The first two children of Adam and Eve were named Cain and Abel. Abel raised sheep and Cain had a garden with fruit and vegetables. In my opinion, at that time God had not yet given permission for mankind to eat meat; that came after the flood with Noah. That being true, Abel must have been raising the sheep for clothing and offering only. This is what he had learned from his mom and dad. The relationship between Cain and Abel should have been one of trading altar animals for vegetables to eat, but apparently Cain felt that he did not need a blood covenant offering.
Genesis 4:1-4 says,
"1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."
2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,"
The Lord God accepted Abel's animal offering and the blood that was shed. The Lord God did not accept Cain's fruit offering.
Adam and Eve taught both boys to bring an animal offering to God for their sin so that they could be connected to God and be blood covenant friends with Him. It is interesting to note however that Eve's hope was in Abel and not Cain. Do you think that that was a mother's intuition? Look what Eve said.
Genesis 4:25 says,
25 "And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, 'For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.'"
Religion verses blood covenant relationship.
Cain tried to please God with his fruit. God required a blood sacrifice. Abel brought his blood sacrifice. Cain was using "religion." Certainly Cain had heard of the fig leaf attempt that did not work. The thing that really puzzles me is: How Cain could have actually heard God speak and in spite of that still attempted to placate this wonderful and fearful God with an offering from the fruit of the ground? The ground was cursed. Man did not need some kind of religious appeasement with God, he needed to be re-connected to His Spirit and that only by a complete exchange of character; man's for God's and God's for man's. God had to take on man's sinful nature and die with it. Only then could man possess his true identity. Life is in the blood!
The blood is a gift. Everything else is works.
Jesus' blood for our righteousness is a gift. We cannot work, even for fruit of the ground, in order to be brought back into intimacy with God. The blood that Jesus shed on the Cross was sufficient to put us back into intimate touch with our Father God, Hebrews 9 and 10.
What a merciful God! God gave Cain an opportunity to repent.
Genesis 4:6-7 (Amplified Bible) says,
6 "And the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.'"
That word "master" means to take dominion over and rule.
How could he have taken dominion over sin? Cain could have taken dominion over the temptation to sin by taking his feelings and thoughts to the blood, or in our case to the Cross. God gave Cain another chance to shed blood in respect of his need and in respect to the covenant, but Cain rejected the idea. Even when we act against God's character He gives us a chance to clear things up with Him. We cover this idea more at the end of this chapter.
Conscience compromised.
I submit that because Cain did not obey God that his conscience was compromised. I believe that is why he was able to kill his brother.
Genesis 4:8 says,
8 "Now Cain talked (it means to strive and argue) with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him."
I believe that much of we see in human nature, without God and in the world today, is depicted in this event.
1. Jealousy and envy are the same as murder.
2. The other religions of this world hate those who depend upon Christ Jesus and His blood as the atonement for their sins.
3. This story shows how God is just and fair to give even potential murders the opportunity to come under His blood, grace and forgiveness.
4. Even some Christians who do not come to God in their honesty and ask for forgiveness have hatred towards other believers who do depend upon the blood.
What is the sentence or judgment for a murderer?
1 Corinthians 3:17 says,
17 "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."
Cain's dilemma.
Look at Cain's dilemma. He could no longer be prosperous in agriculture, he could no longer enjoy God's presence, he would be a fugitive and a vagabond, a person who shakes with fear and wanders.
Genesis 4:9-15 says,
9 "Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?'
10 And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.'
13 And Cain said to the LORD, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear!
14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.'
15 And the LORD said to him, 'Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.' And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him."
The blood cursed and disabled the murderer's abilities.
Notice, Cain's "ground" was cursed, the very venue that he used for murder. The blood of his victim disabled Cain's ability to carry out his mission and vocation in life. How much more does the blood of Jesus, which was poured out on Satan's ground, disable Satan?
Hebrews 12:24 says,
24 "[T]o Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel."
