Two People Groups: Believers and Unbelievers
Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”
From the time that Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden there have always been two people groups in the earth, i.e. believers and unbelievers. Jesus referred to them as the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the wicked one (Matthew 13:38). Believers are those who have faith in God and their faith is accounted to them for righteousness by God. These are the people of God. The first two sons born to Adam and Eve are representative of these two people groups. The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that Abel was one who was included in the people group of faith.
1 John 3:12 “not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.”
The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that Abel’s brother Cain on the other hand, was included in the people group of unbelievers. The reason why Cain’s offering was not accepted by God is because he never offered it in faith. Unbelievers are those who do not have faith in God, and they therefore do not partake in the righteousness of God. These are the people of the devil.
Genesis 7:1 “Then the Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.”
Just as Cain murdered his brother Abel, so it is today. The sons of the wicked one always persecute the sons of the kingdom. It is only by faith that one is included among the sons of the kingdom, and it has nothing to do with ancestry and genealogies. Both Cain and Abel were born from the same parents in the natural, but one was included among the sons of the kingdom, while the other was included among the sons of the wicked one. All through the generations there have been those who have been included in the people group of believers in the earth. Enoch, Job and Noah are examples of those who were included among the sons of the kingdom. Nevertheless they have always been the minority in the earth. The clear majority of people in the earth have been those who have been included among the unbelieving people group. As an example, it is estimated that at the time of the flood in the days of Noah, that the population on the earth consisted of approximately two billion people. And yet as we can see from the above quoted passage of scripture, God found only one among them who was righteous i.e. Noah.
Michael E.B. Maher
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