Hating Abel

Hating Abel

…but He did not respect Cain and his offering.  And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.  So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?  And why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.  And its desire is for you, but you should rule over.”

Genesis 4:5-8

As we continue to consider the ways in which Abel is a type of Christ, we want to consider how Cain, Abel’s brother hated him enough to kill him.  Cain’s hatred arose from the fact that God did not accept the work of his hands as a sacrifice.  It is implicit that the sacrifice of the lamb was that which God had prescribed.  Cain’s offering was not a matter of ignorance.  If Abel offered a lamb, where else would he have gotten the idea to do that except that God had stipulated it?  Hence Cain’s offering was the same, in spirit, as every other offering of all false religions.  It was a spirit of, ‘here is the fruit of my labor, God, that should be good enough for You.’  Because God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s, the historic division arose between the godly and the ungodly.  Cain hated his brother enough to kill him.  So Abel is again a type of Christ.  Christ declared, ‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.’  It was the self-righteously religious, who offered to God the fruits of their own labors, who were first and foremost the engineers of the crucifixion of Christ.  So today, let us ask ourselves, of what people are we?  Are we those who wear the mantle of Abel or the mantle of Cain?  We are one or the other.  We cannot be both.  Our souls hang in the balance.

Our most Wise and Holy Savior,
we rejoice that You were willing to endure such
contradiction of sinners against Yourself.
We praise You that by Your stripes we are healed.
Evermore enable us to endure hatred for Your sake.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning