Prophetic Word – Genesis 4

This prophetic word is based on Genesis 4.

Who is this word for?  Everyone.  These are 4 different messages in one post.

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I’ve read this scripture below a few times while I was reading through the Bible and I never understood God’s reaction.  Here it is:

Genesis 4:3-5 (NLT)

³ When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. ⁴ Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, ⁵ but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

I had no idea why God did not accept Cain’s offering. I never understood it before because to me they were both giving something.

Well, I can tell you that knowing what I know now, understanding the 7 biblical feasts has caused me to see for the very first time why God accepted Abel’s offering.

First, let’s talk about the Law of First Mention, do you know what this is?

The term “Law of First Mention” describes a common approach to studying Scripture in which attention is paid to the very first time a word, theme, or concept occurs in the biblical text. The principle suggests that this initial mention often establishes a foundational meaning or pattern that carries through the entirety of Scripture. Source: Bible Hub

The reason Abel’s gift was accepted is that it is about First Fruits.

Prior to this, no offering or gift was made so this is the first mention of first fruit offering.

I want you to imagine it like this, Cain planted some fruit trees and vegetables then he picked some fruit off the trees and gave it to the Lord.  That’s good right?  Yes, it is.  The scriptures says it was harvest time and he gave some.  Abel, on the other hand, brought his firstborn lambs of the entire flock.  The very first ones.  Not I have a lot of cows let me pick one out for God, no, the very first one.  And on top of that some versions of the Bible says that he gave of the fat, what is that?  His abundance, the best part.

Now imagine he slaughters the first cow, and he takes all the filet mignon, all the rib eye, all the porterhouse steaks, all the T-bone steaks, the new York strips all the best parts and he gives that to God.  That means that now he has to wait for an entire year for the them to have another group of livestock.  It was quite an offering

Back then they were vegans, possibly vegetarians, so this was him bringing an offering like a priest.  So this would also be the first mention of the priesthood and showing how you make sacrifices when you are standing in the office of the priesthood.

Leviticus 3:16

“and the priest will burn them on the altar. It is a special gift of food, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. All the fat belongs to the Lord.”

I’m beginning to believe that all the laws in Leviticus and Numbers you could find the first mention in the book of Genesis.

Even though it is not called a First Fruits offering it appears that is what he did.

There is also first fruits with the provision of the ground, but Cain didn’t do that.

Numbers 18:12-13a

¹² “I also give you the harvest gifts brought by the people as offerings to the Lord—the best of the olive oil, new wine, and grain. ¹³ All the first crops of their land that the people present to the Lord belong to you.”

Cain gave some, however, first fruit is you give all of the first and best of your crops.  Abel had it in his heart to do it.  He wasn’t told to do it, which shows that his heart was different from that of Cain’s.

I also find it interesting that he was the first shepherd and Cain was the first farmer.

You can’t teach this because this is about heart condition.  With a tithe it is 10% and we’re all on equal footing but with a first fruit offering you determine what you give.  And, God is the one who judges it because He is the only one who knows what that meant to you, if it was your best.

What is interesting is that we see that because of Abel’s heart, Cain got angry and jealous.  Both of them were on level footing and could’ve done the same thing but one was more devoted to God and wanted to give God his best.

His sacrifice of his offering spurred his brother to jealousy and anger

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Now here comes the next first mention – the fact that you have control to stop the sin before it happens.

Then he gets warned by the Lord to watch out because this could turn into something else.

⁶ “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?⁷ You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

If you do the right thing you will be accepted.  God gave him a way to get back but he couldn’t get over his anger and jealousy.  Then he is warned, that he either takes control of it or it takes control of him.

This reminds me of the post from last week, the recycle bin, you either empty the trash or the stuff in the bin will keep coming back.  We have a choice to govern over our own flesh and shut down the thought patterns that we know are not godly.

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Now, we know what happens Cain takes Abel out to the field, probably on the same ground where he’s planting his crops and he kills him.  Jealousy and anger leads to murder.  So, the first mention of jealousy and anger leads to murder <<<< this.  And that is why you can’t play with jealousy and anger because you will do something worse next if you don’t get it under control.

Job 5:2 

“For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple”.

James 4:2 (NLT)

² You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

Here’s what Jesus said in the Matthew

Matthew 5:21-24

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be guilty before the court.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice against him shall be guilty before the court; and whoever speaks [contemptuously and insultingly] to his brother, ‘Raca (You empty-headed idiot)!’ shall be guilty before the supreme court (Sanhedrin); and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the ^[c]fiery hell. ²³ So if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and while there you remember that your brother has something [such as a grievance or legitimate complaint] against you, ²⁴ leave your offering there at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come and present your offering.

The rule came into being because of the first mention of how murder happens.  Today it looks like character assassination, slander, anger or rage towards someone.  Someone may not like a person because of jealousy or envy so they say something to discredit, paint them in a bad light with others or hurt them when they’ve done nothing wrong.  The Lord is saying he doesn’t want our offering if we have this in our heart against someone. Which is why Cain’s gift was rejected, God knew what was in his heart.

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After Cain kills Abel in Genesis 4

⁹ Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”

“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰ But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! ¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. ¹² No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

Phew!  There’s so much in here.  We see that when we murder someone physically or with our words, their blood is basically poured out on the very ground that we use to live, progress in life, or bring our increase.  We curse ourselves when we do this.  Think about it, if you physically commit murder you go to prison which means you lose your job.  You can’t make a living anymore in the same way you did.  You’re locked away until you do the time for the crime.

What about when it is something that is done in the spirit or with our words?  I think of the trap of the internet where people believe they are behind a computer so they can just say the most damaging thing about someone and get away with it. BUT GOD KNOWS.  The same God who saw what Cain did can see what we are doing today. He knows the motives we had behind the things that we’ve said. And now, your own livelihood can be affected because of the murderous things you say about other people based on jealousy, envy or anger.  WOW!  It’s like your life gets harder and harder and harder, you’re working and it’s just not producing like it used to because your ground is now cursed spiritually. <<<<this would be a sign and the moment when you would need to search your heart to see if there is something there that you need to ask the Lord to forgive you for it.

Remember what HE said “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out!”

Repent.  That would be the answer to getting rid of that curse and get back into right standing with God.

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¹³ Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! ¹⁴ You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

¹⁵ The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Even after what he did God still protected him.  Do you notice that he never repents?  Even after being told exactly what it was that he did wrong he still only thought about himself “what’s going to happen to me, your punishment is too hard!”  With absolutely no regard for the “punishment” he gave to his brother.  He still had no remorse, only thinking about himself. And even so, God still put a mark on him so that no one could touch him.  That is a very curious statement.

So if someone tries to murder you after God has put His mark on you, there is a seven fold punishment. WOAH!

YOU have a mark too did you know that?

Ephesians 1:13-14

¹³ Because you, too, have heard the word of truth—the good news of your salvation—and because you believed in the One who is truth, your lives are marked with His seal. This is none other than the Holy Spirit who was promised ¹⁴ as the guarantee toward the inheritance we are to receive when He frees and rescues all who belong to Him. To God be all praise and glory!

Yeah!  You are marked with the Holy Spirit after you received Christ as your Savior, this is how you are identified in the spirit.

When I read the Bible, I read it as an intercessor, I’m always looking for the prayer points and I am sure you got some good ones from this.

Blessings!