Two Choices
Abel and Cain exemplified two choices that man would be required to make - men that would trust and obey OR men of unbelief and disobedience.
These men of faith were exemplified by Abel; Enoch; Noah; Abraham; Jacob – and so the Seed of the woman was passed on and on.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.
And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.Genesis 4:4
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.Hebrews 11:4
Acceptable Sacrifice
Abel learned the glorious truth..
Abel never saw the blood dripping from the innocent skins that covered his parents, but he heard their testimony.
Spiritual man, as pictured by Abel, has understood this by faith for 6000 years.
Men of Faith
By faith, from Adam to John the Baptizer, Abel to Zechariah, Job to Simeon... we see men who lived by faith – men given as examples to teach us God’s perfect way.
Choose life or choose death – there is no middle ground, Man must meet God on a new principle – one decreed by God Himself – a principle we see in Abel, Enoch, Noah, and many others – even faith.
Perfect Sacrifice
The blood applied to us is superior to the little lamb that Abel offered, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Acceptable Sacrifice
The difference was in their sacrifice and their approach to a holy God: by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, and by the sacrifice he offered, he obtained witness that he was righteous.
Unique Visitation
Abel was accepted through a bloodied sacrifice – Peter by the shore of Galilee. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord – Paul found His grace was sufficient. The shepherds were led by a host of angels – the Wise Men followed a star. And on and on – each encounter different, distinct, dissimilar from the other.
The two people of faith who lived prior to the flood of Noah, were Abel and Enoch.
While Abel was a man who was murdered by his brother, Enoch was a man who never died, but was raptured away because he was pleasing to God.
While Abel presents the picture of a justified man, Enoch demonstrates the life of a sanctified man, that walked by faith.
It is faith that pleases God, and both Enoch and Abel were men of faith, who pleased God.
The blood-sacrifice that was offered by Abel was accepted by the Lord, Who bore witness to his faith.
And while his brother, Cain, gave the Lord an unacceptable offering through the works of his own hands, Abel's sacrifice of an innocent lamb was acceptable to the Lord, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.
God commended Abel's faith by accepting his gift, and although he died by the hand of his jealous brother, the faith of this young man has become a great witness throughout generations and a life that points to the true sacrificial Lamb of God, Whose shed blood takes away the sin of the world.
The reverence Abel offered to the Lord through the blood-sacrifice, signifies the first step in a believer's walk of faith, that salvation is by grace through by faith in God's Word.
It contrasts good with evil, right with wrong, love with hate, and even draws a comparison between righteous Abel whose sacrifice to God was acceptable to Him and wicked Cain who secretly slew his brother out of jealous hatred and pride.
The bloody sacrifice that Abel offered to the Lord to cover his own sins when he killed the firstling of his flock, was acceptable to God, for Able was a man of faith who trusted God’s promise of a coming Saviour... by sacrificing a lamb on an altar as a covering for his sin.But the sacrifice of Christ is infinitely superior to that of Abel, for Jesus offered His own blood which paid the price for the sin of the whole world, including your sins and mine.
It was by faith that Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain.
The shedding of innocent blood covered Abel's sin, but the basket of fruit, the work of Cain's hand, could never cover sin - and so Abel obtained the testimony that he was righteous – for the righteous live by faith.
The specific promises God gave to Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Noah before the flood, depended of faith - and by faith these men found grace in the eyes of the Lord and were reckoned as righteous.
We see that Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah... Ruth, David, Isaiah, and many other saints in both the Old and New Testaments were all saved by grace through faith and not by works of the Law.
And the same is true of Abel and Noah, Sarah and Ruth, David and Isaiah, and all those who are identified in the Word of God as men and women of faith as we read in Hebrews 11.
From Abel to Abraham, from Moses to David, and from Amos to those men in the fields of Bethlehem who were keeping watch over their flocks by night, we see God using shepherds as an illustration of His loving-care for the needs of His people Whom He describes as little lambs and wandering sheep - lambs and sheep who have been led astray by false, destructive, and idle shepherds.