In glancing through a book of Bible stories for children recently, I came to the well-known story of Cain and Abel, and was startled to read this sentence: “For some reason God accepted the sacrifice of Abel but not that of Cain.” The story then proceeded to relate the details of the first murder and the subsequent life of Cain.
We are all familiar with the brief history of Cain and Abel given in the fourth chapter of Genesis. “Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 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: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.”
If we had only these few verses to instruct us, we might also wonder why God accepted one sacrifice and not the other, since each brother brought what was easiest for him to procure because of his occupation.
Learn from experience of others
In 2nd Timothy 3:16 we read: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” It is evident, therefore, that we are intended to learn something from this incident other than the fact that murder is not the approved method of eliminating those who displease us. The details given are very few, but the fact that they brought a sacrifice at all indicates that they had been given some instruction in the matter. It is reasonable to believe they were told what kind of sacrifice to bring, because God does not change (see Malachi 3:6) : “For I am the Lord, I change not.” The principles of righteousness are the same in all generations. They, too, would have been told that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). If they were ignorant of this fact, God would not have held Cain responsible for bringing an unacceptable sacrifice, for “where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews strengthens our belief in these facts. In the fourth verse we read: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” We are familiar with the statement in the sixth verse that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” So here we have another reason why one sacrifice was acceptable to God and the other was not. Abel had faith, but in what? Faith is not an abstract virtue, it is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11 :1 ) . Abel had faith in something unseen, something to be hoped for. His sacrifice was not just the performance of a ritual which was required but not understood. In other words, Cain performed a duty with the least possible effort. He did not bother to offer to God the kind of sacrifice God required, he did it in his own way and was rejected.
To Believe is to obey
Those who believe there is a God and that “He is a Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6) must be prepared to be obedient to all the instructions given, and to do the required things in the way that God has appointed. If we were contestants in an athletic event, we would certainly abide by the rules, or we would be disqualified. In the “race for eternal life”, we are not allowed to change the rules, to offer something we think to be just as good, or something that appeals to us.
Let us learn from the example of Cain. He went to the trouble of bringing the fruit of the ground and offering a sacrifice, but he did not do what God had required of him and was rejected. His effort was wasted. If we are going to expend our energy in an act of worship, let us do it intelligently in the way provided, and we will be pleasing to God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One