Speaker: Dr Ayo Ajim
Text; Geesis4: 1-3 , 9-11 NLT, col 2:16-17 NLT, Heb 8:4
Introduction:
There is a law of first mention, which goes through the thread of the mention of it. It is like grandma taking a thread and weaving with the same thread over and over to make a tapestry. The Old Testament is a type and shadow of the new. A shadow is made when light is falling on the real object. When the object moves the shadow moves. You do not shake hands with the shadow or give money to the shadow.
Discussion .
When we hear remember the sabbath to keep it Holy, this can not mean a calendar day. In the law it was a day as it was a shadow. There is a context to every text, without context the text can be misinterpreted. The New Testament reality is the sabbath of resting in Christ’s finished work, and not just a given day.
The story of Cain and Abel had an origin in the garden of Eden when Eve listened to the devil( be careful who you listen to as it may lead you where you never imagined in trouble).
Eve gave to Adam to eat ( be careful what you eat, Adam ate and got into sin and imagine we eat communion to remind us of our freedom from sin, please choose what you eat).
When Adam sinned that was the travesty, as he sinned with Cain and Abel in his loins . Adam means man and also means humanity, and so all of humanity was plunged into a sin nature, when he sinned(Ps. 51:5). Adam was in God’s Glory and the covering of God’s glory departed as a covering hence his sense of being naked.
God asked Adam a rhetorical question “Adam where are you ?” The question is rhetorical, because God already knew the answer, but he was only trying to ask Adam to locate himself in this situation.
Adam went to doing what we do when we sin, he cut the fig leaf from its vine to cover up. The leaf was poised to die as it was cut from the vine and so was Adam poised to die as he was cut off from God, and the penalty of sin is death.
God killed an innocent animal and the blood and warmth as it dripped on Adam gave him a sense of covering and comfort from God. They got kicked out of the garden of Eden. The first homeless people on earth.
This lead to Cain and Abel living in sin nature. Cain hated his brother for no reason. His brother pleased God. Cain should have learnt through mentoring from his father that the fig tree leaf did not work for dad so why would you offer it to God. Abel understood the blood and offered an acceptable offering. The Church May accept all offering to pay bills and fund projects, but God does not accept every gift.
Cain lured his brother to his death, the ground swallowed the blood. God again asks a rhetorical question, asking for his brother and he answers defensively “am I my brother’s keeper” Gen4:9.
If we blow a dog whistle in a room with dogs the dogs will start barking, though you hear nothing as human. Same as a patient coughing, you need an X-ray to see the pneumonia. Just because you do not hear it does not discount the existence of the sound of a dog whistle or because you do not see the Lund, pneumonia in the coughing patient. Blood speaks, we may not hear or see it. Abel’s blood spoke to God.
The blood of Jesus Speaks better things than the blood of Abel ( Heb 12:24) . It was a lamb in Genesis but the lamb of God in the New Testament, John the Baptist spoke it” behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” ( John 1:29) Worthy is the lamb that was slain to deliver, heal, save and give hope.
When the death angel comes it will pass over you. The power, purging protection and deliverance in the blood will be over you.
Prayer
Dear God when the enemy comes may your blood speak for us . In places we do not understand or know, may the blood cover us.