unless seasoned with divine fire and unless the divine Saviour is represented in it. That divine fire represents communication between God and man opened through Jesus Christ alone and His mediation. Any deviation from express directions for sacred worship brings judgment, and all works without Christ are as Cain's offering, like the strange common fire offered by Nadab and Abihu which God did not accept.

Abel presented before God the merit of Christ's blood, representing the blood of the Redeemer by the blood of the slain lamb. That blood cleanses from sin only for those who believe its merit, lay hold on the meritorious blood of a crucified and risen Saviour as righteousness, Substitute and Surety, come to Jesus Christ at every step, and present it before the Father in praise and petition through His cleansing power. Trying to come by first taking steps in human strength and then expecting God to meet partway is Cain's tainted, polluted, Christless offering without the blood of Jesus, resting on ignorance of Jesus and of His cleansing power. Christ was the way, the truth, and the life when Abel lived just as when Adam lived, from the first gospel sermon in Eden that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and Abel was saved by Christ alone, the same way by which patriarchs and prophets were saved and by which alone access to God comes.

Through the blood of the slain lamb Abel acknowledged Christ and accepted Jesus as Redeemer, hailing the good news with joy. He belonged to God's church together with Adam and Eve, realizing the promise of God's presence in their midst as fully as believers do now. He was a Christian in faith, and he died for that faith in Christ recognized in the slain lamb.

Acceptance and Rejection Decided

The Lord looked upon Abel and his offering with pleasure and had respect to both, and He showed that acceptance by flashing light and holy fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice. Cain's offering received no such token of divine regard, and no fire was kindled under it to consume it. Abel had brought the firstlings of his flock with the fat and the blood as a burnt offering of a lamb without blemish, exactly as commanded, expressing humble obedience and dependence on the promised Redeemer. As he watched the innocent victim die he understood that sin brings death, that transgression had broken fellowship with God, and that the slain lamb pointed forward to the Son of God dying for sinners.

Abel's offering was acceptable because it contained the lamb and the blood of the atonement pointing to redemption through Christ, and that blood gave it value and virtue. Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground was in itself very good and acceptable in its place as a thank-offering, yet because it left out the blood and the Saviour it was abundant yet worthless, empty, valueless, and Christless. The slain lamb was the true figure of the world's Redeemer and the costly offering of the only begotten Son as the hope and salvation of the fallen race, confessing sin and the truth that without shedding of blood there is no remission. Cain's offering was faultless except that he did not follow the express direction that every sacrificial offering must be accompanied by a slain lamb, so his refusal to bring the lamb was disobedience that left out what made any offering required at all.

An offering is accepted only when the offerer brings faith in Christ who gave His life for a fallen world, is sanctified by Jesus, has a transformed character, has died to self with self crucified, and relies only on God's unearned love and Christ's merit. Recognizing one's need, poverty, sin, and lost condition as a sinner confessing dependence is the first condition of acceptance with God, and Abel came in that spirit mingling with his offering faith in the virtue of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour. Outward worth even with the best that one has, resolutions, controlled conduct, and religious profession without transformation and without the transforming power of the Holy Spirit cannot change the heart and are devoid of merit and without value before God. So also service offered by one who knowingly damages body and mind through unhealthy appetite is no more acceptable than Cain's offering, for a person must do what is within power to preserve health and offer service in righteousness, though acceptance still depends on God's mercy.

Divine favor is secured only by an offering that includes the blood of sacrifice pointing to redemption through the atonement of Christ, not by human effort, development, or exalting humanity to the divine standard independent of the atonement. Cain's bloodless offering was an attempt to secure acceptance by his own works without divine grace and without feeling need of the blood of Christ, and its rejection shows what man becomes apart from Christ. Humanity has no power to regenerate itself and does not tend upward toward the divine but downward toward the satanic, and it is beyond the power of man to please God apart from Christ. Without accepting the cleansing blood those who depend on their own merits remain under condemnation, because there is no other provision made to pardon transgression and release from the thralldom of sin and no other name or means by which men must be saved.

Envy Leading to Murder

When Abel's lamb offering was consumed by fire from heaven and Cain's fruit offering received no such token, Cain became very angry with fallen countenance, filled with doubt, jealousy, envy and hatred because his younger brother was accepted while he was rejected and because Abel maintained that God is just. God saw Cain's wrath and the falling of his face, marking every action with all intents and purposes even to the expression of the countenance, for though a man says nothing his angry look expresses refusal to do God's way and will. The same spirit appears when temper is stirred by disappointed plans and expectations, as in young men and women provoked when restrained from following their own rebellious, unrighteous, unsanctified will or when not commended for acting out Satan's promptings in direct opposition to God's requirements. God not only sees the burning wrath in the face but hears low vile songs and profane blasphemous language offered to Satan, yet He still warns as He warned Cain that doing well brings acceptance while doing not well leaves sin at the door.

