"The Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.'"
Genesis 4:6
4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord."
2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the land an offering of the fruit of the ground,
4 and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell
The history of restoration follows a reversal course. Therefore, Abel, as the younger brother, has to gain the position of elder brother, and Cain has to accept the younger brother.
This exchange needed to take place between Cain and Abel. According to the formula for restoration, Cain should come down to the younger brother's position and Abel should come up to the elder brother's position. Unless this reversal occurs, there is no way for restoration to take place.
In human history, there has always been a Cain-Abel struggle, manifesting itself through all manner of battles and wars. In Adam's family, the parents were lost, and the children fought to the death. It is almost unimaginable that the first family that God created ended in bloodshed. For humankind to be restored, there needs to he a reversal of order from the individual level to the worldwide level.
Let Us Be Proud of and Love True Parents
January 1, 1996
Both Cain and Abel were the fruits of Eve's Fall; hence. Their relative positions were determined according to their course. Eve's Fall was consummated through two different illicit love relationships.
The first was the spiritual Fall through her relationship with the Archangel. The second was the physical Fall through her relationship with Adam. Certainly, the two relationships were both fallen acts. Yet between the two, the second act of love was more in line with the Principle and more forgivable than the first.
Eve's first fallen act was motivated by her excessive desire to enjoy what it was not yet time for her to enjoy and have her eyes opened, like God. (Gen. 3:5) This desire led her to consummate a relationship of unprincipled sexual love with the Archangel.
In comparison, Eve's second fallen act was motivated by her heartfelt longing to return to God's bosom after she realized that her first fallen relationship had been illicit. This desire led her to consummate a relationship with Adam, her intended spouse according to the Principle, even though God did not yet permit it.
God discriminated between Cain and Abel based on Eve's two illicit acts of love and accordingly placed Cain and Abel in two opposing positions. In other words, since Cain was the first fruit of Eve's love, signifying Eve's first fallen act of love with the Archangel, he was chosen to represent evil. Therefore, he was in a position to relate to Satan.
Since Abel was the second fruit of Eve's love, signifying Eve's second act of love with Adam, he was chosen to represent goodness. Therefore, he was in a position to relate to God.
Why did God accept Abel's offering but reject Cain's?
God received Abel's sacrifice because he stood in a proper relationship with God and made the offering in a manner acceptable to Him. (Heb. 11:4)
In this way, Abel successfully made a foundation of faith in Adam's family. He serves as an example that any fallen person can make an offering acceptable to God, provided they satisfy the necessary conditions.
God did not reject Cain's sacrifice because He hated him_ Rather. After all, Cain stood in a position to relate to Satan, which gave Satan rights over the sacrifice. God could not accept Cain's sacrifice unless he first made some condition justifying its acceptance.
The example of Cain shows that for a person who has a connection with Satan to return to God's side, he must make a requisite condition of restitution. What condition of restitution should Cain have made? It was to remove the fallen nature.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II. Section II
4:6 The Lord said to Cain. "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well. will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well. sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
8 Cain said to Abel his brother, "Let us go ou1 to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
10 The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
After Cain and Abel made their offerings, Cain found out that God only received Abel's offering.
Cain then despised Abel and beat him to death. You have to understand, however, that from the time they had made the preparations to make the offerings, Cain already had hatred toward Abel.
It was not because he momentarily felt hatred when God did not receive his offering. Rather, even before that took place, Cain hated Abel and wanted to beat him to death.
Let Us Understand the True Path and Discern the Side Path
November I, 1957
If Cain had even the slightest desire to go through Abel, who represented Heaven's position, then God would have taken Cain's offering. Even if there might be a difference in time, He wanted to relate with them from the same position.
Let Us Understand the True Path and Discern the Side Path
November 1, 1957
Who is Abel? It is Abel who can restore God's objects of love to God by going through the way of hardships. Abel must subjugate Cain by the heart of love. On the horizontal level, Abel stands in the position of God.
