By Mark Chen

Preached at Life BPC 8am service, 2003-07-06

Text: Genesis 50:14-21

The story here starts with the return of the chosen family, Joseph and his brothers, from Canaan where they had taken their Father's body to be buried. And although it was a funeral, it was a happy occasion as Israel, that is Jacob, could be buried with his fathers, Abraham and Isaac. The end of Jacob's life was also nothing but sheer happiness as he, after many years, discovered that his son Joseph was still alive and living in Egypt; not merely alive, but also the most important and powerful man, second only to Pharaoh; being, furthermore the Savior of his people.

Many revelations were also given him by God in the twilight years of his life. He was told before he went into Egypt that God would make of him a great nation there. And this promise was already in the process of fulfillment. We can see just in the verses proceeding where we ended off that Joseph was able to see his sons' grandsons. And this blessing also came upon the entire family. We are told in preceding chapters that it was 12 years since the famine ended, and 17 years that Jacob had lived in Egypt. Meaning, that for 5 years, God provided for this family through the drought, and for the dozen years that followed, God prospered them that they grew tremendously. They were not only blessed physically, but also they were looked upon favorably even by the Egyptians, so much so that they mourned with the Israelites when Jacob died, confounding even the Canaanites who looked on. The Israelites even had the esteem of their host. 

But despite these blessings and all the wonders that God had shown them, despite the things they had seen and the instruction they had received from their father, despite their comfort and the assurance they had from God to bless them; despite all that, once Jacob had died, the brothers of Joseph started to fear. They began to think that Joseph would now take revenge upon them for the evil they had done early in life; by mocking him, throwing him into a pit, threatening to kill him, selling him to the Ishmaelites, who in turn sold him to the Midianites, who later sold him to Potiphar where he met the infamous Missus, whose false witness relegated him to the Egyptian dungeons. What great affliction, and all upon one who was innocent! No one was more afflicted than Joseph, in this sense, I believe, than perhaps our Lord Jesus. Joseph faced great trials and affliction by his brothers and also by Mrs. Potiphar.

And when we talk about affliction, we also talk about afflicters. Now, there are many things that afflict us - our illnesses, our jobs, our nightmares, etc. But rather than speaking about afflictions in general, which are many, I would like to speak this morning specifically about human agents of affliction. I would like to talk about people who persecute us and afflict us with great misery. And in turn, we want to see what our response should be to our afflictions and afflicters, in light of God's sovereignty.

Firstly, we want to see how God takes the utter foolishness of man and turns it for our good. How God could have turned the hatred of the brothers for Joseph into something good was something remarkable. And all this hatred started in Genesis 37 when Joseph received the coat of many colors; and in verse 4 we are told that, 'when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.' There was an actual hatred. And I just have to say, and these are not solely my words, that if there are people whom you hate so much that you can't even speak peaceably unto them, that's really not right; it is utter abomination to God. It is utter abomination - and you don't have to take my word for it; we can see it in the life of Joseph, the result of this hatred. And this hatred was the genesis of all the wicked things that they did unto him. In verse 18, we see that they even conspired to slay him, how they wanted to kill him and throw him in a pit. And it was only by the intervention of Reuben that Joseph lived to see another day.

And because of this hatred and sin that they had committed against Joseph, they feared greatly, fearing even to face him that they had to send a messenger, possibly Benjamin, with words of reconciliation. But what was Joseph's response? He said his most famous words in verse 20 of chapter 50, 'But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.' If you were Joseph, could you have uttered these words? Because Joseph, before he said these words, had every ability and 'right' to take revenge upon his brothers, but he didn't. Joseph's desire wasn't vengeance; his desire was to know the will of God and to do the will of God. And in order to know the will of God, he had to understand who God was and how powerful He was. And truly, Joseph knew the power of God.

And when we speak of the power of God, we are really speaking about his omnipotence; that is, the almightiness of God. And Joseph not only knew this power of God, but also God's wisdom; his omniscience. And if I were in my Sunday School class right now, I'd ask all my students to recite the answer to the fourth question in the Shorter Catechism. But thankfully for them, I'm up here and it wouldn't be appropriate. But all of us should know this question and its answer by heart. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. And this sentence here defines God in all his greatness and might - that he is all powerful, all wise, all knowing, all holy, all just, all good, and all true. There is no one else more powerful or more wise or holier, more just, etc. This speaks of the Sovereignty of God. Now, this sermon has the potential to become a very theological lecture, so bear with this portion if you will. It should shed more light upon our response to our afflicters and afflictions.