Abel urged his brother to approach God in the divinely prescribed way, repeating God's directions that every sacrificial offering must be accompanied by a slain lamb with its blood as a burnt offering, and laying the definite requirements before him even in the field. He presented his own offering in full faith in the coming Messiah with humble reverence, keeping his own sin continually in mind, and counseled Cain not to come before the Lord without the blood of a sacrifice. Cain reasoned that it made no difference whether he presented the firstfruits of the ground or offered a lamb, followed his own will, understanding and human ideas, refused counsel to slay the lamb, and brought his offering with murmuring, infidelity and doubt in disobedience to God's express requirement. He grew more determined to follow his own will, despised Abel's counsel, felt as the eldest that he was above his brother's admonition, thought Abel should follow his example, and demanded that Abel come to his terms.

Abel feared God and obeyed exactly what had been commanded, refusing to be converted to Cain's way, and he could not concede to Cain or have harmony with him without disobeying God, so contention had to come. Cain, inspired by Satan and filled with wrath, was unwilling to be reconciled though God condescended to explain, and furious because he could not compel Abel to disobey God and because God had accepted Abel's offering and refused his own, he rose up and slew his righteous brother. That jealousy led him to argue about his offering, refuse to see his disobedience, then kill Abel, causing the first death in the world. Cain's refusal to accept God's plan of obedience and salvation by Christ's blood, with Christ as foundation and schoolmaster to bring sinners to consider Him, led to Abel's death.

Cain's enmity came from envy at seeing God honor righteousness because Abel's works were righteous while Cain's works were evil, the same envy Saul held toward David when David's blameless character exposed Saul by contrast. Envy is the offspring of pride, and if kept in the heart it leads to hatred and finally to revenge and murder, displaying Satan's character in stirring fury against one who has done no harm. Through continued indulgence in known sin the heart hardens until conscience is deadened and calloused and murder is intended step by step, enraged because the brother has exposed wrongdoing and is looked upon as a spy. The Cain-spirit of hatred, angry passion, obstinacy and evil-surmising when ideas and methods called truth are not accepted and appreciated must not enter the heart, for cherished hatred is next of kin to murder, while Christ abiding in the soul by faith makes words and actions good and pleasant with sweetness of temper and no hatred in the heart. Abel's works bore evidence that he loved his brother with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, without the jealousy cruel as death that led Cain, whose own works were evil, to hate and slay his righteous brother.

Abel was faithful and loyal to God, which is why the Lord preferred him and his offering, with Abel standing for the principle of right against Cain's principle of wrong. Abel protested against Cain's disloyalty in wishing his own ideas to prevail, while Cain as eldest thought his methods, plans and views should have supremacy. His anger that Abel would not concede to them and would not yield God's way for his brother's way burned so hot that in hot anger he killed his brother Abel, though Abel yet speaks. Christ was at work in Abel's day as the Way, the Truth and the Life uplifted since Eden, and Abel followed God's way instead of Cain's other way by faithfully presenting the blood of a slain lamb to represent the blood of Christ.

Abel brought his sacrifice in carrying out God's express direction at the altar, the Lord manifested approval of his course, and his righteous obedience in obeying God's voice rather than following his own ideas condemned Cain's sinful course, provoking envy, jealousy, hate and murder. Those who obey like Abel will receive from the disobedient the same hatred Abel received from Cain, for God accepts the offering He has commanded. Abel kept God's commandments and was loyal and obedient, so the Lord had respect to him and blessed him, but his obedience made him hated by Cain and led to persecution and death, and from that time there have been two classes on earth with the same characters as these two brothers, not in favor with the world or with professed Christians who make void God's law. Cain hated Abel for his obedience and killed him, and the same reason produces bitterness against God's delegated ministers who bear His message, so that to reject the message borne by them is to reject Christ the Giver of the message.

Two Classes and Application

Cain and Abel in this history represent the two great classes and orders in humanity that continue until the close of earth's history, the righteous who conscientiously keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment through the appointed sacrifice and mediation, and the wicked who follow their own way, depend on merits, refuse obedience, and persecute the obedient under Satan their leader. Abel as priest offered his sacrifice in solemn faith in a future Redeemer, and his offering was more acceptable than Cain's because it was offered by that faith, with the blood of beasts signifying that he was a sinner with sins to put away, that he was penitent, that he acknowledged his need of a Redeemer, and that he believed in the efficacy of the blood of the future great offering. Abel was faithful and loyal to God, standing for the principle of right against the principle of wrong, protesting against Cain's disloyalty in wishing his own ideas, methods, plans and views to prevail and have supremacy, while Cain as the eldest thought his views should have supremacy and his anger that Abel would not concede burned so hot that he killed his brother. Abel represents the obedient well-doers who keep God's holy law and are made perfect through obedience, who do not war against transgressors of the law but are oppressed and persecuted by those who do not respect God's law, with Cain's side following their leader Satan, who accuses God and accuses those made perfect through obedience. Abel belongs to one of only two classes in the world, those who steadfastly adhere to the commandments of God in contrast to Cain who refuses to obey God, standing rooted and grounded in the truth, shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart with others in defense of the law of Jehovah, while Cain's side supports falsehood in opposition to truth on the side of the prince of darkness, and those who have yielded themselves to do the will of Satan strive to oppress God's servants as Cain oppressed Abel.

