The Land of Nod Genesis 4:1-4:26 ~ We took a long walk with Satan in the last report and we haven’t ditched him, yet, either. Today we come to a reflecting pond. We are going to sail across this pond now. Remember how Winston Churchill always referred to the Atlantic Ocean as a ‘’pond?’’ We’re going to look back as we sail away and see disappear, while remaining, chapters one and two. Then we saw the “Root of Sin” in chapter three. The “Fruit of Sin” is what we have come to in chapter four. As we saw at the close of the last report we found a beautiful river that we have followed here. We want to drink from that river and we will and, if we do, we will drink from it all the way until that last Word of the Bible. This is really a very scenic, strange, supernatural, exotic place to me; I love this place. Although, I must warn you, our sailing forecast is rough dark seas. Such, oh, so dark – so very dark - and so thick in the mire we shall go – if you’re really with me on this Spiritual Safari – let’s go! How BAD is sin? – Well, man is not suffering from blood poisoning, to be sure. What we witnessed happening not too far back there was not some little problematic something. By disbelief and disobedience man has now turned from God and has sinned in such a way that he has been “banished” from His presence. Further, man has sinned in such a way that he has brought judgement upon himself and his entire race; that is, you and I have been given this same kind of nature. We have the exact same nature in us today that we are looking at in the beginning of time here. Poppa Adam has certainly given us terrible DNA, by the way. Now we are going to have this culmination effect explained to us in detail in the story of two sons, Cain and Abel, the children of Adam and Eve. They certainly had more children but only these are named here. We’ll see another one, Seth, by the end of today, though. 1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. ~ Remember that God has promised Eve a son in her line that will be enmity between the serpent and her seed (Genesis 3:15). Adam and Eve thought this was the One. They had no idea the struggle would last so long. When Cain came along, Eve thought, “Well, I’ve gotten the One here now”. They probably packed their bags for the return to Eden. Cain turns out to be a murderer, not the Messiah. You might have the foresight here that their faith will soon be tested. Cain was no savior – he was a disappointment. And as we know, it will be a long time before the Savior makes it on the scene. After a minimum of 6,000 years, this struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan has been going on for a very long time. My personal opinion is that I think it’s been a lot longer than that. 2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ~ “In process of time” means: “End of days” or “Sabbath Day” – on the day that God completed His work and rested. “Brought” means “to an appointed place”. So, they bring an offering to God - to an appointed place - to worship on the Sabbath Day. This was all revealed to them by revelation, too, by the way. How do I know that? Hebrews 11: 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…”, ~ How could Abel offer unto God by faith? – Faith cometh by hearing; and hearing comes by the Word of God, which is written, you know. God had to have given His Word to Abel or he would never have been able to come to Him in faith! And that’s the way Abel was redeemed by God – through faith. But Cain has brought of the fruit of the ground. Cain decided he wants to come to God on his own terms. Now, there was nothing wrong with the fruit that he brought. That was county fair blue ribbon prize-winning fruit – believe me. He wasn’t giving old clothes to the missions. The fruit he brought was the best of the primo. But that’s not what the Lord had revealed to Cain to bring as a sacrifice. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. I So, why did God not have respect unto Cain and his sacrifice? – Well, the 11th verse of Jude tells us that [the apostates] in the last days have gone the way of Cain. But what is the way of Cain? – When Cain brought that offering to God, he did not come by faith. He came to God in his own way and the offering that he brought denied that human nature is evil. God had instructed both men to bring a sacrifice that pointed to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; a sacrifice that pointed to the redeemer who had been promised to their mother and thereby to the world. And we come to God today on that basis – as sinners – we don’t come to Him by the works of our own hands. II Cain’s sacrifice also denies that man was separated from God. Cain acted like there was no problem at all. That’s liberalism today; that is, they talk about the “universal fatherhood of God” and the “universal brotherhood of man”. But things are not all right between God and man today; and they weren’t all right in Cain’s day, either. We are not born children of God we only become children of God when we are born AGAIN. Man is separated from God today. Cain refused to recognize that and multitudes refuse to recognize it today, also. III And another aspect of disobedience that the sacrifice of Cain reveals is that he disputes man cannot offer works to God for salvation. Salvation is