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Genesis 25:27-28, 27:1-35
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
(ESV)
27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”
14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 So he went in 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; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son
is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven
and of the fatness of the earth
and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also prepared delicious 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 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” 34 As soon as 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 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.”
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Genesis chapter 25 and 27. I know that in your worship guide it says 26 and 27 and actually some verses from 26 are listed. Those are wrong. My bad completely. I've actually tried to think of how I could incorporate those verses in the sermon, but I couldn't pull it off.
Joel Brooks:In in my defense, I was laid up earlier this week with a bad back, and that's when I had to make these edits. Now I'm full of steroids, and I feel like I could rip this pulpit in half. So you guys are in for a treat maybe. So Genesis 25. We're gonna spend the next 5 or 6 weeks looking at the life of Jacob.
Joel Brooks:And if you're wondering, well, what about Isaac? Are we just kind of jumping over Isaac? We're actually gonna be looking at Isaac through the, through the lens of Jacob. And I mentioned last week, that Han that Jacob is kind of the Han Solo of scripture. And I had some people question, what do you mean by that?
Joel Brooks:What I mean by that is he's this lovable scoundrel. I love Jacob because he is, such a scoundrel throughout scripture. He is a very interesting character, one you can identify with. He is a liar, a manipulator, a cheater, a heartless man at times. He does not seek after God.
Joel Brooks:He does so many things wrong. He's got enormous flaws, very few good qualities. A matter of fact, when you get to the book of Hebrews and it's going through the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, and you finally get to Jacob's faith, the author can only pull out an event that Jacob had at the and so we're gonna be unpacking this over the next 5 or 6 weeks. So Genesis chapter 25 verses 27. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field.
Joel Brooks:While Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Chapter 27, read the first 35 verses. When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, my son. And he answered, here I am.
Joel Brooks:He said, behold, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now then take your and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die. Now, Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau.
Joel Brooks:Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me 2 good young goats, so that I may prepare for them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies. But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, behold my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
Joel Brooks:Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to him to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. His mother said to him, let your curse be on me my son. Only obey my voice and go bring them to me. And so he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food such as his father loved. Then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her older son, which were with her in her house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
Joel Brooks:And the skins of the younger young goats, she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son, Jacob. So he went in to his father and said, my father. And he said, here I am. Who are you my son?
Joel Brooks:Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me. But Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? He answered, because the Lord your God granted me success.
Joel Brooks:Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come near that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not. So Jacob went near to his father who left him and said who felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said, are you really my son Esau?
Joel Brooks:He answered, I am. Then he said, bring it near to me, that I may eat of my my son's game and bless you. So he brought it near to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, come near and kiss me, my son. So he came near and kissed him, and Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, see the smell of my son is the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
Joel Brooks:May God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you.' As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out of the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father and said to his father, let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.
Joel Brooks:His father Isaac said to him, who are you? He answered, I'm your son, your firstborn, Esau. Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it before you came, and I have blessed him. Yes. And he shall be blessed.
Joel Brooks:As soon as 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, oh my father. But he said, your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing. This is the word of the lord. Thanks be to god. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Our father, we pray that you would honor the very reading of your word, That even now through your spirit, you would write its truths on our hearts. That we come to a greater understanding of who you are and what it means to be blessed by you. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. So you probably noticed quickly from reading the story that the faith of Abraham and Isaac did not seem to be passed along down to, to Jacob. However, their sins did. If you remember, twice Abraham lied about his identity saying that he was Sarah's brother and not Sarah's husband. Isaac also lied about his identity, saying that he was Rebekah's brother and not her husband.
Joel Brooks:And now Jacob lies about his identity. The sins of the fathers keep going down the line, but Jacob is going to, to lie about his identity at even a greater level here. His name itself means he cheats. He cheats. We just read how, Rebecca had twin boys Esau and Jacob.
Joel Brooks:This comes after 20 years of barrenness and waiting. Just like Abraham and Sarah had to wait for about 25 years, we have Isaac and Rebekah. They also had to wait 20 years on God's promise. But then God kept His word and He didn't just give them one child, He gave them twins. Esau was born first with Jacob coming right afterwards literally holding on to the heel of Esau.
