The following is an edited version of the lecture given on 24th September  2006 in the series entitled "In the Beginning."     Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.    (1 Peter 2:11)     God's Plan and the Voice of AnotherIn Genesis chapter 3, after Adam disobeyed God's word and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God called out to him and said, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). Then in Genesis chapter 4, God asked something similar when He spoke to Cain, who had killed Abel, and said, "Where is Abel your brother?" (Genesis 4:9).     Before we examine Genesis chapter 4 in detail, however, it seems that we first need to consider the position, content and flow of this chapter. In school we learn that a piece of writing should have an introduction, a main body of text, and a conclusion, and this is also true of most of the books that we read. We can also think of the Bible in this way, with the books of Genesis to Deuteronomy forming the introduction, and so on. Then if we consider the book of Genesis alone in this way, chapters 1 to 3 can be seen as the introduction, with the main body of the text beginning in chapter 4 where we read of all the sons being born to various people. We have a habit of reading the Bible with the mind of following the methods that man has laid out.   After we have been through Genesis chapters 1 through 3, we come to chapter 4 where it talks about two brothers from amongst the children of Adam. In Genesis chapter 5 it says, "And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters" (Genesis 5:3-4).     If he kept having children for eight hundred years, how many children do you think he would have had? Since at that time the only commandment that he had to follow was to, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28), he must have had several hundred children. So why is it that the story of these two brothers appears in Genesis chapter 4? And how is the story of these two brothers related to Adam and Eve's actions in front of God that we read of chapter 3?Usually when we read the book of Genesis, we see chapter 3 as marking the end of the first section.     We think of the incident in which Adam was driven out of the garden of Eden, as drawing a line to end the section. As we then read Genesis chapter 4, however, we find that many verses spring to mind from the chapters that came before this, and as we continue to study chapter 4 we find that there is a deep significance for us in the fact that this chapter follows on from chapter 3.   The incidents involving Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4, their thoughts and their actions are a personal lesson to each of us. They are a lesson to us in our consciences, our spirits, our lives and our actions. At the same time, through the relationship between these two brothers in one family, God is showing us that He had hold of a large section of history that was to take place in the future. He had His own plan hidden away within this short story. No human being is capable of doing such a thing. This is completely impossible by man's power.   So as we read through Genesis chapter 4 now, let's consider first of all how its content is related to each of us individually, and then examine what historical facts God is relating to us through these events to help us understand the Bible as a whole.     Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."     Here it says in the Korean Bible that Adam "slept with his wife Eve." In English it says, "Now Adam knew Eve his wife." After Eve had given Adam the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God said to her, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children" (Genesis 3:16). So her children were born to her through the kind of relationship that is familiar to man even now. And yet here Eve said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."     In Genesis chapter 3, God said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Verse 15). Do you think Eve would have heard these words? This prophecy was made to the serpent before Cain and Abel were born; it was after this that Eve gave birth to a son. So, as I was wondering whether Cain was her firstborn son, I thought that this was quite possible.   Who gave Eve her name? It was Adam. Before Eve was created, Adam also gave names to all the animals on this earth. This same man, Adam, listened to the words of Eve and at the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it was Eve who gave the name to their first son that was born to them - the first person to appear in the Bible after Adam and Eve. Isn't this very strange?   God created all the beasts of the field and birds of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them (See Genesis 2:19).  Then when Eve appeared before Adam, he said, "this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Genesis 2:23). Then, after God had said to Eve, "In pain you shall bring forth children," Adam gave her the name of Eve (See Genesis 3:16, 20). When Cain was born, however, it was Eve who named him. Why do you think this was? This is a matter that is worth considering.   In the first three chapters of Genesis, when it comes to names and the giving of names, we find that it was always Adam who was involved. But after God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15), He then said to the woman, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children" (Verse 16). We may simply think that the woman is Eve, and we may also think it is Mary. When we look at the Bible in its entirety, however, it becomes very clear that the Seed of the woman refers to Jesus Christ and the woman Israel.      