God's Surprising Plan - Pastor Tom Loghry
After Abraham was chosen as the patriarch of a new nation, the story continues with his son Isaac. The mysteries of God’s plans continue into the stories of Abraham’s descendants.
Transcript:
The Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment.
So they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
Football season is upon us. It's one of my, uh, favorite times of the year. If you know me, you know I'm a big Patriots fan. And with the beginning of a new NFL season, comes a fresh set of pages that will be filled with the narratives of the players careers. Lately in these parts, there's been great anticipation for the emergence of Patriots QB, Drake Maye.
He's a first round pick, highly touted. For now, he sits on the bench, under the tutelage of veteran QB Jacoby Brissett. Now, whether Drake is a success or a failure, his story will be quite a bit different from Tom Brady's story. Brady was a sixth round pick that garnered little attention or fanfare when he was drafted.
He was the backup to Drew Bledsoe, a first round QB who had recently signed a 10 year, $103 million contract. But as Bledsoe faltered and was eventually injured, Brady stepped up to the plate, took the job, and never let Bledsoe take it back. It's a story that captures the imagination. An unknown becoming the greatest QB of all time.
As surprising as it is, it's a testament to fortunate circumstance and Brady's skill and determination. His story is different than from the story we encounter in Genesis today, though it is just as surprising. In fact, it's even more surprising what we find here in Genesis, because it's not a testament to personal strength, but simply to the call of God, His plan, His purpose, despite all worldly assessment.
We have met Abraham, we've met Isaac, and now the third generation dawns. But as we will see, beginning here in verses 19 through 22, this new generation does not come without difficulty. So looking first, again, starting in verse 19. This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son, Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean from Paddan Aram, and sister of Laban, the Aramean.
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife, Rebekah, became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, Why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord. So, we have here the beginning, kind of, of a new saga.
When it's, when we see in scripture, when it says in Genesis, the generations of, in Hebrew, that's Toledot. And it usually marks, kind of, the beginning of a new section of the story. And, this section is focused on the family that emerges from Isaac and Rebekah. Now, if you may recall from last winter when we were talking about Isaac and Rebekah, Rebekah is from the town of Nahor.
She's in fact from the family of Abraham. She would be a cousin to Isaac. And Isaac married her when he was the age of 40. Now what's interesting here is when we have that number of 40, we're able to kind of look at how long they had to end up waiting to have kids. You'll recall in Genesis 24: 60, her relatives had given her a blessing, saying to her, O sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands, may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.
You'll also recall, of course, the even more important promise which was given to Abraham, that from him would come countless offspring. He'd be the father of many nations. And yet, Isaac and Rebekah find themselves childless. It's a detail I think we often miss in their story because it's just kind of like one sentence and then we're on to the children that they did have. But it says in verse 26 later on that Isaac was 60 when they were born. So they had to wait 20 years until they had children.
Now, something that we should recognize is that throughout this time, and in fact when these children are eventually are born, Abraham is still alive. Uh, Abraham would have been alive long enough to see the boys that would be born until they were the age of 15. So you can almost imagine Isaac going to, his father saying, dad, you know, what's going on?
We've been given this promise. Why aren't we having children? And Abraham can basically tell him, son, I've been there. I waited for you longer than 20 years. Um, and you know, we don't know what Abraham told Isaac, but Isaac took the right course and he made it a matter of prayer. He prayed that his wife would conceive and become pregnant, and it did take a while, but God did eventually enable her to conceive.
And just as kind of like an antidote, as a side note here, I think this is a good reminder to us is that we can be praying for something that's good, but sometimes God will make us wait. Or sometimes he has something else in mind, and it might be something that's, actually it is, for certain, something that is an even greater good.
I think it's important to keep that in mind, because sometimes we can be so frustrated, because you're like, God, I'm praying for something that is good. And in the case of Isaac, something you said that you were going to give to me, that you were going to bless our family with, with these many children.
