Concerning the blessing, we've
been going through this blessed chapter here, 27, the blessing,
coming up to the blessing of Jacob. Now, Jacob and Esau, and
concerning this blessing, the Spirit of God revealed that these
blessings were by faith. The scripture says, Hebrews 11.20,
by faith. Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
concerning things to come. And in the blessing of these
two men, like I said, they weren't young boys. They were probably
in their 80s when this took place. But concerning the blessings,
there's two immutable truths that we know. Number one, we
know this, that the will and the purpose and the counsel of
the Lord is going to stand. God's word is sure. And the second
thing we know is that every man, every woman born in Adam is a
depraved sinner. And that's what they'll always
be in themselves. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Isaac, as you know, just coming
up to where we were, Isaac, is purposed to bless his son, his
elder son, Esau. And not only did the scripture
reveal they were twins. Jacob and Esau were twins. Esau
was born first. Jacob was born right behind him.
But not only was Esau the firstborn, But there was one other thing
that was given concerning Isaac and his son Esau. Genesis 25,
28 said Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison. You know that we make decisions
and choices and favorites and this, that, and the other based
on things of this life. Often we all do that. And scripture
says that Isaac did too. He loved Esau. He was a woodsy
kind of guy, real rough, tough, go get them man. And Isaac loved
him, that was his son. But according to the revealed
will of God, Jacob was God's chosen. Jacob, the scripture
says, have I loved. And Esau, have I hated. God's
choice, was not the elder. God's choice was Jacob. And Jacob, he was set forth to
be the supplanter. The scripture says concerning
Jacob, he struggled with his brother before birth. The flesh
and the spirit is always gonna struggle, strive one against
the other. He struggled with his brother
before birth and when he was being born, his hand came out
and grabbed hold of his brother's heel. And now he's coming before
his father at the suggestion and the direction of his mother
to receive the blessing that Isaac, his daddy, had purposed
to give to Esau. His mama has told him, I'm gonna
put on the goodly raiment of your brother. He killed two kids,
he made some savory meat, he took the skins, put them on his
hands, put them on his neck. Now he's gonna go in, and he's
gonna go in robed in the raiment of the one that is accepted of
the Father. I read that again today, in preparation
to preach tonight. And this was my thoughts, I put
this down Notes, thanks be unto God, the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world to save sinners. Jacob, in verse 27, and this
is where we stopped last time, he came near. His father told
him, he said, now, your voice is the voice of Jacob. It feel
like Esau. He told him in verse 26, Come
near now and kiss me, my son, verse 27. He came near and kissed
him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment and blessed him.
And he said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field
which the Lord hath blessed. And so here Jacob comes near
to his father Isaac, and he's robed in Esau's raiment. And he smells then, just like
Esau. And his dad smells that smell
of the one that he's purposed to bless. And even then, I read
these, just going over these verses again, and I thought,
how wonderful. We read of being found in Christ,
in Christ. being chosen in him, redeemed
by him, one with him, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And I think even as I read this,
in Isaac's acceptance of Jacob, robed in Esau's Raymond, this
great and wonderful, mysterious truth that we believe And we
rest in that being found in the Lord Jesus Christ, robed in his
righteousness, in the sweet fragrance of the Father's beloved Son,
the one in whom he's well pleased. That right there is the very
foundation and the boldness in the day of judgment. I looked at that and I thought,
in that day when we stand before God, in our glorious savior,
redeemer, mediator, and accepted of the Lord, smelling of him,
that sweet savor of acceptance. Well, he's approached his dad,
his dad has been kissed by him, and his dad smells his raiment,
and he blesses him. And then he says in verse 28,
therefore, God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness
of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee,
and nations bow down to thee. Be Lord over thy brethren, and
let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one
that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. the
blessing that Isaac gave unto Jacob, robed in Esau's raiment,
it did encompass the natural sustaining, we'll look at that
in just a second, of God's people on this earth, and no doubt.
