Once Adam and Eve had fallen they could not restore themselves. Their children should have united as one to lay the foundation upon which their parents, Adam and Eve, could be saved. But they failed to do this.

The unity of the first and second sons was the first condition in the providence for restoration centering on Adam's family.

Why did they have to unite? Looking at the order of Eve's fallen acts, Cain represented the fruit of unprincipled love and Abel the fruit of more principled love. From birth it was determined that the first son, Cain, would stand on Satan's side and the second son, Abel, would stand on God's side.

From the point of view of the Principle, the first son should have had dominion over the second son. But because of the fall, the first son stood in the position of the Archangel. In order to return to God, Cain had to go through Abel. That meant Cain had to acknowledge Abel's dominion.

The only way to restore the first son's position, which had been claimed by Satan, was through the second son. Unity between Cain and Abel would have laid the foundation for unity between their parents Adam and Eve, and they all could have returned to God.

The idea of the Messiah originated in this providence. Since God's providence for salvation has been carried out through this history of separation, it has evoked a great deal of resentment, and has involved many episodes that were complicated beyond description.

No one in history has understood God's hidden secret, that the second son must subjugate the first son naturally, by divine love, in order to restore the original birthright. Without this condition the providence for restoration could not be completed.

God wanted the birthright to be restored by this natural subjugation. But because Cain killed Abel the history of restoration was prolonged. So God carried the history of separation forward to Noah's family, through Shem and Ham, and later to Isaac's family, through Esau and Jacob.