EVENING
SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/03/2025 10:20 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: “Cain”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Jude 11a
Message of the verse: “11 Woe to them!
For they have gone the way of Cain,”
The
first thing I want to do this evening is write about the word woe.
It is translated from the Greek word ouai,
and is an interjection or emotional cry that is essentially like exclaiming, “Alas,
how horrible it will be.” I will not
give the verses in which Jesus Christ used this word, as I will give the
references beginning with Matt. 23:13, 14, 15, 16, 25, and 29. These verses are when the Lord was talking to
the Scribes and the Pharisees. This word
was also used in the Old Testament prophets including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Hos., and Zechariah.
Now I will give a short quote from
John MacArthur followed by a quote from Genesis 4:1-15: “Cain
was the prototypical model of one who departed from God’s truth. He was the first child of Adam and Eve,
having been born after the fall.”
“1 Now
the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to
Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the
LORD." 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper
of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time that
Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his
part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And
the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his
offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your
countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be
lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its
desire is for you, but you must master it." 8 Cain told Abel his brother.
And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel
his brother and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel
your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother’s
keeper?" 10 He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s
blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 “Now you are cursed from the ground,
which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 “When
you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will
be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth."13 Cain said to the LORD,
"My punishment is too great to bear! 14 “Behold, You have driven me this
day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I
will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill
me." 15 So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain,
vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign
for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.’”
“The
fact that Cain’s sacrifice was unacceptable demands that God had previously
told him what constituted a proper sacrifice.
Cain knew God required a blood sacrifice, but instead of obeying he
invented his own form of worship. His
inappropriate offering revealed the irreverent blasphemy of his heart, as he
rejected God’s revelation and operated by his own self-styled instinct and
pride in what he had produced.
“In light of their similarities,
Jude could refer to proud, self-willed apostates as those who have gone the way of Cain. Cain was religious but disobedient, and
when God did not accept his offering, he responded in jealous anger—even murdering
his obedient brother Able. The writer of
Hebrews offered this commentary on the tragic episode: ‘By
faith Able offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he
obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts,
and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks’ (Heb. 11:4).
This story of Cain makes my mind
wonder a bit, and what I am thinking about probably is not very important,
nonetheless I still wonder about Able being the first person who would be in
what the Bible calls Abraham’s bosom.
That is the place where all of the dead went too before Christ died on
the cross, and thus brought all of the believers with Him to heaven, while the
unbelievers stayed there awaiting the resurrection of the dead which will not
happen until after the Millennial Kingdom is finished, and then they will all
go into hell.
8/3/2025 10:46 PM
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