......God said, "Whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold."

Cain became afraid and said everybody would kill him.

...But God,
......instead of bringing judgment on him,
.........put a mark upon him to protect him.

God showed His disapproval of Cain's killing Abel
and let Cain know what the consequences would be.

...........Genesis 4:11-12
Cain was cursed from the earth.
........He became a fugitive and a vagabond.

God didn't treat those who sinned after the Fall
.....the way the Old Testament Law would have.
He operated in love, mercy and forgiveness toward them.

Even after sin entered the world
and mankind was driven from the Garden of Eden,
God wasn't imputing sin or holding their trespasses
against them.

"The Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother
................I don't know, am I my brother's keeper?"

When God talked to Cain about Abel,
.....it didn't frighten him out of his wits
..........because Cain was used to hearing and
...............talking with God.

Genesis 4:9 records the very first murderer on this earth
..and while he still had the blood of Abel on his hands,
....an audible voice from God said,
......................"Where is Abel, your brother?"

When Cain heard God respected Abel's sacrifice
more than his, he was overcome with jealousy
and killed Abel in anger.

In Genesis 4:6-7
.....God spoke audibly to Cain just like He did with
...........Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Cain and Abel weren't born-again Christians,
so they didn't have God inside them.

............It's evident God was talking to them.
Genesis 4:6 says, "The Lord said unto Cain."

After Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices
Genesis 4:5
says, that God did not respect Cain's offering.
How did they know God did not respect Cain's offering?

The Bible doesn't say, but it is evident that God was still talking with Adam and Eve and with Cain and Abel.

.................He was communicating with them, because they understood about sacrifices and how to approach Him.

Adam and Eve didn't have blood sacrifices explained to them in the Garden, because they had no transgressions to atone for yet.

In Genesis 4, God was still fellowshipping with man,
.....after the Fall, outside the Garden.

.............God was talking to Caim and Abel.

How did they know to bring a blood sacrifice and give the firstfruits of the labors?

God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden
......because He didn't want them or us,
...........to live forever in corrupt bodies,
................subject to the things brought by sin.

For us who know God and accepts His provision,
......a glorious, glorified body is coming
............that isn't subject to the things of this earth
..................or this life.

It was God's mercy that He sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden
and away from the Tree of Life.

Just imagine what it would be like to have cancer destroying our body and yet because of eating of the Tree of Life, we couldn't die.

We would have to live forever with a disease destroyed body.

Sin gave Satan the ability to put sickness, disease
..............and all kinds of curses on man.

The reason God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden
was because He loved them so much.

He didn't want them to eat of the Tree of Life
and live forever in bodies that were corrupted by sin.

The presence of God went with Adam and Eve and their descendants when they left the Garden of Eden.

...............................Even after Adam and Eve sinned and left the Garden, God was still walking and talking with them; even though many people have thought that a holy God couldn't fellowship and be in the presence of sinful man.

Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve fell
to the serpents temptation in the Garden of Eden.

If God hadn't sent them out of the Garden, they
may have eaten of the Tree of Life, which would
mean all of mankind would live forever in their
sinfulness.

He didn't send them away because He didn't
want them any more.

God dealt in mercy with man
.......and He didn't impute their sins against them
.......until the days of Moses, when the Law was given.

Now we believe God is holy
.......and we know that man is sinful,
But God's love is so great that He didn't just exclude man
from His presence.

There was a period of time
.....from Adam until Moses when God dealt with people
..........out of love, mercy and forgiveness
and not of wrath and judgment.

Many believed that God was holy
.....and that man was unholy;
..........so He separated man from Himself because His holiness couldn't stand to look upon sinful flesh.

Most people think that the moment sin entered
......................the Garden of Eden,
.......the wrath of God was released upon man.

"For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law."
Romans 5:13 ....This refers to the Law given to Moses.

This scripture shows us that before the Law [of Moses], sin was in the world; but sin wasn't imputed [held against] them.

So sin wasn't being held against people until God gave the Law to Moses.

The people's response to God's goodness in the Old Testament
forced Him to deal with them more harshly than He desired.

We can see that the love, mercy and forgiveness of God
...offered to us in the New Testament through Jesus
was always available to man, even in the Old Testament.

Jesus is the brightness of God's glory
.............and the expressed image of Him.

Jesus is an exact representation of God,
.............revealing.His true character.