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.

So we are coming to the end of the line for Jacob…actually today will be the last day that we talk about Jacob specifically, but he will not be gone completely. You see, Scripture moves our focus from Jacob to Joseph one of Jacob’s children, but before we do that we need to remember what Jacob, well actually what Israel has experienced over the course of his life…especially over the course of his life as a nomad when he was moving around and learning more and more to rely on God. So what Israel learned over the course of his life is that there were no accidents in his life and that there were only appointments by God. However, what we need to take away from that is that, In the life of the trusting Christian, there are no accidents, only appointments. Really we good even say just, in the life of the Christian whether you trust or not…God is in control. So because we know that God is in control you can trust that what is going on in your life is being overseen by the Father for your good. Now you may not like that or it may not feel like good all the time, but you know you can trust that it is. That is what faith is all about. That is what Israel took his life to learn, and thats what you and I get to hopefully learn through watching the lives of these men in Scripture, but also hopefully through our own conversations with the Lord and our own experiences of trusting the Lord and watching his promises hold true.

Today we lay to rest an entire story line and we prepare to pick up a new story line. This new story line will be connected, but there are some things we will be able to see as we lay this line to rest and so that is why I have titled today’s message,

The End of the Line

Today we are going to see the end of a family line, or at least what the end will look like for a family line. Today we are going to see the loss of a person that has been very important to all of these family lines, someone that is a part of these blessings and promises of God directly. Someone that has personally seen how God holds to his promises even if it doesn’t feel like it at that moment. Then later we will see the various people within the family line and what it means for that family line. We won’t need to read all of chapter 36, but we will pop in and out to see various things there. Ultimately we want to see what God has done in order to see what God is doing. So, let’s start off remembering

Jacob’s Sons

Let’s just read this section…it’s pretty short.

Genesis 35:23–26 ESV

The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

So here we have the twelve sons of Jacob, or better said the twelve sons of Israel. Now we know that the twelve sons of Israel will become the twelve tribes of Israel and will not always get along, just like they do not always get along as brothers, but we will see more of that later.

That’s not all that’s going on here though. There’s something pretty heartbreaking that is coming and so we need to take a look at the

Patriarch’s Pain

Yeah, I said Patriarch's because there is more than just Jacob that is seen here. Let’s go ahead and read

Genesis 35:27–29 ESV

And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Now I bet you’re wondering how I see the Patriarch’s pain through this short section aren’t you? I mean, of course Jacob would be mourning the loss of his father, but what else is going on here?

Well first of all we see something pretty awesome. We see Jacob join with the patriarchs here as he came to Mamre, where Abraham and Isaac had been. There is a joining and another promise being fulfilled here. Remember God promised to bring Jacob back to his fathers house.

Genesis 28:15 (ESV)

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

So that’s pretty neat to see a joining of all three patriarch’s…but then there is a pain with the patriarch’s here. We see in that very next verse that Isaac died at 180 years old. However, something really painful happened while Isaac was still alive and while Jacob was visiting Isaac prior to him passing into glory Isaac would have seen the pain that was caused. You see, twelve years prior to Isaac passing away, Jacob’s son Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. Now he doesn’t know he was sold into slavery because his brothers told their father that he was mauled by a wild lion and killed him, so they brought back only his torn up robe that Jacob had given to him. Isaac would have seen the pain of a father who lost his favored son. Isaac may have consoled his son as he was brought to tears over the loss of Joseph. So let me say that again, Isaac was alive when Joseph was sold into slavery.

Of course, we trust that Isaac and Jacob experienced reconciliation and that the old patriarch died “full of years” just like his father (25:8). Now, Esau came from Mount Seir to pay his respects to his father and to assist Isaac in burying him in the cave of Machpelah (49:29–32). Esau was a man of the world and not a child of the covenant, but he was still Isaac’s son and Jacob’s brother, and he had every right to be there. Death is a human experience that brings human pain to our hearts, and caring for the dead is a responsibility for all the family—believers and unbelievers.

