Lesson 9 A True Prophet and a False Prophet update 9-16-13

                       A True Prophet and a False Prophet

                                    Genesis 4:8; 1 John 3:1-12

As we return to Moses’ narrative of the history of man’s redemption, let us keep in remembrance that for mankind and his creation and his life and his redemption, all is purposed in His Creator-Redeemer, Jehovah Elohim. In eternity past God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen.1:26a).

First God put His mankind in a natural body of human flesh. The life of the natural body is in the blood, which requires oxygen from the air of the atmosphere created by God. God purposed that man should reproduce after his own kind, that man might fill the earth with persons in bodies of flesh and blood of human kind.

God made them male and female and He gave man seed to bring forth after his kind, a body of human flesh with the life in the blood dependent upon breath. The body of human flesh is mortal. It will die. Therefore it is perishable, it can return to the dust of the ground from which it came. God purposed it to be so.

In God’s plan to have man in His image, God purposed that natural man born of the flesh of humanity might be given the freedom to choose to share the image of God. Eternal life - real life - the life God is - received as a gift from God would bring forth a body of eternal life and the body would be deathless and therefore immortal and imperishable, everlasting.

As we have seen, eternal life would be shared with God’s creation of man in His own Son, begotten out from the dead. Each person born into the world through the seed of man, born in a body of human flesh, is given the choice of receiving the Gift of eternal life to raise up a forever living body out from the lifeless body of human flesh. The fact that God gives mankind a choice to receive the eternal life to be born a son of God presupposes that some will not choose to receive the Gift of God’s begotten Son. Some will hear and not believe.

What would it take for one to receive the Gift of the Son? One must hear word of Him and of His part in the Covenant purpose of God and of the love of the Father and the Son in the great favor They have done man.

All is of the grace of God, an undeserved favor of the Father and the Son Jesus, who purposed to bring mankind into being, knowing all would sin and defile the body of human flesh with death. Therefore, sin must be put away once for all and death must be overcome with eternal life. Man is impotent to do either of those works. Therefore man is powerless to help himself (see Heb.2:9-17).

God’s Son, Jesus, the only Son of Man in the likeness of human flesh in whom is no sin, must be sin for mankind that mankind might become the righteousness of God in union with Him. Through faith in the finished work of God’s Son sent from heaven and, in uniting through faith with the Son, one dies to the sin and is born again a new creation, a son of God. The new born son of God is acquitted of all charges of sin and guilt of wrong thinking of his former manner of life “in Adam,” and the person born in Adam died to the sin (see Rom.4:25-5:11; 6:6-13; 2 Cor.5:14-21). Having been freely justified through faith in God’s grace and mercy, the earthly body can be freed from death and raised up alive forevermore.

So first man must hear the word of the good news of the Son and His redemption, that man might be reconciled to God and fulfill the purpose of his having been brought into being in a mortal body of human flesh. Then what?

Man must believe God and pass from death to eternal life (Jn.5:24). One must be willing to believe what he has heard is the truth. He must be willing to agree with God and to recognize that the life of the natural man is totally dependent upon the God who created man. He is dependent upon God for the food God provides from seed, and the ground in which the food is planted is Jehovah Elohim’s and the water and the sunshine, which produces fruit and grain from the seed, is His. Man’s very breath is dependent upon the atmosphere which God created and shares with man (see Ps.104:29; Ac.17:28).

One must agree with God that design and purpose for man are of God. He has the say. Therefore, man is not only dependent upon His Creator-Redeemer to deliver him from sin and death, he is responsible to co-operate with God and obey the truth to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, and become a son of God and fulfill the purpose of his being (1 Pet.1:17-25). Unless one is born from above, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God as a born son of God (see Jn.3:3-8).

One hears of the wisdom of God in the Covenant plan of His Son through someone who has heard and believed and will share the word of the Anointed Covenant Son with another who will believe. The righteousness of God is from faith to faith (Rom.1:17). The Holy Spirit, who is God, testifies to the witness of the Covenant Son for conviction of the truth for a new birth of a son of God (see Jn.16:7-15; Heb.3:7-8; Gal.3:26).

Each brother, Cain and Abel, had been taught by their righteous parents the truth of the Covenant Son which must be obeyed to be born from above and enter into the Kingdom of God. In the bringing of their first offering to Jehovah, the obedience to the truth, which had been made clear to each son, was tested.

Abel obeyed the truth to become the righteousness of God through faith in the coming Covenant Son of God (see Heb.11:4). He was born of the incorruptible Seed of the Word of God, who lives forever. Abel was born again, born from above a son of God to inherit the future Kingdom of God with God’s Covenant Son (see Rom.8:14-18; 1 Cor.15:50; Gal.3:29).

Cain did not obey the truth and he was not accepted into the Kingdom of God. He had not been born again. He knew to obey the truth and to make all well with his soul, but he chose not to. Jehovah knew it was not for lack of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that Cain did not bring the gift representing His Son (see Gen.4:5).

The light had been shined into Cain’s heart. He had heard the gospel of the righteousness of God through faith in the coming Anointed Covenant Son (see Tit.2:11; Is.42:5-9; 49; 48:3-49:13). Cain could not plead ignorance. He had made a deliberate choice. Cain had heard the truth and had chosen not to believe the truth of Jehovah Elohim.

Jehovah confronted Cain concerning his choice (Gen.4:6-7). Jehovah did not reject Cain. He offered Cain a change of mind. Cain must recognize the mastery of his own self-will and choose to rule over making choices for himself through having been delivered from sin with its mastery. Deliverance from sin and death is through union with the Redeemer-Deliverer, God’s begotten Son.

Cain also must become the righteousness of God through faith in the coming Covenant Son of God. Righteousness is power over the sin which would rule our choices in life. The wages of serving sin is death (Rom.6:23a).

Cain was burned up at what he considered to be a rejection of God. Jehovah Elohim did not receive Cain into His Kingdom because one must be a born son of God to enter God’s Kingdom. That had been made clear to Cain. God must be just. Righteousness and eternal life are freely offered in the Son, but they must be freely received for a new birth (see Jn.1:9-13). Being justified freely is through faith in God’s Son. It is Cain’s choice. Jehovah is open to reconciliation (see Ezek.18:21-23, 32; 33:11; Ac.10:34-35; 2 Pet.3:9).

Moses gives no record of any response of Cain to the wisdom of Jehovah. The narrative continues with a brief, simple statement: “And Cain talked with Abel, his brother” (Gen.4:8a). No details are given. In the context of the narrative, what did Cain want to talk about?

Together each one had come to the appointed time with their very first “gift” to Jehovah. Each one knowing that he is identified with his gift. If the gift is accepted, he will be accepted. Abel understood that Jehovah Himself had provided the only acceptable Gift, the One Propitiation which He could accept and he believed that Jehovah could only accept one who had believed into His begotten Son to be born a son of God (Rom.3:22-26; see 1 Jn.2:1-2; 4:7-10). Each one, Cain and Abel, had their expectation of acceptance. Cain brought a gift of his own doing. Jehovah not having accepted his offering, he is very angry at Jehovah. What would Abel have to say to Cain?

To keep the narrative brief, Moses continues with the next series of events. “And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him,” killed him (Gen.4:8:b). Moses makes a connection of the brothers’ talk with the slaying, but the language makes the slaying at a different time than the talk, and a different place.

The brothers are in the field. Who has a field? Who tilled the soil to reap a harvest? Who had farm instruments, honed and kept sharp?

The King James uses the word “slew.” The Hebrew is a word for “slaughter,” but is seldom used for the killing of animals. It is a word used for killing men in a brutal, bloody way. It is a word used for murder. The other clue is in the Hebrew word translated “rose up.” The Hebrew word is essentially a physical action and basically denotes “rising from a prostrate position to a standing position.” The Hebrew word is distinguished from a more narrow word “to rise from bed.”

Cain was lying in wait for his brother Abel. He ambushed Abel and killed him in a very bloody, brutal way. The killing was premeditated. Abel was lured to the field and Cain was lying in wait. Why did Cain kill his brother?

Moses does not bring that subject into the narrative. It would not have been necessary for “The Book of the Law” written for Israel. The sons of Israel would already have known the answer. We have the answer in the New Testament book of 1 John. As a disciple of Jesus, who was with Him throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, John learned the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures from Jesus Himself.

This first epistle of John was written with a contrast between the righteous, those who have the Son and have life, true prophets of God, with false prophets, who have rejected the Lord and His Son, and being of the Devil, are anti-God and anti-Christ (see 1 Jn.2:21-22).

In his first epistle, the apostle John has much to say concerning false prophets and discerning false prophets. In chapter 3 he comes to the crux of the matter. “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children [born ones] of God. Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure” (1 Jn.3:1-3).

What manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, His creation of mankind, to give us the authority to be called His born children, His beloved. And to give us the hope of being in His presence and seeing His face and of being like Him - bearing the image of God. Since the hope of eternal life is given in God’s Eternal Covenant, the hope was given in Christ, God’s Anointed Son, before the eternal ages (Col.1:12-22; 1 Tim.2:4-6; 2 Tim.1:9-10; Tit.1:2). It is good for all men of all time. Every person who has this hope, this conviction, each one fully persuaded of the manifestation based upon the truth of what is being hoped for, purifies himself even as that One is pure.

In inspiring John’s epistle, the Holy Spirit uses a demonstrative pronoun, “that One.” A demonstrative pronoun is used for persons well-known. Each one convicted of the hope knows the One in whose presence he will be. He is persuaded of one day seeing Him as He is. He has purified himself in the union of death with Christ to have his sins put away and, having died to the sin, is assured of being of resurrection (see Jn.11:25-27). He is a new creation - a born son of God. He is clean, freed from all defilement. He is holy unto God, set apart in Jesus Christ (see 2 Cor.5:17-21).

“Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the Law; for sin is the transgression of the Law.” Sin is lawlessness. “And you know that He was manifested [revealed] to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin” (1 Jn.3:4-5). He is pure, holy and clean of any defilement (Heb.7:24-27). He Himself bore our sins on His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live unto righteousness (see 1 Pet.2:22-24; Heb.10:10-14).

The Greek word for “sin” has the meaning of “missing the goal.” What is the purpose of a creation of man? To bear God’s image. To fulfill the goal one must be born from above - a son of God. For this, one must receive the Gift of God’s Son, the righteous One who became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and be acquitted of all charges of the sin and guilt, which He has put away once for all. One must have received the eternal life of the begotten Son of God, which He brought down to us from heaven. If one does not have eternal life, there will be no body in His image to be raised up out from the lifeless earthly image of man.

The apostle Paul speaks of “all having sinned and coming short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). What is the glory? The body raised up in resurrection like unto the image of the heavenly Lord from heaven (Rom.8:5-30; Phil.3:21; 1 Cor.15:44).

Sin therefore is a transgression of the “Royal Law of Love.” What kind, what sort, what character of love did the Father bestow upon us that we should be called His children, born of Him? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes into Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

It was for His so great love of His creation of man that God gave His Son, that man might not perish but live forever. But it is a choice (Jn.3:17-21). To not choose the righteousness and eternal life as a Gift in the Son is to step over the line drawn by God (see Rom.5).

That one may see God and know Him and be with Him where He is forever, it is absolutely imperative to be born again. It is the only way to be cleansed from all unrighteousness and to be acquitted of all charges of sin and guilt, and therefore justified freely through faith in God’s Anointed Son. If one has not been justified, cleansed and acquitted, he cannot be glorified in the image of God. It is the Way of love provided by the One who bestowed such love on us, His creation of mankind, that we might be His born sons.

“Whosoever abides in Him sins not. Whosoever sins has not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children [born ones], let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the Devil. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for His Seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 Jn.3:6-9).

Whosoever commits - does - sin is the transgressor of the Royal Law of Love. The Greek word translated “commits” or some Bible translations say “practices” is the word “to do,” “to bring about.” Whosoever does - on a continual basis - does sin, does lawlessness.

The one continually missing the goal of his high calling to become a son of God, continuously steps over the line drawn by God, transgresses the Royal Law: You must be born again. You must unite in the death of God’s Son to be made clean. You must receive eternal life in the Son for a new birth in a new body - to bear the image of God. To keep refusing to obey the truth to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, is to continuously miss the true end of one’s having been brought into being. That is sin.

Whosoever having believed into God’s begotten Son sins not. Whosoever abides in the Son does not miss the true end of being. He is a born son of God. Whosoever sins - continuously misses the goal of his high calling - has not seen God, neither known Him. That one has not seen God as He is, nor known Him as love and light and life.

John’s point yet being false prophets, he makes righteousness the issue. Righteousness is just judgment. That which is just is right. In verse 7 John pleads with the little born ones to not let anyone lead them astray through deception.

The one doing righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous. The one believing in the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Son is righteous. He has become the righteousness of God through faith in the begotten Son of God. He believed into the One who became sin for him, that he might become the righteousness of God in the Son (2 Cor.5:21). He has been born from above.

He that does sin is out of the Devil (1 Jn.3:8a). He that continuously misses the goal of his high calling and continuously steps over the line drawn by God continuously transgresses the Royal Law of Love in his refusal to obey the truth: You must be born again. That one has bought a lie. His doing is “out of” or “sourced” in the evil one.

The Devil sinned from the beginning (1 Jn.3:8b). The angelic creation is the only creation other than man that has a choice of freedom to use their God-given will to serve self rather than to do God’s will. The Devil refused the love of God in the high purpose of His creation as a minister in God’s government. He coveted for himself that which could not justly be his (see Is.14:12-17; Ezek.28:12b-18).

The Devil does not have a body. He is a spirit being. To gain his purpose he would need men in physical bodies to speak for him and do for him. What the Devil did have is wisdom and beauty, which he would use for his own gain.

In the beginning Lucifer made himself an adversary of God and came to be known as Satan [Adversary]. As the deceiver he came to be called the Devil [Deceiver]. In both prophetic passages of Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 we see him in reference to the king which he is mentoring in his world city.

From Isaiah’s prophecy in verse 1 of chapter 27, “in that day Jehovah with His hard and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan, the piercing serpent, even leviathan, that crooked serpent,” Lucifer also came to be known as “the serpent of old.” This is also seen in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Covenant” in the luminaries place in the heavens on the fourth day of creation (Gen.1:14-19).

In the luminaries is Draco, the Dragon. So in the written record of “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” written by the apostle John, we have the Dragon, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who entered into a contest for the kingdom of this world. (Rev.12:3-17).

For the purpose of undoing the “works” of the Devil, the Son of God was revealed (1 Jn.3:8c). The Devil sinned from the beginning and the Son of God was revealed from the beginning to undo the wicked works of the Devil’s sins. The Devil would do his works through the sons of men who would buy his lies and have their works out of the one who is their mentor  (see Jn.8:38-47; Mt.23:31-35).

From the beginning, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God was declared by the heavens. The stellar heavens shined forth the glory of the Covenant Son in the figures of the true, the good news of the One coming to put away sin and share life eternal and light of understanding with man (see  Job 9:6-9; 38:31-33; Ps.19:1-6; 97:6; 147:4; Is.40:26).

Whosoever is born of God does not do sin. One born of God has united himself in the death of God’s Son and His Seed of eternal life remains in the one born of God so he cannot miss the goal and purpose of his having been brought into being, because he is born of God and he will have a body of eternal life in the image of God raised up out from His mortal body (1 Cor.15:47-49).

“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the Devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous” (1 Jn.3:10-12).

In this the children of God are revealed, made known, and the children of the Devil are made known. The children of God do righteousness. They believe in the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Anointed Son and they unite with the Righteous One to be born of God.

The children out of the Devil do not do righteousness and they are not of God. They do not receive the righteousness and life eternal shared with them in the Covenant Son. They have transgressed the Royal Law of Love, so neither do they love their brother. They do lawlessness.

This is the message that “you,” collectively, all of you born children, heard from the beginning, the message that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes into Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

The children of God heard the message of God’s love that they might receive the Gift of His love and come under the Royal Law of Love and love Him with all their heart and love one another (see Jn.15:9-17). That they should not be as Cain who was out of the evil one and killed his brother. And for what did he kill his brother? Because his works were out of the evil one and were wicked, but the things of his brother were righteous, right, just. The things of the righteousness of the right judgment and justice of Jehovah Elohim. Things in His Eternal Covenant. Things of hope of eternal life.

The “works” of Cain, the doing of sin, missing the goal of the purpose of his being, the transgression of the Royal Law of Love, culminating in slaying his brother, were out of the evil one. The Greek word for “works” has the meaning of “performance, the result of employment.” The Devil employed Cain to kill off a righteous son of God - a prophet of righteousness.

In Cain the Devil has his first false prophet. The contest between light and darkness is on. The Devil has had his first prophet of righteousness killed. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God must be kept from being shined into the hearts of mankind, lest the light of the glory of the gospel, the good news of the Anointed Son, who is the image of God, should shine unto them and they take it into their very being for understanding to be born a son of God and have the treasure of righteousness and life eternal in their earthen vessel, to be raised up, a body in the image of God out from the mortal body in the image of the earthy. The main work of the Devil is to keep the minds of mankind blinded so they do not believe and obey the truth (see 2 Cor.4:3-7).

Each one born of God has the treasure of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God as seen in the face of the Anointed Covenant Son. They will share the righteousness through faith in the Son with others. That would defeat the Devil’s purpose. He must begin to build his world city with his principalities and powers and world rulers of darkness. He has found his man in Cain.

