The story of Cain and of his prayer mark a beginning of a series about prayers in the Old Testament.
At first sight one might simply be tempted to say that Cain’s prayer to God represents the prayer of an unbeliever. It is true of course that unbelievers
(even atheists and humanists) may in desperation ‘pray’ to God when in dire straits. And indeed God sometimes, in His great mercy, answers them, but clearly Cain is not an unbeliever in that sense.
He ‘knows’ God or rather God knows him and the chapter contains considerable dialogue.
In other words it’s more complicated than merely an unbeliever’s prayer. It is not without significance that Cain is mentioned three times in the New Testament.
“ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.” — Hebrews 11:4 (NIV)
“ This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” — 1 John 3:11-13 (NIV)
“ For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home — these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animalsthese are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” — 1 John 3:11-13 (NIV)
In Hebrews the writer reinforces the difference between Cain and Abel: by faith Abel offered the better sacrifice. That is Abel understood that the best and that blood sacrifice was needed. He understood he was sinful, whereas Cain thought he merely needed to ‘nod at God’. But both ‘worshipped God’, Abel rightly, Cain wrongly. And Cain’s rejected offering becomes the source of his deep hatred of his brother.
First lesson: when we are convicted of sin by God, beware lest we go the way of Cain. And lest we think we are not likely to, Cain essentially blamed God for it, just as modern man blames everyone (parents, genes, education, etc) except himself: he sees himself as a victim not a sinner.
But the key prayer that Cain makes, follows God’s curse upon him for the murder of his brother. (At this point in human history, the death penalty had not been imposed for murder — that did not take place until the time of Noah: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man” Genesis 9:6.
Cain stands not just for every murderer, but for every human being who, because they are sinful, hate their brothers:
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” — Matthew 5:21-22 (NIV)
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean’.” — Matthew 15:19-20 (NIV) Adam fell. Cain shows the fruit of that fall in action!
“ The LORD said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.’ Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’” — Matthew 15:19-20 (NIV)
The punishment on Cain was similarly merely the outworking of the curse of the Fall itself: it merely reiterates and amplifies the curse on Adam:
“ To Adam he said, ’Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’” — Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)
But it also adds the dimension of increasing social and relational disorder and curse.
So what of Cain’s prayer? Why is Cain apparently an example of problems WITHIN the church fellowships as indicated by both the writer of Hebrews, John and Jude? In the last two particularly it is related to the fellowship.
To put it starkly, even in New Testament times ‘ For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you’ Jude 4.
Why then Cain? His prayer is in two parts:
1. It’s more than I can take...
2. I’ll be killed — “It’ll be the death of me”.

It is the prayer of the man who will pay any price, grovel in any way, as long as he can survive (to continue in his own way). Cain refuses at any point to acknowledge his sin of murder. He represents the natural man who refuses, as we well know, to acknowledge that he is a sinner under judgement: he represents US, let it be clear, who find it equally hard in ourselves. Cain, to put it simply, refuses to own up and to face the just penalty: death. Just as, until we genuinely repent of our rebellion against God and genuinely are prepared to be sentenced to death (which is precisely what we deserve), we cannot be saved. We cannot discover that:
1. Jesus has died in our place but that
2. We too must still DIE to self — but
this being only possible through receiving Christ: our baptism is the dramatic picture of dying with Him and rising again to newness of life.
The penalty for sin remains Death. In a sense we do not ‘escape’ judgment because of the cross so as to go on our way: Barabbas had THAT experience and (for want of any evidence otherwise) ended up in Hell none-the-less.
Cain, like Barabbas wanted to escape the full penalty of judgment, so as to go on his way—away from the presence of God. Now let me ask you (and me): just how often are our prayers of this nature? That is asking God to get us out of a hole, so that we can continue on our own way? And may I add that God may indeed answer that prayer! As He did for Cain: giving him the mark of Cain. Men would not kill him. For he would not allow himself to ‘die’ — that God might in due time bring even him to resurrection.
That is the crunch issue of his prayer: to avoid the full consequences of the Cross: to refuse to die.
Now that is why we, if we are in such a situation, are both a danger to ourselves and to others in a fellowship. I do not want us to see it only as “us and them” — there is Cain in all of us — even though we have not physically murdered our brother, we have thought it and that is enough. But worse in some ways as I said above: God may indeed answer our prayer. We may ‘survive’ and carry on in our own strength doing our own thing ‘for God’. This may explain why the church gets infested with successful ministries, which are none the less not of God. It is interesting that Cain goes out from the presence of God and builds a city; makes himself an empire. Human success is never God’s true yardstick, as we know: the Gamalian measure of the truth or falsehood of a claim as recorded in Acts, is not a godly measure of success at all. (Otherwise Moonies, Hare Krishna, Moslems etc are all ‘of God’!).
And because they are not in the presence of God, yet in the ‘fellowship of the churches’ we need to be warned in strong language lest we get caught up with these people — that is why Jude is SO emphatic about it:
“ In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals — these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” — Jude 8–11
How can we tell? They are not living crucified lives — let me add — WE are not living crucified lives. Let us end with an example of a ‘Cain’ in a real sense who DID accept the judgment. I am thinking of the apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus: he literally murdered his brethren, hating and resentful of those whose worship WAS acceptable to God, the followers of the Way, the believers in Jesus the Messiah.
“ For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.” — Galatians 1:13 (NIV)
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet’. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.” — Romans 7:7-9 (NIV) Paul is condemned by God for his sin: “Saul, Saul why do you persecute ME?” Not even here was it the case of persecuting a just fellow human being, but God’s own Son. But unlike Cain, Paul does not request that God let him escape:
“ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.” — 1 Tim 1:14-15 (NIV) Instead he states:
“ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” — Galatians 2:20-21 (NIV)
“ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” — Galatians 6:14 (NIV) and in turn urges us:
“ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” — Romans 6:8 (NIV)
“ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” — Romans 6:11-12 (NIV)
“ Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” — Romans 8:5-13 (NIV)
Lastly: God put a mark on Cain. There are two kinds of mark in the Bible: godly and ungodly. God put his mark on Paul: that is the crucified life.
“Finally, let no-one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” — Gal 6:17-18 (NIV)
So too with us. Cain was marked — but we are marked with Christ.Cain was made a wanderer — refusing to die. But we become wanderers on this earth because we have died:
“ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” — 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV)
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” — Hebrews 11:13 (NIV)
Cain made his own city... away from the presence of God, but we are to receive a city whose builder is God.
“ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” — Heb 11:9-10 (NIV)
“ ...the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” — Hebrews 11:38-40 (NIV)

Philip Foster

About
the Author...

Appeared in Issue CETF 9.1 September 2003
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3