Abel's blood spoke for vengeance, Jesus' blood speaks for mercy.
While Abel's blood spoke for vengeance on Cain, Jesus' blood speaks for mercy for all humans. However Jesus' blood speaks for vengeance for His spiritual enemies, Satan and his whole crowd.
Our" blood" also speaks!
The blood of Jesus and even your blood defeats enemies.
However, our "blood," much again like Abel's, can also "speak" against Satan. Each time we "take up our cross," each time we forgive, refuse to blame, bless our enemies, refuse to engage in the things of this world, our "blood" speaks, curses and disables Satan's activities in our lives. It is so interesting that the very worst thing that our enemies can throw at us will actually give us victory!
This also applies to those sufferings and challenges that affect our lives. We know that God is not the author of sufferings, however He does have a law in place that is very valuable for us to know.
When someone "takes your blood, your life," it defeats the blood taker.
As you overcome that suffering or challenge, another group of demons and/or curses are defeated! What an awesome God we serve!
This is what I call the "Blood Law."
I believe that this law of the blood, even your "blood" defeating your enemies, was in existence before the universe was formed.
Revelation 13:8 b says,
"8b "...the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
When Jesus took up His cross to shed His blood, it was the blood of His divine nature. When we take up our cross, the "blood" that we shed is the blood of the Adamic nature. However, they both defeat Satan and his demons.
How can we become an "Abel" and avoid being a "Cain?"
How do we "bring the blood sacrifice" to God and not bring Him our "home grown vegetables?" By exercising our daily relationship skills. We take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:4) and bring them to Him, to His Cross. We bring our sin to the Cross, and we take up our cross by denying our fleshly desires and thoughts. We bring our ungodly desires and feelings to Him in honesty; we obey the Word. When we fail, we come back to Him and receive unmerited grace! This is the "blood life," the covenant life. Often in my life, I have seen immediate results. The black cloud lifts and His presence manifests. But even if I do not sense an immediate manifestation of His presence, I know my reward is on the way. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 commands us to take our thoughts captive. I say that we should take them captive for the death penalty, and not for a life sentence!
Is there more than one way to commit a murder?
Hatred is murder according to Jesus.
The only way you can deal with hatred is to forgive the one you hate. Actually, if you even harbor resentment and unforgiveness you qualify. This is why unforgiveness is so dangerous! When you speak against your blood covenant partner, (husband wife, or other believer) you are a murderer.
Remember, the one who murders is the blood taker and he/she is the one who is cursed like Cain was. Hatred and unforgiveness will ruin your entire life.
Matthew 5:21-26 says,
21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.'
22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny."
I suppose that there are simply two types of people.
1 John 3:10-12 says,
10 "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous."
I believe that a person is either a murderer or a martyr. You will be one or the other; a martyr if you depend upon the blood, a murderer if you depend upon anything else!
What is a martyr? Jesus said, when asked of His disciples when He would return, (my paraphrase), "That is not your business, but I am going to give you power through the Holy Spirit to be a martyr [witness]" (Acts 1:7-8). I believe that you are a martyr when you do not give up in the overcoming process, but press on. I believe that you are a martyr when you take up your cross and deny your flesh. I believe that you are a martyr when you won't shut up with the Gospel no matter what the circumstances, and when you are falsely accused and persecuted.
Religion always kills. A blood covenant person always gives.
So many believers truly misunderstand God's love and His compassion for hurting people. Many become self-righteous, not on purpose, but by default, just by not staying tuned into God's Word and His presence and by not confessing their sins of judgment for others. If Jesus' blood covenant for us, on our behalf, made us children of God, people who are righteous with God, then how can we be self-righteous? Should we not rather be grateful for the gift?
When you trust in the blood, like Abel, you take on the character of the blood-giver, in this case God. If you do not trust in the blood, then you take on the character of Satan. It does not matter how much you read the Word or how often you go to church, or how many "do gooder" activities you are involved in. If you are not participating in the blood covenant relationship on blood covenant terms, you are by default a murderer!
