The new congregation of the family of God was established on earth, made up of only two members at that time. Their worship exercises were performed daily. We go today by faith to the place where God meets with His children, but Adam and Eve were blessed with a personal visit from their heavenly Father in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). What a privilege was theirs!

We are not sure how long this beautiful relationship between man and God lasted, but we know that it ended when Eve disregarded the divine prohibition, and together with Adam, fell into sin. What a sad picture! All the inhabitants of heaven wept with indescribable sorrow. But in the kingdom of Satan there was a devilish glee.

The earthly family fell. But they were not to remain in a fallen condition. The Creator Himself made provision for their uplifting (Genesis 3:15). In the first innocent lamb slain by Adam’s hands and burned upon the altar, Adam and Eve had seen the pledge of their salvation, and the hope of returning to Eden from whence they had been banished (Genesis 3:23).

“The Garden of Eden remained upon the earth long after man had become an outcast from its pleasant paths. The fallen race were long permitted to gaze upon the home of innocence, their entrance barred only by the watching angels. At the cherubim-guarded gate of Paradise the divine glory was revealed. Hither came Adam and his sons to worship God. Here they renewed their vows of obedience to that law the transgression of which had banished them from Eden. When the tide of iniquity overspread the world, and the wickedness of men determined their destruction by a flood of waters, the hand that had planted Eden withdrew it from the earth. But in the final restitution, when there shall be ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Revelation 21:1), it is to be restored more gloriously adorned than at the beginning.” 2 What a wonderful Father!

At some point, Adam’s first son, Cain, was born. It was wonderful. The family now had three members. The second boy, Abel, was born afterwards. Four persons made up the little company of worshipers. In a short time the number of inhabitants on earth had doubled. What a success!

The boys grew. They became two mighty intelligences that quickly absorbed all knowledge. They became men—two giants, physically and mentally. But marked differences determined the spiritual character of each (Genesis 4:3, 4).

“Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, differed widely in character. Abel had a spirit of loyalty to God; he saw justice and mercy in the Creator’s dealings with the fallen race, and gratefully accepted the hope of redemption. But Cain cherished feelings of rebellion, and murmured against God because of the curse pronounced upon the earth and upon the human race for Adam’s sin. He permitted his mind to run in the same channel that led to Satan’s fall—indulging the desire for self-exaltation and questioning the divine justice and authority. . . .

“Without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin; and they were to show their faith in the blood of Christ as the promised atonement by offering the firstlings of the flock in sacrifice. Besides this, the first fruits of the earth were to be presented before the Lord as a thank offering.

“The two brothers erected their altars alike, and each brought an offering. Abel presented a sacrifice from the flock, in accordance with the Lord’s directions. ‘And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.’ Fire flashed from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. But Cain, disregarding the Lord’s direct and explicit command, presented only an offering of fruit. There was no token from heaven to show that it was accepted. Abel pleaded with his brother to approach God in the divinely prescribed way, but his entreaties only made Cain the more determined to follow his own will. As the eldest, he felt above being admonished by his brother, and despised his counsel.

“Cain came before God with murmuring and infidelity in his heart in regard to the promised sacrifice and the necessity of the sacrificial offerings. His gift expressed no penitence for sin. He felt, as many now feel, that it would be an acknowledgment of weakness to follow the exact plan marked out by God, of trusting his salvation wholly to the atonement of the promised Saviour. He chose the course of self-dependence. He would come in his own merits. He would not bring the lamb, and mingle its blood with his offering, but would present his fruits, the products of his labor. He presented his offering as a favor done to God, through which he expected to secure the divine approval. Cain obeyed in building an altar, obeyed in bringing a sacrifice; but he rendered only a partial obedience. The essential part, the recognition of the need of a Redeemer, was left out.” 3

In contrast to the attitude of Cain, Abel’s soul was filled with gratitude to God for His mercy and endless love.

“ ‘By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain’ (Hebrews 11:4). Abel grasped the great principles of redemption. He saw himself a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, the sacrificed life, thus acknowledging the claims of the law that had been transgressed. Through the shed blood he looked to the future sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary; and trusting in the atonement that was there to be made, he had the witness that he was righteous, and his offering accepted.

“Cain had the same opportunity of learning and accepting these truths as had Abel. He was not the victim of an arbitrary purpose. One brother was not elected to be accepted of God, and the other to be rejected. Abel chose faith and obedience; Cain, unbelief and rebellion. Here the whole matter rested.” 4

These two brothers represent two classes of worshipers. There are only two classes: those who, through their presumptuous attitude, think to worship the eternal God in a false way as Cain did—and others who genuinely worship Him as Abel did. Cain outlined his own way of worship; he brought to God an offering which was different from that which God required. He presumed to worship Him in his own way. He was not an atheist, but he did not love his heavenly Father. Therefore, he did not obey Him. Abel accepted the requirements of God with full love. He believed, and this was accounted unto him for righteousness.

