GENESIS: "Yield not to Temptation, for Yielding is Sin"; "its desire is for you, but you should rule over it!”

Now 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 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?” (Gensis 4:8-9) 

In the previous lesson, we studied that the Lord God warned Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)  God has given us freewill and the right to make our own choices.  God tests us, but Satan tempts us, and we do not have to give in to his temptation.  As the old hymn says, 'Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin." That's exactly what the Lord God told Cain.

The Apostle Paul explained it this way; Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (I Corinthians 10:12-13)  None of us has to commit sin, but if we choose to, we also choose to deal with the consequences.

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. (I John 3:10-12)

Cain was able to "hide" what he did from Adam and Eve, by taking Abel out into the field and killing him; but he couldn't "hide" it from God. Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require an account.” But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You;... (Psalm 10:13-14) 

And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” (Genesis 4:10-11) 

Blood is ...the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. (Leviticus 17:14)  By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4)  Abel's blood cries out to God from the ground. 

God had not given "the commandments" yet, but based on the commands He had given and the consequences for being disobedient, we should come to the same conclusion as King Solomon did; Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiates 12:13-14)

And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” (Genesis 4:12-14)

If Adam and Eve were the only people on the Earth, and Cain and Abel were their only children up to this point, who are the anyone who finds me will kill me that Cain is worrying about?  This requires us to take a little detour from the current study and explain some things from the previous studies.

In the beginning... God created man [Hebrew adam, meaning mankind] in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28) Then, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man [Hebrew Adam, meaning the man] whom He had formed. (Genesis 2:7-8)

God created mankind, but the Lord God formed the man, Adam, who would be a direct descendant of Christ Jesus. (read Genealogy of Jesus, the Christ) All the books of the Bible have one common thread, the coming of, the life of , and the return of Christ Jesus.  Only the people who were directly linked to His earthly parents and therefore His birth are emphasized throughout the scriptures.

There were other people on the earth, but they would all eventually be destroyed from the earth during the time of Noah. Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20) God... has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,... (Acts 17:26) This was a prophetic statement, and was fulfilled through Noah, because all other people on the planet would be destroyed in the flood, except for Noah and his family.  We'll study the reason why in more detail when we get to that lesson.

Noah was a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, and God gave him and his children the following commandment after He delivered them from the flood; So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. (Genesis 9:1-3)

"But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” (Genesis 9:1-7) God prophesied this in the beginning of creation (Genesis 1:26-30), but it was fulfilled through the direct descendant of Adam and Even, Noah and his family, the only people who survived the flood that would come. 

And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:15)  There are various times throughout scripture that God will put a mark on someone, or reference someone taking the mark of someone.  Whatever the mark actually was that God put on Cain, it would identify him in a way that the people in the world would not kill him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)