Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #4 of Genesis, chapter 4 and we are going to read Genesis 4:3-5:

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto JEHOVAH. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And JEHOVAH had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we saw it said in verse 3, “And in process of time it came to pass,” and that literally means, “And at the end of days it came to pass.” By using this language of “at the end of days,” God is signaling to us that what we are reading concerning Cain and Abel is something that would take place, spiritually, at the time of the end stage of the earth’s existence.

It just so happens that the historical account of Cain and Abel fits very well with the parable of the wheat and the tares. It was at the end of the age at the time of harvest that God completed the separation of the wheat and the tares. We have spent a long time looking at that parable and we know it is a parable that really details the end of the church age. During the church age the wheat and tares grew together for that 1,955-year period from 33AD until 1988AD. Then came the time of the end and God set in motion the mechanism to begin separating the wheat from the tares. That mechanism was a commandment that came forth from the Bible. Prior to that God had “sealed” the Word until the time of the end and the implication is that at the time of the end His Word would be unsealed. God said in Daniel 12, verse 4 that at that time knowledge would increase.

In the time of the end God began to open the understanding of His people to “see” the information that the church age had come to a close. The Book of Jeremiah was especially instrumental in revealing this truth to the people of God. At the same time that God revealed the end of the church age and He also revealed it was time for the true believers to come out of the churches because the churches were 100% apostate. God’s commandment was to depart out and flee to the mountains. It was not just a request. It was not an option, but it was the commandment of God to leave the congregations, just as God had commanded the Jews to go into captivity. Again, that was not a request, but a command of God to go into captivity into Babylon. Those that failed to obey were likened to “evil figs” to be destroyed. Those that failed to come out of the churches were likened to “tares” that would be burned. God’s command was the process He set in motion to begin the act of separating the wheat and tares that had grown together until the harvest. The harvest began at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and it continued to the end of the Great Tribulation when there was a final separation. Judgment Day was also part of the process of separating the wheat and tares and on May 21, 2011 the final separation took place and all that remained in the churches were bundled as tares for the burning. Those that had obeyed God and come out of the churches were likened to the wheat. Of course, God had other tests that would continue for those that did come out, but one thing was certain – any that remained in the churches were bundled and cast into the fire on the selfsame day of May 21, 2011.

We have to keep in mind that for century after century people went to the New Testament churches and they were all professed Christians. Each congregation gathered at the same church and heard the same pastor and sat in the same Sunday school class, but there were both “wheat” and “tares.” No one dared to say to another, “You are a tare.” God prohibited that and He forbade that kind of judgment. We were all professed Christians and that is how people viewed one another: “You are a Christian. I am a Christian.” We never got into someone’s actual spiritual condition. In other words, God had not yet instituted His end time process to separate the wheat and the tares. It was God’s full intention that both would grow together – the saved and the unsaved – and they would go to church together and one would not know the spiritual condition of the other’s heart. It was not for them to know. God was not taking any action at that time to let it be known, but that is not the situation once we got to the end of the “age” or the end of the church age. Once we got to that point, God began His judgment process upon those within the churches and during the Great Tribulation He opened the Scriptures and revealed more and more spiritual knowledge for the people of God as this time period continued. God let it be known that the true believers were to depart out of the midst. We are reminded of when Lot and his family departed from Sodom and they were not to look back.

In regard to the end of the church age, the Bible says that if you are on the rooftop you are not to return to the house to get your clothing. You were to leave the congregation as quickly as possible and not to look back. The elect were coming out and it was at that time that those that remained in the corporate church heard this information that had never before been presented; they had never heard anything like this. The corporate church had never heard things that would suggest that God’s judgment was upon them and God’s Spirit had departed from them and Satan’s spirit had entered into the churches to rule as the man of sin. You can look back at church history and you will never find anything like that. You can find churches that were no longer faithful or you can find denominations that were no longer faithful and people had to leave, but there were always other faithful churches. When the Catholic Church was no longer faithful, there were the Protestant Churches that were formed and people could go there. But for the first time ever, it was being declared that no church anywhere in the world is of God any longer and you must get out if you are of God. That was basically what was being said and if you were of God you would leave the church and if you were not of God you would stay behind. Since Satan was ruling in the churches, those that were left behind were “tares.” And who sowed the tares? Jesus said, “An enemy hath done this.” They are the children of the wicked one. Their father is Satan.

