JOHN 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.
Finally, after forty long centuries of GOD working out HIS purpose, it was finished. After over seventy generations had come and gone, been born and died, worked, hungered and striven for righteousness, it was finished. After countless civilizations had risen up to replace other countless civilizations, and after powerful rulers had ruled and then been ruled over it was finished according to GOD's purpose. After the Pharaoh's, and the Nebuchadnezzar's, and the Cyrus' had all gone by the boards, working out GOD's purpose to one end, it was finished! Yeshua (Jesus) had finally finished what GOD had called Him to do.
What was it that He had finished? He had finished GOD's plan of redemption for mankind! That's why we must begin here, for if we did not begin where He finished it, we would no doubt try to finish it ourselves. We would approach GOD from the distant, not realizing Christ has seated us in the heavenlies. We would attempt to work to earn an audience with the Father, even though Christ has made us HIS dwelling place.
Because of Christ and the work He finished, we no longer need "eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's (Israel's) table", nor do we stand outside as servants. Nay! We are sons awaiting our rightful place as heirs. Yeshua has paid the awful price we were not able to, nor would we have been willing to.
We have already been redeemed because of the price He paid. Not realizing that Christ has already blazed a trail to the heart of GOD for us, too many spend their lives wallowing in self-pity or driving themselves in circles trying to find a god who isn't there. All this self deprivation and self-searching is so unnecessary when we realize what Christ accomplished for us, when He pursued His purpose and finished His course.
Four thousand years before Christ had accomplished our redemption, Adam had fallen from the dominion GOD had given him. It was then when GOD pointed the road back to redemption for all whom would follow it, and now that road had run it's course ending with Yeshua and man's redemption.
GOD promised Adam and Eve that they would have a descendent who would redeem mankind and Believers down through the centuries found redemption in that promised Savior, who turned out to be Yeshua. Satan, the instrument of Adam and Eve's death, bruised this Redeemer by having Him crucified, but GOD, who knows the end from before the beginning raised Him from the dead and seated Him at HIS OWN right hand.
From that early point in Paradise all the way to the cross, mankind is offered two roads to follow; the high road and the low road. One is offered by GOD towards the Redeemer and His work, the other by Satan towards self and his work. Those are the two different callings, GOD's way or Satan's. We see these choices laid out before mankind time and again throughout Scripture.
Even from the very outset right after the spiritual death of their parents, we see these two ways set before us with Cain and Abel. Cain shows us self's way to redemption while Abel shows us GOD's way.
GENESIS 4:1-5 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD [so she thought]. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 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: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Cain was a farmer. He had worked hard for his offering and was no doubt very proud of his prosperity. Abel on the other hand was a herdsman who watched over a flock of sheep. Cain's offering "of the fruit of the ground" by the sweat of his brow seemingly offered a lot compared to Abel's simply offering "the firstlings of his flock". To sight, Cain had offered GOD more, for farming in those times was very hard work. But our arena is not of sight as Scripture shall teach us many times over. Our arena is of faith, where faith stands, and where faith rules.
HEBREWS 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto GOD a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous...
Abel offered by faith, Cain did not. Faith is hearing, believing and then obeying GOD. So it stands that Abel must have heard what offering the LORD required. If he had not heard, it could not have been by faith.
Cain must also have heard, otherwise GOD would have been unjust in not respecting Cain's offering. But Cain had heard, and did reject the counsel of the LORD by not offering rightly. Perhaps he thought that he could gain GOD's grace by working harder, sacrificing more or being better. GOD does not reward sacrifice however, but obedience (JEREMIAH 7:22-24). If GOD needs our sacrifice, then HIS Son's sacrifice must not have been adequate.
The offering GOD required of Cain and Abel would point to the ultimate sacrifice of GOD offering HIS only begotten Son for man's redemption. That would require Christ's life, for scripture teaches us that there can be no redemption without the shedding of blood. Until that final sacrifice was made, until that final blood was shed, mankind was to offer token sacrifices acknowledging the high price of redemption.
Here, outside the Garden, Abel realized mankind could only be redeemed by the "promised one" and by that realization his offering was accepted. Cain however did not. He thought that by his own works he could be redeemed and that was his fall. GOD was not asking them to earn redemption but rather to believe that GOD would provide it.
The truth that we are beginning to uncover is that Yeshua is the heart and soul of the Bible. Yeshua is the purpose of the ages. Throughout the Bible we are either being told what was to be accomplished by Him, or what is to be accomplished by Him. Many incidents, the lives of many men and the destinies of many nations cannot be understood apart from realizing that they direct us to Christ. This is the single purpose of GOD in recording within Holy Scripture incidents we would deem insignificant and therefore have left out, or why GOD omitted events we would have thought vital to understanding the record. GOD's purpose was to point man to the Redeemer, Yeshua the Christ. That was HIS end, even from the beginning.
