01.03. Chapter 3: Effacing Evanescence
CHAPTER THREE Effacing Evanescence
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain… and by it he being dead yet speaketh" (Hebrews 11:4) The names that Adam and Eve gave their children reveal something of what they thought about life. When their first son was born, they named him Cain (qayin), meaning "possession", as Eve said "I have gotten a man from the LORD" (Genesis 4:1). When the second son was born they named him Abel (hebel), which means "vapor" or "breath". Probably, by this time they had begun to see the evanescence of life and the reality of death that consumed man as a vapor. The word hebel, in fact, is the motif of Ecclesiastes Hebel (vanity) of hebelim (vanities), says the preacher, all is hebel (vanity). The word signifies temporality, transitoriness, ephemerality, impermanence, meaninglessness, effervescence, and vanity. By naming their son as Abel, Adam and Eve indicated their perspective of man as a perishing creature. The view is not unfounded. It was their sin that brought this calamity on man. "Dust thou art" God had said "and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19). Ever since then callous death has held sway over kings and paupers alike, having sympathy on none. It stands as a great taskmaster exacting of men all toil and labor to stall its fury until it suddenly strikes taking its toll. The vanishing strength of a hero, the fading beauty of a queen; the ebbing tide of desire and the melting texture of pride soon screech to halt at grave. With such pessimistic identity for a name, could Abel survive the plot of life? Yet, death was crueler to him. His elder brother Cain killed Abel out of jealousy and hatred. However, before this tragic end Abel had already obtained witness, says the Word, "that he was righteous" (Hebrews 11:4). This was the testimony of no man but of God, and that was regarding his offering and his gifts to God, by which though being dead he yet speaks.
One of the greatest privileges that a believer has is the opportunity to give to the Lord. Abel’s offering was both sacrifice (thusia, θυσία) and gifts (doron, δῶρον). The phrase "gifts and sacrifices" is used three times in the book of Hebrews, each time in connection with the priestly offerings in the temple (cf. Hebrews 5:1 ; Hebrews 8:3-4; Hebrews 9:9). For instance, Hebrews 5:1 tells us that "every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." The phrase "both gifts and sacrifices for sins" indicates that the two are not the same but different from each other. "Sacrifices for sins" refers to the blood sacrifices offered for the remission of sins, whereas "gifts" refers to free-will offerings. However, it is not evident that this distinction really existed in the pre-Mosaic age. According to Moses’ Law, sacrifice for sins was mandatory while gifts were voluntary. However, it seems that since such a law had not yet been established, the sacrifice that Abel brought was voluntary and, as such, also his gift, it being a voluntary act of faith: if this is true then Abel’s sacrifice of the fattest of the firstlings (the best of the best, cf. Genesis 4:4) combined the essence of worship and service in one. The shedding of blood, in sacrifice, was considered to be necessary for the remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). The sacrifice was indispensable, since the gifts meant nothing unless reconciliation with God was first effected. To us in the New Testament, there is no more need for sacrifice of animals since Jesus Christ offered Himself once for all as the sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 9:28 ; Hebrews 10:14). However, though imperfect in effectuality (that’s why they had to be offered again and again) animal sacrifice was indispensable to the spirituality of the Old Testament. Its significance consisted in its function as a type and foreshadowing of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:1-14 ). Abel’s offering of a blood sacrifice revealed his acknowledgement of his sin and his need for redemption. It is evident to us now that what is a past event for us now (viz. the sacrifice of Christ) was to the Old Testament saints a thing hoped for and something yet unseen. It was by faith that the sacrifice of Christ became a reality to them through the animal sacrifice and they were declared righteous because they hoped for and experienced it beforehand by faith. Thus, Abel received the testimony of being righteous by faith in not his own righteousness but in the righteousness of God. This recognition before God is far superior to this-worldly reputation and honor. Abel’s life may have seemed short, vain, and extinguished in men’s eyes; but in the sight of God he bears the testimony of a worth that is eternal. He was justified and declared as righteous in the sight of God. However, the value of Abel is not contained in the category of his sacrifice but in the commitment of his heart to God. In fact, the tearing apart of an animal in sacrifice meant nothing if the heart lay not broken already on the altar of God in total surrender.
WORTH IN WORSHIP
It was not that Abel alone brought his offering before God; Cain too brought his own. However, God respected Abel’s offering but not Cain’s (Genesis 4:4-5). It is obvious, that bringing an offering to the Lord is more than a physical act; it is a spiritual act and the Bible makes it very clear that a broken and a contrite heart is far valuable before the Lord than a herd of animal sacrifices or tons of grain offerings (Psalms 51:17). Evidently, since Abel’s sacrifice was not made mandatory by some law, it was his voluntary offering and thus superseded the mere rigors of religious ritualism or legalism. It was his worship of God in spirit and in truth.
