Hebrews 11:4

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

Genesis 4:2-5 Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

Cain worked the soil, Abel kept flocks. Both brought a gift to God: a sacrifice. Abel brought the fat of a dead animal; Cain, the fruit of the soil. Why would one be viewed with favor and the other not? The Bible is consistent from the beginning. Without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption, no covering for sin. Otherwise, there is no other way to acceptance by God. Abel brought the acceptable gift. The author of Hebrews tells us that Abel's offering conveyed God's righteousness or acceptance to him. God rejected Cain's offering because his offering could not make him right with God: BUT ON CAIN and his offering he did not look with favor. Since Cain's offering was from the soil, he was not made righteous to God. Death is the penalty of sin and because of Adam and Eve's sin, only the sacrifice of blood could appease the wrath of God on sin. Therefore, Abel offered fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock as a substitute for his sins, an offering requiring the shedding of blood and pleasing to God.

Adam and Eve's sin was so egregious, so cancerous, that it banished them from the garden. God could not allow their disobedience in his eternal environment. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24) Rest in God, harmony with God, had been broken. From that time, man would have to work to exist, and death would be a part of his reality. Man broke his perfect bond with God, bringing turmoil and termination into existence. Now man would live in constant fear of death with the overriding thought that someday he too would have to die. Sin's penalty is death. By faith Abel brought the fat, giving the best a living creature could bring as a sin offering to God. Consequently, Abel's gift satisfied God as an acceptable propitiation for sin.

This scripture indicates clearly that even our best, such as the fruit of the land or the fruit of our lives, is not enough. Our good works will not please the Lord. Only a sacrifice of blood will appease the wrath of God towards sin. The Pharisees served God the best they knew, trying to please him by even tithing their spices. But Jesus called them vipers, whited sepulchers, who looked good on the outside but were unclean on the inside. Their outward behavior might please men, but their inward behavior needed transformation. Job says that God reads our every thought, knows even the nanosecond of evil thinking in our fleshly minds: every thought is read, every demeanor recorded. How desperate are we then? Paul said, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24) God will judge all works someday, declaring whether they are his works or ours. Abel presented God the flesh of an animal as a faith offering to cover his unrighteousness. By faith we present God with the perfect sacrifice: Jesus Christ and his finished work. His flesh was torn for us; his blood was shed for our sins. As a prism of righteousness for God to look at mankind, the blood of animals provided a temporary sacrifice but could never permanently wash away sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, all unrighteousness, making us white as snow. Yes, the flesh and all the corruption of sin will die, but our souls will live forever with God, for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, won the victory over sin and death, making us totally pleasing to God. Praise his name forever!