◄ What Does Genesis 4:1 Mean? ►

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD."

Genesis 4:1(NASB)

Verse of the Day

On the day that Eve was taken out of man and given to him as his helper, God gave Adam and his wife the command to be fruitful and multiply. They were charged to fill the earth and to subdue it. And although Genesis chapter 4 begins with the man and woman starting to carry out God's initial command to fill the earth with their seed, they had already fallen into sin.

Both the man and woman had disobeyed God's command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and rebellion was already rooted deep within their hearts. Both had become the possessors of a fallen nature, a sin nature: "The old man," as the Bible calls it. And from the birth of their first child onwards, every member of the human race would be born with a sin nature and a predisposition to evil, for we read that Adam begot sons and daughters. And from their firstborn onwards, Adam's offspring were made in his own sinful likeness, after his own fallen image.

Every member of the human race from the birth of Cain onwards would be born dead in their trespasses and sins; having a knowledge of good but without the power to carry it out, and having a knowledge of evil but without the power to avoid it.

And so, the story of sinful man and his fallen race began when Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived by her husband and gave birth to a man-child, a little baby boy: "I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord," was her joyful response. Eve certainly praised God and recognised that the fruit of her womb was by God's enablement. She probably thought that she had given birth to the Seed that God had promised would crush the serpents head. But the Seed of the woman, Who was to become man's Kinsman-Redeemer, was not appointed to arrive for another four thousand years.

Cain was born outside of Paradise; outside of God's design for mankind beyond the brief period of man's innocence, and that which is born of the flesh is fleshly and carnal. From the corrupted seed of Adam streamed all the filth and ruin and depravity of fallen man, for there is none righteous, no not even one.

And thus was born the first child with a sin nature, for Cain was born in the image and likeness of his fallen father and his sinful mother. Cain could have remarked on his birth with the words from Psalm 51: "Behold, I was born in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me." And so began humanities six-thousand-long-year journey of godlessness and rebellion against their Creator.

But from the beginning, God knew the wrong choices Adam and his race would make, and in His goodness and grace had foreordained a wonderful plan of redemption. This would come through the unique and perfect Seed of the woman Whom God would send at the appointed time; our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the truth of Your Word and for Your own eye-witness account of what took place in the garden when man sinned against God, and of Your wonderful plan of redemption. Thank You for all the lessons I can learn from the story of Cain and Abel. Help me to live my life in a way that is pleasing to You. In Jesus' name, AMEN.