If you are in a blood covenant relationship with God through Jesus, then it will progressively show in your habits of life. You will be desperately looking for a place to give. You will be unselfish. You will be hungry to find the hungry people and feed them. You will be searching for the hurting and poor people to comfort them, especially those who have hurt themselves. You will be helping those who religious people shun, like prostitutes, drug users, widows, orphans, and the down and outers, those who may not be a success in their culture. If you are practicing the blood covenant relationship with Jesus, you will have His character of loving the unlovable. You will fear judging others whose lives do not look like they are lining up with your standards or even God's standards.
Romans 13:8 says,
8 "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."
If you are practicing the blood covenant relationship with Jesus, you will not be concerned about your own financial welfare, you will know that if you give like your blood covenant Partner, Jesus, then He will take care of your finances through sowing and reaping.
2 Corinthians 9:6 says,
6 "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
If you are practicing the blood covenant relationship with Jesus you will consider others better than yourself. Your level of pride will continually be decreasing and your humility will be increasing.
If you are practicing the blood covenant relationship with Jesus you will be desperately looking for ways to submit to the proper authority.
You are a martyr when you take up your cross to live the love life, even if you do not lose your physical life.
Rejecting the covenant caused Cain to become a murderer. Cain's descendents created a culture of cities, music, businesses, perhaps politics, etc. God had to abandon that entire line and start over with Seth. The line of Seth led to Noah, through whom the righteous seed was carried forward. If Cain would have shed the animal's blood, a type of Christ's blood, and would have "taken up his cross," then vengeance would have been on Satan and not on himself.
Jesus did not shed His blood for the covenant only to keep you out of Hell. He wants you to inherit His character and be part of His Body.
The Lord made it simple. All we have to do is hold up the mirror of His character, walk in love and when we miss it be honest with Him about it and repent.
I don't know about you, but I am amazed that I am one of those who heard God speak and accepted His offer of the blood. I take no credit for it at all! There are billions of people living on this earth right now that totally reject the idea of a blood covenant with Deity. I do not understand their hearts! I suppose it looks too good to be true, or maybe someone has not shown them the real message. What is equally amazing are those "believers" who have in some way accepted the blood covenant sacrifice of Jesus, but who refuse to accept His character into their lives. How can that be? I think we all have room for improvement!
The only way we can inherit God's character is through His Word. We must hear Him speak and obey His authority. We must hear and obey like Abel and not like Cain, even if it "kills" us.
John 10:27 says,
"27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
What is it about Jesus saying that He desires us to hear His voice that is so complicated?
There have been false doctrines on both extremes about hearing God speak. I have heard the side of the "Scripture only" people stating that God has, once for all, spoken, and therefore He will speak no more. Poor people! I have heard the other side say that God speaks to them super-Scripturally, that is in their spirit without Scripture. Dangerous people! I have heard of a village in an Asian country that only had a few pages of Scripture, the part that said, "If thine eye offend thee, cut it out." They took this literally. I have had a personal experience with a renter in a property we owned who said, "God told me that you were to give me your house."
I heard Dr. Mark Rutland tell a story (what a story teller!) about meeting a minister on a flight from Los Angeles. This man was from a denomination that did not believe that God was currently speaking to His people, and he urged Dr. Rutland to express his opinion about this as a Pentecostal minister. Dr. Rutland simply asked this man, "Are you called to the ministry?" The man answered, "Yes." Then he asked, "Who called you?" The man turned his head to the window and did not speak a word for the rest of the flight.
My testimony.
In the case of hearing God speak, I do not believe in "balance" but in truth! Back in 1986 I heard a dear old brother in the Lord say that he was no longer a slave to sin. When I heard this I, coveted that experience. He had quoted Romans 6. I read Romans 6 over and over, and indeed it did say so.