These two classes of worshipers, so diverse from one another, cannot co-exist peacefully. There was war on earth, the same which had its beginning in heaven. Cain was moved by the spirit of the evil one. On the part of Abel, God’s ambassador, there were counsels, admonitions, and pleas to Cain to present the required sacrifice. Christ Himself appealed to him (see Genesis 4:6, 7).

“But instead of acknowledging his sin, Cain continued to complain of the injustice of God and to cherish jealousy and hatred of Abel. He angrily reproached his brother, and attempted to draw him into controversy concerning God’s dealings with them. In meekness, yet fearlessly and firmly, Abel defended the justice and goodness of God. He pointed out Cain’s error, and tried to convince him that the wrong was in himself. He pointed to the compassion of God in sparing the life of their parents when He might have punished them with instant death, and urged that God loved them, or He would not have given His Son, innocent and holy, to suffer the penalty which they had incurred. All this caused Cain’s anger to burn the hotter. Reason and conscience told him that Abel was in the right; but he was enraged that one who had been wont to heed his counsel should now presume to disagree with him, and that he could gain no sympathy in his rebellion. In the fury of his passion he slew his brother.” 5

Thus the wicked stroke of religious intolerance slew the first martyr of the Gospel, and this took place when the world was still in its infancy. Who would be the second victim? “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous” (1 John 3:10–12).

God’s family was shaken by the apostasy of Cain and suffered a decrease in number. Although Abel’s righteous life was cut short by Cain’s murderous action, the Bible states that even though he is dead, his righteous life is nonetheless a living testimony still and an example to all that have lived on the earth from that time until today (Hebrews 11:4).

The family of God had now decreased. One son (Abel) was lost by death, and the other (Cain) by apostasy (Genesis 4:14, 16). The almost unbearable pain of losing two of their sons was a terrible experience and a great discouragement to Adam and Eve.

Years passed. The Bible tells us that Adam was 130 years old when his son Seth was born (Genesis 5:3). Seth was to be the heir of the spiritual birthright. “He was a worthy character, following in the steps of Abel. Yet he inherited no more natural goodness than did Cain. . . . Seth, like Cain, inherited the fallen nature of his parents. But he received also the knowledge of the Redeemer and instruction in righteousness. By divine grace he served and honored God; and he labored, as Abel would have done, had he lived, to turn the minds of sinful men to revere and obey their Creator.” 6

The two classes of people advanced in parallel lines, despite the astonishing difference between them. The class represented by Abel and Seth, are those who strongly fight against the pernicious influence of false worshipers. It finally will triumph. Abel is the noble symbol of God’s church which now is militant, but in the future will become triumphant.

“ ‘To Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.’ The faithful had worshiped God before; but as men increased, the distinction between the two classes became more marked. There was an open profession of loyalty to God on the part of one, as there was of contempt and disobedience on the part of the other.” 7

Other generations came into existence: Cainan, Maleleel, Jared, Enoch, Mathusalah, Lamech. These (father, son, grandson, great-grandson, and so on) heard Adam’s story from his own lips and kept the torch of truth continually burning before the gate of “Eden.”

The tenth patriarch was born, Noah. When he was 480 years old God told him that after 120 years the world was to be destroyed with water. Noah was bidden to make provision for escape by building an ark of refuge. Meanwhile his voice of warning to the world in his day was given repeatedly, in order to save them from the coming catastrophe. But because they did not heed the warning, the world was condemned to destruction (Hebrews 11:7). One hundred and twenty years of intense missionary work of preaching, warning, working on the ark, and pleading with the people to repent, resulted in the repentance of only a few souls, and these died before the flood commenced. Others of Noah’s converts apostatized, so only 8 persons entered the ark—Noah and his immediate family. What an apparent defeat for the messenger of righteousness! But this defeat of the church militant resulted in its purification as well as that of the earth. She was freed from the incorregible apostates.

The family of God was reduced to eight souls (1 Peter 3:20), but they all were children of the faith, the pure gold free from the dross, the church purified from the spurious believers. Where then were the people of that other class represented by Cain? They had disappeared in the turbulent waters of the Flood. Root and branches were destroyed. Cain’s sophistry would never again gain ground. Or would it?

Cain had died centuries before, and all his descendants perished outside Noah’s ark. However, Satan, the one who inspired Cain, remains up to this day. This is why the church of the apostates represented by Cain still exists today. It was reborn soon after the Flood, even among the descendants of Noah. Though Christians living today are all descendants of Noah and profess to belong to God’s church, we might say that Cain’s class today is stronger and larger in number than ever. And because they have turned away from the truth, it is the same class as in the past. Religious intolerance against the faithful has continued in all ages. Those who are like Abel are not tolerated by those who are like Cain, who have never left off the merciless axe. They have never stopped smiting Abel.

