A Picture of the Gospel

Introduction

In the previous section we saw Jacob and Rebekah conspire to deceive Isaac and steal the birthright right out from under Esau. This estranged the brothers all the more and brought a curse upon Esau. Jacob has now taken the birthright and the blessing from Esau. This is a sad picture we see of a broken family. Yes God said that it would be Jacob that the line of promise would continue through and he would carry on the covenant but God can work in all circumstances and here he worked amidst their brokenness.

These deceitful actions have consequences though. As we will see tonight Esau wants to kill Jacob and Jacob must flee for safety. They then make a way for him to flee that makes it look like they do not know what is going on in the mind of Esau. This drives Esau to seek a further solution but he just demonstrates that he doesn’t grasp God’s covenant purposes. While fleeing Jacob will meet with God for the first time and now for the first time in his life God will assure him of the covenant and its promises.

This whole story gives us an image of the gospel as we dive into it. It gives us a picture of the good news of salvation that is offered to us. It starts off with sin scattering the family just like sin separates us from God. We then see the grace of God at work in sending him to safety just like we see Gods grace coming and rescuing us. Then it ends with God meeting him and assuring him of the covenant just like God meets us and gives us new hearts and saves us.

So lets pray this evening and then we will start off with sin scattering.

Sin Scatters

Genesis 27:41–45 ESV

Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

Because of the actions of Jacob Esau now hates him and wants to kill him. He does want to wait for Isaac to die first though so that his father is not alive when it happens. This shows that there is a love for his father there. Rebekah in her usual fashion overhears about his plan and is worried so she conspires a plan to get Jacob to safety by sending him off to her brother. She says that she will bring him back once Esau has calmed down but he does not return during her lifetime. She is concerned that she will lose both of her sons in one day because Esau will be executed if he kills Jacob.

This is a fracturing of family all surrounded by sin. There is deception, there is anger and hate, there is a clueless father. This is a sad situation and it is leading to Jacob being sent away and the family being scattered.

Many of you here today may understand what it is like to be in a family like this, a family broken apart by sin. This is not the way that God intended families to be. It is sin that brings this all about and it is sin that brings brokenness to all of our lives. We all have the problem of sin in our life, none of us are exempt from it. Sin is anything that we do that displeases God. Sin brings brokenness and it scatters.

This story we read is very old yet it gets back to the same issues that we face still today. The good news is that this is not the end of the story for them or for us, so lets read on and see the grace of God at work.

Grace Sends

Genesis 27:46–28:9 ESV

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?” Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Rebekah now takes action and tells Isaac that she intensely dislikes the Hittite women and says her life will be worthless if Jacob marries one of them. Remember also that Esau has married two of them and they have made life bitter for Rachel and Isaac. Isaac thinks it is a good thing to send him off to find a wife so he proceeds to bless him and send him to Laban. This blessing has a lot of familiar language in it. We see it calls him to be fruitful and multiply by the blessing of the Lord, this is what we have seen from the very beginning of the book. We see that it calls for him to become a great company of peoples, becoming many nations. It even then says the blessings of Abraham and land. This covers much of Genesis and the land, seed, and blessing that we have seen.

After this great send off we see that Esau notices that Hittite women do not please his father so he goes and marries a daughter of Ishmael. This brings him up to three wives but it still does not please his father. Esau does not grasp the covenant and this explains much of his behavior.

So we see it is by the grace of God that he is sent away with the covenant blessing. If he were to stay he would be risking death but God made a way. On this way he will begin to work in the life of Jacob and we will see a great change in his life.

One interesting thing to note here is the language company of people. The Hebrew word translated “company” is qāhāl, which the Greek Septuagint renders as ekklesia, the same word later used in the New Testament for the church. This is more than a reference to physical descendants. Israel is being anticipated as a covenant assembly, not merely a tribe defined by genealogy but a holy nation gathered under the word of God and dwelling in His presence. In this sense, Jacob’s blessing contains a shadow of the church, the people of God called out and bound together by His covenant promises. The Old Testament assembly points forward to the New Testament church, united in Christ.

In this section of the story it is probably hard for Jacob to see how God is working. He probably doesn’t see all of this as an act of the grace of God. He probably views it as a hardship that he has gotten himself into and he doesn’t even know the difficulties that he is about to go through. All of these difficulties though bring him to the point of faith, something that it doesn’t seem like he has at this point.

Salvation is by grace through faith. Grace is something that we get and we do not deserve in a good sense not a negative one. Sometimes it comes in the form of hardships but grace is good. It is through the grace of God that Jacob is sent out and when he returns he will be a man of great faith.

Sin separates us from God and through the grace of God there is hope for us, we need the action of God in our life.

God Meets

Genesis 28:10–22 ESV

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 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.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Jacob now on his journey comes to a place to rest for the night because it is a 500 mile journey. While there he has a divine dream and there is a ladder, more properly understood as a staircase, where there are angels going up and down. On top of this staircase is God. God tells him of all of the covenantal promises here. This is the first time that God gives these promises to him, he has heard them from his father up to this point. This is a shocking event for him and he says that this place is the house of God.

This part of the story greatly contrast the tower of Babel where humanity sought to do all of these things themselves by their own power.

The next morning Jacob uses his pillow rock as a pillar to honor this place. At this point setting up a pillar is not associated with idolatry so it is not a sinful act. He then says that if God will provide for his basic needs and bring him back into the land of promise he will be his God.

This is a great encounter with God that Jacob has and it begins to set the stage for the next phase of his life. He is taking a form of exile where he will be deceived just like he deceived. But God will bring him out of his exile.

Here in this story though God met Jacob and changed the course of his life.

In John 1.51 we see Jesus say this

John 1:51 ESV

And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus is calling our attention back to this story and showing us that the stairway or ladder in the story is him! Jesus is the mediator between God and man as we are told in 1 Timothy 2.5

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Jesus as divine mediator made a way for salvation through his death burial and resurrection. He came down to earth and met us in our need and made a way for salvation, a way for forgiveness, a way for restoration.

Sin separates us from God and by the grace of God he sent Jesus to mediate a new and better covenant. Through this covenant we can be brought back into right relationship with God and no longer have to bear the separation from God that sin caused.

Conclusion

So as we close this evening let me ask you this, has God met you with his grace and brought you forgiveness for your sins? Have you put your faith in Jesus and been saved?

We all universally have the same problem of sin but the good news of the Bible is that we can be saved and restored. The Holy Spirit will come in and give you a new heart and make a way for you to put your faith in Jesus. Is that where you are at right now?

God was at work all these years ago and he is at work even still now. You respond how he directs. Let’s pray.