Isaac – The Promised Son

 

So you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth. The Promised Son of the great Abraham, well known for his wealth and influence. What does that make you? Arrogant? Spoilt? The curiosity of scripture is that Isaac rarely appears centre stage, nearly always he is in the scene but not the star.

Lets review his story.

1.       Born to Abraham and Sarah when they were to say the least elderly.

2.     Displaced the heir apparent, Ishmael. Ishmael is sent away.

3.     Offered in sacrifice by his Father, a sacrifice that was stopped in the last moment. God abhors human sacrifice. Abraham trusted God even in this.

4.      His mother dies somewhere before he is 40.

5.     Abraham sends a servant who arranges a marriage with his cousin Rebekah.  READ 24:62-67. Isaac was 40.

6.     His father dies, aged 175. He and Ishmael meet up at the funeral.

7.       Rebekah has twins Esau & Jacob. Isaac is 60. Isaac favours Esau; Rebekah favours Isaac.

8.     Isaac is a refugee from famine in Philistia

9.     Well wars with Philistia

10.  Esau marries a Hittite

11.   Isaac is conned by Jacob

12.  Isaac dies aged 180

 

In summary, he was born of elderly parents, his father nearly sacrificed him, his marriage was arranged. He treated his children unequally and in turn was tricked by his own son, disappointed by the other, he ran scared in a famine and died at a great age. Not exactly a super hero was he?

 

God, however, does not measure him by our standards. God is not ashamed to declare himself throughout the Old Testament tines as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Which brings me to my first point.

 

God loves you. Not because of what you do, your family background, or how your children turn out but because he chooses to love you. The Bible, unlike legends and myths is about real people who with all their failings and blunderings, are loved by God and in turn trust God.

Hebrews still lists Isaac as a hero of faith. Why because he saw beyond the mess of relationships in his family that God had plans and his covenants were not about to be torn up.

 

Isaac twice  has the covenant re-iterated to him.

 

READ 26:1-5

 

READ 26:23-24

 

We need to understand God’s Covenants. They are where we see his character expressed. He is a God of Covenants.  We are the people of the covenant of grace, sealed with the sacrifice of Jesus ion the cross. Each week some of us celebrate  Jesus’ reminder  of this. Sadly too few of us are at the communion table.

 

A covenant is not a contract which is an agreement to a equal exchange by equals.  It does involve conditions, which form the commitment of  both parties.

 

The Covenants  God made with his people define what God chooses to give and constrain himself. To Noah it was unconditional. To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob it is unconditional.  Except that in each case faith is recognised as righteousness. But the covenant with Israel was conditional on them obeying the law. The covenant of grace is conditional on it being received by faith.

 

God chooses to be with his people to bless them. Are you alive to the covenant God has made with you? Are you living by faith in the grace given through Jesus? Or are you ignoring the covenant, hoping that because you are a nice person and come to church, God will overlook your failure to sign up to his covenant.? You reckon? I don’t think so. God is not mocked. He offers you eternal life in Jesus. To be received by repentance and faith. Our gospel – John’s gospel is that

 John 3 verse 16 - 18 (NIV)

 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned,

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

 The second point I want to make is that Isaac would have had printed on his memory the fearful events in Genesis 22.

 

 Jehovah-jireh – the name Abraham gave to Mount Moriah  or as we know it today the Temple Mount in Jerusalem would ever remind Isaac that God himself provided the lamb in his place. The implication of the story is that Isaac willingly obeyed his Father.  But what transpired was that God did not want him to be sacrificed for any reason. God was demonstrating his compassion to provide a substitute lamb.

 

In that sense he is no different from you and me. When I look at the cross I see Jesus in my place, bearing my sins, acting as my sacrificial offering to God. On a hill just across from Jehovah-jirah, Mount Moriah.

 

What about you? Do you  know Jesus as your substitute or is his death a vague piece of religious hyperbola.  The whole idea of substitutionary atonement is out of fashion. Modern man looks down on a God who wins salvation by dying on a cross and rising again. He has no better salvation but wants God to let him into heaven on his liberal terms not on the basis of the finished work of Christ.

So Isaac is a son of the Covenant and he knows God as the God who provides a lamb.

 

 Lets move on.  To Genesis 26 . A famine is coming so Isaac moves to Gerar.  God tells Isaac  to stay and he will bless him.  But instead of  trusting God he plays diplomat and accepts the kind hospitable words of Abimelech while his risk analysis tells him, Rebekah is a liability. Verse 7. Sounds familiar? In fact so familiar that commentators argue it is the same story repeated three times- Abraham in Egypt in ch.12; Abraham and Abimelech in ch20. Basically because you can’t conceive of the that family using the same ruse when it does not work! I feel sorry for Abimelech . Last time God appeared in a dream saying he was as good as dead.

The story makes sense in the culture of the day. Intermarrying in families was the norm. Families stayed together for security with a Patriach holding authority. So social convention would involve relating all the relationships. It is still true in many countries today. Your ID is your family tree.

 So he makes out she is his sister. That puts a strain on his relationship with Abimelech.

