Cain and his offering were not respected by God. This made Cain angry and sad. He had not sinned, but was being tempted to sin. God came to him and said, "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 it."
God was counseling him, giving him a way to escape temptation. To "do well" meant to repent of his unacceptable offering, and his anger and depression, and turn to God for forgiveness. He had not sinned, but was close to it. Repentance would have placed him back into God's good graces, and he would have been forgiven. But he rejected God's gracious offer and committed the first murder. He could have gone the other way; the path was open and he was invited to turn around. We have the same opportunity when tempted to sin; repent and turn to God.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'm not exactly sure why Cain's offer was rejected. If Abel was the keeper of sheep and brought his best, and Cain was a tiller of the ground and brought HIS best, why did God reject the offering from Cain? Both were bringing their best, weren't they?
I think what I'm trying to ask is, are some jobs better than others?
Good questions, Jude.
From the Scriptures in Genesis 4, we are not told why Abel's offering was acceptable and Cain's was not, therefore, all I can offer is speculation. It might be assumed, however, that God had revealed to Cain and Abel what was the proper sacrifice they were to make.
The offering of an animal, to shed its blood, suggests an offering for sin. When God covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, an animal had to be killed. Only by the shedding of blood can sin be covered. This was a foreshadow of what was to come.
I do not think Cain was offering his best. He offered some of what he wanted to bring. He did what he wanted to do rather than what the Lord had instructed him to do. Again,this is speculation on my part.
The jobs of Cain and Abel were both honorable. Neither was better than the other. In fact, in the Mosaic Laws concerning offerings, grain and fruit were both commanded, but not for sin. They were peace and thank offerings, etc. But the sin offering was always with animal sacrifice.
The Devil presents the temptation, God does not tempt us. He provides, in Christ, the ability to resist the temptation and thus not sin. Only because Christ living in us has the strength to resist, in the power of the Spirit. It is not because of our strength that we resist. The man and woman were made in God's image - they had His Spirit in them but they did not pray, or ask God for the guidance needed or in any way involve God when the devil presented the temptation. Likewise, God did not intervene or prevent them from sinning, though He could have. He wanted them to use their own will to worship Him, just as today we use our will to accept Him. It appears that prior to the temptation they paid no attention to the tree, following God's commands. sinning started at the threshold of the mind, as they allowed themselves to see the tree and explore its possibilites.
Interesting thoughts, Catalin.
I disagree on one particular issue. I do not believe Adam and Eve had God's Spirit in them. They had their own spirits, which God gave them, and called it "very good." They had the command to resist eating from the tree and the power to resist, but Eve was tricked and Adam did not have the will to resist. He was purely rebellious.
I also think that, although God did not tempt them, He tested them, pointing them toward the two trees in the garden. They chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and not the tree of eternal life. Once they ate from that first tree, they were thrown out of the garden and banned from coming back, so that they would not eat from the second tree. If they had it would have been disasterous.
Post a Comment