“ Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof,” it appears he may have presented more than one lamb from the pasture. His offering was accepted, first of all, because it was a sacrifice. It was a substitute for his own life as he thus confessed his sinfulness. Then, it was offered in obedience to God’s command. Faith prompted his offering. He was looking ahead to God’s promise to provide a perfect Substitute years ahead as Christ would come, the final atonement for sin. With the weapon of anger Cain murdered Abel his brother. It is doubtful that he was slain on the very day of the offering. The implication from Genesis 4 is that it was sometime later, while they were working out in the field, after Cain had been growing in his resentment and hatred for his brother. The apparent meaning in verse 7 is “Cain, if you are willing to do the right thing, to abandon your selfish offering of good works and present an offering from the flock, you, like Abel, will find grace and favor before God.” The deeper meaning in the original for the word “ sin” is “ sin offering” . God in essence seems to say, " I f you are willing to confess, there’s a lamb in the corral waiting for your sacrifice.” Cain willfully spurned God’s provision as the devil spurred him on to murder his brother. For this reason the Lord declared Cain to be an outcast. Satan’s victory at this point was very brief. Faith was added to faith in the hearts of the parents. In spite of their sorrow their confidence was rewarded when another son, Seth,
selects the very finest of his flock as the sacrifice. Because the latter came the blood-sprinkled way God accepted Abel’s offering while rejecting Cain’s. This infuriated the one who had worked with his hands. Cain became extremely upset and jealous. We all know how the first murder resulted from this. Let us not think that Cain had not realized from his parents reciting their experience in the Garden that he did not know that the shedding of innocent blood would be the only way to enter into God’s presence. So today we cannot find eternal salvation through any of our own efforts. We can only come to God through the blood shed on Calvary’s cross by our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have speculated that perhaps if Adam were at this time still acting as the priest for his own family he may have become very lax, and even indifferent, in the worship of the Lord. While he knew full well that only a blood offering would be approved by the Lord yet he allowed Cain to think that the fruit of his hands, as beautiful as it must have been, would avail. The devil chose Cain for his medium to destroy Abel whom he believed to be the seed of the woman. Here continues the conflict of the ages. You see, C a in ’s offering represented self-righteousness and indicated no repentance of confession of sin and need of atonement. There could be seen no expression of faith in the promise of a coming Redeemer. It was because of Cain’s unbelief that his offering was not accepted. From the statement,
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