How long did God deal patiently with the early people before saying He would do something different?
After 2,000 years of dealing patiently with the early people, God reached the point of saying He would do something different. He then chose one man in whom He could find a particle of faith, promised to make him a group of promises and covenants, and bring a special race through him.
Les explains that for roughly 2,000 years God dealt patiently with those early people, offering restoration and reconciliation if they would bring a blood sacrifice, as typified by Abel, who was accepted because he did what God told him, while Cain rejected it and rationalized it. After that period, God said He would do something still different: He would take one man in whom He could find a particle of faith, make him a whole group of promises and covenants, and out of him bring a special race different from all other nations, working a plan of salvation through that race. Les also notes that as soon as God revealed even the embryonic part of that plan of redemption, the devil kicked into high gear, which is the basic reason the Jews have suffered so much.