Who made this known? Who came up with all this information during the time of the Great Tribulation? Well, some would say, “It is all Mr. Camping’s fault. It is all Family Radio’s fault.” But it was God that opened the Scriptures to reveal this information from His Holy Word. God very carefully took responsibility, or it would be better said that God takes the credit for revealing these things because it says in Mark 13:11:

But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

God is the Holy Ghost and God says that in that “hour,” which would be the hour of the Great Tribulation, it would be given you what you should speak, but it is not you that would speak but the Holy Ghost. Lest some think that this means that God would break the barrier of the supernatural, just compare it to 1Corinthians 11:13: “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” God is indicating that through the comparison of Scriptures in that “hour” of the Great Tribulation, God’s people would speak, so we did hear it from Mr. Camping and from others that were true believers, but it was not them, but the Holy Ghost; God gets the credit and He takes full responsibility for the information that came forth from His Word to reveal the end of the church age and the judgment of God upon the churches. In other words, God let it be known that He was pleased with those that came out of the churches, even though not everyone that came out was saved. However, at least it was an obedient response to the commandment of God, even for someone that may not have been saved. God was displeased with the others that remained behind and refused to hearken to His Word. They disobeyed Him.

Again, this was the process that God established. The doctrine that God introduced at the “end of days” would reveal the distinction between the saved and unsaved and between the “brothers” that were within the churches and congregations that were all professed Christians. But, at the “end of days” God introduced this test to bring about the separation of two peoples or two nations that had previously been growing together. So, the doctrine of the end of the church age brought about this separation and, as a result, those left in the congregations heard these things and they began to be bitter and to revile the elect people of God, pronouncing condemnation against the people that were responding obediently to God’s commandment to depart out. They even drove out individuals that were interested in these teachings of the Word of God and, in so doing, they “killed” them. Or, they “killed” them through character assassination. They had a similar response to Cain’s response. Upon discovering that God had respect unto Abel and his offering but not to his own offering, Cain was furious and he rose up in anger and killed his brother. Again, why did he do it? Why would Cain kill his own brother? It says in 1John 3:12 that it was because his own works were evil, but his brother’s works were righteous. This was why he killed him. It is similar to when it became known that Isaac was going to bestow the blessing on his elder son Esau. Jacob and Esau were twins and very similar to Cain and Abel in that one was saved and one was unsaved. Jacob’s mother Rebecca developed a plan whereby Jacob would receive the blessing and he did receive the blessing. It became known that Jacob got the blessing and Esau would not get the blessing; it was final. There was no going back or doing it over. They did not know before this point that the blessing was given to Jacob and not to Esau. What was Esau’s response? It says in Genesis 27:41:

And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him…

Esau hated Jacob. God tells us in regard to hatred, in 1John 3:15:

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

You do not have to actually kill your brother to be a murderer. According to God whoever hates his brother is a murderer. It is equivalent.

So, we find it says in Genesis 27:41:

And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Not only did Esau hate his brother, but he planned to murder him because Jacob got the blessing and Esau did not. And that was the reaction of Cain when he found out that God had respect unto Abel and his offering but not to Cain’s offering. The Hebrew word translated as “respect” is Strong’s #8159 and it is found a few times in the Book of Isaiah. It says in Isaiah 31:1:

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

The word translated as “look not” is the same word translated as “had not respect” in our verse.

It says in Isaiah 22:4:

Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly…

The word translated as “look away” is our word.

Also, it says in Isaiah 17:7-8:

At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

Here, it is speaking of a man that is a true believer and he would “look” to his Maker and have respect to his Maker, but he would “not respect” groves and images. We would say he would not have respect unto other kinds of gospels, but he would have respect to the true Gospel of God. So, there is a sense of “looking to” or being accepted or approved. On the other hand, if you do not “look,” you do not have respect for something and it is not acceptable to you in any way.

God made known his respect unto Abel and his offering. Notice that God not only had respect for Abel’s offering, but God had respect to the man Abel. Then it says in Genesis 4:5:

But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect…

It starts with the individual. Abel was a child of God and his sins were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ and paid for from the foundation of the world and, therefore, Abel is acceptable to God. God is able to receive Abel’s offering, even though Abel was not a perfect man. He was a sinner like Cain and both were children of wrath for a time, even as others. Both were in their physical bodies, which are corrupt, and Abel would have continued to sin in his physical body even after salvation and, yet, whatever error Abel was involved in, God did not see it. He looks to Abel and He accepts the person of Abel as a man without sin. That is the point, again, in 1John, chapter 3.

I had not noticed this tie-in between the earlier verses and the statement concerning Cain’s works and Abel’s works, but, again, it says in 1John 3:9:

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

This made Abel’s offering acceptable. It is the offering and work of Christ on Abel’s behalf that had regenerated him and washed him and made him clean, ridding him of all traces of sin. There is no sin upon Abel and that made his offering righteous (through Christ).

On the other hand, it says in 1John 3:10:

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

This describes Cain. He was a child of the devil. His sins were not paid for at the foundation of the world and, therefore, there could never be payment for his sins. It could not happen in 33AD because no payment for sin was being made at that time, so his sins remained upon him. And now he came with his sin-tainted offering and it was rejected. God cannot look to Cain or to his offering – He only sees his sin. There is a need for Cain to pay for his own sin and, therefore God rejected him. That rejection caused a reaction in Cain and he rose up in anger against his brother and killed him.