Isaac- Mirroring the Father
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Q: Have you ever thoughts about how similar you are to your father?
Q:In what kind of ways are you the same?
Have you thought about the possibility that your spiritual strengths or weaknesses are similar to your fathers?
Here we will see an almost mirror image of Isaac going through experiences exactly like Abraham and both succeeding and failing in the same ways.
Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
There is a famine in the land and Isaac has to move, just like his father Abraham
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
Isaac meets King Abimelech, just like his father Abraham
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
NOTE: This may not be the same one that Abraham met, this may be a title not a name.
God tells Isaac to go to the land that He will show him, , just like his father Abraham
God restates the promise He made to Abraham.
Land, descendants, blessings
So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
Q: What jumps out at you?
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Q: Why did Isaac exhibit the same moral failures as his father?
What would have happened if Abraham was transparent about this and told his son about his struggles. Would the story might be different?
Think about your own struggles, Maybe you struggle with the same things your father has
Maybe as future fathers, we should learn from this lesson to prepare our children.
Thoughts?
And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Blessings
Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
They are arguing about a well, the Philistines, fill it with dirt and Isaac moves on, even though it is his.
Q: Did Isaac move on because he was afraid/cowardly or was he just a peacemaker?
Q: Did the reason why he moved on change God’s blessing?
God can and does bless regardless of your own difficulties or issues.
King Abimelech asks Isaac to go away because he is too powerful for them. AKA God has richly blessed him.
More wells are dug and more arguing about the water and land rights happen. Until they dig a well that is theirs.
And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Fear not
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
Buit an Altar
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
Q: Thoughts?
Why did the King make a pact with Isaac?
He did not want to go against the God of Isaac who was clearly blessing him.
Notice Esau. What happened?
He tooks wives from the other nations, which was forbidden.
Also notice that he is hanging around Isaac, his younger brother.
Takeaway: