Giving a Piece of My Mind on How the World Today Sees Cain and Abel
It's very easy to take Cain and Abel out of its context. It can be easily confused with the doctrines of works salvation and conditional security. Some say that Cain may have offered rotten vegetables when that's not the case. Another heresy is that Abel was accepted by God based on his personal merits. But that's not the case.
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
The Bible doesn't tell us that Cain brought rotten vegetables though I tend to assume that more often than not. It's also highly possible that Cain brought his best vegetables to brag to the LORD that he was capable of saving himself. When Abel brought the firstlings of the flock which was a blood offering, it's highly possible that God wanted a blood sacrifice. The Bible doesn't tell us directly why God accepted Abel's offering.
One possible answer is by Arthur W. Pink from the "Gleanings in Genesis" may provide an explanation to what really happened:
Cain and Abel stand as the representatives of two great classes of people. They typify respectively the lost and the saved; the self-righteous and the broken-spirited; the formal professor and the genuine believer; those who rely upon their own works and those who rest upon the finished work of Christ; those who insist upon salvation by human merits, and those who are willing to be saved by Divine grace; those who are rejected and cursed by God and those who are accepted and blessed. Cain denied his ruined and fallen condition and refused to accept the Remedy God provided; while Abel acknowledged his sinnership, believed the Divine testimony, put his faith in a sacrificial substitute, and was righteous before God.
Reading the next few verses, Genesis 4:6-7 says:
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
In truth, our best is never good enough. Cain may have brought vegetables that would have won a blue ribbon in a country fair. But to God, He wanted a blood offering. Nobody can say that God disfavored because Abel was humanly better than Cain. Remember this fact: both Cain and Abel were both born sinners. But there's the difference from the inside aside from the outside. This difference is that Abel's behavior was a manifestation of a humbled sinner saved by grace. Cain's behavior was self-righteousness which resulted to his wicked behavior.
In truth, Abel was not accepted because he was humanly better than Cain but because he was a broken sinner who received God's remedy for sin. While salvation does result to a changed life as a result of authentic faith but there are many people today who are humanly better than the worst sinners. Many people think today if you do enough good then you're okay with God. That statement is just plain wrong because the Bible says we're saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Good works come in after salvation, not before. No good work is good unless if it's done for God's glory and not man's.
Many religious people today are just like Cain. They think that God is unfair because they're supposedly so good. These people seek to destroy Christians. They do good not for God's glory but for their own personal merit. I would imagine Cain thought that he would be accepted by God by his own personal merit. Many people today try to offer their best to be accepted only to see that they fall short. Romans 1:3 says that people try to establish their own righteousness as they're ignorant of God's righteousness. The problem of ignorance of the righteousness of God has created problems. In fact, we read in Genesis 4:16-24 which says:
And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
It's noticeable that Cain was given that chance to repent and get right with God. God didn't immediately strike Cain but offered the latter the chance to repent and get right with God. But Cain chose to rebel and establish his own civilization. The problem of trusting one's own personal righteousness means this: you create more evil in the long run. Many people think they're so righteous but live a wicked lifestyle. The civilization of Cain created such a horrible legacy. Lamech the Cainite not only broke God's standard of monogamy but he also was a murderer following after Cain's wickedness. Many criminals today don't only have atheists among them but also religious but lost people. I'm not saying all unsaved people are criminals but some of them end up becoming criminals as a result of man's total depravity as no Christian can live a life of sin because they have God's grace (Titus 2:11-14).
Lost sinners can always say that they're not criminals so they don't deserve Hell. I hate to break it to them but even if you're not a criminal but as long as you stand by on your own personal righteousness, you're still going to Hell with every other degenerate alive. Romans 3:19 and James 2:10-11 declares the sad truth that we're all sinners. If you broke even one of God's rules you have broken the perfect standard of righteousness. All your so-called good works will just end up rejected by God's perfect righteousness. Salvation from sin has never been by works but by God's grace. Salvation from sin has never been a reward for the self-righteous but a gift for the repentant guilty who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Lost sinners can always say that they're not criminals so they don't deserve Hell. I hate to break it to them but even if you're not a criminal but as long as you stand by on your own personal righteousness, you're still going to Hell with every other degenerate alive. Romans 3:19 and James 2:10-11 declares the sad truth that we're all sinners. If you broke even one of God's rules you have broken the perfect standard of righteousness. All your so-called good works will just end up rejected by God's perfect righteousness. Salvation from sin has never been by works but by God's grace. Salvation from sin has never been a reward for the self-righteous but a gift for the repentant guilty who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The reason why Abel offered a better sacrifice is found in Hebrews 11:4 which says:
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
It was by faith that Abel offered a better sacrifice. Christians get their offerings accepted because they result from God's grace. Abel offered the better sacrifice by faith. Cain just tried to brag his way in. Today people's descendants are descendants of Seth since we all came out of Noah's Ark but many still follow the way of Cain. The way of Cain is not a matter of descent from Cain's biological lineage but copying his mentality. I don't need to be a tyrant's descendant to be a wicked person. All I need to do is to reject the Lord Jesus Christ. We all came from Noah but many still follow the way of Cain like Nimrod. Shem was a righteous man but from his lineage also came wicked nations. David was a righteous king but he had ungodly sons like Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah and he also had several wicked descendants from his lineage.
The decision is entirely up to us to follow the path of righteousness of Abel and Seth or we're going to follow the way of Cain. The Christian is saved from the way of Cain to the way of Abel and Seth. Because most people follow Cain's precepts even if they're not biologically his descendants then the Christian cannot expect to be accepted. 1 John 3:12 says this truth that Christians have with the world because they are servants of true righteousness:
The decision is entirely up to us to follow the path of righteousness of Abel and Seth or we're going to follow the way of Cain. The Christian is saved from the way of Cain to the way of Abel and Seth. Because most people follow Cain's precepts even if they're not biologically his descendants then the Christian cannot expect to be accepted. 1 John 3:12 says this truth that Christians have with the world because they are servants of true righteousness:
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.