To define the Sovereignty of God in absolute terms and to locate its parameters is a Herculean task, even the Westminster Divines had a tough time. The task will never be complete because the range of God's sovereignty far exceeds what we can comprehend. And just when we think we have an idea of His sovereignty, we are yet again dumbfounded by further illumination as to how great He really is. King David, in the presence of all the assembly attributed to God the most comely description of His sovereignty when he said in 1 Chronicles 29:10-12, 'Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.'

He reigns over all, and controls all things - and in Psalm 76, which we read in our responsive reading, we saw how no one can stand in his way, that those who oppose him, will surely be routed. So when we speak of God's Sovereignty, we are saying that God is the supreme Ruler over all. Everything is subject to His sovereign will and purposes. He is ultimately in control. God is involved in everything and in everything He does, He is sovereign; He is sovereign in his exercise of His mercy, delegation of power to others, exercise of His grace and exercise of His love. So how does this apply to us? 

You see, Joseph, understood all of these things. He knew that God was a sovereign God; and he saw, despite all the wicked things which had been done to him by his brothers and the wicked things that followed as a result, all these things, God had turned around - God had taken what the brothers had done - the foolish and wicked things of the foolish and wicked brothers, and turned them around that an entire nation could be saved. So the very first thing we can learn from God's sovereignty is that God can use the actions of our afflicters, which we will most often see as only resulting in evil, that they may be of good and of a blessing to us and even to others. 

And as we go through the afflictions that we are afflicted with by our afflicters, how do we see them? Can we see that the Lord can take them and change them to be a blessing? Joseph certainly could. And that is the promise that is given to us in Romans 8:28 'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.' Not only is God, in his sovereignty, able to change these things to be a blessing, but he will change them. All things, all afflictions, all afflicters, will be used by God to be a good for us, whether or not we can see it. And the comfort we have here, is that God doesn�t leave us to be afflicted without hope of a good ending. He, as our heavenly Father, gives us help and will reward us for our patient endurance of the affliction. Jeremiah 29:11 says, 'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.'

We may be going through a tremendous trial now. We may, at the moment, be receiving the brunt of the actions of an afflicter. Suppose your colleague at work, a horrible jealous lady, as jealous as Joseph's brothers were, dislikes you for no apparent reason. And there are people like that. In her meanness as a person, her pettiness, she just hates you; and at every turn she gets, in a staff meeting, she will make snide comments, at the tea room, she ignores you and even pushes you aside when she reaches to stick something into the microwave. She gossips about you behind your back, saying things which are blatantly untrue, but yet things concocted so sinisterly that they might be believed by those to whom she is lying. She arranges a meeting and conveniently leaves you out of the loop, making you look incompetent. She mutters under her breath every time you walk past her, but loud enough so that you can hear her unkind remarks. And she does this because she knows you are too meek, and rightly so, to talk back at her and to do the same evil to her as she has done to you. But can God turn this evil into something good? Now we may not be able to see it right away, but indeed he can and he will. We might not be able to see in what manner he will do it, but He has promised to. God is sovereign, he can do anything - even to change that which is bad into that which is good.

But that is not the extent of God's Sovereignty. There's more. Not only can God take the utter foolishness of man and turn it for our good, but would you believe that God himself has brought this afflicter and affliction into your life? He did. If we say that God is sovereign, that he is the supreme ruler of the universe and that nothing happens without his permission, desire, or will, then the afflictions that come our way also have been placed there by God. When Joseph said his famous words in verse 20, he not only recognized that God had the power to change situations, but that God himself was the author of the situation from the beginning to the end. After all, if God is all powerful and all wise, is there anything that happens that is outside his power and his knowledge and his desire? You mean, God brought the afflictions and afflicter into my life? Yes, he did. 

How short-sighted it would be for us, who are faced with our afflictions, not to see the whole picture from a kingdom perspective. It is very natural, of course, when we go through our problems to see it only from our minute perspective, how we've been hurt and how we're being treated. But God demands more of us - that we see it from His perspective. And that is exactly what Joseph did. He saw all of what happened to him as being from the Lord.

