ISAACS FAITH AT THE END

THE FAITH OF ISAAC

GENESIS 27:1-4 AND 26-40.

"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.”—HEBREWS 11:20

            After devoting two paragraphs to the faith of Abraham, the writer seems almost to dismiss the next three men, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Yet that would not be a correct statement. He does not dismiss them, but names them, giving an account of the power of faith in their lives; referring to them as mountain peaks in the history of the Hebrew people. He makes no refer­ence to them on their pilgrimage. In each case the il­lustration of faith comes on the border-line, when they had arrived at that period of life when a man inevita­bly looks across to the life that lies beyond, when a man is inevitably and happily conscious that he is at the end of his pilgrimage.

"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even con­cerning things to come." When did he do this? When he was old. He had almost completely lost his sight, and was trembling on the verge of eternity. As we proceed we read: "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph"; and again: "By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel." It is arresting that these three illustrations are drawn from that period in life when a man is approaching the end and is look­ing on. The writer of this letter says that in that hour, approaching the end of the earthly pilgrimage, by faith Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph demonstrated their faith.

            "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even con­cerning things to come." The text is arresting. The account to which it refers reflects no credit upon Isaac.

            Nevertheless in its entirety it is the utmost revelation of his faith. Whereas criticism has been made of his life, at the very last, when flesh was failing, and sight was dim, faith suddenly shone out; and the underlying principle of his life was manifest in that closing hour. In looking at this account, we will consider first the man himself; then the account of his deterioration until he came to the sad condition seen in the 27th chapter of Genesis: finally leading us to the triumph of his faith. "By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau."

            When we consider the man, there is not very much to be said about Isaac. He is certainly not an impressive character. As to temperament he was a man passive, rather than active. There is nothing in the account of his life that speaks of initiation, or of the nature of action. All the early triumphs he had were of a passive nature. If the triumph of faith is maintained, when he tramped the mountain of Moriah with Abraham, to be offered in sacrifice, we know there must have been consent on his part. We make a great mistake thinking of him then as a kid, a young man, for Isaac was then about thirty-three years of age. He entered into his father's plan by faith, but he yielded himself. It was not an initiative action. It was passive faith.

            Take the account of how he got his wife: there essen­tially he was passive. He had no choice in the matter, merely agreeing with the principle that he should not marry into the surrounding nations. By faith, and in agreement with that principle, he waited until Rebekah came. It is a beautiful account of how he went into the fields, lifted up his eyes, and beheld Rebekah. Going out, and finding her there, he accepted her. It was faith, but not adventurous faith.

            Then, of course, the highest fact about Isaac that impresses us is that he dug wells, and kept on digging them. His quiet persistence in that action was part of his faith. When an enemy came and took possession of the wells, what did Isaac do? He dug another well. He did not forbid to let them have the well. If that had hap­pened to Abraham, he would have protested with right­eous indignation. Jacob would have outwitted them, and had more wells than the enemy had taken from him before he had finished with them. But not so Isaac. He just went on digging. Yes, he was a quiet man, a passive man rather than active; and the demon­stration of faith recorded here in Hebrews does not refer to any of these matters. It has to do wholly with the events in which the fundamental principle overcame certain actions which had violated even the principle of faith. In the presence of that violation, faith asserted itself with great strength and magnificence.

            Then look at the man and mark the account of his de­terioration. Evidently he had become by this time a man largely flesh-governed. In all probability that was due to his passivity, that he had yielded himself to that passive state, without trying to make any deliberate effort. When life is never active, in the true sense of the word venturesome, it is always in danger. So it was with Isaac. Reading the account we see he loved Esau. Why? Because he fed him. That is a blunt way of putting it, but it is plainly recorded. Esau fed him, and Isaac loved his venison.

            The deterioration of the man is evident in the matter of the blessing. He pronounced the father's blessing upon the son, but it was under fleshly inspiration that he did it. He wanted the meal first, and then the bless­ing. We note these things because they lead on to the final matter of the blessing. He made a deliberate at­tempt to change the purpose of God from the instru­ment through whom it had been clearly revealed to him God would carry out that purpose. At the birth of the twins it was made known to Him that the divine activity would be carried on through Jacob, and not through Esau. It was one of those occasions, of which there are many more in Biblical history, that show that in the economy of God the eldest son, necessarily being the heir, has no place. The choice was based upon something far deeper. It had been made, and Rebekah and Isaac knew of it, and knew all the way through that the blessing, the patriarchal blessing, which in the last analysis was the blessing of God, should rest upon Jacob, chosen to carry out the purposes of God. Isaac in his deterioration still believed in the purposes of God, and that those purposes should be carried out; yet he determined to deflect the blessing from the one God had appointed to the man who had pandered to his weaknesses. There was nothing of faith in that, rather the violation of the principle.

