The testimony of God’s prophets is given a
great place in the Scriptures such that roughly a third of all the
Bible owes its existence to their labours. There were also
prophetesses. Some are named, others are not. Nor is all that they
prophesied recorded. The vast majority of Israel’s prophets
ministered to that nation. One important exception to this was
Jonah. His service was focused on a Gentile city—Nineveh. As a
result, that great metropolis “wherein are more than a hundred and
twenty thousand persons” (Jonah 4: 11) “repented at the preaching of
Jonas” (Luke 11: 32). However, the very first of all the prophets
was not only not an Israelite, he was not even of the seed of
Abraham. His history preceded “Enoch, [the] seventh from Adam” (Jude
v14), who prophesied before the flood. Yet even though the man I
am speaking of was a prophet, there is not a word of what he said
recorded in the Bible. That is striking enough, but it is not all.
Normally when a prophet dies, unless his prophecy is recorded, his
prophecy dies with him. However, this man’s prophecy not only did
not die with him but did not begin until
he was dead and,
furthermore, continues to this day. He is also the first man that
Scripture positively identifies with faith and the divine record of
him is that “having died, he yet speaks” (Heb. 11: 4). The person I
am speaking of is Abel.
It is the Lord Himself that tells us that Abel
was a prophet and that he was the very first of a long line of such.
He told His hearers that God has declared “I will send to them
prophets and apostles, and of these shall they kill and drive out by
persecution, that the blood of all the prophets which has been
poured out from the foundation of the world may be required of this
generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who
perished between the altar and the house; yea, I say to you, it
shall be required of this generation.” (Luke 11: 49–51). Thus the
prophetic testimony, as it commenced with Abel, was not limited to
Israel, but began after “sin entered into the world, and by sin
death” (Rom 5: 12).
There is more in these verses in Luke 11,
however. The Greek expression
απο καταβολης κοσμου
translated as “the foundation of the world” in
v50 does not take us back to the original creation of Gen. 1: 1 as
many might think. The word
world
(κοσμος)
is never used in that connection in the
Scriptures. In the NT it always refers to an established order of
things involving man or to the men within that order.
Correspondingly, prophets are
men sent by God
to men. Angels,
created before man, are never spoken of as prophets. Again, the
expression “this generation” in vs. 50, 51 similarly does not
involve angels for they have no offspring and hence no generation.
In Scripture, this expression always refers to men and was employed
many times by the Lord and with great significance in connection
with His own people. However, “this generation” is not
limited to Israel but like
much else in the Scriptures can be traced back to earlier times (see
Gen. 7: 1). Not only does it refer to what is historical, but it
also has a great moral bearing in that it embraces all who reject
the testimony of God irrespective of the day in which they live.
Thus prophets are the men sent by God to speak on His behalf to
all mankind following
on from the entrance of sin “into the world” (Rom. 5: 12).
Now while the Lord speaks of Abel as a prophet,
He does not say what He prophesied about. He speaks only of his
blood being “poured out” (Luke 11: 50) by the generation that
rejected God’s testimony. This takes us back to the actual history
of Abel’s murder given in Gen. 4: 10 when God said to Cain “the
voice of thy brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground”. God
has not forgotten Abel’s death, nor that of all the others who
followed in his footsteps, nor of those who are yet to be martyred
for God’s testimony (see Rev. 6: 9; 20: 4). God will yet take up
this matter in judgment in His own time.
So what was Abel’s prophecy? As a prophet he
must have a prophecy. Now prophecy is not men speaking to God, but
God speaking to men. Thus Abel’s blood crying to God is not his
prophecy—although the historical record of it in the Bible should
nevertheless have a warning voice to men. Actual prophecy is God
speaking to men through another who acts as God’s mouthpiece. To
understand Abel’s prophecy, we will need to turn to the epistle to
the Hebrews, a book characterised by divine
speaking. This book is
the record of God’s final speaking to those Jews who had believed on
Jesus as Messiah but were in danger of going back to the Judaism
they professed to have left. Its opening words are very relevant to
our subject: “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly
to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken
to us in [the person of the] Son” (Heb. 1: 1). Time and again
throughout the epistle the writer refers to God speaking (see Heb.
1: 5, 6, 7, 13 etc.). Others are also recorded as speaking (see Heb.
2: 2, 3; 7: 14; 13: 7 etc.). More particularly, twice we read of
speaking in relation to Abel, firstly in Heb. 11: 4 and then in Heb.
12: 24. In the first the words are “having died, he yet speaks”
(Heb. 11: 4) and in the second the words are “speaking better than
Abel” (Heb. 12: 24).
