Esau & Jacob

Good morning everyone, it is so good to be here this morning with you all. Right now we get to send out the kiddos to their class where you have the opportunity to learn about God in a way that makes sense to you. Then, remember, you gotta pay attention real good so that you can come find me after service and tell me something you learned today. Then of course we also want to welcome those of you joining us online, etc.

Last week we started a new series where we will be looking at Isaac and what Isaac’s story really is. We are looking at Scripture and going to focused in on Genesis chapter 25 this morning, and actually there are some pretty interesting things that we will see in Scripture. Before we get there though, I want to tell remind you about someone. See, last year we talked about this, but it’s been a bit so we need to just refresh our memories. Abraham was promised by God to be the father of a great nation, however, he did not have any kids yet when he was in his 80’s, so naturally, he felt that he needed to help God out. His wife Sarah gave to Abraham her maidservant Hagar, so thats pretty messed up, but that was actually common in that time and cultures of the world. The problem is that Abraham and Sarah are not cultures of the world, they are chosen by God. So this bad decision by Abraham and Sarah led to the birth of a man named Ishmael. Now this is where it gets interesting. You see, Ishmael is claimed to be the descendant of Muhammad, or the beginnings of Islam. Whereas Isaac is the child of the promise which ultimatly results in the church today. Here is what theologian John Stott says,

The religion of Ishmael is a religion of nature, of what man can do by himself without any special intervention of God.

John Stott

The religion of Isaac would be the religion of God, of what God can do through man. These two are diametrically opposed to each other. Something else that is interesting is that Ishmael had 12 sons resulting in 12 Arab tribes that lead to Islam, which we see as a parallel to what Jacob will have later which results in the 12 tribes of Israel. We can see the beginnings of the many wars in Israel, including the war of Israel vs Hamas & Hezbollah. You see, the physical wars that we see raging all over the world are simply outpourings of the spiritual war that has been raging since Genesis when God created everything, and Satan tried to take over. Now, everything God loves, Satan hates, and everything God created Satan counterfeits. Let’s take a look at that real quick together. Go ahead and turn to

gen 25:12-18

Genesis 25:12–18 (ESV)

These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen.

So the first thing we really do see here is the

The Legacy of Ishmael:

This is a legacy that Ishmael works to secure. Now, you will remember that God did tell Hagar that Ishmael would be blessed and would be the father of a nation, that was in Gen.21.13. However, he choose for that legacy to be one that fights against God, thus promoting evil ideologies, and false prophets. The descendants of Ishmael became known as Arabs, which basically means “nomads.” From the beginning, the descendants of Ishmael were a warlike people, as “they lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them” (Genesis 25:18). This fulfilled God’s earlier word that Ishmael would be “a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:12). Scripture even tells us that Ishmael’s numerous descendants settled near the eastern border of Egypt and lived in hostility toward all of their relatives. Through this we see the modern outpouring of various terrorist groups in the Arab nations. They are simply fulfilling the legacy of their father Ishmael whose hand would be against everyone and will live in hostility. This simply confirms that we are living in the midst of spiritual warfare all around us and that spiritual warfare has physical consequences that we can see and feel every day.

But, what else are we going to look at this morning. That is a reminder that what happened 6,000 years ago is still impacting history as it is being written today. That’s not all I want to look at this morning though. I also want us to look at

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

Now this is both an interesting and an incredibly messed up story here. So go ahead and leave your Bibles open because we are going to look at

Genesis 25:19–26 (ESV)

These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

OK, so here we have twin boys being born, and they will each become a nation. This is such an interesting story to be honest with you. I mean, it’s strange, but it’s interesting. On the one hand you have Jacob who will be revealed to be the child of the promise. However, you also have Esau who didn’t do anything wrong, at least not in the pre-born state, but Jacob is really hanging onto Esau from the moment of birth. Actually, Jacob’s name is a play on the word for heel. At the time of naming him, neither Isaac or Rebekah had any negative thoughts about this event. It was likely seen as a cute thing that happened. However, later, in a few weeks, we will see how Esau used his name in a derogatory way, and frankly with good reason. But we will talk about that later.

What we have for now is the beginnings of something that will play out within these family lines. Briefly let me tell you about these brothers that have just been born. Isaac we know is the child of the promise and that God has chosen to use Isaac to bring about the redemption of the world, namely Jesus Christ. Well, look at this, Jacob will one day later have his name changed to Israel, and Esau will be the father of the Edomites. Of course when we follow the lineage of Israel we will see the birth of Jesus. And when you follow the lineage of the Edomites, we will see that there was a man who was the son of a Jewish convert that became the King of Judea, better known as King Herod who was responsible for the massacre of the male children in Bethlehem. So when these boys are born there is a struggle and that struggle will continue until finally the Edomites will disappear from history, while the Israelites will bring about the worship of Jesus. All of this causing what the Lord told to Rebekah to come true, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

For now, what I want us to focus on is what is happening. What we see here is that Isaac and Rebekah have

A Devoted Home:

What I mean by that is their home is devoted to the Lord. Did you see what happened? You see, Isaac was married to Rebekah and then Isaac prayed to the Lord for Rebekah. Husbands…are you praying for your wife? Because in a home devoted to the Lord, you will be lifting your wife up in prayer when they need you to. That’s not it though. Ladies, did you see that Rebekah didn’t only wait for Isaac to pray for her, but she prayed as well. When Rebekah felt the fighting in her womb, she went to the Lord to ask what was happening. They didn’t have ultrasounds to be able to see that she had twins, she just knew something was wrong so she went to the Lord for direction. Now, here’s the thing, the only way that Rebekah knew to go to the Lord is that she was taught by Isaac to go to the Lord. In other words, Rebekah was spiritually led by her husband Isaac who lifted her up to the Lord. Husbands, are you leading your wife spiritually the way that Isaac led Rebekah? If not…why not? Wife’s are you going to the Lord yourself, or are you just hoping things will get better. I love this story becuase we can see practically speaking what it looks like to have a home devoted to the Lord.

