I watched a pastor on television this morning, whose sermon was on Cain and Abel. While he did not mention any of the views I came to see, which led me to write the short book The Cain & Abel Story: An Interpretation, listening to this topic brought about a revelation I had not seen clearly before. It has to do with two Biblical figures being metaphor for the duality that exists in all human beings.
One mistake the pastor said was that Cain left Eden and went to Nod. That totally ignores the Scripture that says Adam, Eve and the serpent were banished from Eden. While it might be they only walked a little beyond the gate guarded by cherubim and settled down, that in itself needs to be seen less as a physical banishment and more as a spiritual banishment. Adam and Eve lived in a physical realm that included the presence of Yahweh. Eden is then wherever a soul-body exists, with the Spirit of Yahweh encompassing it. To be banished from that presence means the soul-body stands outside that most divine realm.
Because Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve (Man and Wife) and because both Cain and Abel are said to have made sacrifices unto Yahweh, this must be seen as a statement of religion having been brought from Eden into the worldly domain. Adam (and Eve) was the first priest of religion on earth, among animal-like humans (males and females they were made) that knew nothing of Yahweh. Neither Cain nor Abel had ever seen Yahweh; but because Adam (and Eve) taught them of their experiences with Yahweh, their sons heard the voice of Yahweh leading them as the first priests taught by Adam (and Eve) on earth.
The training Cain and Abel received involved the lesson of there being two trees in the midst of the garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As human beings born in an animal-man world, Cain and Abel were taught what was a sin and what was not a sin (knowledge of good and evil). To make sacrifices unto Yahweh was good … as long as the sacrifice involved a soul released from its body of flesh. Since the plants of the field do not breathe air (they create it), they have no souls that can be released unto Yahweh. Therefore, Yahweh was teaching Cain the sacrifice of worldly gains was not enough to have a soul be blessed by Yahweh. One has to sacrifice life, in order to gain eternal life.
This is the lesson of the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve were given eternal life, as eternal souls placed by Yahweh into bodies of flesh that would never die … as long as those bodies existed in Eden. The Tree of Life then symbolizes the sacrifice of their souls to Yahweh, having released all self-will relative to a body of flesh. To always exist in that garden of eternal life, they could never eat from the worldly tree that opened their eyes (meaning their Big Brains) to realize sin. That always comes with the lesson that teaches good as “I should not have done that!” Adam (and Eve) taught their sons to sacrifice their self-egos, self-wills, and self-souls unto Yahweh, so their Big Brains would die and their bodies-souls could return to Eden upon their mortal deaths.
What the greater lesson coming from the Cain and Abel story is [and it is not what I saw when I wrote my book of interpretation] is each reader of the story is both of the sons of Man (Adam). Our soul is our Tree of Life, which can never die. Our body of flesh is our Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which acts as the serpent did to Eve (and then passed on to Adam) to experience the flesh; but the body of flesh is mortal, thus temporal, and its lack of immortality makes the flesh a prison for the soul, always keeping the soul in the worldly realm (of death and rebirth), not the blissful immortality of Eden.
We have been taught (by the religion brought to earth by Adam) to do as Abel did and sacrifice a soul to Yahweh; and, all who do that please Him and receive His blessing. Those good souls receive His Tree of Life, which is the promise of eternal soul salvation … as Adam reborn. However (as is usually the case), we keep building altars upon which our offering to Yahweh is less than total submission to His Will. We pretend Lent’s forty days (sacrificing one trinket of our worldly harvest) is enough to please Him. It is not a delight for Him to see this arrogance.
Adam (and Eve) are then reflected in Holy texts [the Torah and the Holy Bible], which requires true Saints (those reborn as the Son of Yahweh as Lord over a sacrificed soul) to teach it properly. Saints are the resurrection of Adam's gift of true religious teachings (from the Father) reignited on earth. Each of us is then the duality of having potentially the Tree of Life for our sustenance (an eternal soul redeemed of sin), or the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (the prison of a body of flesh replacing the comforts of Eden).
All Saints have surrendered self-will, as the pleasing aroma of a soul released for Yahweh to take delight in. All sinners selfishly retain self-control, pretending to be special in our own eyes. We are potentially Abel; but time and again we choose to be Cain. When told this selfish choice will condemn our souls to hell [a reincarnation back into the worldly plane, having to start all over again], we get our panties in a wad and go full-bore Cain towards Yahweh.
The choice is always ours; and, this choice is seen reflected in Jacob. He was the epitome of selfishness, stealing his brother’s birthright and then always looking over his shoulder in fear, afraid his sins of the past would catch up with him. When Jacob wrestled all night long, it was with the “angel” that was his soul. His soul fought to be released to Yahweh, refusing to be imprisoned by the flesh. The Abel within his body of flesh wanted to be sacrificed to Yahweh, but his body of Cain-like flesh wanted to remain a rich guy, with lots of worldly values he never truly earned. When morning came and the angel had won, Jacob’s soul had surrendered to Yahweh, as a sacrificial lamb slaughtered and burned on the altar, releasing it to Yahweh.
It was that self-sacrifice – and that alone – that gained Jacob the right to call himself Israel. That was not the name of his flesh [the Bible still refers to him as Jacob after this event], but his spiritual name, meaning: He Who Retains the elohim of Yahweh [Adam’s spirit soul of salvation]. The name Israel is only awarded to those souls who are Saints and eat only the fruit from the Tree of Life [that fed to a soul by Adam-Jesus].
David is another case of one soul being both Abel (when Anointed by Yahweh – made a Christ), where he led others [as Adam taught his sons] to all become Israel souls. Then, when David became old and sinned, he became like Eve being tricked by the serpent. He stopped being fed from the Tree of Life – he stopped being Abel – and he ate the forbidden fruit of sin, opening his Big Brain to attempt to cheat and connive, in hopes nobody would see the error of his ways – he became Cain. Like Adam (and Eve) was expelled from Eden for sinning, so too was David expelled from the right to call his soul Israel. Likewise, when his sins made him lose that right, so too did the people whose souls had been taught to be Israel also reverted back to (through their children) to being little more than another animal-man nation, led by selfish rulers.
The example of Jesus is that of a repentant Adam, who served his time on earth in a mortal body (930 human years) and never again sinned. The soul of Adam – the original Yahweh elohim stated eleven times in Genesis chapter 2 – was handmade by Yahweh to know sin, fall from grace, and then repent, so his self-will was sacrificed to Yahweh and a return to the spiritual realm forevermore would allow that spirit-soul to resurrect in all souls in bodies of flesh that sacrificed themselves likewise to Yahweh. To be a model of Adam-Jesus, one needs to be taught the truth of religion. One needs to come to know Yahweh and hear His voice.
Adam is Jesus because the name Jesus means “YAH Saves.” All souls who are saved eternally are Saints. All souls who are saved eternally eat only from the Tree of Life, fed to their soul-bodies by the spirit-soul of Jesus within. All souls who are saved eternally are reborn in the name of Jesus, with all Anointed by Yahweh as worthy of that spirit-soul’s entrance within [only a Christ can be reborn in the name of Jesus].