So what should our attitude be to our afflictions and afflicters? Let me quote from Andrew Murray, a South African minister who died in 1917 and is recognized as one of the great writers on the spiritual life: 'Learn today the secret of never suffering loss in the soul by the sufferings of life (and that means our afflictions) - yea, rather, of always making them your greatest gain. Link them to God and Jesus. It is God who sends them. He sent them to Jesus and perfected Him through them. He sends them to thee in the same love, and will make them thy highest gain' In every trial he will give strength and blessing. Let but this truth be accepted, in every trial, small or great: first of all and at once recognize God's hand in it. Say at once: My Father has allowed this to come; I welcome it from Him; my first care is to glorify Him in it; He will make it a blessing.' What Andrew Murray is in effect saying is that we should welcome our afflictions and afflicters, because they are from God, and seek to glorify God through them.

That prune of a lady in the office is being sent by God as an affliction - not out of malice or chastisement, provided of course we're innocent, but he sends it out of love for our edification. Now, the lady doesn't know she's being used of God for your benefit. If not, she'd probably not torment you. But God uses her wickedness for a good purpose. Proverbs 16:9 tells us that 'A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.' So the lady out of her own wickedness wants to torment you, but ultimately God is the one who directs her steps. And that is what Psalm 76:10 says, 'Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.' God uses the wicked for his purposes, even to bless you and to bless others. Joseph's brothers did not know they were being used of God, but God used them in the thing they most wanted to do, in order to fulfill his loving purposes. Imagine looking upon the suffering of life, the searing, body-wrenching, heart-breaking suffering and seeing God's loving hand in it. It's tough to swallow isn't it? But that's the truth. 

And God doesn't leave us alone however in our trials. He helps us. We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that 'There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' Along with the trial that God gives unto us, along with the afflicters, God gives us help and a means to endure. 

Some of you might say, Mark, you're preaching a very hard sermon. I agree. First you tell me that God is sovereign and that the afflictions and afflicters that come into my life are for a good, since God in his sovereignty can change the situation and make it good. That much I can accept. But then you tell me that I might not even know or foresee what kind of good can come out of it. You expect me to swallow that? Then on top of that, you tell me that actually God was the one who sent this tormentor into my life. And the icing on the cake is that I must be happy about it? Are you insane?!

Dear brethren, these are God's standards. And they are not grievous to keep. Of course, we struggle because of the sin that resides within us. And although we might not be able to see immediately all the good that comes out of the situation, there is one thing that is promised us that is good. We are told in James 1:2-4, to 'count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.' We are told in Romans 8:29 that all things work for our good in order that we might be 'conformed to the image of his Son.' To be perfect is to be like Christ; and all things which come our way, especially trials and temptations, are for that purpose - they work to our good, to our spiritual growth. Imagine if you could manifest the fruit of the Spirit consistently, being a forgiving person, with much Godly wisdom, with understanding; imagine if you had constant hope of the Lord's return, that you have victory over your sins and worldliness, you are fruitful in your works, you are a prayerful person, knowing the will of God, happy to serve, filled with the Spirit, humble, with great love for your brethren, etc. What kind of Christian would you be? A joyful one, right? You would truly understand what enjoying God means. Which of us does not want that? Which of us does not want this kind of perfection? If we do, would we not welcome our tormentors? For God brings them into our lives for our perfection. And this is a promise. 

The theme for this quarter's messages is 'Promises to Live By.' In the insert advertising this series a few weeks ago, therein were some words written. I'd like to read them out. It says, 'There are thousands of promises in the Bible. Some of these promises are in the nature of fulfilled prophecies, where God's promises of Old Testament times find their fulfillment in the events of Christ and the Gospel while others concern the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church and the blessings of the believer in the age to come. God is always faithful to His promises. He has given added assurance of this by giving the Holy Spirit to the believer as a guarantee that He will do what He has promised. God's people likewise should be faithful to their promises, even when it involves them in personal inconvenience.' 

