Cain and Abel’s Choices, and the Emergence of Two Paths

Hi, welcome or welcome back! I am Immanuel Jeswyn. This channel is called Bibling, and we are exploring the Bible. As you know, this video is a part of a series, and we are going to explore Adam and Eve’s life outside of the garden. This video will give you some exciting insights which will help you to understand their life outside of the garden. So, let’s explore!

In our last video, we saw Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden as a result of their sin. What was their original sin? They disbelieved God’s word. For the first time in their life, they started to live their life outside of the garden. We can imagine, based on Genesis chapter 3, what might have been the situation outside the garden. As God told for the first time in their life, they have to work hard to earn their food. Only when they work, they can fill their stomach. Don’t mistake me; work was there even in the Garden of Eden, but their existence was not dependent on their work. God provided all necessities abundantly in the Garden of Eden. Only, they have to work for their heart’s content. In other words, their life was not dependent on their work, but they were dependent on God.

But now, outside of the garden, they must work; only then, they can eat. So now, if we can pretty much understand their situation, let us think about Eve a little bit. She started to give birth to children, and as a consequence of sin, childbearing became very difficult. It was painful for Eve, and it was a kind of life or death situation. Now, their love and trust between them were broken. Probably, they heard so many quarrels, and they blamed each other. This kind of life they started to live was so difficult that soon, they started to seek the solution that God provided in the Garden of Eden.

How do we know that? When Eve gave birth to their first son, Cain, she called him “I got a son from the Lord.” That is the meaning of Cain. God promised that a man will come from a woman, and he will deliver them from this kind of situation. So, they probably thought that man was kind. And then, they got another son; they called him Abel.

Now we are going to enter into the tragic tale of Cain and Abel. Cain grew up as a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. One day, Cain and Abel went to meet God. Now, this is a very interesting part. Abel sacrificed a lamb and offered it to God. Cain offered some vegetables and fruits and offered them to God. God accepted the offering of Abel, but He rejected the offerings of Cain.

What is the problem here? Is God non-vegetarian and only likes meat, and He doesn’t like veggies? No, that is not the case. Later in the Bible, we see that God wholeheartedly accepts all kinds of offerings to Him. Anything can be given to God as a Thanksgiving offering. But why did God accept the sacrificed lamb and reject the vegetables? Some people say Cain brought bad vegetables; that’s why God rejected them. But we don’t have any evidence for that in the Bible. Most probably, Cain also brought good vegetables. So, why?

We have one clue in the New Testament. Why did God accept Abel’s offering and reject Cain’s offering? The Bible says, “By faith, Abel brought a greater offering than Cain.” So, it was faith that made Abel acceptable in the presence of God and disbelief that rejected Cain. What is that faith that made Abel acceptable in the presence of God?

Suppose if we say Abel believed in the existence of God, but Cain did not. That is a wrong assumption because Cain also believed in the existence of God; that is why he brought the offering in the first place. So, the problem is not in the belief in the existence of God; they both knew God exists and believed in His existence. Then what made Abel’s sacrifice special?

Abel had a kind of belief that made him sacrifice a lamb as an offering to God. What made him offer a lamb as a sacrifice? For this, we have to go a little further in the Bible. Later, God instructs the Israelite people. There are so many offerings, but there are some particular offerings called Sin offerings because man is a sinner. Now, he cannot simply go and meet with God. But God provided a solution: only when they offer a flawless lamb as a sacrifice, they can meet God temporarily.

A flawless, blameless animal has to be killed before they meet with God. It’s symbolic that for their sin, they have to die. But instead of them, an animal is dying based on that; they are meeting God. An animal is dying in their place. Though it was not written in the beginning chapters of the Bible, probably God explained this concept to them too.

So, Abel accepted the way of the Lord and sacrificed a flawless lamb, but Cain did not. In other words, Abel accepted that he was a sinner and had to die for his sin. But as the way of the Lord, he gave a lamb as a sacrifice, and based on that, he met with God. That is why God accepted the offering of Abel. But Cain did not accept that he was a sinner; that is why he gave his own offering as his heart desired. And God rejected that offering.

Because of this, Cain was so upset, but God only rejected his offering; he did not reject Cain himself. This we know because He came to Cain again and told him what to do. He asked Cain why he was so sad and told him to do good. What was the good God was telling Cain? Cain had to accept that he was a sinner and approach God the way God provided: a blameless, flawless animal had to die instead of Cain. Only based on that, he could approach God. If Cain did not do so, God also warned him that sin would overcome him.

What happened? Cain was so reluctant to do what God told him to do. So, sin overcame him, and when nobody was watching, Cain murdered his brother Abel. Cain thought nobody knew what he did, but he forgot that God knows everything. He approached Cain again and asked about his brother.

Even now, God expected Cain to accept his fault and ask for forgiveness. But Cain was so hard in his heart; he didn’t want to accept the ways of God. His only fear was that others would be angry at him when they knew what had happened. Think about this situation. Adam and Eve thought their first son would deliver them from this consequence, but so sadly, he became a ruthless murderer.

God warned Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that if they ate the forbidden fruit, death would come—first spiritual death, and as a result, physical death. It was so sad that the first physical death they had to see was a cruel death. They probably started to understand the seriousness of their sin. Though the death of Abel was so sad, God gave them another son called Seth. He was a believer in God the way God wanted him to be, and he led people to God.

Now we see two kinds of people start to emerge on Earth. One group of people accepted their sinfulness and looked to God for His solution. Another group of people, though they knew God’s existence, didn’t want to accept their sinfulness and preferred to live their lives according to their own desires. These two groups of people began to emerge and grow, and as they grew, the sinfulness and sinful acts also started to escalate.

Do you know what the result of that is? That will be the subject of my next video. I believe this video has been useful to you. If you’ve learned something new, please share it in the comments. If you enjoyed this video, give it a like, subscribe to the channel, and click the bell icon to be notified of future videos. We’ll meet again in another video, friends. Thank you, and God bless you.