Worth of Giving The worth of a gift is measured not by the content of the gift but by the intent of the giver’s heart. One may remember the story of the poor widow who dropped into the treasury of the temple only two small copper coins, while the rich walked by dropping bags of money into it. Jesus looked at all this and said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on" (Mark 12:43-44). That talks more than words can say about this poor widow’s faith in and commitment to God. It’s very easy to share a piece of bread with somebody when one has two. But what if he has only one? Added to this is the question of whether the temple treasury is really in need of those last two coins of this poor widow. She could have argued, as many believers today argue, that the temple is already very rich and financed by stout pockets; therefore, she need not part with the last of her coins. Thirdly, legally the widow was the one that needed to be supported by gifts (Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 24:19-20), and she was not under any legal compulsion to cast her two mites. But she did, not because she was forced to but because she wanted to; not because God or the temple needed it, but because she needed to; and she cast her everything into God’s treasury – all she had to live on. That is the faith that honors God and attaches priceless worth to worship. That is the same reason why the Scriptures say about Abel that by faith he "offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain". It is already evident that Abel brought the "firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" while Cain only brought "of the fruit of the ground an offering" (Genesis 4:3-4). It is very clear from this that Cain was neither concerned about the distinctness of God’s altar nor the value of the offering. He just brought something in the way of a vacant ritual. And that is how God treated his ritual. His grief over his being rejected was, therefore, unexpected. And so God said to him, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:6-7, NIV). But Cain was no longer for the listening anymore. He turned to his brother, took him to the field and slew him there. By now his hypocrisy had revealed its cruelty. Therefore, the Word says that Cain murdered his brother because "his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous" (1 John 3:12). But why were his brother’s works righteous and his evil?
Evil and Good The murder itself was evil, but preceding it was the evil of Cain’s heart. But, I think we should define the word "evil" before judging Cain. As a Biblical way of answering it, let’s draw a primary definition of it as "something that is evil in the sight of God". That is not to say that the definition of evil is not rationally possible; for, then this would beg the question since it will be necessary again to explain why something is evil in God’s sight. But to be evil in God’s sight and to be rationally evil are the one and the same thing for reasons that’ll be explained now.
God is perfect being because He has no deficiencies, for if He had any He would not be infinite and, therefore, not God. Therefore, to avoid self-contradiction and self-destruction of the concept it is necessary to assert that God is perfect being and lacks nothing. To lack nothing means to lack no good thing since lacking anything good would amount to deficiency and, consequently, imperfection. Therefore, God lacks no good thing. In other words, He is the embodiment of infinite goodness. Therefore, evil is that which falls short of His perfection. In other words, the evil that is seen as abrogating some virtue of reason is in fact evil that opposes the character of God. Therefore, evil is also that which is evil in God’s sight and what He calls as evil since He is the perfection of wisdom and judgment. Secondly, God is the active source of all this-worldly reality. He created it and sustains it. Therefore, there is nothing in this world that can go against Him and retain an independently justifiable standing. Consequently, all rational definitions of ultimate value conform to the source, God. Thirdly, God is the finality of the best and the one above whom nothing else can be conceived of. In other words, He is the finality of rationality. This doesn’t mean that He is limited by reason if reason be truly limited – I mean reason in itself and not the limited reasoning capacity of man; in fact, Jesus is called the Logos of God, meaning reason, intelligence, and word. And since God is the final point of reason, therefore, the rational definition of anything cannot contradict God’s definition of it. In fact, God’s definition can transcend the rational definition, but the rational can never disqualify the divine definition. Therefore, evil is what is evil in God’s sight.
Now, evil is seen as the opposite of righteousness; thus, to fall short of righteousness is to do evil. But the Bible makes it very clear that righteousness has never and can never be the product of human works but is the work of faith as is said "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous" (Hebrews 11:4). Clearly then, Cain’s works were evil because they were not according to faith and Abel’s were righteous because they were done by faith. The faith of God decided the acceptability or unacceptability of any action before God. But why must faith be the criteria for righteousness?
