I am not talking about the ‘Addams Family’ you see right now when you open up Google search, Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, Thing and Itt although they made a great family and a great TV series. I want to talk about the family in Gen. 4:1-15 that came from the loins of the first man God created. Adam had three sons, Cain, Abel, Seth and a grandson named Enosh to carry on the Messianic line and we need to consider how their lives impact our lives in the area of prayer; and they do impact them! Gen. 4:1 says, “Adam knew (yada) his wife Eve and she bore Cain and said, I have gotten or acquired (Cain) a man from the LORD.” As someone once said, ‘After Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden of Eden they raised a little Cain.’ No pun intended. That was the Messianic promise of Gen. 3:15 after the fall. But Cain was a type of the mere man of the earth, ‘worldly’ whose religion was destitute of any sense of sin or any need of atonement. A bloodless religion, and we have buckets of those today, Amen? But, “Attainment can never take the place of Atonement!” NEVER! (Put that on your frig!) Religion is man reaching up to God, trying to please Him but Christianity is God reaching down to man! Without the recognition of a sinless substitute and sacrifice there can be no approach to God, none, nada, zero! This religious type of man is described for us in II Peter 2:2, “And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”

Seven things are said of Cain: 1 – He worships in self-will; 2 – He is angry with God; 3 – He refuses to bring a sin offering; 4 – He murders his brother; 5 – He lies to God; 6 – He becomes a wanderer; 7 – He becomes the object of Divine anxiety and fear. “The Way of Cain” is a religious highway marked for destruction, the broad-way, ‘and many there be that find it!’ Starting in Gen. 4:6, Cain is asked a series of questions by God: “Where are you?”  “Why are you angry?”  “Why is your countenance fallen?” And, “Where is Abel your brother?” You see, ‘Sin separates us from God,’ and it is always God who does the searching, seeking and restoration, always! God more than man desires reconciliation, and that only comes through repentance and the, ‘Prayer of Confession!’ With true contrition! The first prayer a sinner prays is to change his or her status with God, Romans 3:10-11.

Why is God asking all these questions? Do you think He doesn’t know the answers? NO! He is trying to restore Cain to fellowship, as He is you and I! But you have never felt angry with God; You have never felt unaccepted by God; Your countenance has never fallen; You have never felt passed over or slighted by God or others, right? Listen, we have the same problem Cain had! And “Sin lieth at the door!” That is, “A sin offering.” In Hebrew the word sin and sin-offering are interchangeable. This has a very common usage and meaning in scripture. The way this is written, the language implies that previous instruction was given as to the mode of worship that Abel offered through faith. Heb. 11:4, “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…”  We serve a God Who seeks, searches, and saves sinners and never stops, NEVER! Good thing! Amen?

Cain answers God but hopefully not the way you answer God from your, ‘Prayer Closet or Garden;’ (Sarcastically) “I know not, am I my brother’s keeper?” I’m sure you don’t talk to God like that in your prayer closet but how about on the street, or at work, or at school, or when the Holy Spirit convicts you about your habits, or when some crisis comes along? Jude v.11 says, “Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain!” The way of Cain is simply, ‘Will-Worship’ doing it ‘My-Way’ and expecting God to accept it and to bless it. A fruit offering instead of the ‘Firstling of the Flock.’ Nothing wrong with fruit when it’s harvest time, but God requires blood for atonement and grapes don’t bleed! “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” Gen. 4:16. How sad, how tragic! I can’t imagine being out of His presence for five seconds, that would literally be, ‘HELL!’ (Absence from the presence of God) God is seeking you right now my friend, (zeteo) John 4:23 to worship Him in spirit and in truth and to do it His way, Aren’t you tired of wandering, drifting, floating down a river like a bubble with no meaning and no place to go but down? That is Cain the first born, all the privileges, all the rights, all the honor, and he would not come God’s way, he was the first, he was the ‘Burger King’ and he wanted it his way. So, he killed his brother and buried him in his garden.  So, God had to mark him for the rest of his life because Gen. 9 hadn’t been written yet and the death penalty hadn’t been imposed yet. (Click on part #8 of, “Portraits of Prayer in Genesis” and you will get my view on the ‘Mark of Cain’ there are many, no body has a corner on that market).

Now we turn to Cain’s younger, twin brother Abel who went in the, “Way of God!” Not much is said about this first martyr, who had no offspring that we know of, because Seth was going to take his place. However, he is mentioned by Yeshua/Jesus in Matt. 23:35 and Luke 11:51 where Jesus Himself confirms the record of Gen. 4:8-10 as He mentions the blood of righteous Abel. Abel was a shepherd or a keeper of the sheep while Cain was a farmer or a keeper of the dirt. Abel’s name stands for ‘brevity of life’ and has several meanings; breath, vapor, vanity, transitory, meadow, morning mist: The Adams family was instructed in the proper form of worship, prayer and sacrifice of Jehovah God by their parents. “The LORD had respect unto Abel and his offering.” Gen. 4:4, which has been translated, “To kindle a fire” showing Divine approval, Heb. 11:4. Fire was a symbol of God’s presence and pleasure, as seen throughout the Scriptures; with Abraham making a covenant, the burning bush, the pillar of fire in the desert, Mt Sinai, Elijah on Mt Carmel, as fire came down and consumed the offerings, etc.

Abel was the first one in the, “Hall of Faith!” He was the first martyr and his blood is still speaking unto God from the ground today. In fact, Gen. 4:10 is written in the present tense as if Abel’s blood is still crying out today and I believe it is. Abel not Cain was going to bear the Messiah’s lineage and Cain out of jealousy driven by Satan killed him, I John 3:12 says, “Not as Cain who was of that wicked one and killed his own brother…” This is also further laid out for us in Gen. 4:25 when Seth is born and Eve said, “For God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” We will come back to this next time, but for now just stay with us;   “Between The Lines.”

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  ‘The Adams Family-#1’