Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
This is the record of the first murder on the earth. We have no idea how old the boys were. But Cain was jealous of Abel, because God had accepted Abel’s act of worship and not his own. Here is what we read later in the Scriptures about this incident. The Holy Spirit spoke through the Apostle John who wrote to the later church. In the section about loving your brother, we read this message:
1 John 3:11-12 (ESV)
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Cain stands as the example of someone who started the act of murder regarding mankind. However, even though this was the first act of murder, this was not the start of the murdering act. Note what Jesus said when talking about the evilness in the hearts of the religious leaders who wanted to kill Him:
John 8:44 (ESV)
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Satan started the killing spree. If Cain was the original murderer, Satan was the original serial killer. He first killed the relationship with Adam and God, via the forbidden fruit he convinced Eve to take. It began with a lie, turned into petty theft and ended in separation of life from God in the garden: Death. Satan has been killing ever since. Cain was just the tool Satan would use that day. Death is Satan’s mission:
Hebrews 2:14 (ESV)
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
Jesus’ mission was to destroy death by death and raising from the dead. Cain’s murder of Abel was the beginning of death. Estimates of the deaths recorded in just the Bible alone range from 2-4 million. Cain did it out of anger, jealous and envy. He wanted something he was not entitled to. Satan wanted something she was not entitled to. Eve wanted something she was not entitled to. Desire always brings forth death of some type. Note James words:
James 4:1-3 (ESV)
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Jesus said it this way:
Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV)
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Cain was the first. He was not the last.
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