Jacob and Esau

History is important because among other things it is supposed to give you a sense of identity, purpose and responsibility. Knowing who you are, and where you came from is supposed to give you insight into where you’re going. Also history is supposed to give you a sense of belonging to something greater than just yourself.

Biblical history functions in a similar way. We read these stories to gain a sense of who we are, where we came from and what our place is in the world. We read them to reinforce both the privileges and responsibilities of being the people of God. And it’s especially important to remember that biblical history is our history. That the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is our story and not just the story of one particular ethnic group.

 I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10:1-4.

Thus when we read and study about the lives of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau we’re reading about our own history and what that history says about us today. Most importantly though we’re reading our history to know and gain more insight into the God who created and saved us. Examining this history will bring us into the knowledge of His character, nature and ways. Understanding these will help us to know, relate to, serve, love, delight and worship Him all the more.

What is the point, theme or subject of our history? It is the salvation of the people of God in and through Jesus Christ to the end that we would be the subjects of His glorious, eternal kingdom. What is the kingdom of God and thus what is the essence of our salvation? The kingdom of God is the rule, reign, and agenda of the living God has exercised by Jesus Christ. How do we live out this rule and participate in His kingdom? We do so by consistently worshiping God with His people, through a vibrant and growing spiritual relationship with the living God and with those brothers and sisters He has called us to be in community with in the local church, by consistently obeying the word of God and having every aspect of our lives directed by His word, by engaging our neighborhoods, communities and cities with God’s righteousness and justice and by declaring the gospel of God’s salvation to Jesus Christ to all those God brings to us so that they too might become active followers of Jesus Christ who follow Him in wholehearted worship, a diligent walk of obedience and a bold witness of His gospel.

So the question we ask in this message is what do Jacob and Esau have to do with God’s plan of salvation and what does that have to do with us here and now.

Among the things we learn from Jacob and Esau is that their birth, lives, families and eventual destinies demonstrate the sovereignty of God over His creation and especially in His salvation. I use the term sovereignty to define and describe God’s control and direction over all aspects of His creation for His own purpose and for His own glory. The apostle Paul expressed this truth of God's sovereignty in the eleventh chapter of Romans:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen! Romans 11:33-36.

Their birth is the work of God. vss. 19-21.
These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. 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 birth of Isaac’s children are similar to his birth in that it was according to God’s direct intervention. There’s no doubt that Isaac had explained the promise and plan of God given to Abraham and then passed onto him to his wife Rebekah. He probably shared the story of how God called Abraham out of Ur and promised to make him a great nation and make his descendents as numerous as the stars of the skies. It could be then that Rebekah believed that immediately following their married that she’d start having children.
But year after year passes and Rebekah like Isaac’s mother is barren. Isaac then begins to pray for his wife and the Lord answers his prayer. Though the answer is not as dramatic as the answer given to Abraham it is still clear that it came from the Lord.

One truth this teaches us is that God works out His will through the prayers of His people. Because of God’s promises to Abraham we know that Rebekah is going to have to birth at least one child, and yet she still doesn’t conceive until after Issac prays for her. Our belief in God’s sovereignty moves and propels us to actively engage Him in prayer and effort so that He can bring about His will. God has chosen to exercise His sovereign will through the godly activity of His people.

We live under God’s sovereign control by actively praying for and participating in the things that expand and extend His kingdom. You can do that by praying for the following:

Pray for the mission and ministry of our fellowship.
Pray for our attempts to engage our community with the gospel.
Pray for our worship that it will honor God and highlight the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Pray for the preaching, teaching and ministry of the word. Specifically pray for my preaching, brother Horne’s teaching in Sunday school and brother los’ teaching on Wednesday night.
Pray for sister Pat Little and Brian Feaster as they go and speak to high school students at Overbrook High School.

Their lives symbolized man without God. vs. 22.
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.

The lives of Esau and Jacob were lives of struggle. Both were restless, rebellious and in many ways godless. Both desired and strained for power and blessing for the wrong reasons. Both ultimately faced a decisions to follow the will, ways and agenda of the living God and both made their own choice. In the end their lives of struggle was a struggle against the living God and yet was lived out in opposition against the other. Both struggled to believe that God would live up to His promises and grant them a life of blessing under His rule and thus both did all they could to struggle and strain to get that life for themselves. Each felt that the way to gain God’s blessing was by crushing the other.

Are you struggling to live life on your own terms apart from God's rule, will and agenda? Are you struggling with the Lord because you view your service to Him as the ticket to a particular kind of lifestyle?

Their destinies were the will of God. vs. 23.
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."

In God’s sovereign plan of salvation He already determined that not everyone physically born to Abraham and his children will be included among the people of God. One of these brothers will eventually grow to become the chosen people of God and the other would not. One would be shown God’s favor and grace and the other would not.

On what basis did God make this choice? Did He look through the line of time and see that Esau was more wicked than Jacob and thus make that the basis of His choice? Did He somehow discover that through all his conniving and deceit that Jacob had some small shred of goodness within that God could work with?
No, absolutely not. God’s choice of Jacob and his family to be the one through whom the promises of Abraham would be fulfilled was based solely and only on His grace, good pleasure and sovereign will. This is exactly what Paul said when teaching on God's salvation in the letter to the Romans.

And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call— she was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. Romans 9:10-16.

Jacob and his children inherit the blessing of being God’s people not because there was anything within him or them that moved God to make them His chosen people. Their choice was totally grounded in God’s unmerited favor. God reserves the right to show mercy to anyone He wants to show mercy to. He is not under any obligation whatsoever to show mercy, grace or forgiveness to those who through their own willful sin have rebelled against His person, word, will, worship, ways and salvation.

Why is this important? It's important because it grounds the most important aspect of our existence that is our eternal salvation in the loving, gracious, good and wise hands of the living God. And it's this knowledge that spurs our worship of Him since we know that He's already demonstrated His love and compassion to us and will never renege on that choice.

To Him Who Loves Us...
Pastor Lance