Genesis 3:21

Speaking of what God did for Adam and Eve after they sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden, the Bible says in Genesis 3:21, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin, and clothed them.” In order to have made coats of skin, animals would have had to die. We can see this as being symbolic as a sacrifice for sin. The blood of the innocent was shed so that the sin of the guilty could be forgiven. Of course, this is symbolic of what the Lord Jesus Christ would do when He would come and be the great sacrifice for the sins of the world. The Bible says about the Messiah in Isaiah 53:7, “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her sheerers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

The fact that God “clothed” Adam and Eve demonstrates that God does not want human beings to be naked. God wants human beings to be properly clothed. Genesis 3:7 told us that Adam and Eve were ashamed of being naked, and they made clothing from fig leaves. Evidently they were not clothed well enough, and so God made them more complete and permanent clothing from animal skins.

The Bible says in Genesis 3:22-24, “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” God has put limitations on man. After all, man is of the ground. Man was taken from the earth and is limited to this realm. God is in control. He decides what man can do and what man cannot do. God decides what man can know and what man cannot know. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away that which He has given. No wonder that Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done.” We are told in James 4:14, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.”

Notice in Genesis 3:22 that the LORD God refers to Himself in the plural by using the word “us.” The word “LORD” is the word “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.” Jehovah God speaks of Himself in the plural. We know from other verses in the Bible that God is three in one: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In Genesis chapter 4 we are told some of the details about the children that were given to Adam and Eve. They were told to multiply and to fill up the earth. It says in Genesis 4:1, “And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.” We learn a lot about human nature from Cain. We also learn a lot about the rearing of children. Cain became a murderer. He murdered his own brother. The first human being born into the world was a murderer. And it was not the fault of the parents. It was the fault of the son, who made the wrong decisions.

In describing the circumstances that led up to the murder committed by Cain, the Bible says in Genesis 4:2-8, “And she again bear his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, 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. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.”

The first problem that we see arising with Cain is found in Genesis 4:3 where we are told that Cain brought a different offering than Abel had brought to God. Notice carefully the difference between the two offerings. Abel brought an animal sacrifice “of the firstlings of his flock.” In the Old Testament God required an animal sacrifice, and we know very well why that was the case. The blood of the animal was symbolic of the blood of Christ that would eventually be shed for our sins. If you take away the blood of Christ, you do not have true worship. Instead of the true worship of God, you have a religion made by man. That is what Cain was trying to do. He was trying to establish religion based upon his own rules. Cain rejected the revealed will of God. Cain was in rebellion against God.

Cain’s rebellion and self-will became anger. Human anger is often based upon human self-will. A selfish person does not get what he wants, and then he gets angry about it. Cain’s anger was against God and against God’s servant, Abel. It is not surprising that such anger led to greater sins. It says in Proverbs 29:22, “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” The Bible also says in First Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”

When Cain became angry, the Lord Jesus Christ came to Cain and spoke to Him. It says in Genesis 4:6, “And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?” God knew that Cain’s attitude would lead Cain to greater sins, and God wanted to keep that from happening. Cain was Adam and Eve’s son, but it was not the parents who came and spoke to Cain to try and straighten him out. It was the Lord who came and spoke to him. The Lord tries to speak to everyone eventually. That is why it says about Jesus in John 1:9, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” If they will not listen to the Word of the Lord, then they will not listen to the parents either.

Sin begets sin. As the Lord said, “Sin lieth at the door.” One bad thing leads to another bad thing, and then gets worse. What direction are you going in? That is why repentance is so important. Repentance refers to a change of mind and thus a change of direction. Instead of leading a selfish life apart from the Lord and apart from His Word, when you repent, you turn to walk with the Lord in accordance with His Word.

If only Cain had repented upon hearing the Word of the Lord. God told Cain that good results would have come to Cain. It would have worked out so much better if Cain had gone God’s way instead of his selfish way. It is always that way. The stubborn ones often seem to continue in their stubbornness. Today is the day of salvation. Take your chance to turn to the Lord when it comes. You do not know if the chance will ever come again, or how many terrible years will pass until it does come again. The Lord wants us to repent because he wants good things to happen to us. The Lord told Cain the good things that would happen to Cain, if he repented of his selfishness, his anger, and his hatred. The Lord said to Cain in Genesis 4:7, “And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” It is interesting to note that these are the same things that were said to Eve concerning Adam being in authority over her. Cain would have been in authority over Abel in the family arrangement of the Old Testament. Cain was the oldest son. As the years went by Cain would have been in a position of authority. Abel would have looked up to Cain, and Abel would have been in submission to Cain’s decisions as the years went by. But it would not happen this way because Cain refused to go God’s way.

Cain’s anger turned to murder. If you have a problem with anger, you need to get it under control. One reason to do so is because anger can easily lead to murder. That is why it says in the New Testament, “Be angry and sin not.” That is the challenge, because human anger usually leads to other sins. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Learn to get over things, and to get over them quickly.

Cain was the first man-child born into the world. He was the first murderer. He was the first human being who refused God’s salvation. And Cain was also the first homeless person as we will see over the next several verses. We see in Genesis 4:9 that Cain refused to repent even after he murdered Abel. It says, “And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” What a terrible thing to say to God. How blind Cain was to think that he could lie to the omniscient God.

God said to Cain in Genesis 4:10, “And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” God is the Judge of the whole earth. God knows who did what and when they did it. If the blood of Abel cries out to God, then what about the blood of all the others who have been murdered by their fellow man? The judgment of God is over-due for this earth. The wrath of God shall be poured out on this earth when the time is right, and rightly so. The Life-giver is not pleased with murderers, and God will judge them. That is one reason to believe that there is a hell. There is no punishment that could be given in this life that is great enough to recompense for some sins: especially for the sin of murder. Of course, punishments must still be given in this life by those who have the authority and responsibility to hand out punishments. Cain was punished in this life. God said to Cain in Genesis 4:11-12, “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” The first murder was a terrible murder. But God did not give Cain the death penalty. God did institute the death penalty for man later on in the Old Testament. It is interesting that Cain was given other punishments.

God told Cain that Cain was “cursed from the earth.” This is explained in verse 12 where God said, “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.” Previously Cain had evidently been a successful farmer. It says in Genesis 4:3 that “Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.” But this prosperity would be taken away from Cain. “Except the Lord build the house, they that labor, labor in vain.“ “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.” As God did with Cain, sometimes the Lord takes things away from people as a judgment for sin. One of the most important things in life from a human standpoint is to accomplish something. It would be terrible to be put into a situation where you accomplished nothing and where all of your efforts were totally fruitless. That is what happened to Cain.

Cain was also made homeless. God said to Cain, “A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” One of the worst things that can happen to someone in our society is to become a homeless person. When we see a homeless person, we say, “What a disaster! What could have happened that caused this?” In Cain’s case the Lord caused it to happen as a punishment for murder. Cain thought that the punishments that were given to him were horrible punishments. The Bible says in Genesis 4:13, “And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.”

Too bad that Cain did not repent when the Lord offered him the chance to do so. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing. Why choose punishment for sin? Everyone who is punished for their sins will say what Cain said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” Turn to Jesus while there is still time.

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