Romans 6:11-12 says,
11 "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust."
Romans 6:6 says,
6 "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."
Did I believe, in my mind, that I had been crucified with Christ? Yes! But did I really know it? No. I had not really heard the Lord speak this to me. The Lord spoke to me and told me to memorize that chapter and speak it out loud continually. I did. One day it became real to me. The logos (general Scripture) of the Word became rhema (a personalized Word from the Lord to me), and the resurrected Jesus spoke into my heart those Words. It burned into my soul and ever since then I have never doubted it.
Revelation knowledge (rhema).
Galatians 4:9 states that not only do we know God, but that we are also known by Him, i.e., He lets us know that He is there. What a wonderful comfort He is able to give us when we are unsure. Hearing Jesus speak directly to my heart has been the primary burning passion in my life. However, I have discovered that it requires gut-level transparency and honesty with myself and with God.
Revelation knowledge comes from the resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit speaking according to Scripture. He lets you know that He is tracking with you and that He knows you. His rhema will nullify the words of fear, condemnation, and lack of hope in your life.
Jesus told Peter about this as recorded in the following Scripture.
Matthew 16:17 says,
17 "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'"
The two disciples on the Road to Emmaus received revelation knowledge from the resurrected Christ. However, notice, that first Jesus had to extract from them their inner feelings, their unbelief. He asked them, "What things?" When He did that, He caused them to do like we all must do before receiving revelation knowledge, we must pour out our real feelings to the Lord, then He can work. They expressed their grief and disbelief. Jesus asked them in Luke 24:19, "What things (are you sad about)?" Jesus knew why they were sad, but He needed them to express their feelings
After that, Jesus preached the Scriptures to them, showing them how He was offered as the Lamb of God for the blood covenant, and how He was now alive and speaking life to them.
Luke 24:32 says,
32 "And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'"
Hearing God is not reserved for the theologically educated, although there is nothing wrong with that. It is not only for the saint who has "been in the way" for 30 years, although that helps. It is for the meek, humble, pure in heart, and obedient, perhaps even the broken ones. I heard God speak the first day I got saved, in 1979, and I have been hearing Him ever since. He even speaks to me when pride is in the way so that I may continue to hear Him!
We can neglect the covenant.
Hebrews 2:3 says,
3 "[H]ow shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him."
We have an inheritance through the blood covenant that is so great that sometimes it is difficult to believe. We have grace by inheritance, but we must position ourselves and respond in a covenant manner to receive the inheritance. Satan is trying to block it, but Jesus is our Judge Advocate, the Mediator.
We have expressed seven primary relationship disciplines in our previous chapters. In this chapter we emphasize the issue of honesty, gut level honesty. If one were to examine gut level honesty, it would also translate into humility. This kind of humility and honesty will allow you to hear God speak at a greater level.
Both Cain and Abel heard God speak. Both had instructions from their parents about the blood verses vegetable offerings. What was the difference? Why did Cain hear God, but did not "hear" Him? Cain did not obey, yet even in his disobedience God gave him another chance.
Mark 4:9-12 Amplified Bible says,
9 And He said, He who has ears to hear, let him be hearing [and let him [a] consider, and comprehend].
10 And as soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, with the Twelve [apostles], began to ask Him about the parables.
11And He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, [b] the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [[c] of our circle] everything becomes a parable,
12In order that they may [indeed] look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, lest haply they should turn again, and it [their willful rejection of the truth] should be forgiven them.
I submit that the difference in the "hearing" between Cain and Abel was pride and humility and embracing the truth and not embracing the truth. Notice that Jesus said that when one willfully rejects the truth, that one will not be able to really hear God's voice.
James 4:6 says,
6 "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"
Jesus' blood will continually speak to you if you cooperate. Take time to hear God. Then obey Him as Abel did, even if it means becoming a martyr. Is that not better than becoming a murderer?