The brief epistle of Jude, a brother of Jesus, a son of Mary (Mt.13:55; Mk.6:3), confirms Cain to be a false prophet. Jude wrote, “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [unbridled lust], and denying the only Lord [Master] God, even our Lord Jesus Christ” (v4). “Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain” (v11a).

Paul wrote to the assembly in Rome, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them” (Rom.1:18-19).

They will be without excuse as they stand before Him at the Great White Throne Judgment. Having rejected His offer of eternal life in the Son of the Covenant, they will spend eternity with their mentor, the Devil and his angels, in the lake of fire (see Rev.20:10-15; Mt.25:41). All evil and unrighteousness will be removed from God’s Kingdom of righteousness and peace as it is filled with sons of God to spend eternity with Him in bodies of glory in His image, after His likeness.

This concludes our lesson.

                  



  

Lesson 8 The First Offerings to Jehovah update 9-16-13

                            The First Offerings to Jehovah

                                           Genesis 4:2b-7

As we have come to see in our study - the triune God - the living and true God made a Covenant with Himself before the eternal ages of time (see Gen.1:26; Is.48:16-17; Jn.1:1-18; 2 Tim.1:9-10; Tit.1:2).  All was planned and done according to the foreknowledge of the all-wise, all-knowing, omniscient Eternal Deity.

God is also all-powerful. What He thinks to do, He will carry out. What He has begun, He will finish (Num.23:19; Is.45:21-46:11). God’s Covenant was made in agreement with all three of the personal beings of Deity. The Eternal had one purpose - to have a Kingdom of sons of God, each one bearing His image (Jn.1:12-13).

As we have also seen, this would take two men (see 1 Cor.15:35-49). The first man, Adam, would be a creation of human flesh in a body of the earth, earthy, a flesh and bone body with the life in the blood (see Gen.9:4).

When God created the heavens and the earth, He initiated all the elements that He would need for ordered life on His earth. In the ground of the earth God put all of the elements for living cells of a body of a frame of bone, and flesh and skin to cover the frame, and all the cells He would need for the internal organs.

When He had finished forming Adam’s body, God breathed Adam into the formed body - a personal being, a soul of life (Gen.2:7). The soul has intellect with which to think, and emotions with desires and affections, and a will as to man’s way of doing.

In order to activate the mind, emotions and will, the soul must be living - have life. That the soul have life - being - God breathed the life He is into the nostrils of the formed body. The life of God is spirit (Jn.4:24). God is a being of spirit, invisible, immaterial. So He made the inner man, the personal being, a soul of life that man might activate his soul and that he might animate the body of flesh with life in the blood.

The material body has an image which is seen and can be touched. The life in the blood is temporary. The earthy body was not designed to live forever. It is only an image of human flesh of the earth, earthy (1 Cor.15:47a). It will die.

All of this we have already been shown in our study. We bring it to remembrance as we come to the place in our narrative in which the gospel of the second man, the last Adam, must be made known to the children of Adam and Eve. The gospel of the coming Anointed Son of God is a making known of the high calling of man born in the flesh of humanity and bearing the image of the earthy, to be born again a son of God in the image of God (see 2 Tim.1:9).

Adam and Eve heard of the high calling of God from Jehovah Himself. Each one chose to personally believe in the righteousness of God through faith in His coming Anointed Son. Hearing and believing, each one chose to receive the Son to be the eternal life of the seed coat of humanity. Having united with the coming Son of God in his death and resurrection, each one, Adam and Eve, was born from above, assured the body in the image of God would be raised up out from the dead.

Adam and Eve, having been taught, believed the gospel of Christ, the Anointed Son of God, the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation unto whosoever believes (Rom.1:16). They would be the teachers of that same gospel to their children born after their kind, human flesh, of the earth, earthy. The children must hear the gospel of the word of the Anointed Son and believe God and receive the coming Anointed Son to be eternal life for the seed coat of their body of human flesh (see 1 Jn.5:11-12; Jn.1:9; Tit.2:11).

The earthy body, the covering of the inner man, is like a seed coat. Any seed has the outer coat which holds or contains the germ cell of life to raise up a body after its kind of life. A germ cell of eternal life will raise up a body in the image of the heavenly Lord from heaven, a body in the image of God that the son of God might live forever. Without the germ of life a seed coat cannot bring forth a body (see 1 Cor.15:35-57).

Adam and Eve would be God’s witnesses to the truth of God’s calling to become sons of God and witnesses to the salvation in the person and work of God’s coming Anointed Son. The Holy Spirit would testify to their witness to convict the heart of the children of human flesh. Adam and Eve had the visible revelation of “the good news” of God’s Eternal Covenant in the glory declared in the stellar heavens, with their signs and seasons (Gen.1:14-19; Ps.19:1-6; 97:6).

The glory of God as seen in the face of God’s Covenant Son was the gospel of salvation known to and believed by Adam and Eve. The righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son is from faith to faith (Rom.1:17).

In the proving of the heart each one, Adam and Eve, had failed to obey the truth shown to them. Seeing the lawlessness of transgressing the command of Jehovah, each one had immediately repented and received the eternal life offered in the Covenant Son. Each one had been assured of a crown of life laid up for them. In the resurrection they would again be clothed with skin.

Jehovah Elohim, the Covenant God, greatly desires to make Himself known to every living soul born of the flesh in the image of the earthy (see Ezek.18:23, 30, 32; Jn.1:9; Ac.10:34b-35; Col.1:23; 1 Tim.2:3-6; Tit.2:11; 2 Pet.3:9). Each one is purposed for a son of God. Each one has the freedom to choose to respond to his holy calling. No one is coerced. The righteousness of God and the life eternal to raise up the mortal body out from the dead is a Gift to be received from the God in heaven. The Gift of the Son in whom is righteousness and eternal life to be freely shared is freely given. He must be freely received.

Until Jehovah had His first two prophets of righteousness with full understanding of His ways, He kept His first pair of human flesh separated unto Himself and trained them in the righteousness of God. When Adam and his wife Eve fully understood the truth which must be obeyed, and why it was imperative to obey the truth and be born again, they had then learned to worship God in spirit, that is, in the very being of one’s spirit where the Holy Spirit gives understanding, and one sees with the eyes of his understanding enlightened. Then one worships in truth. God seeks such to worship Him (Jn.4:24).

With His first two sons of God as prophets of righteousness, Jehovah sent them out of the garden to begin to multiply sons of man to fill the earth. They would teach their children the truth, to be born from above of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, that they might fulfill their purpose to follow their holy calling and become sons of God (see 1 Pet.1:17-25).

Here in “The Book of the Law” Moses only gives the necessary details pertinent to the history of man’s redemption. Further details were at first kept through Oral Law and then written in other books. The sons of Israel to whom The Book of the Law is written had understanding of details we are not given. We have all we need to know concerning the righteousness of God and the redemption that is in His Anointed Covenant Son.

In the narrative Moses goes from the birth of the twin sons and the prophecies of the names by which they are called to the occupation of each as they were grown, then to the time of each one bringing his first offering to Jehovah.

No explanation is given as to the Law of the Offerings or which festival season was being celebrated. The sons of Israel would not have needed an explanation. They were well versed in the Law of the Offerings and the festival seasons. Later Israel, God’s nation, was shut up under the Law to preserve it. For details of the Law of the Offerings and their meaning, we must learn from Israel using Moses’ writings in the rest of the books of the Law.

With the Law of the Offerings made known, we see that Jehovah had added a third testimony of the Covenant Son. First Jehovah had written the testimony of His Covenant in the stellar heavens in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Covenant,” where the glory of God is declared in figure and seen in the face of the Covenant Son, who is being shown forth in the figures of the true Son (see Gen.1:14-19; Ps.19:1-6; 97:6; Rom.10:14-18). Then God had the verbal witness of His first two prophets, and finally the witness to the glory of the Covenant Son as prefigured in the types and symbols of the offerings and of the Feasts of Jehovah. In the figures of the Law of the Offerings and in the appointed seasons of the Feasts of Jehovah is the witness to what Jehovah Elohim God purposed to accomplish in the Anointed Son of the Covenant (see Rom.1:17; Heb.9:24-10:1).

In instituting the Law of the Offerings Jehovah would need a priest. It would go without saying that Adam was the first priest to minister in the sacrificial offerings to Jehovah. No details are given, as none are necessary.

Moses recorded, “And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it happened that Cain brought an offering to Jehovah from the fruit of the ground. And Abel, he also brought from the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof” (Gen.4:2b-4a). If Abel brought of the fat, the animals had been slain, blood had been shed. Death had taken place.

“In the process of time” is literally “at the end of days.” This denotes a season of stated days. At that stated season each of the brothers brought a personal offering. This would lead us to believe that formerly the worship was under the head of the family. The family worship was related to the appointed times of the Covenant Son.