The woman by the name of Eve, however, saw things very differently from God's perspective beyond time and space, and she said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD." He words were completely unrelated to the tremendously great objective that God would accomplish in the process of history. These were the words of the woman, and Adam had listened to the words of this woman when he took and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In saying, "I have acquired a man from the LORD," Eve was definitely not committing a sin; she was speaking from a completely human point of view and her words had nothing to do with God's tremendous plan. As Eve spoke of Cain, she said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD." It is true, of course, that God had given her the child, but it seems to me that Eve's words included the desire that something would be fulfilled through this son.   As we read the verses that follow, however, we can see that Cain is an example of each one of us as we live on this earth. Cain appears here as a representative of each one of us as we live as sinners in this world. When we look at history, we see that he also represents the Israelites who were born as descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites received the word of God and wrote it all down, but in reality, they fell behind when it came to God's original plan to prepare a partner in love for His Son. From Acts chapter 9 on, we read of how, as a result of having Jesus Christ crucified and persecuting the apostles, the Israelites lost their chance with the gospel and it was passed over to the Gentiles.   The Sacrifice of Faith that Abel Offered to GodBut Adam and Eve also had another son apart from Cain.   Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.  (Genesis 4:2-5)   Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and its fat and offered that as a sacrifice, and Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. If we compare the actions of these two brothers to the actions of Adam and Eve in chapter 3 where they made themselves garments of fig leaves to cover their shame before God clothed them in tunics of skin, we find that they are similar. Cain's action was like that of his parents who tried to cover their shame with fig leaves; in other words, his actions were like the religious actions that are carried out by so many people in this world. Such attempts to cover ones own shame as one searches for God are the habits of religion. The doctrine of the Bible, however, has nothing to do with man's own efforts; the Bible tells us that, just as water flows from a high place to a lower one, it is God who is looking for man and God who tells man how to be saved. This has nothing to do with religion. When we consider matters such as this, we come closer to understanding the important significance that the actions of these two brothers hold for us. Let's turn briefly now to the letter to the Hebrews chapter 11.   Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  (Verses 1-2)   It says here that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Not being able to see something does not mean that it does not exist. We cannot see faith with our physical eyes, but we have a testimony in our hearts. To give you the most fundamental example, none of us have ever seen the cross of Jesus with our own eyes and neither have we witnessed the scene of Jesus shedding His blood. That happened two thousand years ago. But we know through the Bible that Jesus definitely shed His blood and died on the cross on the hill of Golgotha. So even though this incident took place two thousand years ago, we accept it as truth in our hearts through the words of the Bible. This is what the Bible calls faith and the evidence of things not seen.   For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.   Of course, this also applies to future events.   By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.  (Hebrews 11:3-4)   All of Hebrews chapter 11 is about faith. As the chapter begins to talk about faith, it says first of all that through faith we understand that this world was framed by the word of God. Then as it continues to talk about faith, the first person to appear as a forerunner of faith is Abel. Through the Bible we know that Abraham is the father of our faith. The faith of which the letter to the Hebrews speaks, however, begins with reference to Abel. We might think that Abel made an offering to God from his flock because he happened to be a keeper of sheep, but here it says that "by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." The Bible says that by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain who made an offering of produce from the labor of his own hands.The word "faith" does not appear in Genesis chapter 4. The author of this letter to the Hebrews, however, was writing at the time when the Church was just beginning after the day of Pentecost, and addressing the Jews who had tremendous regard for the law and tried to be saved through keeping the law. As they attempted to live in this way, they had tripped themselves up, having Jesus Christ crucified because they were not able to recognize who He was. They had then proceeded to persecute the many apostles who bore witness to the fact that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. As this letter explains the age of the gospel of grace that grants eternal life through faith and not through works, it begins by speaking about Abel's offering. It says that Abel offered this sacrifice by faith. It was not by chance that Abel sacrificed a lamb. Abel was definitely aware of the significance of his offering. God slaughtered an animal and clothed Adam and Eve in tunics made from its skin. Abel would definitely have been aware of this. It definitely not a case of Abel just happening to offer the sacrifice that God required. Abel definitely knew what kind of offering would please God, what God wanted, and what kind of offering God would accept. This is why he offered a different sacrifice from that of his brother.   And through it he being dead still speaks.   Even now he is still speaking. Through the Bible, he is teaching something to each one of us. Let's turn back to Genesis chapter 4 and read from verse 3.   And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.   Cain brought an offering of the fruits of the ground to the Lord. But God had said,

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