The Stolen Blessing

My very first invitation to preach was at the church where I grew up, First Baptist Church of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Since it was my first, I decided to start with my best sermon from preaching class and polish it up.

You can also read the manuscript below:

Preface & Prayer

Before I begin I just want to thank you all for the privilege of opening God’s Word with you this morning. Jenny and I have been gone for six years now, but I’ve never stopped calling this my home church. I was baptized here, married here, and I learned to serve here. Many of you were my teachers in the classroom, but all of you have taught me by example. So I’m humbled that you have entrusted this time to me, and my prayer is that you won’t be distracted that it’s your son and your student standing here, but instead that God’s words would speak with His power and His authority to all of us this morning.

Please pray with me.

Good morning, Father. We are here because we love You. We love Your Word. And we love one another. And we pray that all of these bonds will be strengthened in our time together. Please give me wisdom that I might be faithful, and give me clarity so that Your words might ring in our ears and change our hearts. In Christ’s name, amen.

Part 1: Isaac to Bless the Wrong Son

Our Scripture this morning is found in Genesis 27, so if you have your Bibles please turn with me there. Genesis 27. And I’ll begin reading in verse 1:

¹When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” ²He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. ³Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, ⁴and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Genesis 27:1-4 (ESV)

This is the beginning of a story that’s probably very familiar to all you, but if we can let’s try to forget for a moment that we know how this ends and let ourselves get caught up in the story: Isaac is a shepherd just like his father Abraham was, but just like Abraham, Isaac is fabulously wealthy. He has huge herds of livestock and abundant crops, and he’s a member of the upper class. But his body is starting to fail him. He can’t see anymore; he’s blind. So he decides before the rest of his body goes, he’s going to give a special blessing to his oldest son, Esau.

Now this blessing wasn’t a magic prayer a father says over his son in ancient times, although they believed the words were powerful; no, this is primarily about passing on the rights and responsibilities of leadership for their clan. And traditionally it always goes to the oldest son, just like Isaac is doing with Esau.

But there are a few things wrong with this picture. For one thing, this would normally be a big celebration with a feast, but this is a private meal. He’s doing this in secret. You see, a couple of chapters back, in Genesis 25, God told Isaac’s wife Rebekah that Esau wasn’t going to lead, that he was going to serve his twin brother Jacob. You might remember the twins were wrestling inside Rebekah’s womb, and so she asked God “what is going on here?” and He explained this was their future. Jacob is God’s choice, not Esau.

Genesis 25 also tells us that when after they have grown up Esau has already sold Jacob his birthright for a bowl of stew. The birthright means that as firstborn Esau would have gotten double the inheritance of anyone else—and I have to say, I’ve always liked that idea. But we know that in this case it would be huge amounts of money and property. But instead Esau would go down in history as the guy who threw it away for a single meal. You know how Hebrews 11 is the “hall of faith,” be like these men and women? Well, in Hebrews 12 Esau is the example you’re not supposed to follow. Because as bad as it is already this wasn’t just any birthright in any clan: this is the line of Abraham! Esau stood to inherit the promises God made to his grandfather and his descendants. Instead he despised his birthright. Treated it like it was nothing. He wasn’t worthy of it.

Now this birthright Esau despised and the blessing Isaac is about to give usually go together. You get the double-portion so that you can provide for the clan as its leader. But here’s Isaac ignoring God’s direction, overlooking Esau’s foolishness, and trying to cut Jacob out. So what might look like typical father-son moment is really Isaac playing favorites and rebelling against God.

Isaac is determined to bless the wrong son.

Part 2: Rebekah Intervenes

But in verse 5 we find out that Rebekah has heard everything, and she’s not going to let this happen. She calls Jacob and explains the situation, and beginning in verse 8 she says:

⁸“Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. ⁹Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
Gen. 37:8-10 (ESV)

Rebekah knows what Isaac is doing is wrong. She knows what God promised about Jacob, but in this moment God’s promise seems impossible. So she takes matters into her own hands. She’s going to use her son to deceive her husband.