not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but it is according to His mercy that ye are saved! Well, Cain didn’t think so. What we are going to find is not a character difference between these two guys. The only difference is their offerings. These two had the same background; same heredity; same environment - there were none of those differences between them. Cain didn’t get his bad disposition from a freaky uncle – Abel didn’t get his goodness from some fine aunt on the mother’s side, either. They didn’t have aunts and uncle’s yet. The difference was in the offering. That offering makes the difference in men today. No Christian should ever take the position that he is better than anyone else is. The mark of a genuine Christian is the self-recognition that he is a sinner LIKE everyone else. Man needs an offering, he needs a sacrifice and man needs someone to take his place in death. – Who? - Romans 3: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood… ~ Being ignorant of righteousness Cain went about to establish a righteousness of his own. This is a picture of multitudes of people today that are attempting to make themselves acceptable to God through religion and doing this and that but having no fellowship with God. The righteousness of God will only come to you because you have a perfect sacrifice and only One Perfect Sacrifice – the Lord Jesus Christ who provides it to us. Jesus was delivered for our offenses. And He was raised for our justification; that is, for our righteousness. Christ took our place and was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him! Paul said, “that I might be found in Him not having mine own righteousness” – like Cain. “…but the righteousness which is by faith” – Jesus Christ. The sacrifice that Abel made pointed to Him! Twins The late Dr Harry Rimmer took the position that Cain and Abel were twins. I would say they were a little closer than any set of twins ever were because their blood-line did not reach way back on both sides “polluting” the DNA, for lack of a better term. We have established that there were absolutely no factors that would have caused a difference. But yet there was a difference – a big difference! A huge diversion between the two certainly exists. It is not necessarily a character divergence, though. It happened to be on the basis of one accepting the Word of God by faith and the other bringing his own works with little or no recognition of Christ at all – and brother or sister – you can write that down! 6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Cain was an angry man. Why? – Well, he is angry enough that he will soon murder his brother. In back of murder there is always some anger. Jesus said, “if you are angry at your brother ye are guilty of murder”. Behind anger is jealousy and behind jealousy is pride. Spiritual pride means there is no sense of sin whatsoever. Cain is angry. And it led to murder, but behind that murder was a motive - jealousy and pride. When we get to the book of James he will put it like this: James 1: 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. But (Genesis 4:) 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. There is another translation to the original text “be accepted” that translates like this: “Shalt thou not have excellency”? The eldest son always occupied a place of preeminence. Cain was afraid of losing that position in the family. But what does God mean, “to do well”? – Well, “well” would have been to bring that which God had accepted from Abel; that is, the proper sacrifice and an admission that he was a sinner – but no, not Cain; he would have no part of doing it Gods way even upon that second chance. Sin lieth at the door An acceptable interpretation for that phrase has been “an offering for sin” – or “sin offering” – …lies right at the door; that is, there is the Little Lamb. And that makes sense, but I don’t think it means ‘’sin offering’’ here. See, up to this time and beyond this time, in fact, up to Moses time, as far as I can tell from the Word of God, there was no sin offering. The sin offering instructions are not given until we get to Leviticus. In the first part of that book we have the five offerings. And one of them is a sin offering. So, the sin offering did not come into existence until the law was given. Romans 3: 20 for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ~ The only offerings we find up to the sin offering in Leviticus are BURNT offerings. Job, who, obviously lived before Moses, brings a burnt offering. It was not in any way a sin offering. If you want to search that out in scripture I believe you will find that this is true. And it is said of Cain, “…not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and [murdered] his brother, and wherefore slew he him? – Because his own works were evil and Abel’s works were righteous”. So, “if thou doest NOT well, sin lieth at the door”. And as we have said, to do well would have been to bring the acceptable sacrifice, which God had instructed. The same offering that Abel had offered - a burnt offering. There could be no sin offering until the law is given and that hasn’t happened yet. Sin will not become a TRESSPASS against the law until much later. These things are very, very important to understand. 8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. 