The Bible According to Clark

 Abel is the fourth person mentioned in the Bible, the second son of Adam and Eve and the younger brother of Cain. Not much is presented in the original story of Abel, but his life and story is still worth examining. Abel, though his deeds are mentioned little, is the first member of the "hall of faith" in Hebrews. So let's jump into this man's life to see just who he is. References to Abel Abel the man is referenced 9 times in the Bible. 5 of those times come in Genesis 4, and the rest come in the New Testament. The first two New Testament references come from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, where Jesus is speaking on the same subject. Jesus is calling out the Pharisees for doing to Him what the Jewish leaders did to all of the prophets God had sent before Him. He says that from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the last prophet of the Old Testament, they are guilty of killing all those God had sent. Jesus is telling them that the same bloodguiltiness fal...

 Cain is the third human character named in the Bible. He is the first child of Adam and Eve, and the first human born naturally in the Bible. Whereas Adam and Eve were both created, Adam from dust and Eve from Adam, Cain was born. And what a precedent he set for humanity. Cain's story is one of great interest and a good level of ambiguity. Let's take a look at Cain through the Bible. References to Cain There are 17 mentions of Cain. 14 of them come in Genesis 4 with Cain's story, and 3 are in the New Testament. Unlike the previous two characters, Adam and Eve, Cain is not mentioned in any Pauline epistle. Instead, Hebrews 11 is where we see the first New Testament reference to Cain. Hebrews 11 provides a list of people written about in Old Testament literature who walked by faith and were credited righteousness by God. Verse 4 speaks of Abel, offering his sacrifice in faith. So here we see, as we will dive into deeper later, the reason for God's love of Abel's sacr...

 Eve was the first woman created in the Bible. God formed her from the rib of Adam, the first man, to be Adam's wife. Eve was described as a "helper suitable for" Adam. In that way, it can be easy to downplay Eve's role in the creation story. Simply put, before Eve's creation, the world was incomplete.  Before the end of the sixth day, God had seen what He had made and called it "good" six different times. However, in Genesis 2, when He looked at his creation of Adam, he said something that stood in stark contrast to the rest of creation. He looked at Adam and he said "it is not good for the man to be alone." The woman was not just made as the helper, she was made as the completion of God's perfect creation. Whereas before, God saw that it was not good when man was alone, after He made the woman on the sixth day, God looked on all that He had made and saw that it was very good. In the initial creation, the woman was made to completely compl...

 Adam is the first human name mentioned in the Bible. He is also the only person who did not come from another human being in some capacity. Even Eve came from Adam's rib. Adam was created from dust.  It's pretty incredible to think that God chose, of all things, to make creatures in his own likeness from dust . Basic, plain old dust. It seems from the beginning God was trying to show us his heart. Perhaps if we were made from gold, or from some ethereal element, we could boast. But instead God used dust, and by His breath and power alone humans were given life. It echoes God's choosing of the Israelites, who were chosen not because of their great size or power, but actually for the opposite reason. He chose them because they were the weakest  (Deut. 7:7). He loved them and delivered them and promised to make them a great nation. God demonstrates His power not by making us strong, but by using the weak to accomplish the seemingly impossible. His power is made perfect not ...