ABEL WAS A KEEPER OF SHEEP, BUT CAIN WAS A TILLER OF THE GROUND. AND IN PROCESS OF TIME IT CAME TO PASS THAT CAIN BROUGHT OF THE FRUIT OF THE GROUND AN OFFERING OF 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: BUT UNTO CAIN AND TO HIS OFFERING HE HAD NOT RESPECT. Genesis, Chapter 4, Verses 2-5.
Eve gave birth to two sons, Cain who was the firstborn and Abel the second born. As time went on many other sons and daughters were born to Adam and Eve.
Abel was a Shepherd, a keeper of sheep. He was a type and shadow of Christ, our Shepherd. The Bible states in Psalms 23: “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.” In John, Chapter 10, Verse 11, Jesus proclaimed: “I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD: THE GOOD SHEPHERD GIVES HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP.”
Cain was a famer like his father, Adam, and became a TILLER of the ground. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a farmer. Farming is an honorable profession, and if not for farmers many people would die of hunger. However, the message the Bible is conveying to us is a spiritual one rather than a natural one. Abel was a Shepherd taking care of sheep and had taken on the attributes of his HEAVENLY Father, while Cain was more like his earthly father, Adam. The professions of Cain and Abel are linked to the motives and attitudes of the heart which culminated in the death of Abel at the hands of Cain.
God had respect for the offering of Abel because it was a picture of the Cross. It was a prophetic example of Christ, the Lamb of God, being sacrificed for the sins of the World. God had performed the first animal sacrifice and clothed Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness (shame) because of their sin. Abel performed the second animal sacrifice with the firstlings of his flock. Abel recognized the need for a sacrificial lamb to become an offering for sin. The firstlings were the firstborn of the flock. Jesus, the Son of God, became the FIRSTBORN of many sons and daughters through His sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary.
Cain’s sacrifice was a sacrifice of WORKS. Works can never cover sin or produce Godly sacrifice. Cain’s sacrifice was prophetic of the WORK and toil of HIS hands in the earth (heart or spirit). Cain’s sacrifice was not a sacrifice of Faith. Cain’s sacrifice was one of his own choosing. The ground (spirit) produced thorns and thistles that had to be WORKED by the SWEAT OF HIS BROW. This speaks of a Works Based mentality.
BY FAITH, ABEL OFFERED UNTO GOD A MORE EXCELLENT SACRIFICE THAN CAIN, BY WHICH HE OBTAINED WITNESS THAT HE WAS RIGHTEOUS, GOD TESTIFING OF HIS GIFTS: AND BY IT HE YET SPEAKS. Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse 4.
Abel’s sacrifice was a sacrifice of FAITH. Jesus, speaking of Abel in Mathew, Chapter 23, Verse 35, called him “RIGHTEOUS Abel.” Abel knew what God expected of him, and he was obedient to God’s Commandment. Abel knew what sacrifice was pleasing to God and that justification could only come through the sacrifice of the Blood of a Lamb. Cain’s idea concerning sacrificial justification was feeble minded and not according to what God demanded. His idea of justification came from an unrepentant heart. Cain made up his own rules concerning justification and they had nothing to do with Faith and Grace.
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO CAIN, WHY ARE YOU ANGRY? AND WHY HAS YOUR COUNTANANCE FALLEN? IF YOU DO WELL, SHALL YOU NOT BE ACCEPTED? AND IF YOU DO NOT WELL, SIN LIES AT YOUR DOOR. AND UNTO YOU SHALL BE HIS DESIRE, AND YOU SHALL RULE OVER HIM. Genesis, Chapter 4, Verses 6-7.
God told Cain if he would bring the correct sacrifice he would be accepted. Cain’s sacrifice was not an offering for his sin, but an offering of his own choosing. The only sacrifice God accepts is the sacrificial offering of the Blood of the Lamb of God. We do not get to pick and choose what is acceptable to God. Our trust must be in the sacrificial offering of Christ for the covering of our sins.
Unlike Abel, Cain did not recognize the need for a REDEEMER. He was unmoved by the suggestion from God that sin was crouching at the door of his heart. AND CAIN TALKED WITH ABEL HIS BROTHER: AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THEY WERE IN THE FIELD, THAT CAIN ROSE UP AGAINST ABEL HIS BROTHER, AND KILLED HIM. Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 8.
Again we see a picture of the Cross. The Shepherd Abel was slain by his own brother. The innocent blood of a shepherd was spilled by someone of his own household. Abel was despised and rejected by his brother Cain. Like the Scribes and Pharisees who demanded the death of Christ, the innocent blood of Abel was the only thing which would appease the blood thirst of Cain. We see this same exact analogy with Christ and the hypocrites in His day who demanded the death of an innocent man.
