This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Genesis 1-4” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 6, 1992.

Now we are looking at Genesis chapter four, Genesis the fourth chapter, beginning with verse one. Hear God’s word. Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have gotten the man with the help of the Lord. And again she gave birth to his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground, and Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering. but for Cain and for his offering he had no regard.

So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Cain told Abel his brother, and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What have you done?

The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. You shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

And Cain said to the Lord, “‘My punishment is too great to bear. Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from my face I shall be hidden. and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me. So the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, that anyone finding him should slay him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

Father, may your word be to us as a spring of fresh water. May we, Lord, drink from it. And Lord, may it please you that in our refreshment we may go in your power to obey your word this week. Father, we ask that we would see your Spirit’s work even in the receptiveness that we have to your word. And in this fashion, Father, may we be built up in our confidence, assured that your Spirit is at work in us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, despite appearances, we have taken, for our interpretation of Genesis thus far, the simple and direct line, I say despite appearances because As we wander through this material, it may seem that at times things are quite confused, or maybe even that I’m quite confused.

For my sake, then, as well as your own, it is well for us to be reminded of that simple, direct line with respect to the interpretation of these texts. Is the line which we apply generally to the interpretation of scripture applicable elsewhere as it is here?

This simple direct line moves along what we would call literary historical lines. Literary historical lines. And because this is, in fact, our commitment, we have insisted upon paying attention, close attention, to certain literary and historical markers. The text given us by the Spirit of God sets these literary and historical markers there for us in order to be of help.

The historical marker for the section we are presently dealing with is the fall. That’s clear. That’s obvious, is it not? That is the central event for this portion of scripture. But this central event, this historical marker, is not solely in view, as if it stood alone. And this is as is proved by the literary markers that are given to us. For we do not have here merely the fall, that barely and singly set before us. We have more material than simply the fall. set before us. Now let me remind you about the literary marker that sets this section off. We find it in the second chapter of Genesis in the fourth verse.

It’s been variously translated as you begin that verse. The New American Standard has this translation. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. You might also translate it, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

That’s our literary marker at the beginning of this section. At the end of this section, you have again the literary marker appearing as you would enter into a new portion for consideration. That occurs at the beginning of the fifth chapter. where you read these words, this is the book of the generations of Adam. It will be that this particular literary marker will reappear throughout the book of Genesis and so segment the book of Genesis for your consideration, setting before you then units that are to be taken as a whole which then are to be interpreted in terms of themselves and then in light of the entirety of the message of the book.

So we have then our historical marker being the fall, but we have a broader vista set out before us by these literary markers that we find set for us in Genesis 2.4 and also Genesis 5.1. This means now that we have, as a unit, Genesis 2, 4 through chapter 4, verse 26.

The fall, as it is set in the center of this section, is therefore in a wider context, so that we might understand it in its broader consideration. Now that wider context, as we had said earlier in our study, is concerned with topographical questions, or questions about location. Especially in view in this section, as you move from 2.4 through 4.6, is going to be then descriptions given to us with regard to specificity of place, location.

We will have definite directions. We will have the identification of certain places. There is the identification of the garden, for instance. Called, named, even. There is the direction of the east. We are told that this garden is planted or cultivated toward the east. There is the special mention of the trees that are set in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. The direction of the east is mentioned once more even after the fall, as the cheeriodim are stationed at the entrance of that garden.

There is specific mention of the land of Nod. We have read that this evening, which lies east of Eden. There is the city of Enoch. Further on in this text, as we move on to the end of the fourth chapter, a city which is specifically mentioned, built by the tribe of Cain.

But even more to the point, This whole matter of location is focused for us as the Lord asks his question of Adam, upon Adam’s fall, where are you? Consider where you are. This question is echoed in God’s interrogation of Cain in the ninth verse of the fourth chapter. Cain is asked by God, Where is your brother again? Special consideration with respect to location.

We have, in addition to these matters, the Lord bringing them to focus in the question that he The removal of Adam and Eve from the garden, the removal of Cain from the presence of the Lord, spoken of first by Cain in the fourteenth verse of the fourth chapter, and then in the narrative itself in the sixteenth verse of that fourth chapter.

We are overwhelmed, then, as we move through this particular unit of Holy Writ, we are overwhelmed with the concentration that is set upon this whole matter of location, and this whole issue of location is focusing itself upon the issue of the presence of God, being in the presence of God, God himself being present, or being out of the presence of God, if you will, the issue then being fellowship with him.

