“Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.” Genesis 4:16.

Cain went toward the rising of the sun eastward from Eden away from the cherubim which guarded the entrance of the garden on the east.

Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden and now their son is cast out from the presence of the Lord as the stain of sin deepens and spreads.

Having left his family and everything, Cain dwelt in the land of Nod which means wandering, exile or shaking.

“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’” Isaiah 57:20-21.

One expositor wondered why did God not put Cain to death; after all, the penalty for taking a life is death?

An unsatisfactory answer would be that the death penalty had not been commanded yet nor had the law been given, so God did not take his life.

The death penalty itself was given after Noah disembarked from the ark after the worldwide flood.

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” Genesis 9:6.

This commandment was given about a thousand years after Cain, and it has never been rescinded. Those who argue against capital punishment are rebelling against God just as Cain did.

So, why did God not take Cain, especially since He knew that the whole line of Cain would die in the flood? Think about that, what was the purpose, God does not do anything without a reason.

Backing up a bit, what would be the likely response of the rest of the population of over a thousand souls when they heard that Cain had been put to death by God for murder.

Approval perhaps, since many of them must have liked Abel, or resentment on the part of those who liked Cain.

Everyone would have recognized that God was very strict. For some that would be stifling and rebellion would rise up in their hearts, but would not be expressed outwardly.

Hidden thoughts, as long as they are hidden do not show the need for a savior. Cain was a catalyst bringing the sinful inward condition of man into full view. At the same time those not of the line of Cain now realized that they could make a choice to retain God in their lives or not.

Folks then and folks now need to realize that sinners on the whole only father more sinners.

The sinful line of Cain could only condemn the family line of Adam as they realized that they too were under the condemnation of sin.

Men and women have to see how evil the heart of mankind is in order to understand the righteousness of God and their need of His mercy.

Parents should always teach their children about God, and sometimes that is all it takes, but children need to see those teachings at work to test and understand them.

It would not be until they saw the outworking of evil that they could choose the good with all their heart.

Doubt is a good thing; it forces us to examine what we believe. Skepticism on the other hand is nothing but a cloak for unbelief.

So far, so good, however, the catastrophic result of letting Cain live would seem to overwhelm the example that God was giving to the children of Adam’s godly line.

In time the two groups, Cain’s godless descendants and Adam’s godly ones, began to intermingle.

The pull of sin is always downward, no exceptions, anyone who begins to dabble in some sinful practice or hang out with the wrong people will be pulled downward.

Remember this, those who dabble will always be pulled down, they never remain the same. The Christian either feeds the spirit and starves the flesh; or they starve the spirit and feed the flesh. As for the non-Christian they will eventually be sucked under.

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound [be recognizable as sin]. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Romans 5:18-6:2.

With the intermingling of the two family lines came the corruption of all and sin really did abound, and law or no law, it was recognizable as evil.

You do not need the law to recognize the evil going on around us today, murderous genocidal lust in the Middle East, riots, violence, murders, rapes, ad nauseam in the United States. And brain dead, non-functioning, incompetent, greedy, power hungry men and women in government here and worldwide.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.

“So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’” Genesis 6:12-13.

The righteous Adamic line soon commingled with the godless line of Cain because the sin nature resided in them too.

The disastrous results finally brought judgment upon all the living except Noah and his three sons, their mother and wives, eight souls out of an estimated population of one billion.

Do you really believe that God would not hear the calls for mercy from those who were perishing over forty days? There is nothing like a disaster to help one sort out their priorities; and there can be little doubt that all of them, men and women, at one time or another heard the preaching of Noah over about a 120 year period.

Ungodly men love to poke fun at the righteous, and a man building a huge boat about the size of a WWII aircraft carrier in the middle of nowhere would bring folks from all around to mock him. But while they mocked, he preached imminent doom for all of them by a flood if they did not repent of their sins (more laughter).

“…and [God] did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly…” 2 Peter 2:5.

It is written that after the animals and Noah and his kin entered the ark that God shut them in. He did so most likely because Noah might have taken pity on those pounding on the door and opened it for them, causing a disaster for him and all within. Once God shuts the door it will not be opened.

“So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:16.

“He who is often reproved [corrected and re-corrected], and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Proverbs 29:1.

They pounded on the door, they sought high ground, they found caves; and did what as they watched the waters rise?

The ungodly plotted and planned how to make a raft, how to get to higher ground, surely this can go only so far – and they perished without God.

Others surely remembered the preaching of Noah, the eye-witness accounts of their parents and grandparents, some of whom may have seen and talked to Adam and Eve.

Remember the average age of these pre-flood people was about 500 to 700 years, perhaps more; even Adam lived until about 726 years before the flood. They remembered, saw the waters rising as Noah had said, and cried out for mercy. While there is life there is hope.

“This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:3-4.

“And He [God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…” Acts 17:26-27.

It has always been the intent of God that men should seek Him, though He is not far from each of us. But men and women must want to find Him.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:8-10.

Did the laughter stop, did the joy cease, were there those who mourned, wept, and lamented, did many humble themselves as they watched the end of their futile lifestyle, the death of all the things they had built up in worldly goods, wiped out in an unstable world. Did they drop to their knees in heartfelt repentance?

Or did they say something like the following.

“Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.

Yes, people like this exist, and unfortunately they do not comprehend until after death, that, “Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade…” is a horror indescribable and unending.

The line of Cain saved many because it showed them their need of a savior.

This was the death of one world; soon we shall witness the death of our own world as evil rises throughout the earth to give birth to the tribulation and the death of the rebels of this age.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7.

Death of a Civilization, Genesis 4:16 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-21-14, updated on 10-29-21.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.