02-13-2022 – “Faithful Men: Isaac to Moses“
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February 13, 2022
“Faithful Men: Isaac to Moses”
Hebrews 11:20-29
Read Hebrews 11:20…
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.
See Genesis 25:21-34;
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb;
And two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger.”
24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.
28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;
30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”
33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 27:1-40…
1 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
3 Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;
4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’
8 Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.
9 Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.
10 Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
11 Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
12 Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.
18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.”
20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22 So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
25 So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;
28 Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
30 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 Then he also made savory 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.”
32 Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”
34 When 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!”
35 And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”
36 Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 “By your sword you shall live,
And your brother you shall serve;
But it shall come about when you become restless,
That you will break his yoke from your neck.”
Isaac believed he was blessing Esau his favorite son, when he was really blessing Jacob, the favorite son of Rebekah. The Lord had said that Esau would serve Jacob, and Jacob, the younger son, would become the son of blessing.
Isaac disobeys what God told him and tries to bless Esau; Rebekah tells Jacob to lie to his father and steal his blessing. In the end, Esau sells his birthright for a bowl of soup. And yet God uses this dysfunctional family to bring blessing to us!
God sovereignly determined to work through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribes of Israel as the nation of God’s called out people (but specifically through the tribe of Judah) through whom came Jesus Christ the Lord.
————Jews and Arabs————
Malachi 1:2,
“I have loved you,’ says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have You loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob,’”
(the Twelve Tribes of Israel), the promise was originally made to Abraham
(Genesis 17:7),
“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you…”
Romans 9:11-15,
“For though the twins [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’"
Rebekah's pregnancy with twins was rough, there was a wrestling match going on inside her womb, and she asked, “why am I this way?” The struggle was symbolic of the antagonism that would exist between her two sons.
Isaac favored Esau, Rebekah favored Jacob; but God's sovereign plan to bless Jacob's descendants over those of Esau, took precedent over Isaac's love for his firstborn son. God's blessing [according to the rights of first born sons] should have gone to Esau, but God divinely favored Jacob over Esau. God's sovereign hand directs the affairs of men, fulfilling God's purposes and plans.
Abraham's firstborn son (through Sarah’s Egyptian maid Hagar) was named Ishmael [lit. God hears]; but it was through his son Isaac [lit. one laughs], that God made His covenant
(see Genesis 16:1-2,
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
Genesis 16:4-12,
4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.
7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”
10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”
11 The angel of the LORD said to her further,
“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”
Genesis 16:15-16;
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Genesis 17:21).
21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”
God's promise to Israel came through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and even though neither Isaac nor Jacob were firstborn sons, they received the blessing from and covenant with God, according to God’s plan and purpose, His will.
The Jews’ covenant relationship with God came through their patriarch Abraham (note: God’s Word calls them Hebrews 18x’s OT, 3x’s NT; Jews 67x’s OT, 161x’s NT; Israelites 6x’s OT, 2x’s NT).
All true Christians have a relationship with Abraham through Christ
(Galatians 3:29),
“if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Our eternal relationship with God is based on Christ, not some ancestral bloodline, culture, or religion; but instead, the sovereign work of God
(John 1:12-13),
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God,”
(John 3:6),
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Jacob's name means "deceitful" or "heel-catcher" [lit. One Who Takes the Heel]. We know that Jacob's name was later changed to "Israel"
(cf. Genesis 32:28),
28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
meaning, "he struggles with God" or "God's fighter." Jacob's descendants are the son's of Israel to whom the Land of Canaan (Palestine) was given, by God.
Esau [lit. hairy] became the father of the Edomites [lit. red people]
(cf. Genesis 36:8-9),
8 So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.
Descendants of Esau
9 These then are the records of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.
a people “whom the Lord has cursed”
(Malachi 1:3-4).
3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”
4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”
Saul fought against the Edomites; David actually conquered them, for a time; but there continued a smoldering hatred between the Jews and the Edomites
(Genesis 27:41).
41 So Esau bore a grudge against 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 near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D, the Edomites disappeared from history, bringing an end to the descendants of Esau.
*Interesting note: All Arabs, following Mohammed's example, claim descent from Ishmael the firstborn son of Abraham; and yet the Arabs have fought against the Jews relentlessly for over 4000 years; against their own ancestral brothers who came from the line of Isaac, through Jacob (who was Ishmael’s nephew).
————Jews and Arabs————
Read Hebrews 11:20…
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.
By faith Isaac finally believed the revelation which God made to him concerning the future destinies of Esau and Jacob. True faith will eventually bow to God’s plan and purpose and act in accordance to God's will. Although our faith is not perfect, because we are just sinners saved by grace, the object of our faith (Christ) is perfect.