Taking the latter Scripture first, this is
contained in a section of Heb. 12 (vs 18–24) in which the writer
contrasts what the Hebrews had “not come to” under law (vs 18–21)
with what they had “come to” under grace (vs 22–24). The complete
verse reads “and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to [the]
blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel” (Heb. 12: 24). Now
many base their understanding of the words “speaking better than
Abel” on the AV translation which reads “And to Jesus the mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:
24, my emphasis). Accordingly, they think that the comparison is
between two sets of blood: that of the Lord Jesus shed at Calvary,
and that of Abel “crying to” God “from the ground” (Gen. 4: 10). But
the words that of are not in the original Greek text. The comparison is not
between two sets of blood but between two speakings: on the one hand
what the blood of sprinkling says and on the other what Abel says,
that is,
with his prophecy.
This is made clearer when we remember that the author of the Hebrew
epistle has already referred to Abel’s speaking in the previous
chapter. Let us now turn to it.
Hebrews chapter 11 provides a selection of the
outstanding men and women of faith headed by Abel. Of him we read
that: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained testimony of being righteous, God bearing
testimony to his gifts, and by it, having died, he yet speaks” (v4).
His prophecy is embraced in the clause “and by it, having died, he
yet speaks”. Abel, although dead, is still speaking. But how is he
speaking? The answer is “by
it” (my emphasis). Thus a key word to the understanding of the
meaning of “and by it, having died, he yet speaks” is the personal
pronoun it. In Greek,
pronouns have the same gender as the noun to which they refer. The
pronoun it here is feminine. As the Greek words for
faith and
sacrifice in v4 are both
feminine, it is to either of these nouns that the word
it must refer. Now in the
light of the fact that the subject of Heb. 11 is faith, the word
it clearly has most
relevance to Abel’s
faith. (Incidentally, the grammar also provides good reason why
the word it cannot refer
to Abel’s blood crying to God from the ground: firstly, because
there is no mention of blood in v4, and secondly, because the Greek
word for blood is not feminine but neuter).
Abel’s prophecy is thus what Abel did as the
exercise of his faith. It is the first great lesson of Scripture and
stands at the very forefront of divine revelation. However, while
the word it in Heb. 11: 4
embraces Abel’s faith, as always, that faith must be in God and what
God has
said. If Abel acted in faith then God must have spoken and
revealed His mind. We know this because “faith then [is] by a report,
but the report by God’s word” (Rom. 10: 17), or, as Young’s literal
translation puts it, “so then the faith
is by a report, and the
report through a saying of God”. If Abel “offered to God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain” (Heb. 11: 4) it was because God had
made it known that because sin had brought in separation between
Himself and man, the only way back for His creature was by
sacrifice. Man’s only way of approach to God is by faith in the
sacrifice of another. Abel’s act of faith still speaks, and is thus
his prophecy.
As God’s revelation determines man’s approach
(a divine principle insisted on throughout the Bible), Abel’s
prophecy can be effectively expressed in two words:
right approach. Cain, by contrast, choose to ignore revelation
and multitudes have followed in his footsteps. Man may devise, and
has devised, a multitude of ways by which he thinks that he can
secure divine favour and regain relationship with God. Scripture,
however, puts them all under the same heading: “the way of Cain” (Jude 11, my emphasis). Like Cain’s offering
they all have their source in that which is under divine curse (see
Gen. 3: 17; 4: 3). They may differ in their detail but in divine
eyes they all come under the description of “the way of Cain”. God
has revealed that there is
only one way by which
He can be approached and that is
by the sacrifice of another that
is absolutely free from sin.
Abel sacrificed to God “of the firstlings of
his flock” (Gen. 4: 4), the word
firstling in Hebrew having
the sense of first born.
We are thus justified in saying that it was a lamb that he offered
for his “sacrifice” (Heb. 11: 4) and that this lamb was killed.
However, there is no mention of blood. Of course, as the lamb was
slain, its blood was necessarily shed but the fact remains that
Scripture carefully does not mention the blood in connection with
Abel’s sacrifice. Furthermore, not only is there no mention of blood
in regard to Abel’s sacrifice, but there is no mention of blood in
connection with
any sacrifice in the
book of Genesis. The first mention of sacrificial blood is in Ex.
12: 7 in relation to the Passover. In the OT revelation, it is
Exodus that is the book of redemption, and “redemption” is “through
his blood” (Eph. 1: 7). Thus the books of the Bible are not only
perfect in what they include but also in what they omit. What
Scripture
does mention in
connection with Abel’s sacrifice is “their fat” (Gen. 4: 4), which
typically denotes the excellence (or quality) of what is offered.
Hence we read in Heb. 11: 4 that “Abel offered to God a
more excellent
sacrifice than Cain” (my emphasis). The biblical truth embraced in
Abel’s prophecy of right approach is not redemption, but
substitution—a truth
having a peculiar place in Genesis, just as redemption does in
Exodus. Hence later we have a ram offered in place of Isaac, and
Judah’s offering of himself in place of Benjamin (see Gen. 22:
13; 44: 33).
