Brother’s Keeper? #3

Thursday, September 5, 2024

“And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9 KJV).

Let us learn the import of Cain’s reply….

Four references toward the end of the Bible canon loop back to the beginning of the Bible canon (Genesis). We would do well to look at them now. Firstly, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4). Secondly, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). Thirdly, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core” (Jude 11).

Lastly, “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. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:10-14). Cain was an unbeliever, a spiritual child of the Devil. It was this fact that drove him to mercilessly take the life of his brother, Abel, a believer or spiritual child of God. This is not “dead history,” but has profound prophetic significance that will be realized only later.

Howbeit, before we address what lies ahead in the ages to come as touching Cain and Abel, we ought to note how the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry interpreted those events in Genesis. Cain and Abel set a precedent or pattern, foreshadowing how Satan and his people would interact with God and His people….