The Faith of Isaac

(Heb 11:9 NIV) By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

(Heb 11:20 NIV) By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

Hebrews 11 has 11 verses about the faith of Abraham (Heb 11:8-19), but only one verse about Isaac, and a short one at that. "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future", even then, we struggle to understand why Isaac required faith to bless Jacob and Esau?

Isaac can hardly be called a giant of faith because he did very little. He lived in the shadow of his father Abraham "The man of faith", Gal 3:9. He walked in Abraham's blessing and the promises that God had made to Abraham. Abraham got him a wife from his own people (Gen 24:3-4). Like Jacob he was a bit of a mothers boy (Gen 24:67 ). He inherited all Abraham's wealth (Gen 25:5 ). He reopened the wells that his father had dug (Gen 26:18 ). He even pretended that his wife was his sister because he was afraid to die, just like Abraham (Gen 26:7, 20:2 ), of course since he already had two children by now he was expendable, he had reason to fear for his life. In the providence of God he lived to 180 (Gen 35:28 ), five years more than his father (Gen 25:7). The point about Isaac is that he didn't have to do very much to fulfill God's plan for his life. Yet in many passages of the bible the name "Isaac" is remembered in the phrase "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob".

Isaac would have known how God had revealed himself to his father Abraham. As a young man Isaac would have been impressed by the way God had provided the lamb for the burnt offering, instead of Isaac (Gen 22:8). After all his father Abraham had bound Isaac on the altar on top of the pile of wood (Gen 22:9). He had seen his father pull out a knife and was about to slay him (Gen 22:10). Yet God had spared his life. So deep in his heart Isaac knew something about God. He prayed to God when his wife was barren (Gen 25:21). And much later God had revealed himself personally to Isaac (Gen 26:2).

Hebrews records two acts of faith by Isaac.

He made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country Heb 11:9
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future Heb 11:20

First we should remind ourselves of some promises made to Abraham. Isaac would have known about them.

(Gen 13:15-16 NIV) All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. {16} I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.

(Gen 17:19 NIV) Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Isaac would have known that God's promises to his father Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac's descendents. I believe there are actually four significant acts of faith in Isaac's life.

1. Isaac obeyed his father when Abraham was tested by God.

(Gen 22:6-9 NIV) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, {7} Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" {8} Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. {9} When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Isaac knew that he was the son promised to Abraham. When God tested Abraham (Gen 22) Isaac allowed himself to be bound by Abraham. He was obedient to his father, and believed in his father when he told him "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.". He could have resisted because he was old enough to carry the wood for the burnt offering so he was not just a little kid.

2. When Rebekah was barren he prayed to the Lord

(Gen 25:19-21 NIV) This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, {20} and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. {21} Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

Here we have an example real faith. Here Rebekah was barren for about nineteen years. He was 40 when he was married, Gen 25:20, and the children did not arrive until he was 60, Gen 25:26. So after 19 years of marriage he prayed to God for a son. His prayer was a result of his faith in God's promises, because Isaac would have descendants after him (Gen 17:19). So he prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife. Without faith he could have complained to God. Notice that he interceded to God on behalf of his wife, he did not blame her for being barren. James 5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Faith prays while unbelief complains.

3. Isaac stayed in Gerar as the Lord commanded.

(Gen 26:2-6 NIV) The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. {3} Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. {4} I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, {5} because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws." {6} So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

While God told Abraham to leave his people and country and God would bless him, Gen 12:1, all Isaac had to do was to stay and he would be blessed. But he believed God, he obeyed and stayed and God blessed him. Sometimes the place of blessing is just to stay. How often do we get restless and move on only to fall into trouble.

However, God told Isaac to stay there for a while (Gen 26:3). Later he would move on (Gen 26:17). We should also note that he lived in tents as had his father Abraham (Heb 11:9, cf. Gen 25:27, 26:25).

Isaac is included in the "All these people were still living by faith when they died" (Heb 11:13).

(Heb 11:13-16 NIV) All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. {14} People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. {15} If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. {16} Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Of course Isaac never saw his descendants become as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 26:2-6). He did see Jacob and his children just before he died (Gen 35:27-29), he was 180 and Jacob would be 120. Neither did he live to see his descendants receive the promised land.

4. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

(Gen 25:23 NIV) The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

When the children were born God said to Rebekah (Gen 25:22) that "the older will serve the younger", see Rom 9:12 . Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents (Gen 25:27). Jacob stayed among the tents with his mother and was her favorite son (a mothers boy). While Isaac loved wild game and Esau was his favorite son (Gen 25:28) . When the time came for the blessing, Isaac was going to bless Esau his eldest (firstborn) and favorite son (Gen 25:28 and 27:4 ). Rebekah tricked Isaac to make sure that the old man got it right. Gen 27:6, to make sure that Jacob got the blessing rather than Esau, so that the eldest would serve the younger son, who was Rebekah's favorite (Gen 25:28 ). Jacob pretended to be Esau and stole the blessing from Esau Gen 27:18, just as he had stole the birthrite from Esau.Gen 25:29. When Isaac found out that he had been deceived, he did not reverse the blessing. On a natural plane he should have reversed the blessing which belonged to the firsborn, but he saw the spiritual side, God had said "the elder will serve the younger" and kept the blessing on Jacob.

The birth of Isaac and Jacob were both the second born, while you would expect God to work through the firstborn, the line of the Messiah is not a 'natural' one. One might expect God to use the skillful hunter, Esau, but he chose the quiet Jacob instead.

(Rom 9:11-12 NIV) Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: {12} not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."

Many years later Jacob blessed the second born son of Joseph first, rather than the firstborn son (Gen 48:14) and Joseph was not pleased (Gen 48:17). Jesus Christ also descended from the second born of Adam, Seth, not the firstborn Abel (Luke 3:38). In fact in the days of Seth men began to call on the name of the LORD (Gen 4:26) just as Abraham had done (Gen 12:8, 13:4, 21:33 ) and his son Isaac (Gen 26:25 ). The OT goes into great detail about the people who would produce the Messiah. The NT goes on to show that Jesus was descended from Adam and Seth (Luke 3:38), David and Abraham (Luke 3:38 ). In fact the OT can be said to be the history of those who produced the Messiah. Even Revelation alludes to the people who gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:1-5).

Book: Believing God by R. T. Kendall (30 sermons on Hebrews 11 preached at Westminster Chapel)