But the spiritual significance of that blessing set forth that
particular blessing of God Almighty to an everlastingly loved remnant
according to the covenant of his grace. When Isaac said unto
Jacob, God give thee of the dew of heaven, that meant more than
this, the physical dew that we're all familiar with, look out and
see in the morning. This blessing meant, first of
all, and I want you to turn to these scriptures. It meant, first
of all, God's blessing concerning the hearing and the understanding
of his word. I want you to turn with me to
Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. And you think about this blessing
that God gives his people. This is a blessing that the Lord
gives all of his people. Deuteronomy 32, verse one to
four. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as
the small rain upon the tender herbs. and as the showers upon
the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe
ye greatness unto our God. He is the rock, his work is perfect,
and all his ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is he." Now, the Lord giving the blessing unto
Jacob through Isaac, this is God's blessing. But he says,
first of all, he says, the Lord's doctrine, give ear, verse one,
in Deuteronomy 13, give ear, O heavens, and I'll speak. Now,
you know, God speaks. He's speaking through his word. He speaks from heaven. God speaks. But to be able to hear and to
be able to perceive and to be able to understand it, that takes
the grace of God, the spirit of God. But he's going to speak. He said, oh, give ear, oh, heavens,
and I'll speak, and hear, oh, earth, the words of my mouth.
My doctrine, my truth, my learning, my teaching, my instruction,
my persuasiveness shall drop, shall trickle down, drip. As the rain, my speech shall
distill as the dew. It'll just settle, it'll just
be there. Just get up in the morning, you
don't even know how it got there, it just, there it is. It just
appeared so silently, so quietly, beautifully. And it's as the
small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass,
you know, There was a time we read about in this Genesis, book
of Genesis, when the Lord sent rain from heaven. And it was
rain of judgment. It was terrible, wrathful storms,
storm in the days of Noah, 40 days, 40 nights, it rained on
the earth. And that was God's judgment upon
man, God looked He saw that every thought of the imagination of
man was only evil, continually. And it grieved him, the scripture
says. I'm going to destroy man. I'm going to destroy it. But,
Noah, out of all mankind, Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. Talk about a remnant. Noah found
grace. And here the Lord is promised
in Deuteronomy. He said the Lord's reign, though
one time it was sent in wrath, now the reign, the due, is set
forth, he said, according to his good pleasure, as an outpouring
of his blessing. And it's set forth, this blessed
doctrine. He said this is as the due, this
is as the due of heaven. The blessing, the refreshment,
of the grass, and it's always found whenever God sends his
blessing. It's sent forth like that in
the pleasantness, in the refreshingness of that, the dew, the dew from
heaven. And where the Lord is pleased
to bless his name and make it known in the hearts of his That's
where the greatness of the Lord by faith is going to be known. Now, I just, I can't help but
use Katie for an example. Any pastor could use the assembly
they pastor, but I think to myself, think of West Virginia. There's a couple other places
that I know of where the gospel is preached in West Virginia. I don't know of many. Somebody
said, well, there's churches everywhere. But I only know of
two other that I can think of at this moment, that I can think
of where the dew of heaven has been sent and God's blessed it. from heaven didn't come as wrath,
but it came as refreshment, and God has sustained it here for
all these years. Now you think about this, and
just relate it to this little place. Give ear, O ye heavens,
I'll speak and hear o'erth the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as
the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon
the grass. That's what we are, we're just
grass. We're here, Fred, for just a little while. We're gonna
be cut down, but God's gonna send the dew. So when he gave
Jacob that blessing, he said, God give you the dew of heaven.
God bless you to be able to hear the word of God and to be a refreshment
to your heart. And this is what you're gonna
know when God sends it, verse four. He is the rock. He is the immutable, all-powerful
God. and his counsels and his ways
and his work. It says he's the rock, verse
four, Deuteronomy 32. His work is perfect and all his
ways are judgment. That means all of his ways are
the deciding of a case. That's what it means. What God
does, that's the deciding of the case. God does that which
is right. God does that which is perfect.
A God of truth without iniquity, just and right as He. He's ever
faithful and constant to His promises. And though we readily
admit that we're so ignorant of His ways, yet we're taught
by the dew of heaven. We're taught by His doctrine.