The three Feasts of Jehovah pre-figured specific events in the life of the coming Covenant Son of Jehovah Elohim (see Lev.23; Ex.23:14-19; 34:18-27; Deut.16:16-17). In this brief account Moses makes known to us that there were the Feasts of Jehovah, stated times which have been observed from the beginning of the worship of Jehovah Elohim. And as already stated, these festival times were declared in the signs in the stellar heavens.

Moses precedes the bringing of the offerings with the occupation of each brother. Cain became a tiller of the ground. He followed in his father’s calling to become a farmer and till the soil. Abel, the younger of the two, became a shepherd of flocks. That was the task often given to the younger son (see 1 Sam.16:11).

It would seem natural that Cain would bring an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel would bring the firstlings of his flock. But worship of Jehovah is not natural. Worship of the living and true God is in spirit and in truth. Therefore Jehovah Himself had the say as to the offerings that would be acceptable to Him.

“And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and his offering, but unto Cain and his offering, He did not have respect” (Gen.4:4b-5a). The offerer having identified himself with his offering is shown to be acceptable with his offering or not acceptable to Jehovah Elohim according to the offering with which he identified. Acceptance depends upon the offering being that which satisfies Jehovah Elohim. There is purpose and design in the appointed times and in their offerings, as all prefigure the Covenant Son who is the one offering acceptable to Jehovah Elohim.

The word for “offering” in Genesis 4:3 is literally the word for “gift.” Each offering of the Law set forth the Covenant Son, who is God’s Gift of righteousness and eternal life sent from heaven to His mankind (see Rom.4:25-5:21). The Anointed Son of God’s Covenant is the one Son of man acceptable to Jehovah Elohim, the living and true God. God sent His begotten Son, that whosoever believes into Him and unites in His death and burial might have eternal life and be raised up out from the dead, an immortal, deathless, glorified body to live forever. God gave man the Gift of His Son that he might have an offering with whom he can unite and offer back to God. In ourselves we have nothing to offer God that we might become the righteousness of God and be born again to live forever. Man has nothing that would redeem a mortal body.

The appointed season came when the twins were of an age to bring a personal offering to Jehovah. Until that time each son had been taught by their parents to worship in spirit and in the truth to be obeyed. Since the appointed times were being observed, it would stand to reason that the family of Adam also observed the sabbaths and the new moon festivals (see Ex.20:8-11; 1 Chron.23:31; Ezra 3:1-5; Ezek.45:17; 46:3).

Adam was continually setting before his family, in figure, the coming Covenant Son in whom is eternal life and the absolute imperative of being born from above as a son of God to enter into the Kingdom of God and be in the presence of God (see Jn.3:3-21).

Adam and Eve would have shared with their twin sons concerning the proving of the heart of man. Each son would have heard the personal testimony of the parents. The garden with the two trees was there to be seen. But man was shut out of the presence of Jehovah Elohim. There was One Way into the presence of Jehovah (Jn.14:6). That was the Way of the wisdom of God. These things Adam and Eve would have made clear to their sons.

In the womb of a virgin God would take living flesh and weave an embryo for a body of human flesh, a mortal body for His birthed Son, Jesus. The mortal body was the seed coat for the eternal life of the One who dwelt in it - the eternal life which He would share with man through the death and resurrection of the one Seed-Grain. This is the truth of the faith of the righteousness of God. This is the truth which must be obeyed to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God.

The veil of human flesh represented that which shut man out from the presence of God. Mortal man in a body of sin and death is outside the presence of a holy God and must remain outside as long as he is defiled with sin and death. God had an entrance into His presence through the mortal body, the veil of Jesus’ flesh, which was undefiled with sin and death - a specially prepared body (Ps.139:13-14; Is.49:5-8; Heb.10:5).

But the veil must be rent to open the way into God’s presence. Death is the exodus out from a creation of man in human flesh. Resurrection is in Christ, God’s Anointed Son begotten out from the dead (see Jn.11:23-27). That rent veil of His flesh of humanity is the Way into the presence of Jehovah Elohim, the living and true God (see Heb.10:1-23). All is made known in the gospel of the righteousness of God through faith in the Covenant Son. This is the word of God which Adam and Eve would have planted in the heart and mind of each of their children.

Many other children would have been born by this time. Jehovah had promised Eve multiple births (Gen.3:16). Moses does not mention this, as it is not relevant to the narrative at this point. The sons of Israel for whom The Book of the Law is written would have known other children were being born (see Gen.4:17).

The point of the narrative is that of the first twins born, one chose to continue turned to his own way, and went his own way. The other repented and, with his mind changed through the hearing of the Word of God, he turned and went God’s Way. Each one had the testimony of their parents concerning the one proving of the heart of man in human flesh. All had been proved to be under sin and turned to his own way, with a body consigned to return to the dust of the ground (Gen.3:19; see Rom.5:12-14). Each person born of the seed of man is born in a body under a law of sin and death (see Eph.2:1-3).

Both Cain and Abel had been born of the same parents. Each one born on the same day, minutes apart, brought forth from the same conception (Gen.4:1-2a). They grew up in the same household, a godly household with righteous parents concerned for the soul of each son. And from a very early age the brothers would have been taught the gospel of the truth which must be obeyed. The brothers would have been taught the names and the meanings of the signs in the heavens with their constellations (see Job 9:8-9; 38:31-33; Ps.147:4). They would have been able to name the sign or the stars in the sign in the order of their magnitude.

In this gospel of the Covenant Son shared with them by their parents, each son was shown their high calling to become a son of God. The parents had full understanding of the gospel of the Anointed Covenant Son. They would have made clear that the sin and the lawlessness of the heart of man in the flesh and the death passed through to all is not the issue.

The Covenant Son had sin and death covered. In God’s Covenant, planned and purposed in eternity past, the Son took care of sin. All is done in eternity past to be played out in time. In the offering of Himself in sacrifice, the Covenant Son  put sin away once for all, taking the sins of the whole world on His body on the cross (see Jn.1:29; Rom.6:10; Heb.7:26-28; 9:22-28; 1 Pet.3:18). When His Father consumed the sacrifice of the Son, sin was burned out, consumed to the ashes of death. In resurrection, the death of the body was overcome with eternal life. For God it was done. The lamb was slain before He founded the earth (Rev.13:8). It only remained to be carried out in time.

All must be done before sin came into the world and death through the sin. Jehovah must have a way to pass over the sins committed before the Word, who is God, became flesh and did die for our sins, and was buried and raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (Jn.1:1-14; 1 Cor.15:3-4).

Justification, having become the righteousness of God through faith in His Anointed Son to become acquitted of all charges of sin and guilt, is by God’s grace through the redemption that is in His Anointed Son, Jesus. God set His Son forth as the Propitiation, the meeting place with God. There the Gift of the Son is freely offered to be freely received. God can be the Justifier of whosoever believes and freely receives the Gift of righteousness and life eternal. He is just in doing so (Rom.3:21-26; 1 Tim.2:4-6; 1 Jn.2:2; 4:9-10).

In our text in Genesis 4 the time had come for the proving of each heart of the brothers. Each one having been given to understand that man in the flesh is born outside the presence of the living and true God who created him. And that God Himself had prepared a Way to come to Him and be born from above to become a son of God and live with Him forever. Each one born in the flesh of humanity has the freedom of choice to either come to God His Way, walk in the light, or continue to go one’s own way and remain in the darkness with the spiritual realities unknown, hidden.

If one chooses to remain in darkness and refuses to obey the truth of the knowledge of the glory of God seen in the face of the Covenant Son, he will remain forever excluded from the presence of Jehovah Elohim, forever outside the Kingdom of God.

Jehovah Elohim had called each son by a name prophetic of the way each one would take. As Adam and Eve watched their sons grow up, they would have been aware of the thinking of their sons and would have forewarning of the prophecies being played out in each life. Finally the full exposure came when each son brought their first personal offering to Jehovah Elohim. The offering exposed the heart.

Each son would have been taught that Jehovah accepts the offerer in the offering which he brings. Jehovah Himself provided His creation of mankind with the Gift of the one offering which He finds acceptable - the offering of His Son, Jesus, in the sacrifice of Himself.

The death of the offering is absolutely necessary. Without the shedding of blood, there is no putting away of sin, no putting away the lawlessness of the heart of man in human flesh, a created body (see Heb.9:22-28). The life of the body of flesh and blood must be laid down, to be taken up again in a new form. The shed blood is proof death has taken place.

Apart from union with God’s Anointed Son in His death, one does not become the righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son [Jesus] (2 Cor.5:21). If one does not become the righteousness of God through faith in the One who died for us, one cannot be acquitted of his sin and guilt (see Rom.4:25-5:11; Col.1:12-22; 2:13-14; Tit.2:11; 1 Pet.2:24). Having not united to Jesus, the unbelieving one did not take the exodus out of the creation in Adam, out from the body of human flesh. Apart from the death of the body of human flesh in union with God’s Anointed Son in His death, there can be no new birth through water and spirit. In Adam, one is yet in his sins. The body must return to the dust of the ground.

