THE THANKSGIVING DAY OFFER OF CAIN AND ABEL

What a privilege we have when we with our families may come together in God’s house to acknowledge the Lord for His care and His blessings, which He has bestowed upon us. It is the Lord who germinated the seed, gave fruitfulness, heat and moisture, so that the harvesting of our crops was made possible. We know that the Lord is free and sovereign in His dealings; one area received more rain than the other; the one area had better crops than the other. But regardless of how the matter stands with respect to our temporal goods, we all must acknowledge with Jeremiah: “it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.” Then we do not open our mouths against the Lord, but acknowledge that the least blessing is forfeited by us. Not only in agriculture and cattle are we dependent upon the Lord, but the same holds true for all our labor. It is necessary in our days of mechanization and industrialization to see this, being that man imagines he can do everything without the Lord. However, without the Lord, we cannot perform anything. Therefore the Lord must receive the honor on this Thanksgiving Day. The Lord maintained the order in nature. He gave strength for the labor, bread for the eater, and help in all circumstances of life. True thankfulness does not only consist of words and gifts, even though they can not be missed, but it must be sought primarily in the heart; the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit is pleasing to the Lord. From this we can learn that thanksgiving may not only become an external custom; more is necessary in order to please the Lord. This marked distinction can be seen in the lives of Cain and Abel.

Both Cain and Abel, held Thanksgiving Day, but it was not the same. Cain was the first born and he became a farmer, or as is written in God’s Word: a tiller of the ground. Abel was a keeper of sheep. When we see the meaning of their names, then it is very well possible that Cain was strong and Abel weak. Then their profession was somewhat according to their strength. It is not the will of the Lord that all people do the same work, but it is divided according to their personal talent. Because of sin, there is also much sorrow in our work, but still it is a blessing when we may fulfill our task with gladness.

In Genesis 4 we can find the history that refers to our text. There we can find that Adam and Eve not only taught them their trade, but also instructed them in the service of the Lord: “they brought sacrifices to the Lord”. Do we do the same with our children, parents? We spend so much time for the education in their trade, but often forget the most important thing: that we are born for eternity. How great is our responsibility with respect to our children, seeing the Lord will hold us accountable as to how we have brought them up. May the service of the Lord get a greater place in our families! Then Thanksgiving Day will not be a day of eating and drinking, but a day to acknowledge the Lord for all His benefits. This is what Cain and Abel did. They both brought an offering. Calvin says: the sacrifice is not invented by man, but the Lord made this known to him and commanded it. It is a sign of God’s common goodness that He still wants to have communion with man, even though he has sinned and made himself worthy of destruction. The human race lies under God’s displeasure because it left Him. However, God did not take away His common goodness: He blessed also their labor that the earth brought forth fruit and the cattle multiplied. The Lord was also the same for us this past season. But the Lord did more: He gave man the opportunity in those offerings to seek and worship Him. Man could not return to the tree of life anymore, and yet there is a way of returning to the Lord. God did not cut off everything! Man’s acknowledgement that all his goods belong to the Lord, must also lie in that sacrifice. God is the owner and we may use it; we are His stewards. This is applicable to all our possessions. Therefore, we must acknowledge the Giver of all good.

Adam and Eve gave the same education to their children, but there was a fundamental difference between them. No, externally there was not so much difference between them on this Thanksgiving Day. Both brought their gift before the Lord. The difference is only the fruit of God’s grace and never can we find any reason in man. It is grace that brings the division between these two brothers. In essence, there is a great difference between them, as John says: Cain’s works were wicked and those of his brother righteous; “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain”. With Abel, it is a fruit of faith; he is urged by true love toward God and His service. In Cain’s life, we miss this altogether: no faith, no burning love toward God. He did this only out of custom, out of duty, because his parents taught him to do so, or he tried to buy the Lord’s blessing. This different inclination is also visible in their sacrifice. Cain took of the fruit of the land arbitrarily, but Abel of the firstlings and the fat. This was the best he had received from the Lord. Considering their trade, there was a difference in gifts. But this is not the most important thing. Neither is the quantity, although we must give according to our wealth. The gift is a symbol. We must give ourselves-our heart-to the Lord. He created man, that he should consecrate himself to Him. By nature, we sacrifice ourselves to the prince of darkness. Only when the Lord bestows grace upon us, can we give ourselves to Him. The Lord must be the first in our life, but this does not make us free when we are unconverted. True offering is not only the giving of our goods, but also the donation of our heart and life to the Lord. This was the case, by grace, with Abel, but we cannot find this in Cain. He did not bring a sacrifice in the true sense of the word. He only gave the empty peel or skin to the Lord, but kept the fruit for himself. Such a sacrifice is not pleasing to the Lord. Such a religion is superficial and cold. The form can be good, but the essence is missed.

