The Life of Isaac (10)

The wilderness journey of Isaac is an illustration of the way in which the Lord leads His people. He leads them from place to place, but at the well Shebah, Isaac experienced that the Lord had given him a place where there was peace with his enemies; God gave him a token of His covenant faithfulness. God never lies but certainly fulfills what He has spoken. After this, we do not read of Isaac and his wife Rebekah except that they were grieved when Esau, their oldest son, took to wife a woman of the Hittites, “Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah” (Genesis 26:35). Isaac’s journey continues but Scripture does not mention what happened until Isaac had become old and realized that the time of departure would probably come soon. God’s children also die; death is the last enemy.

Partiality

It was about forty years after the blessings at Shebah; Isaac and Rebekah had received two children, Esau and Jacob, and we read of Isaac that he loved Esau, “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob” (Genesis 25:28). God had forewarned that the elder should serve the younger. However, Isaac’s intents were different. He went about to bless Esau. We can see in Isaac’s life that he, after all God’s gracious benefits, had grown spiritually weak. It was also true in his life that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and so we see Isaac planning according to the desires of his flesh. There is a danger, also for God’s children, that they become content with what they have experienced and that they begin to rest on grace received. Then their prayers become more formal, and the inner room is not visited so often to call upon the Lord for His help and guidance. The times of distress when the strife was so heavy were not easy for them, as it was also not easy for Isaac to have to travel from place to place. However, in those times, they need the Lord’s keeping and leading, and under God’s blessing, troubles may bring them closer to Him.

Yet, there are also times when everything becomes quiet and seems peaceful, but then there is an increasing danger that the life of storming the throne of grace begins to languish, and that a certain contentment with God’s benefits and slothfulness may fill the heart. Then there is resting without pleading, and although what God has planted in the heart will not die, the life of grace is not blossoming. Perhaps so it was with Isaac.

There are two infirmities in Isaac’s character which are evident here. First, there was a disposition to gratify his desire for a particular kind of food, savory meat, and secondly, he had a partiality for his son Esau. Esau’s marriage had grieved Isaac and Rebekah. It must have been clear to Isaac that Esau did not fear the Lord and that his life was with the world. How that should have been a burden to Isaac and a source of grief. Isaac must have known what the Lord had said to Rebekah, “The elder shall serve the younger.” He knew whom God had chosen, yet, we see that his carnal desires and his favoring Esau, led him to intend to give the birthright blessing to Esau. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we need to be delivered from our carnal desires and preferences. Also, for this old pilgrim, it should have been his place to deny himself, to fall on God’s side, and to agree with His good pleasure. Was he not himself a child of God’s grace and miraculous power? Was not his life a testimony that the Lord had made a distinction where by nature there is none? Isaac’s prayer should have been, “Make me Thy will to do.” However, this does not make Rebekah innocent when she schemes to deceive her husband. Her desire that Jacob would receive the blessing was good, but the means she used were unlawful.

Deceived

Rebekah should have trusted the Lord to bring to nothing the plans of her husband, but she plotted against him and taught her son to deceive him. Jacob complied with his mother’s plan and by doing this, he brings a heavy guilt upon himself. What he sows, he will reap later in his life. The deceiver, Jacob, will be deceived by Laban when he is in Padan Aram. This is what he did: he acted as if he were Esau; he told lies to his father, and he even dared to bring the name of the Lord into his story after his father inquired how he had found the venison so quickly, “And he said, because the LORD thy God brought it to me” (Genesis 27:20b). Thus, it often goes when we begin to walk the wrong way— from bad to worse. Sin is like walking on a slippery path, and if the Lord does not stop even His children, they would ruin everything. However, God’s faithfulness will not allow this.

Isaac blessed Jacob, as we read in verses 28 and 29, “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be everyone that curseth, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.”

Then Esau came in from his hunting. How terrifying it was to Isaac when he discovered that he had been deceived by Jacob. Esau also had made savory meat and brought it unto his father, and when Isaac asked him, “Who art thou?” he said, “I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.” We read in verse 33, “And Isaac trembled very exceedingly.”

Faith

Horror was awakened in the soul of the old father. He now fully realized that he had tried to go against the expressed will of the Lord. God had overruled his wrongdoing, and Isaac bowed in self-judgment and “trembled very exceedingly.” He knew now that God had been securing what He had declared before the sons were born.

We read in Hebrews 11:20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” It may be a surprise to find Isaac also mentioned among the heroes of faith. You may wonder, where do we see his faith? It may appear incomprehensible. However, God the Holy Spirit declares it. The Bible does not cover the sin of Isaac. God sees and also hates the sins of His people. Scripture is so honest in recording the actions of God’s people, and it is so evident that they are not saved because of their good deeds. It is grace alone that has kept and corrected them. Carnal love and human affections may have such a large place in the hearts of God’s people, and they are the reason that God’s good pleasure may be concealed and that spiritual darkness is experienced. It is a difficult lesson; dying to flesh and blood is practiced too seldom—flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

In spite of all his failures, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau by faith. His pronouncing the blessing was an evidence of firm faith in the promises of God. Isaac might have been mistaken in the object of the promise; it was not Esau, but by faith Isaac embraced the promises themselves. God would be the God of His seed, and all the families of the earth would be blessed in that seed. It is so clear that Isaac believed God’s promise; otherwise, he would never have spoken the blessing that made Jacob a lord over his brother. Isaac, by faith, clung to God’s promise. Christ would come and in Him all families of the earth will be blessed. What a blessing it is if we may do so even when the fulfilling of them goes through impossible ways. It is a lesson to fall outside of it and see that God’s counsel will stand; He will do all His pleasure. That will also be the boast of the Church of God when they may arrive safely in glory. It is, “Through Thee, through Thee alone, for Thy eternal good pleasure’s sake.” May such a delight in God’s work alone be known by young and old. For this good pleasure those who are saved and kept by a mighty and faithful Saviour will honor and glorify Him.

(To be continued)

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