Thriving For The Blessing

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.” So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

Introduction

Isaac: Blessing the wrong son

In the first scene we see Isaac call his son Esau so he can bless him. There are two reason why he wants to bless Esau and not Jacob. The first reason being that in ancient times is was a custom for the first born to inherit a blessing from their father. This blessing is specific to a firstborn male that was related to or perceived to be part of the firstborn’s inheritance. He also wanted to bless Esaus because that was his favorite son. In read in the following passage:

Genesis 25:27–28 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.

He loved that Esau was a hunter and enjoyed getting the food from his game.

But we before we continue we need to define what is a blessing. As christian we say that word all the time. When people blow their knows we say “God bless you”. The word bless is all over the bible. Its in the old and new testament. We say “We are blessed and highly favor” we also bless both God and People. But; what does it mean to receive a blessing? The type of blessing Isaac is trying to give to Esau is a blessing focusing on future wealth and posterity. It also was not a word of encourage. Isaac received this blessing from his Father Abraham. That blessing is found in chapter 12:

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The blessing is basically envoking the divine favor, grace, and protection of God over your life. This is greater than a birthright. A birthright deals many with property and wealth passed down from parents to childrens. But just because you have a house doesn’t mean you know how to keep. Just be because you inherited money doesn’t mean you have the wisdom to manage it. Let me see if I can make it plain. You see a birthright is like getting a lump sum of money given to you. You can do whatever you want with that money. Buy a house, cars, games, eat at fancy restaurants you name it you can do it. However; once you spend the money that it its gone. A blessing is like owning a company that will never fail. As long as the company exists you will get more and more money to your bank account. With a birthright your wealth can run out but with a company there is no limite to how much money you can earn . T

That is what the blessing is. It God saying that as long as you live I will continuously be with you and provide for you all my favor, all my grace, all my love, all my protection, all my mercy, all of my power upon you life.

Getting this blessing is an oppurnity of a lifetime. However; Esau is not soppose to get this blessing. The blessing actually belongs to Jacob. We see in chapter 25 God said this word to Rebecca:

Genesis 25:22–23 ESV

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.”

Genesis 25:22-

So it is God’s will that Jacob be blessed. Esau also have showned himself to be unfit for the blessing of Abraham. The bible says he acted unholy in selling his birthright to his younger brother Jacob. he also married women outside of the family in something that Abraham was careful not to do with Isaac. I believe we all been in a situation like this. Have you been in a place in your life that you said to yourself “I should be blessed not them”. Or most likely you was promised something and you didn’t get it. Many of us are looking for our blessing. Or better yet looking for the blessing of God. I believe Isaac is actively disobeying God by trying to bless Esau. He must have heard the word of prophecy from Rebecca. Clearly he seen Esau life and seen that he was not worthy of the blessing. We see in the text that Isaac was blind during this time of his life. He was however also spritually blind as well. To not see that

However Isaac has this power to bless and he wants to give it to Esau. However; what about God’s word? What about his purpose to bless Jacob? If Esau gets the blessing what does that mean for God’s promise. Can we rely on His to complete his word when people in put in charge are going against his will? Well let go to the next scene and see what happens next?

Rebecca: Blessing by any means necessary

Now Rebecca hears all this and is not happy. She heard the word of the Lord and know that Jacob is suppose to receive the blessing. Now I admire Rebecca’s heart because she is trying to prevent her husband from doing something stupid. I can relate to that because my wife has stopped me from doing some stupid things as well. All the husband in this building should be amening right now. God has given our wife a sense when we are about to make a mistake. As a side note we need to listen to our wifes as husband. Yes men are leaders in the home but that leadership is based on servanthood. And a good leader takes input from those he is leading so he can make a decision that will bless the whole family. Now just like Isaac commanded Esau to go hunt and cook for him so he can bless him Rebecca does the same thing. Jacob didn’t come up with this plan Rebecca did. She is the one who cooks

the meal and takes Esau clothes and put the animal skin on Jacob. On the one hand Isaac is defying God by blessing Esau. Rebecca is trying to be God by trying to make sure Jacob is getting the blessing. One point we can see in this part of the story is that not trusting God results in us trying to be God. Why not talk to Isaac and remind him of God’s promise? Why not inspire of the Lord for a word or direction?

