THE LIFE OF ISAAC
“The Man Who Grew the Wrong Way
(Genesis 21-35)
5. The Life of Isaac - The Man Who Grew the Wrong Way
Genesis 21-35
Bob Marcaurelle
homeandchurchbiblestudy.com bob marcaurells
A special committee was evaluating the work of a teacher about whom they had received many com¬plaints. One member spoke up and said, "We must remember this lady has 22 years of teaching experi¬ence.” A younger member who had recently been in the lady’s class responded, "I disagree with you. She doesn't have 22 years experience. She has one year’s experience repeated twenty-two times.”
Longevity does not necessarily lead to maturity. Length does not always lead to depth. Long hours can be put in with very little put into the hours. .
Christians are like the moon in all of its stages. We are always growing larger or smaller It is bad when our service for Christ is better in our past that today. There are a lot of "used to be good” Christians walk¬ing round and one of them was Isaac.
Isaac lived longer than any of the Patriarchs, 180 years, but he did the least. His life is just jammed into the Bible as the tail end of Abraham and the introduction to Jacob. He has been called the ordinary son of an outstanding father and the ordinary father of an outstanding son.
Few preachers deal with his life and when they do, they don't know what to do with him. Maclaren called him the first apostle of peace, the first man in the Bible to live the Sermon on the Mount. Alexander Whyte said it would have been best for all concerned if Isaac had died as a young man on Mount Moriah. Let's look at this man who grew the wrong way.
A. A MAN OF GOD IN THE MAKING (Gen. 21-22)
1. The Foundation of Good Examples (Ch. 21)
Isaac came into this world on the wings of laughter. After many years of waiting when Sarah was long past the age of child bearing, God sent Isaac, the child of promise. Sarah named him Isaac "he laughs,” which pointed to her laughing at God when He told her she would have a baby at age ninety (18:12). But it also pointed to the joy of his birth (21:6). Abraham threw a party (21:8). The whole atmosphere was one of joy.
It is wonderful that human beings come into this world with a clean slate. It has been said that every baby is another proof that God has not given up on this world. What awesome power resides in tiny fists. And it is power that can go either way.
Eighteenth Century, England was cold and dead to the things of God. The educated regarded Chris¬tianity as defeated and on the way out. And what did God do? He put a baby in the arms of Susanna Wesley and that boy was used of God to bring about the greatest revival since the Apostles.
But power can have a tragic outcome. Germany, after the First World War was a beaten, unhappy country. A German mother was no doubt happy when she saw her new baby. It could be good news for her country. She named him Adolph Hitter and we all know it was bad news for the whole world.
Isaac, in the beginning, took the right course. He had some hard times. It must have hurt and confused him when his father drove his half-brother Ishmael and his mother away because his mother hated them (21:8-21).
Isaac had a good example in his father. Abraham had more good points than bad. Isaac watched him make peaceful agreements with his neighbors (21:22-34) and most of all worship God at altars he had built in the beautiful outdoors (21:33).
The best safeguard for the next generation is a good example by this generation. The best deterrent for juvenile delinquency is the absence of parental delinquency. And in the earliest and most formative years, a child's dominant influence comes from his parents
“There are little eyes upon you and they're watching night and day
There are little ears that quickly take in every word you say
There are little hands all eager to do everything you do
And a little child who’s dreaming
Of the day he'll be like you - Author Unknown
Isaac had good examples (25-34) but also bad examples (9-14) from his parents. A bad example can be made good if our child sees us apologize and seek theirs and God’s forgiveness. We don't have to be perfect to be good. These words have helped me.
"You don't need to be right all the time. Your child wants a man for a father, not a formula. He wants real parents, real people, capable of making mistakes without moping about it."
2. The Fruit of Courage and Submission (Ch. 22)
Abraham and Sarah must have done something right because when we come to Chapter 22 we see Isaac as one of the finest, most Christ-like young men to grace the pages of the Word of God.
We don't know how old he was. Most (Leupold, Thomas, etc.) see him in his early twenties. God commanded Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice. And Isaac was old enough and strong enough to carry the wood that would burn him.
Abraham believed it was God's will for him to butcher and burn his son and I believe Isaac may have believed it too. Abraham believed that God would raise his son from the dead and I believe Isaac may have believed that too.
When Isaac walked up Mount Moriah bearing the wood and willingly volunteering his life in obedience to God, he was as Christ-like as any man has ever been. Who can look upon his courageous obedience and faith without thinking of our Lord walking to Calvary, believing God would raise Him from the dead.
B. A MIXTURE OF SINNER AND SAINT (Gen. 23-26)
1. Isaac the Saint (Gen. 23-26)
Yogi Berra has a famous line about baseball and about life, "It ain't over, till it's over.” And the sad fact about Isaac is that he reached his greatest heights of character on Mount Moriah in his early twenties. From there it was downhill all the way.
The second phase of his life - his adult years, we see him as a mixture of sinner and saint. Like all of us, like a rope in a tug of war between God and Satan, he lived his life. See him first as a saint.
1) He Was a Man of Purity (Gen. 23-24)
Isaac saw sin in the raw when Sarah's hatred drove Ishmael and Hagar into the desert to die. And Isaac saw sorrow in the raw when his mother died. The depth of this hurt is seen in the fact be made his home near her grave (24:62) and when he married Rebecca, the Bible says he "was comforted after his mother's death” (24:67).
