The Two Seeds
22. Returning to the Garden, it is important to note here in the quoted verses the reaction of Adam and Eve to being caught in the act of treason:
8They heard the sound of (G)the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, (H)and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "(I)Where are you?"
10He said, "(J)I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."
11And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
12(K)The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."
13Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "(L)The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
23. First, Adam and Eve were afraid and sought to hide themselves from God as He called to them – to prevent their being found out. At the same time, they apparently noticed a change in themselves, and sought to hide what they were or had become, by covering their bodies with fig leaves. Their conscience, God’s internal witness, was activated at this same moment, and it was this that called to their attention their nakedness or shame. Then once confronted with their violation, although they acknowledged the undeniable fact regarding the fruit, neither admitted to their being at fault, nor to the horror of their treachery. Instead, they faulted God, and complained of being tricked and blamed the circumstances in which God had placed them. Instead of confession and repentance, it appears that the tenor of their response was: Why get mad at us; what have we really done wrong?
24. We note that God’s primary reaction, upon discovering the rebellion by Adam and Eve, was to issue a curse and a prophecy, and in doing so, to herald two spiritual lineages or family trees that, it seems, would span the course of human history. There, in Genesis 3:15, God speaks of the Spiritual Seed of the Serpent and the Spiritual Seed of the Woman. Indeed, God almost synopsizes the future of mankind in this divine prophecy as a battle between the two sets of offspring and the ultimate triumph of one seed over the other:
14The LORD God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."
25. But what is God really talking about? What does God mean by the two seeds in verse 15? Certainly, it must be significant as the prophecy is uttered in the guise of an official proclamation from On High – the Word of the Great King.
26. The reference to the Seed of the Woman is generally believed by most to be a reference to Christ. Only the male has “seed” so the reference to the Woman having “seed” is considered the first reference to the Virgin Birth of Christ, as Mary gave birth without the “seed” of a man. Likewise, we who are born of God through Christ, members of His spiritual family, would also be deemed the Seed of the Woman, as we are joined to and co-heirs with Christ. Like Mephibosheth with King David, we are now His family.
27. The Seed of the Serpent is the spiritual seed of Satan. As “hokey” as it may sound in this day and age, one can come to no other conclusion from a plain reading of Genesis 3 and supporting New Testament scriptures. John the Baptist (Mt. 3:7, 12), Christ (Mt. 13:36-43), Paul, Peter, and John (1 Jn. 3:10) endorsed the concept of the two spiritual lineages and believed Satan to be the father of one.
28. The question, though, is who makes up the spiritual seed of the Evil One. We recall that the entire seed of Adam has been corrupted through an alliance with Satan forged in the Garden at the moment of temptation. The Seed of the Woman refers to the one human being (Christ) who was not physically born of the seed of Adam. Therefore, by process of elimination, the Seed of the Serpent represents the entire race of Adam except for that one human being (Christ) and his spiritual offspring.
*****
Cain and Abel
29. While questions about the two seeds are still swirling in our heads, in the very next chapter of Genesis we are introduced to Cain and Abel, presumably the first two offspring of Adam and Eve. Although the two are not expressly tied to the prophecy, they appear immediately after it, and certain New Testament verses lead to that conclusion (1 Jn 3:12; Luke 11:51). And no sooner are we advised of the births of the firstborn of each of the two spiritual seeds, Cain and Abel, than we find them in deadly conflict.
1Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD."
2Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.
4Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;
5but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
6Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7"If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, (J)but you must master it."
8Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
30. Although the circumstances are a bit murky, we are told above that at some point Cain and Abel each came to present themselves before the Lord. We might even say it was church time, in one sense. But in another, as we shall discuss below, it was a poignant foreshadowing of the Final Judgment. Cain represents one spiritual lineage, and Abel the other. One is rejected and one is accepted – solely on the basis of their spiritual lineage, and the attitude of the heart that is reflected in their respective offerings, each of which represents the foundation or basis of their standing before God. God’s eyes are always on His sacrifice (Christ), never on human performance when He judges man. We will delve into this in detail below.
31. We may assume that Cain and Abel each brought with them to such an important meeting, respectively, that by which they sought to define both themselves and their relationship to God. Recall that the story of their parents’ rebellion and expulsion from the Garden was recent history, the story presumably having been recounted around the campfire or "dinner table" dozens of times.
32. Christ explained in one extremely revealing passage from the Gospel of Matthew that Cain and the Pharisees were of the same spiritual stock (Mt. 23:36-39). This is an incredibly profound statement. We can perhaps therefore use that fact to flesh out some of the details of that first church service. We can perhaps assume that Cain arrived at this meeting with the best of the harvest. Cain brought his work - the fruit of his labours, the result of his performance. He was rightfully proud. He was going to receive the favor and admiration of The Creator for his accomplishments, skill, and diligence. He was making a life for himself outside of the Garden, and God’s supervision, and the evidence of his success was undeniable. Cain could pull his weight, he could make things happen, he was subduing the earth. Certainly, Cain was a productive member of society. Cain had a future on this earth, a big one.
33. In any confrontation between man and his Creator, the 800-pound gorilla had to be the fact of the rebellion in the Garden, and the consequent expulsion. This was THE ISSUE between God and man – the Creator and the created, the King and his treasonous subjects. But the focus of Cain’s presentation to God was what Cain could do, and the New World he was building on the foundation of the rebellion. It wasn’t “let’s start over and try to begin this right, if God is merciful enough to permit it.” No, it’s “our ability to make a name for ourselves, in spite of the so-called rebellion, is the cornerstone of our Great Society; our path is set, our face is like flint, and we are in forward mode. Gang way.” That’s how Cain defined himself. He sought the same affirmation and congratulations from God for his efforts that he no doubt received from the folks back home when he came in from the harvest. As we shall see, the spirit of Cain is alive in the Elder Son in the story of the Prodigal.
34. However, in showcasing his productivity, instead of permitting the spotlight of God’s gaze upon himself, Cain was actually engaged in an intentionally fraudulent exercise, a deceptive sleight-of-hand. In essence, Cain hid behind his offering as his parents hid themselves from God, as, like his parents, Cain sought to deflect any focus upon the real state of his heart and his true status before the Creator. It is as if Cain were saying to God: “Take a look at this offering, instead of me. If you agree with me that this offering for which I am responsible is impressive and good (and who can honestly deny it), then surely from that you can and should conclude that I am the same. Therefore, withhold not your honor and approval.”
35. For Cain there was no self-reflection, no acknowledgment of the offence to God posed by his heart of calumny and rebellion – the very trait he had inherited from his father, and no conceding that God had a right to condemn and cut off his entire family for their treason. Cain’s offering bespoke nothing of God’s mercy, which, so near in time to the rebellion in the Garden, had to be the salient fact of daily existence. Because, according to Cain, mercy was something he didn’t really need. In fact, it was an utterly foreign concept, the same as with all of the movers and shakers in this world. Almost to a man they would like at you like you were from outer space if you ever suggested that the primary need in their life was to repent deeply before God of their treason.
36. As Cain stood there looking up in anticipation of God’s arrival, admiring his own work, Abel appears carrying a lamb from his flock. Abel was a keeper of flocks – we might assume he spent a lot of time, like David later, contemplating the stars of heaven and his relationship to the God of Heaven. Abel makes a rudimentary altar of stones, and momentarily closing his eyes to pause for a silent prayer, plunges the blade of his knife into the throat of the lamb and lets its blood. Cain sneers and looks away in repulsion as Abel continues to stare at the ground, when, at this point, they both hear the Voice of the Eternal One. Cain quickly postures himself to receive his acclaim while Abel deign not raise his eyes. An analogous situation is descrbed by Christ in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. (See Luke 18:9-14)
37. Although we are not privy to the words spoken, God shuns Cain and approves of Abel. Cain is devastated, and his resentment turns to hatred. Why was God mad at Him? What did He do wrong? Like his parents, when confronted by God he was utterly indignant. We soon see that he blames Abel.
38. What is going on here? God’s reaction, not Cain’s, mystifies us. “What has Cain done wrong?” we also ask. No explanation is given in the narrative for this entire sequence of events, and yet there must be somewhere, reading between the lines, a reason, and a significant one at that, here at the beginning of Genesis, and immediately after the prophecy of the two seeds, for God’s blanket rejection of Cain and His embrace of Abel – and Cain’s reaction.
39. Now, let us for a moment try to put ourselves in God’s position when viewing Cain’s offering. Again, The Offence, The Treason, the Treachery in the Garden, was not addressed by Cain. It was not even acknowledged; it was as if there had been no mutiny – no rejection of God as King, no siding with Satan, God’s arch enemy, the Evil Prince, in opposition to God, and no exaltation of self as God. Cain’s position was that it need not be addressed because, basically, there was nothing to apologize for, and therefore nothing to say. The question of repentance was not even broached. It really never even crossed his mind. Why should it? “Just check out this offering as it makes any inquiry of that sort irrelevant!”
40. Can you now imagine, from God’s perspective, the unmitigated gall of Cain in his smarmy preening before God? And God’s reaction as He looked down upon Cain’s arrogance? The sum and substance of the whole affair is that Cain was openly stating before God and the Universe that the rebellion was obviously good – a resounding success. The evidence of his offering was there for all to see, especially God Himself. Cain and his ilk were declaring their intention to build a functioning world, a beautiful existence, a Thousand Year Reich, without even a perfunctory nod to the massive fact of the decision by the human race to strike out on their own and overturn God’s rule. In other words, God’s opinion, or his small-minded desire for “justice”, really didn’t matter to Cain.
41. Then what was Cain doing even attempting to obtain God’s favor? Here is the scary part, the part that should open our eyes to the insidiousness of sin, to the utter “sinfulness of sin.” Cain wanted, not to worship God in Truth, but to use God for Cain’s own purposes. And Cain had one purpose in using God – to feel good and righteous about himself – and his rebellion.
42. Think about it. Cain saw God as a prop, an enabler, whose sole purpose was to ratify Cain’s own opinion of himself – that he was perfectly capable of doing good on his own, apart from God, despite and even in the very face of the mutiny and the de-throning. Cain thought so little of God that he didn’t even hesitate to ask God, in effect, to deny Himself, His holiness, His righteous judgment, and, in doing Cain’s bidding by approving of his offering, His Throne. In effect, Cain demanded God’s worship! The rebellion was just stepped up a notch.
43. Cain was not going to build his New Society without God. No, He wanted to do it with God’s approval, and if God acted right, in Cain’s eyes, that approval would be forthcoming. God could stick around because, let’s face it, He can be useful for affirming us, and anyway, he can’t be killed. But, just as Cain’s physical father before him had clearly stated with his actions in the Garden, and his spiritual father had demanded from the first day of the angelic revolt, Cain knew he could achieve the same practical result as killing God by denying His right to rule.
44. This explains precisely why many of our churches are filled with the “religious”, as opposed to “believers.” As stated above, Cain was an enthusiastic participant in that first church service. Likewise, his spiritual brothers in our generation are regular church-goers. Why? Because people want to keep their sin – their independence, their autonomy, their rebellion, their pride, and feel good about themselves in doing so. So, like Cain, they “do” something good to prove to themselves, God, and their friends, that they are good – like go to church. They approach God, like Cain and the Elder Son, not on the basis of His mercy, but on the basis of their offering. They don’t need His mercy. His mercy may be fine and good, but that’s for other people – the sinners. We don’t need mercy. We need to celebrate our own goodness. In fact, isn’t it great of us that we, being good, humble ourselves to worship God?
45. And that is the function now served by the modern church. What God was unwilling to do for Cain, His apostate church is willing to do now for Cain’s spiritual progeny – be an enabler for its impenitent preening, promise it spiritual cover, and completely ignore any deep guilt over one’s evil nature. The Universal Assumption is re-affirmed as ruler over our deep hearts, and the truth about ourselves remains suppressed. And in this state the apparent Body of Christ, confidently, mistakenly, awaits the Final Judgment!
46. The reason we don’t understand the story and the message of Cain and Abel is because we do not see the depth of our sin, or the extent of the pernicious effects of the rebellion – that it has gone to the very core of who we are. We still think, like Cain, that we can do “good” apart from God. So the story truly mystifies us.
47. We refuse to accept that “there is no one good but God.” (Luke 18:19) We refuse to believe that nothing but Jesus, and Jesus alone has God’s approval. We hear it, and we say it, but we don’t believe it. It is just too contrary to natural reason, too incredible in light of the apparent success we have had personally, and the world has had collectively. We just can’t get there. We are simply unwilling at the end of the day to consign our performance, all that we have done, especially that done in God’s name, to the ash heap of history…
48. This is because for most people who call themselves “Christians”, the cross of Jesus Christ is not their foundation; it is their safety valve. Their foundation is their own life and performance record generated as a result of their fleshly abilities independent of any reliance upon God – the offering of Cain. The death of Jesus and his shed blood is only necessary, we think deep down, because God is a stickler for details and demands holiness or perfection. Given that God, unfortunately, is such a hard guy about all of this stuff, even I, as good as my offering looks, acknowledge the role, however minute, of the blood of Christ in bridging any gaps between what I have accomplished and what God (unreasonably) demands.
