Abel’s blood

(Gen. 4:1-15)

Introduction: Last Sunday’s sermon title was ‘The woman’s offspring’ based on Gen. 3:6-21. God created a man and a woman and let them take care of the Garden of Eden. God clearly commanded them not to eat the fruit of good and evil. God said, “If you eat of it, you will surely die.” But, when the woman saw the tree, the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom. So, she took some and ate it. She also gave it to her husband. That was the Fall of mankind. Adam and Eve made their own decision against God’s command. Then they were separated from God and hid from God. That was death of human beings. When God asked them why they committed the sin, they made excuses and blamed God for their sin. However, God promised the woman’s offspring to save mankind in the middle of His punishment. Jesus would come to this world through the woman to destroy the Satan. That was the first gospel in the Old Testaments. Today’s passage is Gen. 4:1-15. The event of two offerings by Cain and Abel and the first murder were recorded here. The blood of Abel is related to the blood of Jesus, and that is today’s sermon title.

1) Two offerings (1-7): Eve gave birth to a son and named him Cain, which meant ‘received from God’. They also had another son and named him Abel, meaning breath or empty. Cain became a farmer and made an offering to God with his grains. Abel became a shepherd and made an offering to God with the firstborn of hid flocks. God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s. Obviously, Cain was so upset. According to verse 7, it was well possible that Cain had some issues with his sin and deliberately did not follow his parents’ instruction about making offerings to God. Abel’s offering was done in a right way according to Moses’ law although Moses’ law was given long after this event. Cain did not try to understand why God did not accept his offering; he was just upset. One lesson we can learn from this paragraph is that both offering and worship are related in that both are ways to glorify and honor God. We should worship God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the Bible (John 4:23-24). I would like to ask you to consider our worship as an important privilege and duty of believers. Worship is a good way to have fellowship with God and experience God’s love and guidance.

2) Abel’s blood (8-12): Cain did not try to solve his sin but instead killed his brother Abel just because God accepted Abel’s offering. It was the first murder of mankind. Humans are getting more corrupted. When God asked Cain about his brother, he said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” That attitude was the attitude of an evil man. From that time the blood of Abel has been the symbol of the voice of the oppressed. However, the blood of Jesus is much better than that of Abel. The blood of Jesus is the blood of redemption (Heb. 12:24, Ephe. 1:7). Without blood, there is no redemption (Heb. 9:22), and the blood of Jesus gives us eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12).

3) Cain’s attitude and God’s mercy (13-15): Cain complained about God’s punishment. We should admit that we have the same attitude (Prov. 19:3), complaining against God for the mistakes we made. He killed his brother but he was afraid that someone else would kill him. That was an example of double standard. But, God gave Cain His mercy. God gave Cain a mark so that no one would kill him. There could be more people on the earth during that time in addition to Adam, Eve, and Cain. Adam and Eve could have had more children than Cain and Abel. We are not sure. From today’s passage, I hope we have learned the importance of worship and the merit of the blood of Jesus. Thank you and God bless you.