So what shall our response be to our afflicters in light of God's sovereignty? Well, firstly, sovereignty frees us from all bitterness. This is clearly the message of Genesis 50:20. If ever any man had the right to get even it was Joseph. We get bitter because we doubt God's goodness and we don't see his invisible hand at work in our lives. We think God isn't involved in our situation and that's why we get angry and try to get even and hurt the person who has hurt us. If you really believe God is at work in your situation, you can just stand back and let God do whatever he wants to do. Secondly, sovereignty gives us new perspectives on our trials. In other words, that in the great issues of life we will generally not have an answer to the question 'Why did this happen to me?' But we are promised that God is involved with us even in the worst moments of life. And so with this promise, we are comfortable in being happy with our ignorance. Lastly, sovereignty should cause us to respond the way God wants us to. And this we see in the example of Joseph - he was gracious, he was patient, he was kind, he was loving. He was not petty, he did not turn his back on the messenger, he did not give the silent treatment. He had character, magnanimity, a forgiving spirit. After all, the purpose of trials and tormentors is to make us more like Christ, why do we not practice Christ-likeness as we go through it? Holding a grudge and being bitter is a very tiring thing. And although we as Christians may not have done anything wrong to deserve the affliction, but how we handle it in light of God's sovereignty is important and a mark of our understanding, it is also a test of how we keep our promises to God. Let us in our affliction not fall into the trap of sinning. 

We may be at the moment under affliction. Have you handled it in a godly manner? Have you surrendered to God and to let him mold you to be more like Christ? Are you pliable? If we are resisting God's grace, how can we ever be perfected? No matter how hard, and I know how hard it is, let us humble ourselves even though we are the afflicted ones, to be reconciled, to forgive, take the first step, show our love. Amen.

By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at Life BPC 8am & 1045am service, 2012-10-07

Text: Genesis 25:19-34

Every stage of life that we go through presents its own set of problems for us to handle. In our youth we find ourselves competing with one another, and sometimes even at home where there is sibling rivalry. If that is what you are facing now, then you may empathise with Jacob and Esau in the rivalry they had at the latter part of this passage. Perhaps you may be a married couple trying to have children. For many years you have tried to have a baby, but without success. Or perhaps you are able to conceive but you have to cope with a difficult pregnancy. Then you may be able to identify with Isaac and Rebecca and the challenges they faced, first of infertility, and then of becoming parents of a pair of fraternal twins who were constantly at war with each other.

The common denominator of these scenes of life depicted in this passage is the role of man’s prayers and the surprising ways in which God answered them and worked out His divine purpose. This morning we will learn precious lessons as we study a series of events beginning with….

I. Isaac’s Perseverance in Praying for Rebecca (vv.19-21)

It all started with Isaac’s praying that was occasioned by his wife’s inability to conceive. Today, about 90,000 couples in Singapore face a similar problem – after married for many years but are still unable to have any kids of their own. But unlike Isaac and Rebecca, couples today are able to avail themselves of medical help to conceive a child (e.g. in vitro fertilization). In Isaac’s time the only recourse available was prayer. Verse 21 tells us, “And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

There are two points we want to note here: Firstly, what a good husband Isaac was to be praying for Rebecca’s needs. He loved his wife and entreated (i.e. pleaded with) the Lord for her. Isn’t this what all of us who are Christian husbands should do? I say this to all husbands here: Follow Isaac’s example. Part of your role of spiritual leadership in the home is to pray for your wife and also for your children. Please remember that the needs of your family should always be your concern, and that you should always look to God for help, and always direct your loved ones to look to God with you.

Secondly, I want you to note how long Isaac intreated God for his wife before she was able to conceive. This can be worked out by comparing verses 20 and 26. Verse 20 informs us that Isaac was 40 when he married Rebecca, and verse 26 tells us that he was threescore or 60 years old when his sons were born. This means that he prayed for 19 years! That’s a really long time – it requires exceptional perseverance to keep up his praying for 19 years. It was this quality that made Isaac a hero of faith – his perseverance in praying not for himself, but for his wife.

In the chain of patriarchal history, many consider Isaac to be the weakest link. The story of his life is only 3 chapters long (Genesis 25-27). Compare this with Abraham – 12 chapters long (Gen 12-24), and Jacob – 10 chapters long (Gen 27-36). Isaac’s short account is sandwiched between these two long accounts.

After the exciting account of Abraham’s life, the story of Isaac seems to lack excitement. The only striking events in Isaac’s life are that of his birth, his being offered as a sacrifice at Mt Moriah, and his marriage, and in all of them Isaac only played a very passive role. The first two events spoke of his father’s faith, not his; and his matched-made marriage had nothing to his credit – it was his father’s decision for him to marry Rebecca. Because of this, some may conclude that Isaac was a somewhat passive and colourless Bible character, almost weak at first sight.