You know, it’s interesting, if we look into the family history, Abraham’s wife Sarah took matters into her own hands too. But it didn’t work out so well for her. She didn’t believe it when God said she would have a son, so she gave her servant into the arms of her husband thinking that would solve the problem. It didn’t. Surprise surprise. It made things worse. But through it all God proved Himself faithful to His promises.

But here’s Rebekah acting just like her mother in law: she doesn’t believe God can accomplish what He said He would. So she’s going accomplish it for Him.

Now at this point you might be wondering: time is short, Jacob needs the blessing if he’s going to rule—isn’t Rebekah doing the right thing by stepping in? Aren’t there some situations where lying and manipulating is ok if it accomplishes God’s will? I mean, after all, Rahab lied when she hid the spies at Jericho and that worked out pretty well, and Michel lied when she hid David from Saul’s men, and that worked out pretty well. Maybe wicked people don’t deserve the truth!

First of all, let’s be clear: lying works. It gets the job done. And about 200 years ago, two British philosophers, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, they popularized the idea that the ends justify the means, that if you want to know whether a decision is good or not, you look at how much happiness will result. So they might look at Rebekah and say, “Well, if it works, Isaac and Esau will be pretty upset, but Jacob’s obviously the best man for the job and best of all, God’s plan will be accomplished, so yeah, you know, go for it.” That may be a popular way to measure right and wrong in our days. But it is absolutely not God’s way.

God cannot lie. We see that in Numbers 23, in Titus 1, in Hebrews 6. And in Leviticus 19, God told Israel that they shall not lie to one another. And to you and to me as members of the church, Colossians 3:9 says “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices . . .” Deception is part of the old you, your sin nature. That’s why it comes naturally. But if we are in Christ, we are a new creation. And however expedient Rebekah’s way looks, we have to be firm and say no, this is not ok.

Part 3: Jacob Deceives His Father

Now Jacob has to make a choice: yes, mom is putting on the pressure, but Jacob can still choose to wait and trust God. And you know this wouldn’t exactly be a stretch. After all, his grandfather kind of made a name for himself by waiting and trusting God. Abraham, who didn’t have a son until he was in his nineties. Abraham, who held a knife in the air over his beloved son, ready to sacrifice him because he knew that God would raise him from the dead. Jacob was raised on these stories. He should know that God doesn’t even need 5 minutes to fix this.

So what does Jacob do? Let’s look at verse 18:

¹⁸So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. [lie #1!] I have done as you told me [lie #2!]; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” ²⁰But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.” [lie #3!] ²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²²So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. ²⁴He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” [lie #4!]
Gen. 37:18-24 (ESV)

Instead of waiting for God to act, Jacob dresses in Esau’s clothes, looks into his blind father’s eyes and says, “I’m Esau.” In fact, if we kept reading just a few more verses we would see he even kissed him! Jacob’s clothes may have smelled like Esau, but Jacob himself stinks like Judas.

So Jacob deceives his father.

Deception is always a lack of faith, a breach of trust, and a terrible trap. I’ll say it again: deception is always a lack of faith, a breach of trust, and a terrible trap. Jacob’s deception was a lack of faith that God was good and able and faithful to keep His promises. Jacob’s deception was a breach of trust with his father, and it will spread in no time. Jacob’s deception was a terrible trap. He lies to his father’s face not once, not twice, not even three times, but four times. Once the charade began, he had to say and do whatever it took to keep it up.

And it works. Jacob gets his blessing. But at what cost?

It isn’t long before Isaac finds out, and your heart breaks as you read the strong language here when the real Esau comes for his blessing. “Isaac trembled very violently” in verse 33, and in 34 Esau “cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry.” And in verse 38: “Esau said to his father, ‘Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.’ And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.”

Part 4: Application 1: Wait on the Lord!

There are no heroes in this story. Isaac rebelled against God, Esau despised his birthright, Rebekah betrayed her husband, and Jacob lied to his father’s face.

No if we want heroes, we have to go outside this passage. Let’s consider David, who was anointed king many years before King Saul died. Saul attacked him and chased him and plotted against him, but David said, “I will not lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” You see David understood what Jacob didn’t: the kingship wasn’t his to take; it was God’s to give.

