Hebrews 11:4 NIV
[4] By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
A number of years ago, we went on a short city break to Salzburg in Austria. It was superb: a beautiful city on the edge of the Alps with some stunning views. It felt like our whole mindset and experience had been elevated.
Then we arrived back in Edinburgh airport, took the bus into the centre of the city and caught the train headed westward, towards home.
Within a few minutes of sitting down, a local scallywag sat down close to us and began talking to his friend on the phone. He could barely get two words out without cursing. The whole way back towards Glasgow, this lad did not stop using foul and abusive language, despite our young daughter, who wasn’t even ten years old at the time, being seated nearby.
My wife and I just looked each other and sighed, ‘Welcome home...’
These verses may seem like our ‘welcome home’ moment. The previous verse has taken us to the majesty of creation; this verse to the first murder.
It might sound strange that the writer to the Hebrews has included the victim of humanity’s first atrocity as a hero of faith, but there are some very good reasons for this – reasons that we would do well to learn from.
So let’s apprise ourselves of the details, from Genesis 4:
Genesis 4:1-12 NIV
[1] Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” [2] Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. [3] In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. [4] And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, [5] but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. [6] Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? [7] If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” [8] Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. [9] Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” [10] The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. [11] Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. [12] When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.4.1-12.NIV
The writer to the Hebrews pulls out three aspects of this awful tragedy where Abel showed faith, where his bitterly jealous brother did not – which led to murder.
The first if these is Abel's worship.
There were two offerings here: one from the land and one from the flock.
It has long been stated by some commentators that the nature of these sacrifices is not the issue.
However, I disagree.
I believe that the nature of these sacrifices betrays the heart behind them, and that it is there that the difference lies which leads God to give respect and regard to one and not to the other.
Look at the words used. Cain’s offering is ‘some of the fruit of the ground’. It is not the first fruit. It is not the best fruit. He is giving God something, but the verse is unclear as to the cost of this or whether or not it is his best.
Abel, on the other hand, brought fat portions – among the most prized parts of any animal – from some of the firstborn of his flock. He recognises God’s primacy and gives Him from the best he can give.
That is the difference.
To quote King David:
2 Samuel 24:24 NIV
[24] But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.24.24.NIV
Or again, Jesus Himself:
John 4:23-24 NIV
[23] Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.4.23-24.NIV
In fact, God Himself directly serves Cain a warning of what is about to come:
Genesis 4:6-7
[6] Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? [7] If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.4.6-7.NIV
This warning is pretty tough. God is saying that the form of religion that simply does what is expected to ‘get by’ and ‘appease God’ is not enough. Behind the half-measures of Cain’s sacrifice was a heart that wasn’t not completely dedicated to following Him, and this caused what happened next.
Because as well as Abel’s worship, we also see his works, in that the sacrifice he made was credited to him as righteousness.
It was recognised as a good work, as the kind of behaviour that God was seeking.
And when did that happen?
After he made the sacrifice.
Going back to Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, we see that worship like this – wholehearted worship – is what God is seeking.
And this is something Jesus Himself teaches:
Luke 21:1-4 NIV
[1] As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. [2] He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. [3] “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. [4] All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.21.1-4.NIV
Whereas the dull, formulaic, rule-based worship of people who see worship as being nothing more than a nod in God’s direction so He will allow us to get on with our lives without Him – that God hates:
Isaiah 29:13 NIV
[13] The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Amos 5:21-24 NIV
[21] “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. [22] Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. [23] Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. [24] But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Matthew 15:7-9 NIV
[7] You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: [8] “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. [9] They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ”
Therein lies the difference between Abel and
his jealous brother: it is in the quality and sincerity of his worship, through which his faith in God is expressed.
Think about it: sacrificing firstborns was a pretty big deal for a livestock farmer. There was no guarantee than you would have young born after them. The very act of sacrificing them was an act of faith that God was able to provide for you to make up the loss.
Surrender to God has always been like that:
Mark 10:29-30 NIV
[29] “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel [30] will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.29-30.NIV
Abel understood that worship implies more than just singing – it involves being willing to pay a price for God: being willing to lose out.
He was willing to pay that price.
His brother Cain was not.
And that brings us from Abel's worship and works to his word.
And this is not easy:
Genesis 4:10 NIV
[10] The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
Abel’s blood speaks. It cries out from the ground. It cries out for justice. It cries out for vengeance.
And this very cry is an act of faith because it depends on God to provide it.
Allow me to explain.
Having not had his sacrifice accepted by God, Cain does what so many people do: instead of taking responsibility for the problem and fixing it, he lashes out at his brother and kills him.
The Jewish leaders did the same thing to Jesus when He confronted them with the shortcomings of their worship.
This is where we have to be very careful. Yes, being confronted about our spirituality is difficult. But if we have issues, we need to learn from them and move on, not ‘shoot the messenger’.
When God confronted Caan about his murder of his own brother, he specifically said that his blood cried out from the ground as evidence against Caan for what he had done.
However, the Bible speaks of the blood of another innocent that was slain – the blood of Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 12:22-24 NIV
[22] But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, [23] to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, [24] to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.12.22-24.NIV
Why is it better?
Because Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance.
Jesus’ blood paid the price for that vengeance.
Abel’s blood cried out for justice.
Jesus’ blood bore injustice to set the undeserving free.
Abel’s blood cries out for legal restitution.
Jesus’ blood cries out for grace.
Regardless of what happens to us, we are called to not seek revenge but to give our situation to God and let Him take care of it:
Romans 12:19 NIV
[19] Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
So yes, Abel’s blood still cries out now. It cries out for all who have been unjustly treated, who did not deserve the punishment meted out to them. But it cries out to God, who will avenge and repay, and to the blood of Jesus Christ, whose unjust treatment brings about justice for all.
When I brought my wife to the UK, we stayed in our church’s apartment for a while. One of the rental conditions was that we help out with practical jobs around the church.
There was one job I just could not do correctly, no matter how I tried: preparing for and cleaning up after Communion. I remember being in the kitchen when one of the more forthright women in the church had a good go at me for some of the mistakes I was making.
She pointed out that my attitude was wrong.
And do you know what? She was right.
I saw it just as a duty I needed to perform, and one I could not do correctly.
What I should have realised was that it was an act of worship to God.
The story of Cain and Abel is often concentrated on the fratricide – on the murder caused by jealousy. And that is correct, in a way, because it is the first murder in the Bible.
But there is more to it than the violence.
At its heart, this is the story of two men: one of whom worshipped God with his whole heart, and the other, who went in for half measures.
It is also about human nature: that we often do not take responsibility for where we go wrong, and instead seek to deflect it onto others.
At its heart, it is a story of faith. And what happens when we lack it.
The problem is, how does that faith express itself: in wholehearted worship or hatred leading to murder?
That is a tricky question.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, it chills me to the bone to think that half-hearted worship and jealousy could lead to this. Guard me from this. Let my faith express itself in wholehearted worship, I pray. Amen.
Questions
1. Why did Cain kill Abel?
2. What did Cain get wrong in his worship of God? How can we avoid making the same mistake?
3. Why is Jesus’ blood better than Abel’s?
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