Scripture
Genesis 4:14-15
[14] “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
[15] 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, so that no one finding him would slay him.
This is the 88th Lecture on Genesis.
Cain envied his brother Abel, and he bore malice towards him. He set up a detailed plan for a long time and eventually killed his brother.
God knew all these facts, but He gave him a chance to confess.
But he didn’t confess.
Then, God clearly indicated to Cain that He knew all about the evil act he had committed.
And He laid two curses upon Cain.
Cain felt fear, and he finally showed an attitude of repentance.
But, this was not true repentance.
True repentance is to self-realize one’s sin and confess it honestly.
You should be determined not to commit the same sin again.
However, Cain confessed only because he couldn’t hide what he had done any more.
It was in this context that Cain made a confession as recorded in Genesis 4:14.
He said, “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
First he said, “You have driven me this day from the face of the ground.” The implication in this is that Cain would lose everything he had enjoyed.
In other words, he would lose all of the portion that he inherited from his father Adam.
Then, he said, “…from Your face I will be hidden.”
It reveals the fact that Cain himself realized how grave the sin was that he had committed.
Now, was it possible for Cain to see God face to face before he committed sin?
No, it wasn’t quite like that.
So, why did Cain say it like this?
Cain had learned the law of the spiritual realm from Adam.
He learned that if one violates the law of the spiritual realm – which means, if one commits sin – he shall belong to the darkness. Just as the darkness and the light cannot co-exist, one who belongs to the darkness cannot see God.
Cain had this basic spiritual knowledge.
But now he had committed a grave sin and the sin was revealed before God.
And so, he said, “From Your face I will be hidden.”
In fact, the words ‘one who commits sin cannot see the face of God’ are true.
The intent of the words can be found in many parts of the Bible.
Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
Deuteronomy 31:18 says, “But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.”
Also Ezra prayed to God and said in Ezra 9:6, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.”
At this time it was not the sin of Ezra that had been committed.
Ezra offered this prayer for the sins of the Israelites, but it was offered for the sins of the leaders of the people in particular.
As mentioned, if a man commits sin, he shall belong to the darkness and he cannot lift his face up before God.
Some time ago, God the Father told me about the heart of a believer who went into the 2nd kingdom of Heaven.
The 2nd Kingdom is the eternal dwelling place for the souls who reach the 3rd level of faith.
The 3rd level of faith is the level where one has not accomplished sanctification because all of the evil had not been cast off.
A member who has this level of faith can clearly feel the spiritual realm as life comes to an end and this person had a separation of the spirit and soul from the body.
As I was in deep prayer, God told me about this person’s heart at that moment.
Let me introduce a part of the confession of heart form this person.
“I wish I could let my family know on earth about this. I want them to know how shameful and embarrassing it is to not cast off evil to the point that I couldn’t even lift up my face when facing God the Father.”
“The rewards and the magnificent heavenly castle that God the Father gives to the souls who dwell in New Jerusalem are so amazing, and of course I envy them.”
“However, on top off this, I wish I could let them know how sorry and shameful it is before God the Father to not cast off every form of evil.”
This person was a senior deaconess of this church.
She learned about the different dwelling places of Heaven according to different measures of faith.
She knew that one can go to the 3rd kingdom of Heaven by casting off every form of evil and being sanctified, and that one can go to New Jerusalem by accomplishing whole spirit.
But When her life ended she had reached only the 3rd level of faith.
After her spirit left her flesh and saw the glory of Heaven, what was it that she was most sorry for before God?
She said she was terribly sorry before God for the fact alone that she didn’t cast off all evil while living her believing life on earth.
It was such that she couldn’t even lift up her face.
I hope that you will put this in your mind and remember that her confession is true, and strive so that you will surely accomplish sanctification.
The Bible clearly tells us.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”
You must believe that what is said will be fulfilled and I hope you will cast off every form of evil.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you may become holy people who have nothing to do with sin, that you may communicate with God the Father in this world, and that you may raise your face before Him with confidence.
Now, Cain said again in Genesis 4:14, “I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
This verse is one of the verses that many people are curious about.
Many people say, “By that time, there must have been only Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel on earth. Who was is that Cain was afraid of?”
Those of you who have listened to the Genesis Lectures carefully might be able to guess it.
As I began explaining Genesis 4:1, I gave you the basic background information to help you understand Genesis 4.
Let’s review it, shall we?
I said that Adam and Eve gave birth to many daughters after they settled down on the earth.
Then, they had the 1st son, Cain, and then the 2nd son, Abel.
As you read Genesis 5:3-4, you can see that Adam became the father of a son, Seth, at the age of 130, and he had other sons and daughters as he lived 800 more years.
They actually gave birth to many children between Abel and Seth, and countless other children after Seth.
Among these countless children, it is the names of the sons who continued the family linage that are recorded in the Bible.
Among their many children, Adam and Eve loved Cain and Abel so much more that they handed over the family livelihoods to these 2 sons.
As other children grew up, they gave them a portion and allowed for them to leave the parents.
They distanced themselves from each other, settled down, made their families, had children, and prospered.
Unlike today, there were not many harmful elements such as diseases and disasters.
Therefore, the population was able to grow at an exceedingly fast rate.
The sons of Adam and Eve took their sisters as wives and they gave birth to the children.
Even though they were brothers and sisters from the same parents, there was no other option at the time.
They married and gave birth to children. Their children grew up, got married, and had their own children as well.
When Cain murdered Abel, his brothers had already settled down in neighboring areas and lived there.
And the news that Cain killed Abel was soon known to other brothers.
Their brother’s wrath became furious.
They ground their teeth with indignation and said, “How could it happen between brothers?”
Cain could also sense this atmosphere.
