I confess that Abel, of “Cain and
Abel” fame, is one Biblical character I've never given much thought
to. Actually, no thought whatever beyond a passing glimpse as I
re-read the tragic story of his murder by his jealous brother. For me, Abel
was shrouded in a cloud of unknowing and not understanding.
It seems he appeared so briefly on the stage of history and was
plucked up so quickly from it. What in the world did his life have
to say?
This year as I undertook to memorize
Hebrews 11 Abel suddenly stood front and center on the stage, the
leader of all those in that great hall of fame of the faithful. In
this beautiful passage of inspired Scripture, the writer talks first
about faith in general, then creation and then the first person he
mentions by name as living by faith is Abel: “By faith Abel
offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he
obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about
his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
Hebrews 11:4 NASB
I'm so grateful for Hebrews 11 because
it gives us a lens through which to interpret people and events of
the past. All of history, actually. When I look at Abel I see someone who enters the stage and
then quickly exits it. When GOD looks at Abel, He sees a person of
faith who actually has the longest speaking voice of anyone in
history! I've been challenged and encouraged by that last phrase of
verse 4: and through faith, though he is dead, he still
speaks. Yes, Abel was on the stage of life for a short time.
But his faith during that short time has given him an immortal
voice. And what he has had to say through all those long millennia
of time is significant. Bruce Waltke, speaking about how God rewards
the faithful in various ways, says this: Abel believed God, and
he died. Enoch believed in God, and he did not die. Noah believed
God, and everybody else died...the first three heroes of faith
celebrated by the writer of Hebrews (11:4-7)...experienced radically
divergent results from their faith. The common denominator of their
faith is that they all pleased God.1
One of the important truths I
learn from this verse is that faith does not guarantee a long life
but it enables whatever life I'm granted to have significance in
terms of pleasing God and giving him glory. And since giving God
glory is the purpose of life, faith enables me to fulfill my purpose regardless of the length of my life or visible outcome of my
service. Faith enables every person, regardless of their
circumstances, to please God and to have significance in His eyes.
Instead
of looking at Abel as a “tragic” figure, I now see him as someone
who fulfilled his purpose in God's kingdom in an incredible way. His
example shows me that faith doesn't necessarily guarantee justice in
this life. It also teaches me that the outcome of my faith doesn't
end when my life does. It shows me that every act of faith is
significant in God's eyes. Abel's act of faith and God's testimony
about it earned him the murderous wrath of his brother.
Nevertheless, his life has borne testimony for thousands of years and
will continue to speak to encourage people of faith through all time.
It is hard to imagine that a long and peaceful earthly life for Abel
could have produced a more fruitful outcome than the short one by
which he glorified God! His father Adam certainly had a much longer
life (930 years) and yet Abel, not Adam, is the one who leads the
parade of faithful in Hebrews 11. Faith, not any other criterion, is
the measure of my significance. And this is eminently logical when
we realize that our significance comes not from how much pleasure we
extract from life, how many things we accomplish or experience but
from how much glory we give to God whose ultimate purpose for the
world is “to glorify himself by establishing his universal rule
over his volitional creatures on earth through Jesus Christ and his
covenant people.”2
My faith aligns me with that storyline, establishes God's rule over
my
life. And Abel's short life still speaks those truths to me, even
though he has been dead for thousands of years. For me, Abel, no longer shrouded in mystery is now shrouded in wonder.
1Waltke,
Bruce K. with Charles Yu. An Old Testament Theology: an exegetical,
canonical, and thematic approach, 1st ed. 2007,
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. p. 287
2Ibid,
p. 144