9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? ~ Cain gives God an almost impudent answer as you can see. He just has no regard whatsoever for what he had done. Cain tries to cover up by answering His question with a question. There is nothing that is covered that shall not be revealed and neither hid that will not be known. That’s really something to think over - if you have any secret sins you better deal with them down here because they are revealed in your judgment. He already knows about them, you just won’t tell Him in prayer about them. You can’t hide yourself or your sins from Him, either way! But Cain is sticking by his “not guilty” plea to the judge. 10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. ~ Abel’s blood speaks of murder committed; the blood of Christ speaks of redemption - salvation. Hebrews 12: 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. The Fugitive 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; 12 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. 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. ~ The earth, of course, depletes in fertility and must be renewed when cultivated. We are very near depletion without resource. Honestly, I’m glad I won’t be around much longer. But we’re not really interested in looking at earthy stuff when such spiritual revelation is being given out. So, my question is why didn’t Cain just turn to God if he was unable to bear this judgement? Why didn’t he just cast himself upon God and skip the excuses? – It WAS too great for Cain to bear – and God had provided a way to salvation that was repeatedly rejected by Cain! 14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. ~ Cain is to be hidden from the face of God. And that is exactly, of course, what happened. 1 John 3: 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. ~ And now Cain is hidden from the face of God, but notice this strange protection that God gives Cain at this point. It would seem as though God were harboring a murdering fugitive. 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. ~ Now, we don’t know what “the mark” is because we are not told. We are not told because it is not important. There has been a lot of speculation about that mark, indeed. Therefore, I don’t think adding my speculation will help anyone. God protects this man who has been disobedient, but we must remember that no law has been given against murder yet – so he is not a transgressor. Cain’s sin is STILL that he didn’t bring the only offering instructed by and acceptable to - God. And here we see the progression of that disobedience all the way to murder. His deeds were evil in what he brought to God and those evil deeds were made manifest in the slaying of his brother, Abel. Moving Out From here we will see man move out from God and establish civilization. The civilization of man will be one that is apart from Him altogether. The children of Cain establish a most Godless civilization. In verse 16 it would appear that Cain goes where many church members are on Sunday morning. But I don’t know where the land of Nod really was. I have wondered and there is speculation about this, too. 16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. ~ And man has been building cities after his own name ever since – they love to do that sort of thing. Not just cities, but parks, museum’s, schools, streets, sports and government buildings, you-name-it and man names himself after it. Here is where it all began and where urban life began as man builds his first city. The cities have become one of the biggest problems that man has today. We hear how cities are overcrowded but people are moving to them in droves from all over the world. Now, even polygamy is introduced in verse 19 – in the city. And God never approves of polygamy - He always condemns it. The following account is given on the basis of HISTORICAL record only: 18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ~ Now, Adah means “pleasure” or “adornment”. And Zillah means, “to hide” – she was a coquette! This man takes a couple of winners for wives, and later, we’ll see something happens. But in the remaining verses we see the first contractor making tents; the first herdsman keeping cattle; the beginning of the musician and the first smiths and craftsmen. Civilization and culture are hereby born: 20 And Adah bare he was the father of all Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: such as handle the harp and organ. 22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. 23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. ~ And here is the first man that looks to another man and says, “if he can get by with murder, I can get by with murder”. Lamech says, “Cain didn’t slay in self-defense, but I have”. I don’t know if Lamech did slay in self-defense or not, but he says he did. And it would seem that there was some reason to tell the wives - he wouldn’t have been obliged to give them the time of day, ‘ya know; maybe he was defending one of them, who knows? – Lamech thinks some mystical, Godly number multiplied by Cain’s unfaithfulness will avenge him. The Lord Jesus Christ, however, told Simon Peter that seventy-seven fold is how much you should forgive your enemy. 25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:44:03 +0000
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