He Shall See His Offspring - Genesis 4

Do you have things in your family history that are disgraceful or embarrassing? Are there things in your personal history that are humiliating or shameful? All families have skeletons in the closet, and all people have said and done things they regret. These things can form a type of prison for people. We feel we must put forth a version of ourselves that hides those things. 

But the gospel teaches us that we don’t have to hide or pretend. The gospel is a message of honesty, freedom, and hope. It is about leaving the past in the past and moving forward with God. But the gospel does require us to be honest about the past. You know the old saying: “It is what it is.” We must be honest with God. You may try to get away from who you are or where you came from, but in doing so, you may forget why you need a Savior. 

But how can we be free from shame without forgetting the things that bring us shame? Gen. 4 tells us as we learn about the generations that came from Adam and Eve after their sin.  In Genesis 3, God told the serpent, “I will put enmity [or hatred] between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.”  That on-going conflict (which many theologians call “seed theology”) begins to play out here, and two principles in Moses’ writings show us the way to true freedom and peace in the face of family and personal shame. 

These principles are outlined for you on page 6 in the WG. The serpent’s offspring tries to stamp out the woman’s offspring, but the offspring of the woman will never be stamped out. These two Biblical principles help us make sense of not only the Scriptures, but of the world around us, and of our own lives and families, and they give us hope. So let’s look at them together.

Cain is born, and Eve says, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” She literally says, “I have created a man.” Her words may suggest some pride in what she had done, although there is understandably a sense of wonder at childbirth. She then has Abel. The boys grow up and have different vocations: Cain a farmer, Abel a shepherd. Both are good jobs. 

As adults, both bring an offering in worship related to their occupation. Abel brings an offering from his flock, Cain from his crop. But notice what Moses adds in verse 4 about Abel’s animal offering: he brought “of the firstborn their fat portions.” Abel brought his best. Verse 4, “And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” Abel’s offering pleased God; Abel found favor with God.

Cain and his offering were not acceptable, verse 5, “So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” God discerned Cain’s heart. Verse [6] The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” Put differently, “If you obey, you will find favor.” But notice the rest of verse 7, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” This is almost identical to what God said to his mother when He told her that in her marriage, because of sin, she would always be bent toward trying to control his father. Sin is always trying to gain control over us. We must choose obedience. God always has and always will require obedience. 

How is sin trying to take you down? What is obedience in those situations? What does God’s Word say about that sin that is trying to rule over you? You should understand first that God is gracious and understanding. Certainly God is patient with Cain to warn him in this way. God shows him grace. It is a mercy and a blessing to recognize sin in our lives. This is one reason why we confess our sins together in worship. It is a warning to each of us. Numbers 14 in the OT says, “The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” With mercy, God warns us about the sin that entices us.

Now, the events that follow are not detailed, but the results are devastating. Cain rebuffs God’s warning. He speaks to Abel, then when they are in the field, Cain kills him. It is the world’s first murder. God then confronts Cain in the same way He confronted Adam: God asks a question, already knowing the answer. Verse 9, “Where is Abel your brother?” Notice Cain’s reply, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain is boldly arrogant. He is hardening his heart. 

God’s judgment is that Cain, who is a farmer, will no longer be able to work the ground. The ground, which absorbed Abel’s blood, is now cursed for Cain. It is as if Abel’s blood cries to God and says, “Avenge me; give me justice.” Cain will be “a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” He was apparently afraid not only for his livelihood but for his life. He may have been afraid that Adam or someone else in the family would take vengeance on him. 

But God will not allow Cain’s sentence to be cut short by death. Notice verse [15] Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.”  Seven is symbolic of completion or perfection in the Scriptures. Anyone who kills Cain will be put to death by God. God then marks Cain. We don’t know what the mark looked like, but it would identify him and be obvious to anyone. One Bible scholar points out that the mark would protect Cain but also continually remind him of his sin and God’s mercy. The garments God gave Adam and Eve functioned in this way. They would remember their sin, but also God’s grace toward them.

What sins have you begun to forget? No one wants to rehash or live in the past, but remembering is important. What might your life be like today without the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ? 1 Corinthians 15, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” You may have many troubles, but how much would those troubles be multiplied if you were still dead in your sins? Remembering propels us to worship, to love, and to obey. And again, it warns us not to harden our hearts.

Well, Cain goes on with his life. Verse [16] Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” He went farther from the garden than his parents did. He married; marriage of brothers and sisters was unavoidable at that stage in history. Later on, in the nation of Israel, God prohibited that kind of relationship. 

Cain built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. This is important, because it goes against God’s punishment that he be a wanderer. What kind of city was this? Basically a village. He settled and established a place for his protection and acceptance, but he did not repent although he seemingly could have at any point. But he did not turn back to God, which is evident in the generations born in his city, all the way to Lamech. 

