Telling God’s Story – Part 2 Cain and Abel through to the Great Flood
Preface
After banishment, Adam would endure “painful toil” while growing crops in the cursed ground. He would have the hardest of lives because of it. Eve would be subjected to “very severe pain during childbirth” and know that her husband would “rule over her”. God prophesied that sin and death would be overcome by the first coming of his Son. Satan corrupted Adam’s and Eve’s relationship with God in the garden, and he goes into overtime with the growth of evil in mankind. Satan enters Cain to stop the “Christ”.
Cain and Abel
The following story, Part 2, takes place during the Dispensation of Conscience. Scriptures are found in Genesis Chapter 4 through 6. Adam and Eve scratched out a difficult existence and had two sons, Cain and then Abel. Cain worked the soil and Abel kept flocks. A time came for offerings to the Lord. Cain gave some fruits from the ground, and Abel gave fat portions from the firstborn of his flocks. The Lord looked upon Abel with favor and did not for Cain. Cain became enraged, and his face became downcast. The Lord told him that when he does the right thing he will be accepted and if he doesn’t, then sin is “crouching around the corner”. Genesis 4:8-9 NIV, Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” But the Lord already knew of the murder. The very ground cried out to Him. He banished Cain to become a wanderer on the earth. God put a mark on him and vowed to curse anyone who would murder him in retaliation. Cain’s work on the ground would no longer yield crops.
God Banishes Cain to the East of Eden, the Land of Nod
Cain has now been banished from the presence of God. He had to leave his family and made to wander as an unbeliever. He is the first example of a man under the curse of sin. He settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. The direction east, toward Babylon, is known as the direction of evil in the Bible. Even though Cain wandered, he started up towns along his way.
Has Satan’s Ire Prevented the Seed, the Coming Messiah?
Satan must have been well pleased, thinking that the bloodline of the Messiah was destroyed with his orchestrated murder of Abel by Cain. A single sin of disobedience that entered the world in the garden is now being multiplied and become an infestation, changing the nature of mankind himself, even to this day. But, God gave Adam and Eve another son named Seth, and the bloodline of the coming Messiah continued.
Cain’s Descendants Grow More Evil
Cain and his wife had a son that they named Enoch. Nothing but unrighteous offspring continued for seven generations, culminating with Lamech. Sin has been perfected in him and grown to take on a life of its own. An incident with Lamech in which he kills a man for injuring him is cause for escalation of prideful revenge, boasting of sin, and celebration of Cain’s sin, as well as his own. Lamech’s Legacy is wickedness to the point of a godless civilization. An evil race has indeed begun with Lamech’s boasting of his sin. Mankind devolves into evil hearts. Nephilim Corrupts the World Even More The Nephilim were “fallen giants” who were the result of the union of the divine and human female ancestors. They, the Sons of God, were suspected of being demons judged by God who were to be kept in darkness. Needless to say, the Nephilim contaminated the human race gene pool and were likely to effect the “Seed Promise of the Messiah”.
Noah Found Favor With God
God saw the wickedness on the earth and that every human heart had been “only evil all the time”. God said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created”. But, God found favor with Noah and his family.
Has Satan Proven Himself to be a Real Adversary?
Without righteousness in the human heart, mankind is an easy target for the devil. They are like fish in a barrel until the coming of the Messiah.
Well, what have we learned so far?
Man’s conscience proves to be no match for the devil, in his war against God and mankind. The power to choose sin over God’s way is sheer drunkenness. Conscience continues to fail.