When one unites with Jesus, God’s Anointed Son, and offers God the Gift of His Son in his stead, God sees that the eyes of the understanding have been enlightened to the truth by the Holy Spirit. Through the light of the knowledge of the glory of God having been shined into the heart, the one believing God has come to worship in spirit, in the very being of his person (see 2 Cor.4:4-6). He has seen and believed into the One who is life eternal. He accepts the Anointed Son to be his Substitute, as having come to die in man’s stead. He understands that Jesus took his place in the death of the mortal body of the earth, earthy, and died in his stead. Not instead of him, but Jesus died in the place of Adam, His creation of man (see Heb.2:9-17; 1 Cor.15:21-22).

Our old man Adam, the old man of all of us, was crucified with Christ that each one born in Adam might make a choice to believe into Jesus Christ and die to the sin (see Rom.6:6-23; Gal.2:20). Jesus, the Anointed Son, is man’s exodus out from the mortal body of flesh and blood, and of man’s having been made safe from the condemnation of the second death. The exodus is the death of God’s Anointed Son, Jesus. He opened the way out of the image of the earthy body of the first man, the human flesh which will die and return to the dust of the ground.

Each one born of the flesh of man must personally follow Jesus into death to make his exodus. Each one must follow Jesus through the opening He has made. The opening leads into the presence of God (Jn.14:6). It is the Way into the Kingdom of God. One must be born again or he will not see the Kingdom of God (Jn.3:3). Cain did not choose to enter God’s Way. Death and resurrection in God’s Anointed Son is man’s only means of salvation. Uniting with the Son in His death and resurrection is absolutely imperative to every soul of flesh of man.

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground as his offering unto Jehovah. And Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat. “And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering He did not have respect. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell” (Gen.4:4b-5).

Each brother came identified with his offering and each one had the expectation of being accepted as a worshiper of Jehovah Elohim. The Hebrew word translated “had respect to” is one word, “looked.” The Hebrew word has the meaning “to look,” “to look with interest and approval.” It is never used with a casual glance.

Jehovah looked with approval upon Abel, but there was no approval of Cain. Where was Jehovah looking? On the heart of each brother (see 1 Sam.16:7; Ps.17:3; 44:21; Prov.21:2; Jer.20:12). The offering showed the thinking of each son of Adam. One yet turned to his own way.

Abel is named first. Jehovah saw the fat of Abel’s firstlings. Death had taken place. In the New Testament, the witness of Hebrews 11 tells us, “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 speaks” (Heb.11:4).

Jehovah looked on Abel and witnessed that Abel had become the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Covenant Son. The “sacrifice” and the “fat” spoke of Abel having united himself to the Anointed Son as being his Substitute in death and of his having received the Gift of eternal life into the seed coat of his mortal body of human flesh, that a body of eternal life be raised up in the resurrection of the righteous. Nothing is said of the blood in either Genesis 4:4 or Hebrews 11:4. The emphasis is on the death. Shed blood is the evidence of death. Death is the issue.

Cain’s offering spoke of a body raised up out of seed, but there was nothing to speak of death. Cain had not received the Gift of eternal life in the Covenant Son. Cain had not put his faith in the Covenant Son to become the righteousness of God. Jehovah could not approve the heart of Cain. The inner man was wearing a dead seed coat. There was no germ cell of eternal life to raise up a body of eternal life after the kind of the Covenant Son (see Rom.8:5-11). Cain had not chosen to obey the truth which had been witnessed to him concerning the Covenant Son. He was not born from above.

The Seed of the Woman is the crux of Jehovah’s desire to have man in His image. It is the most important point. The “seed,” the living flesh of the womb of the virgin, is the most essential part of God’s Covenant plan. Seed of living flesh of a woman is the only way to bypass the death passed through to all bodies of flesh of humanity conceived of the seed of man.

All bodies of human flesh born of man’s seed bear the image of the first Adam. They are of the earthy, earthy. All, each one, is consigned to return to the dust of the ground and perish, unless it is enlifed with incorruptible Seed of eternal life.

The Covenant Son purposed to take on Himself the likeness of man (Phil.2:5-8; Rom.8:3). Birthed in a mortal body of the earth, earthy, a body of human flesh, the Covenant Son would be the Substitute for His creation of mankind. He could die the death which came through the sin and passed upon all born in Adam.

The consignment to death of all bodies of human flesh must be bypassed. How to have a body of human flesh as the seed coat for a seed grain of eternal life? The body would be the seed coat. The birthed Son of Jehovah, the Covenant Son, would Himself be the germ cell of eternal life (Jn.12:23-32; see Jn.5:24-26). He is Eternal Life (Jn.1:4). In the birthed Son Jehovah would have a Grain of Wheat to fall into the ground and die to bring forth much fruit of sons of God. How could this be?

In the one Seed-Grain, the birthed Son, Jesus, God has seed grain for a body of flesh and bone, a flesh and bone body of eternal life, a body after the kind of the germ cell in the seed coat. A body of eternal life, the life that God is. Out of the one Seed-Grain, God has a begotten Son, a Son begotten out from the dead seed grain, the body of the birthed Son. The begotten Son bears the image of who He is - God.

First the Word who is God became flesh. He took the likeness of man that He might be raised up the first begotten Son of God. Today God has one begotten Son - One raised up out from the dead. In resurrection He will have the much fruit of the one Seed of the raised up body of flesh and bone of eternal life (see Is.53:10-12; Rom.1:1b-4; 1 Cor.15:44; Lk.24:33-43; Jn.20:19-27).

The Covenant plan was: Jesus would take the likeness of man - a body of mortal human flesh. In that body He would do no sin (1 Pet.2:22; Jn.8:28, 46). Death would not have any claim on that body. When the body stopped breathing and became lifeless, death could not hold onto that body (Ac.2:24). But death already has claim on all bodies of human flesh born of man’s seed (Heb.9:27). The prepared body of Jesus in the likeness of man could not therefore be born of man’s seed .

The body for Jehovah’s first man, Adam, was prepared and formed by Jehovah Elohim (Gen.2:7). God Himself also prepared and formed the body of Jesus in the womb of a virgin (see Is.7:14; Ps.22:9a; 139:13-14; Is.49:5-8; Mt.1:18-25; Lk.1:26-35; Heb.10:5). Any part of living flesh of humanity has cells of life of humanity. Living flesh of a virgin womb would furnish the seed to bring forth the seed coat of humanity, the body, in the likeness of man - sin apart (Rom.8:3). The body would die, but the germ cell of eternal life of the person in that body would raise it up again - but changed.

The raised body would be in the image of God - a deathless, glorified body of eternal life. The living flesh of that body of eternal life would serve as Seed for many bodies of sons of God. The good news of the Seed of eternal life - the hope of living forever - would be planted in the hearts of man in bodies of human flesh. There it is to be germinated through faith. When any son of man hears the word of God’s Anointed Son and believes God and freely receives the eternal life in the Son offered as a Gift, that one has been born again and will enter the Kingdom of God as a born son of God begotten out from the dead (see Mt.13:3-23). He has received the germ cell of eternal life into his seed coat. This is the gospel of the faith and the truth which must be obeyed. It is the only way to become a son of God and live with Him in His Kingdom forever.

Abel heard the word of the coming Anointed Covenant Son and he believed God and passed from death in trespasses and sins to eternal life. Abel saw the opened way of death in union with the Covenant Son as the exodus out of a condemned race of humanity and the way into the presence of Jehovah Elohim through being raised up out from the dead in an immortal, imperishable, glorified flesh and bone body - and he took it.

Through faith in the One who became sin for him and put away sin once for all, Abel became the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21). That is what God saw when He looked with interest at Abel. And we have God’s witness to the righteousness of Abel recorded in the Hall of Faith chapter in Hebrews 11 (v4).

Jehovah looked on the heart of Cain. He saw an unregenerate heart. Cain had hardened his heart against the voice of the Holy Spirit testifying to the witness of his parents. He had not mixed the gospel of the Covenant Son with faith. Cain had heard the facts, the true facts. He had had the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shined in his heart, but he remained turned to his own way. Cain thought about what he had been shown in the way he desired it to be. He refused to take the truth into his very being and make it his. It is in the gospel of the Covenant Son that Jehovah makes Himself known to man (see Jn.1:18; 14:7-11).

Man is designed to know His Creator-Redeemer. Man has intellect, the mental ability to think thoughts and to consider facts and to pay attention to what he hears to discern, is it true? Is it good? Man not only has the power of knowing, but he has emotions for desire to know and to respond to the drawing of the love of God. Man has a will to make a choice to buy what he hears or to not buy what he hears.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is shined into the heart that one might know God, not just know things about Him, but to truly know God personally (Jn.1:9; Col.1:23; 1 Tim.2:4-6; Tit.2:11). It is in receiving the Covenant Anointed Son that one has life to know the living and true God as He is declared by His Son.