Look, families are torn in moments like this because not everyone is a believer, right. However, as a child of the Promise Jacob’s responsibility was to reflect the Glory of God. Did he do that? We don’t really know if he did or not. When it came to his brother, he previously didn’t do that, however, he was now living differently as Israel, so maybe he made the decision to glorify God. However, what we do know is that our responsibility as believers is to glorify God if, or really it is better to say when, we are put into a similar situation where we are caring for the dead as a family with both believers and unbelievers.

There is one last thing that Isaac’s death did. Isaac’s death changed Jacob’s status: He was now the head of the family and the heir of the covenant blessings. Jacob takes his father’s role in Canaan according to Isaac’s blessing and the promise made by God. Not only did he acquire Isaac’s wealth, but he has also inherited all that was involved in the Abrahamic covenant. His God would be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob’s name will be listed as the final of the three patriarch’s giving way to the twelve tribes of Israel. Now as this family looks into the future and what will be the fractured sons of Israel, it will only be because of the gracious purposes of God that this family will survive during the incredibly dangerous times that are coming in the next 25-50 years.

Now we are going to look at something else because we are going to see a pretty big contrast here. First we had Jacob’s sons and we saw just now how Jacob’s sons are the twelve tribes of Israel and how Jacob was the final of the Patriarch’s. So what about Esau? I mean he had a family too…What about

Esau’s Sons

I said there is a big contrast and that’s true because what we see in Jacob, or in the sons of Israel are the twelve tribes that God will use in various ways to bring about the ultimate Son through which salvation is brought to the world. However, Esau does not have that same type of legacy. Esau’s legacy is very different and much more self focused. Now, we aren’t going to read the whole chapter 36 because there is alot of repetition and unless we spend a significant amount of time studying each person that is listen, then chapter 36 is just a list of names to you. However, there are a few things I’m going to point out after a few minutes, but first I do want to start off looking at the first section and getting a general feel for whats going on here

Genesis 36:1–9 ESV

These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

Then it goes on and starts to makes various lists. Of course the very first thing that we see is the thing that should not be done, and that is to take a wife among the Canaanites. Now, I want to just very briefly remind everyone…this is not a racial or ethnic thing…this is a command to not be unequally yoked. Actually we see the same teaching in the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV)

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Now look at this for a moment because I want to really challenge some of you. You see, for a long time many of us in the church circles have talked about this passage in the context of marriage, but maybe in the context of dating it’s ok…Let me answer that for you…Why? Let’s go further though. Where in that passage does it say anything about a romantic relationship? What about a business relationship? What about a friendship? I don’t mean any friendship, I mean the friendship that has your ear when you are troubled…you know the one you trust with anything…You see, this passage is not talking about a romantic relationship. This passage talks about keeping yourself pure to the Lord. In the ESV this verse starts a section called, “The Temple of the Living God”, the NIV calls it the “Warning Against Idolatry”, for those of you still married to the KJV, sorry there are no section headings :) Then the CSB calls it, “SEPARATION TO GOD”. You see…nothing here leads us to believe this is about dating or marriage or anything…this is simply about you keeping your heart pure for the Lord.

That was also the purpose for the families of the covenant to not marry Canaanites, because they would more easily bring idols into the household and false worship into their home. This is what God was trying to protect his children from. However, some of the children rebelled and did what they wanted to do anyway. and this list is what happens when one of those children rebelled. Esau did not keep himself pure to the Lord and this is what happened as a result.

