Cain and Abel

 

    Why did God accept Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's?  To understand why I think you have to go back to Adam and Eve's first sin.  I think the answer lies in why they sinned.  Adam and Eve were disobedient.  They ate the fruit God told them not to eat.  But there's more going on here than what is immediately obvious.  It isn't just disobedience that's egregious.  It's what is implied by that disobedience.  They didn't trust God, and what he told them.  Instead they chose to believe the serpent.  Instilled in these acts are betrayal, pride, and covetousness of God's majesty and stature.  By the very act of what they did God was presumed to be a liar.  They put their belief or faith in the words of a created being rather than their creator.  It's a whole host of sins committed in one single act.  It wasn't just the lie of the serpent that condemned them, it was the lies they told themselves.  
    The irony is, they already had what the serpent was promising them.  He told them they would be like God, but they already were.  God created them in his image.  He gave them dominion over the whole earth.  If they wanted to know about good and evil, they could have asked.  Instead they were reduced to shame.  Proverbs tells us the beginning of knowledge is fear of the Lord.  I don't think it's a coincidence that Adam gained mercy from God when he admitted to being afraid as he heard God walking in the garden.  It was the appropriate response after what he had done.  God then kills an animal and makes them clothing to wear.  This brings us back to Abel and all subsequent animal sacrifices.  All through the bible God calls on men to be like him, not in power or ability, but in character.  We're called to keep his ways, commands, and statues.  We're told to fear God as Adam did.  Jesus tells us to take up our crosses and follow him.  He is our example and we are expected to be like him.  
    In contrast, the works of man are seen as corrupt.  We cannot save ourselves with works, and when man offers works that God did not ordain they are rejected.  We see this over and over.  When Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God commanded, he is forbidden from entering the promised land.  When the sons of Aaron offer incense that wasn't ask for, in the establishing of the tabernacle, they are killed.  God forbids them from building altars of stone that have been carved or chiseled.  Man's works have been corrupt since he reached out for himself, and took the fruit from the tree of knowledge.
    When Cain and Abel make their offerings, Abel sacrifices an animal like God did when he made clothes for Adam and Eve.  He was imitating God and answering the call for man to be like him.  Cain, however, offered up the fruit of his fields, the works of his hands.  It was rejected, and that rejection was proven to be justifiable when he later murdered his brother with those same hands.