Cain's Trial And Sentence...Genesis 4 pt 5

http://billrandles.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/cains-trial-and-sentence-genesis-4-pt-6/ ^ | 12-13-12 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. (Genesis 4:9-12)

In the events leading up to the murder of Abel, God had repeatedly spoken to Cain, asking him questions in order to provoke him to reconsider his way and possibly to repent. But Cain had no answer. He offered no real response to God’s urgent prompting.

Thus the will worshipper became a murderer, He wouldn’t stoop to offer the bloody sacrifice which God had appointed, but he ended up shedding innocent blood nonetheless, the blood of his righteous brother. As we see in Islam, those who worship in any other way than the way appointed by God,(through the blood of Jesus), always end up shedding innocent blood anyway.

But the holy God makes inquisition for the shedding of innocent blood. In Cain’s case, He inquired by once again asking questions, mercifully allowing for the opportunity for self judgment and repentance.

“Where is Abel Thy Brother?”

But Cain this time responds, and yet his response is a lie, and one loaded with bitter sarcasm and impudence,

“I know not , am I my brother’s keeper?”

Behold the madness of sin! Cain knew better than most do, that our God is an omniscient God, from whom nothing can be hidden! Look at the bitter cynicism of evil! Cain scoffed at the idea of caring for his brother, in the very presence of God, knowing that he had just killed him!

The unbelieving and willfull rebels against God always eventually become cynical, scorning and hating love, goodness and truth, and setting themselves deeper in a position of opposition to the promptings of God, "the seat of the scornful" as the first Psalm calls it.

Cain wasn’t going to repent, obviously he was too hard-hearted to be appealed to in tender mercy. Therefore his sin would be exposed by God, and a temporal sentence swiftly passed upon him for the crime of murder.

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand….

Abel’s blood cries out from the ground! Thus, “he being dead, yet speaks…” as the book of Hebrews tells us. From this account we see for the first time in the scripture that there is life after death. Abel was slain, but very much alive and his blood was crying out for vengeance against the first murderer. Had the earth been made to drink Abel’s spilled blood? Therefore the earth itself would reject Cain, he was now sentenced to be “cursed from the earth…” all the days of his life.

Everything which begins in Genesis, has a counterpart in the book of the Revelation. The woman in the garden, the serpent, the tree of life, all have their fulfillment in Revelation. As it was in the beginning so shall it be in the end. We see the counterpart to this blood crying out in the Revelation

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?(Revelation 6;9-10)

When we consider that January is the fortieth anniversary of Roe versus Wade abortion law, and that the USA has recently surpassed the 50 millionth abortion, and has twice elected abortion’s most avid proponent, we tremble at the prospect of our own bloody ground.

However for the blood-guilty, and deserving of death, the gospel does give us an antidote to Abel’s righteous blood crying out for Holy vengeance, for the book of Hebrews again tells us the good news, of innocent blood which speaks better things to God.

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.(Hebrews 12:22-24)

But Cain had already rejected ‘the blood of sprinkling….’, therefore he would now have to wander. By the just sentence of the Holy judge of all of the earth, he would be homeless and restless for the rest of his earthly life, as a consequence of his sin. Perhaps he would yet repent and turn in humble faith to the one who would and could redeem and forgive him.