THE MARK OF CAIN: A MODEL OF GRACE So Cain was driven from the land to live as a fugitive and vagabond. He was afraid he would be forever banished from the presence of God and deprived of His protection. “Not so,” said the Lord, and put His mark on Cain saving his life (Genesis 4:15). The collective mind of scholarship has been probed in vain to determine the nature of this mark, but that’s not the point. All through the chapter, the covenant name of God has been used, indicating the scope of Cain’s relationship with Him. Cain sinned and refused to confess and
therefore put himself out of fellowship with God. But God didn’t revoke His covenant, nor did He withdraw His protection. Unconfessed sin interrupts our relationship with God and causes us to wander in spiritual wilderness, but it doesn’t sever our family ties and it doesn’t put our eternal life at risk. Cain serves as a model of so many Christians today. When we, as believers, refuse to recognize and confess our sins, we are out of fellowship with God. But we are still in His family and still have eternal (protected) lives. While out of fellowship, we are objects of the enemy’s passionate interest, and fair game for his schemes against us, but our union with God and eternal destiny are marked by His Grace as off limits to the stealer of men’s souls. For more on this, listen to my audio Bible study on Union and Fellowship. Jesus was our sacrifice. All we need to do now is confess. And immediately, we are forgiven. The slate is wiped clean, the Lord chooses to forget we ever sinned in the first place, and we are back in fellow‐ ship with Him. Now you know the adult version
