"Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him" (Gen. 4:8).

Any time sin is committed, it takes the applying of the blood for the atonement or remission of sin according to the Word of God. It started in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, God provided a covering by shedding the blood of an animal.

The word atonement actually means "to cover." Cain knew his brother's sacrifice was accepted. Cain simply rejected what God said. He decided the ground was good enough. But God's way says it takes blood to make atonement for sin.

God had warned Cain that if he did not do well, sin was ready to overtake him. In verse nine, God approaches Cain after Cain had killed his brother.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" And He [God] said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground."
(Gen. 4:9-10)

Life is in the blood. Look at what Jesus said about Abel in Matthew chapter 23.

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah….
(Matt. 23:34-35)

Jesus called Abel righteous. He was made righteous because God recognized the blood as a righteous sacrifice.

This is the same law God gave to the Hebrews through Moses. The way they applied the blood under the old covenant was to physically kill an animal. The way we apply the blood of Jesus under the new covenant is by the words we speak. Our faith in the shed blood of Jesus and the Word of God is what's required under the new covenant.

The sacrifice of Abel was better than Cain's. Hebrews 11:4 says, "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks."

Abel was alive and remained alive through his blood. Under the new covenant we receive everlasting life and remain alive for all eternity through the blood of Jesus.

In Hebrews 12:24 it says, "To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." The blood of Jesus is much more powerful than the blood of Abel or that of bulls and goats.

Under the new covenant, the blood of Jesus is the only thing that remits sin. Matthew 26:28 says, "For this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

Source: Life is in The Blood by Larry Ollison
Excerpt permission granted by Larry Ollison Ministries