September 7
“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks,” Hebrews 11:4.
From the beginning of time, children of God have expressed their faith in the promises of God as given in God’s Word, which was first expressed orally and then later recorded in writing.
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes us back to the first family that lived on the earth. Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was what we today would call a crop farmer. In the course of time, both of them became engaged in an early form of worship as expressed through bringing an offering to the Lord. Cain brought an offering from one of the grain crops. Abel brought a first-born, a young lamb, healthy and well-fed, one of the best of the flock.
In the Book of Genesis, we are told, “The Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering,” Genesis 4:4-5. The Lord showed His pleasure in the offering of Abel, and His displeasure in the offering of Cain. We are not told in Scripture how the Lord revealed His acceptance of Abel’s offering and His rejection of Cain’s offering.
Why did God accept the one offering and not the other? The answer to this question is given to us in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” The difference was not in the offering itself, but it was in the heart and the spirit in which it was given. Cain brought an offering because, as we might say, he thought it would be a good idea. Abel brought an offering by faith, which trusted in God’s promise to send a Messiah, a Savior, as God had promised to Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve obviously conveyed to their children God’s promise to send a Savior. Abel believed that promise; his brother Cain did not. In the Epistle of Jude, we are told of the ungodly who, “have gone in the way of Cain,” Jude 11. Cain became very angry at his brother Abel and killed him! He got rid of his brother, but he did not get rid of his guilt and shame!
God’s blessing upon Abel came to him by faith, “Through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.” Abel was righteous before God, not because of what he did, but because he believed God’s promise to send a Savior. By faith, he made the righteousness of the promised Savior his very own.
“Through it (Abel) being dead still speaks.” Abel is dead, but by his example of faith in God’s promise, he still speaks to us. Abel’s faith in God’s promise to send a Savior is an example for all people to follow. God declares us righteous and forgiven for Jesus’ sake, and He invites us to believe and trust in Jesus as His Son and our only Savior, who suffered, died, and rose again to redeem all people.
“Glory be to Jesus,
Who, in bitter pains,
Poured for me the lifeblood
From His sacred veins!
Grace and life eternal
In that blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind!
Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries!” Amen.