With Lamech, polygamy is introduced, which is contrary to God’s model for marriage. Verses 19-22 are not random facts. Notice that as humanity grew, additional occupations were discovered: raising livestock, playing musical instruments, making items of bronze and iron. The sense here is that the descendants of Cain progressed in many ways, but they did not progress in knowing God. They progressed in knowledge of the world, they also progressed in man-centeredness and wickedness. Moses even mentions Lamech’s daughter, Naamah. The reason is unclear, but her name means “lovely.” Cain’s descendents progressed even in beauty, outwardly.

How similar is this to our modern world, where so many people who continue to progress in technology and knowledge of our universe also progressively move farther and farther away from the God of it all? Moses was embedding so many warnings here for God’s people. One generation seems to always outdo the next and go even farther. 

Consider the kind of man Lamech was; he tells his wives, verse [23] I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.” He sings a song boasting about killing for minor offenses. He brags about killing a young boy. He has no fear of God or man. Notice his reference to God’s protection of Cain, verse [24], “If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.” He is Cain’s great-great-great grandson, but he knows the family history and he’s proud of it. What he means is that if someone were to attempt revenge toward him, his response will be even worse than God’s! His vengeance is not just times 7, but 77, which is to say, it will be without end. 

This is Cain’s legacy. It’s no coincidence that from Adam to Lamech there are seven generations. They are a complete...disaster. This is the offspring of Satan at work in the world. God’s words back in Genesis 3 echo here. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.” The NT says that Cain “was of the evil one” but Abel was “commended as righteous” in God’s eyes. Both men descended from Eve physically, they spiritually they were different. Cain’s legacy demonstrates that. 

Cain kicked off a pattern in redemptive history - in the series of historical events that lead to the life and saving work of Jesus Christ. You can follow this conflict through Scripture. Over and over, the serpent’s offspring tries to stamp out the woman’s offspring. Those who belong to the evil one try to stamp out those who belong to God. Satan uses pawn after pawn in attempts to take down the godly and God’s anointed one.

Nowhere is it clearer than at the birth of Jesus Christ. Picture the manger: a baby, mommy and daddy. What could be sweeter? But when the evil king Herod hears that the Messiah is born, what does he do? He plots to kill him. Near the end of Genesis 4, it seems as though the seed of the serpent has already won. But hold on.

Look at verse 25, “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” There is possibly a bit more humility in Eve this time around. In His sovereignty and power, God has generously granted her another baby boy, literally “another seed,” another offspring. Verse [26] “To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD,” the name of Yahweh.

Some think this means that Seth’s line began to seek God and pray and worship God publicly, and that certainly is part of what is being said here, although Abel gave right worship to God. But this Hebrew wording could also be translated, “At that time it began to be called by the name Yahweh.” - “it began to be called by the name Yahweh.” That’s how scholar and archeologist John Currid translates it, which would suggest that at that time, this line of Adam’s descendants were known by or called by Yahweh’s name.

Cain’s line were the people of the evil one; Seth’s line were the people of God. And in fact, Noah and later Abraham and David and then Jesus all descended from Seth. “The offspring of the woman,” the line of the Messiah, could never be stamped out. Repeatedly, Satan seems to be winning, but in God’s sovereign plan, he will not. All the way back to Cain and Abel we see these divergent paths: one man-centered and one God-centered, one building an earthly city and the other looking toward the heavenly city. One moving farther and farther away from God, and one moving closer and closer to Him.

But where does that leave us? At the start I asked “how can we be free from shame without forgetting the things that bring us shame?” We can be free while still remembering when we understand what Jesus has done for us. Jesus brings those He saves into the family of God. The prophet Isaiah makes a statement that ties in with this language of the family of God. In Isaiah 53, he describes the humble birth and childhood birth of Jesus Christ, and then His brutal death on the cross, and then Isaiah says this: “Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.” 

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, people become His descendants, not through natural birth, but through adoption. The apostle John wrote in his NT gospel, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” And the apostle Paul writes, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” 

If you are born again, if you repent and place faith in Jesus Christ, you are brought into Yahweh’s family by way of Jesus Christ. You may think, “Well, my past is checkered, and my family history sounds more like Cain’s. Our family tree is filled with selfishness, sin, and death.” Paul ministered to folks with a similar background in the church in Corinth. Many people in that church had worldly, embarrassing histories. But Paul said that he and the other church leaders no longer regarded anyone “according to the flesh,” according to their past or their family. Here’s the reason why: he says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” 

If you are in Christ, your past is real, but it has passed away. You can remember and be honest about your past without being bound to it. Have you trusted in Jesus and come into the family of God? 

Let’s bow in prayer.