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Thursday 18 July 2013

Isaac - Hero of the Bible

We are in our summer sermon series at church on Heroes of the Bible. This Sunday Pastor Ben spoke about Isaac. He told stories from the life of Isaac. The question of why Isaac is a hero in the Bible was not answered though.
 I would say that Isaac was a hero in how he demonstrated his faith in God. He was willing to trust God for His choice of wife for him and when the servant came back with Rebekah he took her as wife and loved her. He had no complaints - she was the one for him and he loved her. Secondly we see that time passed and no children were born to Isaac and Rebekah. Now Isaac goes to God and prays sincerely for a child. He puts his faith and trust in God - and God blesses them with twin sons. In Hebrews 11:20  we read  20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Here again we see the faith of Isaac. He believed God for the future. This is the lesson for all of us today. Isaac teaches us to 
1) Believe God to provide and then be content and thankful for His provisions
2) Pray to God, tell Him what is on your heart. God hears and answers the prayers of His children
3) Believe God concerning things to come. God knows the future. He will carry us through. We can depend on Him and trust His promises!

I would encourage you to study the Bible study below on the life of Isaac. It is quite thorough. I have highlighted a few important points. 

This Bible Study on Isaac is written by the good folks at  http://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/people/old/isaac.pdf

Link here to get to their site   Wenstrom



Outline
I. Who was Isaac?
II. Abraham and Isaac
III. Isaac and Rebekah
IV. Jacob and Esau
V. Abraham Blesses Jacob
I. Who was Isaac?
A. Isaac was the son of Abraham!
B. God promised Abraham that He would give him a son (Gen. 17:19; 15:4).
C. His mother was Sarah!
D. Both, Abraham and Sarah were heroes because they trusted in God’s promises!
E. Isaac became a hero also!
F. Hebrews 11:20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.”
G. Isaac showed his faith in God by blessing Jacob and Esau!
H. He trusted that God would keep His promises.
II. Abraham and Isaac
A. One day God told Abraham to sacrifice his Isaac!
B. Genesis 22:1-2, “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said
to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He (God) said, ‘Take now you son, you
only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a
burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.’”
C. This must have been hard for Abraham because he waited a long time for Isaac to be born.
D. Abraham loved his son Isaac very much.
E. But Abraham did what God told him to do and passed the test.
F. Hebrews 11:17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and who
received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.’”
G. What Abraham did was a picture of what God the Father do when He would offered up His
only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!
H. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He (God) gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) should not perish, but have eternal life.”
I. God was really going to have Abraham kill Isaac.
J. God was just testing Abraham’s doctrine in his soul.
K. God wanted to show the angels (both elect and fallen) Abraham’s trust in Him!
L. Abraham and Isaac both showed their faith in God by going to Moriah!
M. Abraham was ready to kill Isaac but God stopped him (Gen. 22:9-14).
N. Isaac showed courage and faith in God by not crying or becoming afraid when his father
raised the knife to kill him.
O. Isaac went with his father and did what he was told just like the Lord Jesus Christ did what
His Father told Him to do!
P. Isaac obeyed his father.
Q. He was a good boy.
R. Isaac’s obedience to his father is a picture of God the Son’s obedience to His Father’s will!
S. We are to follow in their footsteps.
T. We should be obedient to our heavenly Father and our earthly father’s.
1 U. Isaac learned Bible Doctrine from his father and mother and became a hero also like his
parents did!
III. Isaac and Rebekah
A. Isaac was 40 years old and still hadn’t gotten married.
B. His mother had died a few years earlier.
C. He was spending too much time feeling sad over the death of his mother whom he loved
very much.
D. Isaac was also in the Negev which means that he was not into learning God’s Word at the
time.
E. Yet, God still blessed him because of his association with Abraham!