Joel Brooks:And that's what the name Jacob means. He who grabs by the heel, which is an idiom for he cheats. Cheater. And this is what would be true of him for his entire life. He would be known as the cheater.
Joel Brooks:After they were born, although they were twins, we do see that Isaac clearly has a preference, loving one over the other. Isaac showered his affection on Esau, hardly paid any attention at all to Jacob. Esau was a man's man. And we read that earlier in the description of chapter 25. He was an outdoorsman.
Joel Brooks:He smelled of the woods. He was charismatic. He loved to use weapons and to hunt. He liked to make his dad some good venison stew. He'd fit in right here in Alabama, driving a pickup truck, listening to Whelan and Willie.
Joel Brooks:Alright? That is that is Esau as he goes out hunting. Jacob, however, is the exact opposite. He's introverted. He likes to stay indoors.
Joel Brooks:He's what we would call a mama's boy. He probably liked to spend time, you know, helping his mom in the kitchen. Probably, sit around watching HGTV. Alright? He and Esau could not be more opposite.
Joel Brooks:At this point in the story, Jacob has actually been living under the shadow of his brother for 40 years. And all of this time, he's been longing for his dad's affection. He's longed for his approval, longed for his dad to just once look at him the same way he looked at his older brother Esau. But after 40 years, come on. He knew this was never gonna happen.
Joel Brooks:He he's come to the realization that if he wants anything from his father, he was gonna have to steal it. Earlier, he had actually tricked Esau already into, Esau selling him his birthright. And now he's gonna use deception to get something even greater. He's gonna get the blessing of the firstborn. When, when I was in seminary and we were going through Genesis, I was a little disappointed that the regular old Testament professor at Beeson divinity School was on sabbatical and so they brought in a adjunct professor.
Joel Brooks:And, this adjunct professor, he actually had a PhD in counseling, not in the Old Testament. He he it was a PhD in counseling. He did have a master's in Hebrew and Aramaic so he was a pretty smart guy, But I was a little disappointed that I was gonna have a counselor go through Genesis, but then I absolutely fell in love with it. Because what my professor did was he took each patriarch and he would just lay them down on the couch essentially at his office. And he told me all the, he told us all the psychological problems that these people had.
Joel Brooks:And they turned into real people for me, with real emotions. And and one of the things that he told me about Jacob, is that Jacob has such daddy issues. You cannot understand Jacob unless you realize the enormous daddy issues this man has, and they will be with him for his entire life. Isaac at this point is a 100 years old, and he looks every bit his age. He can't move around much.
Joel Brooks:He's blind. We actually found out later that a lot of his senses are failing him, and he believes he's at the end of his life, although he will actually live another 20 years. This is another theme you're gonna find in Genesis. The patriarchs always think they're at the end of their life and then they keep on living. Jacob, when he thinks he's at the end of his life, lives another 40 years.
Joel Brooks:Okay? It reminds me of all the times I had to go visit my great aunt Louise every Christmas because my parents kept saying, this might be her last Christmas. That was 14 years in a row of the last Christmas. And you you kinda get this with the patriarchs here. They just never quite die.
Joel Brooks:But Isaac's old and he thinks the grave is imminent, and so he calls Esau to himself. And he says, I want you to to go hunt some game like you like you do and and make me some of that venison stew that I love so that my soul may bless you. Look at verse 4. He specifically says that my soul may bless you. This is really strong language.
Joel Brooks:It's it's a strong term in Hebrew. It means more than to bless you with all my heart. This is I want to bless you with my entire being. Everything I have, and certainly we see from his his blessing. That's that's what he does.
Joel Brooks:Now this is unusual because normally a father blesses all of his children. That's typically what we see throughout scripture. You would see you get the picture of all the children gathered before the father, and the father blesses all of them. Of course, with the oldest son getting the majority of the blessing, that child would get the blessing of the first born. That's the one who would get the majority of the wealth, the majority of the land, the titles or whatever else belonged to the father.
Joel Brooks:Sorry women. There there would not be the blessing of the firstborn daughter. It was the firstborn son. But all of them would get some form of a blessing. But, Isaac doesn't call Jacob here.
