LORD’S DAY, JANUARY 15
GENESIS 4:1-3
HEBREWS 9:22

"… without shedding of blood
is no remission."

THE BEGINNING OF MAN’S APOSTASY

The firstborn child of Adam and Eve was Cain. Without stating the time interval, the Word of God says that Abel was born next. Abel was a herdsman who tended to a flock of sheep. Cain, on the other hand, was "a tiller of the ground" (Gen 4:2), meaning he grew crops. The brothers’ positions and occupations were significantly contrasted.

It appears that Cain had been offering according to God’s prescription, but with the passing of time, he changed. Instead of offering a blood sacrifice, he is described to have brought the fruit out of the ground which he tilled. In this context, it describes the fruit from plants, a bloodless offering. This reveals his disobedience to what God had shown his parents (Gen 3:21).

Cain evidently denied the prescribed offering according to God’s Word. The Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 9:22, "… And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." A blood sacrifice points to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Anyone who denies the shedding of the blood of Jesus rejects God’s only prescription for the cleansing and forgiveness of man’s sin. The Lord Himself said, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt 26:28).

"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away" (William Cowper).

THOUGHT: Am I washed by the blood of Christ?
PRAYER: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Ps 51:1-2).