Many times in our world we see a Father passing down his ‘mantle’ to his son.
- race car driver
- My grandfather to my uncle
- Falwell’s son
Now those types of ‘passing of the baton’ are fairly easy to define. There’s paperwork,
there’s legal work, there’s policy changes, and there’s a visible shift of power and responsibilities. People can see and define the transition.
But what about the passing of the Abrahamic covenant to Isaac? How would something so seemingly intangible be passed on? Remember, the written account of all of these events happened many years after their occurrence. There was no paperwork or lawyers or video file to authorize God’s covenant being passed from Abraham to Isaac. So how did it happen? How could people know that it was actually the Abrahamic covenant upon Isaac’s life?
First, God spoke the authorization of the covenant’s passing to Isaac and then verified it by the blessings He placed upon Isaac. The blessings were an indication of the covenant being lived out through Abraham’s family line. In Genesis chapter twenty six we see this happening.
Now the events that Isaac goes through are eerily similar to that of his dad’s experiences. Some people have said that the events are so similar that the writer of Genesis must have mistakenly separated into two one single event. But that’s not the case at all. God simply parallels the events to highlight the blessing being passed down to Isaac.
- famine
- Isaac going to Egypt
- Stays in Gerar
- Lies about his wife
- Wife’s beauty
- Abimelech finds out
- Abimelech’s rebuke of Isaac
- Fighting over wells, treaty over the wells
Now something that can help us better understand this passage is that the name
Abimelech was probably a title of the Philistine’s leader at that time. (Much like a Pharaoh or a Caesar.) We don’t think this was the same Abimelech that Abraham dealt with since some ninety years have passed. (The same holds true with Abimelech’s general Phicol – that was probably his title, not his actual name.)
So as we go through this chapter we’re going to see God validating the Abrahamic covenant in Isaac’s life. Keep that in mind. Especially as the first thing we’re going to see is:
I. Isaac’s battle with sin
[Read Genesis 26:1-7.]
Like father, like son. Isaac fell into the same trap as his dad. Fearing for his life he lies about his wife. Even though Isaac was a godly man through whom God would do great things, he was still a sinner. He struggled to do right just as we all do at times.
This is a theme that we see repeated over and over through the Scriptures. Good men and women of faith who fall into sin. Even the apostle Paul talked openly about his struggles with sin. So this is just another example of fallen man that needs a Savior.
But why here and why now? Why did God include this failure of Isaac’s in the narrative? He could have left it out and none of us would ever have known about it. There were obviously many, many events from Isaac’s life that we know nothing about. So why include this one?
Remember, according to God the blessing would be coming through the line of Abraham. God wanted to make sure that everyone knew that it was He that maintained the integrity of the covenant – not man. For when man starts to think that he is able to accomplish the will of God independently of God pride sets in and God’s will isn’t accomplished at all. When God first established the covenant with Abraham He alone ratified it by passing through the sacrificed animal – Abraham just watched. So when God highlights the sinfulness of Isaac He’s also highlighting the fact that God alone is the only One that can perform His will upon the earth.
Paul also referred to this in Romans chapter seven.
[Read Romans 7:14-25.]
Paul is showing us through his own personal struggles that it is only because of God that we can do anything in this life. We just can’t do it on our own. We need the grace and mercy and power of God to be able to see His will done in our lives.
[Priest saying, “I’ll make it holy” story.]
Through Isaac’s failures we see the grace of God working to perform His will on the earth. And the display of that was:
II. Isaac’s blessings from God
Now as I read this passage see if you can pick out all the blessings from God upon Isaac’s life.
[Read Genesis 26:8-14.]
- Beautiful wife Rebekah
- God protected Rebekah from being taken as a wife
- Abimelech instituted laws to protect Rebekah
- Crops extremely fruitful
- Riches, (flocks, family)
- Envied
- Reputation
God had tangibly blessed Isaac in such a way that everyone could see. And they
knew that it was God’s hand upon this man just like they knew it was God’s hand upon his father Abraham years before.
And that was God’s purpose for all those blessings – to show the world that He was real
and that He took care of His people. He didn’t just give all that stuff to Isaac so Isaac could have an easy life. As a matter if fact, Isaac had real difficulties in his life because of his riches. (We’ll read about that in a minute.) But God blessed him to show the world that He was real.