Joel Brooks:Only Esau. Isaac only wants to bless Esau Esau, and he wants to bless him with everything he has. And once again, when you read that blessing, you realize he held nothing back in how he wanted to bless Esau. And this doesn't just show love for Esau. What it's showing is really a disdain for Jacob.
Joel Brooks:And it's also in direct disobedience to God because God had earlier told Isaac that he wanted the blessing to go to Jacob. That the messianic line was to go through Jacob and not through Esau. But for some reason, when it came down to it, Isaac couldn't bring himself to do it. He just loved Esau too much and he just couldn't see that blessing going to Jacob. If we had time to go through this whole story, what you would actually see is a deeply fractured family here.
Joel Brooks:Robert Alter, he's a Hebrew scholar. I've mentioned him before. He's a professor out in Berkeley. And one of the things that he pulled out, I never noticed before, is that there's actually 6 distinct scenes in this story. And in each one of these scenes, you will never see the entire family together.
Joel Brooks:They're they're always kind of each siding with one another against another. It's it's a very fractured, very dysfunctional family here. Now, the key to understanding this and understanding this whole passage is coming to grips of what it means to be blessed or to give a blessing. In particular, a firstborn blessing. Because we don't have the equivalent of that today.
Joel Brooks:We we struggle with what that really means. When we think of a blessing, typically, we think of the prayer we do before a meal. Who's going to give the blessing? Or we think of being at Chick Fil A and what they say after you pay for your meal. Have a blessed day.
Joel Brooks:But, nobody's like fighting one another or trying to cheat one another out of that blessing that the lady behind the cash here gives you at Chick Fil A. We we don't see it as the same thing is happening here. This is a big deal. I mean, why all of the drama, the lying, the the bitterness that this blessing story has has produced? Why go through all of it?
Joel Brooks:Think of it this way. Jacob knows he's going to be discovered. You can't get away with this. He knows he's gonna be caught. He knows the moment Esau comes back, this entire scam is gonna come to light, but he goes through it anyway.
Joel Brooks:And this deceit is going to cost him. After this, he will never see his mom again. After this, Esau is gonna hate him with such an intense hatred, he's gonna have to flee from his life flee flee for his life penniless. After this, he's gonna go into exile for 20 years before ever being allowed to return. And yet, Jacob, Jacob, knowing the likelihood of all of these things, goes through it anyway.
Joel Brooks:That's how big a deal this blessing was. So what is it? It's not just some generic, well wishing sentiment, Like when someone says, you were such a blessing to me. That that's not this. Nor is it just a word of affirmation or encouragement, although that's certainly a part of it.
Joel Brooks:A blessing is this. It's it's when you, with deep love and affection, you declare God's purpose for someone's life, both through a spoken word and through some symbolic gesture. And I I'd like to add to this that this type of blessing isn't just a superstition held by primitive people who lived 4000 years ago. No. I think they correctly understood how words and symbols, these these gestures have a tremendous power in shaping our lives.
Joel Brooks:Words and gestures are incredibly powerful tools that can be used profoundly shape one's life. Some words devastate. And you could look back in your life and you could pinpoint at times words have devastated you. And sometimes words heal. Let me give you an illustration that I think defines a blessing.
Joel Brooks:This isn't, an illustration I came up with. Tim Keller came up with this illustration, and you just can't beat Keller, so I'm gonna I'm gonna use it. He said, imagine that you are a really good pianist. You've actually spent your life playing the piano, and you appreciate it when people listen to you and they compliment you. You know, when your friends come up to you and you say, wow, that was so good.
Joel Brooks:That was amazing. You're the best piano player I've ever heard. You hear that and you appreciate those kind words, but that is not a blessing. And the reason it's not a blessing is because your friends don't know anything about piano. They just kinda like you and they heard the music and you're like, that's really great.
Joel Brooks:Their evaluation of you, their affirmation of you is kind, but it's not powerful. Now picture this, after you play a recital, one of the greatest pianists of our time comes up to you. And he grabs your hands, and he holds them up and he says, these hands are meant for greatness. You will play in some of the grandest halls in all of the world. Those words shape you.
Joel Brooks:Those words, they're they're gonna spring up in you new desires, new goals, new life. It's a blessing. A curse would do the opposite. Imagine the person coming up to you, once again the this great great pianist, and he grabs your hands and he says these hands are meant for construction. That was horrible.
