Abel: The Reward of Faith

The book of Genesis is probably the best known of the books of the Old Testament. While some of the books which follow can be a little dry in their careful recording of details, Genesis is mostly a book of stories. These stories--Adam and Eve in the Garden, Noah and the Ark, Joseph and his coat of many colors--are some of the first stories we teach our children and are an early part of our entire world. In fact, this isn't only true of the church. Because we live in a semi-Christianified culture, these Bible stories are part of culture and well known even by people who do not believe and never read the Bible.

And of these stories, one of the first we run across is that of Cain and Able which is found in Genesis 4. When we read this story, our focus tends to be on Cain. He is the main actor in this story and there is both justice and pathos in the tale of (assumably) the first murderer. However, in this article, I don't want to look so much at Cain as at Abel. We don't know very much about him. But we do know one thing, one thing that characterized his life and that one thing is an example for us. And we can see that thing by looking at the New Testament. Hebrews 11: 4 tells us that: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Abel was a man of faith. There are many other people in the Bible who were examples of faith. And God rewarded them for their faith. Abraham got great riches and a miraculous family line. Joseph got great riches and a high position. The Children of Israel got possession of the Promised Land. And Abel got knocked on the head and died. That's the story of Abel--he was a man of faith and so his brother got mad and offed him.  There really isn't much of a story there. Abel lived an assumably short life and died an assumably unpleasant death. And that's about all we are able to say about Abel.

And the truth is that this so often seems to be the case. So often it seems that those who live in faith get knocked around. I think it was W. S. Gilbert who said that good triumphs over evil only in theatrical performances. Faith in God seems like a weak and worthless thing, and so often it seems that those who have it still are left in the cold; even sometimes with their life snuffed out prematurely, like Abel's.

And that is why the story of Abel is important. Having faith in God will not necessarily make you rich; though God has blessed some of His followers with riches. Having faith in God will not necessarily give you a long life; though long life is one of God's blessings. Having faith in God will almost certainly not keep you from having problems. But even if faith leads to a short life and a brutal death, like it did for Abel, it is not for nothing. At first, it might seem like all Abel got for his faith was the business end of the world's first murder weapon; but there is more to this story than that, because this is, in all reality, a story of the reward of faith.

We have to keep this story in context. If you go back to Genesis 1-2, you read of God creating the world. This is a story of the beginning of all things. God created the world and specifically created Adam and Eve, the first human beings, and placed them in the Garden of Eden. And there God would come in the cool of the day and meet with them. That is the picture you have to keep in mind. God created this world. And He didn't create it like a scientist making an experiment, just to see what would happen. He didn't create it like a bored child building a model, just for fun. God didn't create it like a tyrant builds a prison, to give him something to command. God built this world so that it might be the stage in which He could fellowship with mankind--not for His own sake, but for mankind's--God made the world so that we could share in the glory and pleasure of His presence. Olin Curtis said that God did not make humans because He needed them but because: “out of the eternal fullness of a satisfied love, God wanted them to bring their little cups of finite possibility and fill them with everlasting joy out of his shoreless ocean.”

But, of course, we know how that turned out. Adam and Eve betrayed God's trust and rejected His fellowship by eating the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve were thrust out of the Garden and never again would they meet with God in that way. The door to Paradise was shut.

And that's why it's so important to see what Cain and Abel do in this story--they give an offering unto God. And what is an offering? It is something we give to God (we still call the money we give to God an “offering”) but, in the Old Testament, it was something even more. It was a way to meet with God. The altar of sacrifice was a sacred place because it was a place where man could meet with God. We read later of God coming down in a physical presence at the sacrifice of Abraham. We read of how carefully the way to the altar in the Holy of Holies was guarded, because it was the place where God met with the high priest.  Not to say that there weren't other ways, even in the Old Testament, of meeting with God, but still, the whole point of sacrifice, of offering, was that it was a time, an opportunity to meet with God. It was a point of contact between God and man. It was the trysting place of time and eternity. Man had been thrust out of the garden and the world had been cursed; filled with pain and turmoil and blood. And yet in the very heart of this brutally practical world, in the midst of fire and death, of smoke and blood, there was still an opportunity to touch perfection; there was still a window open from earth into Heaven.

