To
understand the history of the world means to understand the nature of the two civilizations that came into existence a result of the fall. Here we are not talking about ancient civilizations such as the
Canaanites , Egyptians , Assyrians etc. We speak here about a much profounder division. Genesis
3:15 is our key text in this regard.
Here we have already learned that
the two civilisations are
respectively the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman. Cain is the prototype of the
offspring of the serpent, the kingdom
of darkness, the civilization
living under the curse which God brought
upon Cain and his offspring. Abel and thereafter Seth were the
prototypes of the offspring of the
redeemed woman of God, and
thus they are members of the
kingdom of God .
Today, we
will only have time to consider
the generation brought into being
by Cain and his descendants. We begin
with some primary observations.
1. Following the fall
Cain and his descendants continue
to live in this
same world that God, our Lord Jesus
Christ has created (Gen 1:1), but they do not live with this reality in mind. This
fallen world is still God’s world, although
the descendants of Cain have no
regard for this fact. But it is this
world in which God continues to make His sun rise on the evil and the good, and
it is to this world that He sends rain
on the just and the unjust. (Matt. 5:45). They simply take this for granted and show no
gratitude for this fact. They have no regard for the fact that in this fallen world God’s common grace greatly restrains evil, so that evil men
cannot do what they
want to do. God still continues to protect unrighteous
Cain against those who want to kill him
(see Gen. 4:15). The common
grace of God sustaining the wicked in
this world is a fact so
unappreciated by such people. Every day they are confronted by God’s power and goodness
and glory in creation but they are defiantly opposed to the rule of God and deliberately
live contrary to the Word of God
although they are continually surrounded by evidences of God’s general and particular
revelation.
2. Cain and his descendants are
still made in God’s image (Gen.
1:27). The fall
in Genesis 3 does not imply
that man has ceased to be made in the
image of God. It is true
that the fall has affected the display of the image of God in man (man hardly looks like that for which
they were originally designed) , but it has not lessened the fact that
mankind has been created by God
in His image. In fact , in our day the
Cainite civilization tries to
argue this fact away by claiming that
God had nothing to do with their creation. They substitute the
biblical doctrine of creation
with the godless theory of
evolution, and so they think that they can escape
accountability to their Creator. But this is futile thinking.
But this thinking is inherent in the civilization of Cain , as he knew that he was destined for a life of being a fugitive and wanderer from God.
Still, Cain was God’s Cain. (4:14) and as such he would remain accountable
to God . In this point we are simply
trying to establish one fact and in Genesis 9:6 we
find that fact affirmed. The image of
God remains in man after the fall.
No matter how much a man
proclaims that he is an atheist – he is
still made in the
image of God , and as such he is
accountable to God. John Blanchard points out that atheists may not believe in God, but God
does not believe in atheists![1]
No matter how much the modern descendant of Cain protests that his origin,
purpose and destiny is not from God nor unto God, he remains God’s. No matter how brilliant he claims to be in his independent thinking
and expressions of his arts, sciences , philosophy etc., and no matter how skilled he is in using
his logic and reason and knowledge, he does nothing but to affirm that these abilities are
from God. Sadly however
these good abilities from God
have been abused and used for
selfish ends. The vital point here is
that they remain God’s creatures and as such they will have to
give an account to Him
for all that they do with their
intellects and bodies .
3.Cain and his descendants were civilised men and
women : After Cain
went away from the presence of the Lord, he settled in the land of Nod.
There he had children and there he built
a city, which he named after his firstborn son, Enoch. There Cain
had a wife! He built a city (v.17).