Joel Brooks:I mean, with great deal of practice, maybe years of life. Think how devastating that would be for you. You'd likely give up a career as a musician. And even if you decided no and you just got really angry at those those words and decided to prove that pianist wrong and You spent your whole life trying to pew that, prove that pianist wrong. Well, even that shows you how much power his words had in your life.
Joel Brooks:Walter Brueggemann, in his commentary on Genesis, commenting on this passage. He said that modern people tend to think of language as something used simply to describe what is. But these people understood that words can actually create something new in someone's life. Words have substance. They could bring out life and purpose in another.
Joel Brooks:So a blessing or a curse can alter your entire life. For instance, if your dad who you admire and whom you love, if he were to hold your face in his hands and look you in the eyes and say, I am so ashamed of you. I wish you were never born. You will amount to nothing. Could you imagine anything more devastating?
Joel Brooks:That altered the course of your life. That would be hard to ever overcome. But the opposite of that, that a dad holding you and with deep affection looking in your eyes and affirming your value and your significance and your purpose. Well, that's life to you. That's what Jacob wants.
Joel Brooks:He has longed for that his entire life, for his father's blessing. He's longed for his father to just once just look him in the eye and say he loves him, he values him, his life is significant, but he's yet to ever receive that. He wants to be told but he's yet to ever receive that. He wants to be told he will be somebody great. But after 40 years, Jacob knows that's never gonna happen.
Joel Brooks:If it's gonna happen, he's gotta make it happen. He's gonna have to steal that blessing from Esau. Well, Rebecca's there and hears Isaac's plan and quickly tells Jacob about it and tells Jacob what he needs to do. And so he goes and he puts on some goat skin on his hands and on his neck. He goes and he puts on Esau's clothes.
Joel Brooks:Rebekah goes and makes the stew. Then Jacob then walks into the room where his father Isaac is with a stew and and he introduces himself as Esau. He goes, I am Esau, the firstborn. Isaac is suspicious. How did he get that food so quickly?
Joel Brooks:Jacob responds, it was the Lord. The Lord helped me. So now, Jacob's just committed blasphemy. And notice that he says, the Lord, your God, help me. He doesn't say, the Lord my God.
Joel Brooks:This is not Jacob's God. Isaac remains suspicious. He says, come come closer. And what he wants to do is feel Jacob's skin and, of course, he feels the goat hair, so it feels like Esau's. And then he asked him again, are you really Esau?
Joel Brooks:And he tells him to get even closer. And this time, he wants to kiss him, but what he really is trying to do is catch a smell of him. He wants to see if this man smells like Esau. Does he smell like the outdoors? And as he kisses kisses Jacob, he takes a deep sniff.
Joel Brooks:And he says, ah, this is the smell of my son. It's the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. And then Jacob finally gets what he's been longing for his entire life. His father looks at him in the eyes and blesses him. So what are we supposed to take from this story?
Joel Brooks:Well, the first thing we need to take from this story is, just the fact that Jacob should have trusted the Lord for the blessing. It was promised to him. God would have brought it about. Jacob should have trusted and waited for it. But instead, once again, the sins of the father is being passed down to the children.
Joel Brooks:He behaves a lot like Abraham when Abraham goes and sleeps with Hagar, trying to fulfill God's promises on his own, trying to make it happen. And, of course, the result of these things is devastation, heartache. The second thing we should learn here is that we should see ourselves in Jacob. All of us want to be blessed. Every one of us.
Joel Brooks:We all long for someone to look us in the eye and with deep affection, tell us we have value and significance. We long for this, And we're willing to do whatever it takes to get it. We'll play the part. We'll dress up however we need to dress up in order to get it. If it means becoming a different person, no problem.
Joel Brooks:So we can lie. We'll play pretend. We'll say things we don't mean. We'll do whatever part play whatever part we need to play in order to get it. When you look back at your life, don't you see like so much of your life was actually spent hiding who you really are?
Joel Brooks:Hiding who you really are before others, so they wouldn't actually see who you really are or hear the things actually going on in your mind. You become somebody else. Over much, at least the the first 10 years in ministry, I I did tons of premarital counseling. And, one of the things when I had, couples come to my office, one of the first questions I would ask is I would look at, the future husband. I'd say, okay.
