The Bad Seed

We looked at how our problems in life began with the original sin committed by Adam and Eve. Furthermore, we commented on how the consequences of this ‘bad seed’ were passed down from them to all generations. God shows us the big picture when he addresses Satan for his maliciousness in the Garden of Eden:

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all cattle, and more than any animal of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity (open hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, and you shall [only] bruise His heel.” Gn. 3:14, 15. AMP

What God is saying is that the world will be divided into two camps: those who follow the devil, and people who follow Jehovah. These camps will be engaged in a spiritual battle for all time, until ultimately, Jesus, who is His Father’s and His followers’ champion, will finally vanquish Satan for all eternity.

Because of Adam’s sin, all people were pronounced dead: 

Therefore, just as sin came into the world, so death spread to all people [no one being able to stop it or escape its power], because they all sinned. Rm. 5:12 AMP

…when sin has run its course, it gives birth to death. Jas. 1:15 AMP

…for there is no one who does not sin… 1 Kings 8:46 NKJV

If you look at the scriptures that reveal the nature of sin, you can see why it must be avoided as much as we are able to. Conglomerated, the definition of sin goes something like this: 

Sin is an act that causes one to miss the mark [i.e. the 10 commandments, (Ex. 20:3 – 17; Mt. 22:37 – 40)], that God has set for us to reach for, which points the way for living the highest and best life. It is an act of rebellion against Jehovah, a lapse in moral character, a behavior that deviates from His word, a volitional perpetration of injustice that offends God and separates the offender from His love.   

Thus, sin is serious stuff; and it gets handed down.

How do we know that sin was handed down? Because we find it within Adam and Eve’s first-born child, Cain. 

Cain and Abel were brothers. They were called to bring an offering to God as a form of worship, which must be presented to Him exactly the way He prescribes it. At that time, animal blood sacrifices were required to provide atonement for any disobedience against God:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Lv. 17:11 NKJV

The atonement is a tradeoff: the life in the blood of the sacrifice is given to God; and He in turn, stays the penalty of death for sin. It is a pardon, restoring your eternal covenant with Him, (which we now receive through the sacrificial blood of Christ). 

Abel’s sacrifice was accepted, Cain’s was not. God is not showing favoritism, He loves everyone equally (Rm. 2:11). Something else is afoot:

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous… Heb. 11:4 ESV

We must have faith when we approach Jehovah regarding anything (Heb. 11:6). This infers, with regards to Cain, that he did not come to God in faith, that his heart wasn’t in the right place. 

Cain did not take God’s refusal well. He gave way to wrath. Jehovah responds directly to Cain:

“Why are you so angry? And why do you look annoyed? If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.” Gn. 4:6, 7. AMP

God is telling Cain that if he does the right thing, He will give him a ‘righteous do-over,’ so that Jehovah can restore the love-connection between them. 

Instead, Cain goes in search of his brother and compounds his sin of unrighteous anger, with committing the first direct murder of another human being. Being that Cain is willfully expressing his sin, it indicates that he is under a dark influence – as scripture confirms:

…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. 1 Jn. 3:12 NKJV

Yet, God’s mercy is immeasurable. He first gives Cain a chance to confess and repent by asking him about the whereabouts of Abel; Cain responds by lying to God, telling Him that he didn’t know (Gn. 4:9). Thus, Cain made no confession and offered no repentance. Jehovah’s response must have made Cain weak in the knees:

“What have you done? The voice of your brother’s [innocent] blood is crying out to Me from the ground [for justice].” Gn. 4:10 AMP

God banishes Cain from tilling the earth and casts him from His presence, to live as an outcast vagabond (Gn. 4:11, 12.)

God’s second recorded act of mercy:

Cain cries out to God, lamenting the severity of His punishment – mostly concerned that someone will murder him in his repugnant state (Gn. 4:13, 14.). 

Even in the face of murder, God extended His loving mercy. While He did not relent on Cain’s banishment, He put a protective ‘mark’ on him that would ward any murderers away from doing him harm.

There is no one that God does not love, regardless of their circumstances. Whatever we say, think, or do, God will forgive our transgressions against Him if we accept Christ as our Savior, and offer our sincere confession and repentance. 

God wants us to be with Him forever. To do that, we must position ourselves to be cherished by God. That can only take place if we do our best to live godly lives. To help facilitate that, we must be extremely familiar with ungodly living and its destructive behavior. Then, we can identify it when it first shows up, (when we practice ungodliness), and extricate ourselves from it as best we can, as well as, and more importantly, to enlist the help of Jesus to better walk His walk.

Next time we will begin looking at how to extricate Cain’s sin-problem, anger, from our lives…

Goodnight and God bless.