We're taught by His truth, that His ways are righteous. Secondly, whenever, back in Genesis
27, verse 28, of heaven, secondly, and you
can turn to Hosea, or you can just let me read it for you,
Hosea, I think it's right after Daniel, it is, right after the
book of Daniel, Hosea, chapter 14, verse one to five. The blessing of the dew of heaven
is to know him who is our need. God sends his truth. and through
that truth he teaches his people. Paul said, O that I may know
him. Listen to what it says in Hosea 14, one to five. It says, O Israel, return unto
the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. This is the first thing that
we know. Whenever God sends the dew of heaven, he teaches us
who we are. That's what we know. O Israel,
return unto the Lord thy God for thou has fallen by thy iniquity. And secondly, look at verse two,
take with you words and turn to the Lord, say unto him, take
away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So will we render
the calves of our lips. The second thing that we know
we're given a heart, therefore to cry unto the Lord for mercy. Come unto me, all ye that labor,
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. So when the deal of heaven is
sent, the doctrine that God teaches us who we are, and he gives us
a heart to call upon him. Look at verse three, Asher shall
not save us. We will not ride upon horses,
neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, our
gods, for in thee the fatherless find mercy. Here's the third
thing we know. Asher was the king of Assyria,
and we're assured that there's no hope. in any other beside
the Lord. And he is the one to whom we
trust. The gods of our hands, we can't.
There's no comfort there. And look at verse four. I will
heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for mine
anger is turned away from him. Here's the four things we know. It's because of his mercy to
heal our depraved selves, remove that heart of stone, give us
a heart of flesh, write my law in your heart. I'm your God,
you're my people. And then verse five, he said,
I will be as the dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and
cast forth his roots as Lebanon. This is the fifth thing we know,
that we have him. I am your God. and you are my
people. There's a oneness with the Lord
and his people. So what the Lord's people need,
the Lord's gonna provide. And that's set forth as that
blessed dew of heaven. He's gonna refresh us with himself. We come together, we hear his
word, and it just, our hearts are made to rejoice. in the Lord
himself. And then the blessing given unto
Jacob was the blessing of being set apart. Here again, I'll read
this to you. It's found in the book of Micah.
Micah chapter five, if you wanna just jot this down, I'll read
it, verse seven. This blessing of the dew of heaven. The dew of heaven is, number
one, to have the word of God taught. from heaven, his doctrine. Number two, it's given a heart
to cast ourselves upon him for mercy, realize that he's our
God and we're his people. And then thirdly, the third blessing
being set apart as the remnant throughout all this world. Micah
chapter five and verse seven says this, and the remnant of
Jacob, this is Micah five, seven, the remnant of Jacob shall be
in the midst of many people. as a dew from the Lord, as the
showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for
the sons of men. What does that mean? What does
that mean? The dew of heaven, you're like
a remnant. Well, it means that all over
this world, God's got a people and they're scattered. They're
scattered everywhere and they're in the midst of this world and
its people and its rebellion. They're in the midst of a people
that don't know him. But they're there. They're the
ones that God Almighty has called unto Himself. He's reserved them
unto Himself. He said, you will be as due refreshment
from the Lord. You know, there's not many that's
called, but there's some. God's got a people, a fit type
and picture of God's remnant according to His everlasting
covenant of grace. And then thirdly, we're taught
concerning the due of heaven of the Lord's providential watch
care and safety in the midst of this wicked world. This is
found in Proverbs 19, 12. Proverbs chapter 19 and verse
12. The scripture says, the king's
wrath is as the roaring of a lion, but his favor is as dew upon
the grass. If we bypass all human kings
and their wrath and we look to the King of kings and the Lord
of lords, we're going to know by being the recipients of the
dew of heaven. His truth taught, regenerated,
he's our God. We're scattered in the midst
of this world, just a remnant that's in the world, not of the
world. But here's the last thing too. We know this, that apart
from being found in Christ, we know that God is a consuming
fire. The scripture says, Psalm 212, kiss the son lest he be
angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
but a little. And knowing that God is a just
God, and he will in no wise clear the guilty, but to those who
are found in his son, there's mercy. Listen to Psalm 19, verse
12 again. The king's wrath is as the roaring
of a lion, but his favor is as dew upon the grass. It's just
refreshing, so settling, so satisfying. So being found in Christ, having
our debt For his broken law satisfied through the shedding of his blood,
his favor, his favor is as the dew of the grass, satisfying
to his people his smile upon his own, beholding them and his
precious son. Well, back in Genesis chapter
27, Genesis 27, here's Jacob and he's come up and he's received
the blessing. That was the first thing his
daddy told him. Came up and he blessed him, he said, therefore,
God give thee, didn't earn it, wasn't deserving of it in himself,
God give thee of the dew of heaven. And then he said, the fatness
of the earth, plenty of corn and wine, and let people serve
thee, nations bow down to thee, be Lord over thy brethren, let
thy mother's sons bow down to thee, cursed be everyone that
curses thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. Now here's
Isaac, and he's telling Jacob, he said, you're gonna have these
spiritual blessings, but you're gonna have physical blessings
too in this world. Physical blessings in this world.
