And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived …
Genesis 4:1
The Dispensation of Conscience is that period of time in history that includes the expulsion from the Garden of Eden to the Flood. In Chapter 4, Eve conceived and bore two sons, Cain and Abel. The Bible doesn’t say they were twins, but it does indicate one conception, two births. Husbands, if you have ever seen your wife in labor and delivery, you get a glimpse of the curse. Oh, the pain she endures to bring your children into the world!
Even an elementary study of Old Testament gives us a degree of understanding of the sacrifices. In an emotional experience, Adam and Eve had to come to the knowledge that disobedience to the known will of God has its consequences. Now God has placed man under the second covenant – the Adamic Covenant. Please read Genesis 4, 5, and 6, giving notice that man is charged to do all known good; to abstain from all known evil; and to approach a Holy God through sacrifice.
Next in Genesis, the sons of Adam and Eve brought the fruits of their labor as a sacrifice offering to God. Cain, who was a tiller of the soil, offered the “fruit of the ground”; Abel, the “firstlings” of his flock. Notice that Cain is a type of the mere man of the earth. He gave no attention to the fact that he was a sinner, giving no heed to the teaching of his parents concerning their experience in the garden and the provision made to cover their sins by the shedding of the blood of an animal.
Genesis 4 records the death of Abel at his brother’s hands. Cain murdered him and then he lied to God. God declared this: “… when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” It is evident in Genesis chapter 4 that the descendents of Cain were, as Eade described it, “the Godless branch of the great river of humanity multiplied;” and that at the pivotal point of history, Christ would die for the sins of the world.
(To be continued …)
Until next time,
May you walk with the Lord in the Light of His Word.
Victor W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.
Pastor, St. Luke AME Church
Havana, AL
Author of The Anchor Holds, Victor’s Story
http://www.thatgracemayabound.blogspot.com/ ©2012
That Grace May Abound Ministries International ©2014