What kind or size the city was we do not know, but the implication here is that
he lived in an organised way in an
organised society , surrounded by all kinds of people with different professions. In this city lived farmers of livestock (v.20). Here lived those who
made music
(v. 21). There were
those like Tubal-cain that made all sorts
of exquisite items and
instruments of bronze and iron. In cities you will
typically find great displays of
art and architecture. Archaeological
discoveries have demonstrated this time
and again. In cities there are centres of learning and education, led by famous masters. Cities produce
able artists, musicians, philosophers, scientists and medical
experts. The Greek and the Roman
pagan world was filled with hosts of such
creative and innovative people
who received their original abilities
from God the Creator, but whose creative powers often were severely corrupted through sin. The point we want to make here is that they
were civilized and organised in their
societies. This leads us to the next observation :
4. The world of Cain
is very attractive. The commentator H.C. Leupoldt has the following to say [2]
:
“… civilization did make far
greater strides among those alienated from God than among those who were devoted
to Him. Yet this is not very strange, if closely considered , for they, being
addicted and devoted to the things of the world and not satisfied with the
world’s treasures—for who can be?—they, we say, do all in their power to make
an empty existence attractive by the cultivation of the natural resources of
the world. Besides, the children of this world are in their generation wiser
than the children of light.”
The world of
Cain is very attractive. It is after
all, all they have. This is their life, and
they spend all they have to make that
life as good as they can. The Greek Epicurean philosophers knew this and that is why they coined this
phrase also quoted in the Bible : “let us
eat and drink for tomorrow we die” . The
world of Cain is very attractive. It
is pleasure centered. When the
devil took the Lord Jesus up to
the top of a mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world and their
glory, he was showing him not an
unattractive world. He was tempting him with the world’s attractions
and glory!
5.Cain and his descendants are not
ignored by God. They are spoken to by God.
Just because Cain’s descendants have moved away from God,
this does not mean that they are ignored by God. When Cain
killed his brother, God spoke to him: “Where is Abel your brother?” God asked him: “What have you done ? “ (vv.9,10) And God judges him for what he has done (vv.11-12).
This is true today. God continues
to speak to fallen men and women. He speaks
to all men by means of
their consciences (Rom.2:14-16), although they consciously suppress them. God speaks through general revelation ( i.e. Creation
cf. Psalm 19) and by means of particular revelation (Christ His
Son and His Word), so that men are without excuse (Rom. 1:20). The Bible, the
best -selling and most widely distributed book of all times is found virtually
everywhere in this modern world. The Gideons, have distributed Bibles by the millions in schools, universities, hospitals and
hotels. The Bible is preached today all
over the world in many cultures,
languages and countries. It is constantly heard over the radio and
T.V. even in countries where the
Bible is banned. God is continually speaking
to all the sons of Cain. But will they listen?
UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE
OF THE CIVILIZATION OF CAIN
Everything
is ultimately rooted in the fall
in Genesis 3. The
truth about the fall is that it has affected
every descendant of Adam. But
there is one significant
observation which we now need to
make. We have previously seen
that a distinction was made between two
kinds of people : the people of
the serpent and the people of the woman.
Eve gives
birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. Both
were affected by the fall, but
these two brothers nevertheless ultimately come to represent
two different people.
Their attitudes and therefore their behaviour is fundamentally different,
and we saw last time that the difference
was seen in the way in which they worshipped. Cain’s worship was unacceptable to God; Abel’s worship was acceptable. We saw that the difference was not in the kind of
offerings that they brought. The difference was in their fundamental attitude and therefore action, for out of the
heart the actions follow. Cain’s heart proved to be a jealous, murderous heart, and that is why he
ultimately not only brought an unacceptable sacrifice to God, but that is why he also killed his brother Abel. It is that graceless
heart which is judged here by God.
Abel, by
contrast worshiped God by faith
and therefore he was commended by God (Hebr. 11:4).
So what was the difference? This
is where we need to make a vital
connection with the gospel. The reason
why Abel offered a better sacrifice
by faith (Hebr. 11:4) was due to the fact that he was helped by “Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith …”
(Hebr. 12:2 - this
thought needs to be connected with Galatians
3:6-14). Ultimately Abel received grace to do what he did by the means of faith.