The fatness of the earth, the plenty of corn and wine, and
now without a doubt, God's people are blessed with the bounty of
this land. earthly provision that the Lord,
you know, and, but this, this, that promise right there was
greatly fulfilled. Now I'm spending a lot of time
on that one, and I'm going to go to verse 40, but believe me,
these following verses are going to go very quickly. But I want
to point this out before I just start to wrap this up. The Lord
told Jacob through Isaac, he said, God give thee the due of
heaven, no spiritual blessings. and the fatness of the earth
and plenty of corn and wine. Now, who said that? Isaac said it to Jacob. Isaac said it to Jacob. And then
years later, years later, after this right here, something happened
in Genesis 45. And I just want to read a couple
of verses here, just show you how the promise of the Lord It's
just years later he found it. He saw this, it kind of consummated
to that point. He said, God give thee the fatness
of the earth, plenty of corn and wine. Jacob and his family
was sent for by their son Joseph. You know the story. We'll look
at it, but you know how his brothers just kind of pretended like an
animal and killed their brother and took his coat of many colors
and brought it back to their daddy, Jacob. This is Jacob,
now later. And he told him, he said, oh,
they killed your son. Oh, no, no, no, no. And finally,
he said, well, we don't have anything to eat. You're going
to have to go to Egypt, get something to eat. So they went over there. And guess who was second in command?
They didn't recognize him. Joseph, Joseph. Joseph knew them,
they didn't know him. And you know how Joseph, he gave
them the corn, he put all their money back in there and he'd
get them and he'd bring them back and accuse them of stealing,
you know all that, and he'd finally, finally find, God's gonna bring
his daddy, Jacob, gonna bring him to Egypt, gonna take care
of him. Now remember when Isaac blessed him, this is what he
told him, God give thee the dew of heaven and the fatness of
the earth and plenty of corn and wine. Turn to Genesis 45. Genesis 45. Oh, I'm telling you,
Jacob suffered. We're gonna see, Lord willing,
in these chapters ahead how much Jacob suffered. He suffered. His brother hated him. He was
just, he had all kinds of trouble. But here he is at the end of
his life. Genesis chapter 45. And... 45
verse 10. The one that told him to take
care of this is Joseph, his son. Here he is, and here's a beautiful
fulfillment of this promise. God give thee the fatness of
the earth. Genesis 45, 10. It says that
Joseph, now he's revealed himself to his brothers, and he said,
now you go get daddy. Verse 10, Genesis 45, 10. Thou
shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, fruitfulness, best of the best. Thou shalt be near unto me, thou
and thy children, thy children's children, thy flocks, thy herds,
and all that thou hast. So here he is, there's first
God, God give thee the fatness of the earth. Where are you gonna
stay? You're gonna stay in Goshen. You're gonna be by me, that's
where I am. And not only did he have that
favorable place to reside, Jacob, for the sake of Joseph was granted
a good favor of Pharaoh. It says in Genesis 45, 16 through
18, and the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying,
Joseph's brethren are come. And it pleased Pharaoh well and
his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, say unto thy brethren,
this do ye, lay your beasts and go and get you into the land
of Canaan. Take your father, your households, and come unto
me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you
shall eat of the fat of the land. There gonna be plenty of corn
for you, famine everywhere else, but I'm gonna take care of you.
