Abel, Cain’s brother built an altar to present his offerings to God and an altar as you remember had three requirements: ‘Sacrifice – Worship – Prayer!’ The Sacrifice, had to be the very best you had, perfect, spotless, prime, the choicest, and especially the ‘first born of your flock.’ The Worship, had to be from your heart, genuine, real, authentic, true praise and adoration, attributing worth and praise to God in song and proclamation. The Prayer, had to be genuine acts of contrition, from your heart to God’s heart, not just words of repetition, but words of petition, supplication, confession, communion, intercession, and thanksgiving. (yada) intimacy and intercourse on the highest level with your Creator and Friend. Abel had all three in abundance, but he knew it was the blood that made atonement possible! His parents learned that in the Garden (Gan) after they sinned, and God had to kill the lambs to make atonement for their sin and clothe them, Gen. 3:21. Interesting, Adam Clarke claims in his commentary this happened on the first, “Day of Atonement” and his calendar calculations were one month different than the Jewish one putting it on November the 1st.  Think about the implications of that.

The LORD had no respect for Cain or His offering, why? No Blood! You can’t sacrifice grapes and apples, they don’t bleed! To sacrifice means to slaughter with deadly intent! You can’t slaughter fruit! Without blood we cannot enter into the presence of God. Hebrews 10:19, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Lev. 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.” Fruit is great but blood is His requirement, and the ‘firstling or the first fruits’ belong to God. Prov. 3:9, “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.”

We now can enter the Holiest of all places just like faithful Abel because of the blood of the sacrifice, the blood of, ‘The Lamb of God – Jesus The Christ’ has been shed! Our sacrifices of prayer and praise, Heb. 13:15, “the fruit of our lips” are accepted by God because of His blood! Remember that, as you enter into your prayer closet or garden and shut the door or gate, Christ’s blood cleanses us and makes us acceptable before a pure and holy God! Then and only then can God look on us and have respect on us and on our offerings. To be listed in the ‘Hall of Faith,’ Abel had to be a ‘Man of Faith’ and a ‘Man of God’ and  a ‘Man of Prayer’ and a ‘God Pleaser’ not a man pleaser! What are you? Who do you please?

His blood today still cries out to God from the ground, what does that tell you about martyrs? from Abel to Zachariah, to John the Baptist to Jim Elliot to the 165,000 Christians martyred every year for their faith, 500 every day, their blood is crying out to God and to us, constantly. Do we even take time to pray for our brothers and sisters who are being arrested, persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, killed for their faith in Christ? We need to read Acts 1:8 a little more carefully with a Strong’s Concordance. The word ‘witnesses’ is the Greek word for martyrs. In fact the name Stephen means crown, ‘a martyr’s crown.’ I love the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson about Stephen: “He heeded not reviling tones; Nor sold his heart to idle moans; Though cursed and scorned and bruised with stones; But looking upward, full of grace; He prayed, and from a happy face; God’s glory smote him on the face.”

And it all started with faithful Abel, the first martyr, who offered a, “More perfect sacrifice” than his brother Cain; who filled with jealousy killed him and buried him in his garden and yet his blood still cries out to God from the ground today. To our knowledge he never married and he never bore any children. Eve then gives birth to another son in Gen. 4:25, “For God (Elohim) said she, has appointed me another seed (zera) instead of Abel whom Cain slew.”

She knew and we know who was to carry on the Messianic line of promise, Abel! But Satan had him killed, I John 3:12. Not much is said about Seth or Sheth except that he is the seed of the Sethite people and lived 912 years and had a bunch of children in contrast to the Cainite people. His name means ‘appointed’ or ‘seat of the body – buttocks.’ Eve names him in Gen. 4:25 and Adam names him in Gen. 5:3. He lived 105 years before he begot Enosh, ‘Mortal’ and then lived another 807 years. Watch Gen. 4:26, “Then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.” Jehovah or YeHoVaH the covenant name of God, (YHVH). It is now about 235 years since creation, could men have waited this long to worship God in prayer, five generations after creation? I don’t think so! Adam was created for intimate worship, communion, and fellowship with God. Therefore prayer was a dictate of nature! Prayer was a constituted instinct in-wrought in us by our Maker, or as one writer put it, “Man is a praying animal.”

The word ‘Enosh’ simply means ‘Mortal’ or man in general whether singular or collectively. The word ‘men’ is not in the Hebrew text, it is added for clarity, so we get all our meaning from the word, ‘Enosh’ meaning, mankind or referring to ‘corporate worship.’ It is an indication of man recognizing and realizing his frailty and weakness and calling on the LORD, YeHoVaH for help. “Then mankind in general began to call upon the name of YeHoVaH.” The reference must be to social worship not individual prayer, because the word ‘call’ means, ‘To call out to’ or to, ‘Address by name.’ There is one other possibility for this verse; people were called by the LORD’s name to distinguish them from idol worshipers, “The LORD’s people.” II Chron. 7:14, (case in point) Though very few scholars hold to this view.

So, there’s ‘The Adam’s Family.’ Where do you fit, since we are all distant relatives or ancestors? Who are you related to and whose genes are you wearing? Cain was a man of the earth, religious, but destitute of any sense of sin or need of atonement. What do you bring to the altar, a handful of grapes, a couple of apples, are your gifts acceptable to Him, does He have respect for you? Seth, not much is said about him, that could be good or bad, other than he had a son, lived 912 years, had a bunch of other kids and sat around a lot. His name means buttocks if that’s any help. I think it’s a clue, we have a bunch of those in the church today, people who sit on their, never mind you get my drift! E-Nosh, introduces the worship of Yahweh or YeHoVaH or at least the new pattern for invoking that name in corporate prayer and worship. So he becomes our new worship leader, that’s good I like that, or he gives us a name for our group so we are not listed with the idol worshipers and that’s good too.

Abel did not live long but he made an impact on the world he lived in and on God. Oswald Chambers died at 42 in Egypt; Eric Liddell died at 43 in a concentration camp; Nate Saint was 33 and speared to death; David Brainerd was 29 and had TB, his diary moved Jim Elliott who died at 29 by spears and said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” William Carey was also moved by Brainerd’s diary and said, “Attempt great things for God, Expect great things from God.” How does that saying go, “Only one life to live, will soon be past and only what’s done for Christ will last.” What will you do with the one life He has given you? Will God have respect unto you and your offering when you stand before Him like Abel or will you go out from the presence of the LORD like Cain because the LORD has, ‘No respect for you or for your offering?’ The choice is yours, I made mine at 27, on December 25th 1972 at 12:00 pm at Newark Baptist Church and I have never, ever regretted it, never!      “Between The Lines”

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  ‘The Adam’s Family – 2’