Genesis 27:30-46

MPS: When our hearts resist God’s plan, He gives us grace to trust Him. FCF: Our fallen hearts grow bitter and angry when God’s sovereign plan for our lives doesn’t fit our expectations.

Let me remind you of a few text that will help us understand what’s going on here. Genesis 25:23, “The LORD said to Rebekah..… the older will serve the younger.” Verse 33-34, “ Esau swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him… So Esau despised his birthright.” Genesis 26:34, “Esau took as his wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.” Hold these verses in mind as we go through the passage today, let’s jump in. Genesis 27:30-31

English Standard Version Chapter 27

As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.”

Ok the stage is set for a new conflict. Isaac just finished blessing Jacob; and Jacob leaves his father’s presence with the Abrahamic blessing in hand. And as soon as Jacob exits stage left and the curtains begin to close, they open again. New scene, new conflict, new tension.

And entering stage right is Esau. He’s done his part to receive the blessing, he went out, hunted and brought back a savory meal for his pops to enjoy and now it’s time for Isaac to make good on his word. It’s time for Isaac to fulfill now what he has promised Esau. This is why Esau says to his father, “Arise.” It’s not just sit up my father, but fulfill what you promised to me, perform the words you’ve spoken to me. This is the same word used in Gen. 17:7 where God says to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you.” I will arise, perform, fulfill what I promised to you Abraham. Same idea here. Esau says, “Perform the blessing that you have promised me my father.”

Now the word bless or blessing occurs 12 times here. The blessing in view here carried significant weight, it wasn’t a “I wish you well” blessing that we give here in America. It was binding, it was prophetic, it carried the weight of destiny of those who received the blessing. It was also irrevocable. Now Esau has been waiting for this moment. This is not a moment in time, this is years and years of waiting for this moment. He’s the firstborn; so he believes believes the blessing is his. It belongs to him. It’s not just food that he’s bringing, he’s bringing years of assumption that the blessing belongs to him. Esau has big expectations here, that are contrary to God’s plan. God’s sovereign plan doesn’t fit his expectations.

What’s your response to God when his sovereign plan doesn’t fit your expectations? Are you asking God to bless your plans instead of asking how you can be apart of His?

It is natural for us to think that if we can give a little food to God that he will bless our plans, that he will give us what we desire. Just a quick side note, this is why the prosperity gospel is no gospel but is wicked and evil. Because ultimately what you want is not God, it’s the thing your asking God to bless. God is just the means to get what your heart truly desires. Now most of us would reject that but our hearts are fallen, church. Even when we say/believe the right things, there can still be a quiet demand inside of us that says; “God, I’ll follow You—as long as You bless me on my terms.” Church, the question is will you trust God anyway if his plans for your life doesn’t fit your expectations?

This is what Isaac and Esau are about to learn. We are about to see two different responses to God’s sovereign plan. One of surrender and one of resistance. Let’s look at Isaac’s response.

Let’s look at versus 32-33.

English Standard Version Chapter 27

His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

This is a revealing moment for Isaac. This is where the blind man begins to see that he’s duped and that God’s purposes are being carried out. The response to Esau’s voice is one of trembling. He is shaken to the core. The phrase “trembled very violently” highlights the intensity of his reaction. This isn’t only a state of confusion and shock; it’s a moment of fearful clarity, where Isaac begins to see God’s sovereign hand—even through a situation littered with deception and human striving. His question here isn’t to gain information, no he’s processing the gravity of what just happened. He’s sees the foolishness of his own heart, striving to bless someone that God hasn’t chosen, the sin committed against him (Jacob’s deception) and the sovereign hand of God to carry out his purposes through all of this. Now you might be thinking, how does those two things work out? How does God execute his sovereign purposes even through foolishness and sin?

John Calvin mentions in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, “God works in his own way, he makes use of wicked instruments, and turns to a good end the evils which Satan and the wicked contrive.” God has real enemies working hard to stifle his plans, and yet they are being used to bring to pass his good purposes.