What is outlined in Abel’s prophecy is given
more detail as we pass through the Bible. In Leviticus the truth of
right approach is hammered home to the people of Israel in the
various sacrifices described—for while Exodus is the OT book of
redemption, Leviticus is the book of approach. Since space precludes
us tracing this theme at length through the OT, let us now turn to
its filling out in the NT. The time had come for all that Abel and
the rest of the prophets had outlined to be given enduring
substance—hence the moment the Lord Jesus entered public service we
have the Baptist’s declaration
“Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1: 36).
John thus identifies Christ as the One who would bring all to
fruition. Later in the same Gospel we hear the Lord Himself declare
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father unless by me” (John 14: 6). Approach to God is therefore by
Christ alone. He is the only way. If we come to
God at all, we come through faith in what the Lord has done. Peter
declares that “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, [the] just
for [the] unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3: 18)—the
grand fulfilment of the work of substitution first suggested in
Genesis.
Finally, we must turn to the last book in the
Bible to obtain an important connection with Abel’s prophecy.
Revelation is the great book of judgment and outpouring of divine
wrath in a coming day. Among the many sevens of the book, the word
wrath occurs seven times.
In the imagery of the book that of a lamb is employed 28 times and
in Rev. 6: 16 we read of “the wrath of the Lamb”. While the images
in the book are not always easy to interpret, I do not think that
anyone who has ever read the book could have any doubt that this
figure of a lamb refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore,
immediately the image is introduced, it is presented as slain: “And
I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures,
and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as slain” (Rev. 5:
6). Twice more we read of the slain lamb (Rev. 5: 12; 13: 8).
Significantly, of the several Greek words that can be translated
slain in English, the one
used in each of these three Scriptures means
slaying for a sacrifice.
Now it is in the Revelation that we find not
just a distinctive link, but a positive identification between
Abel’s sacrifice and that of the Lamb of God. How is this you might
say,
since Abel’s name does not
appear at all in the book? The connection is made by the
phrase “from the foundation of the world”
(απο
καταβολης κοσμου)
that the Lord used in Luke 11: 50, 51: “that
the blood of all the prophets which has been poured out from the
foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the
blood of Abel …”. Now this phrase “from the foundation of the world”
(απο
καταβολης κοσμου)
also
occurs in Rev. 13: 8 and in Rev. 17: 8. In the latter Scripture we
read of those “whose names are not written from the founding of the
world
(απο
καταβολης κοσμου)
in the
book of life”. The phrase
απο καταβολης κοσμου
is thus used to indicate when names were written in the book of
life, that is, from the founding of the world. To the English reader
this might also appear to be the meaning in Rev. 13: 8:
“[every one] whose name had not been
written from [the] founding of [the] world
(απο
καταβολης κοσμου)
in the book of life of the slain Lamb” (Rev.
13: 8). Perhaps Rev. 17: 8 unduly influenced those who translate
Rev. 13: 8 in this way because it does not reflect the ordering of
the words in the Greek text. Other translators (such as the NKJV and
Young) link the phrase
απο καταβολης κοσμου,
not
with the book of life,
but with the slaying of the
Lamb. For example, Young translates the relevant part of the
verse as “whose names have not been written in the scroll of the
life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:
8). I shall give the actual Greek text so that the reader can see
for himself the order of the words:
“ου
(not)
γεγραπται
(written)
τα
(the)
ονοματα
(names)
εν
(in)
τη
(the)
βιβλω
(book)
της
(of
the)
ζωης
(life)
του
(of
the)
αρνιου
(lamb)
Εσφαγμενου
(slain)
απο
(from)
Καταβολης
(foundation)
κοσμου
(of world)”
(Rev. 13: 8).
Thus the Lamb of God was slain
from the foundation of the world.
What, however, do the words
Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world mean? What is their import? They tell us that God
traces the sacrificial death of Christ all the way back to the
foundation of the world, that is, to the time of Abel’s first
sacrifice. Thus when Abel sacrificed that first lamb, God saw in his
offering all that would later be involved in the death of the Lord
Jesus. Thus throughout the whole history of the OT, every time men
approached God with an animal sacrifice in accordance with what God
had revealed, God accepted such sacrifices, according to them all
the merits embraced in the one glorious sacrifice on the cross of
Calvary. All that was outlined in Abel’s prophecy is now given
abiding substance in the sacrifice of Christ. Thus this connection
in the last book of the Bible gives the substance and the greatness
of Abel’s prophecy. Even though Abel has long since gone, his
prophecy remains and “having died, he yet speaks” (Heb. 11: 4). What
does he say? That faith in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God is the
only way back to God.
There is no other way.