            How then was that triumph of faith manifested? First in the actual words of the blessing. Every word is descriptive, and every sentence in that blessing proves the recognition of God. Faith is manifest in the blessing that Isaac uttered. The fact that, when he uttered the words of blessing which fell on Jacob, he imagined that he was speaking to Esau, reveals a fail­ure, not a triumph of faith. But faith insisted upon the fulfillment of a divine purpose through his seed, even though it attempted in its foolishness to change the channel. He was trying to alter the method, but he was not trying to alter the purpose.

            Then comes the remarkable fact, that here faith shines out most clearly, when he found how he had been tricked. The trickery of man had wrought in the interest—curiously, marvelously enough—of the pur­pose of God. Isaac had attempted by his stupid clever­ness and lustful desire to fasten the blessing upon one man not God-appointed; and he found that he had failed, and that the blessing had fallen upon the God-appointed man. We see him then accepting the inter­ference of God, after his foolish plan had been set aside and refused, and the blessing was pronounced upon Jacob.

            In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, at verse 16, we read: "Esau, who for one mess of pottage sold his own birthright. For ye know that even when he afterwards desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected (for he found no place of repentance) though he sought it dili­gently with tears." That does not mean that he did not repent, but that he could not make his father repent, though he sought to do so with tears. The old man, feeble, ashamed, knowing he had played the fool and had attempted to play a trick on God, which trick hav­ing been invalidated by another trick, God was vin­dicated; when he found that was so, he would not withdraw that blessing. He stood by it. "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau." Faith insisted upon the fulfillment of the divine purpose, even though it had at­tempted in its foolishness to change the channel of faith. Faith recognized the failure and the wrong of what it had done, and when God had overwhelmed it, would not stay the blessing.

            As we ponder this account, how true it is that some­times the deepest faith a man has in God is seen in his attitude toward his own wrongdoing. That was the deepest fact in Isaac; that faith in the God of his father Abraham, that faith that had been the inspiration of his quiet, passive life, and that faith that prevailed after all. He attempted to change the divine purpose as de­clared to him, but faith nevertheless was the greatest thing in his personality. We see it plainly in his atti­tude resulting from his failure, when he stood rebuked in the presence of the purpose of God, and the God of purpose. This is often so. It was so in the case of David. It was never more completely revealed than in the attitude he took up, after his outstanding sin. It was so in the case of Peter. He cursed and swore that he did not know Jesus. But watch him, see that break­ing heart, and watch all that followed after. Out of absolute failure, resulting from a failure of faith, at last faith burned brightly and triumphed.

            We may be inclined to say that Isaac was in every way weak, yet the writer of this letter does not omit him. Thus we have an instance of how deeply em­bedded the principle of faith may be, and how it tri­umphs eventually over personal weakness.

            What a wonderful word that is that God spoke to His people on their pilgrimage in Exodus. "I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob." That be­comes more radiantly wonderful when we remember that our Lord Himself quoted those very words as Matthew records. He said: "He is the God of Abra­ham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living." We are not now concerned with the application that our Lord made of that, but we are concerned with that statement made by Jehovah, and reaffirmed by Jesus. "The God of Abraham"; yes, we can understand that. "And of Isaac"? We might not have thought so, but God did. He is the God of Isaac. "And Jacob." Perhaps we think less of him than of Isaac; but God has linked him up in the great statement to the nation. "I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." Oh, the honor of it! If a man has failed, Abraham might not have been of very much help to such a one. But we see a weak man, and a clever, tricky man; and have heard God say that He was the God of the three. So He is the God of every man who has faith in Him, however much he may falter, however much he fails. Whenever a man has faith, sooner or later, even though it may falter, faith will be seen in its true perspective, and it will surely tri­umph, and manifest itself in love.