Let’s take a look at brother Cain. Okay, he wasn't my brother or yours. But he was the brother of Abel, and the first son ever to come into the world.
What would you do if you were the first mom ever, giving birth to the first son ever? Look him over, check out the plumbing and make a decision, then say what she said: I got a man from the Lord (There was no word for boy).
Don’t look at Abel yet. Focus on Cain. The Firstborn.
Everybody is so delighted with this person. By the time Abel is born, there is not quite so much excitement perhaps. Cain is favored. He always considers himself number one in every way.
That is one element of false religion. Pride. Thinking your okay with God because you’re okay with man.
Anyway, he becomes a farmer. Nothing wrong with that. He enjoys the miracle of planting seeds and watching them grow and become food on his table. The process all happens relatively quickly too. Within a matter of weeks, he’s producing. Not like his brother, who has to raise animals for years before they are worth anything to the family. Constant fruitfulness, constant production.
Another element of the false. Thinking that by my many works I can impress God and please him.
One day God communicates (and we’re not sure how) that it is time for an offering. Bring me something that shows your love for me. A primitive but very real expression of worship or religion. (Remember that in this series, reilgion is neither bad or good in itself.)
What can I give, Cain wonders. I must give what is mine to give.I can’t give what Abel gives or Mom or Dad.
I’ll give what pleases me, and that wll just have to please God. Keep your eyes on Cain and you must say, yeah, that sounds right. All you can do is your best. God has to accept that!
Husbands who have tried that on their wives have been startled at times with a clear rejection. Sacrificed a lot of income, planned it for weeks, surely a serious pat on the head is coming. But wives don't always think the way we do...
False religion. Man giving his best of what he is, and expecting God to take it or leave it.
God was trying to give an object lesson to the human race about what pleases Him and what does not. Cain guesses wrong, is rebuked , and instead of trying to find why he is rebuked he decides to take his religion a step further.
Soon his religion is the only game in town. He persecutes and annihilates the true faith. That’s aother thing that false religion does. It looks at its power and exercises it, demands that all other powers be destroyed.
Catholicism, some Protestant groups, Islam, the Babylonian religions, the Egyptian religion. All tied to human power. When the human power subsided, so did the religion.
Now you may put the straight stick next to Cain. Abel is not accepted because he gives his sheep, but because the sheep gives its blood.
It is blood sacrifice that God is trying to teach humanity. Only the blood of a lamb will suffice.
I don’t understand, you say. So! No arguments. No understanding needed. Just do this my way.
God encourages Cain, 4:7, do it right, you’ll be accepted. No problem. But men are proud. And jealous. They worship themselves and their own ideas. The essence of false religion.
Both Cain and Abel had religion. Cain's was false, Abel's was true. In each case, the man defined the concept of religion.
They both did what they knew, in the light that they had. One was not condemned for his mistake, only corrected. We all make mistakes. If we listen for the correction, not the condemnation, we will hear it.
God demands the ultimate in sacrifice. When He gave His own Son, He showed to the world what He had wanted all along. To be in right relation to God is simply to accept the love offering He gave us. That's the true religion. Placed next to the false, it certainly stands out as a wonderful alternative.
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