Skip to content Genesis 27-28: Understanding the Power of Blessing Jan 13 · 14 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
93.9K followers
Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
93.9K followers
The Deception in Isaac's Family and the Power of Blessing 0:10 Good morning, and welcome to Stand on the Word as we continue our journey through the book of Genesis today, chapters 27 and 28. By the way, if you've not yet, signed up, subscribed to the Stand0:22 on the Word, there's a lot of resources available for you, and we send out periodic updates. You can get that by going to f r c dot o r g slash bible or text bible to 6 7 7 4 2. We've got a lot0:34 of resources that are available to you at your fingertips there at f r c dot o r g slash bible. Verse 38 chapter 27, and Esau said to his father, have you only 1 blessing, my0:45 father? Bless me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. How many of you remember the, the daytime soap operas? Hopefully, you don't still watch those. I I, I assume they're still on.0:57 I don't know. I haven't had a television, in many years. But when I was a kid, before cable, television, before satellite, obviously, before the Internet, you know, we only had 3, maybe 4 channels max.1:09 And, you know, TV programming was either game show or, soap operas. And so it was sheer torture to be home sick from school.1:21 Alright? There was nothing to watch but these soap operas. And the 1 that sticks in my head is 1 that was called as the world turns. I think a better title would have been as the world spins out of control. But the1:32 storyline for the soap operas were you know, they were always the same. And, frankly, what we're reading this morning, is the same because it is the fallen nature of mankind. In verse1:44 chap in chapter 27, Rebecca followed the example of her husband's deception, who followed the example of his father's deception, and we'll see how the grandson does the same.1:56 This deception created a a home of division and and literally hatred. Jacob, the younger of the twins, had previously gained the birthright from Esau. Remember that? We sold the,2:08 his birthright for a bowl of lentils. That was in chapter 25. Now by the deception of, of both Jacob and his mother, Rebecca,2:20 Jacob took the blessing of his father from Esau as well. Let's look at verse 1 chapter 27. Now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see,2:32 that he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, my son. And he answered him, here I am. Then he said, now behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now Isaac2:44 was about 136 years old at this point, but he would live another 44 years. So death was actually not knocking at his door at that moment. Verse 3, now therefore,2:56 please take your weapons, your quiver, and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food or tasty food such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my3:08 soul may bless you before I die. Now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. So3:19 Rebecca spoke to Jacob, her son, saying, indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau, your brother, saying, bring me game and make savory food for me that I may eat it and bless you in the3:31 presence of the lord before my death. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. Go now to the flock and bring me bring me from there 23:43 choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father such as he loves. Then you shall take it to your father that he may eat it and that3:55 he may bless you before his death. So notice the the desire for the blessing. Why? Why why was there such a a desire to get this blessing4:08 from Isaac? Well, let's look at verse 24. Then he said, are you this is when Jacob was bringing this into Isaac. So then he said, are you really my4:20 son Esau? He said, I am. And he said, bring it near me, and I will eat of my son's game so that my soul may bless you. So he brought it near him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his4:32 father, Isaac, said to him, come near now and kiss me, my son. And he came near and he kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his clothing. He was wearing Esau's clothes. And he blessed him and said, surely, the smell4:43 of my son is like the smell of a field which the lord has blessed. Therefore, may god give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let4:55 people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you.5:08 Now we might be tempted to say, alright. What's the big deal? So he blessed Jacob. He could take it back, or he could say a few words of blessing over Esau, and everything would be fine. Well,5:20 when I came to understand what I'm about to share with you, it changed how I, what I said to and about my wife and my children. Okay? I5:32 think we fail to understand the power of our words. I mean, think about the power of words. Jesus the the lord created. God created the earth by speaking it into5:44 being. Now we're not we don't have the power of those type. Our words don't have that type of power, but our words have staying power. They do because they shape they have a shaping power5:55 over people's lives whom we speak them over or speak them to. The words we speak over our children, the presence of god, are not reversible statements that can be withdrawn. Oh, I was just6:07 kidding or I'm sorry. I mean, we can repent. We obviously need to at times, but what has been spoken has been spoken. This is true of of words that we speak in blessing and affirmation,6:19 but it's also true of those words that we speak to curse or to tear down, whether intentional or not. I I just don't think we understand the irreversible nature or6:31 the power of the words that we speak. That's why Proverbs, I believe, in chapter 10 verse 19 says, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Now I6:43 cannot I'll confess, I cannot say that I've never failed in this area, but I can say that when I saw this truth in the word