F. Abraham sent one of his trusted slaves to go and bring back a wife for Isaac from among his
people (Gen. 24).
G. Rebekah was the distant cousin of Abraham.
H. Rebekah lived in Mesopotamia in the city of Nahor.
I. Abraham wanted the slave to bring back a wife from among his relatives there.
J. The slave prayed to God to give him guidance in choosing the right women for Isaac and
granting him success (Gen. 24:12-14).
K. The servant met Rebekah at the well and she was the answer to the servant’s prayer (Gen.
24:15-26).
L. The servant told her parents about his mission to find a wife for his master’s son (Gen. 24:34-
51).
M. Rebekah’s parents let her go with the servant and marry Isaac.
N. The servant was very happy!
O. Rebekah was brought to Isaac while he was still feeling bad over his mother’s death.
P. When Isaac saw Rebekah he went “OH, BABY!”
Q. Isaac stop thinking about his dead mother and married Rebekah whom God had given to
him.
R. He loved Rebekah very much!
IV. Jacob and Esau
A. After 20 years of being married, Isaac and Sarah still had no children.
B. Back in the days when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived that was not good.
C. This was a terrible thing for the wife to go through because she couldn’t bear a child for her
husband.
D. Isaac prayed that the Lord would open Rebekah’s womb (Gen. 25:21).
E. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer and Rebekah became pregnant with twins (Gen. 25:22-23).
F. The Lord told Rebekah that she had two nations in her womb, Jew and Gentile (Gen. 25:23).
G. Rebekah gave birth to two twin boys, Jacob and Esau!
H. Esau was the oldest because he came out first.
I. Jacob came out second.
J. Jacob was grabbing onto Esau’s heel when he came out after Esau (Gen. 25:26).
K. Esau was a hairy person like a chimp (Gen. 25:25)!
L. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to the twins (Gen. 25:26).
M. Esau grew up and became a great hunter (Gen. 25:27).
N. Jacob hung around the house with his mother!
O. Isaac loved Esau because he like to play outdoors and was rough and tough.
P. Rebekah loved Jacob because he hung around the house vacuuming and cooking brownies
with his mother!
Q. Jacob was wimpy because he always hung around his mother in the house!
2 3
R. Esau was rough and tough and like to go out and kill animals for food!
S. Esau was not God’s choice to receive the promise from God!
T. Jacob was!
U. Jacob was a liar and a deceiver!
V. Jacob deceived Esau into giving him his birthright!
W. Esau didn’t think to much of his birthright.
X. Jacob did!
Y. Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau because he was God’s choice!
V. Isaac blesses Jacob
A. Isaac got old and became blind.
B. Isaac thought he was going to die so therefore he wanted to passed down the blessing to his
son Esau!
C. Esau was his favorite but not God’s choice to receive the blessing from God!
D. Jacob was God’s choice even though he was a liar and deceiver.
E. One day Rebekah was listening to Isaac and heard him instruct Esau to go out and kill him
his favorite game and prepare him dinner.
F. After the dinner, Isaac was going to bless Esau!
G. Rebekah wanted her favorite son Jacob to receive the blessing instead.
H. She came up with a plan to deceive her husband into giving Jacob the blessing.
I. She told Jacob to go out and get a goat and she would prepare a savory dish for Isaac.
J. She then put animal’s hair on Jacob’s arms so that he would feel like Esau.
K. Remember, Isaac can’t see anymore.
L. Jacob went along with his mother’s plan and deceived his father Isaac into giving him the
blessing instead of Esau (Gen. 27)!
M. Even though Jacob was a jerk, God still blessed him, Grace!
N. Isaac was going to do the wrong thing by blessing Esau!
O. Esau was not God’s choice but Jacob was!
P. Isaac realized that Jacob was God’s choice!
Q. God used the deception of his wife and son to bring to pass His plan!
R. Isaac showed his greatness by remembering the prophecy and believing.
S. The prophecy in Genesis 25:23 said that Esau the oldest must serve Jacob the youngest!
T. This was God’s plan!
U. Isaac remembered this prophecy from God and understood that Jacob must receive the
blessing even though Jacob was a deceiver and not Isaac’s favorite son!
V. Isaac showed his faith in the Lord by blessing Jacob instead of Esau!
W. Hebrews 11:20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.”
X. Isaac became a hero by obeying God’s prophecy in Genesis 25:23!
Y. Isaac blessed Jacob with the promise and not Esau which was the according to God’s plan!

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