Cain was the first son in the Bible.
He was also the first farmer, and the first to offer a food-stuff sacrifice to God.
Abel, the younger son, offered the first born lamb and the fat of it. God respected Abel's sacrifice, but not Cain's.
Cain is a type of works-righteousness, man doing of himself and for himself, and using the fruits of his own labor to earn God's favor.
Yet even before Cain was born, God had cursed the ground for Adam's sake:
"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." (Genesis 3:17)
From the beginning, any yield from the ground would be cursed, no matter how hard man may have toiled to glean it. In no way could God received an accursed thing as an acceptable sacrifice. Nevertheless, Cain attempted to offer what he had done, almost as if his own effort could make his harvest acceptable.
Isaiah cuts asunder such presumptuousness:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)
Cain became very angry. Rather than seeking God's favor God's way, he insisted on satisfying his anger in his own strength. Cain became the first murderer in the Bible.
So much for Cain and self-effort.
Now we have Herman Cain, a self-described Spirit-flowing Baptist Preacher. Yet like his eponymous counterpart of the Old Testament, Herman Cain exudes the same offensive self-righteousness, forever doomed to fail in seeking God's favor.
Some of his quips include:
"I shall overcome." No, we are more than conquerors, more than overcomes in Christ. We do not overcome on our own, in our own strength,
"I am the CEO of Self." There was another figure besides Cain who decided to seek prominence and preeminence through his own strength. Isaiah describes his presumptuous and inevitable fall:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
"Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
"They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms." (Isaiah 14:12-16)
Pride cometh before a fall. Even the prophet Habakkuk preached the danger and the remedy of human arrogance:
"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4)
If we are lifted up in our own might, then we are not righteous, because righteousness is a gift accorded to every believer. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, but without Him, we can do nothing.
It is troubling to listen to a preacher witness of his own greatness, then attribute off-hand His power to the Holy Spirit. We of ourselves can do nothing to, through, or for ourselves. We need politicians who walk by faith, not just talk about it yet work in their won strength. We do not need anymore ambitious men, covering their self-efforts with a tattered coat of worn-out works-righteousness. Now more than ever, we need men who will lead by the power of the Holy Spirit yet presume nothing of themselves.
In effect, Herman Cain must learn the same lesson that his Old Testament predecessor learned, who upon learning of the eternal doom placed upon him by God, cried out in desperation:
" My punishment is greater than I can bear. 1
Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me." (Genesis 4:13-14)
When Cain stopped trying to be righteous in his own efforts and in his own eyes, but appealed to the Lord for mercy, he obliged:
"And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." (Genesis 4:15)
From this point on, if Herman Cain wished to prosper in politics or any other endeavor, he would do well to remember not just the mark of Cain, but the many wounds that Christ bore on His body for fallen man, who by His sacrifice made a way for sinful man to become the righteousness of God and receive the Holy Spirit, who alone has the power to teach and to guide mankind to do well.
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