Posted in Reports and Essays

In Genesis chapter four, the Bible tells us about Adam and Eve's oldest two children, Cain, and Abel, and their offerings that they offered to the Lord. Adam and Eve must have taught their boys about the sacrifice that the Lord had made for them when they had sinned. The Bible does not tell us that they did, but we can assume that someone told the boys; otherwise, how would they have known they needed to make a sacrifice?

There is something interesting about the sacrifices the brothers made! If you read the account carefully, you will see that there is a difference in the materials used by Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd, and he brought a lamb out of his flock, while Cain, on the other hand, was a farmer, and he brought the fruit of the ground, whether that was fruit, vegetables, or perhaps beans or seeds. Abel brought an acceptable offering to the Lord, but the Bible says that “unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.” Obviously something was wrong here! If Cain had paid attention to what God had done for his parents, perhaps he would not have made the mistake that he did.

“Why was it so terrible that Cain brought his crops instead of an animal?” you may ask. The answer is that it has to do with what it pictures. In the Bible there are a lot of “types” -- things that really happened, but that represent something else as well. So what do the offerings of Cain and Abel represent? Abel’s offering pictures doing things God’s way, but Cain’s offering pictures vanity and self-righteousness.

The most obvious type in the offerings of Cain and Abel is that of how to receive the forgiveness of sins from the Lord. In the Bible, the only way we see for the forgiveness of sins, and salvation, is the shedding of blood. In fact, Hebrews states that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” Jesus is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. There is no way that you can get blood out of a vegetable, or whatever Cain used for his offering. Abel’s offering, which was an animal, had blood, for the remission of sins. Also, Cain’s offering pictures the fruit of your works for your salvation (farming is work!). But Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Cain’s offering pictured self-righteousness.

Something else that the sacrifices pictured is that of correctly serving the Lord. Cain’s offering represents trying to do the Lord’s service your own way and on your own terms. For example, if you were to start a hospital in Africa, saying that you were serving the Lord, well, you would not be serving the Lord, because he does not just call people to go start hospitals or medical missions (I’m not saying that it’s wrong to start hospitals in Africa, but if God called you to do something else, like be a preacher, and you decided to be a doctor and start a hospital instead, that would be wrong.) That would be an example of “serving the Lord” your own way, like Cain tried to do. But Cain was not accepted, and you wouldn’t be, either! But if you went to Africa to start a church, and you did it the way that God said it was to be done, well, then, that would be like Abel -- serving the Lord the way that he has respect unto.

Something to think about is that Abel offered sheep to the Lord, and sheep multiply. If you are serving the Lord by winning souls to him, then you are serving him correctly. The Lord will have respect to that. However, vegetables rot! Your own self-righteousness is only vanity and is like filthy rags in the sight of God! Let us be careful to always do things the way that the Lord has commanded us to!