Isaac #5 - Gensis 25:19-26

Genesis 25:19–26 KJV (WS)

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac: 20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. 24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Introduction

There are so many things that we can pass on to others.

China ware

Cold

Property

There is something most precious that cannot be passed on.

Faith.

Faith must be developed in each and every individual.

We see this in today’s passage.

Happy is the nation without a history.

Have you ever read the Bible and seen a statement like we see in verse 19, “these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son?”

What do you typically expect to see after that?

You probably expect to see something like what we see in Genesis 5:6.

Instead we see this, almost humorous, abbreviated genealogy that only contains 2 names.

Abraham begat Isaac.

The end.

The nation that God had promised Abraham was still just a single family.

And a small family at that.

The promised seed of Abraham was still just a single strand.

For 20 more years, it remained so.

At the age of 59, after 19 years of marriage, Isaac and Rebekah still had no children.

Isaac was a devout man.

So, he did what he had seen modeled for him by his father.

And, honestly, what had worked for him in the past.

Isaac trusted God.

Isaac prayed to God for his wife.

There are a few beautiful pictures in this verse.

First I want you to think about the love that we heard about last week that is being displayed this week.

The wording in this verse is meant to draw a picture for us.

The picture that we are supposed to visualize is that Isaac is praying to God for his wife while he looks at his wife.

My friend Bud Calvert used to always quote Lamentations 3:51 “51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.”

Isaac, whose eyes would become an issue in the future, looks at his wife with love and compassion.

His heart breaks for her that she has been unable to bear a child.

When he sees her, he prays for her.

The second thing that we see in this verse is the unmistakable role of God in the establishment of the promised lineage.

There had been no doubt that Isaac had been a miraculous birth.

It seems the same would be true for his children.

They would not be the result of common, natural procreation (as if there is such a thing).

Isaac’s children would be miraculously conceived in a womb that had proven for 20 years to be barren.

God heard Isaac’s prayers.

God always intended to give them children.

Isaac knew that he was the son of the promise.

He had certainly shared God’s promises with Rebekah.

Abraham, who was still alive, had no doubt encouraged the couple with tales of his own waiting.

There must have been significant celebrations when Rebekah told Isaac that she was expecting.

It was a sign that God was keeping his promise.

This child would establish the promise for another generation.

Isaac must have been relieved.

Rebekah must have been relieved…right?

Rebekah is concerned about something going on with the baby in her womb.

No ultrasound, she probably didn’t realize she had twins until this passage.

She didn’t need an ultrasound to tell her something was going on inside her.

The passage says that the children struggled with in her.

What kind of a struggle?

Well the Hebrew word for struggle is used to define two people in a wrestling match.

The babies were not just moving around, they were body slamming each other.

Rebekah cries out to God for answers.

Abraham and Isaac had done so much talking about the promised seed, and how old Sarah had been when she had Isaac, and yada yada yada.

Can you ladies just imagine the well-intentioned but un-informed things that Rebekah might have had to sit through?

She had been told that she was blessed, but she didn’t feel like it.

If she was blessed, if this was the promised seed within her, then why was she having such a hard time with this baby?!?!?

God answers her.

There are two nations in her womb.

Our world cannot recognize the personhood of a baby in the womb.

God not only saw the individual growing there, but also their progeny.

The two babies that she was carrying would be wholly different from each other.

One would be stronger than the other.

The older would serve the younger.

This is the same as what had happened to Isaac.

Ishmael was the first born, but he was not the chosen son.

Rebekah now knew why she was experiencing so much pre-natal turmoil.

She wasn’t expecting one baby but two.

From the sound of things they were destined for conflict.

The children are born.

The first born was Esau.

He was red (Edom).

He was hairy.

The second born was Jacob.

He presented his hand first in birth.

This is an extremely rare and dangerous way to travel through the birth canal.

Today only 1 in 1000 babies are born with a limb-first presentation.

In some cases this is cause for immediate c-section.

This was, of course, not an option for Rebekah.

But, with the promise of God that both boys would be father’s of nations, they both must have survived.

In the chaos and danger of childbirth, Rebekah realized that God’s promises could be trusted.

As she held both of her boys, safe and alive, what rejoicing she must have felt.

Like Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac before her, Rebekah had been learned that God is trustworthy.

It was not enough that her husband and in-laws had experienced God’s faithfulness.

Rebekah needed her faith to become personal.

Through the birth of her children, Rebekah experienced God’s faithfulness for herself.

Application

Every generation of believers has to go through this same process.

Faith is essential for a relationship with God.

You cannot claim someone else’s faith as your own.

Rebekah married to a devout man, she was the daughter in law of the prototype believer, Abraham.

Ultimately her faith had to be her own.

She had to have her own dialogue with God.

She had to receive the promises made to her family for herself.

In this passage, we see the struggle that this caused.

For 20 years she struggled with the lack of evidence of God’s promises.

As the twins tussled, she didn’t feel like the recipient of the promise.

After God promised the presence of two nations within her, she probably had some doubts when Jacobs arm came out first.

In the end she found that God could be trusted.

In what part of your life, is your faith being tested?

Are there situations where you have tried to trust God, but it just doesn’t seem like He is coming through?

Remember, Rebekah waited 20 years for God’s promise to be fulfilled.

Have you developed your own faith in God rather than riding the coat tails of someone else’s faith?

Young or old, it is too easy to claim someone else’s faith as our own.

We have to put our own faith to the test.

Test God and find Him to be faithful.

This is one of the reasons I realize that I surrendered to the ministry.

I want to experience God’s faithfulness for myself.

You don’t have to be in the ministry though to find that God is trustworthy.

Conclusion

“[ ... ]when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope--and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety; and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the word and power of God, beyond and against appearances[....]” ― John Newton