We look at the Old Testament and their sacrifices and think of it as a burdensome duty, as no doubt it was in some sense. The world looks at us coming to church and think of it as a burdensome duty, as it sometimes is. But we can't miss the point that in both cases, the essential idea is not that of duty but of pleasure, of privilege. Sacrifice and offerings were not just a drudgery because they were the means of meeting with God--and meeting with God is the only reason we were created; the only possible excuse and justification of existence; the only final fulfillment we can find in this world or any other.

And that's what is so important about the story of Abel. Both Abel and Cain brought sacrifices to the altar. Both had this opportunity to meet with God. Both came to the door of God's house. But what does Genesis 4:4-5 say? “And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.” God accepted Abel and not Cain. Both brothers came to the house of God, but only one truly entered into God's presence. We don't know exactly how this was revealed at the time, but apparently it was revealed in some very public, objective manner, perhaps through something like fire falling from Heaven, as in the story of Elijah. That's obviously just speculation, but we do know that God made a difference between them, and only one was accepted.

And we don't fully know what made the difference between them. Was it the quality of the offerings? Was it the fact that Cain brought the fruit of the ground while Abel brought a blood sacrifice? We don't know for sure. But whatever other factors may have been involved, we know the fundamental issue. And that is where the testimony of Hebrews 11 comes in: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” That is what made the difference. Whatever other differences might have stood between Cain and Abel, the primary difference was that Abel acted out of sincere and genuine faith in God, while Cain did not.

And because of that, because of his faith, Abel was able to worship God--something Cain, for all his other benefits, failed to do. By faith, he was able to offer a more excellent sacrifice. That is the first reward of faith.

And that is still true for us, for all who have faith in God. We may not succeed at many things in this life; we may not be what the world counts as successes; but if we have faith, we can succeed in worshipping God. And I realize that to many people, that may not sound like much of a reward. But it was to worship God that we were created; this is the aim and purpose of our existence. To be able to do that is to be able to do the most important thing in all human existence.

Frederic Faber wrote of worship: “Only to sit and think of God/O what a joy it is!/To think the thought, to breathe the Name,/Earth has no higher bliss.” Of course, there is more to worship than just sitting and thinking of God, but Faber was right about the general idea--in worshipping God we are touching not only the highest bliss on earth but, ultimately, the only possible source of happiness either in earth or heaven. And the point to notice is this--this is something anyone can do; it isn't limited to the rich or the successful or the highly intelligent (though our riches and success and intellect may be used in worship)--it is a reward which can be found by anyone who has what Abel had--faith.

And that is intrinsically linked with something else. God accepted Abel's offering and he rejected Cain's. This was the thing that rankled with Cain and led ultimately to the murder of his brother. But it wasn't just Abel's offering itself was accepted (and Cain's rejected.) Because the altar and the act of sacrifice was a means of meeting with God, this meant that Abel had been accepted by God, had been enabled to meet with God, while Cain was left outside. A door was opened to Abel which was shut in the face of Cain.

This thought is echoed by the author of Hebrews, when he says of Abel that “he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.” Stop and think about that for a moment. Many people get testimonials and statements about their virtues from their family, from their neighbors, from their business associates, from their community, from their church--but Abel got a testimonial from God. The Lord of the Universe made a point of identify Abel as a good man. Cain was obviously wrong to envy his brother (to say nothing of murdering him) but what Abel had was certainly worth envying.

See what God said to Cain in Genesis 4:6-7: “Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou  not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” In other words, Abel was accepted and Cain rejected. But it wasn't that God liked Abel better than Cain; it wasn't that Abel was the chosen one and Cain wasn't the chosen one. Cain could have found acceptance with God exactly like Abel had. If Cain had acted differently, we might have read in Hebrews that Cain obtained witness that he was righteous. The path was open to both of them. So what was it that Abel had which gave him acceptance with God? What was it that Cain lacked that left him rejected? There may have been more involved, but fundamentally it was faith. “By faith Abel... obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.”

It was because of this, because of his faith, that Abel was able to find acceptance with God--something Cain, for whatever other sterling qualities he no doubt had, failed to do. By faith, by the sacrifice offered through faith, he obtained witness that he was righteous. That is the second reward of faith. He found acceptance with God and God testified to his righteousness.

