Worship, The Cain vs Abel Syndrome
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group


The Study

Cain vs Abel

How shall we worship God. Shall we worship our Father as Cain did? Shall we worship our Father as Abel did?  Everyone realizes right away that we should not worship as Cain did? But how did Cain worship? What was the difference between the two?

  In the following scriptures we learn both the right way, and the wrong way, to worship God, Genesis 4:1-7
And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah. And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 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. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door: and unto thee shall be its desire, but do thou rule over it.

In these scriptures we should realize that both Cain and Abel were worshipping God. And that is where we come into trouble even in our own time. All of Christiandom worships God. But is it good enough to just worship God? There is a difference. Abel's form of worship was scripturally correct, while Cain's form of worship was scripturally incorrect. And it is very important to understand the differences. In the realm of Godly worship, Abel was sincerely right, while Cain was sincerely wrong.  Abel brought a blood sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock, which was according to God's one and only way, set forth in Leviticus 17:11, and Hebrews 9:22. These things were important because they were shadows of what needed to take place in reality. They looked forward to Christ's atoning blood sacrifice at Calvary.

Cain did worship by bringing the fruit of the ground. Which many still do today. He worshiped himself and what he had accomplished and gave it before God. It was symbolic of all those who attempt to justify themselves before God by self righteous works, of the law, rather than by accepting as did Abel above, the substitutioned blood sacrifice demanded of God, in Leviticus 17:11, and Hebrews 9:22.  The simple truth is that Cain chose to worship God by works and Abel chose to worship God by faith. God accepted Abel's way of worshipping.  But God rejected Cain's way of worship. Understanding this should cause all of Christiandom to consider this scripture, Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death.

All of Christiandom, every person on the ground, from the very beginning can be formed as either a Cain, or an Abel. Meaning, that Cain came to God by his own works, while Abel came to God by faith. There is no inbetween. 

 

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