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Part 1:
The Gospel of Adam, Abel, Abraham and JesusIn Genesis, we find this beautiful marriage between Adam and Eve. And in Revelation, we find the marriage supper of the Lamb, celebrating the mystical union between Christ and the Church.”>The Gospel of Adam, Abel, Abraham and Jesus
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Part 2:
The Forbidden Fruit, and the Gift of SorrowAs a loving Father, God permitted them to face the challenge of death, because He knew it would aid them on the quest for humility, repentance, and spiritual healing.”>The Forbidden Fruit, and the Gift of Sorrow
IV. Two Brothers, Two Sacrifices
Though God had no need to receive sacrifices, His people desired to please Him and to show their love for Him, so they started bringing Him free-will offerings.
Adam’s younger son Abel, a shepherd, gave God his very best. With a heart of sincere worship, he offered God the choicest lamb from his flock. God was pleased with Abel’s genuine love and devotion, and thus He accepted Abel’s sacrifice.
Adam’s older son Cain, a farmer, went along with the idea, but only halfheartedly. Instead of giving his very best, he carelessly gathered a few second-rate fruits and grains. He went through the motions, but his heart wasn’t in it. God would have accepted his gifts, if he had made his offering with reverence, from a warm and loving heart. But since Cain was so careless, showing such little regard for his offering, God refused to accept it, in order to teach him how to make an offering properly.[1]
But Cain was unwilling to receive correction. He had no desire for repentance. He was angry that his offering had been rejected, and that his brother’s offering had been accepted. He seethed with envy and fury, finally murdering his own brother.[2]
The same ground that had received the blood of the spotless lamb that Abel had offered to God, now received the innocent blood of Abel himself. Thus the first man to taste of death was a righteous man who suffered unjustly. This death blow came not from the hand of God, but from a follower of the serpent. Death, having claimed its first victim unlawfully, set its own defeat in motion.[3] Beginning with Abel, the righteous blood shed by the serpent would call to God from the ground, crying out for justice. Generations hence, Death would claim the most righteous One of all, on the cross, and would finally be conquered by Him.
Over the many centuries that followed, God’s people continued to bring Him free will offerings. They brought Him the best animals from their flocks, and the best produce from their fields. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job provided several early examples of this.
In many cases, they erected memorial stones and built stone altars, not for the sake of animal sacrifices, but for the sake of worship, commemoration, and prayer.[4] They would dedicate these altars to God, not with blood, but often with a sacrifice of oil.[5]
They also offered bread and wine during the time of the Patriarchs. After Abraham’s victory over the four kings in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, Melchizedek priest of Salem brings out an offering of bread and wine.[6] Later, in the New Testament, Jesus would offer bread and wine at the Last Supper[7], revealing Himself as a priest after the order of Melchizedek.[8]
V. The Strategic Lie
The lying serpent, at bitter war with mankind, had identified a working strategy:
- Lie about the kindness of God, and God’s good character.
- Convince men that God is cruel, greedy, and hesitant to share good gifts.
The serpent wanted more men to become like Cain, and to avoid the righteousness of Abel at all costs. He would thus extend his strategy, driving a wedge between God and men, persuading them of greater lies:
- God is stingy with His gifts.
- Death is punishment from an angry God.
- Sacrifices are not voluntary offerings we give out of love, but rather they are demanded by God to appease His wrath and gain His favor.
- Instead of being a grateful response to God’s blessings, sacrifices are seen as God’s reluctant response to our sacrifices.
- We believe that by offering valuable sacrifices, we can manipulate God to act favorably towards us.
- God values sacrifices involving death and bloodshed, with human sacrifices being the most highly regarded.
- The more we want from God, the greater sacrifices we must make.
Feeling disheartened by these falsehoods, most people would stop making sacrifices out of love and gratitude towards God. Instead, sacrifices would be made out of fear, as a way to avoid angering a wrathful deity. These offerings would be given out of selfishness, in hopes of receiving favor from above, turning the act of sacrifice into a mere transaction.
As humanity spread across the world, deception grew, and people forgot about their Creator. False gods, in the form of men with animal heads, appeared, seeking worship and sacrifice. These gods, like Baal and Molech, demanded cruel sacrifices, including the sacrifice of innocent humans. This world was filled with darkness and deception, with mankind falling prey to worshiping these malevolent beings.
Abraham was born into a world of pagan worship and human sacrifice, surrounded by nations equally deceived.
To be continued…