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The second pair among the first group of historical figures in the Old Testament is Cain and Abel, who were two sons born of Adam and Eve. This pair represents the two categories of Adam’s descendants, one category rejecting God and taking the way of death, and the other receiving God and taking the way of life.
After Eve followed her husband, Adam, and received the promise of God’s redemption, she brought forth their first son and named him Cain, which means “acquired” (Gen. 4:1a). She considered Cain the seed of woman promised by God, the one who would bruise the head of the serpent, which had poisoned them. Therefore, she declared, “I have acquired a man, Jehovah” (Gen. 4:1, lit.). In fact, Cain would not be the one to bruise the head of the old serpent; rather, he would be a follower of the old serpent. It was not until four thousand years later that the virgin Mary gave birth to a child whose name was called “the mighty God” (Isa. 9:6). That child was Jehovah. He was the God-promised seed, the One who would bruise the head of the serpent, which had poisoned man.
Adam and Eve certainly must have told their children how they had been created by God, how they had been charged by Him not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, how they had violated God’s prohibition, and how they were in fear and trembling as they awaited death. Adam and Eve must have told them also how God came in to preach the gospel by promising them that the seed of woman would bruise the head of the serpent, and how God had slain the sacrifices, which were their substitutes, and used the skins to make clothing to cover their nakedness that they could stand before God and have fellowship with Him. Therefore, Cain came to know God through his parents. Although he knew God, he refused to take God’s way. In rendering service and worship to God, he did not act according to God’s revelation; he failed to present an offering with the shedding of blood according to God’s redemption. Rather, according to his own preference he presented the fruit of the ground (Gen. 4:3), the product of his own labor, as an offering without the shedding of blood. As a result, he was not accepted by God, he lost God, and he was driven away and went out of the presence of God (Gen. 4:5, 16). His descendants thus moved toward a godless culture (Gen. 4:17, 20-22). They murdered (Gen. 4:23-24) and practiced polygamy (Gen. 4:19). Eventually, they became altogether godless, they had nothing to do with God, and they were without hope and were altogether empty in the world.
Cain was a server of the ground (Gen. 4:2b, lit.). To serve the ground is to earn a living, which is for the sustaining of one’s own existence, not for God’s purpose in His redemption. This indicates that although Cain knew God, he cared only for his own existence. He cared neither for God’s purpose nor for God’s satisfaction. Throughout the ages, all unbelievers have been toiling and laboring in order to earn a living. They diligently serve the earth, not God, and they care only for themselves, not for God or for God’s economy.
Cain served God religiously according to his own way and after his own will. He rejected the redemption by blood that was required and ordained by God, and according to the flesh he envied and murdered Abel, a faithful witness of God (Gen. 4:4-5, 8). Eventually, he was rejected by God. Therefore, Cain took the godless way, which is not the way of redemption ordained by God. Thus, the way of Cain became a model (Jude 11a), representing the way of death taken by all godless people throughout the ages, a way that is out of death, in death, and unto death.
Cain is also the representative of all those who murder the real worshippers of God because of religious jealousy. This exactly corresponds to the word of the Lord Jesus in John 16:2: “An hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think that he is offering service to God.” History confirms that the Roman Catholic Church has killed more genuine Christians than the Roman Empire. The Roman Catholic Church alleged that the believers of Jesus were heretics. Hence, after the time of Martin Luther, one of the items in an oath taken by Catholic bishops was that they had to persecute those who held heretical beliefs. Several popes even passed edicts ordering Catholics to destroy all those whom they called heretics. One of the popes said that a person could redeem himself from his sin of murdering a Catholic if he killed a Protestant. Just in Rome alone, over one million nine hundred thousand Christians were killed. Thus, Revelation 17:6 says that the woman, the Roman Catholic Church, was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. All these historical facts are represented by Cain’s murdering of his brother Abel. All such murderers are walking on the same pathway as Cain.
Eve gave birth again, to Cain’s brother Abel (Gen. 4:2). Abel means “vanity, like a breath.” This name may indicate that, because they were disappointed with their first child, Cain, Adam and Eve had the feeling and concept that the life of fallen man was vanity. Their second son, whom they begot and named Abel, must have inherited the same realization and feeling.