Cain was jealous of Abel because Abel’s sacrifice pleased God and his was rejected. Cain thought he was justified in killing his brother. Cain made up his own rules and they had been challenged by an outside source, his brother, Abel. The Scribes and Pharisees, the hypocrites in the days of Christ, had the same attitudes as Cain. Jesus upset their convoluted ideas of religion by exposing their hypocritical pretenses regarding religion and what God expected of them. The religious leaders in Jesus day chose to SACRIFICE the innocent Lamb of God, but it was for all the wrong reasons. Even worse than Cain, they encouraged the Romans to do their treacherous and ungodly deeds for them.
BUT WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES, FOR YOU SHUT UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AGAINST MEN: FOR YOU NEITHER GO IN YOURSELVES, NEITHER SUFFER THEM WHO ARE ENTERING TO GO IN. WOE UNTO YOU SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YOU DEVOUR WIDOWS HOUSES, AND FOR PRETENCE MAKE LONG PRAYER: THEREFORE YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE GREATER DAMNATION. Matthew, Chapter 23, Verses 13-14.
Jesus exposed the Scribes and Pharisees for what they truly were, a bloodthirsty gang of hypocrites whose religious zeal was inspired by their father, the Devil. Jesus called them a “generation of serpents, vipers, blind fools, and whited sepulchers.”
After Jesus rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees by calling them snakes and vipers, He told them all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, including the blood of RIGHTEOUS Abel, would come upon them. Matthew, Chapter 23, Verse 35. According to Jesus, the Scribes and Pharisees would receive greater damnation than Cain because they were a greater threat to humanity than Cain.
When Jesus was crucified His Blood ran down the Cross soaking into the ground. The ground is prophetic of mankind’s spirit. For all who believe in the Sacrifice of Christ, the sins of the heart are washed away by the RIGHTEOUS BLOOD of the PERFECT LAMB OF GOD, Jesus. Today the Blood of Jesus cries out from the ground saying, COME UNTO ME, ALL YOU WHO LABOR AND ARE HEAVEY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Matthew, Chapter 11, Verse 28.
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO CAIN, WHERE IS ABEL YOUR BROTHER? AND HE SAID, I KNOW NOT: AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER? AND HE SAID WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? THE VOICE OF YOUR BROTHER’S BLOOD CRIES OUT FROM THE GROUND. AND NOW YOU ARE CURSED FROM THE EARTH, WHICH HAS OPENED HER MOUTH TO RECEIVE YOUR BROTHER’S BLOOD FROM YOUR HAND. WHEN YOU TILL THE GROUND, IT SHALL NOT HENCEFORTH YEILD UNTO YOU HER STRENGTH; A FUGITIVE AND VAGABOND SHALL YOU BE IN THE EARTH. AND CAIN SAID UNTO THE LORD, MY PUNISHMENT IS GREATER THAN I CAN BEAR. BEHOLD YOU HAVE DRIVEN ME OUT THIS DAY FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH; AND FROM YOUR FACE SHALL I BE HID; AND I SHALL BE A FUGITIVE AND A VAGABOND IN THE EARTH.
Cain felt no remorse for killing his brother. The sin of Cain separated him from God. Without heart felt repentance sin will continue to separate man from God. When God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain lied and said he did not know. According to Cain’s way of thinking, he was NOT his brother’s keeper.
Cain’s punishment for killing his brother was more than he could bear. He was driven from the Presence of God, destined to WANDER aimlessly about the Earth until his death. The earth, of course, speaks of the heart, or spirit. Cain would have no more communication or fellowship with God. The earth (spirit) would no longer yield its strength to Cain. From that day forth, Cain became a SPIRITUAL VAGABOND and a FUGITIVE.
Cain was driven from the PRESENCE OF GOD and became a Spiritual VAGABOND. A Spiritual Vagabond is one who has been or is separated from God. In other words, they are spiritually dead. Spiritual Death is simply defined as “SEPERATION FROM GOD.” Cain was not only banished to a Natural Wilderness, but a Spiritual Wilderness as well.
Cain would no longer be able to till the ground. The earth (his spirit) would no longer bring forth any spiritual fruit. The only fruit his spirit and soul would produce would be the fruit of unrighteousness. No matter how much Cain searched for peace and rest in his heart, he would forever be a VAGABOND and FUGITIVE wandering from place to place.
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 BORE ENOCH, AND HE BUILT A CITY, AND CALLED THE NAME OF THE CITY, AFTER THE NAME OF HIS SON, ENOCH. Genesis, Chapter 4, Verse 16-17.
Cain was driven from the PRESENCE OF GOD, and dwelt in the Land of Nod. “Nod” comes from the Hebrew word which means “wandering or vagrancy.” Cain had become a “vagrant,” destined to live a life of wandering. Cain BUILT A CITY and called it by the name of his Son, Enoch. This was not the same Enoch who walked with God and pleased Him. The actual Hebrew suggests that Cain “began to build a city, but never finished it.” Beginning tasks and never finishing them is one of the defining characteristics of the “VAGABOND SPIRIT.”