Bible Questions Answered:
“About cain and abel, why did god
like abel and hate cain. Did he like shepherds better?...”
Debby/ Columbus, Georgia U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Genesis 4:1-7 NLT
1 Now Adam had sexual relations with
his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain,
she said, “With The Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”
2 Later she gave birth to his
brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a
shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.
3 When it was time for the harvest,
Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to The Lord.
4 Abel also brought a gift—the
best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord
accepted Abel and his gift,
5 but He did not accept Cain and his
gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
6 “Why are you so angry?” The
Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?
7 You will be accepted if you do
what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out!
Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must
subdue it and be its master.”
Many in fleshly
thinking trying desperately to solve this situation have said the
following.
“Well what's
involved here is simply that it doesn't say that Cain offered God the
best of his crop, if he had he would have been accepted!”
Hogwash, this kind
of treacherous thinking is veiled humanism!
Humanism:
The
belief in human-based morality: a system of thought that is based on
the values, characteristics, and behavior that are believed to be
best in human beings, rather than on any supernatural authority
"The
best man does, the better he is received by God"
This is the
false religious belief that man is saved by religious works, and not
by faith in the grace of God!
Isaiah
64:6 KJV
But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken
us away.
John
1:12-13 KJV
12 But as many as
received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name:
13 Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God.
Romans
3:24 KJV
Being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians
2:8,9 KJV
8 For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is The Gift Of
God:
9 Not of works, lest
any man should boast.
Titus
3:5,6 KJV
5 Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of The Holy Ghost;
6 Which He shed on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;
“OK,
Pastor if acceptance wasn't based on how good their gifts were, what
was acceptance based upon?”
That
is the question, and few have sought the answer from The Lord.
To
find the answer, we must see how Adam and Eve were restored by The
Lord. Yes restored, for they did confess to The Lord, and they were
sorry for their sin! Now let us not, be deceived, restored, “does
not mean the cancellation of their reaping what they had sown!”
Adam and Eve were asked to leave the garden of Eden, as part of
their judgment of disobedience.
Proverbs
5:22 KJV
His own iniquities
shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords
of his sins.
Galatians
6:7 KJV
Be not deceived; God is
not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Genesis
3:7-10; 21-24 KJV (Please read the whole story in Genesis chapter
3.)
7 And the eyes of them
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed
fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the
voice of The Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of The Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And The Lord God
called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I
hid myself.
21 Unto Adam also and
to his wife did The Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And The Lord God
said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:
and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of The Tree Of
Life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore The Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from
whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the
man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a
flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of The Tree Of
Life.
Hebrews
11:4 KJV
By faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it
he being dead yet speaketh.
Thee
answer is ….
Genesis
3:21 KJV
Unto Adam also and to
his wife did The Lord God make coats of skins*, and clothed
them.
*Skins-Hebrew:
Owr (Ore): Skin, hide, leather.
(Abingdon's
Strong's Concordance of the Bible.
The
Lord, sacrificed the life of a Lamb, so that Adam and Eve could be
clothed, and their sin covered.
This
sacrifice, Adam and his wife, saw, and understood. A Lamb was
sacrificed, for the covering of sin.
This
(is believed that) they sacrificed themselves, and instructed their
children to do so as well!
Under
the Old Covenant, sins were “covered, by the blood of a Lamb.
(prefiguring Christ The sinless Lamb Of God)”
Old
Covenant:
Psalm
32:1 KJV
Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalm
85:2 KJV
Thou hast forgiven the
iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
Since
the beginning, a spotless Lamb, was the sacrifice for offerings.
Abraham
and Isaac:
Genesis
22:6-8 KJV
6 And Abraham took the
wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he
took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them
together.
7 And Isaac spake unto
Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my
son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is The
Lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My
son, God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering: so
they went both of them together.
Please
take the time to read Exodus chapter 12, about the spotless, Passover
Lamb (a type of Christ).
Throughout
The Word Of God, from Genesis to Revelation, Jesus is The Lamb Of
God.
John
1:29 KJV
The next day John seeth
Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold The Lamb Of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.
John
1:36 KJV
And looking upon Jesus
as He walked, he saith (John the Baptist), Behold The Lamb Of God!
Knowing this, Cain
knew what sacrifice was required! God Himself had required it!
Genesis 4:3,4
KJV
3 And in process of time it came to
pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto
The Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the
first lings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And The Lord had
respect unto Abel and to his offering:
It would not be
“vegetables,” that would bleed and die at Calvary, taking away
the sins of the world, but the very Lamb Of God.
THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST:
THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST GIVES CLEANSING:
I
John 1:7 KJV
But
if we walk in The Light, as He is in The Light, we have fellowship
one with another, and
The
Blood Of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanseth
us
from all sin.
Revelation
1:5 KJV
And
from Jesus Christ, who is The Faithful Witness, and The First
Begotten Of The Dead, and
The
Prince Of The Kings Of The Earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed
us from our sins in His own blood,
Revelation
7:14 KJV
And
I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they
which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in
the
blood of The Lamb.
THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST GIVES JUSTIFICATION:
Romans
3:30 AMP
Since
it is one and the same God Who will justify the circumcised by
faith [which germinated from Abraham] and the uncircumcised through
their [newly acquired] faith. [For it is the same trusting faith in
both cases, a firmly relying faith in Jesus Christ].
Romans
5:8,9 KJV
8
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
9
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Galatians
3:8 AMP
And
the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (declare
righteous, put in right standing with Himself) the Gentiles in
consequence of faith, proclaimed the Gospel [foretelling the glad
tidings of a Savior long beforehand] to Abraham in the promise,
saying, In you (Christ) shall all the nations [of the earth]
be blessed.
THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST ALONE GIVES REDEMPTION:
Colossians
1:19,20 NLT
19
For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ,
20
and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made
peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s
blood on the cross.
Ephesians
1:7 KJV
In
whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;
Colossians
1:14 KJV
In
whom we have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins:
I Peter 1:18-21 KJV
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with The Precious Blood Of
Christ, as of A Lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you,
21 Who by Him do believe in God,
that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith
and hope might be in God.
Hebrews
9:11-14 KJV
11
But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come,
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that
is to say, not of this building;
12
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us.
13
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14
How much more shall The Blood Of Christ, who through
the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews
9:12 KJV
Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by
His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.
Hebrews
10:4-14 NLT
4
For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away
sins.
5
That is why, when Christ came into the world, He said to God,
“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have
given Me a body to offer.
6
You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.
7
Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is
written about Me in the Scriptures.’”
8
First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin
offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you
pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses).
9
Then He said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the
first covenant in order to put the second into effect.
10
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of
the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
11
Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the
altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again,
which can never take away sins.
12
But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice
for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of
honor at God’s right hand.
13
There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool
under His feet.
14
For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are
being made holy.
THE
BLOOD GIVES ENTRANCE INTO THE HOLY PLACE:
Hebrews
10:15-20 KJV
15
And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For He says,
16
“This is the new covenant I will make with My people on that day,
says the Lord: I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write
them on their minds.”
17
Then He says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless
deeds.”
18
And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer
any more sacrifices.
19
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s
Most Holy Place
because
of The Blood Of Jesus.
20
By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the
curtain into
the
Most Holy Place.
THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST HAS FOREVER DEFEATED THE ENEMY:
Revelation
12:11 KJV
And
they overcame him by The Blood Of The Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the
death.
THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST FOREVER BRINGS REJOICING IN HEAVEN:
Revelation
5:1-14 NLT
1
Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One who was sitting on
the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the
scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals.
2
And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is
worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?”
3
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open
the scroll and read it.
4
Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open
the scroll and read it.
5
But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look,
The Lion Of The Tribe Of Judah, the heir to David’s throne,
has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven
seals.”
6
Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but
it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and
among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes,
which represent the Sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into
every part of the earth.
7
He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the One
sitting on the throne.
8
And when He took the scroll, the four living beings and the
twenty-four elders fell down before
The
Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with
incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
9
And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take
the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were
slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10
And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God.
And they will reign on the earth.”
11
Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions
of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders.
12
And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is The Lamb who was
slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
13
And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the
earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and
power belong to the One sitting on the throne and to
The
Lamb forever and ever.”
14
And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four
elders fell down and worshiped
The
Lamb.
"Question: Should we offer out very best to The Lord?"
Absolutely, but never forget our good anything, whatever you can name, was not nailed to the cross of Calvary to take away yours sins and mine. Only one did that, and that was God's Eternal Son The Lord Jesus Christ!
Do you know this precious Lamb Of The Father?
Receive Him, now into your heart and life, for forgiveness of sins
and the promise of eternal blessings by His side.