Our text is Genesis 33. Genesis
33. Now when we come to the scriptures
and we're reading the scriptures, we want to view them through
the lens of faith. We want to read this word in
faith, that is, in light of the gospel, what the Lord is teaching
us through the gospel, the good news in the face of Jesus Christ. If we try to glean spiritual
truth, leaning upon and trusting the strength of this flesh, we're
going to bring in a very poor harvest, an empty harvest, no
fruit at all, nothing of good or sustenance or anything that's
good for the new man. So we're looking for that which
is seen and understood by faith in the true and living God and
what He teaches us, what is needful for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are told in that great chapter
of faith in Hebrews 11 20, By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and
Esau concerning things to come. One received the blessing of
God's grace and the other was not given that blessing of grace. And so this is how we are going
to rightly understand Genesis 33 in understanding what the
Lord is teaching us in the new man of grace born of Christ. Now this chapter begins, And
Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau came. Behold Esau. Now the scriptures are given
by our God to teach us the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And this chapter is no different. It provides a picture of the
gospel which we that have heard and are blessed of that word
go and declare to others. We show all the blessings that
God has given to us and enriched us with that is carrying us through
this wilderness, bringing us home to the presence of our God. And he's blessed us, encouraged
us, given us great hope and comfort in Christ. And we go and tell
this to others. But the sad reality is we know
when we've told others what God has done for us that if he doesn't
bless that word with grace they will not hear it. They won't
believe. the things that you and I believe
and are blessed with. They'll refuse it and reject
it. They may put up with it. They
may politely accept what you've said, but in their heart, there's
no love for it. There's no faith to receive it.
There's no spirit in them that has life and understanding of
the things of God. When the Jews saw Christ, the
Christ of God, standing before them, they heard His words which
never any man spake. They saw His miracles which no
other man had ever done. But they didn't believe. And
our Lord said in John 5, verse 39 and verse 40, search the scriptures. For in them ye think ye have
eternal life. Right? Men read the scriptures
thinking, this is going to tell me how to get saved. This is
going to tell me how to have life. But the Lord says, they
are they which testify of me. They're pointing the reader to
me. They're speaking of me, the Lord
Jesus Christ says. They testify of me, and ye will
not come unto me that ye might have life. That's the natural
disposition of men and women who hear the gospel. They will
not come to Christ that they might have life. It has no meaning,
and so what believers are blessed to see is that in the reunion
between Jacob and Esau there's a testimony of what Christ has
done for Jacob and Jacob is declaring it, Jacob is showing it, Jacob
is demonstrating all that God has done for him and Esau sees
it and He cares little for it. He doesn't even want it. He tastes
of the blessings that God has given Jacob and he doesn't even
care for it. It means nothing to him and so
he goes away the same man that he was when he came. No different. So let's read verses 1 and 2.
Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold Esau. He came, and with him four hundred
men. And Jacob divided the children
unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids, and he
put the handmaids and their children foremost, right, they would be
the first ones that Esau came to, and Leah and her children,
they would come to her next, and after Rachel and Joseph,
hinder most. And so we see there, right, who
Jacob preferred, and the children probably saw this too. At this
time, Reuben would have been about 14 years old, maybe 14
and a half years old, and he could look back and see how dad
set it up there, and he could see who was preferred there,
but that'll be for another time. Now, in this chapter, Esau is
brought into our view. And what do we know about Esau? In the book of Hebrews, it speaks
of Esau, calling him a profane person. That's the description
of scripture. He's a profane person in Hebrews
12, verse 16, who, for one morsel of meat, sold his birthright. For a pottage of red stew, he
sold his birthright. That would have been his as the
firstborn. And that word profane means common,
unhallowed. man who's impious. It means he's
a man who has no reverence for God. He could care less about
the things of God. They meant nothing to him. That's
what profane means. And in Hebrews 12 17 it adds
that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he
was rejected. He had no life. He did not have
the Spirit of God. He was rejected, for he found
no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. And so Esau is a man, a common
man, who never knew the blessings of God. He never knew the truth
of God. He despised those things. He
treated them with disdain. He just put them aside. He saw
Isaac worshipping the Lord. He saw his grandfather Abraham
worshipping the Lord. Men who knew the truth. And their
wives, they knew the truth. But he had no heart for these
things. And so he was rejected of God
from ever embracing them. God rejected him. And the scriptures
tell us that God purposed this in his eternal counsels of grace. He purposed this saying that
God would be gracious to Jacob and he would not be gracious
to Esau. He would leave Esau to his own
strength and power. And this is how it's worded in
Romans 9 verse 11 through 13. for the children." Jacob and
Esau were talking about the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, to Rebekah their mother, the elder shall serve the younger. And that's a picture of the old
man of this flesh in Esau and the new man of grace in Jacob."
And the picture there is we must be born again. We're not going
to know and serve and please God in the flesh. We're going
to know and serve and please God in the new man born of His
grace, which God does for us. God must work this grace in us
through Christ. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. And it pictures many things there,
two things especially. One is, it's not the works of
the flesh, but the work of Christ in us. It's a new creature born
in us. And we see that God does this
for some, and he does not do it for others. He passed Esau
by. And so God made choice between
them, and that's clearly demonstrated in the life of Jacob. You could
see God's hand, the angel of his redemption, guiding him and
protecting him and providing for him all his life from the
time he went out, and the Lord took him at Bethel and revealed
himself at Bethel, what we call Jacob's Ladder, being a picture
of Christ, upon whom the angels of God ascended and descended. It's all on Christ. Without Christ,
There's no fellowship. There's no relation. There's
no knowledge or understanding of the true and living God. Christ
is that ladder whom Jacob saw. That's who we see. That's how
we know the true and living God. It's just like what he revealed
to Jacob. And except we're new creatures,
we don't know and cannot know the true and living God. We must
be born again. And that's only through Christ.
And if you have a heart and desire for Him, cry out to Him. Beg
Him for mercy. Ask Him for grace and forgiveness.
Ask Him to show Himself to you. And if you do, it's because He's
given you that blessing, that heart for His grace and love. Praise God. Rejoice in him for
it. And so we see this distinction
in his redemption of Jacob and it becomes very evident as we
look at this chapter in that light. You will see this more
and more. Now, in the next verse, verse
three here, we see how the gospel is now being brought forth to
Esau. It begins here in verse three.
And Jacob passed over before them. There's a picture of Christ,
right? Like what we saw in the last hour, how the Lord went
forth. He passed before us. He went
before us. And so Jacob passed over before
them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came
near to his brother. And so Jacob sees Esau coming,
and he gets his wives and kids and all in order, and then he
goes before them all. He meets Esau. He approaches Esau first. And as he's going, we see him
in a very humble manner, very humble manner in what he does. So that Jacob was, if you think
about it, Jacob was the one who was blessed of God, right? He had the birthright and he
received the blessings so that all the blessings of God are
given into his hand and yet he's the one who's bowing down before
his brother. He's the one who is humbling
himself as though he was the servant. And he did it seven
times, emptying himself before his brother Esau in perfect humility. And so we see there a picture
of Christ, who though he has all the blessings of God, he's
the Christ. In his hand, the Father gave
him all blessings. all dominion, all rule, all authority,
and yet he came and laid down his life. He served his brethren
for our lives. Christ did that. And so here's
Jacob doing all that he can to deliver his wives and his children
from the hand of Esau, lest he should strike out against Jacob
and destroy him. He's doing everything he can
to deliver, ensure the lives of his wife, wives and children. He's laying down his life for
them, just as Christ did for his bride. How does this picture the church?
Well, first, let me show you three things from this verse
of how that Christ did this for us. He passed over before us.
I hinted at it a little bit. But first, he passed over in
that he left heaven's glory, taking upon him the weakness
of this flesh, and coming in the likeness of his brethren.
So that men call that, when Christ came in the flesh, they call
it his humiliation. You think about Almighty God,
with whom all the glory of the angels of heaven worship, who
was in the bosom of the Father for all eternity, laid aside
that glory and took upon Him the weakness of this flesh, and
came and was despised and rejected and hated by His brethren. He bowed Himself in great humility,
being made of a woman, born under the law, and yet fulfilled that
law perfectly, without fault, perfectly. He said that the law
would not pass away till every jot and tittle be fulfilled. And Christ fulfilled that in
every measure, in every way. And he drew near to his brethren,
receiving his brethren, we that are weak. With all our faults,
you boys were talking to me about the different strengths and weaknesses
that you had. With all our faults and all our
weaknesses, Christ receives us. So that sinners drew near to
him and ate with him and wanted to be near to him. They weren't
afraid of him. They didn't shrink back because
he's holier than thou, though he is, though he's perfect, yet
they knew I can speak to him. I can come near to him. I can
sit right next to him and hear him speak and ask him questions.
