I have been studying and pondering the account of Cain’s unacceptable worship in Genesis 4. Here is what I think is a very plausible scenario concerning that unacceptable worship.
Adam instructs Cain that God demands that we offer animal sacrifices and that the animal sacrificed must be the best of the flock. Adam also tells Cain that the fat of the animal offered has to be offered as well.
Cain pretends to agree with his dad, but in his heart, he questions whether what he was told was true. The serpent comes to Cain and says to him,
“God will accept other things in worship. After all, God is the Creator of everything. He created the ground and everything that comes from the ground. Do not listen to what your father said to you. He does not know what he is talking about. God will surely accept what you have worked so hard to obtain through your tilling the ground.”
Cain does not believe the divine revelation that was given to him from his dad who had received that revelation directly from God. He does not offer what he had been told God required.
God rejects his worship and appeals to him to do what he knows he should do. Cain refuses.
Cain’s unbelief of God’s revelation, acceptance of demonic teaching, acting on that demonic teaching, and refusing to repent when God confronts him with the demand that he do what is right seals Cain’s fate. From that point onward, Cain is of the devil.
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