The Trail · Step 2 · Cain & Abel
Two Altars
Which altar are you standing at — the one you built, or the one already provided?
Lyrics appear here and follow along as the song plays.
Now the trail makes visible what was already true in the garden. Two sons of Adam. Two offerings.
"Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard." — Genesis 4:3–5
Why? The structure of the story is the answer. Cain brings what he produced — the fruit of the ground, the ground that was cursed because of man's sin. The product of his own labor, his own sweat. Abel brings a life given: the firstborn of his flock, a creature that bled and died. Not what he produced, but what was sacrificed.
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood... it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." — Leviticus 17:11
And watch what the self-sourcer does when confronted with the one who simply received: he cannot tolerate him. He kills him. That pattern shows up again — you will recognize it at a hill outside Jerusalem. And there the blood will not cry for vengeance as Abel's did, but speak a better word:
"...and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." — Hebrews 12:24
A prayer
I cannot bring what I produce. I cannot pay for what You bought. So lay me on the only altar where the Lamb has paid the cost — lay me where the blood speaks a better word than I am.
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Cain & Abel
- What am I bringing to God that is really just the fruit of my own ground — my effort, my record — and calling it worship?
- Cain could not bear the brother who simply received. Where does that same resistance live in me?