A Tuesday Reflection by Pastor Nene
05 October 2021
Text: Genesis 4<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Introduction: <\/strong>One of the most interesting puzzles of the Bible is found in the passage of Genesis 4:3-4. Thereat, the First Brothers, Cain and Abel, offered each an Offering to the LORD at around harvest time, usually at the last quarter of the Lunar year and just before the brief rainy season begins to signal the next cycle of vegetable planting and livestock culling. Cain, the elder brother, worked the field as a farmer while his younger brother Abel cared for livestock, possibly sheep and goats.\u00a0 The writers of \u201cThe Life Application Bible\u201d (of which I have a copy, a 2015 gift from my Bishop Bong), presents the much-revered King James Version with a verse-by-verse commentary on this particular passage, saying: (a) the occupations of both Cain and Abel were \u201chonorable professions\u201d;\u00a0 and,\u00a0 (b) the first-time offerings were probably done at the suggestion of Adam, their father, following a bumper harvest.\u00a0 However, what promised to be a joyous occasion turned out to be a great and lasting tragedy, with repercussions still strongly felt even today. Verse 4, chap 4 mentions that Abel \u201cbrought a gift \u2013 the best portions of the lambs from his flock\u201d and the LORD \u201caccepted Abel and his gift.\u201d On the other hand, when Cain \u201cpresented some of his as a gift to the LORD\u201d (v 3), \u201cthe LORD did not accept Cain and his gift\u201d (v 5). This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. \u201c The LORD continued His counsel to Cain: \u201dYou will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.\u201d (v 7)<\/a>. Stay safe, stay alert. Always claim the blessing of the LORD for you, amen!-pn. A Tuesday Reflection by Pastor Nene05 October 2021Text: Genesis 4 ____________ Introduction: One of the most interesting puzzles of the Bible is found in the passage of Genesis 4:3-4. Thereat, the First Brothers, Cain and Abel, offered each an Offering to the LORD at around harvest time, usually at the last quarter of the Lunar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24,25,6,7,26,9,8,5],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ptr-nene-rubrico","tag-abel","tag-cain","tag-church-of-the-risen-lord","tag-crl","tag-genesis","tag-spiritual-refreshment-of-the-day","tag-upcemi","tag-upcrl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Cain Treacherously Kills Abel. <\/strong>Fast forward to Genesis 4:8-16, where the tragic event of the first human murder occurs \u2013 and in rapid succession \u2013 God\u2019s judgment imposed upon the murderer, Cain himself, for his crime against another human being, Abel, his innocent victim. We readers note that the aggravating circumstances for murder were all present: deliberate intent, treachery, deceit, use of superior force \u2013 not to mention that Cain received advanced and adequate warning from the LORD Himself. Watch what the LORD counseled: \u201dYou will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.\u201d (v 7). Cain, at the outset, knew that what he was planning was SINFUL, an unrighteous act, a wicked act. Proverbs 21:27 says, \u201cThe sacrifice of an evil person is detestable, especially when it is offered with wrong motives.\u201c So, the conclusion is inevitable: from the very beginning Cain was a sinful, wicked man, under the control of satan; unrighteous\/not right with God. Cain was already all of these even before he presented his gift to God.
Nevertheless,\u00a0 there is one aspect of his gift that proved unacceptable to God, and this will be more-fully explained when we go to Abel\u2019s gift of sacrifice.
Abel\u2019s Sacrifice as a Type of Christ\u2019s Sacrifice. <\/strong>BOTH the sacrifices of Abel and Christ\u2019s involve a BLOOD SACRIFICE. Blood was spilled. Someone or something living was to die thru the pouring out of its blood, its life-blood. In the case of Abel, it was the blood of the lamb that he offered to the LORD. Although it may not have been clear to the First Family then, blood sacrifice was the way to do it. Scripture has already noted in Hebrews 11:4 that \u201c It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel\u2019s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.\u201d Abel\u2019s blood sacrifice is more acceptable than Cain\u2019s plant sacrifice because this type of sacrifice makes Abel righteous in the eyes of God.\u00a0 And God imputed\/credited His gift of Righteousness unto Abel because of his faith in God. \u201cThe just\/the righteous shall live by faith\u201d (Habakkuk 2:4, where the prophet predicts the fall of Israel to the Chaldeans; yet, Habakkuk is confident that in wrath, God will show mercy to those who trust him and rejoice in him alone when all else fails. This was subsequently fulfilled when a Remnant survived the Babylonian attack, was brought into 70 years\u2019 captivity, and then released to return back to the homeland).\u00a0 Later on in the time of the apostle Paul, this act of faith became a full-blown doctrine of salvation in Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11.
But for Abel who was made righteous, the deliverance from the devastating effects of Adam and Eve\u2019s sin of disobedience was what was foremost in his mind, and he expressed this as faith for that Deliverer. Maybe the future generations would finally reveal the Promised Redeemer? How right he was, of course, for 120 generations later Jesus as the Son of God will incarnate as a descendant of Adam – born to a Virgin, as the prophet Isaiah had foretold 700 years earlier! Still, someone from our OBSM CRL & Friends group objected: \u2018But Cain did not possess any animal to sacrifice!\u2019 Again, to me, it was a poor excuse\u00a0 of an alibi from sinful Cain: Abel, being kind, gentle and righteous, would he have minded had Cain asked him for an animal to sacrifice? But, would proud, arrogant, self-righteous Cain stoop so low as to ask a favor from the brother he hates? Doubtful. Cain would still insist on offering his crops as a sign of rebellion! God knew his hard heart and rejected him and his offering.
So, envious, angry, dejected and rejected, he filled his mind with murderous thoughts\u2026 ignoring an act of God, a gesture of mercy, that could have saved him.\u00a0 What it was, we will take in Part II\u00a0 of this reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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