This is part 10 of a series exploring how the Bible teaches that Jesus was greater than all who came before him.  This series is not intended to be exhaustive.  The topic of Jesus as “greater than” or “better” than those who came before him is inexhaustible.  Libraries could and should be written on this subject.  But we have attempted in these pages to explore what such a rich subject would look like. (Each entry is excerpted from There Is No Greater Love)

Christ Greater than Cain

Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.  Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch.  Then he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch (Gen 4:16-17).

The greatest work of man, according to the ancients, is to found a city.  Man is made for community with God and his fellow man. The city makes possible the virtues expressed by the highest capacities of our soul.  We are made to live in community—to show justice and love to one another.  We are made to worship and to serve our God.  We are blessed with the capacity to develop art and technology.  All of these gifts inherent in our humanity are brought to their finest expression in the city.

Cain’s city, though, is founded when he turns away from God and departs from the presence of the Lord.  He builds a city famed for its technology (Gen 4:20-22).  But it is a city of men, not the city of God.  Jesus, like Cain, builds a city.  Yet His city is the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of shalom, where God and man dwell together and where the great virtues inherent in the redeemed soul of man find their expression (Heb 12:22-23). His is the city that is looked to in faith by all generations—the city whose builder and designer is God Himself (Heb 11:10, 13-16).

St. Augustine contrasts the city of man with the city of God.  He tells us that the two cities were founded by two loves. The city of man was founded by the love of self, even to the despising of God. The city of God, however, was founded by the love of God, even to the despising of self (The City of God, Book 14, Chap. 28).

The city of Cain, the prototype of every city of man ever to be established, was founded by a man who murdered his brother.  How ironic that the earthly city that should have represented the family of mankind dwelling together would be founded by a man whose hands were red with the blood of his brother!  But Jesus has founded another city, a heavenly city. Cain murdered his brother out of envy and hatred.  But Jesus laid down His life for His brothers, and there can be no greater love than this (John 15:13).

How much greater is the city of God than the city of man!  The city of man has foundations laid by murder and battlements built of blood. In contrast, the city of God is founded by the greatest act of love ever imagined!  Who would have ever imagined that God Himself would die in order to take away our sin and offer us a city whose foundations have been laid in love and built on mercy?  Surely this is the greatest of wonders on earth.  It is likely the greatest of wonders in heaven, too.