49. Accordingly, we still believe in our deep heart that it is really our deeds that count. It is they that separate me from the others, the sinners, and their horrid track records. How Christ could die for them, we cannot frankly imagine. The little bit of God’s mercy we require, we obviously deserve based on our level of accomplishments; the mercy they require cannot possibly be justified.
50. Yet God insists that “everything not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23), that everything I do in my independence, bad or good, is unacceptable, and everything done in my dependence on the other life which lives within me, the life of Christ, is acceptable. It is not, then, what I do, but who is doing it – Him or me.
51. Thus, all that I do must come from Him, as God will approve no other foundation for thought or action, regardless of its looks. I can be seduced by the world’s approval, and the admiration of man for that which I accomplish in my own strength, or I can foreswear any reliance upon myself, even the natural abilities that came with birth, and look to Him alone to live His Life moment by moment through me.
52. When you consider it, what kind of “God”, or what would be the characteristics of a “God”, who could approve Cain’s offering in light of the rebellion of the race against Him? The answer, of course, is no God could remain God and approve of those who had mutinied against Him. As a result, the mutineers, in order to keep with their self-image, create a god of their own liking, and he is the one they worship – an imaginary god symbolized by wood and stone sculptures in olden days, and presently, symbolized by the cross of Christ - modern man’s version of Christianity. Man’s imaginary god buys into the proposition that rebellion and man’s evil heart is not the issue. Man should be encouraged in his efforts to justify himself by attempting to build the “just society.” Man can do it. He is capable of great goodness, after all, right? Just look at his offering. It is the foundation upon which he would build all that we see now around us.
*****
The Launch of Satan’s Counterfeit Kingdom
53. But, again, it really didn’t seem right to Cain, and likewise, it doesn’t seem right to us. Let’s broaden the lens on the scene of the two offerings to see what we might discover. And sure enough, there, at the edge of the woods, lurking in the shadows, we find the Evil One himself, and he knows exactly what is at issue. Cain is nothing more than Satan’s proxy, staking out a position against God. Again, Satan seeks to justify the rebellion against the Living God, and Cain and his offering is Exhibit 1.
54. In Satan’s opinion, and ours, God condemns himself in the eyes of the world by condemning Cain’s offering, because how unreasonable is that? We can all see for ourselves, can’t we, that God is arbitrary and is not concerned about fairness or goodness, but rather is only concerned about one thing – preserving His position as Number One. If he were really concerned with Truth and Justice he would quickly concede and conclude with the rest of us, that Cain and what he is about is worthy of approval. “Tree, fruit, fruit, tree! What does it matter! The proof is right there in front of your eyes! The Rebellion is a stark raving success!” Cain did not, and still doesn’t, understand all this on the conscious level, because he has over the years “suppressed the Truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18) and refused to be honest about what his thought life reveals about his heart. But Satan understands full well that Cain’s offering is intended as an indictment of God Himself and His curse upon man!
55. Scripture tells us that Satan is the Prince of this World – that all the kingdoms of the world are merely part of his larger Kingdom, and that he is free to do with them what he will, even promise them to Jesus if He would worship him. But we might ask – where did Satan get this Kingdom, or how did he build it on this earth, and of what does it really consist?
56. Man was the crown of creation, given dominion by the Maker of earth over all of the earth. But in choosing to ally himself with the ongoing rebellion, Adam allied to Satan all that was under his authority, i.e., the earth. Thus, the earth became an opportunity for Satan to build the rebellion against God. And the offering by Cain was the inauguration, the christening, the groundbreaking ceremony, the champagne bottle to the hull of the ship of rebellion, now focused on earth and in the hearts of men. “Upon this, Cain’s offering and the attitude behind it, I will build my church, or kingdom”, Satan thought. Cain’s offering is the cornerstone of everything that has come since from the heart of man.
57. What Satan had, and still has, in mind was this:
"Goodness doesn’t just belong to God, for crying out loud. Look at this bountiful crop Cain has brought in from the fields with the sweat of his brow (and despite God’s efforts to curse). This is good stuff! Jolly good! Look, we can do a lot, and do it bloody well good. We can build a life with our own hands, a successful culture, a proud people, a shiny, gleaming, high-tech masterpiece at the end of the day that will rival Heaven, and I daresay really do it without God’s sanction. And Cain is the proof.
'And we are godly! Church and hymns and evangelism and confession and philanthropy and the whole shooting match. We are happy to have God around, as long as He is fair and gets off his High Horse, and recognizes our moral abilities also – our goodness, our nobility and our self-sacrificing deeds, and buys into the Program. If not, we will worship our concept of what God should really be like in the first place. Maybe then He’ll start to shape up and act right once He sees how He is completely left out.
'Finally, if what we have done is considered “rebellion”, then the rebellion seems to have more than justified itself (i.e., God deserved it) in all that we have already accomplished and will accomplish from here on out. It’s quite clear to us that what God was really trying to do was hold us back, in the guise of standing up for order and justice, when all He was really doing was protecting his own position. This wasn’t a rebellion. This was an upgrade!
'Undoubtedly, we prove everyday we can be good apart from God, despite the fact of the so-called rebellion!
'Let’s Roll!"
Satan now had his kingdom underway.
58. And what you have just read is the underlying motivation for the entire superstructure of thought and action by unregenerate humankind over the last few thousand years since Adam’s creation.
The World, and everything it stands for, and every result of human endeavour we see about us, can best be described as this:
Satan’s Finger in the Eye of God
59. Is it now clear why the World is under judgment, that friendship with the World is enmity with God, that for He who loves the World, the Love of the Father is not in Him (1 Jn. 2:15)? And that everything will be destroyed, both heaven and earth, burnt up by fervent heat, to the point that even the elements themselves melt (2 Pet. 3:12)?
Nothing even remotely associated with the rebellion will be allowed to survive.
The foundation is rotten.
…
Murder
60. In contrast to Cain, Abel’s offering evoked repentance and confession, and an absolute despair over any innate ability to please God through performance. It was blood on the ground and a dead animal, and only a dead animal – no pelts, no lamb chops, no leather jackets. Abel’s offering said clearly how Abel perceived things – “God is good and therefore the rebellion is evil. As I am linked to the rebellion and am part of it by my very nature, as with any traitor, I deserve a death sentence, and I can only escape God’s righteous judgment if God consents to have His arrow of judgment intended for me intercepted by an innocent.”
61. When God rejected Cain’s offer and accepted Abel’s, Cain was inconsolable. God’s further words to Cain after rejection of Cain’s offering should be compared to the entreaty of the father to the Elder Son at the end of the parable of the Prodigal.