At this point in the story we a family divided. On one side we have Isaac and Esau planning to get the blessing of Abraham. The other side we have Rebecca and Jacob plotting to steal the blessing from Esau. God wants Jacob to have the blessing? Is his plan going to be overthrown? Let read the next scene of the story and find out

Genesis 27:18–30 ESV

So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed! May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 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!” 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.

Genesis

Deception Completed

This moment is very intense in our story. Even thought Isaac is blind he still asks several questions to verify if the person he is talking to is really Jacob. Imagine being there in from of your blind father wearing your brother clothes pretending to be him so that you can obtain the blessing. However the deception worked! Jacob was able to get the blessing passed along to himself. His mother scheme worked. The promise of God was fulfilled. But at what cost? What are the consequences of his actions?

jacob is not fit for the blessing either.

Genesis 27:31–34 ESV

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.” His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 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.” 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!”

Genesis 27:31

Deception Revealed

There is deep pain in the section we just read. Did you ever get the news that somebody has passed away? Or that please come in the doctor would like to speak to you? When you hear those statements something happens in the atmosphere. The whole core of your very being is shaken. All of a sudden life feels strange. This is the reaction Isaac and Esau have after finding out that Jacob has taken the blessing. the text saids that Isaac “trembled violently” and that Esaus cried exceedingly bitter tears. However in the midst of his pain and grief Isaac makes a profound statement in verse 33

“…and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed”

“and I

The women in the house should relate to this next example. if you didn’t do this you probably know somebody who did. Ever go buy a dress or an article of clothing in store bring it home weird it one time with the tag on and then return it the next day? No. Anybody? If you try to do that with the tag off you can’t return the clothes. Your stuck with it. You officially own it now. Its the same way with God. Once God has decided to take his blessing out of the store room and put it on you he rips the tags off. You can’t wear it one day and return it the next. You now have the blessing. You can’t return it. It going to stay on you. There is no taking back the blessing. Once it was given out the blessing couldn’t be returned or revoked

Now God blessed Jacob but it was through the means of sin and deception. Does God approve of this? Its not like he took the blessing away? Should we follow the path of Jacob and lie to get what we want? Short answer no. The bibles says

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

If we think that we can get God’s blessing and not be held to then walk with God in holiness truth those thoughts are from the devil. That is not the will of God and we are commanded to obey his law. However this brings to my one and only point of this sermon

“Nothing can stop the blessing of God not even your sin”

Nothing can stop the blessings of God not even your sins. God through out the bible has used the sinful acts of to accomplish his purpose. We have to look no futhur than the cruxifixon of Jesus. Look what Peters says in Acts:

Acts 4:10 ESV

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

David sin with Bathsheba leads to Solomon as King

The horrible sin in all of history God used to bring a blessing to the whole world. This is good news because it means that the sins that you have committed doesn’t disqualify you for God’s promises. The righteous that you do doesn’t qualify you either. Its the will of God that provides a blessing not our performance. That means all the sins of the past, this year, last week even can’t stop the blessing of God. ***put more here***

We talked alot about the blessing of God in the this O.T test but what about now. What is the blessing now in this day and age? its the same blessing. God choice Abraham, then Isaac, Then Jacob, then Israel, all the way to Jesus. The bible says

2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Philippians 1:9 ESV

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Phil 1:9

Jesus is the true elder son

Jacob sent away

Conclusion

Jesus is the greater Elder Son. Unlike Esau Jesus is the seed of the women that is worthy of the blessing of his Father. Unlike Jacob Jesus didn’t bring the a sacrfices of goats but His own blood as the sac

the greater Jacob - doesn’t seize by the heel but is bitten on it

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Related Media

Related Sermons