Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Genesis 4:8

One of the reasons people misunderstand the Bible is that we fail to understand it is one book. The Bible is ONE STORY—with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The story is all about GOD. God is the HERO of every story in the Bible. We make a big error when we read the Bible, thinking it is about us—our happiness, our fulfillment, or even our salvation and eventual our eternity in heaven.

Nope. It is about God. More specifically, it is all about Jesus who is the Redeemer of lost mankind (John 5:39-40).

By way of review, Genesis 1-2 is about Jesus in creation. Genesis 3 is about the Fall and God’s initial promises regarding the Redeemer (Jesus) who would one day come.

Genesis 4-5 instruct us that the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin are broader than merely in their lives. In Genesis 4, Adam and Eve had children who, because of Adam and Eve’s sin, were sinners as well. Both Cain and Abel were sinners, evidenced by the fact that they offered sacrifices to God. Otherwise, why would they offer sacrifices if they had no sin requiring atonement?

That Cain’s sacrifice was unacceptable to God further reveals that even in their religious sacrifices, Cain sinned. Taken to the next level, Cain slew his brother Abel because he was jealous that God respected Abel and his sacrifice, but not his.

There are other lessons to be learned from this sad sequence of events. I plan to address one of them in a subsequent post, but for now, let us not miss three important lessons:

Sin is inherent in all human beings. Adam and Eve were created sinless, though they obviously had the potential to sin. But all their offspring were and are natural born sinners.
While all human beings are born sinners, not all sin equally. Abel offered a sacrifice for sins, but he was not a murderer. Cain was a murderer.
While all sin is not equally damaging, all sin is equally damning.

That is why we all need a Redeemer! Both the Abel’s and the Cain’s of humanity need a Savior. Jesus is that one and only perfect Savior. Let none of us think we are better than others. And let none of us think that we need Christ the Savior any less than murderers need Him.