62. Unfortunately, Cain did not take the advice to heart. We don’t know how much time between his rejection by God and his murder of Abel, how long he sulked over the outcome, but clearly it was not something he could get over. What is not explained in Genesis is why this was so devastating to Cain so as to motivate Cain to murder Abel, yet we see from Christ that the motivation for his so doing is a thread running throughout history, and was responsible for the deaths of all of the prophets sent by God, including Christ, at the hands of the Pharisees. (Mt. 23:35-38) It must also be, then, the motivation for the World’s hatred of all true believers, and why our lot is affliction and rejection during this life in this World. Surely, we need to understand this.
*****
The Mystery Behind Cain’s Hatred of Abel
63. Christ spoke on several occasions, expressly, about the World’s “hate” for Him (Jn. 7:7; Jn. 15:18-19; Jn. 17:14), and the fact that we as believers would experience the same reaction, as “no pupil is above his teacher.” (Luke 6:40) But the source of that hate is hard to pin down, as “moral” leaders are generally idolized and extolled by the World. Nevertheless, it seems that Christ, alone, is hated. Try mentioning His Name at a cocktail party…
64. The Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel, clearly hated Christ and, as we know, had him murdered. Yet even through all of their interaction and testy exchanges, the deeper reasons for the animosity are not wholly apparent. After all, weren’t the Pharisees extremely diligent about living their lives for God and in conformity with His law? What was the problem then?
65. Fortunately, in Matthew 23 Christ gives a further clue to the puzzle, in identifying the motivating spirit behind the Pharisees’ hatred for Him as the same spirit which motivated Cain’s murder of Abel. Perhaps now, as we go through the analysis below, we will be able to put 2 + 2 together:
29"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation."
66. However, we know that Cain, not the Pharisees, actually murdered Abel. Therefore, the Pharisees as a group could only be responsible for the blood of Abel if, in fact, Cain was their spiritual blood brother. Here, then, is what we now know:
· There are two spiritual lineages, of which Cain and Abel were the first offspring
· Cain hated and killed Abel
· The Pharisees were of Cain’s lineage
· The same spirit which motivated Cain motivated the Pharisees’ hatred of Christ
· This hatred is the source of all conflict between believers and the World, and the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan.
We shall even discover below that one’s spiritual lineage, and specifically, the attitude of hate for God’s mercy it engenders, as stated above, is the sole basis of the Final Judgment (John 3:19-21)
*****
The Offence of the Gospel
67. But why, specifically, did the Pharisees hate Christ, and their spiritual progenitor, Cain, hate Abel so as to kill him? This is a mystery shrouded in deception and not easy to understand, primarily because even in us believers there is so much of Cain’s mindset that remains. It is a difficult self-examination in large part because our ability to see and evaluate ourselves is crimped by our lack of perspective. But consider: Abel pointed out, by his own offering of a bloody sacrifice, that the pre-eminent issue was the 800-pound gorilla, the rebellion against God. It was nothing to be proud of – in fact, it was the source of shame. Abel would not sweep it under the rug. He refused “to suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Rom. 1:18) It would be dishonest to pretend that anything good could come of it, that the fruit of autonomy and independence, the product of self-rule, could actually justify the rebellion. The fruit is poison, as it will only feed more rebellion and pride in perpetuating it. Something needs to be done about the Tree of Good and Evil, and mankind’s continuing to feed from it, as it is the engine for more poison fruit, and the poison will end up killing us all. We should be ashamed, not proud, and acknowledge God’s justice in condemning us. Forget His approval – His Justice is the issue, and His Mercy is the fervent need!
68. Cain, on the other hand, had decided to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18)– the truth about the choice his parents had made, and hence the deadly defect in the foundation of man’s efforts to build a life of his own.
69. To understand Cain’s hate for Abel, we need to better understand Abel and his sacrifice, and to better understand Abel and his sacrifice, we need to better understand the progenitor of his spiritual line – Christ; and after that, to look to Christ’s relationship with the Pharisees, where the contrasts between the two lineages are brought into sharp relief for all to see. The story of Cain and Abel is not explained in Genesis 3. But it is explained in the Gospels through Christ and the Pharisees.
70. Consider: John 3:17 states: “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” God’s express intention, it would appear above, is that through Christ the entire world might be saved. That would have to mean everyone. And, in fact, 1 John 2:1-2 states:
“...if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for {those of} the whole world."
71. A number of other verses repeat the message, consistent with 1 John 2:2, that Jesus’ death was for the benefit of all men and all sins:
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. (John 1:29)
“And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” (John 4:42)
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9)
"Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men..."(Mark 3:28)
72. His mercy, then, covers the earth like a blanket. The rain “falls on the just and the unjust,” the bad and the good. All men, everywhere on the planet, through the death of one righteous man upon a cross, have had their sins forgiven them. Now that is startling in and of itself. And, like the rain, and our receipt of the benefits therefrom, the Gospels demonstrate that Christ forgave people before they even asked for it! In fact, there is not one instance of a person even requesting of Christ that his sins be forgiven. When He knew their hearts were right, Christ simply forgave them, without explanation, even when they evidenced no express understanding that their “sins” were at issue.
73. Forgiveness of sins, therefore, is more than a freebie, because it is ours even without the asking. God took upon Himself, with no involvement from us, the task of reconciling the World to Himself. The biggest problem stamped SOLVED, the largest debt stamped PAID…and we had absolutely nothing to do with it.
And therein lies the rub…
74. We all recall the story of the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32) He decides to break away from his father and brazenly asks for his share of the estate. In effect, he couldn’t wait until his father was dead – he just wanted to get out from under his authority. He wanted to take life on his own terms and make a life for himself. Like Adam, he wanted autonomy, and he wanted it now. After wasting his inheritance on loose living and the pleasures of the world, he finds himself in desperate straits – starving and miserable, missing home, and in dire need. Autonomy and independence were not all they were cracked up to be in his own mind. He finally decides that his only hope is to return home and ask for mercy from his father and, just perhaps, with luck, his father will consign him to a life as one of the hired hands on his father’s land. Although he left as Adam –hating his Father, he returns as Abel – a broken spirit. He rehearses his speech of contrition, but, while still a long way off, his Father sees him and races across the field to welcome him home. Before the words of repentance are out of his mouth his Father has smothered him in hugs and kisses, wrapped him in a royal robe, handed him his signet ring, and called for a feast to celebrate his return.
75. However, the Elder Son, who has been faithful to his father his entire life, arrives home from the fields to find a party going on. And what is the Elder Son’s response?
“This is a rip-off! I’ve been a hard-working, faithful son and you never threw a party for me.”
