Adam and Eve had raised their sons to sacrifice to the Lord. This devotional reading looks at, though both had offered sacrifices, only one was accepted.
Nuggets
- Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because God was pleased with his life and offering.
- Just as we said God accepted Abel and his offering, God rejected Cain and his offering.
We aren’t told here why Abel’s gift was accepted while Cain’s gift was rejected. Abel’s was okay, but something was wrong to cause God not to accept Cain’s.
But if we dig in, I think we can get a pretty good idea why Cain’s wasn’t accepted.
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Devotions in the The Influence of Sin series
Abel’s Offering
“Abel also brought a gift — the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected” (Gen. 4: 4-5 NLT)
Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because God was pleased with his life and offering.
We aren’t told how God notified Abel that his sacrifice was acceptable. Maybe it was because Abel’s sacrifice was consumed by fire, so he didn’t need any other communication.
- “Fire blazed forth from the LORD’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground” (Lev. 9: 24).
- “Then the angel of the LORD touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the LORD disappeared” (Jdgs. 6: 21 NLT).
- “Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!” (I Kgs. 18: 38 NLT).
Later, we are told why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted. “It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith” (Heb. 11: 4 NLT).
The fact that Abel brought a meat offering showed His commitment to God. He accepted the obligation to make an animal sacrifice to God.
We are also given another clue as to why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted.
- “But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams’” (I Sam. 15: 22 NLT).
- “The LORD is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices” (Prov. 21: 3 NLT).
- “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings” (Hos. 6: 6 NLT).
Obedience, righteousness, justice, steadfast love. “… The LORD accepted Abel and his gift” (Gen. 4: 4 NLT emphasis added).
- Doing what God tells us to do.
- Having the characteristics of God.
- Bringing order back to God’s creation so that all people receive the rewards He has for His children.
- Having all-encompassing favor that is not dependent on actions.
Abel gave the best that he had from a willing, contrite heart. He knew he needed atonement for His sins.
That goes along with the first item on the disciples’ job description. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom. 12: 1-2 NLT).
Our worship is our unwavering love and praise God for Who He is that permeates the life we live.
We have to worship though our lives, not just an occasional gift/sacrifice to God. We have to live through the week what God teaches us on Sunday.
Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because of his attitude. He acknowledged his sinfulness, rather than tried to justify his actions and beliefs. He had the mind/attitude of Christ.
Bonar agreed. He wrote, “Abel comes acknowledging death to he his due; for he brings a lamb, and slays it before the Lord, as a substitute for himself.”
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Abel would have killed the goat or sheep, so there would be blood on his hands.” And Hevel [Abel], he also brought of the bechorot [firstborn] of his tzon [goats and sheep] and of the chelev [fat] thereof” (Gen. 4: 4 OJB).
Remember, blood is the only thing that covers our sins.
Only living and worshiping as Abel did will ensure our sacrifice is accepted by God. We’ve got to be all in. Salvation has to change us from the inside out.
Cain’s Offering
“… Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord” (Gen. 4: 3 NLT)
“but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected” (Gen. 4: 5 NLT)
Just as we said God accepted Abel and his offering, God rejected Cain and his offering.
We aren’t told here how or why God notified Cain that his sacrifice was unacceptable. We are just told God didn’t accept it. (It was probably obvious it wasn’t accepted when the same thing that happened to Abel’s sacrifice didn’t happen to Cain’s.)
We ask about why the burnt offering was accepted, but the grain offering wasn’t. Later when God gave the law about sacrifices, He allowed grain offerings along with burnt offerings. In fact, there is a whole festival designed around the first fruits.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf. On that same day you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. With it you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live” (Lev. 23: 10-14 NLT).
True, in Cain and Abel’s time, the law about sacrifices had not yet been given. But we don’t know that for sure. We do know God had given them at least one law. “But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden — except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die’” (Gen. 2: 16-17 NLT).
This may have been the or a precursor to the Festival of the Harvest. The timing is right. But then, it may have been a Shabbat sacrifice.
We can come up with some reasons the offering wasn’t accepted. Cain’s offering did not indicate it was the first fruits, just some of his crops. It did not even say it was the best.
Most importantly, we can understand why Cain’s sacrifice wasn’t accepted. His heart wasn’t right. Pastor Steve said in a recent sermon, “The problem with Cain’s offering wasn’t the offering, but the problem was his heart.”
I never thought of it this way. The Essex Remembrancer wrote that Cain’s offering came from an attitude of thankfulness instead of an attitude of faith.
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God wants our thanks, but He requires more than that.
Yes, Cain lacked faith. Since he didn’t have faith, he didn’t have obedience.
All Cain had to do was say, “I’m sorry for not being the sacrifice. I needed to have genuine faith in You and offer the sacrifice in a humble manner.”
Cain chose not to do that.
So, Cain got angry. He didn’t understand why God neither accepted his gift nor the way it was given.
