We come to an obscure story that seems like an interruption from Joseph in Egypt. Yet this interruption is important, because through the evil actions of Judah, his two sons (Er & Onan), and Tamar, the Lord, executes his divine judgment, shows mercy to Judah, and redeems the broken situation by providing the continuation of the promised seed.
As we are introduced to the sons of Jacob, it becomes very evident of the dysfunction of their family. Jacob loved Joseph, while his brothers hated him more and more. This familial relationship breeds destruction and death. Yet the Lord is working in the destruction of their sin, accomplishing his purposes of salvation. That means our only hope when we find ourselves entangled with sin, is the work of God.
Encountering God Almighty changes everything. God – through His calling, revelation, and promises – is the source of transforming grace and sustaining grace. We'll see how that is true in Jacob's life as his story in Genesis comes to a close, and we'll see how we must live our lives in light of God’s transforming grace, by the power of his sustaining grace.
God has come through marvelously for Jacob – restoring his relationship to his estranged brother and restoring him to the land of promise. But as soon as he found himself settling in, disaster strikes. Things quickly escalade from bad to worse. When the story seems to end with only tragedy, God speaks.
As the night had passed and the day had begun, Jacob emerged as a transformed man. When he faces his brother Esau, he is a completely different man. As we look at the evidence of Jacob’s transformation, we will learn how God can transform us.
In the tense anxiety of the night, Jacob is waiting to see if his plan will succeed and if his brother will accept him. While waiting all alone in the night, God appeared in human form and wrestled Jacob throughout the night. Depriving Jacob of his natural strength, making him weak and yet declaring him the victor. What was the purpose of this wrestling, what did it mean for Jacob and what does it mean for us?
Jacob is on the doorstep of the greatest trial of his life. He has an angry brother ahead of him and an angry father-in-law behind him, and all his family and accumulated wealth is at stake. His conniving has cornered him into imminent disaster. His only hope is divine deliverance and out of fear and desperation he turns the Lord in prayer.
The conflict between Jacob and Laban continues and will come to a head. Laban’s animosity towards Jacob begins to grow. In more deceit Jacob sneaks away from Laban. Laban pursues and overtakes him and the two finally come to terms with each other. Yet, Jacob’s prosperity, protection and preservation are not a result of Jacob’s cleverness, wit or strength, but a result of the Lord’s intervening work.
Jacob has completed his fourteen years of work for Laban and now he is ready to go back to his home and family. However, Laban recognized the benefits of having Jacob around. Not wanting to let Jacob go, both the cunning Laban and Jacob the deceiver will enter a duel of attempting to outsmart one another through tactics of deceit and trickery. Yet Jacob will prevail at the expense of Laban. Not because he outsmarted Laban, but because of the Lord’s grace and the Lord being faithful in fulfilling his promises to Jacob.
A major theme in the life of Jacob is conflict, conflict with his brother Esau, his father-in-law Laban and now we will see conflict surrounding his two wives. Two rival sisters competing with one another over their husband’s affection, utilizing their power to conceive and using every scheme possible to gain the upper hand. What is the Lord doing in all this dysfunction? We will learn that when sin is rampant, God does His greatest work.
Jacob receives a taste of his own medicine, when his uncle Laban takes advantage of him and deceives him. Over time the Lord would use this painful experience to expose and remove his sin and mold him into a man that is both humble, submissive and dependent on the Lord. We learn that the Lord is committed to transforming His people.
Jacob is a fugitive on the run, and the Lord in His grace revealed Himself in a dream and gives him wonderful promises. Yet Jacob is “backwards” in his dealing with the Lord. Instead of believing and trusting the Lord’s promises, he bargains with the Lord and sets the conditions for trusting the Lord. Yet the Lord is gracious to him and will begin the work of transforming unworthy Jacob the deceiver to worthy Israel who is totally dependent on the Lord.
In today’s message, we see that God’s will is always accomplished even in spite of our sins. God’s covenant blessing is from God, fulfilled by God, to bless His people and we can trust in Him .
A theme in the life of Isaac is that the Lord protects and provides in adversity. Isaac must learn to trust the Lord in adversity, and at times he will stumble in fear, but the Lord will remain faithful in providing and fulfilling His covenant promises.
In our text today we will be introduced to Isaac whose life is filled with struggles, the struggle to conceive, the struggle between two brothers and the struggle for the birthright. In these struggles, the text is pointing us to look ahead in how God is working in fulfilling His covenant promises and how God in His sovereign grace is choosing His covenant people.
As we come to the end of Abraham’s life, the account of his death and burial is in between two “rejected genealogies”. The genealogy of Keturah’s sons and Ishmael. Twice we will be reminded that Isaac is the one blessed by God, who will inherit the covenant promises. The natural questions are, what is the purpose of mentioning these “rejected genealogies”? What makes Isaac so special? What is the Lord revealing about Himself?
As we turn to scene 3, the author transitions us from the well to the family’s house of Rebekkah. The question is would Rebekah answer the call. Would she trust the Lord, and leave her family, country and all that she knows to go to a land where the Lord will show her and become the wife of a man she had never met and become part of the family of God?
As Abraham reaches the end of his life, he needs to find a wife for Isaac, so that the Lord will fulfill his covenant promises. The task of finding a wife for Isaac was so important that he sent his most trusted servant under an oath. What we learn is that both Abraham and the servant’s confidence and actions were rooted in the covenant promises of the Lord.
After the death of Sarah, Abraham looks for a burial plot to bury his wife. Amazingly though, Abraham doesn’t return to his homeland of Ur of the Chaldeans, but instead rests in God’s promises that one day his descendants will inherit the land he is currently a sojourner in. As such, he stays and buys a plot of land in Canaan to bury Sarah in, that one day his entire family will also utilize, showing how God’s promise of Abraham’s descendants inheriting the land comes true. Likewise, it shows us today how we should trust in God’s promises, as those who place their faith in Christ will also one day receive the inheritance of the Kingdom of God!
God’s command that Abraham should sacrifice his son is highly unusual. This narrative raises many questions that remain unanswered. But what becomes very clear in the beginning of this narrative that behind this command, God is testing Abraham. Does Abraham truly trust God in fulfilling his promises to him? What we will discover in this test is the outcome of the matter that reveals as much about God as it does about Abraham.