At the dawn of a new age, just after the fall of man, this record of Cain and Abel is what GOD purposes to give us "for our learning...that we might have hope". But it was not the hope of Cain, a hope that emanates from the sweat of thy brow or the work of thy hands. It is not a hope of what we have finished, what we desired to offer! That was Cain's hope. Nay! This is a hope of what GOD finished, because HIS Son was offered!
That was Abel's hope. He offered a lamb then, but it all pointed to the Lamb that would be offered when "it was finished"! The "Lamb without blemish or defect".
1 PETER 1:18-21 NIV For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in GOD, WHO raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in GOD.
Through Him, through Yeshua we believe GOD. Either our "faith and hope are in GOD", or an "empty way of life". From Abel to John the Baptist, from Cain to Judas Iscariot we see these two pursuits. Either man will seek out the LORD and HIS purpose, or he will "seek himself" and his own purpose.
In record after record throughout the Old Testament, GOD points man away from the folly of self, to the "Savior of the world". That was the hope HE set before Adam and Eve in GENESIS 3:15 and that is the true understanding of Cain and Abel's offerings.
GOD orchestrates the entire universe for HIS purpose. Even the stars in their constellations point us to the Redeemer and His work. Who is Virgo (Hebrew, bethulah meaning virgin)? Is it not Mary the mother of Yeshua? Who is Draco (the Dragon)? Is it not Satan, Christ's adversary? Who is Leo (the Lion)? Is it not the Christ Himself?
Have you ever looked into a starry sky and tried to find the different constellations? Unless you're schooled as an astronomer, it's pretty difficult. Do the stars comprising Virgo look like a woman? No! Do the stars comprising Leo even remotely resemble a lion? No! Yet that is the picture we have of them. Why? Because GOD taught "long ago" that the purpose of these constellations is to reveal to us the struggle for our redemption and they continue such, even unto this present hour.
The purpose of the ages is written all across the heavens, yet mankind has searched for ages and never found it.
PSALM 147:4 HE telleth the number of the stars; HE calleth them all by their names.
It is no wonder our GOD "can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or even think". The entire Universe moves "according to HIS purpose"!
In order for GOD to bring about HIS purpose, HE must over-rule HIS creation. HE may allow Satan's rule under HIM, and man's rule under that, but only HE over-rules. We will first be humbled and then electrified when we see how marvelous is GOD's over-ruling. Many times in Scripture we will see how, although Satan and man may think they are furthering their own purposes, in reality they often only accomplish GOD's purposes.
Such was the case in the calling of Yeshua Himself.
MARK 12:10-11 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected this is become the head of the corner: This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
All the time GOD knew which stone would be the "head of the corner". But the builders rejected it, that is, until the time came for it to be placed! Yeshua was rejected, condemned and crucified as a total failure. The host of Satan believed they had defeated GOD, but in truth they only played into HIS hand. Everything from Judas' betrayal to Peter's denials was foreknown by GOD. This "marvelous" thing was possible because the LORD over-rules HIS creation.
HE has so engineered the ages that with inspiring ease HE accomplishes HIS purposes. Our choice is either to hop aboard and enjoy the presence of HIS company on the way to glory, or stand aside and watch the train roar on down the line. But even to the stubborn saint who insists on standing alone, this all powerful and all knowing GOD is also an all loving GOD, full of mercy and compassion.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 NIV That GOD was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them...
"In Christ!" GOD reconciles the world to HIM-self, but only "in Christ". The heart and soul of the Bible is Yeshua the Christ! The stone, which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner. He is the "Stone of Israel" in GENESIS 49:24; He is the "Headstone" of PSALM 118:22; He is the "tried Stone", the "precious corner Stone", the "sure Foundation" of ISAIAH 28:16. He is the antitype of the Holy Scriptures. An anti-type is "that which is foreshadowed by or identified with an earlier symbol or type, such as a figure in the New Testament who has a counterpart in the Old Testament" (The American Heritage Dictionary).
Yeshua is the figure in the New Testament, Who has many "counterparts" in the Old Testament. These "counterparts" we will begin to uncover to learn how marvelously GOD works out HIS purposes. These "counterparts" show us just how remarkably GOD does over-rule HIS creation. Understanding them will cause Scripture to blossom before us, as we've never imagined. Stories we have been taught since Sunday school will for the first time come together for us.
Scripture teaches that it is GOD's desire that all men know the truth, so HE must have made a way to access it. HE has. As we begin to realize the "exceeding greatness of HIS power", our confidence in HIS guidance will take root and establish us in the Faith! Onward!
COLOSSIANS 2:6-7 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
All is in Him!