The Strand Study Bible

GENESIS GENESIS Adam and Eve standing outside the Garden to which they could not return is a symbol of what may happen to all men. Whether deliberate or careless, poor choices have destroyed our finest opportunities; for that which might have been is now closed to us. There is a bitter irony in that fact. Yet even so the whole story of life is not then finished, for what happens next depends upon the present choices man makes toward that which now he cannot change. The Interpreter’s Bible notes: …all that is best in the history of the human race has come from those who did not surrender to defeat but went ahead to try to correct disastrous beginnings and to put something better together out of the pieces of broken hopes and plans. Yet not by themselves! For far above what men can do is what God does in and for them. The Adam in every man that may be standing outside the Eden which his sin has forfeited can learn that there is a Second Adam through whose new nature his past can be redeemed. Knowing now good and evil, but having chosen the evil in some disastrous disobedience, he cannot yet know the full meaning of the tree of life. But the Bible which begins with Genesis goes on to Revelation, with its promise of “that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:10), in the midst of which shall be “the tree of life,” the leaves of which are for “the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). 1 Simply put: We, due to deliberate or careless choices, may have left the Garden of God, but the God of the Garden has not left us. He still desires to work with us, in us, and through us, according to our present choices. 4:1a Here is an unfathomable mystery in the human family: a female reproducing cell (the ovum) is joined by the extremely microscopic male cell (the spermatozoon) and from some unknown, un-guessed source, by an unknown and un-guessed process, draws from somewhere, over sixty trillion other cells, and forms the new young of its kind. “Conception” ( and she conceived ) is nothing less than a miracle. Dr. Harry Rimmer in A Scientist’s Viewpoint of the Virgin Birth, defined the word ‘miracle’ as …the OPERATION OF AN UNKNOWN HIGHER NATURAL LAW not yet grasped by human discernment. 2 Francis Crick, Co-discoverer of DNA, notes: An honest man, armed with all the knowlege available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to almost be a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going. 3 NOTE – The miracle of life is not the birth itself; it’s the “conception” ( and she conceived ). Former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop noted: We know when life begins because the test tube baby proves that life begins with conception. What do you have in a dish? An egg and a sperm. What do you add to it to get a baby? Nothing. 4 The miracle of life is the “joining” of the two ingredients, i.e., the single spermatozoon cell (a picture of the Word of God – I Pet 1:23) and the single ovum cell (a picture of the SPIRIT OF GOD – II Thess 2:13 and Titus 3:5). That is the real miracle, for the physical reflects the spiritual ( Jere 14:1, Ezk 37:1-10, Jn 3:5 and I Pet 1:22-23). Thus, it is not the new birth itself, but the proper “presentation” of the Gospel and its two ingredients coming together to produce that new birth that is the real miracle ( Rom 1:16 ). 4:1b Cain’s name means “spear; acquired.” Cain is referred to 3 times in the NT (Heb 11:4, I Jn 3:12 and Jude 11). 4:1c There are two schools of thought when it comes to this verse. One school of thought believes that the term “ from the LORD ” should read “ with the LORD .” Meaning: Eve saw her part in the creating of another human as being “with [the help of ] the LORD.” The other school of thought believes that the original Hebrew reads, “ I have gotten a man (eth) even Jehovah ” ( the LORD ). Meaning: Eve actually thought she gave birth to the promised MESSIAH (Gen 3:15). And that would appear to make perfect sense seeing that women (that is, women who have understood the promise of Genesis 3:15) have dreamed of being the mother who would give birth to the long-awaited MESSIAH (Isa 7:14, Jere 31:22 and Mic 5:3). 4:2 Abel’s name means “a breath.” Abel’ is referred to 5 times in the NT (Mt 23:35, Lk 11:51, Heb 11:4 & 12:24 and I Jn 3:12). 4:4 Abel may not have known every detail concerning the Gospel of CHRIST ( I Pet 1:10,12 ), but he certainly understood enough of it to be saved (Heb 11:4 and I Jn 3:12). Abel became the world’s first martyr (Acts 7:52, Mt 23:34-35 and Lk 11:49-51). 4:5 The reason God had no respect for Cain’s offering is because Cain insisted on presenting to the LORD that which had been cursed (the fruits of the ground - Gen 3:17). Instead of offering a lamb (a picture of CHRIST - Jn 1:29 & 14:6), Cain decided to offer to the LORD the product of his own toil (a picture of good works, i.e., “the works of the law” - Gal 3:10-13). Obviously, Cain wasn’t listening in chapter 3, because his way of thinking superseded God’s way of thinking. Whenever that happens, your motive for why you do what you do for God becomes wrong ( I Sam 15:15 ). 4:7 Cain knew what God desired. He desired a lamb (vs 4), not crops (vs 5). He desired the sacrificial WORK of an innocent LAMB , not the sacrificial “works” of man. God gave Cain every opportunity to correct his mistake ( If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? ). Cain said no, and in so doing sent himself to Hell ( Rom 9:22 ). In essence, Cain believed in God; he just didn’t believe God (take God’s Word over his own – Mt 7:21-23). Sadly, like Cain, there are a ton of religious people in the world who believe in God; they just don’t believe God ( Mt 12:42 ). Robert Farrar Capon in The Parables of Judgment notes: 68

All that the world has to do to escape judgment is believe –for the simple reason that, by the gracious work of Jesus, it has in fact already escaped it. It need do nothing to earn that escape, and it certainly need not compile questionable lists of good works to prove that it deserves to escape. It need not negotiate with God, or be afraid of God, or try conning God into being lenient. It has only to believe that God in Jesus has settled all his problems of sin and to laugh loud and long at how graciously easy the whole business always was. But for those who do not believe–who will not trust the gracious order of the universe revealed in Jesus, who go on insisting on responsibility and accountability and all the other dreadful, losing subjects with which the world beats itself over the head–for