0932. Abel, or the Faith That Sees the Blood
Abel, or the Faith That Sees the Blood
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts: and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh" (Heb_11:4)
The faith of Abel fulfils the definition of Heb_11:1, in that Abel had confidence in things hoped for and conviction in things not seen.
Abel's faith sped down through the ages, and saw a God Who was able to perform what He had promised. He saw Christ, the Seed of the woman, the Son of God. He saw that Seed bruised in His heel upon the Cross; and saw the Seed bruising the head of satan, the serpent.
Man may deny the grasp of Abel's faith and decry the fact that Abel saw the Cross of Christ and typified his faith by his sacrifice, but God testified of Abel's gift and pronounced him righteous thereby.
Abel has been dead for six thousand years, but he still speaks to us of the saving power of Calvary.
The faith of Abel puts to shame the men of today, who with all their boasted learning and advancement cannot look back through two thousand years and see the saving power of the Blood.
The world is overwhelmed with those who possess the spirit of Cain. Men are willing to worship God, in a religious way, as long as there is no more than a formal offering apart from all or any suggestion of the Blood. They will offer fruits festooned with flowers and ferns, but they will not offer a slain Lamb. They will pass respects with God but they will not acknowledge their need of atonement.
Dr. Haldeman has well said of these who deny the faith: "They are ministers of the devil (even if they know it not) preaching a bloodless righteousness. They think they are glorifying God by denying the legitimacy of His Son. They are false apostles, coming in the name of the first man and not of the Second; deceitful workers, transforming themselves into servants of Christ and betraying the name they wear. Their god is not the God of the Bible, but a god of their own imagination. They talk of the fables of Scripture that they may pass their own as current truth. They agree with the findings of science and repudiate the demonstration of the Spirit. Their scholarship is self elected and always self exalted. Their assumption of superior knowledge is pitiful, their attempted use of it tyrannical."
The faith of Abel saw the Blood,
Far down the years, a crimson flood;
And Abel's sacrifice replete
Came up to God, an odor sweet.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR