Lesson 15

So last week as everyone's turning there, we get the pointer out. This is where we are chronologically in our study of history. We have gone to hear Abraham has had Isaac. Remember God tempted Abraham. And I hope everyone, if you're not here during the week, I hope you're catching up online so you're caught up with us. But God tempted Abraham or tested Abraham. There's a difference between temptations. When the devil tempts someone, he's doing it trying to get them to do wrong. When God tests someone, he's doing it wanting them to do right. So there's a different motive there. But God never tempts anyone to do wrong, of course. So he said Abraham sacrificed your son, and of course the Savior of the world's supposed to come through Isaac. But Abraham believed God. He believed that God would even raise Isaac from the dead. But remember, how did God deliver Isaac? He delivered him through what? How did God deliver Isaac from that being sacrificed? Oh man, provided to the world. For God? For Abraham. For Abraham? Yeah. And or theologically or godfully through the innocent substitute that took his place. Yes. So now, Isaac in today's lesson is all grown up. We've got to get the nation, right? We've got to get this nation coming from Abraham. We've got to move forward in history. Isaac is all grown up now. And so let's see what takes place. We're going to be here today in our chronological charges. Give you an idea historically on our timeline about where we are between 2000 and 1500 B. C. All right. Now, look here if you would in verse 19. Genesis 25 verse 19. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac was four years old when he took Rebecca to wives. Isaac's married nanny is a wife named Rebecca, the daughter of Bethul, the Syrian of Penanarian, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. It once again very detailed records. Verse 21. And Isaac entreated her, that is he asked the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated with him and Rebecca's wife conceived. And the children, those children, not child, struggled together within her. And she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to the part of the Lord. In other words, she's conceived, she has a child, there's a whole lot of extra movement in there going on. And so she says, if I'm supposed to have a child, why is there all this extra movement in here? I hope everything's okay. So she goes and talks to the Lord about it. Verse 23. And the Lord said to her, two nations are in thai womb and two men are people shall be separated from lab house. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger. And so we have a woman here and in her womb, you have two children, they're brothers, they're twin brothers. But they're going to be two totally different nations. Okay? Two different races of people, if you will. We're still in Genesis, we're still early on in the human race. And so you have two different nations coming from you. But here's the important part. Two nations and what? Two what? Two people. Two people. Two people. What? Rated. Two races. Rated. Two peoples. Two people, yeah. Two men are people. One version you know, what translate you to? It's New Jane. New King James. All right. Well, in King James, two men are people. But it says two peoples, that's what it's talking about. It's two men are people. It's two men are people, yeah. Two people groups is what it's saying, okay? And so I don't mind anyone have a different translation I do, but it sometimes it helps if there are ones that have the same words in front of them. But two peoples are two men are people. So we'll put people groups, okay? How about that? So what we're looking at here, if you'll remember, going back to Cain and Abel, they were two brothers. Yet they belonged to two nations, and they were two men are people. One was a believer, came to God by faith, according to God's promise of the Savior to come. The other did not. They belonged to two different nations, two different kingdoms. One belonged to the kingdom of God, the other belonged to the kingdom of this world. Or the woman seed and the serpent seed, however you want to put it. Everybody can be reduced down to this. Everybody in this world belongs to one or two nations and a one or two different type of people. They belong to the kingdoms of this world, or they belong to the kingdom of God. And they're either coming to God based on their faith in the salvation that he provided, or they're not. They're coming some other way or not coming at all. Everyone's divided into those two categories. Everyone in here is in one of those two categories right now. We're all born outside the kingdom of God in unbelief. And through the preaching of the Gospel, we can be born again into the kingdom of God by our faith in the salvation he's provided. Make sense? One of these boys is going to belong to the kingdom of this world. He's going to be an unbeliever, and so far as we can tell. And he definitely represents unbelievers in Scripture. And the other is going to belong to the kingdom of God, is going to be a believer. And it says, "The elder shall serve the younger. " How was it with Cain and Abel? Who was first, Cain or Abel? Cain. Cain was the oldest. Who ended up being victorious in the earth and with his God? Abel. Cain killed Abel. Abel's in heaven. Cain's in heaven. Abel will be raised from the dead and live forever. Cain will not. So, it's not, what we're learning today is, it's not our earthly position. It's not our physical advantages or disadvantages that make us victorious with God. That calls us to succeed in life. It's our position in the kingdom of God. Whether or not we come to God by faith, accept the salvation he's provided, that's what makes us successful in life. And nothing else. And so we see that here once again. If you look here now, verse 24. "And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. " Here we've got a burly, hairy, red face. He may have had red hair, I don't know. I mean, this guy looked like some kind of Viking and he's all hairy. All right? Manly kind of man. Now, let's go ahead and look here at verse 26. His name is Esau, right? The first one. Verse 26. "And after that came out his brother, in his hand, that as the little baby's hand took hold on Esau's heel. " You know how babies, when they have some type of hand, they automatically have that gripping reflex? Well, he grabbed hold of Esau's heel. And his name was called Jacob, which basically means "hill catcher. " And Isaac was three, four years old when she bared them. And the boys grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. He was now an endorsement. He was seeing him on the hunting catalogs and stuff. You know, he was the one that was always out first day of deer season. It was deer season all year long back then. A man of the field. And Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. Jacob was more of a sophisticated endorsement. A mom was boy, Esau was a daddy's boy. And that's just the way they were. Verse 28. "And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, but Rebecca loved Jacob. " I told you, one was a momma's boy, the other was a daddy's boy. "And Jacob saw it, or boiled potage. He was cooking some stew. And Esau came from the field, and he was faint. " All right, so here we go. "Jacob is cooking some stew. Esau, he's been out hunting. Apparently he hasn't caught anything. He's faint, he's weary. He wants something to eat. He's coming in from the field, and he smells that stew cooking. Now, there's a brother's cooking. And Esau says, 'Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with some of that red potage. For I am faint. Therefore his name was called Eden Red. ' And so he says, 'Hey, brother, how about you give me a bowl of that stew you're cooking there? Man, I'm starving to death. So let's look and see what Jacob did. ' Jacob was always looking out for himself. And Jacob said, 'Sell me this day, thy birthright. ' So let me explain that just a little bit. Going back to Cain and Abel, if you'll remember, God told Cain back in the day, he said, 'If you'll do right, won't you also be accepted? And under you will be his that is Abel's desire, and you'll rule over him. ' Being the firstborn, they had an advantage in the family, the advantage of the birthright. All right? So birthright up here, birthright. The order of the birth gave them a right, and basically back then they would get a double portion of the inheritance of the fathers and the inheritance. Okay? They would have honor, they would have standing in the family, and they would get a double portion of the fathers and inheritance. That was their right by birth as being the firstborn. Esau had that right by birth. Jacob did not. And Jacob thinks, 'My brother's hungry. My brother isn't the sharpest treasure in the world. He knew his brother. ' And he said, 'I'll tell you what, I'll give you a bowl of soup. Just sell me your birthright for this bowl of soup. I'll give you a bowl of soup, and I get your birthright. ' That's cold blood. Pretty rough, isn't it? And you would think that Esau would say, 'Are you crazy? No way. ' Well, let's see how Esau did this, verse 32. And Esau said, 'Behold, I'm at the point to die, and what profits shall this birthright do to me? Man, I'm starving to death. What does this birthright going to do to me? ' Well, he wasn't starving to death, as it was. He would have made it, you know. But right then, the only thing he could think about was filling his belly with food. So I want you to see the two manner of people here that God was talking about, the two different people groups God was talking about. Was Jacob right? No. No, Jacob wasn't right. Was Esau right? No, Esau wasn't right. Both the boys were wrong. But I want you to notice what separated these two boys, and this is what's important. Even though this is a physical, historical lesson, it's teaching us a great, big spiritual truth, okay? So one boy, Jacob, is he thinking about the present or the future? The future. If he gives Esau this bowl of soup, that's one less bowl of soup that he can eat in the present, right? That means he's going to have to cook quicker again than he thought he would. The pot of soup that he's cooking is not going to last him as long in the near future. But the birthright is going to last him the rest of his life in the distant future, right? So Esau is someone who's thinking in the present to prepare for the future. Esau is just the opposite. He's someone who is thinking in the present only for the present in disregarding. He's doing it at the expense of his future. People do the same thing today. They live in the present and they disregard their future. How do I feel today? What do I need today? What's going to make me happy today? They're materialistic. They're just providing for their present physical needs, their present physical happiness, and they're not preparing for their future welfare. And that's the difference between these two boys. A lot of people cannot see beyond the nose of their face. I was talking to a man one time that I worked security at, off-duty security at this, the telemarketing place up in Arlington. I don't know if they're still telemarketing people now, but boy, back then they were. And there was this receptionist there that had a daughter. He was an unbeliever. And he was talking about his little girl. And I tried to take that time as he was talking about his girl to try to talk to him about the Lord. And I said, "Let me ask you about your daughter," because he was really excited to talk about his daughter. He loved her. And I said, "What are your plans for her? What do you hope for her? What would you like to see her become? How are you planning for her future? " He said, "Well, I'd like to see her grow up and do well in school and graduate high school. " I said, "What about after that? " He said, "Well, if she wants to, maybe go to college or get her a good career doing something. " I said, "What about after that? " Well, he's kind of looking at my constraints as well. He said, "Maybe have a family, raise some kids, and grow up and enjoy life. " I said, "What about after that? " And he starts getting quiet. I said, "Eventually that life's going to come to an end. What about after that? " I was trying to let him know, "You need to be helping that girl prepare for her distant future. " I have a saying that I came up with back when I was searching for truth. I was asking God to show me what the truth was, and it is this. I've come to the conclusion that eternity is a long time to be wrong. It's a long time to be wrong. I wanted to know the truth. I wanted to be prepared because I knew for a fact. He didn't know if his girl was going to go to school. He didn't know if she was going to have a career from college or something. He didn't know if she'd ever have a child or ever get married or have a family. But there's one thing he knew, and there's one thing we all know, that is we're all going to die. We better be prepared for the future. Not just that. You can't live for the future. However, rather, you can't enjoy the present if you don't know your future. You've got to have an expected end. Jacob was preparing, at least in this lifetime, for the future. He had the right mindset. He went about the wrong way, but he had the right mindset in the sense that he wasn't taking something with long-term value. That's what Esau had. He had something with long-term value, and he traded it for short-term, fleeting experience. Watch this now. Verse 33, "And Jacob said, 'Swear to me this day,' and he swear in the hands of the mighty oath, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils," that is, bean soup, "and he did eat, and drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. " What does another translation say, "despise"? Anything else? I don't think hate. Hate? So it says? Oh, no. No, what does it say? What it says, "despise"? You have New King James. You say "despise" as well? What it says, ma'am? "Test his spirituality"? I'm sorry? I don't know. A possible test of his spirituality? Let me see what you mean. What is that? Where is it? "And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he did eat, and drank, and went his way. " Yeah, he says "despise". He despised his birthright. You have New King James. He says "despise". Okay, so what it means is this. It didn't mean he didn't want his birthright. It didn't mean he didn't like his birthright. It meant he did not value his birthright, he'd see it for the value that it was really worth. The Bible says, Jesus, the Promised Savior, says, "He asked this question, 'What can a man give in exchange for his soul? ' If you could have the whole world and lose your own soul, what good would, what profit would it be to you? If you could get everything and then lose your own soul in the end? That's no good. What good is it if we have possessions today and we perish tomorrow? " And so the Bible here is trying to teach us to value the things that will last rather than the things that fade away. Your status in the community is one day going to mean nothing. Statues that used to mean something have now been torn down or removed. Nothing, you know, there was an old saying, I forgot who this person was, but someone said that when they were young in school and they would have these junior high or high school drama fits, you know, that something seemed so terrible at the time, there was one teacher that always kept things real and they said, "Well, in 50 years, no one will care. " You know, it's true, 50 years, who's going to care? And so in 50 years, who's going to care? In 100 years, who's going to care? What you're doing now? In 100 years now, what will it matter? And so he despised his birthright. God has given us the promise of eternal life. God has given us the ability to have a relationship with Him, to know Him through His Son that He sent, and to be able to overcome death and live forever, and not just live forever in the future, but live for a purpose today in the present. And people every day despise that birthright, so to speak. It's a birthright to us in the sense that the Bible says, "To His ministry seek Him and then gave He the power and the right to become the sons of God. " It's afforded to every one of us. But so many people know there's a Bible, know there's a God, and yet wake up, yawn on Sunday morning and say, "Let's go fishing. " Who cares? Let's not worry about that. Let's just think about today. And it's the foolish way to think. All right, so let's move on here now. Jacob and Esau grew up, and what we want to do is fast forward to Jacob. If you look down in chapter 27, Genesis chapter 27, and it came to pass, verse 1, and it came to pass that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son and said unto him, "My son," and he said unto him, "Behold, here am I," and he said, "Behold now, I am old. I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take up, pray to thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison. You'll shoot me at here, and make me savoury me, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. " And Rebecca heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it. And Rebecca spake unto Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 'Bring me venison, and make me savoury me, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord, before my death. '" Isaac wanted to bring a blessing upon his son, and having the blessing given to him by Abraham, he figured he would pass perhaps this blessing down to Esau, okay? But that's not going to happen. Let's watch. Remember, God said, "The elders shall serve the elders. " So let's watch. "Now therefore my son obey my voice, according to that which I command thee, go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two kids of the goats, and I will make them savoury me for thy father, such as he loveth. And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. " So here's the thing. The old switcheroo. Isaac calls his big, burly son Esau, one who can't think beyond the nose of his face, but he's a man's man, and daddy's proud of him. He calls and he says, "Son, I'm going to bless you. " He says, "Go shoot me a deer, and make me some of that deer that you make for me that I love so much, and I'm going to lay my hands on it, and I'm going to pass a blessing down upon you. " Esau goes out in the field, he gets his quiver in his bow, and meanwhile, here comes Rebecca. Isaac, I just heard you dance, and Esau out in the field, he's going to bless me. Hurry up. Don't get a couple of goats. Dress them. I'll make meat the same way that Esau does, and you can take that meat into Esau because he can't see it anymore, and I bet you can take that meat into your daddy, and he'll bless you instead of Esau. I don't think it's Esau. That's the plan. That's the scheme. Talk about dysfunctional families. It is true. Now, let's look. Verse 11, "And Jacob said to Rebecca's mother, 'Behold, Esau, my brother's a hairy man, and I'm a smooth man. ' In other words, men, if he touches me, people know the difference. 'My father peradventure,' verse 12, 'my father peradventure will feel me, and I shall see him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a lesson. ' And his mother said to him, 'Upon me be thy curse, my son, only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. ' And he went and fetched and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved, and Rebecca took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau. " She got some of Esau's clothes, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids, the kids meaning the ghosts, upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck. She put the goat's skin up here to have the hair on it, on his hands, on his neck, in case you felt him, got Esau's clothes on. Talk about a masquerade now. Wow. Verse 17, "And she gave the savory meat of the bread, which she had prepared him the hand of her son Jacob. And he came unto his father, said, 'My father,' and he said, 'Here am I who art thou, my son. Who is this? ' And Jacob said to his father, 'I am Esau, my firstborn, or I am Esau, my firstborn. And have done according as thou vedest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. ' And Isaac said unto his son, 'How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And how did you get that deer so quick in here? ' And he said, 'Because the Lord thy God brought it to me, now he's blamin' on a goble, God bless me. God's all in this. ' Yeah, just eat. And Isaac said unto Jacob, 'Come near, I pray that I may fuel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau, or not. ' And Jacob went near to Isaac, his father he's probably scared about this time, and he felt him and said, 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. ' And he discerned him not because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. And he said, 'Art thou my very son Esau? ' And he said, 'I am. ' And he said, 'Bring it nearer to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. ' And he brought it near to him, and he did eat, and he brought him wine and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, 'Come near now, and kiss me my son. ' And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment of the clothes that she put on him, and blessed him and said, 'See, the smell of my son is as the smell of the field as the Lord had blessed. ' Therefore, God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine, let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee, be Lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Curse thee, everyone that cursed thee, and bless thee he that blessed thee,' which is the same thing God told Abraham. 'Bless him that blessed thee, and cursed him that cursed thee. ' Verse 30, 'It came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was scarce, or hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made savoury, and brought it into his father, and said it into his father, 'Let my father rise, and eat of his sons of innocent, that thy soul may bless me. ' And Isaac his father said unto him, 'Who art thou? ' And he said, 'Thy son, thy firstborn Esau. ' And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, 'Who? Where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it made, and hath eaten of all before thou came, and have blessed him? Yea, he shall be blessed. ' When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, 'Bless me, even he also will my father. ' And he said, 'Thy brother came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing. ' Now, Esau is going to be pretty hot. Esau wants to kill his brother now, and Esau is weeping, and now he's really, really upset. Let's go ahead and read a little bit more. He says, verse 37, 'And Isaac answered, and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy Lord, and all his brethren. Have I given to him for service? And with corn and wine have I sustained him? And what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father, 'Hast thou but one blessing, my father, bless me even also, my father. ' And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said, 'And him behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven above, from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. ' And Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing we're with, his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, 'The days of mourning for my father are at hand, will I slay my brother Jacob. ' Alright, so in other words, I'll mourn my father, I'll bury him, I'll take good care of him, whatever, and I'm going to kill my brother for this. So what does Rebecca do? Rebecca is going to send Jacob away, and Jacob is going to go away, run, hide, get him away, and hopefully escape Jacob and everything to be okay. So Jacob is running away now, and now the two boys are going to be separated from each other. Chapter 28, Genesis chapter 28 please. Genesis chapter 28. As Jacob is running away, here's what happens. Verse 11, Genesis 21, 'And he lighted upon a certain place, and teared there all night, because the sun was set. And he took the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and laid down, lighted and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ' So here's Jacob, running from his brother, he saw, doesn't have a tent, doesn't have a pillow, fear of his life, out here in the middle of the woods or whatever. He always got some stones to put, to brace his head up for a pillow. And he dreams. And in this dream, there's a ladder that's set up on the earth. Let's look at this now. 'And the top of it reached to heaven. ' Here's God in heaven. It's on the earth, and the top reaches all the way to heaven. Look here now. Verse 12, 'And behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ' You've had angels going down the ladder? You've had angels going up the ladder. You have a nice bridge between earth and God, between God and man. And angels are going up and down it, as conveying God's blessings, going up and down this ladder. And us going to God, God coming down to man, however you want to put it. It goes, the ladder goes both ways. The ladder unites earth and God. So let's look here. Verse 13, 'And behold the Lord stood above it. ' That is, the Lord's above the ladder. Let's look at God up here. 'And said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, my father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou wisest, to thee will I give it into thy seed. ' So who is the promise of Isaac getting passed down to? Jacob. Not Esau. Jacob was a sinner just like Esau. But Jacob at least cared about the future. He was a different type of person. He was sinner. But he cared about the future. Nothing to see here, folks. He cared about the future. And God's going to pass this down to Jacob, and he's going to make Jacob a whole different person. Okay? Alright. So he promises to give him that land. Look here now in verse 14. 'And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth. ' He's given the same promise he gave Abraham, his grandfather. 'And thou shalt spread abroad from the west, into the east, into the north of the south, in thee. And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ' There's the promise of the coming Savior. The curse is going to remove, the blessing is going to be restored, it's going to come through you and your seed. Alright? Now, why would God give him this promise? And while giving him this promise, put a ladder up there. That connects heaven and earth. Because the basis of that promise, God's favor to man, and man's ability to come to God is going to be based on this ladder. The promise of the blessing coming, and all the families of the earth being blessed, is going to come to that ladder. Who does that ladder represent? You know, the same token where there was a lamb that was slain, represents the coming Savior. The rainbow represents the coming Savior. The ladder represents the coming Savior. Our sins separate us from God. It's a division. We can't reach God. We can't be connected to God because of our sin. But God is going to make a way for man and God to be united together again. In only one way, there is only one ark. There is only one ladder. Now, real quick, I know we're running a little behind, but real quick, let me give you a Bible verse in the New Testament. John chapter 1 verse 51. Let me just read it to you, unless you have, you get to it on your phone real quick. John 1, 51. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, in the angels of God, ascending and descending on the Son of Man. " In other words, I'm Jacob's legend. You're going to see the angels of God ascending and descending on me. I'm the one that's going to bridge the gap between God and man. The promise savior. So with all that said, Jacob is now the one through whom the promise savior will come. Real quick, Jacob's name was changed to Israel. And we'll start there with his name being changed to Israel next week.