There are six lists of names, including sons, chiefs, and kings. Esau’s wives and children, and his settlement lived in the mountains of Seir. Then we see how these sons and grandsons became the ancestors of Esau and formed into tribes, just like the counterpart of the tribes of Israel. However, we cannot be blind to the spiritual warfare that goes on all around us. Look, Esau hated his brother because his brother stole his birthright and stole his blessing. Esau vowed to kill his brother. Esau had a change of heart at some point, however there was never true reconciliation between the two brothers. Then as Esau’s children become the Edomites and they join with the evil murderous Horites, they become even more barbarous and despotic than before always fighting for their control and watching and waiting for another to come and challenge them for control. This is the spiritual warfare that is happening in the early years of civilization, but it is not all that different from the spiritual warfare that goes on today. That’s not even the end of it though because there is something else I want to show you this morning as a result of Esau not keeping himself pure to the Lord. The Edomites were a tribe of people who were directly at odds against the Israelites and at every opportunity attempted to remove the Israelites from the face of the Earth. Tell me that is not demonic…

That’s not all though….there’s a reason that the Edomites, and really the unholy spirits want to remove the Israelites from the face of the Earth…It’s because God has said that this is my chosen people through witch I will bring the promise. So the Israelites were forbidden to hate the Edomites, but the Edomites were constantly attacking the Israelites. Later on…like many many many years later, there was a war called the Maccabean wars. One of the results of the Maccabean wars was that the Edomites were subjugated by the Jews, and forced to convert to Judaism. Then later when the Roman empire grew, there was an Edomite whose father had converted to Judaism had been named king of Judea. That Edomite, well actually since the Greek language took over, it was no longer Edomite, it was now Idumaeans…Well that particular king is known in history as King Herod the Great, the tyrant who ordered a massacre in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the Christ child. Now, you can understand why those unholy spirits have been waging war on Israel for all of those years before that moment. Satan, in all of his pride truly thought he could stop God’s plan and he still thinks that today…Here’s the truth though

Genesis 36 is a long chapter containing many names, but Gen. 36 is the end of the story Esau! The Edomites are named in the Old Testament only because they’re a part of the story of Israel. “Esau” and “Edom,” the sworn enemies of the Jews, are mentioned over two hundred times in the Bible…That’s alot. However, “Jacob” and “Israel” are found over two thousand times! Esau’s son Eliphaz was the father of Amalek, and the Amalekites were also Israel’s enemies. Spoiler alert…The Amelekites did not survive past the book of Esther when Haman tries to have all of the Jews killed and instead has himself and the remainder of the Amelekites killed.

What do you do with all of this information this morning? I mean…it’s pretty interesting, but what do you do? Was today just a history class or is there some application that you can take into your life and move you forward in your life in order to change you, in order to make you more like Christ moving forward? Well I think we have a couple of things and so I’ll just remind you of a couple of things from this morning real quick.

First of all we see again that God fulfills his promises. I mean that’s always encouraging to be reminded about.

Next we saw that even if we are in the room with people who don’t have the same faith in God as you do…your purpose is still to glorify God as you mourn the loss of a loved one. So, Glorify God with believers and non-believers the same.

After that we were reminded about that passage in the New Testament that is supposed to only apply to marriage relationships and actually saw that it applies to all of our close relationships. That might mean some of you need to have some hard conversations with God and then with another person. You may have to do that in order to Keep yourself pure to the Lord.

Finally we saw what happens when you do not keep yourself pure for the Lord just like with Esau and his lineage…

So whats the take away this morning? What can you write down and put on your fridge to get you through the week? Well first of all I hope that you will choose to glorify God in all things…no matter what that you will choose to glorify God and put God first in every situation. That means at work, at home, at the store, at the gym, everywhere you are God is number one, not you…Then after that I hope you learned what Esau learned only after he failed…you cannot get in the way of God’s plan. That is what Jacob learned and I hope that is why you have learned throughout this series, and I hope you can live with the knowledge that In the life of the trusting Christian, there are no accidents, only appointments.

Let’s pray: pray that God will show each person that he is real in their lives. Pray God will show each person individually where he is calling them to and what he has saved them from. Pray that God will remind us all about the realities of what we deserve and what he did for us so that we do not have to receive what we deserve. Pray that God will spark in all of us a desire to share our faith with those that are lost and dying all around us every day.