But Isaac goes down in history as a great hero of faith, mentioned no less than four times in Hebrews 11, the great ‘Hall of Faith.’ His name occurs no less than 128 times in the whole Bible and 40% of these are outside the book of Genesis! Why is this so? What was it that made Isaac great in God’s eyes? I believe it was the fact that he persevered in prayer for 19 years. He was really patient in trusting God to answer his prayer.

In comparison, his own mother, Sarah, was not so patient – instead of trusting God to provide a child for her, she took matters into her own hands with disastrous results (Genesis 16). Ishmael, the son that Sarah had by proxy, could not inherit the promise that God gave to Abraham. Therefore it is to Isaac’s credit that he persevered in praying for his wife for 19 years. Doesn’t this make him like Jesus Christ who has persevered in praying for the Church for more than 19 centuries in His heavenly intercession?

The lesson that we all must learn from Isaac’s example is to persevere in prayer. There are times when the Lord may answer us at the very first time we ask of Him. But there are also times when He will only grant what we ask for after we have prayed and prayed for a long time. Why does the Lord do this?

Because this is the way He exercises our faith and makes it grow. At times our faith needs to be stretched to its very limits in order to develop further. James wrote about this at the beginning of his epistle, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” (1:3) In Isaac’s case, we see that after years of praying and having his faith thoroughly stretched and exercised, he finally received God’s answer: And what an answer it turned out to be – instead of having one child, he had two!

This teaches us to persevere tenaciously in prayer. We are to ask, seek and knock fervently at the throne of grace until we receive the answer from God. Later on, Isaac’s son, Jacob wrestled with God and refused to let Him go (Genesis 32:24-28). He held tightly on to Him despite suffering the agony of a dislocated hip joint and said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” In the end, God blessed Jacob and said to him, “as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”

What God wants to find in you is not just faith to look to Him in prayer, but faith to prevail with Him in prayer. Therefore you must not give up so easily, but keep seeking the Lord for things that are agreeable to His will, such as praying for the salvation of your loved ones, or for a job, or deliverance from illness. And when God answers your prayers, you may be surprised to find that it far exceeds all that you ask of think!

When Isaac prayed for his wife to conceive, God surprised him by giving him twins. When Hannah prayed for son, God surprised her by giving her one who became one of the greatest prophets of Israel – for Samuel had the distinction of anointing the first two kings of Israel. When Cornelius prayed, God surprised him by sending the apostle Peter to his home and giving the Holy Spirit to every member of his household (Acts 10). When the disciples prayed for Peter’s release from prison, God surprised them by bringing Peter right to their doorstep (Acts 12:12-16).

Recently, one sister shared at our Tuesday prayer meeting how she and her husband had prayed for 30 years for the salvation of his mother. They had shared the Gospel with her many times but always received the same negative response. But when they did this again a few weeks ago, they were utterly amazed that this time she wanted to believe in Christ for salvation. It took them completely by surprise. Who knows what unexpected answers God may have in store for you if you only persevere in prayer! So please do not be slothful or discouraged, but pray without ceasing! This is the important lesson that we learn from Isaac’s perseverance in praying for Rebecca.

II. Rebecca’s Enquiry to God (vv.22-26)

Our next lesson comes from the other prayer that is mentioned in our text. It was the prayer that Rebecca uttered when her joy of being able to conceive gradually gave way to the anguish and pain of a difficult pregnancy. Rebecca probably did not know that she had twins until God told her. Today, all parents-to-be would know quite early that twins are on the way when the gynae detects two heart-beats and the ultrasound scan shows two fetuses developing in the womb. But in ancient times, it was not easy to tell, even until birth.

Poor Rebecca! How many days of extreme discomfort she must have endured, when all she could do was to sit or lie down because of the things that were going on inside her tummy. Whatever remedy she tried to use to deal with her difficult pregnancy did not work. And so she did the only sensible thing to do. According to v.22, “…she went to enquire of the LORD” and she received an answer.

In your prayer life have you ever asked the Lord concerning things that bothered you a lot? Like: What steps should you take to solve an insurmountable problem? Or Why has God given you burdens that are too heavy for you to bear? Perhaps the Lord answered that prayer by revealing His will to you through His Word or through someone’s godly counsel. One lesson we can learn from Rebecca’s enquiry is on what to do whenever you face any problem in life: Bring it to God in prayer, and accept whatever answer He gives to you. Instead of worrying yourself sick over it, why not take it to the throne of grace? This is the best way to deal with every issue. [cf. Habakkuk did the same.]