And he talks to me and receives me and doesn't reject me and
push me away. He receiveth me. And that's what
angered the Pharisees. And they voiced their bewilderment
and discontentment with them. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth with them. And that E-T-H ending means it
goes on and on and on. He receiveth. His people. He receiveth you that need Him,
that have no righteousness of your own. He eateth with you
and feedeth you His flesh and blood for our strengthening,
our nourishment, our encouragement, our rejoicing in Him. Second,
our Lord passed over before His people when He took our place
as our substitute on the cross under the wrath of Almighty God
as our sacrifice as our substitute, as our mediator, as our husband,
as our savior, as the one who reveals to us life and salvation,
so that when Judas came, he delivered his bride. He delivered his disciples
and went willingly with Judas as a lamb led to the slaughter
to save his people. And Christ said before this,
and when you look in Luke, I think it's in Luke 22, he said to them,
I am among you as he that serveth. Though I'm the greatest, though
I could sit at the table and be served by you, yet I'm among
you as he that serveth. I'm taking the lowest spot in
the kingdom to give you life." And that's what we see there
with Jacob bowing to Esau seven times, even though all the blessings
were Jacob's. Yet he did that to save, to deliver
his people, to deliver us from death. and eternal death and
ruin. He's among us that served. Third,
having accomplished our redemption through his death, our Lord passed
over before his people going through the veil of death. He
went before us through that veil of death to give us a living
hope. to give us life and salvation
and understanding. Hebrews 6 verse 19 and 20 says,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil. We're anchored
into Christ. We're fixed in him. So that we
have that hope as he went through the veil, we're attached to him,
and we're going through too. We're not going to be left behind.
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made
in high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And so having passed over before
us, brethren, in those three ways, humbling himself in the
flesh, laying down his life for our lives, and going before us
to make the way unto the Father, Christ was the way, the truth,
the life. He went before us, brethren,
and we see how he passed over. Be encouraged, brethren, to always
look to Christ. Look to Christ. He is our very
salvation. Seeing then, Hebrews 4, 14 through
16 says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. What is our profession? Rather,
who? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
our profession. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
or not someone who won't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. I remember this picture. I remember
seeing it on the internet, I guess. And there was a crowd of people,
and it was the Pope. And he was going through the
crowd, and he's waving to the people. And some woman reached
out and touched his hand, and he smacked that hand, just like
that, right on the TV. I was shocked to see it. That's
who He is. Christ didn't smack away the
hands of His people. He embraces His people. He receiveth
His people and eateth with them. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. He's all we need. It's Christ
Jesus. That's how we come into the presence
of God our Father. Next we read Genesis 33 verses
4-5 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on
his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. And Esau lifted up
his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are
those with thee? And Jacob said, The children
which God hath graciously given thy servant. So just prior we
saw how Jacob humbled himself. He came in humility, picturing
the humility of Christ our Savior and what he accomplished in redeeming
his people. And so here comes Jacob now.
He's been away for 20 years. It was seven years for each bride,
for Leah and then for Rachel, seven years and seven years.
And then another six years that he stayed on serving Laban. And so it's been 20 years. And
so they come and it's a nice reunion, right? They're joined
together, hugging one another, rejoicing, laughing and crying
at the same time. And he sees this delightful troupe
that God has given his brother Jacob. Brethren, Like Jacob,
our Savior came into this wilderness, came into this padan aram, this
wilderness land, this wasteland, and there he served for his bride. Just as we see Jacob served for
his bride and accomplished our redemption. We are the redeemed
of the Lord, the purchased of the Lord. He labored for us. He bought us. We're not our own. We are Christ's people. We're
his people, his bride. And so having finished the work,
what do we read in the scriptures that our Savior says? Behold,
I and the children which God hath given me. When he comes
into that presence of God, behold, all those who you gave me, I've
lost none. I've lost none, but here they
all are. And that's a picture that's given here to Esau. He's
seeing how God blessed tent-dwelling Jacob. Remember, Jacob was a
man of the tents. He hung around his mom. He stayed
near. He didn't go out into the field
that wasn't his playground. He liked the safety of the tents
and to be out of the weather and and be under those tents.