But God has his timing. He has his purpose. And his plan is better than our plan. And it's really difficult to accept that, especially when you're in the middle of that 20 years. But this is where we are invited to exercise faith, which is a theme that we see again and again in Scripture, of how God desires for us to come to Him in faith.
So Rebekah is pregnant. But during the course of her pregnancy, she experiences some discomfort because she's pregnant with twins, and these twins, it's as though they're fighting within her. Now, her concern, expressed in verse 22, she says, why is this happening to me? You know, she might have some concern about the discomfort, but her concern isn't merely medical in nature.
She's taking this as some sort of omen. That she's having this disturbance within her womb. And so she's trying to understand God, what is going on here. And so it says in verse 22 that she went to inquire of the Lord. And we might ask, what does that mean? What does it mean for her to inquire of the Lord?
Well, it could mean that she simply went to Him in prayer and He revealed what was going on to her through a vision. Maybe some appearance. It could be that she went to a prophet of the Lord. We see in 1 Samuel 9: 9, this sort of language being used. It's explained there, um, in relation to the prophet Samuel.
It says, formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, Come, let us go to the seer. Because the prophet of today used to be called a seer. So it could be possible that she's going to someone who is functioning as a seer. A prophet of God. We don't know. But one way or another, she, in her confusion about what's going on, she goes to the Lord.
So we see both great examples here in Isaac and Rebekah. When she's not able to become pregnant, Isaac prays. When she doesn't understand what's going on, she inquires of the Lord. And, in fact, she was right to take what was, this disturbance going on within her as a sign from God. We look at verses 23 through 26.
The Lord tells her that two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau.
After this, his brother came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. So God explains the disturbance going on with Rebekah as a sign of the disturbance that's going to occur between these two brothers. He says that two nations are in your womb, two peoples from within you will be separated.
One will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. Now the first part of that, one people will be stronger than the other. When you hear that, you would tend to assume like, okay, probably the older brother is going to be the stronger one here. But everything is kind of flipped on its head here, when God says that the older will serve the younger.
Now the two nations that God is speaking of here would become Israel and Edom. Now we can see a map here. You can see Israel, um, this is a map from the later age of the kingdom. So Israel would include the kingdom of Israel, the kingdom of Judah. Edom is down here towards the south. Now Israel, the nation of Israel, would have come from Jacob.
And Edom would have come from Esau. And, as would be fitting, the word Edom also, also gives a hint of, of red, which seems to be kind of a theme for Esau's name. Now, when we go further in scripture, we see how pointed the separation is between the two. In Malachi 1, verses 2 through 3, the Lord says, I have loved you, speaking to the people of Israel, says the Lord.
But you ask, How have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob. But Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland, and left his inheritance to the desert jackals. That's a strong division there. Loved Jacob, hated Esau. So why this inverse order?
Why has God gone about things in this way? The reason is that God wants to make it utterly clear that what's about to transpire in accordance with his plan and promise is occurring by grace, by his call. It's not coming about by human convention and human strength. Now, we see this division revisited later on in Romans 9.
In Romans 9, Paul addresses an issue that's kind of occurred to the minds of those who are asking, well, what is the position of the Jewish people now that Gentiles are being welcomed into the kingdom of God through Jesus? Basically, there's an accusation that, you know, has God failed to keep his promise in some way.
Paul pushes back against it, against this notion by saying this, he says, It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor Abraham's children. On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as children, as Abraham's offspring.
This is how the promise was stated. At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. And then it continues on, and says, Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
So the thing to really note there in Paul's commentary here is that God's election and call in the case of Jacob and Esau had nothing to do about who each of them were or would become. It was simply his will in order to demonstrate that it's on the basis of his mercy that those who would be his people would be redeemed.
And this is the case throughout the redemptive narrative that we find in Scripture. God elected Abraham out of all humanity, but he was not compelled to choose Abraham. He could have chosen someone else. He chose Abraham out of all humanity, but for the sake of all humanity. It wasn't just for Abraham's sake that he was elected, but for the sake of those who would come after him, and in fact, for the whole world, because the whole world would be blessed through him.