He severely resented the kindnesses shown by his father to his brother and, we may assume, remained outside of father’s home, refusing to enter to celebrate father’s goodness and mercy. Could this also be a picture of the Final Judgment, and this attitude that which actually separates men from God and heaven now that Christ has come?
76. His father’s generosity was offensive to the Elder Son. Where’s the justice? Father’s approval was something to be earned, and by golly he had earned it, not something to be gifted to whomever regardless of merit. It rendered everything he had done as worthless, for everything he had done had been done for the precise purpose of proving himself before Father, of forcing Father’s hand to bless him, based upon his excellent service, not that worthless sibling of his. To the Elder Son, Father’s heart of compassion, as revealed in the return of little brother, was not “good news”, not at all. No, the Elder Son wanted justice, at least his version of it which would credit him for his performance, and there was not a hint of justice in Father’s attitude toward his formerly rebellious son.
Is the Gospel Really “Good News” to Everyone?
77. Jesus, as we see above, is set forth in the Scriptures as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world - your sins, my sins, Hitler’s sins, and the sins of everybody in between. If that is the case, our sins no longer separate us from God - the due penalty for all our sins, every one of them, from the beginning of time until the end of time, has been borne by Christ, the Lamb of God. Let us ponder this further, because it may take more than a moment to really register, no matter how many times we’ve heard it in Sunday School.
78. All sins…including Caligula’s, Nero’s, Mao’s, Idi Amin's, Jeffrey Dahmer’s, Ted Bundy’s, and Scott Peterson’s…not to mention the untold other rapists, serial murderers, car-jackers, cannibals, pedophiles, and other denizens of hell that have afflicted every community on earth since the beginning of time, are no longer an issue with God. Nor are my sins or your sins, nor the sins of our friends or other “good” people, including all of the gossips, tax cheats, card cheats, golf cheats, and wife cheats that live in your neighborhood, an issue with God. In short, believe it or not, and it is nigh unbelievable, in one real sense, He’s gotten over it...
79. Not that He doesn’t still hate sin and rebellion, nor have the universal moral laws been put into mothballs. People still reap what they sow while on this earth. But God has addressed the sin issue to His satisfaction; sin is no longer a barrier to His acceptance and our fellowship with Him. Reconciliation between God and man has been achieved, at least from His standpoint. Our sins will not keep us out of heaven. Now, that should be Good News.
80. But, curiously, it has not been so received by the world. Why? Because of the Universal Assumption. It is preferred by men over the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s right. It is the worldview of choice, endorsed by almost all of the famous stars, athletes, politicians, religious leaders, and other celebrities. And, of course, by Cain, the Pharisees, and the Elder Son. Repudiation of the Universal Assumption in favor of the Gospel is not only distasteful to most of mankind, it is unthinkable.
81. Why? Because most men don’t want their sins forgiven, for they innately know what that really means.
82. Consider the real ramifications of the Gospel verses quoted in the preceding section: if my sins are not “added up” by God, then presumably my lack of sins, moreover, my good points, my offerings, are not “added up” either. How can they be? If there is no longer any accounting, then the other side of the ledger is likewise irrelevant. The good deeds - the kudos, the sterling performance on earth’s stage, the admiration of men, all, too, of no significance. And for most men that is simply not acceptable.
83. The Scripture confirms this point also, over and over again - my "works" are irrelevant to my acceptance before God. (See, e.g., Tit. 3:5). That means that if I think that at the end of my life I deserve acceptance, approval, and a reward from God because of my works, like other “good” people, then I have been cruelly deceived - all my efforts to do the right thing haven’t gone to impress God at all. They may still appear to be good on the outside, and receive the world’s acclamation, but they appear to be meaningless in respect of the Final Judgment, as the only thing that matters is God’s sacrifice in Christ for my sins. I get no credit for them when I come before God. And that, to most people, like the Elder Son and Cain, is a rip-off. The focus of God’s gaze is the sacrifice of Abel – never the offering of Cain. And what is worse, it is the same sacrifice for everyone, meaning we are all equally depraved and sinful. My, that is difficult to swallow!
84. And so the Gospel is rejected, not outwardly, of course, for that may not be socially acceptable, but on the level of our presuppositions, our irreducible assumptions about life and death - the realm of 3 a.m. ruminations while alone in our bed, where the Universal Assumption holds unchallenged sway. Frankly, we deserve better, we whisper to ourselves, silently, perhaps even subconsciously, in our inner man:
(“After all, I am not Hitler, or even Scott Peterson, or even the town drunk. I’m “good people”, and maybe this wholesale forgiveness arrangement isn’t such a special deal for me personally, since there isn’t a whole lot I need to be forgiven for, if truth be told. And what about all I’ve done and stood for all my life? That should count for a lot!
‘In fact, I am deeply offended that in this ‘one size fits all’ salvation plan God has apparently chosen to lump me together with the dregs of society, the criminals, the scoundrels, and the rest of civilization’s untouchables, as if we were all alike. I am offended that I am treated as having been just as guilty as the worst of the earth, as the same remedy, the death of Christ on a cross, is said to be just as necessary to pay for my few occasional and relatively inconsequential mistakes as it is to pay for the grossest sins of the community pedophile, or of Joseph Stalin. I mean, Please!”)
85. The real Gospel of Jesus Christ, in short, is an insult to "good people.” The Universal Assumption is not. The Universal Assumption assures us that people like us will get what we think we deserve. We like that thought.
86. In the 20th Chapter of Matthew, Jesus spoke a parable specifically to this situation. Please do not skim:
1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3“About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7“ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
87. You will see immediately that the attitude this parable addresses is the same as evidenced by Cain and the Elder Son. The early laborers here were envious because the landowner was generous. They wanted no part of a system based upon mercy and kindness. No, it is all about our rights and our just deserts.
88. To reiterate, that which the laborers received from the landowner had absolutely nothing to do with the extent of their labor. Those who labored hard for the landowner were to receive the same as those who labored hardly at all, and that fact caused the former to resent the landowner. In the course of that resentment they “suppressed the truth” about the terms of the transaction, and convinced themselves that they were being cheated. They were bitter, as Cain was towards Abel, and the Elder Son towards the younger.
*****
Why Repentance is so hard?
89. The tendency to evoke this reaction in all of us is what Paul calls the “offence of the Gospel.” The Gospel obliterates our confidence in ourselves, and our pride in our personnel record. It's a genuine turn-off to most of us. It is the primary reason the Gospel is panned by most men. It's the primary reason the Gospel is seldom preached in church.
We are absolutely mortified by and utterly repudiate the premise of the transaction, the judgment that we good people are no different from all the other “sinners”. It has a nauseating stench to us. We therefore (violently) reject the terms of the amnesty offered.