Righteousness by Faith This is so because, firstly, faith is the fundamental condition and voluntary determinant of all moral action, and, secondly, faith is that which connects one to the righteous works of God. Moral actions are moral only in so far as they are exercises of morally intelligent and volitional beings. That is why neither animals nor lunatics can be incriminated. Morality is the intelligent acceptance of God’s definition of good and evil. The reason for such acceptance has been explained earlier. This intelligent acceptance constitutes faith in God. Immorality is the intelligent rejection of God’s definition of good and evil. This intelligent rejection constitutes unbelief in God, which is also rebellion. The sin of Adam and Eve was their choice to renounce their faith in what God defined to be good and evil, thus renouncing their faith in God. Eve believed the lie of the serpent and the power of the tree (symbol of nature; cf. Romans 1:18-23). Adam followed Eve and thus the whole mankind was condemned because the consequence of their false faith was naturally irreversible. Therefore, they were cast out of the Garden of God. All this was due to their unbelief in and rebellion against the divine prescription. Thus, it is on the basis of faith alone that moral actions become possible. Consequently, if one has faith in God his faith will inevitably manifest through his actions (James 2:17-18). Therefore, faith is the fundamental condition and voluntary determinant of all moral action. Further, faith connects one to the eternal righteousness of God. If I have complete faith in the present government, for instance, I will definitely believe that whatever it does is right; thus, I’m connected to its ’righteousness’. Faith in this-worldly things need not be complete since nothing here is perfect and final; however, as seen earlier, the faith of God admits no shadow of doubt and so it is in perfect conformity to the will of God; consequently, it is connected to the righteousness of God and all God’s works intended to fulfill the righteousness of God (which includes our salvation plan through Jesus Christ). Therefore, it is by faith that one is declared to be righteous.
Faith as Worship
Faith gives God the worth that is truly His because it believes who God is as He reveals Himself to be. Therefore, the faith of God is the worship of God. When the devil came to Jesus and told Him that if He fell down and worshipped him, he would give Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Jesus rebuked him saying, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matthew 4:10). The devil had asked for a divine impossibility. It reveals his frustration in running out of tactics to deceive or allure our Lord. Jesus not only knew the truth; He is the truth of God, the finality of divine revelation. Therefore, He can’t be deceived. However, the devil might have thought that he could confuse the Lord by turning His eyes to the visible appearances of this-worldly reality. Thus, he wished that the phenomena would somehow thwart His faith. But the Lord rebuked him saying, "Go away, Satan: for it is written…." He countered the devil with the Word of faith and reminded him of the divine command "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The Greek word for "worship" used here is proskuneo, which literally meant to prostrate oneself in homage or reverence. The word for "serve" is latreuo and refers to the kind of service that is given in the temple. Observe the connection between worship and service here as always: only a worshipping heart can truly serve the Lord. In other words, sacrifices and offerings that do not come from a worshipping heart do not matter at all. The devil was asking the Lord to fall (obviously, from the truth) and prostrate before him in subservience to him. This involved giving the devil the worth that only belonged to God, which constituted false worship. Any worship that is not rightly directed to God is false. That is the reason why idolatry is also false since it falsely represents the God of creation and doesn’t glorify God as God, but worships and serves the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:21-25). But true worship gives God the worth that truly belongs to Him. It is for this reason that Jesus told His disciples that "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). In other words, it is in believing on and accepting the One sent by God that one truly serves Him. Therefore, the faith of God is the true worship of God and service of Him.
Now, true worship not only glorifies God but also gives the worshipper the true honor that comes from God as the Lord said "for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Samuel 2:30). Jesus said to the Jews "How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" (John 5:44). Their lack of faith deprived them of the worth and dignity that comes only from God. The honor of this world, however, is as evanescent as the world itself as the Word says "all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever" (1 Peter 1:24-25). Therefore, it is in submission to the truth of God by faith alone that one finds true dignity and worth.
God accepted Abel’s offering because Abel gave by faith. The Bible says that God had respect unto Abel and to his offering (Genesis 4:4). It was not just the offering that was respected but Abel himself was first accepted because of his absolute faith in God. The Hebrew word for "respect" is sha’ah and means "to gaze and look at", which implies "to have respect for and consider something worth looking at." Thus, God considered with respect Abel’s sacrifice but He didn’t even look at Cain’s offering. Cain’s offering was as if directed to nobody. God didn’t consider it worth any attention. This was so because only faith attracts the attention of God; and it is faith alone that gives worth to both the gift and the giver, because it is through faith alone that one connects himself to the realities of God. Thus, Abel conquered the evanescent worth of this world by putting his faith in God and giving himself in worship and service to Him; thereby, obtaining a testimony that still speaks though he is dead. He obtained that eternal worth and honor that comes from God alone.
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
1. Only one who approaches God with can appreciate His true worth in worship.
2. Through faith in God one comes to a right standing with Him – which is, righteousness.