of God about 3 decades ago, that it became a6:54 focus to guard the words that cross my lips in what I spoke about or to my wife and my children. Sometimes they just don't say anything, and that's that's fine. I I7:06 just I think we've had to be very careful the words that we speak. And what do I mean by that? I'm not talking about arguments. I'm talking about maybe having a conversation with somebody else, like, my wife did this or7:17 my kids did this or you know, how we we we put labels on people. I think this is and I don't wanna go too far with this, but, you know, there's a lot of labels that are put onto our kids today.7:30 Now, fortunately, when I was a kid, we didn't have all this ADD and, you know, all this other stuff. We just had BAD, you know, when we corrected our kids. But we didn't carry these labels. I'm sure I7:41 would've had a ton of those labels, if they had them back then. I think we just need to be careful what we're speaking over our children. We should treat our words like we treat a loaded gun.7:54 Alright? Our words have that type of power. I mean, we a gun, it can protect, it can defend when it's used with diligence and skill, but when it is used carelessly, it can kill.8:06 And our words are the same way. Alright. In chapter 28, fearing the loss of, both of her sons because of Esau's hatred for Jacob, Rebecca appealsJacob's Transformative Encounter with God at Bethel 8:18 to Isaac for Jacob to return to her family and find a wife from her brother Laban's family. But on the way but on the way, something transformative happens.8:30 Jacob encounters the Lord for himself. Verse 10. Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And there so he came to a8:42 certain place and stayed there at night because the sun had set, and he took 1 of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he8:54 dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven. And there, the angels of God were descending and ascending and descending on it. And behold, the9:06 lord stood above it and said, I am the lord God of Abraham, your father, and the god of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your9:18 descendants. Now, by the way, the location, which we see that Jacob later called Bethel, is believed to be the modern day city of Betten9:30 in Samaria, an Arab village that is in the area described by the international community as the West Bank, which they deny Israel's right to. And what did god say here? He said, the9:41 land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your descendants. The Abrahamic covenant in this point in this in this interaction that god9:53 is having with Jacob is affirmed now to the next generation. Look at verse 14. Also, your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and to the east,10:05 to the north and the south. And in you and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This generation this blessing is being passed to the next generation. Now we've noted this before, but this10:17 last part, and in you and your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed is a reference to what? To Jesus Christ, to the Messiah through whom all have been10:29 blessed with the opportunity of knowing God. Verse 15, behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will10:40 not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you. It's a great promise. Verse 16, then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know10:52 it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. A great11:04 reverence came upon Jacob when he realized the significance of this encounter that he had with God. And as we'll read, this marks the beginning. It's not the the the the culmination, the totality11:16 of his relationship, but it begins Jacob's personal journey with God. The faith of his father was becoming his faith. And and Jacob's life is really an11:28 example of what, in in fact, many of these that we're gonna read about was like what Paul described in Philippians chapter 2 in verse 12. It says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always11:40 obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to11:51 do for his good pleasure. You see, we we encounter God in a in a personal way through Jesus Christ. That that's transformative. Our lives are transformed, but it's not the end of the12:03 journey. There's a sanctification process, working out our salvation through sanctification. So that first encounter is just the beginning. That is why being in the12:15 word of God, abiding in Christ is essential to experiencing not just life in Christ, but what he promised was the abundant life, the12:26 victorious life that comes by growing in this journey. And you're doing that by being in his word each and every day. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the example. I thank you for12:38 the for the for your word that we're reading that does not gloss over or candy coat or somehow make out these individuals to be12:51 bigger than life. Yes. They were there there were some amazing individuals, but we see their flaws. We see where they faltered and where they fell. And that gives us hope because we know, lord, that you're a long13:03 suffering patient and gracious god. And that that, lord, your desire is for us. You're not against us. You're for us. And so I pray for those today that have begun that journey.13:15 That, lord, they would grow in that journey. And as we are in the word, abiding in Christ in the word of God, that we would be strengthened and we would be transformed as we are sanctified by the work of the holy13:27 spirit and by the word. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. Always great to have you along. And until next time, keep standing on the word.13:40 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you13:52 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 The Deception in Isaac's Family and the Power of Blessing8:14 Jacob's Transformative Encounter with God at Bethel
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.