God elects Jacob, not Esau, but I think it should be noted, even though God understands what's going to happen with Esau's family, he knows they're going to go off the rails. He knows that there's going to be this enmity between them. But it should be noted in what is said here, that while there's going to be conflict and while the older will serve the younger, it does not necessarily preclude Esau humbling himself and being obedient to God.
That decision is still on his doorstep. But as we'll see, He fumbles, he fumbles the ball.
His eternal destiny and the destiny of his children is only determined by his and his descendants own response to God. And this too is true of Jacob's own descendants, though they be the elect people. Ultimately, the truly elect, the truly chosen people of God are those who are revealed to have faith in Christ.
You look at the story of Israel, even though they were the chosen people, there's all sorts of people that rebelled, went after idols, and who will not have any part in the kingdom of God. Because those who are truly the children of Abraham, those who are truly elect, are those who have faith in God.
Ultimately, Jesus Christ. Now, we can still ask why, you know, why this person, why not that person? And I've thought about this a bit, and at the end of the day, while we can work out how we can have God's predestination, election operating and directing the course of human lives and we can have that go hand in hand with human free will and choosing to respond to that grace because of that grace or to rebel from that grace.
Still at the end of the day, we have to confess we don't understand all the plans of God. And I'm always brought back again and again to God's testimony of himself in Isaiah 55: 9, where he says, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts.
We have to be able to accept some mystery in God. If you want a God that can fit inside a box and is just kind of a construct, a theory, you don't really want God. You just want something that you can control and you can completely understand. When we encounter God, we encounter mystery. Now, getting back into the details here of this story with Esau and Jacob.
He has this association of red in his name. It seems like it's kind of implied because of his, when he was born, he kind of came out all red. Also said he was really hairy. I can't imagine what that looked like. Must have been a pretty interesting looking baby. Jacob, his name is kind of a play on words that brings to mind the word heel in Hebrew, because he came out holding onto Esau's heel.
Again, that must have been quite a delivery. But his name, Ya'qb El, also means may the God, El, which is talking about the one true God, may God protect. And as Jacob's story proceeds, we see how his name is fitting. He does continue to nip at Esau's heel, and he is protected by God, receiving his favor.
Moving on to verse 27, it says the boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau. But Rebecca loved Jacob. Once, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country famished.
He said to Jacob, Quick, let me have some of that red stew. I'm famished. That is why he was also called Edom. You got the red stew association there. Now, we see here that Isaac and Rebekah are playing favorites a little bit. It says that Isaac really loved his son Esau, the rough man, the hunter, and Rebekah loves Jacob.
Now, we know it's not right to play favorites. Something we have to understand here is that just because the Bible describes something doesn't mean it's prescribing us to do that. So, it's just telling us the facts. They had favorites. It's not telling us that we should do that with our own children. But this is setting the stage for us, you know, in terms of the conflict that's going to be occurring between the two of them.
Now again, Esau, hunter, man of the open country, Jacob said he said that he was a man among the tents. It's difficult for us to completely understand what exactly that means. Some of the commentators I read seem to suggest that it was, that he had a little bit more of a sophisticated way about going, a way of going about things, and that, in fact, he was probably much more interested in the domestication of animals than just going out and hunting animals.
So you can imagine a guy that has a very kind of organized mind, and as he has this encounter with, Esau, the Bible commentator John Walton suggests that perhaps when they have this encounter that Jacob was not, in fact, at the home base, but was out in the fields kind of at a base camp for, some herds that he was tending to.
And I think that's an interesting explanation because it would kind of explain some details here. So he's out at this camp, Esau comes in, he's famished. Who knows how long he's been out hunting, now It's difficult to know here whether he was literally at the point of starvation or if he was just kind of exaggerating things. You know, all of us have been probably really hungry at some point and really wanted to eat. Probably few of us have been at the literal part point of starvation, but this idea that maybe Jacob wasn't exactly at home would explain why Esau just didn't just run to mom and dad say, please gimme some food, I'm hungry here. It seems as though in one way or another he's at Jacob's mercy. Jacob's here at camp. He's got a stew cooked up. Who knows how much of the stew there is. Maybe there's only enough for himself, and so it's either he's gonna have it or Esau's gonna have it. Whatever the case, Esau was hungry enough to become reckless.
