So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”
Genesis 4:5-8
God offered a personal invitation to Cain to be right with Him. The invitation is both righteous (meets God’s standards) and it is
offered in love (free to accept). This is the way we are to present God’s way of salvation today. Now the decision lies at Cain’s door. Sin crouches on one side and God calls from the other side. God does not tell us Cain’s thought process. Instead his actions are recorded for us to observe and ponder. They show us what Cain’s heart treasures.
Very early in Genesis God shows us what Christ taught his disciples in John 5:18. “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the
world hates you, because you are not of the world.” Cain is the first, not the last, example of this hatred of God and believers.
Now Cain said to his brother Abel Cain does not respond to God and Scripture doers not tell us how long a time elapsed between this verse and Cain’s discussion with God. Sin crouched at Cain’s door, he did not respond to his sin by yielding to God. Instead he nurtured his sin and it overwhelmed him in anger and bitterness. Cain knows he can do nothing to God but he can surely attack his “goody-goody” brother who is just an ignorant unthinking shepherd. God shows us that Cain plotted to catch Abel by surprise. He goes to him and initiates pleasant conversation. Thus we see Cains heart of deception and hatred.
Let’s go out to the field Cain invites Abel to a private place. Just as his mother and father wanted to hide from God after their sin, Cain believes he can hide his pre-meditated murder from God. The word field is first used in Genesis 2:5 where God created the shrubs of the field. Cain likely invited Abel out into his fields where he grew his crops.
While they were in the field Cain acts on the rage that is festering in his heart. Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him Cain carries out his hatred of God against his brother. James 1:14-15 says, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death”. Cain’s sin produced death – first for his brother and then, and more importantly, for himself.
What can we learn? Someone once said the word of God is like the sun. It melts the wax but hardens the clay. God spoke to Cain, lovingly, directly but truthfully. He invites Cain to come to him in the one way that is acceptable to God and Cain hates God for His narrowness and His unwillingness to accept Cain’s “way”. God warns Cain not to harbor sin in his heart but to deal with it before it consumes him. Cain does not obey God and once again the words of Jesus come true in his life. “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” We see in one of the first stories God tells us in Scripture that we all serve someone. Cain did not want to submit to God’s will and he raged against God’s authority to tell him how he should live. He wanted to be free from God’s commands but in doing so he became a slave to his own sin – devoted to carrying out the evil in his heart – unable to free himself from the rage that festered inside his soul. He nurtured sin, his rage grew and his hatred became murder.
We see that the fruit of what we treasure impacts others. Cain’s rage against God and His authority was manifest in his violence toward his brother. This is what Christ knew when He said “if they hate Me, they will hate you”. Unbelievers will practice the core characteristic of the one they serve – death and corruption. It is also why Christians show love to their fellow man. The slaves of God demonstrate to others the core characteristic of their master – love.
“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:18