And yet Jacob went out, slept under the stars, went out to
some unknown place that was not like Jacob. And yet God provided
for Jacob. Jacob didn't get destroyed and
ripped apart by beasts or taken by men who would do him wrong. Instead, God provided for him,
as he calls him, the angel of my redemption. The angel of my
redemption is how Jacob referred to him. And so he sees, Esau
sees all that was accomplished there, and he hears Jacob glorify
the Lord. He's glorifying the Lord, declaring
all his blessings. Let's see this here in verse
eight. Verse eight, after he inspects the family of Jacob,
verse eight, Esau asks, what meanest thou by all this drove
which I met? And Jacob said, these are to
find grace in the sight of my Lord. And Esau said, I have enough. My brother, keep that thou hast
unto thyself. Now, what are these droves? These
are the camels. These are the donkeys. These
are the sheep and the rams. These are the goats and the he
goats. They're all were given as a gift to Esau. And what do
those droves picture? We saw this before where it's
a picture of how that the Lord blessed Jacob. When Jacob was
going to go out, Laban was going to send him out empty. But God
put it in Laban's heart. to see that he had been blessed
by Jacob's work there. And so he said, tell me what
your wages are. Whatever you want, I'll give it you to stay
on longer. And for six years. For six years,
Jacob stayed on, and God was blessing Jacob. Just everything
that was negotiated, or everything that Laban took back or changed,
he said, don't take the ring strait, take these striped ones,
or these brown ones, or take these. Whatever it was that he
changed, God kept blessing Jacob. And then Jacob would take those
sheep, and he'd get camels, and donkeys, and carts, and tents,
and all the things that he needed, to set his wives and children
on, to carry them through the wilderness safely to Canaan,
a picture of all the spiritual blessings that God gives us in
Christ to bring us safely to our spiritual Canaan. Everything's provided for us
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's a picture. He's
given him a foretaste of how God blessed him And it pictures
all those spiritual blessings. And he's telling Esau, look what
the Lord has done for me. And so Jacob hears it, but Jacob
didn't want those things. He only took them reluctantly
because Jacob said, pressed it on him. Take these things. Look
at verse 11. Take, I pray thee, this is Jacob
speaking, take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to
thee, because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because
I have enough. And he urged him, and he took
it. Now both these boys, Esau and
Jacob, both said the word enough, but they're two different words.
When Esau said, I don't need these, brother. I have enough.
He's saying, I have an abundance of cattle. I have enough. I don't
need any more. I got all that I could want.
And then when Jacob said, I have enough, if you have a center,
if you have a reference here, you'll see in the margin, what
that word means is take it because I have all things. I have everything, brother. I
have Christ. I have the grace of God that's
blessing me and keeping me. Take these things. This is the
blessing that God has given me. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. And Esau said, I don't need it. I don't really want it. But he
pressed him. So he accepted it, but very reluctantly,
and didn't believe, didn't see them as a blessing, didn't count
them as a blessing of God. And yet, we see what Jacob sees,
that he that has Christ has all. Because Christ is all and in
all. He's everything, brethren. If
you have Christ, you have everything that you need in this life. You
have everything provided for you in Christ. And God says,
I'll take care of all the rest. You seek first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and I'll provide everything else.
I'll give you what you need. I'll provide, and you'll see.
You'll see. But those who are full of the
riches of this life, they don't have all. They don't have Christ.
And it'll come out, just like Esau. I don't need that. I got
everything I need. What more do I need? I'm already
blessed. Now, this brings up the turning
point here, which we'll see. Now, these two men, they cannot
walk together. You'll see they cannot walk together.
And so in 20 years, Esau has maintained no interest in the
things of God. And that's evident in how these
two men speak from this point on. You see this very clearly.
Well, we saw it already, and you'll see it more. And so the
difference in how these men lived, what governed their lives is
very different. And it becomes evident that Esau
is a man of flesh, And Jacob is a man of grace, a man of faith,
born of grace. Look at verses 12 through 14.
And Esau said, let us take our journey, and let us go, and I
will go before thee. And Jacob said unto him, my lord
knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds
with young are with me. And if men should overdrive them
one day, just one day, all the flock will die. Let my Lord,
I pray thee, pass over before his servant, and I will lead
on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me, and the
children be able to endure until I come unto my Lord unto seer. And so the picture of this is,
is that Esau is of the flesh. And all, whether they know it
or not, all who are born of Adam are born under the covenant of
works. They're under the law. They're
going to answer for the things that they've done in the flesh
and done for themselves. They're going to answer that.
And that's what Esau is picturing. He's a man under the covenant
of works that all men by nature serve under. And following Esau's
way, he would drive the people and drive the herd very hard,
very hard, which is the way of the flesh under the law. And
that law is for the unjust. It's for the disobedient, those
who are wicked, who do wicked works. And it includes religious
things. It's all those who have no knowledge,
no understanding, no spirit, no life in them, no light in
them. from God, they live by the flesh. Peter had to address this. In
Acts 15, when the Pharisees, there was Judaizers they're calling,
they call them, that is, they saw the grace of God in the Gentiles
and they wanted to bring them under the yoke of the law. They
wanted them to be circumcised and bring them under the yoke
of the law. And Peter said this in Acts 15 8, God which knoweth
the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even
as He did unto us. He asks, why tempt ye God to
put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear? You don't need to do this. He's
saying God's already testified that they're His in giving them
the Holy Ghost. But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. There is one Savior, one salvation
for Jew and Gentile. It's not through the law, it's
through Jesus Christ. And Jacob was a man taught of
God through the grace of God and he could not walk anymore
with Esau. All right, we're asked, Amos,
the prophet Amos 3.3 asks, can two walk together except they
be agreed? No, they can't. They're not going
to get along. There's going to always be a
conflict and a fight there. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? No. But it doesn't quite end
there, because lawmongers always want to slip in the law. They
always want to slip in some yoke and get you in some shackle.
And so we see this in what Esau says again next. Esau said, verse
15, let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with
me. And Jacob said, what needeth it? Let me find grace in the
sight of my Lord. Don't bind me with the severity
of the Lord and people driving and pushing and forcing it on
there. Let me find grace in the sight
of the Lord. So Esau returned that day on
his way into Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth
and built him an house and made booths for his cattle. a picture
of their rest and their keeping and their provision. Therefore,
the name of the place is called Succoth. And so we see in this
how that Esau refused grace. He tasted and said, I don't need
it. I got enough already. And Jacob
refused the law. Each one was Coming with where
they came from, whatever Jacob said, Esau said, nope, no thanks.
And whatever Esau said, Jacob said, no thanks. I hope I said
their names right. But yeah, Jacob refused Esau,
and Esau refused Jacob. Brethren, behold Esau, a man
abundant in the riches of this world. but he despised the blessings
of God. He despised the grace of God. He was an industrious man. He
was an accomplished man, a very skilled man, but he was driven
by the flesh, pictured under the works of the law, the law
of commandment, which is the administration of death, the
administration of condemnation. And it would have killed the
flock. One day under that would have
killed the flock being driven like that. It would have killed
his children. It would have put them to death.
And that's what the Lord's teaching us. Don't go back to the law.
It'll put you to death. It's a ministration of condemnation
and death. And he knew nothing of the grace
of God. And therefore, he and Jacob,
they couldn't walk. They had to go each their own
way, Jacob being a new creature, born again of God's grace, protected,
provided for by the Lord in all things through his journey, whereas
Esau was an old creature, yet dead in trespasses and sins,
he could not find any rest in the gospel. He kept trying to
bind and tie, and what he saw and heard from Jacob, And all
those blessings, it meant nothing to him. He despised it. He set
it aside. He despised it. So do you see
the grace of God and Christ revealed in the scriptures? Does Christ
delight your heart? And is he all to you? Is he all you need? Or do you,
like Esau, have enough? Have enough of the things of
this world and are content with them? Do you live by The overbearing
load and beatings of the law to drive you and motivate you?
I take what Peter said and put it to Jacob. God, which knoweth
the hearts, bear Jacob witness, giving him the Holy Ghost, even
as he did unto Abraham and Isaac. But God testified that he hated
Esau and Esau testified that he hated God and the things of
God and he continued in the way of flesh and darkness. I pray
the Lord give each of you the witness in your hearts that he
gave to Jacob of his grace, of his blessings, of his provision. Esau didn't have it and Esau
didn't want it. Which are you, Jacob or Esau? Pray to the Lord, reveal that
in your hearts brethren. Let him reveal Christ in your
hearts. Amen.