Now consider Abel. He cannot understand that the Lord has blessed him in the past, when he looks upon himself. He is such a great sinner. He has a heaven high debt and is worthy of death. It is too much for him. His eye of faith is not only fixed upon the Lord as the Creator and Giver of all this good, but he especially needs Him as Redeemer. Being a lost creature, he can not find deliverance, there is no outcome for him anymore. Then it is God’s time. As a lost sinner, he learned there was a way of deliverance in Another. How did he learn this? By the sacrifice that he brought to the Lord! His offering was an animal, which was killed. This pointed to Christ, the Seed of the woman, who was to come in the fulness of time. A sacrifice is a gift to the Lord. So Christ has given Himself, the best He could give, to restore the attributes of the Father, representing a triune God, by his passive and active obedience, but also to bruise the head of satan. Christ is the difference between the one and the other man: He is set for the fall and rising again of many. Only when we find reconciliation in the sacrifice of Christ, are we pleasing to the Lord, and can we bring the true sacrifice of Thanksgiving. The Lord is the first in our life to call us from death to life, but He also opens the way of deliverance in Christ. This is not the same as we hear so much of in our days when people speak about Jesus. This is often only an historical knowledge.

But if we, by faith, may flee to Christ and know Him for salvation, then it is different. Then we receive discovering grace, lose all our foundations, are cut off by the Holy Spirit from all our works, and come as a poor sinner to Him. For such an afflicted sinner, Christ is a refuge. This was Abel’s experience: “he obtained witness that he was righteous”. A person can never be righteous before God without Christ and His merits.

It is so necessary for all of us to come to the same place. Not our self-righteousness is pleasing to the Lord, but we must possess Christ’s merits. This will only be given to poor sinners who can not help themselves anymore. What a blessing to hold Thanksgiving Day in such a blessed state! Abel obtained witness of the Lord, but Cain did not. How the Lord showed this, is not written in God’s Word. Some believe that the Lord answered by fire from heaven, as happened to Solomon in the new temple. Others think it was the smoke that went up. Since it is not written in the Bible, we can not give the exact answer, but most believe it was a testimony of the Lord in his soul that he was righteous, which did not remain hidden from Cain. We think of Abraham, who was willing to give his only son of Sarai to the Lord. Then the Lord testified: “Now I know that thou fearest God”. By faith Abraham experienced the eternal love of God in his life. Such a testimony is a gift from heaven and gives peace in the heart. Of these things we must speak: come, listen what the Lord has done! The blessing for Abel works discontentedness in Cain. He becomes envious of Abel. It stirs up his wrath. Why for him and not for me, seeing I am not a greater sinner than he is? The work of grace in Abel does not work a holy jealousy in Cain, but devilish hatred, which ends in the killing of his brother. Herein is also pictured the enmity between the seed of satan and the seed of the woman. Cain lived under the means of grace. The Lord spoke to him, but he went his own way and murdered his brother to get revenge upon the Lord. After this, he flees from the Lord, hardening his heart to the end. How terrible it will then be to appear before the Lord! Because when we die as an unrighteous person, missing the righteousness of Christ, it will then be lost for that never ending eternity.

Do we do the same as Cain and withhold that which belongs to the Lord? He will surely punish us in His way! If we withhold of the fruits of the land, then it is possible that the Lord will withhold fruitfulness in another year. If we withhold of the treasures of business and industry, then the Lord can give unemployment in the near future. If science is made loose from God’s Word, it is very well possible that the time will come that our schools will be closed. If we withhold our heart and life from the Lord, then the Lord will seek this too; in time with adversities, but when it becomes eternity, in withholding His favour, and His wrath shall be kindled against us for ever. This will be so terrible that the Apostle cried out: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade man. …” Nahum says: “God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for His enemies.”

For many, religion is only form and no more. Where is the love and holy jealousy for Gods House? Often it is left waste, that we have more to spend for ourselves in the things of this world!

May the Lord grant a reformation among us, that we may return to the living God, Who is so worthy to be served.

The sacrifice which pleases the Lord, is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. When we see our terrible sins in the light of the Holy Spirit, then we begin to ask the Lord if He will enable us to live to His honor, since we can never do this in our own strength.

Abel has already been dead for about six thousand years, but there is still spoken of him: “The memory of the just is blessed”. He received the crown in the heaven of heavens and is always with the Lord. There is no Prayer Day anymore, but an endless Thanksgiving Day to glorify the Lord for all the benefits bestowed upon him.

May the Lord look down upon us and our children in Him, Who brought the most excellent sacrifice, viz. Jesus Christ. In Him, our unrighteousness will be taken away and we shall be clothed with His merits. How understandable is the word of the poet then for us: What shall I render to the Lord; What shall my off ring be; For all the gracious benefits; He has bestowed on me?

Norwich

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