Clearly, it Isaac’s faith wasn’t perfect, but ultimately, he believed God, and accepted Jacob as the one to be blessed with regard to things to come.
Read Hebrews 11:21...
21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
Jacob trusted God and worshipped Him to the very end. In this passage we are told about Jacob’s blessing the sons of Joseph
(see Genesis 48:8-19).
8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”
9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”
10 Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.”
12 Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.
13 Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.
14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 He blessed Joseph, and said,
“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the lads;
And may my name live on in them,
And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
Again we see a younger son being blessed over the first born, birth order and human favoritism cannot thwart God’s plan; God works through whom He choses.
At the very end of his life, Jacob continues to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and himself, and even though Jacob never saw their ultimate fulfillment, in the end his dysfunctional and fractured family received and passed on God’s blessing to us.
Read Hebrews 11:22...
22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
Joseph believes that God is going to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and he wants his bones to be taken out when they go
(see Genesis 50:22-26).
22 Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.
23 Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.
24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.”
25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.”
26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
More than 350 years later Moses brought Joseph’s bones out of Egypt into the wilderness
(cf. Exodus 13:19);
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.”
it would be several more decades before Joseph’s bones would come to rest in the land of Promise, finally to be buried by Joshua in Shechem
(cf. Joshua 24:32);
32 Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.
this land having been promised to Abraham’s descendants by God
(cf. Genesis 12:6-7).
6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
These witnesses to God’s faithfulness (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) trusted God for what they could not see, even at the very end of their lives, they continued to believe that God would be faithful to His promise; they are role models for us in the way we are to live out our faith.
God is faithful to fulfill all His promises, even though we may not see them in our lifetime; but ultimately, when all the people of God are gathered together, it shall be finally realized.
Read Hebrews 11:23...
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Moses’ parents trusted that God would effect a deliverance for their son, that God would save him, even though Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh, and even though it was Pharaoh who ordered the slaughter of all those Hebrew boys. Moses’ parents fully believed in God and they trusted Him with their son.
Read Hebrews 11:24-28...
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
After Moses grew up he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, for he determined he would not be identified with Egypt, or with the power of Egypt, but instead he would be identified with the people of Israel, no matter what it cost him.
We are told here that he chose to be associated with his people in their suffering; and although he could have had an easy life, he chose to identify with the Hebrew people, with God’s called-out people.
Moses could have had a life of pleasure and privilege if he would have been willing to follow after the gods of Egypt, but he refused to live like those who rejected the true God. Moses would rather be disgraced and suffer, by remaining true to God, then to have the riches and privilege as a son of Pharaoh.
Moses had every opportunity to be satisfied with the things that this life provided him, and yet he refused to be captured by the treasures of this world.
Hebrews 11 gives us an example to encourage us not to become drawn toward and/or satisfied with the temporary comforts and pleasures of this world, for God is providing us with an eternal and heavenly reward.
Notice again Hebrews 11:27,
“By faith [Moses] left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.” The true strength of Moses’ faith is that he believed in the reward that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a sense, Moses had seen [believed in] “Him who is invisible.”
Moses should have been scared to death at the thought of going up against the Pharaoh of Egypt, the most powerful man in his part of the world. But Moses feared God so much that he had no fear of any man.
Notice again Hebrews 11:28,
“by faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.”
The destroying angel of God came over Egypt and killed the firstborn males (human and animal) in all the houses that did not smear lamb’s blood on their doorpost. Moses trusted that God would fulfill His promise not to destroy the firstborn of Israel; Moses obeyed God, instructing the people to smear blood from the Passover lamb on the doorposts of every house.
Notice how living faith is displayed not just by believing, but also by responding to God’s word, believing what God says; and, of course, in this case faith involved looking for an eternal reward, one not seen, and revering God, who cannot be seen.
If you don’t fear God more than you fear those in the world, and seek God’s pleasure more than the world’s pleasure, you will become captivated by the world.
Jesus commands us to love one another, to love our neighbor, and even to love our enemies; He also commands us not to love the world or to become captivated by the things of this world
(cf. 1John 2:15-17).
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
God’s blessing is the greatest reward in this life
(Philippians 4:12-13,
12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:19-20).
19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Truth be told, if we do not recognize and receive the love of God in this world, we will not see heaven; but we’ll spend eternity apart from the love of God, in hell.
Read Hebrews 11:29...
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
The people of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land; the Egyptians who were chasing them, were drowned.
As we have studied in Hebrews 11, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, all had a personal faith that was expressed through personal obedience and perseverance, they were God’s men, living out their faith on earth while trusting God for their future in heaven.
If you belong to God through Christ you will seek to be a person of obedient faith
(James 2:17),
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
“faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
Titus 2:11-14,
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
1Peter 2:9-10,
“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Pastor Mike
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