GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
GENESIS 4:16
16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and dwelled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
To go away from the presence of the LORD in this verse is in one sense a physical path. Adam and Eve raised their family near the entrance of the Garden of Eden (which was on its east side, Genesis 3:24). Now Cain moved on from there, and he went farther east into a land that is described here as “Nod.”
The verb nud means to move here and there, to wander. It can be the fluttering of a bird, especially the songbirds that seem to be “here, there, and everywhere” at various times (Proverbs 26:2). Pastor Werner Franzmann thought that one could say that Cain “lived in the land of wandering” (Bible History Commentary, Old Testament, p. 60). So we can say that Cain set about wandering, and whether “Nod” means “wandering” as a way of life, or a wilderness that would be characterized by wandering, he was under God’s curse, and could not settle down anywhere for long, even if he tried.
But to go away from the presence of the LORD is also a spiritual path. “The face of God” is a way of describing the true church of believers, where God’s word, God’s presence, and God’s blessings are to be found. Professor Gerhard instructs us here: For Cain to go “away from the face of the Lord” is (to depart) from the companionship of the church where God showed himself to be heard in his word and seen in the burning of sacrifices.” In Psalm 42, the singer asks, “Where can I go and meet with God?” (42:2), a desire to see the temple or tabernacle where God reveals himself in a special way in the gathering of the church. Remember that Jonah fled “from the face of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3), running away to a gathering of the heathen. For the presence of God, or face of God, is also where God speaks with people through his Word and in turn people speak with him through their prayers.
Here we also recognize the heartache of Adam and Eve, Cain’s parents. They had to let him go, for he was under his own curse. This was the will of God, and if they intervened, they would once again be sinning against God’s holy will if they tried to hold him back, and therefore they had to abide by God’s holy and just judgment. That doesn’t mean that this separation didn’t bring them grief. The murder of Abel did not just deprive them of the one son, but of two. Cain had to go, and they had to let him go. But more than this, it meant that they had to say farewell to one of their daughters– perhaps their eldest girl, who was now taken by Cain to be his wife (verse 17). So three children of theirs were now gone, and they would not know their grandchildren on this side of the family except by occasional contact.
For now we return to the knowledge that this was a spiritual departure. Cain, by refusing to repent, was leaving the fellowship of the first church. The visible signs of God’s grace were left behind. The preaching of Adam about God’s gifts and blessings were left behind. All contact with the right sacrifices of Adam and his other sons were left behind.
Where Cain went, there was only exile. But God’s eye was still upon him (“From heaven the Lord sees all,” Psalm 33:13). He would now discover that any deed done apart from faith will not please God. Ambrose writes: “Let men avoid shameful deeds, even though they believe they cannot be detected. For even though a man is shut up within walls, and covered with darkness, without witness and without accomplice, still he has a Judge of his acts, who is never deceived, and to whom all things cry aloud, like the voice of blood that cried from the ground (Genesis 4:10).” The preacher says simply, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6), and Jesus says the same thing: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So Cain’s departure meant he was turning away from God himself, and that nothing he did would please the Lord. We assert in our Confession: “It is false to say that a man does not sin if, outside the state of grace, he does the works prescribed in the commandments; to this (our opponents) add that such works, by (certain) merits, earn the forgiveness of sins and justification. But without the Holy Spirit human hearts have neither the fear of God nor trust in God nor the faith that God hears, forgives, helps, or saves them. Therefore they are ungodly; for ‘a bad tree cannot bear good fruit’ (Matthew 7:18)” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XVIII).
Cain was imprisoned in despair. He refused to repent, to beg for forgiveness, and went off on his own. Professor Deutschlander describes people who fall into despair over a sin and who have much in common with Cain: “There was a sudden and dramatic fall from respectability and virtue into some horrible sin. Now overwhelmed with guilt, despair stalks the corridors of their souls and dread darkens their hearts only recently so self-assured and merry. They do not grasp that the need for grace and mercy is always absolute and total. They needed forgiveness just as much yesterday as they do today” (“The Narrow Lutheran Middle,” p. 47).
Despair understands God’s anger and his wrath, but human reason steps in and dismisses an important, vital truth: While it is true that we sinners do not deserve God’s grace and forgiveness, nevertheless he offers it to us. It is ours through Christ. It is ours by faith alone. It is ours, not on account of anything we have done, but entirely because Jesus earned it in our place.
Why was Cain rejecting the offer of grace? This is not a lesson we are taught, but we know that pride is always offended by the offer of grace. Human hearts reject God’s love, but the Lord our Savior keeps offering his loving forgiveness through the Gospel. Paul told the Romans, “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish” (Romans 1:14). Every culture, every people and every person is offended by something in God’s Word. But Paul’s conclusion to this realization was that he was going to preach the Word anyway, because he was convinced that the Word is effective, lively, active, and true. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). We have forgiveness and a place with God forever because we trust in Jesus. For Jesus has overcome every single one of our sins and our shortcomings. Our supposed reasons for boasting have been ground down into powder and have been blown off with the chaff into nothingness. We don’t need to wander. We stand before God with the merits of Jesus and not any of our own, and in him we have the guarantee of everlasting life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Genesis 4:16 The land of Nod