Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Eleven

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-5 continued

Cain murdered his brother Abel because of his wrath and jealousy that God accepted Abel's faith but not Cain's good works, and he refused to repent. Genesis 4:8-11. God had already told Cain that if he persisted in his prideful refusal to offer the required blood sacrifice, then that would be because "sin lieth at the door." In other words, God told Cain that he would not be able to get rid of his sin that had caused his spiritual death until he offered the blood sacrifice as a symbol of his faith that God Himself would save him. Genesis 4:7. God further told Cain that sin would have "his desire" with him. God used the word "his" to indicate the desire of the Devil which was to cause Cain to go to Hell. The Devil's desire is to use sin as the means to inject spiritual death into humans so that when they suffer physical death, God must reject their dead natures and condemn their living souls and spirits together with their dead natures to the regions of death. Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:13. The Devil hopes that he can torture God's living souls and spirits confined to the regions of death to the extent that he can cause them to curse God and become totally evil. Should the Devil succeed, he will have destroyed a part of God's creation and thereby prove that God's Love can fail. I Corinthians 13:8; Job 1:11; Job 2:5; Job 2:9. But God's Love will never allow the Devil to utterly destroy anything God has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14. In fact, God promised Cain that eventually he would gain "the rule over him." In other words, God prophesied that Cain, and all sinners like him, would eventually repent and believe that only God can save them even from within the regions of death. Revelation 5:11-14; I Corinthians 3:11-15.

God further informed Cain that because he refused to repent and believe, God would make him subject to the curse "in the earth" and "from the earth." In other words, Cain would retain his spiritual death while he lived on the earth and after his physical death. Genesis 4:11-15. Cain became terribly afraid that someone would kill him because of his condition of being subject to the curse. Cain became afraid that his living nature would be completely destroyed by someone whom God knew to be the Devil. Cain also became afraid that while he lived on the earth that some of God's people would kill him because they would recognize his evil condition. But God promised Cain that no one; that is, neither the Devil nor any human, would ever be able to utterly destroy the spiritual life of Cain. God put a "mark" of mercy on Cain, and all sinners like him, as His promise that He will provide a means to save all of their spiritual lives forever from utter destruction. God did allow some of His righteous people to kill rebellious sinners in war, but He will never allow their spiritual lives, that He created and loves, to ever be utterly destroyed. Revelation 5:11-14; I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 5:28-29; Isaiah 45: 20-25; Psalm 68:18; Psalm 107:9-21; Psalm 36:6; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.