So here he is. He blessed him. He blessed him
back in Genesis 27, spiritually, physically. And so the scripture
says that he got what God had promised him. And then in verse
29, let people serve thee, nations bow down to thee, be Lord over
thy brethren. Let thy mother's sons bow down
to thee. Cursed be everyone that curseth
thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. Now that portion,
no doubt, is not directed so much at Jacob as it is toward
Jacob's God, the one who will come through the loins of Jacob. He's the promised Messiah. He
is the one who is, by the grace of God, willingly served and
worshiped by his people as their Lord, Master, Redeemer, and Husband. And all are gonna bow to him.
Every knee is gonna bow, and every tongue's gonna confess.
If not in this life, in the next. They're all gonna bow. They're
all gonna bow down to thee. Cursed is everyone that cursed
you. And then in verses 30 through
37, it came to pass as soon as Isaac made an end of blessing
Jacob, Jacob yet scarce gone out from the presence of his
father, and he saw his brother came in from his hunting, and
he also had made savory meat and brought it unto his father
and said unto his father, let my father arise, eat of his son's
venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said
unto him, who art thou? And he said, I'm thy son, thy
firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly. One writer said, realizing what
he had purpose to do and how the power and grace of God had
turned it, that may be the reason. And he said, who? Where is he
that hath taken venison, brought it me, and I have eaten of all
before thou camest and have blessed him? And yea, and he shall be
blessed. Isaac knew that the good providence of God was done.
and what he has said concerning blessing Jacob, that Jacob was
going to be blessed. He knew that by faith, by faith,
scripture says. And when he saw, heard the words
of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter
cry, said unto his father, bless me, even me, also, O my father. He sought, he sought with many
tears, the scripture said, but God had purposed to bless Jacob.
And he said, thy brother came the subtlety and hath taken away
thy blessing. He said, is not he rightly named
Jacob? For he has supplanted me these
two times. He took away my birthright. He
did not. No, he did not. No, Esau sold it to him. That's
what he wanted to do. He took it from him. No, he didn't.
No, he didn't. You didn't want it. Behold, he
had taken away my blessing. No, he didn't. God gave him that
blessing. No, but he said, hast thou not reserved a blessing
for me? Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made
him by Lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants,
and with corn and wine have I sustained him, and what shall I do now
unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father,
Hast thou but one blessing, my father? In Christ there is but
one, there is no other. I am the way, I am the truth,
I am the life. Bless me, even me, O my father.
Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Isaac his father answered
and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be in the fatness
of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by
thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother,
and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, thou
shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. You know, it almost
sounds like the same blessing, doesn't it? But it's not. God
gave the dew of heaven unto Jacob, And you know what he told Esau? He said, your dwelling shall
be in the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from
above. You're going to be in the midst of it. You're going
to live in the midst of it. You're going to see it. But it's
not going to be your blessing. I thought about how many people
are in this little community right here. How many of them
that live, people that live and have lived here for years and
years and years. And they live in the midst of,
they live in the blessing, in the midst of the dwelling of
the people of God, in the assembly, but the blessing is not received
of them. And he said, the last thing,
by thy sword thou shalt live, thou shalt serve thy brother,
shall come to pass, and thou shalt have dominion, thou shalt
break his yoke from off thy neck. You're not going to have anything
to do with him. You're not going to have any peace or any comfort.
with him. Oh, the blessing of God to be
able to look and have compassion on one. Jacob, have I loved?
Esau, have I hated? God does as he will in the army
of heaven, and nobody can question him. God's going to bless who
he's going to bless. Lord, bless me. Have mercy on
me for Christ's sake.