God does the same thing in our lives as well. He blesses us in ways that should prove to us, and to the watching world, that He is real!
I heard a story about an old woman who dearly loved the Lord. Often her cup of joy overflowed. A favorite expression of hers was, "Praise the Lord!" Often, in God’s house, when the minister preached, she would say, "Praise the Lord!" Sometimes, however, the minister was disturbed by this, and he would lose his line of thought - and so he considered how he might kindly discourage the old woman’s outbursts. The woman was very poor, and therefore the minister had an idea. He offered her a bag of groceries every month on behalf of the Benevolent Fund if she would only refrain from saying, "Praise the Lord!" during his sermons. She greatly needed the groceries, so she did her best to earn them on the minister’s terms. For many Sundays, she kept perfectly quiet during the sermon. One day, however, the minister preached on forgiveness of sin, with its attendant blessings and joys. And as he preached, the old woman thought less and less of the groceries, and more and more of the joys of salvation. Finally, she could stand it no longer. To everyone’s surprise, she cried out: "Groceries or NO groceries - PRAISE THE LORD!"
When God blesses our lives He isn’t just giving us a good time. He wants to encourage our faith and the faith of those around us. And maybe, just maybe, a lost person will see the reality of God in our lives and give Him a chance to do the same for him.
When people ask you, “How’s it going?” Answer them with what God’s done for you. That will get their attention in a huge way. You might have received the first blessing from God, but that blessing can bless others in spiritual ways as well.
So Isaac’s blessed life displayed the reality of God in the land. But Isaac’s life wasn’t without difficulties. So let’s look at:
III. Isaac’s barriers in the land
Now remember, this is a region where one of the most prized possessions was water, or the ability to get it. So we see them fighting over wells again.
[“War for oil” – “War for water” signs story.]
Now as I read this passage, pay attention to how Isaac handles these barriers.
[Read Genesis 26:15-33.]
Time after time the people would either stop up Isaac’s family wells or contend with them over who’s well it belongs to. But time after time Abraham would peaceful go somewhere else, dig another well, and again find water. Eventually the opposition to him stopped and Abimelech wanted to make a treaty with Isaac. They realized that God’s hand was upon this man so trying to discourage him or fight him was pointless. When they came to make peace with Isaac they were giving in to God’s power not Isaac’s.
And the way that Isaac acted through all of these barriers really shows his faith. He didn’t take matters into his own hands and fight off the aggressors. He simply trusted God and kept digging wells. This is a philosophy that Jesus taught during His great sermon on the mound.
[Read Matthew 5:43-48.]
Somewhere between the way Isaac treated his enemies and the teachings of Jesus the Jews had come to teach that you should hate your enemies. And quite honestly, that’s a normal reaction to someone’s aggression. “You hit me – I’m hitting you back!”
But instead of taking that approach, Isaac took God’s advice from verse 24.
[Read Genesis 26:24.]
He let God protect him instead of doing it himself. And of course, God’s actions speak much louder than our own. When God convinces someone to stop bothering us – they listen!
So the barriers in the land that sought to derail the blessing upon Isaac’s life were actually not barriers at all. They were opportunities for Isaac to have faith and see God do something amazing! God loves doing things like this.
- Moses speech impediment didn’t keep him from being a great leader
- David’s small stature didn’t keep him from killing the giant Goliath
- The apostle Paul’s past didn’t keep him from being an apostle
- And Isaac’s political enemies couldn’t get in the way of God blessing Isaac in the land
The barriers we see in our lives should be opportunities for God to do something
amazing – not sources of discouragement. Something we all need to remember.
[Trip to DC funds story.]
Handle the barriers of life by trusting God and watch the blessings flow!
Well, Isaac had a couple of other problems and they were named Judith and Basemath.
[Read Genesis 26:34-35.]
Isaac’s son marries a couple pagan girls and it troubled him and his wife. Next time we’ll see more of these difficulties from Isaac’s sons. But until then, let the barriers of life be turned into blessings by Almighty God who wants to show the world through you that He is real!