Joel Brooks:So you you want to marry this this fine woman right here. Why? I mean, it's kind of a crazy thing if you think about it. It's kind of absurd. You're saying, till death do you part with this one person.
Joel Brooks:Tell me, why are you willing to go through such an absurd commitment like that? And, usually this guy kind of stumbles a little bit, you know, says something like, well, she's, you know, beautiful. She's, you know, we get along great. You know, share hobbies. You know, whatever it is.
Joel Brooks:The the best compliment they finally, eventually, typically get around to is, I feel like I could just be myself around her. I don't You know, I don't like to to pretend to be somebody else. I could just be myself and she sees me and she knows me, and she loves me for who I am. Of course, that's what we all want. Isn't it?
Joel Brooks:It's what we all want. But, actually, no one ever knows somebody else for who they really are, even within marriage. That might be the closest we come to it, but all of us hide certain things from one another. When Lauren and I, we were dating, we dated for almost 7 years and at one point we were at a I remember this so vividly, she does too I'm sure. We're at this Chinese restaurant and, she says, Penny for your thoughts.
Joel Brooks:I was like, nope. She goes, no. Come on. Penny for your thoughts. I was like, nope.
Joel Brooks:No amount of money is going to get me to share these thoughts. And I do need to actually tell you that I've been watching kung fu movies all day. It was college. And so I've been watching lots of Bruce Lee movies, with my roommates. And she is now asking me for a penny for my thoughts on this romantic date.
Joel Brooks:And, she goes, no. Tell me a penny for penny for thoughts. Tell me what you're thinking. I was like, alright. I was thinking I could get my fingers and shove it through your eye and I can actually slam your head down like that if I hooked your nose bone there.
Joel Brooks:And she looked at me kinda like you are looking at me now. Alright? Like, who is this guy? Now, I've learned from that point, I never ever again are gonna share the most intimate parts of my my soul if somebody just says a penny for your thoughts. We're all like this.
Joel Brooks:We we hide little things from one another. Nobody can really really know everything we think or believe because certainly we would not be loved if we're to say that. Let those thoughts out. All of us at times dress up for others in order to receive a blessing. But here's the deal.
Joel Brooks:You can't actually steal a real blessing. That look that Jacob longed for his entire life and now he finally got was actually hollow, so hollow. I mean, that hole in his heart was not filled in that moment. I mean, yes, he's gonna receive everything that comes from that blessing. He's gonna receive land.
Joel Brooks:He's gonna receive all of this wealth. He's gonna receive all of these things, but it does absolutely nothing for his heart, which is still gonna be just as empty when he leaves and that hole in his heart is gonna drive all of his decisions for like the next 20, 30, 40 years. So he does leave after this unchanged. And the moment he leaves, Esau comes in. Esau comes in and he is ready for his blessing.
Joel Brooks:Look at verse 32. His father Isaac said to him, who are you? He answered, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. Then Isaac trembled very violently, said, who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me and I ate it before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes.
Joel Brooks:And he shall be blessed. Now, there is a lot actually going on in these verses. When Isaac realizes he has blessed the wrong person, we read that he trembles violently. You actually cannot portray this, this scene any stronger in the Hebrew language than the words that are used here. You're basically what's being described as he's going into convulsions.
Joel Brooks:His body's going into shock when he realizes the mistake that he has just made. But actually the more shocking thing is what happens after these convulsions. Because you gotta ask yourself this question. Why not at this point doesn't I just Isaac just take back the blessing? Does he just take it back and be like, oh, that dirty rascal Jacob?
Joel Brooks:I take it back. And then he blesses Esau. I mean, certainly you can't actually really get a blessing under false pretenses. Can you? Isaac can certainly correct things here.
Joel Brooks:Can't he? But he chooses not to. Just about every commentary you read on this is gonna tell you that something changes in Isaac at this moment. And I believe it's this. Isaac realizes God's sovereign grace over this entire situation, that despite the deception, this was actually God's purpose all along, and that he had unwillingly, unknowingly become of God's grace here.