Once one has understanding in his very being of the imperative of taking the exodus out of the body of the creation of human flesh of the earth, earthy, he obeys the truth to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God. He then takes his place as a learner and learns of God from the Holy Spirit, who is God (see 1 Cor.2:9-15). What the Holy Spirit shares of the deep things of God is directly communicated from His spirit to the spirit of man - to man in his very being, where it is personal.

When it is personal, one changes his thinking concerning God and also concerning himself. The understanding has power to influence, that mere knowledge of facts cannot exert over the soul. With understanding, one’s faith has substance. Understanding sees the evidence of the truth of the faith. The words of the Covenant Son are spirit and life to the soul (see Jn.6:63).

The offering of each son, Abel and Cain, revealed whether the eyes of the understanding had been opened, that the offerer offer his whole heart. Cain did not have a heart for God. He had his own way of looking at things of life and his own desires and ambitions. He was willfully turned to his own way (see Jude 11).

Cain could not claim ignorance of the truth. He had had both the verbal spoken witness of his parents and the seen witness. But  he did not choose to believe into the Covenant Son, united in the death of the Son, that he might make his exodus out of the condemned body of human flesh in the image of the earthy to be born again to be raised up out of death in a body in the image of the heavenly Lord from heaven - a son of God in the image of God. Cain had missed the true issue: The exodus from the image of the earthy is the way into the presence of Jehovah, bearing the image of the heavenly. It is the only Way - a living Way (Jn.14:6; see 1 Jn.5:1-13).

Therefore Jehovah could not have respect unto him. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. The festival was a joyous occasion and this was the first time Cain had come to the appointed time with his own offering. In his mind he had every reason to be accepted for who he was.

Jehovah did not accept him and his offering. He could not. Not having understanding, Cain did not see a reason to not be accepted. His face glowed greatly and his happy countenance changed, reflecting how angry he was at Jehovah Elohim.

Jehovah understood the problem. He would give Cain the reason why He could not accept him with his offering. “And Jehovah said unto Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him’” (Gen.4:6-7).

The issue of acceptance is a matter of doing well and, as seen by Jehovah’s words, Cain has been taught to do well. If Cain does well, he will be “raised up.” In verse 7 the Hebrew word translated “accepted” in most Bible versions has the meaning of “rising up.” Some translations say, “Will there not be exaltation?” Either way, it is a reference to the future Resurrection of Life.

The word “do well” comes from a primitive root, “to make well,” “to be well,” “to make sound.” If Cain does well, as he has been taught and makes it well with his soul and unites in death with the Covenant Son through the sound teaching of his parents and the testimony of the Holy Spirit, he will have a body of eternal life raised up out from the dead earthy body of human flesh. He will be forever clothed in a deathless glorified body in the image of God. The purpose of his having been brought into being will be fulfilled.

When Jehovah looked at Cain and his offering, He saw a man yet at enmity with Jehovah Elohim in his mind. There must be a change of mind. Jehovah made clear where the problem lay. If Cain did well, all would be well. If he did not do well, if he did not receive the eternal life the only way it could be offered to Him in the Covenant Son, all would not be well with his soul.

The Gift of the Son begotten from the dead is Seed of eternal life, Seed for a body to be raised up out from the dead in resurrection unto life. If Cain does not receive the Seed of eternal life of the Son, he will not be born again. The mortal body of human flesh will die and unless the eternal life of the begotten Son has been freely received as a Gift, the body of human flesh will return to the dust of the ground from which it came, to await being raised up to face the second death and the lake of fire (see Jn.3:16-21; 5:24-29; Rev.20:11-15).

It is a matter of choice: Receive eternal life in the Son or die in your sins (see Jn.8:23-24). Only born again sons of God bear the image of God and go into the Kingdom of God to be in the presence of Jehovah Elohim forever. The issue is obedience to the truth and it a matter of Life or Death.

If Cain does not do well, sin lies at the door. Sin is having one’s own will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer, who would deliver one from sin and death. Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn.3:4). Cain must rule over his lawlessness. He must change his mind and obey the truth, or lose his own soul (see Mt.16:24-27). Cain has been taught the well-being of the soul. He must turn from his own way, and go God’s Way.

A “door” closes an opening to an entrance. If Cain does not rule over his own thinking of the things of life and death, and turn and go through the opening of the veil of the body of human flesh, the body of the likeness of man taken by the Covenant Son, he cannot come into the presence of God the living Way provided for him by Jehovah Elohim (see Jn.14:6; Phil.2:5-11; 1 Jn.5:9-13).

There is no other way to enter into the holies but through the blood of Jesus, the Covenant Son. The lifeblood of that body of human flesh was laid down in death, that it might be taken up again in the raising up of the body of eternal flesh and bone, the Son begotten from the dead, Seed for much fruit of sons of God in His image.

Jehovah lays out the crux of the matter. Either the self-will of thinking for himself as he chooses to see the things of life and death will rule over Cain - or - he will submit himself and obey the truth and subject himself to be taught of the Holy Spirit for true understanding of the ways of God. The only way to rule over the lawlessness of one’s heart is in becoming the righteousness of God.

Thus far in Cain’s life, he has yielded to the desire of his own self-will to live in the imagination of his heart, where he looks on life as he sees it, the way things look to him, as it seems like to him. Things are never what they seem to be. Life in the imagination of the heart is trial and error and searching to find out - with no well-being of the soul, no true heart satisfaction.

For Cain, the proving of his obedience to the truth has come. Before him are set Life and Death and it is his choice. Will the lawlessness of his heart continue to have the rule and master him - or - will Cain choose that grace may reign through righteousness unto eternal life through God’s Covenant Son?

Before him, Cain’s parents had failed to receive the eternal life in the Covenant Son. But through having the eyes of their understanding opened to what they had not done, each one, Adam and Eve, repented, and immediately received the Son with eternal life as the Gift from Jehovah. Even before they were confronted, the parents, in seeing their failure, changed their thinking and made all well with their soul.

Cain did not like being confronted with his failure. He did not want to reason with Jehovah. Nothing is recorded of Cain agreeing with Jehovah Elohim.

This concludes our lesson.

                          

Lesson 7 God’s First Two Prophets update 9-9-13

                            

                             God’s First Two Prophets

                                           Genesis 4:1-2a

In the Genesis record Moses made known the purpose of God [Elohim] to make man in His image (Gen.1:26). Then Moses gave us the record of how He would fulfill His purpose. Jehovah Elohim began with one man to whom He would make Himself known personally.

God makes Himself known in His words and in His works and in His ways. God is unchanging. He Himself is outside time. So before He did become flesh through birth in a body of human flesh, Jesus could appear in the pre-incarnate body as Jehovah, the I am, the Eternal.

As Jehovah, God could form a body of the earth for His first man and breath into the nostrils of the formed body and bring forth a soul of life. Jehovah Elohim  planted a garden and there He put His man (Gen.2:7-8). The Garden was a sanctuary where He and His man could walk and talk of God’s Covenant plan and of His works and His ways. His man Adam would come to know Him personally and Adam would trust his Creator God.

The gospel of the glory of God is the gospel [good news] of God’s Covenant Son. This gospel Jehovah wrote in the heavens two days before He formed the body for His first man (see Gen.1:14-19; Ps.19:1-6; 97:6). Adam had the verbal teaching of the word of God from Jehovah Himself and he had the visual declaration, that he might meditate day and night and come to right understanding of God’s Eternal Covenant.

Moses did not give a chronological time so we do not know how long Jehovah had Adam in the garden separated unto Himself. There were only the two living souls in like bodies of human flesh. We do not know how long Jehovah had been teaching Adam of his part in the Covenant to be the head of mankind in bodies of flesh and blood of humankind.

There came a day when Jehovah put Adam’s body into a deep sleep and He took a bone from Adam’s side and built another body of the living bone with the flesh of Adam and brought to Adam a female of mankind, a womb-man, that he might fulfill God’s purpose that he multiply and fill the earth with sons of man in bodies of flesh and blood after his kind, human flesh and bone (Gen.2:21-24; 1:28).

As was Adam, the woman was brought into being in a full grown body. She also must be taught the Covenant plan. It is only through man born in bodies of the earth that God can have His purposed man in His image (Gen.1:26). Each one of mankind, born of the seed of man, must have the truth of the Covenant Son of the gospel shared with them in spirit and in truth. In the Covenant Son is the only hope of eternal life through a new birth (see Tit.1:2; Jn.3:3-7).

