It was at this point that Man Developed A Knowledge Of "Good And Evil" that brought into existence the human conscience and at the point his problems really began.
- In GEN 3:7, they now realized that they were naked and they became ashamed or embarrassed which they were not back in Gen 2:25.
- Now that they were conscience of the fact that they had disobeyed God ; and they sewed fig leaves together and tried to cover their sin.
PRO 28:13 He who tries to cover his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes {them} will find compassion.
- In GEN 3:10, now they have a conscience, they were afraid, and they were living in fear.
- Adam hid himself."
No, our Lord addressed the man "only" = because he was in charge and therefore he was to blame according to Luk 12:48; Jam 3:1; 1Ti 2:14.
Dispensation = Conscience
Opening Event = Able offers a lamb - Cain murders Able (Gen 4:2-15)
Man's Responsibility = Believe and obey - Gen 4:3-7; Heb 11:4.
Man's failure = Conscience defiled - Gen 6:5-7
Man's Tendency = Away from God - Gen 6:11-13.
Closing Event = Judgment - flood - Gen 7:11-23
Personal Salvation = By Grace through Faith - Gen 6:8; Heb 11:4-7; 1Pe 3:18-22.
This second dispensation, the dispensation of the conscience, is the era or the dispensation of the first murder in history, Gen 4:1-15.
Because his deeds [his form of worshipping God] were evil [religious], but those of his brother were honorable and righteous."
Cain murdered his brother Abel because Abel fulfilled the principle of worship portraying TLJC being judged for our sins with the shedding of blood.
HEB 9:22 without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin.
Abel offered an animal sacrifice while Cain offered only human good, his work or produce from the ground.
Cain was a great farmer but offering up human works instead of a blood sacrifice is like an individual today believing that mankind can be justified before God by his works.
Cain offered to the Lord the result of his own sweat and toil, his own good works, he should have purchased a blood sacrifice or asked one from his brother Abel, who was a keeper of the flocks.
In Gen 3:19, man was to live by the sweat of his brow.
In the immediate era following the fall we have envy, jealousy, arrogance, and this was the motive for the first murder.
This is a also the beginning in history of capital punishment.
Capital punishment has been authorized form the time of the first murder, right down to this moment.
Even in the animal kingdom, every animal that murders, even domestic animals were also executed.
A murderer was to be executed, not rehabilitated, not counseled, but executed.
It is not what the KJ's translation says Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
It is what the NAS says, "You shall not [ratsach] murder."
Killing in warfare in defense of your country is honorable.
And the execution of criminals who murder is a must.
A change in dispensation did not change the law of capital punishment.
The unlawful use of weapons, crime, violence, terrorism, rape, murder,...all of these categories draw the sword illegally.
This is a perfect illustration of the fact that every dispensation has certain divine laws which apply to all of them.
Capital punishment began in Gen 9;
It continued in the Mosaic Law, Exo 21:14;
Then in the hypostatic union, Mat 26:52;
In Rom 13:1-8, it continues in the Church-age;
In the Tribulation, terrorism is dealt with by capital punishment;
In Rev 2:26-28, capital punishment will even be practiced in the Millennium.
ISA 65:20 "No longer will there be in it an infant {who lives but a few} days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Shall be {thought} accursed.
Establishment principles remain basically the same throughout all the dispensations.
The difference in dispensations is God's plan for believers, not the laws of divine establishment.
"If murder demands capital punishment then why did God allow Cain to keep on living?"
The reason why Cain was not executed was because it had not been a law up to the time of Cain.
The same thing is true about incest.....but that is how the human race began, if you will. Today it is a violation of the laws of establishment.
Prin-The mark of Cain was the mark of divine protection not a mark of violence.
Prin-The mark of Cain permits Cain to remain alive so that he can have an opportunity to be saved.
Prin-God's grace permits the unbeliever to live on the earth even in direct defiance of God.
God in His very own righteousness, gives the unbeliever every chance and opportunity to be saved.
God took punishment into His own hands and protected the human race from further violence at this time.
A perfect God can only administer perfect punishment.
By administering the punishment Himself, God keeps the human race from entering into a warfare over whether the justice is correct or not.
It is impossible to tell whether it was some physical mark, some sign upon in his body, which indicated that he was God's property, or something else.
Perhaps it was a hopeless, pathetic look, something that would stir pity in any individual's heart, so that Cain became (as some of us are at times), an object of universal pity.
The guilty is still God's property.
God throws a circle of protective love about Cain and says in effect, "Yes, he is guilty. He's a murderer -- but he is still My property, and don't forget it in your dealings with him."
It is not a mark to brand him in the eyes of others as a terrible murderer, to be shunned and treated as an outcast or a pariah.
It is rather, a mark of grace, by which God is saying, "This man is still my property. Hands off!"
The heart of God is always ready to show mercy, 2Pe 3:9; 1Ti 2:4; 1Ti 4:10; 1Jo 2:2; Joh 3:15.
Isn't it true that even Jesus said to Peter, "Put down the sword. If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword," which means if you take a life with the sword, then they have a right to take your life?
MAT 26:52 Then Jesus *said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
Even though God had pronounced a curse on Cain, He was still going to extend some grace to him because there was no warning given to Cain that if he murdered someone, he should be put to death.
The right of capital punishment belongs to a duly constituted government, and is never, ever to be an act of personal, private vengeance.
There was no government at this point. God designed capital punishment to be carried out by society, not as a matter of personal vengeance.
To be put to death by the blood avenger as a means of punishment is opposed by the law of God. And when there was no court to sentence him to death, God graciously allowed him to live.
If God killed him, there wouldn't be any living example of what an unbeliever's life is like.
If God had killed him, then there wouldn't be anybody to see what an ungodly life is like.
There were so few people in the world, God wanted to make it very clear to the rest that were being born after that the distinction between the life of the righteous and the life of the unrighteous.
By the time you get through that first generation, there so bad that God only saves how many from the flood? Eight.
To let it be seen what life is like for those who reject God.
So He says to him in verse 12, "'You'll be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.'"
The doomed protest their judgment.
HEB 12:16 that {there be} no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a {single} meal.
HEB 12:17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
That's what unbelievers do when they hear the message about hell and judgment. "That's not fair; that's not right. God can't do that."
Actually, it's possible to translate this as if Cain is saying to God "and from Thy face You have forced me to hide."
"And so I'm just going to wander all over the place all my life as a vagrant and a wanderer in the earth"; and," then he adds this, "It'll come about that whoever finds me will kill me."