Setting the scene: Genesis 27:
Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to Esau. So when Esau left for the country to hunt, she said to her favorite son, Jacob, “I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some savory stew to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, go out to the flock and select two choice young goats, so I can prepare some savory stew for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
But his mother said to him, “Let me worry about the curse. Just do what I say; go and get the goats for me.”
So he went and picked out two young goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some savory stew with them, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took some clothes she had of Esau, her older son, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered the back of his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the skins from the goats. Then she gave Jacob the savory stew and the bread she had made to take to his father.
“Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who is it?”
Jacob replied, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
So, Jacob moved closer to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him as Jacob for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau.
But then he asked one more time, “Are you really my son Esau?”
“I am,” Jacob replied.
Then Isaac said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
Jacob brought the bread and stew to him, and some wine to drink with it. Then when his father was finished eating, Isaac blessed him saying,
God will give to you heaven’s dew,
• and earth’s richness—
• and abundance of grain and new wine.
Nations will serve you,
• and peoples will bow down to you.
You will be lord over your brothers,
• and the sons of your mother will bow down to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
• and those who bless you will be blessed.”
After Isaac finished blessing him, Jacob had barely left his father before Esau came back from hunting. He prepared some savory stew and brought it to his father saying, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”
When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”
But Isaac said, “Your brother has come deceitfully and taken your blessing. I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have blessed him with grain and new wine. So what more can I possibly do for you, my son?”
Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named ‘Jacob’? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then Esau wept loudly.
When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had been saying, she sent for Jacob and told him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you after your father dies. Now then, my son, flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. Stay with him until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there.”
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🤔 Think about it…
❓️ What attitude do you think Isaac had toward Jacob after the deception?
❓️ Do you think Isaac would be supportive in any way toward Jacob after this?
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Genesis 28, the story continues…
So, when Isaac heard Jacob was leaving, he called for him and blessed him further, saying,
“May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a multitude of peoples.”
“May He give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
Isaac also commanded Jacob saying, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman. When you arrive in Paddan Aram, go directly to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.”
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❓️Did you see that coming? After Jacob had stolen the blessing of the firstborn by deceiving his father, Isaac actually blessed Jacob further with the blessings God had given Abraham, for “he and his descendents.” So now Jacob becomes the official carrier of God’s promise to the next generation. It would appear that Isaac had come to accept the passing on of God’s blessing from Abraham to him, Isaac, now to Jacob, as a ‘done deal.’
It makes more sense in this light that Isaac would be concerned about who Jacob marries, because his wife would become a co-inheritor of the blessing, just like Sarah was.
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“Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” (THEME)
“But if you will seek God earnestly,
• and plead with the Almighty;
If you are pure and upright,
• even now He will rouse himself on your behalf;
• and restore you to your prosperous state.
Your beginnings will seem humble,
• so prosperous will your future be.”
• and find out what their ancestors learned;
For we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
• and our days on earth are but a shadow.
– Will they not instruct you and tell you?
– Will they not speak words from their understanding?”
• or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
• and your lips with shouts of joy.”
(CONCLUSION)
“Because God does not pervert justice,
• nor does the Almighty pervert what is right.”
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🤔 Ponder this: Bildad thought Job was suffering because Job had sinned. Bildad had placed God in a ‘box’ where he thought everything was simple and straight forward. That is, if you do good, God will reward you. If you sin, God will punish you.
❓️Do you see ways that you believe this overly simple concept of who God is in your own thinking?
🤔 The Jews in Jesus’ time had turned this idea around. They believed that if you were prosperous, that you had been approved by God and that He had blessed you.
The flip side was that if you were poor, had been born with a disability, or had some bad things happen to you (like Job), that you had been judged by God for either your sins, or maybe your parents’.
❓️ Did Jesus agree with this belief about how God rewarded and punished people?
❓️What do you believe about suffering versus prosperity and God’s part in it?
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Revelation 4, God’s Heavenly Throne
Setting the scene:
“In the spirit I, John, found myself in heaven and I saw in front of me a throne with Someone sitting on it. And the One who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”
“Surrounding the great throne were twenty-four lesser thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.”
“From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea made of glass, as clear as crystal.”
“Around the throne were four living creatures. The first creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle. And the four living creatures, day and night, do not cease to say…”
(Now pray to God in worship)
Who was and Who is and Who is to come.”
I give glory and honor and thanks; 🙏
• to You Who sits on the throne of heaven, 🪑
• to You Who lives forever and ever. ♾️
I bow down before You 🛐
• Who rules from the throne, 🪑
I worship You 🛐
• Who lives forever and ever, ♾️
I cast my rewards before Your throne, 👑
For You are more worthy, 🥇
• my Lord and my God, 🛐
You are worthy to receive 🤲
• glory and 💥
• honor and 🏆
• power.💪
You are worthy, 🥇
• because You created all things. 🌌
You are worthy, 🥇
• because of Your will all things exist, ⚛️
You are worthy, 🥇
• because You created me.🙋♂️🙋♀️
You are worthy, 🥇
• because for Your will I exist. 🧎♂️🧎♀️
I love You, ❤️
I adore You, 😍
I worship You, Lord God Almighty, 🛐
I worship You on Your heavenly throne!🪑
Amen❗️
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