This is constant throughout all of scripture is it not? We see it in the story of Joseph and his brothers right? Joseph said, you meant it for evil, but say it with me, God meant it for good. We see it most clearly in the story of Jesus, he was betrayed, falsely accused and killed and yet this is according to the foreordained plan of God (Acts 2:23). The human sin is real and it’s evil and God sovereignly orchestrates it for his redemptive purposes.

The sin that others commit against you is not beyond God's rule—it’s woven into His sovereign purpose for your good. When you are dealing with a difficult person, a person who betrayed you or commits some kind of sin against you, know that God sovereignly put this person in your life to be an instrument of your sanctification. It’s not an accident God is interested in changing you, and he does it often through sins committed against you.

Now Isaac could respond with anger and bitterness here, but he says “Yes, he shall be blessed.” This response is one of surrender. God your will be done, let your plan move forward. He sees that God’s plan of redemption is through Jacob not Esau. And this highlights something about God, does it not? When our hearts resist God’s plan, he gives us grace to trust him. Our fallen hearts want to grow bitter and angry when God’s sovereign plan for our lives doesn’t fit our expectations. But God, because of His Son, opens our eyes to see where we have trusted in our plans more than His—and He leads us back to Himself in mercy. Amen?

So Isaac awakens from his blindness and trusts in the sovereign plan of God, but we can’t say that for Esau. Instead, he’s blinded by his bitterness and it quickly grows into something more destructive.

English Standard Version Chapter 27

34. As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

Esau’s response is one of deep, emotional pain and grief that is going to lead to fury not repentance. The text says, “he cried out a cry”. This is more like a deeply anguished scream. Esau is undone. Esau is undone over the stolen blessing but not over his sin. Through tear-filled eyes he seeks the blessing not repentance. He doesn’t confess the truth that he sold his birthright.

He doesn’t say, “Father, forgive me. I sold my birthright, I despised it. This is the Lord’s doing and I surrender to it.”

After Isaac tells him that his brother came and took the blessing away, he doesn’t say “The Lord gives and takes away. Let the Lord use my brother to bring about his purposes in redemption.”

Only a heart that has experienced God’s grace responds like that.

No, his attitude is like ours is it not? Have you not reserved a blessing for me? Have you not set aside for blessing for me? What about me and my plans. Church this sounds like me. It wasn’t my plan and expectations for marriage that my wife would suffer. It wasn’t apart my plans to experience relational hardship with family members. When God’s sovereign plan in my life, which includes my sanctification, challenges my expectations bitterness comes out. It’s not until grace is given that we can stop demanding our version of the blessing and start trusting that God's purposes are better than our plans. God is working out his good purposes in your life even in the midst of sin and suffering.

Church if you recently responded with bitterness and anger about your life’s situation; Repent, God is faithful and just to forgive you for all your sins. And he will provide you with the grace to trust and submit to his sovereign plan for your life.

The author Hebrews gives us a warning about bitterness and does it by highlighting Esau

English Standard Version Chapter 12

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

So don’t ignore the warning, church. Don’t let bitterness take root. Don’t let unmet expectations harden your heart. God has not reserved for you the blessing Esau demanded—but He has offered you something far greater: Himself. In Christ, you haven’t just been promised a better plan, you’ve been given a better blessing—one that can’t be stolen, one secured at the cross. So come—not with demands, but with repentance. Come—not asking God to serve your plan, but surrendering to His. He gives more grace.

Let’s take a look at verses 37-40

English Standard Version Chapter 27

37. Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

Before we look at this strange blessing. Isaac tells a summary of the blessing that he gave to Jacob, and then asks Esau “What then can I do for you, my son?” It reads like a genuine question from a father who loves his son. I have given him the covenantal blessing, he is the patriarch of the family, he is your authority, what can I do for you? Esau understands the nature of the blessing, he understands irrevocable that’s why he’s weeping. His repeated question, reveals his desperation and all his loving father can utter is a negative blessing.

Read 39-40 once more and then 28-29.

English Standard Version Chapter 27

May God give you of the dew of heaven

and of the fatness of the earth

and plenty of grain and wine.

29  Let peoples serve you,

and nations bow down to you.

Be lord over your brothers,

and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

Cursed be everyone who curses you,

and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”