Now there is something that we are going to see in this devoted home. When Rebekah cried out to God, God responded to her telling her what was going on, and explaining what she will experience. This is what he said,

God had already determined what will happen, however, that decision is then confirmed later when Esau was not a faithful son, but a son who longed after the worldly ways.

“Two nations are in your womb;

two peoples will come from you and be separated.

One people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

The Lord is revealing that from this devoted home will come…

A Divided Home:

Now remember, this divided home started in the womb when Rebekah felt these twins wrestling. That physical wrestling will give way to spiritual wrestling that follows the lineage of both men. Right away we see that within these boys are two very different personalities, right. I mean on the one hand we have Jacob who seems a bit calm, and we have Esau who seems a bit high drama, and that is not going to end well for him. Take a look at this story here.

Genesis 25:27–34 (ESV)

When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Talk about being high drama. Esau gets hungry and says he’s gonna die…I mean I have seen some hangry people, but this clearly takes the prize…The guy’s stomach growls and he just gives it all up…he couldn’t wait to cook himself, or to walk into the kitchen and grab some jerky or something…nope, he just jumped right to, “I’m gonna die” Then of course his impulsive behavior betrays him when he is no longer hungry, but he has already given up his birthright…meaning his inheritance. Let’s put that into today’s understanding.

Let’s say my folks have a very successful business, and Im a teenager. I like to go out and work in the family business and I’m the oldest male in my family. So one day I’ll expected to take over. Now, I come inside and I’m crazy hungry. Like, I haven’t eaten all day and I’m wiped out. I walk inside and there is my brother who just made a sandwich…and oh boy does that sandwich look good. So, I ask my brother for a bite of the sandwich and he says, Ill give it to you if you take yourself off the will. My response is, well, I might as well because if I don’t get a sandwich right now Im going to die! So, I remove myself from the will and I get a bite of a sandwich…I mean, I would have traded millions of dollars for a sandwich…That better be a really good sandwich…That’s pretty much what Esau just did. He traded away all of his inheritance for some stew. Esau is a little high strung there, but also, Jacob took advantage of that didn’t he. I would argue they are both kind of messed up here. I mean, why couldn’t Jacob just share some stew with his brother…he feels that he has to scheme.

You see, God had already made a decision to use Jacob as the promised son. Did God lead Jacob to behave in a dishonoring way? No, actually, the fact that God had already determined to give the covenant blessings to Jacob didn’t absolve anybody in the family from their obligations to the Lord. They were all responsible for their actions, because divine sovereignty doesn’t destroy human responsibility. We are all responsible for our behavior. In fact, knowing that we’re chosen of God means we have a greater responsibility to do His will. So Jacob behaved in a dishonoring way, but God will still use him to fulfill his purposes. That does not praise what Jacob did, or what Jacob will do, but it says that God is bigger than his sin, and God’s overarching purposes are bigger than one persons decisions.

There is a story I read about, A person kept a card under the glass on his office desk that read: “Faith is living without scheming.” Jacob could have used that card. Before his birth, he had been divinely chosen to receive the birthright and the blessing; thus there was no need for him to scheme and take advantage of his brother. It’s likely that Jacob had already seen plenty of evidence that Esau didn’t care about spiritual things, an attitude that made Esau unfit to receive the blessing and accomplish God’s will.

See, Jacob had personal choices that he had to make, and arguably did not make very wise or God honoring choices, however, God used him anyway. What about you? What if you knew that God had something planned for you in your life? What if I told you that God does have something planned for you…would you believe me? Well there is a passage that we looked at recently and I think it really impacts what we are talking about as we look at Esau and Jacob.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are his workmanship and we have been created for good works that God has already planned for us to do. God had some things planned for Jacob as well, but Jacob attempted to do things his own way. What about you? What are…

The Choices You/I Will Make

See, if you acknowledge up front that God has something for you, the question is, are you willing to do the thing that he has for you? Even more than that, are you willing to do that thing ethically? In other words, are you willing to do what God has called you to in a way that brings glory to God, or are you more interested in doing things in a way that brings glory to yourself?

What about as a church? We’ve talked about the fact that God has placed us here for a purpose and we are going to be spending this year determining what that purpose is. Are we willing to just ignore what God is leading us to because it would be easier to just chill and maintain what we’ve already been doing? Are you willing to ignore what God is calling you to do because it’s something you don’t really want to do?

This morning we are going to close out and the band is going to come up and lead us in a closing reflection song. However, I don’t want you to leave until you have had a conversation with the Lord. Today we saw the legacy of Ishmael and how that spiritual conflict is still being played out today 6000 years later. We saw the devoted and divided home of Isaac and Rebekah and how the choices made by Jacob and Esau were used by God to fulfill his purposes. My question to challenge you with as we close is, will you commit to embrace God’s call to live faithfully, walk in obedience and trust that God will fulfill his purposes through you?

Let’s Prayer (pray that we each have the strength to walk in obedience no matter where that walk takes us.