It seems that nearly everyone desires acceptance and validation from other people. This world is nearly mad in a quest for affirmation. Men seek for the honor which comes from man. But, through faith, Abel found the honor which comes from God. He received the testimony of the loyal servant in the parable: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And he received it by faith; meaning that anyone who has faith may find it. Just a couple of verses later, the author of Hebrews says that: “Without faith it is impossible to please [God], for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” But, then, that can also be stated: “WITH faith (and only with faith) it is possible to please God. And those that believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, may come to Him.” Through faith in God--in who God is and what he has done (things we know more surely and clearly than Abel did)--we can find acceptance with God and a testimonial from God. Not necessarily in this life, as Abel did, but if not here, then in the next. Speaking of the last judgment, C. S. Lewis wrote: 'It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God... it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.' (“The Weight of Glory”) Through faith, we can find acceptance with God.

And that brings us to the interesting thing about the end of the story of Cain and Abel. We all know how it ends. Cain grew jealous of his brother's spiritual success and so lured him out into a field, far away from everyone else, and then murdered him. And that, from an earthly point of view, was the end of Abel. Cain, so far as we can tell, lived a long life after this. But notice what God says to Cain at the end of Genesis 4:12: “A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”

Cain spent his life fleeing from the consequences of his sin. Remember that this is early in history, so the only people alive were his own family, and so the family of the brother he had killed. He had not only committed murder, but a crime against his own family, the only people he had in all the world. Though he seems to have gotten along all right, he was an outcast for the rest of his life. And while we don't know whether he ever found peace with God, he was shut out from whatever religious establishment existed at the time. There is no rest for the wicked.

Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend contains the story of a murder, or at least an attempted murder. Dickens tells of how, after the crime was committed, the criminal was haunted by shame and fear, driven almost insane by his crime and how his entire life began to fall apart around him because of it. And Dickens titled the chapter which recounts this: “Better to Be Abel than Cain.” Because Cain knew all the guilt and fear of being a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. But Abel had found acceptance with God and so he found peace.

If we live for God, we will face difficult and trying times. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But through faith, we can find acceptance with God and that means there remaineth a rest for us. Cain was able to kill his brother. For all we know, it may have a painful, brutal, torturous death. But there was only so much Cain could do. And when it was over, Abel was safe in the hands of God, with whom he had found acceptance. And Cain was cast out, a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. No matter what the world does to us if we have faith in God, then we have an acceptance and an assurance which is deeper and more lasting than anything else. Whatever the world takes away from us, it cannot take this, for it is the reward of faith.

But that doesn't take away the tragic nature of the story. We have no idea how old Cain and Abel were at the time of this event, nor do we understand exactly how human aging worked before Flood, except that people lived far longer. We know Cain was already married, for he took his wife with him when he fled from Abel's murder, so it is possible that Abel was married as well, but we don't know anything about that. The implication is that he had didn't have any children. The point is that Abel died at what was probably a comparatively young age. He never had any children to carry on his line. We know that Cain would go on to raise a family and even build his own city. Abel never did anything like that, because he was murdered.

Notice what Cain says in Genesis 4:9, after God confronts him about Abel: “I know not [where he is]: Am I my brother's keeper?” Cain, even to God, was not about to admit that he had killed his brother. In other words, he was clearly trying to hide this. Most likely, after the murder, he had hidden the body and believed nobody would ever find it. Or perhaps he found a way to fix it up so it looked like an accident, as if Abel had been killed by wild animals. (No doubt the world was a very dangerous place to live at this time.) And since there were no witnesses, nobody could prove that he had done it. (Detectives and forensic science had not yet been invented.) The only person who knew what he had done was Abel, and Abel obviously couldn't testify. He had silenced the only witness to his crime. And seemingly he succeeded. Abel was dead. Cain could have been the first to utter that old maxim: “Dead men tell no tales.” He committed the first crime and it was the perfect crime. The only witness was silenced forever.

And yet, God replied with these words: “The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Cain had tried to silence Abel; Cain had tried to bring a complete end to Abel's life, and from a human standpoint he succeeded. Abel was gone; but not forgotten, not by God. In God's ears, Abel's voice had not been stopped. God heard Abel's testimony. There's a sense in which this is true in every crime, in every murder. In every act of injustice committed on earth, God is the unseen, unsilenceable witness. No matter how carefully man schemes, no matter how well he may fool other people, how cleverly he manipulates the courts and the police to escape punishment, God is watching and God will eventually bring justice, if not in this life then in the next.

But that is simply a matter of justice and is true of any crime, no matter who the victim. There is something more involved with Abel. Notice what the author of Hebrews says about Abel. “By faith Abel... being dead yet speaketh.” It is because of his faith that Abel continued and still continues to speak, even though he is dead.

Very likely, Cain thought that with Abel dead he could silence his testimony. The whole cause of the murder was his envy at Abel's testimony--at the fact that Abel was accepted with God while he was rejected. Had his mind become so poisoned by his bitterness that he thought: 'If Abel's dead, his testimony will be gone--There will no longer be that voice saying that Abel is righteous and I am rejected'?  Maybe he thought that once Abel was gone, people would slowly forget how good he had been. Maybe he was mainly concerned about the fact that he had come out looking in a worse light than Abel and hoped that the passage of time would erase that fact. After all, once Abel was dead, who would remember him?

If you go down to the rest of Genesis 4, you'll find what happened to Cain after the murder--he had a son and built a city and he named the city after his son. He had a family and a family line and a dwelling place as his testimony. And do you know where that city is now? Long gone because of a little something called Noah's Flood. To this day, Cain is remembered only as the first murderer and as the sire of a line of ungodly men. It's very possible that Cain had many other good qualities. He was probably not, overall, a bad man. But the only thing anyone knows about him is his crime.

But Abel lived a life of faith and to this day, we still have this witness that he was righteous. Abel's life still speaks to us of faith, of the power of God. Abel's witness was not silenced, even though Abel died. The first dead man continues to tell tales, tales of faith in God. Cain is only remembered because of Abel, and Abel continues to speak because of his faith.

It was because of this, because of his faith, that Abel was not forgotten. By faith, though he is dead, Abel is still able to speak. That is the third reward of faith.

The world will tell you that if you follow God, you will be lost and forgotten in this world. Many a man or woman who might have had a bright career in the world has been seemingly buried and forgotten in some small church or some lonely mission-field. Many more, like Abel, have been buried in a more literal sense because they followed God. Often times, following God will lead to seeming darkness and obscurity.

But never forget that by faith, Abel being dead yet speaketh. For those that live by faith, nothing is ever really forgotten. A life that is lived in silence, unnoticed by the world, a short life, perhaps with a tragic death, may nonetheless be remembered by God. Abel found acceptance and recognition from God; and because that was his source, that testimony didn't go away just because he happened to die. What we get from the world may perish from the world. What praise we win by our own might will fade with our own might. But what we get from God, what we find through faith in God, will never fade away, for it is built on the rock which doesn't move.

Abel lived a very long time ago, nearly at the very beginning of human history. Almost certainly he was the first murder victim; probably he was the first human being to die. Death, which is the one commonality to all men, came first to Abel. Trillions of people have lived and died since Abel. The tides of progress have risen and fallen countless times. Time has passed since Abel's died and will continue to pass until the world itself dies.

And so you might think the story of Abel means nothing to us. What does it matter to us that this one man, thousands of years ago, at the very opening of human history, had faith and found a reward for his faith? But it matters for this reason. Abel had faith in God. The world has changed in incalculable ways since Abel's death. But the One in whom Abel had faith has not changed. And the value of faith does not lie in the one who has faith but in the one in whom they have faith. If Abel had had faith in the world or in human progress, his faith wouldn't mean anything to us--since those things have changed so much since Abel's day. But because Abel had faith in God, and God is still the same, everything that is true of Abel's faith can be true for us. After listing all this characters and their faith in Hebrews 11, the writer goes on to describe them as a crowd of witnesses, of testifiers. Their faith isn't just a historical curiosity. Everything they had through faith, everything they found because of faith, we can also find--because we have faith in God.

And that is why the witness of Abel is so importance. Because of his testimony, we can have confidence, that if we live a life of faith, that faith will not be for nothing. It will not be forgotten. It will have its reward. Even if faith leads us into obscurity or even to death, yet we know that by faith we may offer unto God a more excellent sacrifice and obtain witness that we are righteous, and being dead, yet speak.