The Faith of Abel and Enoch

*Last time we saw the nature and benefit of faith.

*This time, we begin to see how faith functions in the life of the believer.

*We start looking at significant Old Testament figures and how faith was evident in their lives, and what it led them to do.

*Point of Chapter 11: These believers were buying into the lie that the Law made one righteous. But the author of Hebrews looks back to the law and shows how all these figures were operating by faith in God's promise of redemption, just as they are supposed to be doing now.

Faith led to sacrificial offerings.

In vs. 4, the Bible speaks about Abel's faith in offering a better sacrifice than Cain's. It says, "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."

The background of this comes from Genesis 4:2-7. It says, "Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So 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 lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."

Perhaps the most common question from this passage of Scripture is, "why did God reject the offerings of Cain but accept the offerings of Able?" We are told that Cain offered a fruit offering, and Abel offered a blood offering, but beyond that, the reason for this is not specified. Yet, many different answers have been given.

1. Blood offerings were preferred to grain offerings. But this is hard to affirm since elsewhere in the OT God approves of and even requires grain offerings.
2. God disapproved of Cain's vocation (farmer). However, this is hard to affirm since God had Adam working the ground before and after the fall.

A better way of viewing the issue is to say Able's offering reflected worship of God, and Cain's offering did not. Cain brought an offering, but Able brought his first fruits.

Moreover, Able offered God the fat of the first offers. That is, Able offered God the best that he had. On the other hand, the description of vs. 3 reads as if Cain simply offered what he had available to him. This understanding seems to be supported by 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."

If this is right, then we are reminded here that our worship and acts of service to God must be done with purity of heart. God takes no pleasure in empty rituals. Therefore, when we sing, give, pray or serve, we must:

1. Approach it with a mindset of worship.
2. Offer something that expresses that worship.

Faith led to divine pleasure.

In vs. 5-6, we read of Enoch, who "pleased God." It says, "By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Before making some general observations about Enoch, we should refer back to what it says of him in Genesis 5:18-24. It says, "Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch . . . Enoch lived sixty-five years and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."

Between these two passages, several phrases stand out as important: "By faith," "Walked with God," "pleased God," and "was no more." The order here I think is accurate. It was because he believed and trusted God. He walked with him, and he walked with God in such a way that God was well pleased with his life, such that God simply took him up and didn't allow him to see death.

Now, what does a walk such as this look like? This is a natural question, but one that the Bible does not explicitly answer for us in either of these two passages, We could speculate about a lot of different things, but I think it is safer to say that Enoch's life and walk were rooted and grounded in deep faith.

Thus we see, that faith allows us to please God.

Faith led to salvation.

In vs. 7, we see how faith leads us to trust God in such a way that we are delivered from death. The Bible says, "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is
according to faith."

Here the Bible notes how Noah had no humanly good reason to do what he did. Yet, because God revealed something to him, he was moved to obedience. Because of his faithful obedience, he and his family were spared destruction.

Thus, faith leads us to trust God for His salvation.