The forbearance of God only
rendered the wicked more bold and defiant in their iniquity. Fifteen
centuries after the sentence pronounced upon Cain, the universe
witnessed the fruition of his influence and example, in the crime and
pollution that flooded the earth. It was made manifest that the sentence
of death pronounced upon the fallen race for the transgression of God's
law was both just and merciful. The longer men lived in sin, the more
abandoned they became."
E.G.W.
After the Flood, God put in place the death penalty for murder, saying:
And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” Gen. 9:4-6
The question that comes to my mind is: why didn’t God institute the death penalty immediately, executing it on Cain, the first murderer?
The answer seems to be that God wants us—to see what happens when crime goes unpunished. God wants us to see what results when Satan’s kingdom goes unchecked. There are those who argue that God should have put an end to sin immediately, as soon as sin was manifested in the life of Lucifer.
But God has taken “the long view,” knowing that if He had snuffed out Lucifer immediately, sin would crop up again in the creatures He had created with free will. This would likely happen over and over unless the fruits of Satan’s rebellion were allowed to ripen over centuries and millennia. So God allowed Cain’s life to continue so that all could see where unpunished crime leads."
David Read / F7