All Is Of Grace (Genesis 27:42-28:5)
Rev. William L. Barron, March 10, 2019Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Jacob was chosen to inherit the covenant promises from the womb. However, Jacob schemed to obtain Esau’s birthright. Then, he and Rebekah his mother schemed to obtain Esau’s blessing from his father. They thought that they had to manipulate events to carry through God’s will, and there were severe consequences for this sin. Rebekah would send off her son to marry, never to see him again. When we sin, we can expect hard consequences. Jacob departs to find a wife from among the relatives of his uncle Laban. Isaac’s blessing is confirmed upon Jacob one night during his journey at a place he renamed Bethel. This dark night foreshadows a dark period of 20 years in Jacob’s life, yet God promises never to leave Jacob. This is a picture of Jesus’ mediatory role as our great high priest in heaven. Jacob found the security the builders of the tower of Babel sought but never found. Jesus taught Nathaniel that the stairway Jacob saw was the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the stairway to heaven. Jacob was all alone in his quest for a wife, unlike Isaac’s servant sent to the homeland. Jacob returned with four wives and much wealth, not alone as before. He stopped at Bethel again on the way, built an altar and worshiped God. Jacob promised God a tenth of his earnings because of God’s faithfulness and providence. Later, Bethel would become a place of false worship under Jeroboam. We can become false worshipers as well; may it never be so. All of us need transforming, and this can be hard. Sometimes God has to bring the heat and the forging to transform us. He promised to do this, however, because he loves us. In heaven, we will be completely transformed. What a blessing this is for us through Jesus Christ.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « The Other Brother | None | The Gospel Calls Us To Faith, Hope And Love » |
Genesis 27:42–28:5 (Listen)
42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away—45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
(ESV)