Why did Cain get so angry? His anger probably had a strong foundation of envy.
On top of that was the feeling of humiliation that had to have been a major element. Our feelings of being wronged does much too flame of the fires of anger.
I can’t but think that there has to be an ingredient of self-will in here. Did Cain leave? God should just accept what he offered regardless of how or what was offered?
God will only accept true worship.
Grantham likened Cain to a Pharisee. I can see that — especially if he added the indignation they felt at being told they were wrong.
Cain had neither latched on to the realization that he had sinned nor the was cognizance that he had to repent.
Making the Connections #1
Go back to Genesis 3: 15. “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3: 15 NLT).
Hostility would occur between humans when one follows good and the other, evil. Isn’t that what happened here – with deadly consequences?
Yes, God is in the business of establishing families, but He is also in the business of separating people — the goats from the sheep.
As the parents weren’t shielded from temptation to sin, the children were not shielded from division.
In Elaine-speak, the problem — this time — wasn’t about the offering. The problem — always — is the condition of our hearts. Do we choose to obey God or not?
Making the Connections #2
I love what Babington had to say. Yeah, he wrote in King James Version, but we get it. He wrote, “They both offer, but the one thinketh anything good enough, and the other in the zeal of his soul and fulness of his Lord thinketh nothing good enough.”
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Cain thought God should accept as good enough whatever way he offered as worship. He more than likely saw the sacrifice as a substitute. “I’ll just offer God this grain, and He won’t expect anything more.”
Abel thought nothing we have to offer is good enough because we aren’t good enough.
Dods noted that God isn’t going to accept our sacrifice if we are not right. Leavitt explained that by saying right is a life of faith.
Resources
How many of us worship as Cain did? How many of us are going to be surprised to find out we are goats masquerading as sheep?
Making the Connections #3
Abel wasn’t the only one to have a lock on faith. Abraham did. Noah did. They offered sacrifices to God.
Abraham was even going to sacrifice his son Isaac because God told him to do so. That was a test of his faith — and he passed with flying colors.
Knowing His will gives us what we need to know what is required of us.
It is essential that we appropriately respond to God’s love for us. That response is ABCDing. That response is walking in His Spirit and offering appropriate sacrifices to acknowledge that love.
Making the Connections #4
How many of us still today worship as Cain does?
Pastor Steve made an interesting comment in his sermon this morning. He said that the society in first-century Ephesus mirrored today’s society.
In the letter to the church of Ephesus, they were called lukewarm. They were neither hot nor cold.
Isn’t that what many disciples today are? They have compromised with the worldview so that they no longer reflect the character of God. Their actions may reflect godliness, but their motivation screams that of the devil.
We can’t stand on the fact that we attend services every time the doors are open. Disciples touting worldview philosophies are just as false in their worship as Cain was.
We can’t do the right thing for the wrong reasons any more than we can do the wrong things for the right reasons.
It was interesting. Jackson equated Cain’s offering to taking the Lord’s supper and Abel’s offering to Jesus’ purpose — atonement.
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We are not to just go through the motions — as right as they might be. Our worship for God must produce a change in us — and continue changing us until we are called home.
We can’t go to worship because it is expected of us. We must go out of our desire to be in God’s presence so that He can sanctify us.
We must be going into worship with the intent of placing our sins at the foot of the cross and asking God to forgive us for them.
Making the Connections #5
How far does God have to go to spell out what is right and what is wrong?
Maurice helped us with that. He wrote,
“Although we should certainly have expected Moses to inform us plainly if there had been a direct ordinance to Adam or his sons concerning the offering of fruits or animals, we have no right to expect that he should say more than he has said to make us understand that they received a much more deep and awful kind of communication.”
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What has God told us He wanted?
- For us to have total, unswerving faith that He is Who He says He is.
- Act totally and sincerely in obedience to Him — having the appropriate motivation fueling that obedience.
- For us to actively listen to His revelations.
- Examine ourselves to determine motives — and make sure those motives are to enhance God’s kingdom.
Making the Connections #6
Where was Abel when Cain was wrestling with his envy? Worshiping God.
Abel was doing everything he was supposed to be doing. We can read into that loving Cain.
And look what Abel got for that. In this devotion, it would be hatred. Stay tuned.
How Do We Apply This?
- Understand that humankind is presumed guilty until proven innocent — condemned until saved by Christ.
- Never forget that forgiveness of sin must be accomplished through a substitute of person.
- Honor God by more than going through the sacrifices; rather, have a humble attitude in serving Him through sacrifice.
- Recognize that sacrifices are more about getting right than giving up.
- Don’t be too prideful to refuse to knowledge that we are sinners.
- Participate in pure worship of God.
- Shoot to just serve God acceptably — give God our best.
Resources
Father God. We want to have the faith and obedience of Abel. Grow us so that we become more faithful. Forgive us when we are like Cain and are envious and angry. Help us not to murder our relationship with You. We want to give You true worship and honor. Amen.
What do you think?
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