90. But think about what this really says about mankind. Because what it says is that men reject the Gospel not because God is too condemning, but because He is too merciful! He is willing to make accommodation for the real “sinners”, but it is the same accommodation he makes for the “good people”, like you and me, you know, the ones who grew up in the right families, joined the right fraternities, went to the right schools, attended First Baptist Church or St. Matthew’s. And that is thoroughly offensive. He shows all the criminals mercy, and presumes I need the same, when my little catalogue of peccadilloes is far outweighted by all the credits to my account – my offering –, which, like Cain, I labored long and hard over.
91. No doubt the “sinners” appreciate the Gospel but to most of us good, productive citizens of the World, us Canaanites, it bears little resemblance to justice, or fairness. Because, to a man, we recoil at the thought that we are cut from the same cloth as the tabloid “sinners”. Most of us would much rather attend church and bask in the approval of other "good" people, and relax in the comforting coils of the Universal Assumption, than accept the premise of the Gospel message - that in our deep hearts we are all similarly corrupt. Truly, the Gospel, the blood sacrifice of God Himself, necessitated solely by the depth of our sin, is a pride-destroying concept, as it operates on a basis that totally shuns our offering.
92. To reiterate: A holy and just God has taken care of the man's guilt and sin by directing His wrath and judgment at a substitute – Abel’s lamb. We are therefore spared His indignation.
And yet, incredibly, paradoxically, it is this very act of mercy – one sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and what it says about the common desperate state of all men, even the best of Adam’s line, that grates against the pride of men like Cain and generates such resentment against God and His Christ.
*****
Cain, Abel, and the Final Judgment
93. So crucial is this concept of humankind’s hatred of God’s mercy, which is premised upon the depravity of all men, that Christ identifies a man’s reaction to it as the very basis of the Final Judgement. The key to understanding all of this is John 3:19-21. The verses are exceedingly counter-intuitive. Yet in them Christ Himself "lays it out" for us. This is our "cheat sheet" for the Final Judgment. The teacher is giving a pre-exam review session as to what will be covered on the final exam. We dare not miss it!
Listen:
"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3: 19-21)
94. Again – “this is the judgment.” He’s not kidding. We need to understand this. But what are we to make of this - evil deeds, hatred, the practice of truth, and the Light? Why aren’t “sins” even mentioned?
95. Let’s take it slowly. This is important. First, we note the reference to “men” in the first line without further qualification, and these are represented as those who “loved the darkness.” We might infer, again because the reference is unqualified, that this is a general reference to all men, to all the sons of Adam, the spiritual blood-line of the Serpent. Cain is their poster-child.
96. Contradistinguished from “men” later in the verse is “he” who practices the truth. The implication is that there are isolated exceptions within the category of “men” - within the sons of Adam, who have chosen not to love the darkness nor to suppress the truth, but who instead “practice the truth.” Remember our two seeds or lineages. This would be Abel and those of his attitude who honestly acknowledge their guilt before God. Abel “practiced the truth” about himself before God, and confessed that he could do nothing to earn God’s approval given his nature as a Rebel, born into the line of Rebels.
97. Most men, then, “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Only a few do not. Next, note also that those destined for judgment, those in Cain’s spiritual line, actually love the darkness and hate the Light, the Light, of course, being Jesus and His Gospel, the first proponent of which was Abel with his blood sacrifice. Why the hatred? Because, as the text states, the Light exposes their deeds as evil. Therefore, according to Christ, Abel exposed Cain’s deed as evil, and Cain hated him for it, as the Pharisees hated Christ.
98. Now, note specifically that the deeds are seen as evil only after exposure to the Light. Let us pause for a moment. What deeds would be seen as evil only after being exposed? Well, presumably, those would be deeds that don’t appear to be evil prior to being exposed. The word choice is critical here:
Why didn’t Christ use the word “sins” instead of “evil deeds?”
Because “sins” are clearly evil, not just to the morally upright, but even to those in spiritual darkness. No “exposure” is necessary for sins to be seen as evil. Even the heathen universally condemn murder, theft, and adultery. Therefore, Christ is not talking about “sins” here, as understood in the normal sense, as being the issue in respect of the Final Judgment. The Pharisees weren’t known for their sins. They were known for their deeds, which the World saw as good. But Christ exposed these deeds as evil. His condemnation was not for the sinners; it was for the Pharisees – the purveyors of these evil deeds.
99. This makes sense inasmuch as John the Apostle does not accuse Cain of “sins” in respect (presumably) of his offering - instead, he accuses him of “evil deeds.” 1 Jn. 3:12 says:
“Not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.”
Thus, the same term, “evil deeds”, is used by Christ to describe the Final Judgment, and John to describe Cain’s offering. And as we have seen above, the “sins” of the whole world have already been paid for, as we saw from the Scripture quotes above.
100. So, although “sins” do not enter into the basis of the judgment, having been taken away by God Himself, according to Christ, “evil deeds” most definitely do (“this is the judgment”), and these are deeds whose evil nature – like Cain’s offering as John says - is not readily apparent, because they are not seen as evil until exposed. We see, then, that the “evil deeds” being referred to by Christ can only be deeds that appear to us as good, but the doers of such outwardly good deeds reject the Gospel for fear that these deeds will thereby be “exposed” as evil! And why are the deeds evil? The deeds are evil because they are offered for an evil purpose – to suppress the truth, in denying the offence of man’s rebellion against God, and to deceive man and God as to the true nature of man’s unregenerate heart. The foundation of these deeds is not an attitude of repentance and humility. The foundation is pride and hence is exclusive of repentance. The tree is still bad, regardless of the appearance of the fruit, and we know that the axe is laid to the root of every such tree. And, the Scriptures state, the doers of such evil deeds resent being “outed” to the point where they actually “hate” those who expose their deeds, like Abel and Christ. Note: One cannot see God’s “justice”, or understand anything about God’s ways, while still engaging in this basic dishonesty about oneself:
29"When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John.
30But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John."
101. We know that the baptism of John is the baptism for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3), premised upon repentance. No honesty means no repentance, and no repentance means no understanding of God’s justice – only resentment and hatred for God’s ways. Now that we understand that the Light exposed the Pharisees as full of “all uncleanness”, despite their white-washed exterior, it is easier to understand why the exposure of their deeds to the Light causes such men to hate the Light. But a man still has a choice once his depravity is exposed - why is it that most men choose to hate the Light rather than accept God's assessment of their condition?
