The Meaning of Blood
Sacrifice
The story of Cain an Abel premiers the story of the “Heroes of Faith” in the
book of Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4.
“By Faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he
obtained witness that he was righteous, God
testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead
yet speaketh.”
What excellent sacrifice did Abel offer to God? What was
the gift that Cain brought that God did not accept?
Cain was the tiller of the ground. He was the family farmer.
Abel was the keeper of heep…the caretaker of the flock.
When the time came for the offerings to the Lord, Abel's offering was
accepted and Cain’s was not.
In order to make sense of this occasion it is critical that you understand
God's interest in blood sacrifice over sacrifices from the sweat of your brow.
You see...when Adam and Eve fell from Grace through disobedience, they
saw their nakedness and God “made coats of skins, and clothed them.”
What do you think had to happen in order for God to acquire the skins to
clothe them? He had to kill a lamb in order to obtain the skin.
The process entails the shedding of blood in order to cover their nakedness. An
unblemished lamb had to be slain. This is the type of Christ that is to be
sacrificed and whose shed blood is to cover our nakedness that we inherited
from our ancestor’s disobedience.
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