Better still, consider Jesus Christ. The Messiah was supposed to rule and everyone knew it. But Jesus rejected Satan’s offers, rejected the offers of the people, endured the suffering and shame of the cross, and even now, even today as we sit here, He waits in heaven for the time when He will return to establish His rule on earth with justice and peace. The Church has waited 2,000 years for Christ to return; I think sometimes we forget Jesus has been waiting just as long for the Father to say “It’s time.”

Most of you are probably not waiting for a throne right now. But many of us face the choice each day whether we will wait in faith for God to do as He said, or take matters into our own hands, whether by deception or other means. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: God knows what you need even before you ask Him, and He is faithful to provide. You are worth more than many sparrows.

But sometimes that’s not enough for us. We need a job and don’t get it, so we start padding our resume. But that job is not yours to take; it’s God’s to give. We reach out for a loving relationship but get rejected, so we tell people what they want to hear. But that person is not yours to take; he or she is God’s to give. The budget is tight and we’re sinking, so we cut corners in our work and fudge numbers on our taxes. But the money isn’t yours to take; it’s God’s to give.

Now we can choose to be like Jacob, to take matters into our own hands. But remember: deception is always a lack of faith, a breach of trust, and a terrible trap. When we lie, we say, “God I don’t believe you can do this. You’re not good enough, not strong enough.” When we lie, those around us say, “I just don’t know how I can trust you anymore.” And when we lie, we set ourselves up to keep lying so we don’t get caught.

Instead, let us be like Abraham and David and Jesus our Savior, who each waited on the Father to provide at the right time; men who did not take matters into their own hands and were rewarded for their patience.

Part 5: Application 2: Come Clean Today

Before I move on with the passage, I just want to pause and recognize that there may be some of you this morning who feel like it’s already too late. You’ve already taken matters into your own hands and now you’re trapped by the lies that you’ve told. I know how easy it can be to say what people want to hear. I know the false comfort that comes from covering up your sins. But if the Holy Spirit is calling to mind ways you’ve been deceiving others, the only way forward is to come clean to the person or the people that you’ve wronged.

If it seems too costly, consider that the damage has already been done; facing the issue is the first step toward healing. But please know that a good, powerful, faithful God stands with you; He will help you put the pieces back together stronger than ever. Don’t put it off. Make things right today.

Now the flip side is that some of you here this morning may find out you were the one who’s been lied to. Maybe you’re the one who will receive a phone call this afternoon or get pulled aside in the hall. Just in case, I ask that all of you would right now, in your seats, resolve to be generous and patient and forgiving just as your heavenly Father has been generous and patient and forgiving with you.

Part 6: Conclusion

Not that there shouldn’t ever be consequences. Andy Stanley said that when he and his wife were raising their children, lying was the sin they treated worse than all the rest, because it attacks and undermines the relationship itself. I think that’s true. But looking back at Scripture, it’s fascinating to me how this traumatic event ends. Esau wants to kill Jacob. Rebekah starts making up excuses to get Jacob out of town. But Isaac—Isaac blesses Jacob a second time, as Jacob! In Genesis 28:3, Isaac says:

³God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴May 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!”
Gen. 38:3, 4 (ESV)

Isaac has forgiven his son. He accords to Jacob all the promises God gave to his father Abraham. What’s more—and this just makes me laugh—Jacob is going to go make his fortune under his uncle Laban—he didn’t even need to fight for his inheritance! God provided for him, and Jacob recognizes it. And when he finally comes back decades later, he finds Esau has also become incredibly wealthy. Genesis 36 says they have so much livestock between the two of them that the land can’t even support them! Jacob’s deceit earned him nothing. And God proved Himself faithful even to the unfaithful.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, your grace is truly amazing. You are a gracious and forgiving God, You hold all things in Your hand, and You astound us by remaining faithful even to us when we are unfaithful. Oh God, soften our hearts so that we might be as gracious and forgiving and patient and faithful as You are. Help us keep our words blameless and our hands free from manipulating for dishonest gain. And we thank You for Your Son, Who not only set a perfect example for us, but who died to cleanse us from these and all other sins. Be glorified in our lives today as Your children, we ask in Jesus’ precious and holy name, amen.