The fall, the historical event of the fall, then, is put in the wider context of the presence and fellowship of God. The fall registers in its most devastating implications precisely at this point. That is the point, in fact, that the Holy Spirit is intent to communicate to the people of God. The fall registers in its most devastating implications precisely here, in this matter of the presence and fellowship of God. Where man enjoyed the presence of God and lived in light of God’s regular visits made to him in that garden, now God’s presence in its intimate and direct and even visual form and sense, has been withdrawn, is in the process of being withdrawn.

His presence and fellowship is eclipsed. Man is left, as we come to the end of this section, chapter 4, verse 26, calling out, crying out desperately upon the name of the Lord. Why is he crying out, calling out desperately upon the name of the Lord? Because, after all, the Lord is not obviously there.

The Shorter Catechism, Question 19, gives clear and concise expression to this central point when it says, all mankind by their fall lost communion with God. It mentions the loss of communion of God first because that is, in fact, the most important consideration when thinking about reflecting upon the fall. Now the reason for going over all of this again is that we might not lose sight of the overall theme as we move through this section and even into Genesis 4. It’s very easy for us to lose sight of that theme as we move into Genesis 4, and it often is lost sight of by many a commentator. that theme of the presence and fellowship of God will in fact work itself out even as by way of the descent of a ladder, as we move from the garden and its symbol of communion with God in the tree of life, as we move from those regular visits of God to the man and his wife in that garden, to the subsequent intermittent visitations that now become the experience of man.

God’s periodic visits to his creatures. He comes to Abel and to Cain with respect to their sacrifices. He then comes in response to the murder of Abel to interrogate Cain. He comes to deal directly with Cain, and as we move then down through that fourth chapter, all will be pointing in the direction of that twenty-sixth verse when the cultic cry of the covenant line comes up before God with respect to the hope that God will in fact come for the purpose of answering them and delivering them from their predicament.

Presence of and fellowship with God in this context becomes highly problematic. He is not just problematic for those who are outside of fellowship, who have rejected God, for whom fellowship with God means nothing. We read about them here at the close of the fourth chapter, the line of Cain, Lamech himself, as he sings his song of arrogance, proud arrogance, defying God himself. The issue becomes problematic not just for those who are rejecting the fellowship, it becomes problematic for those who covet the fellowship of God and covet His presence.

Now brought into specific focus will be the necessity, the increased necessity, the intensity of this need within us to live by faith, and not by sight. God withdraws, and in that our faith is tested, in that our faith is formed even to the greater pleasure and glory of God. God has ordained that we, his people, we who are of the line, will in fact be compelled to live by faith and not by sight. But it isn’t that our first parents even while in the garden and in their innocence, were not compelled to live by faith. It’s not as if faith was inoperative and unnecessary for them even in that circumstance. I have here in mind specifically the sort of faith that is spoken of in the eleventh chapter of the first verse in Hebrews. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Our first parents, even in the garden, were compelled, constrained to exercise faith in that sense.

To be sure, they were blessed with a frequency of visitation from God that reinforced his presence for them and their fellowship with him. Those visitations were such that God made himself visible to them so that they could behold him in his coming to them. And even beyond these visitations from God, Adam and Eve were compelled to believe as a matter of their own faithfulness to God when he was not there in visible form, that is, when he was not visibly present to them. Furthermore, their faith was tested.

Their faith was tested with respect to his word, a word which received a sacramental focus in the two trees that stood in the middle of the garden. Trees that spoke to them about their perspective glory, which would be conferred upon them when they had successfully endured probation, and by that route be brought into the continuing, unending presence of God for perpetual fellowship with Him.

So faith, you see, is not invented after the fall. It is not made necessary by sin. Faith is operative for our first parents, even in their state of innocence, even prior to the fall. We can see, however, that even though this is the case, faith now acquires the fall being a fact, its redemptive dimension. Faith will be focused with respect to the redemptive dimension of God’s relationship to his people and to his world.

That is, it specifically, in addition to latching on to the unseen things, even the unseen God, had to give itself over to the promise of salvation, a promise that entailed grace and implied sacrifice, even substitution and atonement, and no less forensic justification. all of this for the realization of that fellowship, for the reassertion of that fellowship and communion with God for which mankind was intended, but had presently lost. with respect to this whole scenario, is greatly affected by the manner in which God withdraws himself from the view of man.

It isn’t as if God stops coming immediately, that his appearances to his creature end when the fall occurs. Testimony to his visits continues even into the fourth chapter after the fall. These visitations by God are increasingly less frequent. After all, the fall does now set before us the seriousness of this whole matter in such a way as to bring this faith into focus for us and the necessity that it has to take shape under the tutelage of God. God then does not immediately end his visits. His visits continue.