102 Because doing their deeds – their offering - is life itself to Cain and his spiritual lineage. The religious zeal of man for his offering motivates him even to give his very life for the temporal causes of the day – whatever they might be. If the offering is rejected man has nothing with which to stand before God. Accordingly, men are more than ready to solemnize their offering with their very lives for the proper “cause” – whether it be animal rights, Global Warming, racial injustice, or whatever. And as we see today, the organized church is at the forefront of many of these causes, as they have rejected the chief cornerstone, Christ, and replaced Him as the foundation with their own "offering."
103. If Abel is right then the rebellion is, after all, not justified, and Cain is wrong and God is right. And for Cain’s spiritual father, Satan, this is a battle to the death – there will be no admission of wrong, no confession of guilt or surrender. Are you kidding? If Abel is not around, then there is no one to counter or undermine the premise of Cain’s offering, and his self-justifying approach, extolling his own righteousness, stands uncontested. There would also be no one left to worship God. Hence, the de-throning will be complete.
104. Stated another way, if the doers of “evil deeds” were to admit that they are wrong about themselves, then they are admitting that God is right about them. If they admit that God is right, then they are "without excuse" (Rom. 1:20), justice requires their condemnation, and their whole life up to that point has been a carefully constructed and condemnable lie. It is one thing to admit a slip-up (after all, we’re all human, right? In fact, admitting a slip-up is what the self-righteous are happy to do, not that they were really wrong, but if you, or God, felt offended, they are happy to take the moral high ground by apologizing and, in effect, exalting themselves and making you appear petty.) Even the self-righteous are happy to mouth in church the vague and general confession of occasional mis-steps. They can stomach Christ if He is simply the safety valve for a small-minded God. But it is another thing entirely to accept Christ as the only acceptable foundation before God, to repent of what one actually is, that the entire basis of one’s life is a lie; THAT ONE’S ENTIRE LIFE’S OFFERING IS A FRAUD.
105. Especially because it goes against the grain of so much that we have come to believe about ourselves. Sure, we have “issues”; there is no denying that, but the world is replete with acts of kindness, caring, nobility, and bravery, which testify to the fact that we, and men in general, are inherently good, we say to each other. We are just subject to bad influences, we are told, from society and people who have chosen to suppress the good within themselves, thus infecting others.
106. God would agree that man is an impressive creature, capable of some awfully impressive deeds. After all, he was made “in the image” of God. And many of these deeds are admirable and awe-inspiring. But the issue at the Final Judgment will be the motivation behind these “deeds” and the state of each individual heart. God’s diagnosis is that the human heart is “desperately wicked, and evil above all things. Who can know it?” The foundation is bad, having been built upon a rebellion against a holy and good God. Everything built afterwards on top of the foundation is likewise bad.
“For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11)
107. Our heart, our very nature, renders us unfit for heaven, like a fish out of water, incapable of breathing the purified air, prone to suffocate from an environment where “righteousness dwelleth.” Our refusal to confront our true nature, to admit our crime, our refusal to concede to God’s verdict about us, that the original rebellion on which this whole world is based, is without justification, is the fundamental evil of mankind. Even for those of us who can manage to acquit our heart on the basis of our outward conduct, are there any among us who can really reach the same verdict when considering our thought life? There are many actions we decide against, not because of their being contrary to God’s law, but merely because we have weighed them in light of the probable consequences. It is a cold, heartless calculus, yet we congratulate ourselves on our goodness when the result is that we merely decide to wait a more opportune time to commit our evil.
108. To conclude, then, the problem of sins being already dealt with by God Himself, only one question will determine our destiny, only one issue stands between condemnation before God, on the one hand, and joyful acceptance and approval on the other:
Have we suppressed the truth about ourselves, by rejecting God’s verdict on our deep heart as “desperately wicked – that the foundation of our very existence in our unregenerate state is rotten?”
If we have suppressed the truth, because of our refusal to admit that the original choice made by Adam and Eve was a gross, unspeakable wrong, then we will submit our offering, and like Cain, that offering will be rejected…forever.
*****
Judging the Tree by its Fruit
109. We just read that, according to Christ in John 3, actions which appear on the outside as “good deeds” are a problem in respect of the Final Judgment. Seriously.
If true, the Universal Assumption is hereby declared to be on life support. Let’s pull ourselves up off the floor for a moment and take stock: tithing, volunteer work, Farm-Aid, Mother Theresa, World Hunger relief, helping little old ladies across the street - all of it - a problem. Really? Why? Because good deeds, and the attendant affirmation of men, allow people to suppress the deep truth about themselves. Like Cain, we seek with good deeds to divert attention from ourselves to our offering, which everyone can see is “good.”
110. As our resume’ becomes our identity, we ignore the state of our own inner heart. But we shouldn’t be surprised. The parable of the Prodigal Son and the Day Laborers have at their core the same message. Those who have seen themselves as “doing well” hide behind their resume` to shield their inner corruption, and when Christ’s mercy and goodness exposes their hearts as self-serving, petty, grudging, and mean-spirited, they respond with resentment and rejection of the message. They have mistaken the approval of men for the approval of God. The two are rarely one and the same.
111. “And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.’” (Luke 16:15)
But aren’t these deeds, all these kindnesses and charities still good?
Of course they are, on the surface. They alleviate hunger, help a family back on its feet, support worthwhile church outreaches, and bring many smiles to many faces.
They are good, very good, as judged by their outward appearance.
But, let us not be fooled. God does not judge by outward appearances. (1 Sam. 16:7) If done by the unregenerate, or accomplished by a believer in the flesh, than they are the offerings of Cain.
112. As Christ pointed out, one can be sure that a bad tree will produce bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” (Mt. 7:18) There are no exceptions and, just as in the Garden of Eden, the fact that fruit may be beautiful on the outside, and even taste good, has no bearing on whether it hides a poison in its sap. The fruit is judged by the tree. God judges the deed by the motivation, the essence or heart of the man that gives rise to it, regardless of its outward appearance. And only Christ can see the motivation, as it remains hidden from the eyes of other men.
113. To summarize where we are:
Sins are not the issue at the Final Judgment – our attitude towards Christ and His diagnosis of our hearts is the issue. Will we accept the diagnosis, or suppress the truth in unrighteousness by means of our superficially good, but inherently evil deeds?
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Christ's Exposure of “Good” Deeds as Evil
114. The Gospels regularly present situations in which Christ is contrasted with the Pharisees, the pre-eminent Jewish religious sect. The Pharisees were the ultimate proponents of the Universal Assumption - some might say even its most grotesque incarnation. Certainly, if any group of people relied on their “offering” – their good deeds as a passport to heaven and God’s acceptance, it was the Pharisees. To the Pharisees, the Universal Assumption was not an unstated presupposition hidden from view; it was a conscious philosophy of life reflected in every aspect of their daily routine.