Joel Brooks:So when he says those words, Yes. And he shall be blessed. You can actually translate that as behold or He will be blessed. He'll be blessed. At this moment, Isaac realizes how wrong he was and how he had been fighting against god's plan all along.
Joel Brooks:How he had refused to acknowledge that God chooses the younger, the smaller, the inferior, the weak, the base things of this world in order to bless the world. God works through the Jacobs of this world. And when Esau saw that his father would not take back this blessing and, actually, later in chapter 28, he's going to further bless Jacob, it infuriates Esau, and he turns against the father who has loved him his entire life. Now, Jacob was obviously wrong in what he did. Alright?
Joel Brooks:He was wrong in what he did, but he was absolutely not wrong in knowing this: All of us need a blessing. Every one of us have this hole in our hearts, and we need to be blessed. We have this incredible need. We all want someone to know us completely and then to bless us fully, which means that we're all longing to be blessed by God himself. The question is this, is it even possible for God to fully look at us and know us completely, and yet still bless us?
Joel Brooks:And the answer is yes. We get the answer to this by looking at another story in the bible. A story that's also about deception, betrayal, but the end result is blessing. It's the story of Jesus. Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest disciples.
Joel Brooks:He was betrayed by Judas. He was sold for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus is the son of God. He's the firstborn. He's the one who's entitled to the firstborn blessing.
Joel Brooks:Colossians actually describes Jesus as the first born of all creation and for all of eternity, Jesus has known the blessing of the first born. The blessing that his father has bestowed on him. We actually get to see a glimpse of that, while Jesus walked this earth, at his baptism. I remember his baptism when it was at the the launch of Jesus' ministry. And Jesus went to be baptized.
Joel Brooks:And remember you had the father. He he spoke out of the heavens. And do you remember what he said? This is my beloved son or the son whom I love and whom I am well pleased. So you have the spoken words of affirmation and purpose.
Joel Brooks:And then you have the symbol. You have the dove coming down and resting upon him. Word. Symbol. This is Jesus being blessed by his father for all to see there.
Joel Brooks:But then something extraordinary happens after this. Later, Jesus would actually dress up as us. He will give us the blessing of the firstborn by putting on our clothes, by taking on our filthy rags, and putting them on himself, so that he will no longer receive the first born blessing, but he will become the one who is cursed. Galatians 3 says that Jesus became a curse for us. And not only in that, not only did he take our filthy rags and clothe himself with our filthy rags, he then took off his righteousness and he clothed us with his righteousness.
Joel Brooks:We swapped clothes. We swapped identities, if you will. This is a beautiful exchange here, and no longer are we treated as a sinner that needs to be cursed, but we are treated as the firstborn and we receive every blessing that comes with it. I've pointed this out numerous times, but on the cross, Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Actually, Martin Luther was the first person to point out this insight, but this is the only time we have in scripture that Jesus did not call God his father.
Joel Brooks:Every other time he's praying, he always prays father, except for on the cross, He calls His father, my God, my God. And one of the reasons is this. Is when He is on the cross, He has lost the right. He has lost the blessing of the firstborn. And it's here that He is dressing up like us to receive the curse.
Joel Brooks:And then he is clothing us in his righteousness, so that we might be treated like the firstborn. Do you know what the author of Hebrews calls the church? I love this term. He calls the church, the assembly of the first born. We're all firstborn children because of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:All who know Christ, we are now wearing his righteousness. We are blessed with every blessing. Let me ask you. Do you want to be blessed by God? If so, hear me.
Joel Brooks:You don't have to dress up for it. You don't have to pretend to be somebody that you are not. You don't even have to work for it. No. Jesus has done all the work.
Joel Brooks:He is the one who is dressed up as you in order to receive a curse and then he has dressed you up as him and laid his righteousness upon you, so that you might be treated as a son. And now God, the father looks at you just like he looks at Jesus, fully known, fully loved and accepted. Pray with me. Jesus, you're the image of the invisible God. You're the firstborn of all creation.
Joel Brooks:And, Lord, we we just simply say thank you. Words are not enough, but thank you for coming to this world and going to the cross and swapping our clothes, taking on our filthy rags, and giving us your righteousness. Thank you that we are now children of God, and I pray that we would enjoy every benefit that you would have for us in being your child, father. We pray this all in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.