Isaac, the son of a wealthy man, was a prime catch for the beautiful young girls of the land, but he took no pagan wife or concubine during this time. During the hardest time for a young man to stay morally pure Isaac patiently waited for twenty years God to direct him to his life's partner.
2) He Was a Man of Prayer (Gen. 24-25)
(1) The Prayer for Him
After Sarah's death Abraham sent his servant far away to Haran to find Isaac a wife from among his own people. And this servant's search is one of the finest examples of prayer on record.
In Haran he asked God for a sign and while he was praying God was already answering his prayer. Up walked Rebecca, the beautiful girl from the family of Abraham.
(2) The Prayers by Him
His servant’s prayer selected Rebecca but he wasn't the only one praying. When he and Rebecca came returned they found Isaac meditating out in the woods (24:63). Matthew Henry says Isaac was praying for the ser¬vant's mission and in his prayer time he, like Habakkuk, was on his watch tower waiting to see what God would do (Hab. 2:1). Hope prays for rain and faith carries an umbrella
And Isaac kept on praying. He and Rebecca were married for twenty years with no baby. God made them wait as He made Abraham and Sarah wait. And the Bible says, "And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah1 his wife, conceived.” (25:21).
Prayer is both simple and complex. The first two prayers, those of the servant and Isaac were answered while they were praying. The next takes twenty years But the important thing is - Isaac kept on praying. When God answered - he would pray. When God did not answer him - he would pray.
3) He Was a Man of Peace (Gen. 26:12-33)
When Isaac was driven by drought (26:1) to live among the Philistines, God blessed him with great wealth (12:13). This brought jealousy, as wealth always does and King Abimelech ordered him to leave.
Mighty Isaac, whose father defeated a coalition of ten kings, probably could have crushed this petty king, but he chose to move away. Out in the desert, he dug a well and the Phili¬stines filled it up -and he moved away. He dug another, and they filled it up - and he moved away. With great restraint and humility he was a man of peace who turned the other cheek.
2. Isaac the Sinner (Gen. 26:1-11)
It would be nice to stop here, but Isaac was also a sinner. When he went to the Philistines he was afraid they would kill him and steal his beautiful wife and so he said, "Tell them you are my sister.”
He put her in danger of being forced into another man’s bed. And he got this idea from his father, who did it twice. (Gen. 12 and 20).
One of the great hurts of life is when parents see their children following their bad example.
C. A MISERABLE FAILURE IN THE END (25:19-35:29)
If you have two dogs of equal size and strength, which one will grow to be the strongest? The one you feed the most. And both Isaac and Rebecca fed their lower, weaker natures and became miserable parents.
After God blessed them with twins, their charac¬ter and their love for each other deteriorated. Their home was filled with PARTIALITY. The Bible says, "Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of wild game, but Rebecca loved Jacob” (25:28).
Their home was filled with DISOBEDIENCE AND DECEIT. When Isaac was 100 years old, he was sick and blind and thought he was going to die. Even though he knew God wanted the Patriarchal blessing and thus the rights of the first-born to go to his younger son Jacob (25:23), he told Esau to kill some game and cook it for him and he would give him the blessing.
Rebecca overheard this and did not go to him as a godly helper and friend to remind him of the Lord’s commands and encourage him to be faithful. She brought Esau into her treachery. She led him to put goat hair on his hands and neck and pretend to be Esau to his blind father. He did and he got the blessing.
Isaac sinned in all this. He disobeyed God for a stomach full of food. It reminds me of Judas selling our Lord for thirty, dirty pieces of silver. It reminds me of Esau selling his birthright years earlier (25:29-34) for a bowl of food. Isaac, the Christ-like young man, is Christ-like no more -he is Judas-like or Esau-like or Satan-like!
Why Isaac went wrong we do not know. It could have been his TREATMENT by the hurt Esau brought him by marrying pagan girls. The Bible says this "made life bitter for Isaac and Rebecca.” (26:35). It is easy to give up of being the person we should be when our children break your heart.
It may have been the tyranny of TIME. When we get old and our bodies ache and our health slips away, it's easy to get grouchy and mean and out of sorts with God and man.
It may have been, as Alexander Whyte says, that it was a love of COMFORT and ease, evidenced by the sin of overeating. Three times this chapter tells us how much he loved to eat (27:4, 7, 9). Whatever the reason, it was no excuse. We make our own choices. Satan has many weapons but we have to open the door.
Our warfare with Satan and sin must be lifelong. The secret is to never give up and when we fail – to get up and keep on going for God.
“ One step won't take you very far
You've got to keep on walking
One word won't tell folks who you are
You've got to keep on talking
One inch won't make you very tall
You've got to keep on growing
One deed won't do it all
You've got to keep on going.”
Why should we grow better? For ourselves? For the honor of God! For others! Did you notice that when Abraham went wrong, Isaac followed in his footsteps?
When Isaac disobeyed, Rebekah and Jacob followed suit with their lies and Esau with his hatred.
We never sin alone. Satan will always see to it that we lead someone else. And this is especially true of Godly men and women, like Isaac, who have been looked up to in the past. Satan wins many victories when one pastor, one deacon, one teacher or one faithful church member drifts into sin.
“ It was a sheep, not a lamb, that strayed away
In the Parable that Jesus told
A grown-up sheep that had gone astray
From the ninety and nine in the fold
For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know
Wherever the sheep may stray
When the sheep go wrong, it will not be long
Till the lambs are as wrong as they
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today
If the sheep are lost, what terrible cost
Some lambs will have to pay! - Author Unknown
