Angry and the Beast
In this sermon Brother Sean uses the illustration of a play to help us understand Genesis 4:1-16. He argues that the verses put forth a play with four scenes. Within these four scenes are two theological truths which must be understood, as they are foundational to Christianity.
Scene One: Birth and Hope. (Genesis 4:1-2)
The question raised by this scene is whether sin has mastery over Adam’s children. We find that as Cain is the eldest, he has special responsibilities to God and is unique as the first born from the womb (Exodus 22:28-29). The scene as a whole rings with hope for these two boys, Cain and Abel.
Scene Two: The Sacrifice. (Genesis 4:3-5)
Here we notice that the sacrifices have been going on for some time. One major difference between Cain and Abel is that over time Abel continued to bring his best and Cain brought what he could find. This leads us to our first major theological principle in this passage: God desires us to bring our best to worship (2 Samuel 24:24, Hebrews 11:4). When God sent us his son, he sent the best. When we worship God, we give our best.
Scene Three: The Blood (Genesis 4:6-11)
In this scene we are introduced to the greatest villain, the beast. Sin is personified in verse seven as a beast crouching at our door. Sin seeks to fulfill two goals: kill the individual and corrupt creation. What we find is that Cain is unable to master sin by himself. After slaying Abel, by leading him out to field showing his premeditation in murder, Cain is questioned by God. Cain chooses to lie directly to God. Then God declares the second great theological principle: innocent blood requires justice and cries out to God (Leviticus 17:11, Numbers 36:12-28, Hebrews 10:4).
Scene Four: The Death (Genesis 4:11-16)
The death of Cain comes in a two fold punishment. First he is cut off from the family of God. Second, he is sent out and cut off from his own family. The beast wins the battle. Cain’s family lineage is established.
Thankfully God writes his own play despite the four scene act of Cain. God sends his son (scene one: birth), his Son dies on the cross (scene two: the sacrifice), his blood cries out and atones sin (scene three: the blood, see Hebrews 12:24), and his death redeems mankind (scene four: the death and resurrection). The result of God’s way is life. “For the wages of sin (line of Cain) is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (line of faith).