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Welcome to Genesis week 5, we're going through chapter 25 in the book of Genesis
today as we walk through this in daily drive-time devotion. And in Genesis
chapter 25, Abraham goes on to be with the Lord in heaven. Listen to what
happens in verse 5 going down to verse 10.

Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still living, he
gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac
to the land of the east. Altogether Abraham lived 175 years.

Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age. An old man and full
of years, and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried
him in the cave of Machpelah near Marmaray in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar
the Hittite.

The field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with
his wife Sarah. Here we have Abraham, this great man of faith going on like all
of us do, to be with the Lord for eternity.

It's a reminder that even this father of our faith, we only get a brief time on
this earth, only a brief time to live out the plan of God that he has for us on
this planet. And then we go to spend eternity with him to live out the plan of
God that he has for us in eternity. Now as we walk through the rest of this
chapter in verses 11 to 18, we have the account of Ishmael.

Although he wasn't the son of the promise, he was Abraham's son and God is going
to make of him a nation. And so Ishmael is lifted up and honored in those
verses. And then after those verses, we turn to the story of Isaac's family and
we begin with a look at his two sons, Jacob and Esau.

Listen to what happens. Familiar to some of you. Listen to what happens in
verses 19 to 34.

This is the account of Abraham's son, Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac
and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, the
Aramean from Aram and sister of Laban, the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on
behalf of his wife because she was barren.

The Lord answered his prayer and his wife, Rebecca, became pregnant. The babies
jostled each other within her and she said, "Why is this happening to me? " So
she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within
you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other and the older
will serve the younger. " When the time came for her to give birth, there were
twin boys in her womb.

The first to come out was red and his whole body was like a hairy garment. So
they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out with his hand grasping
Esau's heel.

So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebecca gave birth to them.
The boys grew up and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country,
while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.

Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Once,
when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country famished.
He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew, I'm famished.

" This is why he was also called Edom, which means red. Jacob replied, "First,
sell me your birthright. " "Look, I am about to die," Esau said, "What good is
my birthright to me?

" But Jacob said, "Swear to me first. " And so Esau did swear to his brother,
and Jacob did give his brother some bread and some stew. Esau ate and drank, and
he got up and left.

Verse 33 ends by saying, "So Esau despised his birthright. " This section of
scripture that we just read together, the New Testament points strongly to the
importance of these chapters of Genesis. What we learn from Isaac and what we
learn from Jacob and Esau is really about our faith and what God is doing in our
lives.

Listen to Romans chapter 9, verses 7 to 11. "Nor," the Bible says, "because they
are his descendants," he's talking about the Jewish people, "they are his
descendants, are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, it is through
Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.

" In other words, Paul writes, "It is not the natural children who are God's
children. It is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's
offspring. " But this is how the promise was stated.

"At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. " Not only
that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. "Yet
before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad, in order that
God's purpose and election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she
was told the older will serve the younger.

" From these verses in Romans that refer to this chapter in Genesis, you and I
learn some incredibly important things about our spiritual life. From Isaac, we
learn that the promise is not made to the natural descendants, but to the
spiritual descendants. What does that mean?

That means I don't come to faith in Christ because I'm of a certain culture, I
grew up in a certain region of the world. It's my spiritual descent that is
important, that I have the same kind of faith that Abraham had. Paul is
explaining to the Jewish people here that God's not breaking his promise to the
Jewish people by sending Jesus into the world and offering salvation to
everyone.

He's saying that's what was meant all along. He wanted to have a lot of
spiritual descendants, and you and I are included. Everyone is included in this.

If you grew up in a Jewish family, if you grew up in a Gentile family, it
doesn't matter. We can all be spiritual descendants of Abraham through faith.
That's what we learn through Isaac.

From Jacob and Esau, we learn that God's choice, God's election is not by our
works, it is by God's will. There's nothing that I can do to make myself right
with God. It is by God's choice in sending His Son for us and giving His Son to
us.

This issue of election and choice and God's choice, we could spend many, many
hours talking about that, but let me just focus on the fact of what happens in
this story. Don't forget, as you and I read through this, that even though it
had been chosen before Esau was even born, that Jacob would be the boy that had
the promise that carried it forward. Esau is the one who chose to forfeit his
birthright by his own choice.

So there is human responsibility here that's interwoven with divine sovereignty.
The Bible says that Esau despised his birthright. It's important to realize that
God saw exactly what was coming, but that did not mean that Esau had to despise
his birthright, that he had to run from God.

And it did not mean that Jacob had to resort to trickery. I'm going to sell you
this stew, this food when you're starving, when you feel like you're about to
die. I'm going to sell you this food, and that's how I'm going to get the
birthright.

You see, what happened in this story is God knew what he was about to do, but
they followed their own power and energy in thinking they were in control of the
events, and they were not. They took into their own hands or tried to what God
was going to do. Esau?

Esau lived for the moment instead of living for God's promise. He could have
lived in an entirely different way. He could have recognized that somehow God
had chosen to use Jacob.

He could have honored Jacob in that, but he did not. And that began with Isaac
and Rebecca. They favored one son over the other.

They even struggled with this. This whole family could have lived differently,
but they did not. And because of that, Esau lived for the moment instead of
living for God's promise.

And Jacob lived by his schemes instead of living by God's promise. God had made
a promise, and God's going to keep that promise. But both Jacob and Esau
struggle their way to that promise.

And the way they struggle, we're going to see there are some scars that come
into their relationship that are never going to be healed, and they struggle
because they take it into their own hands instead of trusting God. It's God's
promise. It's God's promise, not my promise.

As you and I take a minute to talk to the Lord today, let's talk to him about
his promise in our lives. Jesus, thank you for your promise, your promise of
salvation. Thank you for your promise, your promise of growth.

Thank you for your promise, your promise of being able to serve you in a way in
this world that makes a difference. Thank you for your promise, your promise of
an eternity with you. Lord, help me not to try to work my way towards that
promise.

Oh, you have work for me to do within that promise. I know that. Joyful work.

But help me to never try to work my way towards that promise. God, help me not
to take your promise into my hands, to think that I can control it or somehow
think that I achieved it. It is your promise.

Help me to learn from Jacob and Esau that you are at work, and instead of
fighting your work or pretending that I'm doing your work, I just want to
cooperate with the work that you're doing in my life. Help me to trust you
today, I pray, Jesus. In your name, amen.

Join us next week, week six in the book of Genesis. The focus is going to be on
Jacob, the long story of how a man who is a schemer becomes a man of great
faith.