115. Everything in the life of a Pharisee was evaluated in respect of its conformity to the rules of conduct developed over the centuries by the Hebrew religio-crats as corollaries to the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were acknowledged and followed by all “good” people; one’s goodness was to be perfected by diligent attendance to all of the various corollaries, and therefore one’s acceptability before the Creator could continually be assured and enhanced.
116. But no matter how many good conduct medals a Pharisee amassed, it did nothing for the state of his own heart. What it did do, however, is mask from the sight of others the state of that heart or direct attention away from it – the modus operandi of Cain.
117. For example, healing on the Sabbath was considered by the Pharisees to be “work”, and therefore a violation of the Sabbath Commandment prohibiting work on God’s day of rest. God intended no such result, but the “religious”, in their zeal to earn God’s favor on their own merit, scaffolded around the commandment absurd prohibitions like this, prohibitions which served both to strain out compassion while providing measuring rods by which one's conduct or “offering” could be openly evaluated and praised by his fellow men.
118. It was for these Hebrews - the pillars of Israeli society – and not the “sinners” that Christ reserved his only condemnation. And what a thorough and unrelenting condemnation it was. (See John 8) He exposed the state of their hearts. Their response was to kill Him.
119. Christ chose to come to earth at a time when the spiritual line of Cain in the form of the Pharisees was at its zenith. He did so because the Pharisees would provide to the world the most open and obvious contrast between the heart of Cain and the heart of Abel, the heart destined for Judgment and the heart of God Himself. The key to recognizing the significance of Christ’s confrontation with the Pharisees is this: the Pharisees represent you and me and each and every other son of Adam ever born on this earth! The Pharisees are a revelation of the inner workings of all those who buy into the Universal Assumption. They were just more obvious than the rest of us. To read about the Pharisees is to look into the mirror, in that each of us believes in our heart that we are nothing like the real “sinners”, the ones who actually should have something to fear at the Final Judgment.
120. Like the Pharisees and Cain, we point God and men to our litany of combat credits, while keeping our deep heart under wraps. We have chosen to "suppress" the real truth about ourselves. Without fail, each situation where Christ had a confrontation with the Pharisees had the effect of exposing the Pharisees as self-righteous and heartless, in that the Pharisees chose to reject and condemn the startling displays of compassion and healing demonstrated by Christ because, in performing such healings on the Sabbath, He revealed that God was with Him and not them! God’s eyes, as with Cain and Abel, were on the sacrifice, not the performance! This is the “exposure” Christ refers to in John 3 - the exposure of the foundation as either the offering of Cain or the sacrifice of God, Jesus Christ and that God's favor is only on the latter. Thus, those who claimed God's favor were exposed as having none! Their response always, as with their spiritual forefather, is jealousy (Acts 5:16-18) and ultimately murder. If Christ is the foundation for our thought and action, then it will be manifested as such to the Universe and all our god works will be seen as “wrought in God”, or done by Him through us. He is thus glorified. On the other hand, if a man comes to Christ he confesse that the foundation of his life has been a lie, and all that he is proudest of has been done for the precise purpose of justifying himself before God, just as Cain attempted to do. And that in being done and extolled as worthy even though God has not been God, but has been rejected instead as God, is the essence of evil.
121. Christ showed that beneath the Pharisee’s veneer of piety and social uprightness lay a hatred of God, and a petty, cruel, and self-justifying nature. The grand edifice meticulously constructed on the outside concealed a pernicious rot on the inside. Christ showed them up as hypocrites and frauds and both they and the people, the masses, the “sinners”, knew it. An example is Mark 5:1-6:
“And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched [it] out: and his hand was restored whole as the other
And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.”
And another example:
“And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up [herself].
And when Jesus saw her, he called [her to him], and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
And he laid [his] hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
The Lord then answered him, and said, [Thou] hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or [his] ass from the stall, and lead [him] away to watering?
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
(Luke 13:10-17)
122. Christ exposed the truth about their hearts: The Pharisees, Cain’s spiritual descendants, actually were motivated to do good deeds, and fastidiously comply with all of their ridiculous rules, for the precise purpose of shielding their inner wretchedness from view by other men and even God. They were hypocrites!
…This, then, “is the judgment…” Jn. 3:19-21.
123. Abel “exposed” Cain, just as Christ exposed the Pharisees. How? By completely undermining the Universal Assumption, by being honest and “coming to the Light” of God’s verdict upon mankind, rather than suppressing the truth, by admitting that Adam’s choice was a grotesque injustice, and that therefore everything built on top of it is an irredeemable lie. In short, good fruit cannot be found on a bad tree. If the tree is bad, then the fruit is bad, no matter how good it might look to the eyes!
124. Unlike Eve, God looks not at the fruit but at the tree, to see whether the fruit is good. God looks not at the flesh, or the outward conduct, or the performance, which is what Cain would have him focus on; God looks at the heart, because the state of the heart defines the man and the type of creature he is. Abel declined to avoid the issue of the state of his heart, or posit excuses for himself. There are none. Abel chose to “practice the truth”. In doing so, Abel forced Cain to confront himself, and decide whether what Abel was saying about himself was also true of Cain. Cain didn’t like the question because the question made the answer obvious – that Cain, too, was a man “without excuse”.
125. In that situation a man has two choices – either to admit the truth and fall at the feet of God requesting mercy, or to deny the truth and, in doing so, to thereby fuel the justification for killing the one asserting it.
126. Evil, then, is this: the dishonesty of a creature in rebellion against God in trying to build an acceptable life upon the rotten foundation of rebellion, in trying to declare a righteousness in this Universe that leaves God out, that does not recognize God as King and is thereby inherently an evil lie, that has as its fundamental premise the denial of the treachery of the rebellion. Christ atoned for the sins of the world, but He could not atone for a single evil deed, because evil deeds maintain that their superficial “rightness” is what counts, in the face of God’s testimony that speaks through the blood of Abel and his sacrifice of the wrongness of the rebellion. “Evil deeds” by definition are those that eschew the need for repentance or mercy, so Christ’s atonement is excluded by definition. God, in bloodied human form on a cross, as necessary to pay the penalty for every man’s sins, starkly exposes the evil of evil deeds, which sees no such need for any such sacrifice.
127. What all this means is this – that everything about this World is a bright shining lie – that what appears good to the eyes of man is an abomination to God. And that the modern organized church composed of the unregenerate, is actually the primary pillar upon which Satan justifies the rebellion and bases his argument against God – that we can lay a different foundation for God’s approval apart from Christ, that He is essentially irrelevant and unneeded, that the fruit of a bad tree is actually good.
