JACOB RECEIVES THE BLESSING
Genesis 27: 1-29
Genesis 27: 1: And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2: And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3: Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4: And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. 5: And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6: And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7: Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8: Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9: Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11: And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 13: And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14: And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15: And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16: And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: 17: And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18: And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? 19: And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. 20: And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. 21: And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. 22: And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23: And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. 24: And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25: And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26: And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 27: And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: 28: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: 29: 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 every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
In this matter, everyone involved, sinned. Isaac let his fleshly appetite rule him. Esau knew he sold his birthright. Yet he saw this as an opportunity to get the blessing by his works. And Rebecca and Jacob were deceptive in their actions.
Yet, through it all, God brought to pass his will—“the elder shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25: 23) God overrules all things—even sinners—to bring to pass his eternal council—“Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” (Ps 76:10)
But if the only thing we see is the sin of those involved we miss Christ in this passage. Adam sinned in the garden. Yet, Romans 5 declares Adam was a figure of Christ. Abraham and Sarah sinned when Abraham took Hagar to wife. Yet, Galatians 4 declares it was an allegory of the two covenants.
Likewise in this story, though each person sinned, we have a picture of how a sinner must come to God the Father. The only way for a sinner to obtain the blessing of God the Father is by coming as Christ the Firstborn.
Who does each person represent? Isaac pictures God the Father. Esau pictures Christ Jesus, the Firstborn Son of God. Rebecca pictures God the Holy Spirit. Jacob represents a sinner saved by God’s grace.
GOD THE FATHER SENT HIS FIRSTBORN
In Genesis 27: 1 we read, “[Isaac] called Esau his eldest son,…[Esau] said unto him, Behold, here am I.”
Before the foundation of the world, God the Father called his Firstborn Son, Christ Jesus—and Christ said, “Behold, here am I”. Isaac sent his firstborn into the field to accomplish his will, “Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.” (Ge 27:3-4)
Likewise, God the Father sent Christ into the world to accomplish his will, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Gal 4: 4) God the Father sent Christ the Firstborn to fulfill the righteousness of God’s law and satisfy justice for those the Father gave unto him. He sent Christ to pay the wages of sin for his people, to put away the sin of his people and to declare God just and the Justifier of all who believe on Christ.
Isaac sent his firstborn to bring him the savory meat which he loved and God the Father sent Christ his Firstborn to give himself to be that savory sacrifice which satisfied God the Father, “Christ hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” (Eph 5: 2)
God said in Isaiah 54: “He shall not fail!” And Christ did not fail! He cried from the cross, “It is finished!” It pleased the LORD to bruise him; the pleasure of the LORD prospered in his hand. He saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied: by his knowledge his righteous servant, justified many; for he bore their iniquities. (Is 53: 10-11)
Isaac sent Esau that he might give him the blessing. Likewise, God the Father promised Christ the blessing! God the Father blessed him! He raised Christ from the dead and now “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all…he might have the preeminence.” (Col 1:15, 18)
So the reason we are here this morning is because “Whom [the Father] did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren…[that along with Christ the Firstborn, God the Father might] also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8: 29, 32)
Is anyone here this morning interested in receiving the blessing along with Christ the Firstborn? If anyone here is made to behold Christ in this scripture—and is quickened into the image of Christ and made willing to come to the Father through faith in Christ—it will be by the effectual work of God the Holy Spirit.
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We see the work of the Holy Spirit in what Rebekah did for Jacob, “And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son…” (Gen 27: 5) Christ said, “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (Jn 16: 13)
Rebekah taught Jacob what was said between the father and his firstborn son, “And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, [and she told Jacob what they agreed upon.]” (Gen 27: 6) Likewise, in the predestinated hour, the Holy Spirit teaches each blood bought child the good news of the everlasting covenant of grace which is between God the Father and Christ his Firstborn.
Why did Rebekah tell this to Jacob?—because God told Rebekah “the elder shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25: 23) We do not have to guess what that means. The Holy Spirit teaches us plainly in:
Romans 9: 10…when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11: (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12: It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13: As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
The reason the Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner, teaches us the gospel and draws us to faith in Christ is not because of something in us—but because “the purpose of God according to election [is], not of works, but of [God] that calleth. Every truly saved sinner, is a sinner saved, not because of any good in us, not because of our willing, or our running but because of the free and sovereign electing grace of God in Christ Jesus the Firstborn!
Then Rebekah commanded Jacob, teaching him what he must bring to his father, “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.” (Ge 27:8-10)
“Two kids of the goats” typify the atonement Christ made for his people. The other place in scripture where we find two sacrifices slain was on the day of atonement. The one was the scapegoat. Ceremonially he bore the sin of Israel away to a land not inhabited. It typifyied Christ who bore the sins of his people in his own body on the tree, taking our sins away, when he died our death.
