On the surface, the story of Cain and Abel is one of the saddest stories in the Bible, a story in which a bad man kills his good brother just because he doesn’t like him. At the beginning of the previous chapter, man and woman were still enjoying the perfect presence of God in the garden. How immediate and how awful were the effects of Adam’s sin!
Yet as we look deeper, we see a story of redemption, a story of mercy, a prophetic foretaste at the very beginning of history of the Saviour who would come in the fullness of time and before he is finished his mission will draw history to a triumphant conclusion.
Cain and Abel come together to worship the Lord. This is an amazing statement in itself. When God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, the entrance to the garden was closed. Yet in his mercy, God’s presence was not eradicated from the earth. And in fact the whole story line of the Bible is how the presence of God is gradually restored to the earth, culminating in the restoration of the garden temple in the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21-22).
Abel’s offering was accepted by God, but Cain’s was not. Cain became angry and his face fell (verse 5). His problem was self-inflicted. He had no right to be angry with God. But instead of asking God why his offering was rejected and seeking to submit to God’s correction, he chose to rebel. He was just like his father.
At the root of Adam’s sin was the desire to become his own man, to become the one who decided what was good and what was evil, what he could do and what he could not do. He wanted an identity independent of God. He thought he could keep his relationship with God while possessing his own identity. How mistaken he was!
When he sinned, he lost his identity as a son, and with that he lost his security. Insecurity has been the curse of masculinity ever since. Insecure men are always looking for a position which they can use to promote themselves. This was the inheritance Adam passed on to Cain. Insecure in his identity, he feared when he sensed his brother enjoyed a position with God he did not have.
The story ends, strangely enough, not with Cain’s death but with his banishment. He was sentenced to be a fugitive and a wanderer. These words elsewhere in the Bible express the wanderings of a blind man, of homeless people, and of those searching for water in times of drought. But God, in his mercy, put a mark of protection on him, Cain lives at the intersection of law and grace. God pronounces his judgment, yet is merciful in it.
The fall ruined everything. Christ restores everything. Cain, the first member of a completely fallen generation, through the mark on his forehead pointing to the Passover, the blood of Christ and the mark of God on believers in Revelation, becomes the man who prophetically points to our salvation in Christ.
The sad story has a happy ending!
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