When Adam and his wife Eve had children, it would be theirs to share the truth and the reality of the One coming with eternal life and light of understanding the knowledge of the glory of God as seen in the face of the Covenant Son (see 2 Cor.4:3-7).

The truth of the Covenant Son, the Word who is God become flesh, must be kept (Jn.1:1-14). It must be guarded from error and perversion. This would be Adam and Eve’s to do first. Adam and Eve would be the first ones to hear and know the truth, that each one could be entrusted to watch over the truth of the faith in the righteousness of God. That made it imperative that each one of them have the truth straight and true. This was Jehovah’s purpose in teaching them personally (see Is.48:3-17).

Each one, Adam and Eve, must first obey the truth themselves to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word become flesh, who lives and abides forever (see 1 Pet.1:17-25). Each one born of God a true son of God to represent their Lord and Savior would teach their children to worship in spirit, in the very spirit of their being for understanding of the deep things of God, and in the truth of the Covenant Son, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life Eternal (Jn.4:23-24; 14:6). They had the gospel declared in the heavens, night after night showing forth the light of the knowledge of the glory of God as seen in the Covenant Son running the race of His circuit (Ps.19:1-6).

Adam and Eve were personally acquainted with their Creator. They heard of His works from His own lips. They believed the word of Jehovah. They had no reason to doubt. They did not reason for themselves apart from what they had been told. They understood that the things which are seen are not made of things which do appear (see Heb.11:1-3). They understood that the visible did not just happen, that all was not just self-made. God told them how He initiated the creation and how He ordered it and formed and fashioned the created things of heaven and earth, and the waters and the darkness.

Adam and Eve simply believed Jehovah Elohim. They had no reason not to. They knew the One who made all things to be all-wise and all-powerful. They knew Him as holy and just and good and loving and merciful. They were His learners.

Jehovah Elohim had planted two special trees in the middle of the garden and named them (Gen.2:9). Each tree, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, had a lesson to be learned by Adam and Eve. Each lesson was very important and must be impressed upon the very heart of each one.

The two trees taught that there are two ways of knowing. There is knowledge of wisdom and there is understanding of wisdom (see Prov.3:13-19; 4:1-13). Anyone with a mind can take in knowledge, but for understanding, one must have eternal life.

With the receiving of eternal life in the Covenant Son of God, one becomes the righteousness of God in His Anointed Son, Jesus, and is also then anointed with the Holy Spirit, who knows the deep things of the understanding of the wisdom of God (see 1 Cor.2:9-14; 1 Jn.2:27). He comes to dwell in the tent of the body of flesh with the newborn son, that He might share the understanding of the things which God alone knows (see Gal.3:26; 4:6).

Knowledge of wisdom is not enough. One must have understanding of the wisdom to know fully the way of wisdom. One can see the work of wisdom in knowledge, but one does not fully see the way of wisdom until he sees the why of wisdom. One cannot understand the why of wisdom unless the eyes of his understanding are enlightened to see as God sees. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. One must desire to be enlightened to the truth - all of it (see Jn.14:26; 16:13-15).

When Adam and Eve had the knowledge of the wisdom of God, which God taught them personally and was seen in the glory declared in the heavens in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Covenant,” there was yet one part of the way of God’s wisdom which they did not fully understand concerning their physical being.

Each one had a body which had been fully formed by Jehovah Elohim. Each body was of the earth, earthy. The life of each body was in the blood and dependent upon breath to keep the elements together. The body of the earth is not immortal. It will stop breathing and corrupt and return to the dust of the ground from which it came (Gen.3:19).

Each one, Adam and his wife Eve, understood before they transgressed the command of God that those whom they reproduced after their kind would be born in a corruptible body. They understood the truth that must be shared with their progeny: You must be born again. You must receive the eternal life offered in the Covenant Son and be born from above or the lifeless body of the earth could not be raised a deathless glorified body like unto the body of the Covenant Son raised out from the dead, the begotten Son of God. One must be born a son of God, begotten out from the dead body of human flesh. If one did not receive eternal life in the Son, one would be left naked, unclothed, without a body and without a tent to live in. The mortal body having corrupted and returned to dust was a mere seed coat with no germ of life with power to raise up a deathless, glorified body, a body with which to be clothed forever.

Adam and Eve each understood the wisdom of this work of the Covenant Son, but there was one way of wisdom they had not taken in to fully understand. This was the lesson of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They must be given full knowledge, experiential knowledge. Their understanding of obedience to the truth would come in the proving of the lawlessness of the heart.

As we have seen in previous lessons, the personal experience of the offense of turning to their own way and of transgressing the will of their Creator opened the eyes of their understanding to the necessity of the redemption of a body of human flesh, even though the body had been formed by the Creator Himself. The being in the body would sin, would turn to his own way and have his will over the will of the One who had made him and called him to be a son of God.

The learning experience was a severe mercy of Jehovah Elohim. It was the loving-kindness of Jehovah Elohim to open the eyes of the understanding of the heart of man and what the heart of man will lead him to do (see Jer.17:9-10). In the lesson learned concerning the way of knowledge apart from the understanding of wisdom, Adam and Eve were also prepared to understand the wisdom of God in His Way of the Tree of Life. The lessons of the way of each of the two trees in the middle of the Garden must be shared with the children to be born for their understanding the ways of Jehovah Elohim.

The created things are recorded, not as an argument for the Creator, but as an illustration of the Way of God’s Covenant plan. Each figure is an unfolding and an expanding of the Covenant Son and His work as Creator-Redeemer (see Rom.3:22-26; 1 Tim.2:4-6). The garden was a literal garden. The trees were literal trees, real trees.

There is One Way to live forever. There is one Seed with the germ cell of eternal life and that is the Son of God begotten out from the dead in an immortal, imperishable body of flesh and bone. A way to live forever has been provided for mankind, a way to live abundantly, freed from the sin of self-will and with no fear of death.

Eternal life is given to us that we may know God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent (see Jn.17:3). To know God is to love Him and fully trust Him. To love Him and trust Him is to serve Him in righteousness and share His truth and wisdom and love.

With full understanding of the ways of Jehovah, Adam and Eve had been prepared to share the gospel of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God declared by the heavens in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Covenant” and taught them by Jehovah Elohim Himself.

Jehovah then had His first two sons of God. Each one having obeyed the truth to be born from above, born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, who would be coming in the flesh as the signs in the heavens signified in figures of the true Covenant Son of Jehovah. Jehovah had His first two prophets to tell forth His words concerning His Eternal Covenant. The first two prophets would also foretell the coming events of works of the Covenant Son as the Covenant would be brought to pass through the ages to come (see Lk.1:70; Is.45:18-23; 46:9-11; Amos 3:7).

His servants having been prepared, it was time to send them forth from the garden to begin to multiply and fill the earth with sons of man that Jehovah might have the fruit of the incorruptible Seed - sons of God. Man was blessed and given dominion under the One whom they represented in His wisdom (Gen.1:28).

In time God deals with His creation both collectively and individually. By one representative man all were proved to be lawless at heart - all sinned. Death passed through all (Rom.5:12; 1 Cor.15:21a). The body of human flesh and blood was consigned to return to the dust of the ground from which it came (Gen.3:19). All are “in Adam.” The “all” in Adam die (1 Cor.15:22a). The earthy body of each one consigned to the dust of the ground.

Christ, the Anointed Covenant Son of God, is the only hope of eternal life. Individually, each one in Adam must choose to believe the righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son of God’s Eternal Covenant. “In Christ” shall all be made alive (1 Cor.15:22b).

Any one of the all in Adam may choose to believe into the Anointed Son and be made alive forevermore. Each one born in Adam of the seed of man is given the choice to be united with Christ and make his exodus out of a condemned human race and become a son of God in Christ Jesus (Jn.1:12-13; 3:16-21; Gal.3:26).

All in Christ, through faith in the righteousness of God, each one having received the Son to be his life, make up the all in Christ who will be made alive with the mortal body of human flesh raised up out of the dead seed coat immortal and imperishable, like unto Jesus’ body of glory (Phil.3:21; 1 Cor.15:42-57; see Lk.24:36-43; Jn.20:19-27).

All was planned and purposed before the foundation of the world (Tit.1:2; 2 Tim.1:9-10). All was finished before the foundation of the world (Rev.13:8). What God has spoken, He will make good (Num.23:19; Is.46:9-11). All is done in the Son of His Covenant. All is done according to the forethought and foreknowledge of the God of the Covenant, the Eternal God who is One in three persons (see Is.48:16-17; 1 Jn.5:7-13).

The Covenant Son is set forth as the Propitiation (Rom.3:21-26; Heb.2:9-17; 1 Jn.2:1-2; 4:9-10). In Him is the redemption of the earthy bodies consigned to return to the dust of the ground. The Covenant Son is set forth as the Propitiation as He is the one Son of man in whom the Father God is satisfied concerning sin having been put away once for all and satisfied that the consignment to death is overcome in the raising up of the body of each one having believed into the Anointed Son (see Jn.5:24-26; Rom.4:25-5:11; 6:10; Heb.1:1-3; 7:27; 9:22-28; 1 Pet.3:18).