He is less interested in the life of his wife than his own. So he is shown to be both a coward and not at all protective of his wife. And he is a liar. Isaac never shows courage. But then God is not selecting him because he is Rambo or James Bond or an Olympic champion or a celebrity. He is choosing him to show that he loves the quiet man whose only foray into meeting other clans is this mess-up. We must be a real embarrassment to God when we foul-up in our obedience to him but he waits for us to confess and repent and receive forgiveness. That is what he looks for. Not a DIY hero but one seeking him. This time it is Abimelech that sorts out the mess. But the mess leaves a stain.

READ Verses 12-15 He then stays and out performs the Philistines economically.

Isaac is blessed as God said and that breeds jealousy and jealousy is a very dangerous disease.  Filling the wells is a serious act of war. The wells are large with stairs going down them. They take some filling. The wells are vital for survival. This is economic war. Without the wells, Isaac’s flocks will die and his crops fail.

But Abimelech does not take him on he negotiates a move away. Abimelech knows that God is around this family and he is more cautious than his herdsmen. Verse 16

 

 What follows is a sequence of wells being re-dug and them Abimelech’s herdsmen claiming them for their flocks. Until we get to Beersheba. Here in verse 23 God repeats his covenant to Isaac. Isaac builds an alter as an act of worship. Then Abimelech arrives and they negotiate a settlement over the water.

This is all very normal life in the days in which Isaac lived. Gods people are called to live in the world  and sort out the same difficulties as our neighbours but we are called to do it in his presence and with his intergrity.

Well wars are serious business. Life depends on water and the control of wells is deeply significant to power. Abimelech again plays the noble statesmen is resolving the conflict with a negotiated settlement. Beersheba – the well of the oaths – is a lasting memorial to that agreement. However, we know that the peace was only temporary. By David’s time, old covenants were forgotten and oppression and war were the norm. But God’s covenant was never forgotten.   He stands by his word. Even though we mess up and stumble. God speaks to Isaac and repeats his promise

READ verses 24

Notice that just in case Isaac has not got it, the words are repeated by Abimelech    in verse 28 . Are you known as the one who the Lord is with? Or are you ashamed to be known as one of his? Do you walk with Jesus so that your life radiates the presence of God that others notice? In this dark winter of credit crunch and redundancy dos your faith shine out as you demonstrate that in Christ there is hope even for those who have no job , no money and no prospects? Today is the day be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can minister to suburbia not sure of where life is going. Time to get close to God, to spend time in his presence and with others.  Time to be at the evening worship service, the House group, Powerhouse, but most of all to be in the secret place where you meet with God alone. If you are not in the habit, start now and stick to it.

 

Finally we will look at the family. This book has a lot to say about our relationships especially in the family. We need to read it and live by it.

Isaac and Rebecca were unable to have children.  Whatever else they tried, it is recorded Isaac prayed. God is part of a marriage. He is concerned about relationships and our hopes and fears. So talk to him about your problems. Even the big ones like fertility as in this case or cancer or job or retirement. And Rebekah prayed as well. God is a good midwife and knows about twins. The encouraging part of this is that when they prayed God answered.

 

The Bible is no more a book on Social management as it is a book on Theology. It is a book of revelation. It is an unfolding story of God and our relationship with him. It is full of good ideas about all sorts of aspects of life but they come through stories, poetry and prophecy rather than a systematic treatise.

 

So what does this story tell us about family?

This is a sad story where deep unresolved division causes great pain. But we must be careful about blaming Isaac and Rebekah and thinking that explains everything. Children do have free will and all the social conditioning in the world does not compel a child to be what we want it to be. Esau would have been influenced by tragic favouritism of Isaac and Rebekah but this does give each child a special place in the family. As a policy it would fall over if you have more than two children.  Favouring one or the other children even in this even handed way is not good. It encourages the child to learn to manipulate the adults. The consequences were that they encouraged the division between Jacob and Esau. On the other hand, I think that treating them exactly the same does not help. Each child should be encouraged equally but in different ways so that know they are special.

 

Jacob got his ability to cheat from somewhere but he chose to use it endlessly. Esau got his contempt for the promises from somewhere but he chose to sell his birthright.

 

 Parenting is about expressing love by doing the best you can, not by following a prescription. Children can be a disappointment but only when we have burdened them with expectations they cannot or do not wish to fulfil.

 

 But a loved and cared for child still makes his or her own choices. And they are not always what we want. It is your heart’s desire that they will be saved but you cannot force the choice. You may be called as parents to share the pain Jesus has for those who reject his way.

 

It is described as ‘praying for the prodigals to come home’. We do that on occasions at Powerhouse. You are always welcome to join us.

 

So what do you make of the infighting and deception?  Was it right or just inevitable?

The writer to the Hebrews has a simple comment of the whole affair:

faith

 Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

Hebrews 11 verse 20 (NIV)

SO in the end Isaac recognises that what has happened is not outside God’s plan. It was not right but his blessing went to the approprite son. In fact it lead him to make the correct prophetic statements.

 He trusted God with his family. He trusted God even though he made mistakes as a parent; there was infighting and deception, jealousy and real anger. Are you trusting God with your family? Do your prayers for them have Isaac’s faith that though it is all a bit too messy for you, God is not confused or out of touch. He is still got plans for you and your children and your parents. Isaac had faith and yet he grieved over Esau. Faith does not remove the pain it turn it to use as it drives you to greater intimacy with Jesus in prayer.

You are  a son/daughter of Covenant

You know the God who provides a substitute

You know a God who is with you.

Trust God with his family, your business, your neighbours, your life
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