Characters of CreationSample

Abel’s life also points us to another important truth. It reveals God’s heart for justice. When Abel followed his brother to the field that day, he probably didn’t know it would be his last day on earth. But perhaps he sensed the growing hostility between him and his brother, perhaps he could feel the seething rage inside of Cain, maybe he knew he was headed into danger. We can speculate on how this went down—if Cain overpowered Abel with force, if he was the physically stronger brother, or if he ambushed him when he wasn’t looking. It was a gross injustice, the shedding of the innocent blood of an image-bearer, a direct assault on God Himself. And yet what happened in that field that day wasn’t done in secret, for the God who sees and hears, saw. God sees injustice and doesn’t wink at it.

Moses writes that God declared that Abel’s blood “cried to him” from the ground. And so it is with every drop of innocent blood spilled across time and eternity. God sees the aborted baby discarded in abortion mills. God sees the victims of violence on our city streets, the victims who quickly pass from the headlines. God sees the refugees and victims of trafficking. God sees when women are assaulted in their homes, when young children are abused, when political prisoners in places like North Korea are forced to live an existence barely above death in labor camps. Oh, He sees. God knows and as the judge of the earth will “do what is just”.

Abel’s sacrifice was satisfactory to God as a sign of his faith, but Jesus’ sacrifice is better. Abel’s blood cries out for justice. Jesus’ blood speaks of mercy and grace for those who believe. Says scholar George Guthrie: “Abel’s blood bore witness against Cain, indicating his guilt. Christ’s blood, on the other hand, has won our forgiveness, ‘crying out’ that people of the new covenant are no longer guilty, having been cleansed completely from sin.”

In Jesus’ death, we see both just punishment, exacted by God for sin, the sins of Adam, the sins of Cain, and our own sins; and we see forgiveness and reconciliation between God and sinners. This is the better word spoken by Jesus, the one that those who believe can hear, a word that says to us, “It is finished.”