Now we consider the decline
of Cain. His decline must not be seen in terms of
a lack of advance in technology, or scientific advance in all its various fields, whether medicine,
engineering or whatever. That is not
where the sons of Cain fail. Rather, the
problem is found in the spiritual and therefore
moral decline of his civilization. It all starts
in Gen. 4:5 with his false
worship. It continues with the murder of
his brother (4:8), progressing to his apostasy from God in Gen.
4:16 . Cain went away from the Lord – that is, he went away from the influences of the Lord. And then he started a family. His
first born son was called Enoch. He knew nothing of life lived in a family in covenant with God. Enoch
became the father of Lamech. It is
Lamech, Cain’s grandson that
exhibits the continuing downgrade of that family. We see
this in two ways :
(i)Lamech took two wives, Adah and Zillah. (4: 19-22) Although there is
no explicit commentary concerning this,
we know that this is against the explicit
design of marriage as instituted
by God in Gen. 2: 22-24 , which speaks of a union
between one man and one woman!
The two (and not the three) shall
become one flesh! We see how the ignoring of this principle did so much harm. Abraham’s polygamy caused so much hurt in the household ; Esau’s two wives “were a source of
grief” to his parents (Gen. 26:35); Jacob’s
polygamous marriage to the two sisters Rachel and Leah was nothing but trouble. Consider Hannah’s unhappiness in a polygamous marriage (1
Samuel 1). Consider also David’s
troubled household , as a result of his polygamy.
Solomon’s kingdom was ruined as “his wives
turned away his heart after other gods” (I Kings 11:4). It all starts
here in Genesis 4 !
(ii) Lamech murders a man! (4: 23,24).
Here follows the second atrocity
and it is stated in poetical form. It is a song of vengeance. It appears as if Lamech had a
fight in which a young man had wounded him. Lamech
overreached himself and killed
him, and he boasted about
that! Rather than being grieved, Lamech boasted, “I have killed a man for wounding me”. But it gets worse! Lamech remembers what God once had said to his grandfather,
Cain when he feared that subsequent to
Abel’s death anyone who would find him would kill him. But
God said in 4:15 “
If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be
taken on him sevenfold.” Now Lamech builds on this and he claims that if God would exercise a sevenfold punishment
on those that would harm Cain,then
God would avenge those who would attack him, Lamech , 77 fold ! This is arrogant
presumption. He is putting words into God’s mouth. What we see here is the continual unfolding of the sinful nature as it
is exported through subsequent generations, and they
become increasingly wicked. Like Lamech they are remembered and mentioned. Geoff Thomas
comments : “ You
think of the pain that lies under the surface of the whole line of Cain; under
the bluster and the rejection of the living God are the broken hearts and the
battered wives and babies, the suffering mothers, all the tears and anguish.
Isn’t that part of the frustration of men holding down the truth in their
ungodliness…. Little wonder
multitudes are taking prescription pills for being depressed. Little wonder
they want to smoke nicotine, and take drugs, and try to drink their troubles
away. You can see all sorts of psychological and social problems in our society
as people struggle in the slough of despond because of the misery they are in.
The wages of sin is death.
We must end
here. The sons and daughters of Cain
are with us until today as are the sons of Abel. They
are called respectively goats and
sheep by Jesus. The sons of Cain live in God’s world; they are made in His
image ; they are civilised and they have
learned to make their world attractive. But they do not recognize God’s influence, and this fact
has a vast influence on
their quality of life in this world. Their cities are forever destroyed by wars and conflicts.
There is hardly a great city in this world that has not seen devastation at the hands of men. And so they
are restless wanderers, just as God said they would be.
In
their constant trials they
are not without God’s influence.
He greatly restrains their evil
and the restrains others from retaliating
- doing evil to them. Every now and then
God withdraws His hand and lets them follow their course and very quickly their civilization descends into chaos.
There will come a day at the end of times, when
Cain’s civilization will be allowed to
bring itself to an end, but at that end will be the God
whom they despised. In which
civilization do you presently live ?
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