The Covenant Son is the Propitiation, as He is the meeting place of man born in Adam in the image of the earthy with the God who created him and who became flesh to redeem His creation and set them free from sin, from the lawlessness of the human heart and to deliver man from death to live forever with Him (1 Tim.2:4-6).

All in Adam, born of the seed of man in a body of human flesh having become defiled with sin and death, must be put outside the presence of Jehovah Elohim. God is holy and all before His presence is holy ground and must not be defiled. All were proved and found guilty of turning to his own way. Therefore man must be sent from the garden. So Jehovah Elohim sent man  out of the garden to till the ground out of which he was taken (Gen.3:23-24a).

With our minds refreshed with the facts, we continue the narrative with Moses. “And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have gotten a man from Jehovah,’ and again she bore [continued to bear] his brother Abel” (Gen.4:1-2a).

With the birth of Cain Eve made a statement, “I have gotten a man from Jehovah, or with the help of Jehovah.” This leads us to believe that formerly Eve had a barren womb. In Scripture we find many instances where Jehovah Elohim had closed a woman’s womb from conception until it was time for the birth of a person in whom Jehovah had a purpose for His Covenant work (see Gen.11:30; 16:1-2; 25:19-23; 29:31; 1 Sam.1:5-20; Lk.1:5-19, 36; Rom.4:13-24; Heb.11:11). It stands to reason this was so with Eve.

After the proving Jehovah had shared with Eve that there will be emotional pain and sorrow to the mother heart through children conceived and birthed of the flesh, self-willed with hearts of deceit (Gen.3:16). While in the garden Eve and her husband Adam were free to fellowship with Jehovah and learn from Him without the care of a household. Outside the garden things have changed.

Each son of the first conception is named. Nothing is said of who named the twin boys. As Eve recognized that Jehovah had given her Cain, before she bore Abel, Bible scholars take it that Eve believed that she had brought forth the coming Anointed Son of the Covenant. But according to the record of Moses, Adam and Eve had received the Gift of eternal life and would have new skin in the resurrection (see Gen.3:20-21). With the teaching of Jehovah of the glory of the Covenant Son declared in the heavens, it would be ages before the Covenant Son would become flesh and He would be born of a virgin (see Is.7:14). Eve could not have believed her firstborn to be the Son of the Covenant.

Another thinking is that Eve believed Cain to be chosen to carry the seed for the coming Covenant Son. This thinking also comes from believing Eve to have named the twin boys. But as one studies Scripture, a pattern is seen. Over and over Jehovah passes over the firstborn son and he is not privileged to carry the seed of the line through which the Anointed Son will be born according to the flesh.

Another pattern that we see in Scripture is that God Himself names the son who carries the seed (see Gen.17:15-21). Even the virgin Mary and her betrothed, Joseph, were told to call the Covenant Son, Jesus,“Jehovah saves,” and Immanuel, “God with us” (Lk.1:31; 2:21; Mt.1:18-25).

In the genealogy of Adam in Genesis chapter 5 we are told that God Himself called His first pair of human flesh “Adam,” and Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth” (vv2-3).

When Eve bore Seth, she “called his name Seth, ‘for,’ she said, “God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew’” (Gen.4:25). “Seth” has the meaning of “appointed.” To Seth a son was also born to carry the seed, and Seth called his name “Enosh”, “(mortal) man” (v26).

And so down through the genealogy of man in Genesis chapter 5 the son carrying the seed of the Covenant Son is named. None of the other children, sons or daughters, are named. Adam also called his son’s name Seth. Eve gave the explanation of why they called his name Seth. It was God’s doing, God’s name for him.

Did Jehovah Elohim also name Cain and Abel? “Cain” has the meaning, “maker.” Cain comes from a primitive root. The primitive meaning is “to set up” or “to erect.” Then it means “to create, to make one’s own.” Hence, “a thing gained or achieved.” Something gained, gotten, or achieved has to come from something made. The second son is called “Abel” and has the meaning of “transitory, vanity, passing.”

Since names in Scripture have meaning and relate to happenings in time, why would Jehovah Elohim call the firstborn of mankind “maker,” and his twin brother “transitory”?

Jehovah had a message for Eve and for her husband Adam. Eve had been forewarned of sorrow. In her first conception Eve must bear the greatest pain a mother could have, the murdering of one son by the other (see Gen.4:8). She must be somewhat prepared. Jehovah is merciful and prepares us for what is coming.

In the names given, Jehovah could foretell what He foreknew concerning the way each son would choose to go. The parents would teach each son the truth of the coming Covenant Son of God. They would impress upon each son the absolute imperative of the Way of the Tree of Life as the only hope of eternal life.

One must unite in the death of the coming Son to make an exodus out of the body made in the image of the earthy and be born from above in the image of God. It is God’s Covenant plan and the way God had provided for man to become a son of God and live with Him in His Kingdom forever.

If the son did not choose to go God’s Way, the earthy body would one day stop breathing and become lifeless  and corrupt and return to the dust of the ground and perish. The personal being of the son, the inner man who wore the body as clothing, would be left naked and unclothed forever. He would have no body to be raised up out from the dead that he might be again clothed with skin (see 2 Cor.5:1-4).

True knowledge of godly wisdom is in the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Knowledge is taken into the mind and believed and received - or one does not believe it. If one does not buy the truth, he will count it for nothing. Not having believed the truth of God’s wisdom, one is left to the imagination of his own heart.

Man does not like to think of himself as a mere creation, made by a Creator who is God over him and who has the say, as He is the Owner of the earthly body and the Master of the personal being clothed in the body (see Is.45:11-12; Jer.18:1-8; Zech.12:1; Rom.9:20-23; Col.1:15-17).

Calling the firstborn Cain, “maker,” and of the making being for the gain he would achieve, was prophetic of the city Cain would build and keep building (Gen.4:16-17). It is most likely that Jehovah Himself named the sons. We see this to be true of other prominent sons in the record. From the city ending in the judgment of the flood of waters we are shown that this was Satan’s first city of his world of politics, economics and religion, a system to draw men into his purpose to take the kingdom of the earth and bring it under his power and rule and Cain his first man to be drawn in (see 1 Jn.3:12; 5:19). In his world Satan is prince. In the politics of his world man can have power and he can gain wealth through economics. The false religion, the perversion of “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of Covenant,” keeps man in the dark. In the imagination of the heart, one can deceive himself into thinking inside that he can be like God.

When Jesus came, He said, “If any will come after Me, let him deny [disown] himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works” (Mt.16:24-27).

Taking up the cross and united with the Covenant Son of God is the Way of the Tree of Life (Jn.14:6). Following Jesus into death to make an exodus out from the dead earthy body is to follow Him to eternal life in being raised up out from the dead in a body in the image of God, the body of the holy calling to become a son of God and fulfill the purpose of one having been brought into being. All that can be gained in this world, no matter how great the power or the wealth, is transitory. It is all vanity, vanity, emptiness, and all is passing away (see Eccl.1:1-11; 2:1-11).

Abel recognized the truth of the Covenant Son and believed in the righteousness of God through faith in the coming Covenant Son. Abel also became a prophet of righteousness and told forth the truth of the Covenant Jehovah Elohim which must be obeyed. Abel was the first prophet born in human flesh in the image of the earthy body of his father Adam. Abel was also the first prophet put to death for telling forth the words of Jehovah Elohim (see Mt.23:35-36; Lk.11:50-51; 1 Jn.3:12).

In calling the twin sons by the names Cain and Abel, Jehovah gave the parents prophecies concerning the way each would take, and their lives revealing the only two ways to go in this life on earth: One’s own way, to know for oneself, or God’s Way of the Tree of Life, to be born a son of God and bear His image forever.

Cain, as prophesied, did choose to remain turned to his own way to gain what he could gain in the city of the world system of the evil one (see Gen.4:9-17; Jude 11). In the end he lost all that he had gained in the judgment of the flood of waters, though he had been forewarned of the coming condemnation of the world (see Gen.6:3-13; 7:11-24).

And as prophesied, Abel was willing to count the gain of this world loss for Christ that he might be found in Christ, the Anointed Covenant Son, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God through faith (see Phil.3:7-9; Heb.11:1-4).

Like the apostle Paul in his day, Abel desired to know the coming Anointed Son and to lay hold of that for which he had been laid hold of (see Phil.3:10-14). Though Abel died and went to the place prepared for spirits who depart their bodies, he will be raised in the First Resurrection to inherit the Kingdom with Christ (see Lk.16:19-25; Rev.20:5). Jesus said that the death of Abel will be avenged (see Mt.23:35).

This ends our lesson.