We are not told here how Rebecca received God’s answer – It was usual in those days for the answer to be given through a vision or a dream. But the answer may have surprised her: The Lord told her that she had not one but two lively babies growing inside her tummy. Besides that, she learned that her extreme discomfort was due to a wrestling match they were engaged in inside her! This is the meaning of words ‘struggle together’in v.22.

And added to all that, Rebecca was told in the next verse that of the two sons she would bear, the elder one will serve the younger one. This is contrary to human thought, where the younger ought to serve the elder. Here is something interesting: Since the two sons were twins, they were actually the same age biologically as they were both conceived at the same time. However during delivery they cannot both come out at the same time. Hence, the first to be born would automatically become the elder son, and the other one would become the younger son by default. Their births may have been only a few seconds apart, but it made a big difference in their lives as it put the younger son at a disadvantage.

Could God have reversed the order in which they were born? Yes, He certainly could. If He had done that, then the younger one would have ended up serving the elder one, in line with human thought and that would be nothing unusual. But the Lord deliberately ordained the births to take place in the given order. Why? Perhaps it was done to show that God’s sovereign purpose never follows human laws, customs and purposes. He works out His purposes contrary to what we think. God would do the same thing later on with Joseph, who became greater than all his elder brothers. He would also choose David to be king, although he was the youngest and the least significant among Jesse’s sons. God’s ways are so much higher than our ways! In Isaiah 55:8 He tells us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”

Thus we have seen that God’s answers to our prayers may exceed our expectations, and may even be contrary to all human thought. This brings us now to a lesson that comes from the rest of our passage, which is on

III. God’s Outworking of His Purpose for the Sons of Isaac and Rebecca (vv.27-34)

In v.23 we saw God declaring to Rebecca that her elder son will serve her younger son. But Rebecca had no clue at all on how this was to happen. In fact, the way that her two sons developed after they were born seem to indicate that it would not happen. Everything was stacked in Esau’s favour: He had the birthright which belongs to the elder son. In Hebrew families, the eldest son’s birthright gave him precedence over his brothers. His birthright also assured him of getting a double portion of his father’s inheritance. Besides that, Esau was a cunning hunter and a man of the field (v.27). This means that he was strong enough and skilled enough to survive on his own. To the people of those times it was obvious that Esau was destined to succeed! Moreover, according to v.28 he was his father’s favourite son. Why? because Isaac loved to eat the venison which Esau brought home regularly from his hunting trips. So when the time comes for Isaac to bless his sons, who do you think will receive the greater blessing? Esau, of course! With all these things going for him, how could he not become greater than Jacob, and especially when Jacob had none of these things?

Let us look at what Jacob had: Verse 27 tells us that he was a plain man (i.e. he was an ordinary, quiet sort of person). It adds that Jacob dwelt in tents (i.e. he loved to stay at home and probably developed domestic skills). Verse 29 tells us that while Esau was hunting in the fields, Jacob was cooking some food at home. If Jacob lived today this may mean that he could become a great chef one day. But in those days this only made it clear that he was not destined for greatness. Besides all that, v.28 tells us that Jacob only had his mother’s favour – but could she give him an inheritance? No. Humanly speaking, all the odds were stacked against Jacob!

Looking at these two brothers as they are here outwardly, it would seem a plain, foregone conclusion who would end up serving who! And yet God was about to work out events in such a way that Jacob would take the lead and Esau would be left far behind! And the way that God did this was nothing less than astonishing. He did it by using the most unlikely tools one can imagine – He used the defects in their character!

Esau may have been a mighty and cunning hunter, but he had a serious defect: He had a wrong sense of values. He lived for things that could satisfy his immediate desires. This is seen in the way that he handled his birthright. This particular birthright included something special: a spiritual inheritance: It included all the covenant blessings that God had promised to Abraham and to Isaac. And yet Esau was willing to give up all these just to fill his empty stomach. In v.32 he claimed that he was about to die but this was somewhat exaggerated, since he was able to eat, drink, rise up and go on his way after that. It was definitely not a life and death situation. Verse 34 gives us the real reason behind his actions: Esau despised his birthright. It had no little or value in his sight.