Eventually, Abraham was born. Upon the earth rested the heavy load of 2,000 years of stubborn conflict between good and evil. By then, no one lived over two centuries. Isaac and Israel, the son and grandson of Abraham, constituted the triad upon whom was inscribed the title: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” That was Abraham’s family. Then the most important experiences of faith took place in the church, and Abraham received the title of “father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11).

A few centuries later the family increased like the stars of heaven, all of them descendants of Abraham. This was exactly what God had promised him, even before he had a child (Genesis 15:5, 6). But where was God’s family at that time? They were in Egypt, not in Canaan, the promised land. They were now a nation of slaves. They suffered under the tyranny of various Pharaohs, each one more severe than his predecessor. There was an uninterrupted line of dynasties in the passing of time, riding on the heads of their vassals, the Israelites. Where was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob then?. . . someone may wonder.

God’s great power of deliverance would soon be manifested. This was a miniature sample of the future, the Lord’s perfect salvation for His people. He commanded Moses, an 80-year-old shepherd in the desert of Midian, to guide more than a million Israelites out of the land of the pyramids. A great victory was then achieved at the Red Sea.

But ahead, there still remained another 1,500 years before the actual birth of the Deliverer from sin. What an apparent eternity! What a long story, and oftentimes a very sad one! How long would the family of God be bitten by the serpent? The Bible gives us only a few glimpses of the long dark story, which includes the Babylonian captivity that was both painful and profitable. God’s family was then healed from idolatry, which had been their chronic spiritual disease.

The last four centuries just before the appearing of the star of Bethlehem are immersed in obscurity. Only the hereafter will reveal to us what happened to God’s church during that era.

The time had come for the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. This miracle would be the most important event in history. But it was not long before the great dragon quickly appeared for to devour the Child-God (Revelation 12:3–5). Because of his cruel jealousy, Herod, who wore on the finger of his right hand the Roman ring, and held in his right hand the scepter, was used by Satan as an instrument of torture. Many innocent children were slain in Bethlehem. But Joseph and Mary were instructed to flee with the Christ-child to Egypt. What a relief!

The Son of man grew up and went out to fulfill His redeeming mission. When He was 33 years of age He received the same stroke that destroyed Abel. He was not exempt from the hatred of Cain! In reality, all of Satan’s hatred was centered on one Person. No human being ever faced such a mortal blow as that inflicted upon the Son of God. He was neither understood, neither loved, nor respected, except by a few members of His church. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11).

When Christ will be asked in the future kingdom of glory, He will explain to those who lived and died before His suffering and death, and to the faithful from among the heathen, that the wounds in His hands and feet are “those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zechariah 13:6). What kindness! What matchless love!

The mortal blow inflicted upon Jesus was the result of the greatest religious intolerance ever recorded. In the ecclesiastical circle at that time, they believed that His death would be for the benefit of the whole nation (John 11:49, 50). Ironically, the death of Christ actually benefitted not only Israel, but also repentant souls in all ages and in every nation of earth who would accept God’s remedy for their salvation. When Christ arose from the grave, a number of saints were also resurrected with Him. These were the “firstfruits” representing all who had died—and were yet to die—in the faith, from the time of Adam and Eve until the close of probation (see Matthew 27:52, 53). It was a foretaste of the resurrection of the just to take place as a trophy of Christ’s victory over the prince of darkness, sin and death (Revelation 20:5, 6).

At the time of Christ’s resurrection, the church was still not ready to enter into her rest. God waited a little more to grant redemption to His people.

Now we are soon to enter the third millennium since the birth of the Messiah, and the church is still here as if she would be condemned to stay here for eternity. “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10). This is the cry of protest of God’s church on earth, which has been resounding through the air for over 6,000 years. It has reached the ears of God and we can hear the steps of Him who is approaching for the deliverance of His church. He will translate us with His mighty hand into His kingdom. “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; we have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in” (Isaiah 26:1, 2). This will be the condition of the church triumphant after she will have finished her task of giving the final warning to a perishing world, under the power of the Holy Spirit, the “latter rain.” From the lips of the Saviour, the church will hear the response, like soft music: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Song of Solomon 2:10).

Yes, everything will then be different. There never again will exist such things as the cudgel, sling, sword, spear, whip, hatchet, hemlock, hangman, crown of thorns, dagger, pistol, bayonet, submarine, mine, gun, rifle, missile, bomb. The guillotine, the gallows, the dungeon, the prison, the handcuffs, the iron point, and the like will never be used again. There will never be instituted a “Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition.” Cain and his successors will exist no longer. Abel and his fellow believers will live for ever and ever.

“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 25:9, 8).

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).