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Three Angels Fellowship SDA Church

Wrestling with God

Garhett Morgan

01 Wrestling with God

02 Wrestling with God

03 Wrestling with God

You love to hear the sound of little children in your house, and we thank you for these young voices.

From the ones that can just let out a cry right now, we praise you for that.

For the ones that are just piecing sentences together, we praise you for that.

For people like Alden and Drew and Isai that are really coming into who they are but they're still young, we thank You for that youth.

And Lord, You said when You walked here on earth that children can communicate spiritual things even better than adults can sometimes.

A few weeks ago, we took a look at the beginning of the story of Jacob, 1 of the patriarchs of Israel, in fact, the man who Israel was named after.

We looked at the final moments of the life of his life or the few minutes of his life, and then we rewound to the beginning in his birth.

You'll remember that Jacob stole the birthright blessing from his kind of younger brother.

And if they would have had a birth certificate back in those days with the time of birth stamped on them, they probably would have read the same time.

As Esau came out of his mother's womb, Jacob was right on after because he was holding onto his heel.

Of course, a few years later, after the prophecy had been given that the older would serve the younger, Jacob had heard this and wanted that birthright.

God was going to give it to him at some way or somehow, but we'll never know because Jacob, as is usual for the rest of his life up until his old age, tries to be 1 step ahead of God in everything, which usually leads to a royal mess.

Jacob steals the birthright from his brother Esau by giving him a simple bowl of lentils.

Esau is upset at this, and I'm sure that this probably causes some contention in the family for the next few years.

But there was 1 more thing that Father Isaac, who was getting very old, had left to do, the blessing.

Now, in our culture, I don't think we truly understand the importance of the blessing of one's father right before the father died.

But imagine if you would, for those of you that were close to your fathers, for those of you with fathers still alive or for those of you whose fathers have laid to rest, imagine if you would, if your father before he died wrote you the last words that you would hear from him.

And he made them important and crafted for you.

Words that God gave him to say, words that were often prophetic.

We know that the 12 tribes were given a blessing.

We usually take a look at those, and the blessings that were given to the 12 tribes a little bit later in the biblical narrative came true.

Some of them were blessings from their father.

The blessing of the father, the patriarch, was something that was valued even more sometimes than the birthright itself.

And now Esau knew, at least I have the blessing of my father.

Remember, these blessings were crafted specifically for all the children.

Everyone was given a blessing, and these blessings were unique to the person.

Usually, the eldest child was given a unique blessing that went along with the birthright.

Esau knew that he still had this blessing.

And it comes time that Isaac is recognizing that he doesn't have a whole lot of time left.

We pick that up in Genesis chapter 27, starting in verse 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 to him, My son, and he said to him, Behold, here I am.

And he said, Behold, now I am old, and I do not know when the day of my death will be.

Therefore, I pray, take your weapons, your quiver, your bow, and go out to the field and bring me some venison.

And make me that savory dish such as I love and bring it to me that I might eat it and bless your soul before I die." Pretty simple.

He recognizes that his time on earth is pretty short, so he's getting his affairs in order.

And He calls his oldest son, which would be the first in line, and says, go make me some food.

Come and bring it to me, and I will give you the blessing of the firstborn, the blessing that I have crafted specifically for you.

I find it interesting, though, and I don't know why.

Like you study it and you're preparing for a sermon, and then there's some things that you think that you figure out why, And there's other things that you just don't have time to unpack.

And this is 1 of the things I didn't have time to unpack.

When Esau sold his birthright, what was he doing?

He had just come back from hunting, right?

He comes back, he's famished, he's hungry from hunting, came up with nothing, sells his birthright.

Now he's going to get his blessing, and what is he doing when he loses out on his blessing?

Verse 5, and Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it.

And Rebekah said to Jacob her son, Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, Bring me venison and make me meat, that I may eat, and bless you before the Lord my death.

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you.

Go to the flock, fetch me 2 good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory meat as he loves.

Bring it to your father that he may eat and that he may bless you before his death." Was this Jacob's idea?

He doesn't really say it's a bad idea though.

It seems that Esau was the favorite of dad, like very clear favorite, and Jacob was the favorite of mom.

Well, he tells his mom, hey, great plan, but there's a problem.

And Esau's outside all the time, I'm inside all the time, he smells.

And by the way, remember a little bit earlier on when it said when Esau was born, he was really hairy.

By the way, when my dad touches my neck and holds my hand, he's going to recognize that it's not me because I'm smooth.

Good plan, Ma, but this is not...I don't want my blessing to become a curse, is what he says in the text.

Mom, Rebecca, says, don't worry about it, I have a plan.

He goes and he kills the goats, brings it to his mother.

Mother makes the food, but she also keeps the skin and puts it over the neck of Jacob as well as on the arms and the hands.

Esau must have been a really hairy dude if the hide of a goat passed for the hair on his arms and his neck." My goodness.

Jacob, by the way, you remember a few weeks ago, we defined that name as heel grabber.

That's what the Bible says, heel grabber.

But the name also has another unfortunate translation, which you probably heard before, but Jacob also translate to as deceiver.

Jacob has already shown that his name is accurate in deceiving his brother into selling his birthright, and now he is going to deceive his soon to die father.

And he came to his father and said, my father.

And Jacob said to his father, probably making his voice a little bit lower, I am Esau, your firstborn.

Arise, sit, and eat of my venison that you may bless me.

Isaac said to his son, remember he can't see, how is it that you have found it so quickly?

And he said, now catch this, because the Lord my God brought it to me.

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Series

Wrestling with God

02 Wrestling with God

Transcript

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