The Story of Cain and Abel Was Really About Jesus All Along

Adam and Eve are now expelled from the Garden in Eden. Yet, their two children now stand at the edge, and offer up their sacrifices… The difference between these two sons of Eve will make all the difference for the rest of the Biblical story and for all humanity. This is the story of Cain and Abel. We will go over these topics, and more, in this live class recording. Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:50 Reading Genesis 4 (Cain and Abel) 00:09:25 Prelude to the flood narrative 00:16:19 Defining "mythic" storytelling 00:18:37 Cain and Abel as opposite archetypes 00:27:17 The significance of wilderness wanderers 00:35:54 Outside the Garden, but still in Eden 00:43:00 Understanding altars and sacrifices 0049:20 Hierarchy of sacrifice 00:56:50 Which is a better offering? 01:02:00 The definition of Abel's "faith" 01:07:50 Lamb of God - Perfect Sacrifice 01:11:30 Fallenness + Hebrew word for for "sin" 01:18:09 Personification of "Sin" spiritual warfare 01:24:10 God confronts Cain 01:29:08 The Seed War throughout the Bible 01:40:18 Land of Wandering 01:42:30 Cain's city born from violence 01:48:36 Sidebar: where did other people come from? 01:53:10 Original critique of human society 01:56:00 Boast of Lamech: the "death spiral" 01:57:53 The final hope for the City of God // Some background info: Over the past couple years, I have been teaching an in-person comprehensive Bible class at my local church. The goal for that class has been to enlighten newcomers, as well as experienced readers, to the deep and interconnected meanings embedded within of the story of the Bible, and showcase literary artistry of the Biblical writings. I also created the class content to focus in on the cultural and historical background of the Bible, the ancient near-eastern worldview of its authors, symbolic meanings behind various classic stories, and so on and so forth. The point is allow folks to dive deep past surface level readings of the ancient texts of the Bible and get to the meat of what it is communicating throughout. The whole study more or less runs the total length of Biblical texts in their narrative format, starting in the book of Genesis and ending in the book of Revelation. Ever since I started the class a few years back, I've been told that I should record the meeting sessions and post them online... and I've always been hesitant. This year, however, I am indeed recording the sessions, but I originally was only doing so for folks who miss certain meetings so that they can catch up if they wish. But now that I think about it, I figure that there really isn't any real reason to keep these class recordings private. So I am planning on sharing the weekly meeting recordings of the Bible study class here on this channel. The recordings are live video recordings of the class sessions as they happen in real time, so as mentioned the videos themselves will be radically different to anything I have shared on this channel before stylistically speaking, as well as in regard to content. ***I find it important to note that I am not a professional Biblical scholar or theologian by any means; only an extremely invested layman. For reference on where I derive most of the information covered in these classes, the following list of scholars serves to name just a few of the important inspirations and influences on my methodology in interpreting the Bible: NT Wright Michael S. Heiser C.S. Lewis Tim Mackie John H. Walton Jonathan Pageau Among a plethora of others, who will certainly be brought up at different times throughout the study. I have a curated list of video resources from various Biblical scholars and teachers available on my channel, which will be added to throughout the course of the main recording releases for the class. I have also read a good amount of the Apostolic Fathers (Clement, Ignatius, Justin, Irenaeus, etc.), and these most ancient of Christian writings also greatly inform my interpretation and presentation of the Biblical texts. These are the main focuses for the study: authorship, historical background, Biblical typology, archaeology, theology and philosophy, original languages, overarching Biblical themes and narrative, and more. I am really looking forward to seeing how these video recordings of the class will impact folks here online. I will be sharing new video recordings soon after they are recorded live and in person... mostly likely weekly and maybe sometimes every other week. Like the video, share it with those interested in the topic, and comment your insights and thoughts! Video title: The Story of Cain and Abel Was Really About Jesus All Along