And Jacob saw his opportunity and took it. Continuing on in verse 31. Jacob replied, First, sell me your birthright. Look, I'm about to die, Esau said. What good is the birthright to me? But Jacob said, Swear to me first. So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.
He ate and drank and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. Now you have to say, you know, when you see Jacob put Esau in this position, you have to say, oh, that's not exactly nice. Why don't you just share some stew with your brother? Again, this is descriptive, it's not prescriptive. It's not saying that you should, it's alright to not share your stew with your brother or sister.
But the reason why Jacob is trying to seek an advantage here is because of the standing that he had in the family as being technically the second born. And this must have been very frustrating for him because he is a twin. So he's like, I'm literally just like a few, he was grabbing onto his heel. I'm literally just a couple seconds younger than him.
But because Esau was technically first, he has a whole lot coming to him in terms of his birthright. Now the tradition at this time would have been that Esau would have received a double share of the inheritance. So if you think of the inheritance, split into thirds, it would have been that Esau would have gotten two thirds of the inheritance, and Jacob would have only gotten one third.
You can probably understand why Jacob would be a little bit frustrated with that arrangement. Now, this is a little bit of an unconventional deal, although there is some records from this time that some of one's inheritance could be traded, but obviously the trade that's set up here is not fair at all, which is why the spotlight's really on Esau.
We can say, Jacob, that wasn't very nice, but the spotlight's really on Esau here, just because of his utter foolishness. In fact, it's worse than foolishness. It's, it's that Esau is really showing contempt for his birthright. He's showing contempt for the promises of God, which should belong to him. The blessing should belong to him as a firstborn.
And we see this contempt in him by the fact that he just makes an oath just so, so easily giving away his birthright. It all indicates that Esau doesn't really have a proper fear of God. Proper respect for God. And we find this assessment in Hebrews 12: 16 of Esau. It says, See that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.
And so, it is rightly said in verse 34 that he despised his birthright. The story here of Jacob and Esau reminds us that God does not always choose the firstborn, the best and the brightest. The ones who look like they will be world beaters. God doesn't choose who will be his own by our standards. Paul observes that this is often the case in his letter to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 26: 29.
He says this, Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. Yes, a few of us might be wise, influential, or of noble birth by the world's standards. But not many of us. God showcases his power and purpose in us, who are weak in the eyes of the world.
His plan is greater than any human scheme. We who believe are the elect. We are the chosen ones. Chosen by God to receive his grace in Jesus Christ through faith. Some who say they believe will be exposed as godless in the end, like Esau. We live in a time when those in the church are under constant temptation to sell out, to exchange our promised birthright in Christ.
For the cheap stew our world offers, immediate comfort and pleasure is offered at the cost of eternity. But as Jesus tells us in Mark 8: 36, what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Keep Christ. We are kept in Him. As Peter tells us in first Peter 1:3-4, says, praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ and his great mercy. He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Let us pray.
Father, we come before you having nothing to say for ourselves, because Father, we understand by the testimony of your word that we've heard here this morning, that we have been chosen, we have been redeemed, not because of our merits, but because of your mercy.
Father, I pray, we pray that you would give us a proper humility in understanding that.
And Father, help us to turn to you in our need with that understanding that it is by your power that your plan is accomplished. Not by our power, not by our strength, it is by your grace. Help us to turn to you, father, like Isaac and Rebekah turned to you as they wondered what's next.
Father, we thank you for the grace that you have given us. And father, we pray that you would help us to remain faithful. That as we've confessed and testified that we have put our faith in Christ, that we're trusting in the kingdom that is to come, that we would not forsake that kingdom for the kingdom of this world. By the strength of the Holy Spirit father help us persevere we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series entitled Israel Arises. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)