The other slain lamb was spotless. It had its blood taken by the High Priest into the holiest of holies and sprinkled before the mercy seat. It typified Christ entering in to God’s presence without spot, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Heb 9: 12)
So it is the Holy Spirit teaches his child that the only way we shall receive the blessing from God our Father is to come into God’s presence believing on Christ the Propitiation—the one and only sacrifice which God the Father loves—Christ who both bore away our sin in his body while in Spirit, he entered into God’s presence without spot obtaining eternal redemption for us.
Then as the Holy Spirit makes us behold Christ, he also teaches us our need of Christ, making us see we are sinners, nothing like Christ in ourselves, “And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.” (Ge 27:11-12)
Brethren, Christ receives all the glory! It is only by beholding Christ the Righteous and Holy Son of God, that we behold we are sinners. Beholding Christ, we say, “Behold, Christ is Righteous and Holy and I am unrighteous and unholy. If I come to God my Father outside of Christ, he will discern me and I will seem to him as a deceiver. I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.” It is called confessing our sin to God! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1: 9)
The Holy Spirit not only convinces us of our sin and of Christ’s Righteousness, the Holy Spirit convinces us of judgment—and irresistibly makes us willing to obey—notice, when Rebecca commanded Jacob to obey, “And he went, and fetched,…” (Gen 27: 14)
Through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit puts Christ on us, “And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.” (Ge 27:15-17)
The goodly raiment, the skins of the goats and this savory meat represent Christ our Righteousness himself and the perfection with which Christ clothes all who believe. “Whom [the Father] did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren…[that] with him [God the Father might] also freely give us all things?”
2 Corinthians 3: 18: But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Galatians 3:27: For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
2 Corinthians 5: 21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Notice, Rebecca did everything. Everything that is required of a sinner in order for us to be received by God our Father is prepared by God and given to us freely! Christ did all! It is his righteousness! His holiness! His redemption! HIM! HE WAS MADE US AND WE ARE MADE HIM. WITH HE IN US WE BECOME ONE IN HIM! The Holy Spirit creates us anew in the righteousness and holiness of Christ, teaches us, gives us faith, puts Christ the into our hands and makes us lay hold of him.
Hebrews 10: 19: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20: By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21: And having an high priest over the house of God; 22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19-22)
DRAWING NEAR TO THE FATHER
Now, we can come to God the Father—as Christ the Firstborn—and God our Father shall give us the blessing, “And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?” (Gen 27: 18)
Who shall we answer? We dare not come to God in our own name! Only in the name of the Firstborn, “And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn;” (Gen 27: 19) We come before God our Father in the name of Christ thy Firstborn! Christ said, “whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (Jn 15:16) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Ac 4:12 )
When we believe on Christ, through faith we are saying that by Christ’s works alone, I have fully done everything God the Father commanded, “I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.” (Gen 27: 19) Please, don’t misunderstand me. It is not by our works that we have done as God commanded. But trusting in Christ and his righteousness, we have fulfilled the whole law of God! We have “the righteousness of God without the law…Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” (Rom 3: 21, 22) Faith’s confidence is that by Christ having established the law for us we have established the law. (Rom 3: 31) We have done according as God bade us in perfect righteousness without sin. It is what Paul was saying when he said I want to be “found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Php 3: 9)
Who do we praise and glorify for this work? The LORD our God alone! “And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.” (Gen 27: 20) We fall “before the throne on [our] faces, and [worship] God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.” (Rev 7: 11-12)
We are made so one with Christ, even as the Father and the Son are one, so that we come before God our Father as Christ himself, as God very own Son, “And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.” (Gen 27: 21-24) God the Father discerns us not as us—not as the sinners we are—but as his very Firstborn Son “For ye ARE dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col 3: 3) God says, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” (Is 44: 22) Therefore, believing God, that we really are as God says we are, when God says, “Art thou my very son, Christ Jesus?” We say, “I.” That is what it is to be blessed! “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” (Ps 32:2) God says, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb 10: 17)
We present to the Father the one sacrifice with which he is pleased: Christ, the Sweet-Savor which God delights in, “And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, [I will eat of Christ my Son! Of his sacrifice and his offering!] that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:” (Gen 27: 25-27) When we come to God the Father through faith in his Son we come with the savory meat God delight’s in, with the Wine of Christ’s blood and we come smelling of Christ whom the LORD hath blessed!
And God our Father kisses us with the kiss of acceptance and gives us the blessing—as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ his Firstborn, “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: 29: 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 every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.” (Ge 27:18-29)
One last thing. Hebrews 11, says, “by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.” It is because when Isaac discovered that he gave the blessing to Jacob, even though Esau tried to make Isaac repent and take back the blessing, Isaac would not. He said, “[I] have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.” (Gen 27: 33) Now, believer, apply that to God our Father. “God is faithful: by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” So no matter who or what may try to turn him, he says of you who he has blessed in Christ, “I have blessed him! Yea, and he shall be blessed!”
Amen!