He vindicates Abel’s offering. Presumably, by some visible means, he comes and he pastors Cain, that, in some visible fashion, Cain’s punishment also is described as being driven out of the presence of the Lord. There will be no more visits to him, frequent or otherwise, or to his wife. At the same time, the line of promise will also see the visit’s end, communion and fellowship ceasing in a sense underscored by this withdrawal by God, thus compelling them to call upon the Lord who is not apparently present.

Verse 26, once more in that fourth chapter. Now all of this conspires to sharpen faith and to define it. It may well seem to be quite confusing and even disorienting, but all of this serves the purpose of sharpening faith and further defining it. There will be that true faith. as comes to expression in Abel. We will speak about that true faith in Abel in time.

Tonight we are looking at the opening of the fourth chapter of Genesis, and faith as it is being shaped in Eve, Abel’s mother, as it is coming to expression in her. We have seen how her husband has expressed faith subsequent to the fall by naming his wife Eve because she was the mother of all those who would live. But now there is a naming exercise engaged in by Eve. But as Eve engages in that naming exercise, there is a cloud of ambivalence that comes over the entirety of that exercise.

Faith called for. Faith to be cultivated. But that faith coming to incomplete and even imperfect expression, as Eve in the expression of her faith, seems to be dogged by ambivalence. and even confusion. She will affirm grace in her faith. She says when she delivers a child, a man-child, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord so as to underscore that grace. Yet there is a confusion in the naming exercise because the name that she gives to the child indicates that her hope and faith was that this child would in fact be that man, that offspring, that would bring deliverance for her and for the world.

This expression of faith is over-eager. This expression of faith is a bit too optimistic. This hope expressed by Eve with respect to this child sees in this child, then, the one who would crush the serpent’s head. even beyond her husband’s naming of her, that Eve is not only the mother of all that shall live, but of all those who claim too quickly the realization of God’s promises and the accomplishment of his purposes.

There will be no waiting, says Eve. My faith is such that there will be no waiting, there will be no denying me. What I had hoped for will come, and it will come immediately. There will be no delay. In fact, what suffering I have experienced will be the most temporary kind of suffering. It’s over, even before it began.

Eve, then, is the mother of those who would claim too quickly the realization of God’s promise and the accomplishment of His purposes. Waiting is over, no more suffering, the end of such things has come, or is immediately around the corner. I wonder what kind of a millennialist Eve was.

Here is bold overconfidence, expressive of a faith to be sure, but faith with a twist, a faith which in the end proves utterly foolish and vain. Is there a false form of faith? Yes, there is. Is faith in and of itself good, automatically, just because it’s faith? Even when it’s attached to God and His promises, can it be distorted? Can it be going in the wrong direction? Can it be in error? Eve was mistaken.

And her mistake, uttered in faith, was not just a matter of information and knowledge, it was a matter of sin, the effect of the fall. She could no longer read things properly. So you have the over-confident faith on the one hand naming her first-born son Cain, but on the other hand you have her naming her second-born Abel. Do you know what Abel’s name means? It means breath, vapor, emptiness, vanity. Do you see what happened? Can you see what happened? The over buoyant thing, ending in despair.

The preacher of Ecclesiastes is not the first one that speaks about vanity and emptiness. Eve is the mother of all who speak thus. Because the effects of the fall register powerfully upon her, as she observes her firstborn, as she observes the world around her, She has by now discounted her firstborn’s birth. She no longer thinks of him as the promised deliverer. God will withdraw. His visitations will cease. for all intents and purposes.

And in that context, he will shape faith and define it. There will be the vacillation between buoyant overconfidence and crippling despair. But even though these expressions are observed in the mother, In the child that was discounted finally, able, called vanity, emptiness, vapor, and breath, this one who is looked upon as being the supreme expression of weakness, in him will come the most noble expression of faith. The ambivalence, yes, but the training, the marvelous training of faith in the midst of the absence of God’s visible presence, observable now as it would take shape in Abel.

Consider him. Let’s pray. Our Lord, work with us even as we would think about the broken and lost fellowship with you, so that our faith indeed would be formed well, fashioned like unto Abel’s faith. And Lord, we pray that in all its aspects, faith may have its final word in us as we take hold of those things which are unseen and even grasp the redemptive purpose. Lord, you have enabled us to see the glories of your grace resident in one whose blood speaks even better things than the blood of Abel, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for him. We thank you for the gift of faith granted us. We thank you.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.