Genesis 4
Theme: A Child Of Disobedience
Key Text: Verse 8

            The great fountainhead prophecy of the Bible had just been given. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” (3:15). And these words had hardly been spoken when the predicted conflict began. As a fallen child of “disobedience” (Eph. 2:2), Cain revealed his enmity against Jehovah, and consequently, against the Promised Seed and His lineage.

1. The Way Of Cain

            When Eve proclaimed, “I have gotten a man from the Lord” (4:1), nothing could have been further from the truth! Perhaps she was testifying of her hopes in the coming Seed of Promise. But, this child was nothing more than an earthling, “a tiller of the ground” (4:2). His approach to God was as earthly as his trade, for he brought the fruit of his own labor to the altar. Unlike Abel, who stood on the premise of faith, he came to God on the basis of works. Thus, “unto Cain and to his offering He (God) had not respect” (4:5).

2. The Wickedness Of Cain

            Jewish tradition argues that Cain used a stone to smite Abel (see Gen. 4:8). Because of the term John uses in his first Epistle, “slew” (1 John 3:12), meaning “to butcher, to slaughter,” others suggest that Cain cut his brother’s throat. His actions revealed his wicked heart. Again, to quote the beloved John, “His own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous” (1 John 3:12). And, as Jesus said, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light” (John 3:20). Cain's hatred of  worship by faith in a lamb, the blood-sprinkled way, was evidenced.

3. The Woe Of Cain

            When men are unrepentant rebels against God’s truth, their doom is inevitable. At first, the murderer, although with no admission of guilt, was questioned by the Judge (4:9, 10). Then he was indicted and sentenced! The earth, which he so much enjoyed, would no longer “yield . . . her strength” (4:12), or produce for him. Futhermore, he became “a fugitive and a vagabond” (4:12), an outcast in “the land of Nod” (4:16). And his posterity, although known for so-called social progress in the world, with their earthly pleasures (see 4:17-24), only prepared the way for more judgment, the Great Deluge.

Illustration

            Suppose I told one of my daughters to mail a letter for me. And instead of mailing it, she disobeyed, and even mocking its importance, threw it in the trash. Would not the punishment she received be justifiable and expected? Similarly, dear friend, if you refuse God’s appointed Sacrifice, the same righteous God Who judged Cain and his disobedience must be your Judge!