Just as God loves fallen man, Abel must have the heart of love toward Cain and restore him at the risk of his life. The way of Abel is the way of sacrifice. The history of Abel became a history of shedding blood. This is the fundamental teaching of the Bible.
God's Will and the World: Why We Have to Go through Hardships,
September 11, 1972
4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. for she said. "God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel. for Cain slew him."
26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name o the Lord.
The fighting between Cain and Abel made God miserable, and more than any other time, His heart was broken when Cain killed Abel.
God will be most pleased when the brothers make up with one another and come to Him together. According to this principle, Abel needs to restore his brother. Unless you restore Cain, God will not accept you.
The Completion Period for the Restoration
November 12, 1978
In front of God, there is only one Adam and one Eve. According to the Principle, he cannot create other ones. Therefore, He has to restore them to the original state.
Even if you offer your love to your enemy's children more than to your children, don't you think the concept of the enemy's children will remain with you?
Will you be able to eradicate the concept that they were your enemy's children, or will you constantly struggle with this feeling? Which way? You will remember occasionally, will you not? That is why it has taken tens of thousands of years.
God's heart is a million times purer than our hearts. Once that scar was engraved in God; heart because of the Fall of man, it couldn't, be erased so easily.
Do you follow?
Abel's blood has been shed to save Cain. Throughout history, Abel, the person on God's side, has sacrificed himself, begging God to love Cain more than He loves him, Abel.
Leadership Conference
January 2, 1996
Had Cain made his offering through Abel, an orderly path could have been established from God to Adam and the archangel, and restoration could have been accomplished.
Because Cain killed Abel, however, heaven established Seth and extended the providence to his descendants.
Textbook for World Peace
Chapter 3
All the tragedies of history have their beginning in the failure of one man, Adam. One man brought misery to mankind, so in restoration, no one God-sent man will restore, in his lifetime, the entanglements of human history.
Before that one man comes to complete history, religion is prepared to pave the way so that his job can be accomplished?
After the Fall of Adam, the Cain and Abel struggle began, representing the division of Adam, so the Cain and Abel lines of history must come together to prepare the way for the coming of Adam, that is the purpose of Abel-type history – to piece together one Adam.
Total Self-Reevaluation
September 14, 1980
After the Fall, God divided the children into Cain and Abel. The purpose of the providence was for these two sons to become one and then to become one with Adam and restore God's position. Cain and Abel, as you know, did not fulfill this.
Throughout history, the position of the younger son has been one of persecution and opposition. The position of the first son, which was Satan's position, was always persecuted by the world.
Originally, the position of the first son was to be the one to directly communicate with God, but this was lost through the Fall. Because of the Fall, Satan achieved the position of the father of mankind.
The Unification of My Country
January 1, 1990
Cain has always been opposed to someone close to God. He is the person who struck down Abel. It has always been Abel's position to be closer to God. The fruits of that relationship have existed since the Fall and have affected mankind throughout history.
Even your life is part of that legacy. If you examine your daily life, there are times when you are Abel-like and times when you are Cain-like, between morning and evening of any given day, or even within one hour, the dynamics of the Cain-Abel relationship are working.
All directions – back and front, right and left, up and down – have something to do with the Cain and Abel relationship.
One action is closer to God, and another is in opposition to God. When you speak just one word, it could be examined whether it is from the position of Cain or the position of Abel. You can examine yourself and the words you speak according to this standard.
If you are speaking today in a better way than yesterday, then you are standing today as Abel in relationship to yesterday. If you are speaking worse today than yesterday, then today you are standing in the position of Cain.
In this kind of situation, God has been trying to guide people to be more Abel-like and to come closer to Him.
At the same time, Satan has been trying to pull people away from God. When we grow closer to God, we come closer to the Abel position, and we find ourselves feeling happy,
But when we become drawn in Cain's direction by the satanic realm, we feel sadness. Because of this dynamic of the Cain and Abel relationship, there has been a constant fluctuation of joy and sadness since the beginning of human history.
God's Will and the World
May 7, 1972
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