NO. 72 TO KILL HIS BROTHER

TEXT : GENESIS 4 : 8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it cam to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. (KJV)

Today I am going to give a message entitled “TO KILL HIS BROTHER.”

The text is from the description in Genesis. They say that Genesis is the seedbed of the Bible. For the origins and stories of many things coming to happen later are written in this book.

For example one of them is the sin that is the great problem of men. When we like to learn of the sin, Genesis is useful. It is written of the sin of the first man in Genesis. That is the story of Adam and Eve. We learn of many things concerning why man sins before God when we read Genesis.

And the first couple of man and woman and their marriage are written in Genesis. The relation of the marriage of man and woman illustrate the relation between Christ and the Church and this is the great mystery.

Moreover, it is also written of the brotherhood together, Cain and Abel. To our surprise the murder is happened between these first brothers.

We can infer from the story that the Bible should tell us some meaning in the murder between the brothers.

The Bible gives us many teachings through the sin of the first man Adam.

And the Bible also tells of the mystery of Christ and the Church through the marriage of the first man and the woman. Likewise, why not do we infer that the Bible tells something through the murder between the first brothers?

When we read the Bible, we find so many times the stories that the elder brother kills his own younger. There is none that the elder sister kills her own younger, neither the husband his own wife, or the wife her own husband. But there are many cases of murders between brothers, and the cases are decisively that the elder brother kills his own younger.

So there is something that God likes to tell and teach us.

In my understanding this is the sign of the murders between brothers to come in the end time. For the Bible says concerning the end time as below.

MATTHEW 10: 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. (KJV)

The martyrs in the pattern that the brother kills the bother will come in the end time. This is what these stories tell us as the sign, I think.

Both elder brother and the younger are God’s people. But there is the division and distinction between them before God.

The Bible tells these in each passage. We are now going to see some of the relation of brothers one by one.

Cain and Abel

GENESIS 4: 3, 4 3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering upon the Lord.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. (KJV)

It is written that Cain brings an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord and the Lord has no respect to it. The heaven is contrasted to the earth in the Bible. The Christians “sit in heavenly places” according to Ephesians and are the descendants of Abraham and the stars in heaven. The offering of Cain is from the ground, the world, and we know why God has no respect to it.

On the contrary Abel offers the best, “the firstlings of his flock of the fat.” And God has respect to it. And the reason why the elder brother hates his younger is because God has no respect to his offering. And the anger produces the consequence of the death of the younger.

These two persons are the types of the two kinds of Christians. One persecutes another and kills him.

Esau and Jacob

GENESIS 27: 36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? (KJV)

GENESIS 27: 41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob? (KJV)

Why Esau hates Jacob is because Jacob is blessed and Esau is not. Esau is refused. This distinction will come up in the end time. It is the distinction between Christians who will be blessed of God and who will not. And the day will come when the distinction will produce murderous intention.

Joseph

GENESIS 37: 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. (KJV)

GENESIS 37: 19, 20 19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. (KJV)

The elder brothers hate their younger because they see that their father loves him. The same will happen in the end time, too.

Yet we would like to do His will in the end time.

End.