It is sad that many people are like that today. They despise the things that are truly valuable and good, and they are willing to give them up just to satisfy their immediate desires for a short while. They live only for the things of this world like food, fame, fashion, fads, fun and Facebook. A recent survey of more than a thousand Singaporean youths revealed that they spend a lot of time on the Internet – especially in on-line media and on-line gaming. Many of them aspire to own properties and cars and to get a good job that pays them well. As you can see, they would rather invest their time and energy in earthly things that perish, rather than in heavenly things that last for ever.

I hope that none of us are like that. And if you are, I trust that you will realize how foolish it is, and will now correct your sense of values. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-20 – “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”

Now, unlike Esau, Jacob had the right sense of values. He knew how immensely valuable his brother’s birthright was. The defect in Jacob is that he had a terribly distorted code of ethics! He would do anything at all to get what he wanted regardless of whether it is right or wrong. Firstly, it was wrong for him to covet what was not his. He should know that Esau’s birthright was off-limits to him. Secondly, it was very wrong for him to lure his own brother into selling him his birthright.

Jacob must have observed that Esau was weakest whenever he returned from hunting all tired and hungry. So, like a lion stalking its prey, Jacob got ready to pounce on him at his weakest moment. Jacob may also have studied his brother’s eating habits for some time, and had discovered that nothing could entice him more than a pot of hot red bean stew and some freshly baked bread. This was the perfect bait to use on Esau. That day, Jacob deliberately timed his cooking to coincide with his brother’s return from hunting. And as he saw Esau coming, he turned up the heat so that the fragrance of red bean stew would waft toward him. And soon Esau walked right into Jacob’s trap, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. You know, Esau might even have thought, “What a wonderful, caring brother I have who has taken the trouble to cook such a nice meal for me just when I needed for it most.” If this was his thought, then he was truly deceived by Jacob.

Can you see how wicked Jacob was, to plot and scheme like this against his own twin brother? Here, Jacob lived up to his name, which means ‘supplanter.’ Whatever brotherly love he might have had for Esau vanished into nothingness with this act, when he viciously exploited Esau’s weakness Jacob was just like a conman who robs a poor widow of all her life savings! It is sad that many people are doing that today. They look for ways to take advantage of others. You may have witnessed it in all the office politics going on in your workplace. You may even have seen you’re your siblings scheming and fighting over inheritance rights.

I hope that none of us are like that. And if you are, I trust that you will how realize how displeasing it is to God, and that you will change to be conformed to God’s code of ethics, which is based on love for your fellowman. Thus we have seen how each brother’s defects worked together to change their destinies forever. Esau’s wrong sense of values worked together with Jacob’s distorted code of ethics to bring about God’s purpose that the elder would serve the younger. Now, these character defects were not put in them by God. They were already there, as part of their own sinful nature. God merely permitted their respective defects to interact in such a way as to fulfill His purpose.

In all this we can see the mysterious outworking of God’s purpose. This is stated in verses like Psalm 76:10 –“Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.” God is somehow able to procure glory for Himself even out of man’s selfish acts of wrath. This may be hard for us to understand and to accept fully, but it is true.

A word of warning is necessary here: This teaching can be helpful to us, but it must never, never be used as an excuse, to say that since God will somehow use our sins for His glory, it is alright for us to sin. That would be a terrible abuse of this teaching. But it should properly be used to provide the right perspective of all the evil that goes on in the world. Despite all the wicked things that are being perpetrated by sinful men, all is not lost. They will somehow work together in the end to fulfill God’s righteous purposes and to bring praise to His name! Doesn’t this prove how great our Lord is to have such complete sovereignty and control even over the sinful acts of men? And so we learn this lesson from the account of how Jacob got Esau to sell him his birthright.

This is not the end of the story. In the chapters that follow, God gradually unfolds His purpose until it reaches full bloom by the end of the book. He fully transformed Jacob’s life and made him the father of the nation ofIsrael. This is a truly great work of God in the lives of men that we can only marvel at with much amazement.

And I trust that as you have seen how God answered the prayers of Isaac and Rebecca in the most unexpected ways, and how He brought about a reversal in the lives of Esau and Jacob, you will also appreciate how God is working in your own life, and will respond to this with much thanksgiving and praise. May you also be encouraged to persevere in praying and trust God to accomplish His purposes for your life.