In contrast to Cain, Abel not only knew God but also took God’s way. According to God’s foreordained redemption, he presented an offering of God’s delight with the shedding of blood; that is, he offered the firstlings of the flock and the fat of the lambs. Thus, he was justified by God (Gen. 4:4; Heb. 11:4). In taking such a way of redemption, he believed in the God-ordained offerings according to God’s revelation; he neither acted according to his preference nor trusted in his deeds or works. He knew that as a fallen sinner he could not cover or conceal his sinfulness with his own works and by his own behavior. He realized that he needed to present an offering with the shedding of blood for his redemption (Heb. 9:22) and for the satisfying of God’s righteous requirement that he might be accepted by God and have fellowship with God. What Abel did corresponded exactly to the requirements of the Mosaic law, which was given later. This proves that the way of redemption that he took in worshipping God was according to God’s divine revelation and not according to his concept.
Cain was a server of the ground that he might earn a living for himself, whereas Abel was a feeder of sheep (Gen. 4:2, lit.) that he might have an offering to present to God. At that time, before the flood, man ate only vegetables and fruits (Gen. 1:29), for God had not yet ordained that man should eat of the cattle, whose blood could be shed (Gen. 9:3-4). Therefore, what man gained by feeding sheep was for presenting offerings to God and not for earning a living for himself. Moreover, in the sense of man’s need for covering because of the fall, the skin that was left from the sacrificial lamb was for the covering of man’s shame before God so that man could be acceptable to God and thereby could contact God. Therefore, Abel’s occupation indicates that Abel did not live mainly for himself; he lived according to God’s desire primarily for the accomplishing of God’s purpose in His redemption. Likewise, all who believe in God and take the way of God’s redemption should care for God’s purpose more than they care for their livelihood. Everything they do should be for the purpose of serving God.
In Abel’s living, his occupation indicates that he cared for taking the way of God’s redemption. Everything he did was according to God’s revelation and by faith. To present offerings with the shedding of blood according to God’s revelation and thereby be justified and accepted by God is to act by faith, doing something that man cannot perceive by his natural senses. The way of faith taken by Abel (Heb. 11:4) also became a model representing God’s way of redemption and life taken by all those who have believed into Christ through the ages. Therefore, in the divine revelation of the Bible, Abel and Cain represent two categories of people, the believers and the unbelievers. Furthermore, the two opposite ways taken by them represent the two opposite ways taken by mankind, the way of life and the way of death. Abel and all those who believe and take the way of life will ultimately be in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth, where they will express God’s life and glory for eternity. On the other hand, Cain and all those who do not believe but take the way of death will end up in the lake of fire, which also is in the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 20:15; 21:8; 22:15), where they will be a sign of God’s condemnation, righteousness, and holiness for eternity (John 5:29).
Because Abel presented offerings with the shedding of blood according to God’s revelation and was accepted by God, he incurred Cain’s hatred and was killed by Cain (Gen. 4:4-5, 8). Thus, he became the representative of all those throughout the ages who take God’s way of redemption and life and who because of this are martyred. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, “I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes: some of them you will kill...and some of them you will scourge...that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matt. 23:34-35). This word indicates clearly that in both the Old Testament and New Testament ages, all those who take God’s way of redemption and life will suffer persecution. Therefore, like Abel, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). They all are Abel’s followers.
Cain and Abel as a pair represent the two categories of Adam’s descendants: one rejecting God and taking the way of death, and the other receiving God and taking the way of life. The name Cain means “acquired”; it was given because Eve believed that Cain was the seed of woman promised by God, the one who would bruise the head of the serpent. In fact, Cain would be a follower of the old serpent. Although Cain came to know God through his parents, he refused to take God’s way. On the contrary, according to his own preference he presented of the fruit of the ground an offering without the shedding of blood. As a result, he was not accepted by God and he lost God. As a server of the ground, Cain cared only for his own existence and not for God’s purpose. He became the representative of all those throughout the ages who refuse to take God’s way of redemption, and by murdering Abel he became the representative of all those who murder because of religious jealousy.
The name Abel means “vanity, like a breath.” This name indicates that Abel felt that the life of fallen man was vanity. He not only knew God but also took God’s way. He presented the firstlings of the flock as offerings with the shedding of blood and was thus justified by God. As a feeder of sheep, he cared only for presenting offerings to God and not for his own existence. He became the representative of all those who take God’s way of redemption and life, and in being slain by Cain he became the representative of all the martyrs throughout the ages who take God’s way of redemption and life.