As he thought, ‘Those brothers who are so angry could do harm to me,” he felt fear.
That’s why he said, “…whoever finds me will kill me.”
There is a saying that goes, ‘A thief who has a conscience and feels bad is apt to give himself away.’
It means that ‘When a man commits sin, he naturally feels nervous.’
Cain’s situation was similar.
Due to his guilty conscience about his sin, he felt nervous and fearful.
It is just as Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no one is pursuing.”
Since Cain himself committed murder, he thought someone could also murder him.
Since he committed an evil act, to him others also seemed able to do evil to him.
The same can be easily found today.
When a man is good at lying, he thinks others are also liars.
When one is envious and jealous of others, he thinks others can also feel the same towards him.
Chances are many that they make wrong judgments and condemn others as a result.
Likewise, since Cain was full of evil in his heart, he thought others would be the same as he was, and he felt fear.
The social environment by that time was also a factor to make Cain feel so afraid.
In the 1960’s and early 1970’s, which is 50 to 60 years ago, evil was not so rampant in Korea as it is now.
In those days, most towns were usually dominated by a few family names.
It means relatives of the same family name gathered and formed a town.
It allowed for them to have a very strong sense of relationship to each other.
If one committed a grave sin in such a town, he couldn’t stay in the town any longer.
The elders of the town gathered and decide to expel him from their town.
Even if they didn’t, he himself felt so ashamed that he could do nothing else but leave the town.
Most towns purified their own towns like this; they made such situations a warning to all so that the same sin would not be committed again.
You may understand Cain’s situation was very similar to this.
By that time, the people who were on the face of the earth were all brothers and sisters to Cain and Abel, and they were their descendants.
Then, came the shocking incident of the first son, Cain, killing his brother Abel.
The people in those days had such good and pure hearts that it cannot even be compared to the conditions today.
Therefore, they were appalled at the news of Cain’s crime.
They didn’t even know what to do because it was the first case of murder.
Some ground their teeth with indignation, and some others wallowed in sadness.
Since Cain had been able to foresee and anticipate these reactions, he was so much extremely afraid.
He came to realize that the sin he committed was so grave that he was to be censured and could suffer retaliation.
Now then, what did God do with Cain who was trembling in fear?
God already gave Cain a number of chances to repent.
He rebuked Cain before he committed sin, and He gave Cain a chance to repent after he committed the sin.
But Cain disappointed God and mocked God’s hopes.
So now, did God ignore Cain and turn His face away from Cain?
God didn’t do like that.
Genesis 4:15 says, “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, so that no one finding him would slay him.”
This is the verse that helps us deeply feel the great love of God once again.
As God established the law of the spiritual realm, orders and rules of nature, and the foundation that He laid all these upon was ‘love.’
When He drove Adam out to this earth, He didn’t completely cut off communication with Adam.
By making garments of skin for them and clothing them, He bound them with the chords of salvation and of grace.
In addition, He opened the passageway to the spiritual realm so that his descendants in the Garden of Eden could visit him.
All was God’s consideration of love.
God showed this love of His to Cain as well.
Since Cain killed his brother, he thought some others would also kill him.
He trembled in fear, and suffered terribly.
God had mercy on Cain, and took an action of protection so that Cain wouldn’t be killed.
God allowed Cain to enjoy the span his entire life.
The reason God did this was because God wanted to give a chance for Cain to cultivate his heart.
And thus, God appointed a sign for Cain so that no one would slay him.
This ‘sign’ however, was not to symbolize the glory and dignity of God; it was rather a sign to reveal ‘sin and shame.’
When people saw the sign, they could figure out that God protected him as well as what kind of sinner Cain was.
Thanks to this sign, Cain could avoid harm from anybody, but at the same time, he had to live his life as a sinner.
This sign always reminded him of the sin he committed.
To Cain, the sign was the memory of sin that he could never forget during his life time.
Whenever he saw the sign, he regretted his past days, and made up mind not to commit sin again.
Until his life came to an end on this earth, he repented his sin completely, bore fruit in keeping with repentance, and eventually reached salvation.
Since Cain was barely saved, he went to the outskirts of Paradise, the lowest dwelling place in Heaven.
In fact, even though Cain repented completely, he did it because he feared the punishment.
If he had changed his heart into goodness, and had done his best to please God, he could have entered a better dwelling place in Heaven.
But Cain was not a person to have such a heart.
Dear brothers and sisters.
There are people who put on their bodies something like the sign that God appointed to Cain.
I’m talking about tattoos.
A tattoo of any shape on the body is to say, ‘I am a sinner’ in a spiritual sense.
That’s why God detests getting a tattoo on the body.
Moreover, many tattoos have the shapes of detestable animals.
Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves.”
It clearly tells you not to make any tattoo marks on yourself.
Revelation 14:11 also says, “…they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
During the 7 Year Great Tribulation in the future, the antichrist will force people to receive a mark on their foreheads or hands.
This is the ‘mark of the beast.’
If a man takes this mark, he cannot even receive a chance in the Gleaning Salvation, but he will surely fall down to death.
This mark of the beast is somewhat different from a tattoo; in a sense of putting a mark on a body, it is equally improper before God.
Did any of you make a tattoo mark on yourself?
Stop saying, “What should I do now?” and don’t worry.
You did it because you didn’t know its spiritual meaning, and you must have repented all your past as you accepted the Lord.
Then, there will be no problem with salvation.
Of course, it is important to turn back from the depth of the heart.
Yet still, if possible, it would be better to remove the tattoo.
Thanks to highly developed medical technology, if you want to, you can virtually erase it.
As a child of Holy God, it is better yet to have a spotless body and to have spiritual confidence as well.
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