God's respect to Abel and his offering but not to Cain and his offering tests the heart toward others and reveals how easily the temper of one disobedient toward God is stirred when his plans do not succeed and he is disappointed in his expectations. God saw Cain's wrath and the falling of his face, which shows how closely He marks every action, all intents and purposes, even the expression of the countenance, so that though a man says nothing his angry look expresses refusal to do God's way and will. The same spirit appears in young men and young women who reveal passion because they are not commended when acting out Satan's promptings in direct opposition to God's requirements, and who are provoked when restrained from following the impulse of their own rebellious, unrighteous, unsanctified will, while God not only sees the burning wrath expressed in the face but hears the low vile songs and profane blasphemous language offered to Satan, yet still gives warning as to Cain that doing well brings acceptance while doing not well leaves sin at the door. The Cain-spirit of hatred, angry passion, obstinacy, accusing spirit and evil-surmising when ideas and methods called truth are not accepted and appreciated by others must not be allowed to enter the heart, for the hatred it cherishes is next of kin to murder. When Christ abides in the soul by faith He makes the one who loves Him all light in the Lord, with His presence apparent in good and pleasant words and actions and sweetness of temper and no hatred in the heart, and God has provided the remedy in giving His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, which belongs to the divine similitude of a sanctified heart that serves and glorifies the Lord with mercy, justice and the love of God, in contrast to Cain's order of an unsanctified heart devoid of mercy, justice and the love of God that does not serve or glorify the Lord and places a wrong mold upon character both in those who act in that spirit and in those over whom they have charge.

Cain's Christless offering is the pattern of preaching and worship without Christ, and the same test applies to preaching as applied to sacrifice. Lessons of true conversion from a heart under the control of the Spirit of Christ are acceptable, but Christless discourses, sermons and articles that are mere doctrinal argument, debate, criticism, theory, display or human opinion from a heart that chooses argument over the practical, without true conversion, practical godliness, the Spirit's power and Christ's righteousness constantly kept before the sinner, are no more acceptable to God than was the offering of Cain, but are empty, cold and unacceptable and do not prick the heart. Cain's offering was good in itself and the produce itself could be good, yet it lacked a Saviour and the saving significance of the blood of the slain Lamb, which is the blood of Christ, so an offering is not acceptable merely because of its outward worth but must be connected with Christ to have its virtue. Abel's offering was accepted by the Lord and serves as an example of presenting Christ's merit before the Father, for the blood of Christ cleanses from sin for those who believe in its merit and rely on it as Abel did through his offering, while Cain's offering was rejected because it was Christless and serves as a picture of preaching that lacks the spirit and power of the message of truth.

To present the law of God without Jesus Christ repeats Cain's error and gives mixed, confused ideas of salvation, for Cain's presenting his offering was going through a round of formal ceremonies by one who had rejected Christ, and as those who reject Christ cannot obey the law, no one who rejects Christ can possibly keep the law. Right teaching keeps justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ at the center, in contrast to an offering destitute of the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His relation to the law. God had respect unto Abel and to his offering because it had the right quality that comes from thorough and complete trust in Jesus, for aside from that trust religious experience is nothing and service is like the offering of Cain, Christless, while God is glorified by living faith in a personal, all-sufficient Saviour, with faith viewing Christ as He is, the sinner's only hope, taking hold of Christ and trusting Him, saying He loves me, He died for me, I accept the sacrifice, and Christ shall not have died for me in vain.

Abel decided to obey God by offering a lamb as sacrifice, and the Lord gave evidence of acceptance by sending fire from heaven to consume it, while Cain reasoned that it made no difference whether he presented the firstfruits of the ground or offered a lamb and made his offering according to his own human ideas, but God will never accept the spurious for the true, so Cain's offering was rejected. Choosing a spurious rest day and exalting Sunday above the Bible Sabbath is the same religion as Cain's, dishonoring God by human invention instead of obedience, and God regards the rival rest day of man's creating as He regarded Cain's offering, accepting worship that follows His plain requirement and rejecting worship of human invention. As Cain was filled with bitterness against Abel whose righteousness cast reflection on his false sacrifice, so those who exalt Sunday are enraged against those who keep God's holy Sabbath which exposes their day as bearing no divine sanction or appointment, for obedience like Abel's provokes bitterness in the disobedient until, as Cain slew Abel because Abel chose to obey God and he could not triumph over his brother, false religion opposes the way and will of God and bears the marks of oppression even to the taking of human life, which has been Satan's manner of working since the fall. Had people followed Abel's example they would have obeyed God's law and found safety and salvation.