FAITH
Text: Hebrews 11
Lesson Nine – V.20
Examples of the ancients who were commended for their faith: (Cont’d.)
ISAAC – V.20 – By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
Though Isaac’s parents, Abraham and Sarah, were among the ancients who were commended for their faith, their faith could not suffice for him. He had to have faith of his own. Thus we find David instructing Solomon. 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 (Amplified Bible) – 9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever!
10 Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it!
Note 2 Timothy 1:1-5 – Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
See Genesis 27:1-41 for the account of the blessing of Jacob and Esau. [Genesis 27:3-4 – 3Now then, get your weapons–your quiver and bow–and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like – Genesis 25:27-28 – 27The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
See Genesis 27:27-31 – The “patriarchal blessing” was of great importance, as was, in later years, the “priestly blessing.” See: Numbers 6:22-27; Luke 1:5-22 – (V.21 – Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. Note that the people were “waiting” for the priestly blessing.)
The Great High Priest was in the habit of blessing. See: Matthew 5:1-12; Luke 6:20-23.
Note Luke 24:50-53 – 50When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Genesis 27:33 – Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him–and indeed he will be blessed!”
I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed – See Genesis 28:1-4.
Genesis 27:34 – When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me–me too, my father!”
Let us therefore ask the Lord to help us to heed: Hebrews 12:15-17 – 15See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
Joel 2:12-14 – 12“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing–grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
Genesis 27:36 – Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”
“Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? NIV note: “Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.”
Note Genesis 25:24-26 – 24When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
Genesis 27:37 – Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”
Compare Genesis 25:21-23 – 21Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”]
Let us thank the Lord that believers are equally blessed, as the following passages show.
Ephesians 1:3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
James 1:18 – He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
1 Peter 2:9-10 – 9But 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. 10Once 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.