Grace Foundation Part 3

This week, we continued the “Grace Foundation” series. In this third part we looked at the second branch in family tree of Abraham’s descendants. If you will remember, previously we looked at the branch between Isaac and Ishmael. Paul showed us in Galatians 4 that Ishmael represents the law and Isaac grace and promise.  When we become born again we become children of Abraham, but we choose which branch of the family tree we will connect to. We can opt to look at life and the Word through “law glasses” and align with Ishmael. Ishmaelites persecute Isaac’s branch. Law persecutes grace. Law mocks grace for its belief that it is right before God, not by what it does and does not do, but by faith.  Now, if we have chosen to be connected to the Isaac branch of the family, we will be faced with another decision – will we connect to the Jacob or Esau branch (Isaac’s two sons)?  Jacob is the branch that THE seed of Abraham is established through. It is through grace, by faith. But what does Esau represent?

We learn a little by looking at the life of Esau and his struggles with Jacob. In Genesis 25, we read about the birth of Jacob and Esau. First, Isaac’s wife Rebekah had been barren. Isaac probably learned from his daddy Abraham that the thing to do was go to God. He prays for his wife and she conceives twin boys.  Even in the womb, they fight with one another. When Rebekah asks God why, He gives her a prophetic message regarding her children – that one would be physically stronger than the other (Esau) and that the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob).

Now, they were twins, but the first one out of the womb would be the “first born” and heir to that blessing (which was a double portion of the father’s inheritance). Esau is born first. He is described as red and hairy. The Hebrew words used describe a fair skinned red-head. The same Hebrew word is used to describe King David (in his case the word used was “ruddy”).   Jacob was right on his heel, literally. Jacob was born grabbing the heel of Esau. One of the meanings of the Hebrew word Jacob was “grabber of the heel” and another was “deceiver,” which comes into play later.

As the two boys grow, Esau is the “man’s man.” He hunts and brings home wild game. Jacob is more the mamma’s boy. He is much more domestic. Isaac favors Esau and believes that as the first born, he is the heir of the blessing. Rebekah favors Jacob – likely because of the Word from God.

One day Esau comes in from hunting famished and finds Jacob cooking red stew. The word “red” is Edom, which is another name by which Esau is known. Esau actually sells his birthright to Jacob for the stew. We begin to see the characteristics of the Esau branch of the family tree.  Remember that Esau IS part of the Isaac branch – an heir in ways that Ishmael could not be., yet Esau’s major flaw is that he is willing to forfeit blessing that is rightfully his in order to gratify his flesh. We as believers ARE in fact heirs of promise, but we forfeit so much of what is rightfully hours when we are ruled by the flesh.

Fast forward over to chapter 27 where Isaac’s blessing is being passed on to a son. Isaac is old and has lost much of his sight. I think this is important. Remember that we are to walk by faith, not by sight. The blessing operating in our lives does not operate by what we can see, but by what we believe of God’s Word.  Jacob and Rebekah conspire together to get Esau’s blessing. Isaac sends Esau out to hunt some wild game for his favorite stew. Then he would give him the blessing. Now, this blessing is the Abrahamic blessing. It was given to Abraham because he believed God. There is a major flaw in this situation right from the start. Esau cannot receive the blessing by his works.

 

While Esau is out hunting, Jacob and Rebekah launch their plan. Jacob is reluctant because he is afraid his father will recognize him and know he is not Esau. Rebekah puts goat fur on Jacob’s hands and neck (where Isaac would touch him in the passing of blessing). Just how hairy was Esau that goat fur would be a good substitute? She puts some of Esau’s clothes on Jacob so he would smell like Esau.

Most importantly, Jacob does no work. It is all done for him. All Rebekah tells him to do is to bring two goats to her to make a stew for Isaac (in place of Esau’s). Why two goats? I believe this is foreshadowing. Later, in the law, two goats are used for the ceremonies on the Day of Atonement. One was sacrificed – giving its blood for the sins of the people – and the other had all the sins of the people spoken over it and then it was released to the wilderness, never to be seen again (the scapegoat). This represented the guilty conscience. Abraham was declared righteous because he believed. The blessing gets passed along through a picture of redemption.

Also, Rebekah tells Jacob that all of this is “on her” (should Isaac discover the deception). What did Rebekah do? She made it so Jacob could go into his father’s presence without worry and be perceived as his older brother. This is what Jesus has done for us. Because of what He did, we are clothed in His robe of righteousness, and we boldly go before the throne of God as though we are Jesus (our older “brother”) – without fear or worry. Wow, how cool!

I’ve often wondered how Isaac could be so easily deceived. Even without good eyesight, how would he not realize to which son he was speaking. He does notice the voice seems to be Jacob’s but is confident enough in the end that he is speaking to Esau. I believe the answer is in his initial request to Esau to make him some of the stew he really likes. Much like Esau’s error, when one is focused on gratifying the flesh, it is easy to become deceived. We will not see obvious warning signs when we are distracted with satisfying what the flesh wants.  Remember, none of this changes the fact that we ARE blessed butut, when we are not obedient to the Spirit in us, we will not experience that blessing.

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.